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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5687-0.txt b/5687-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cab74c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/5687-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5859 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Water of Life, by Charles Kingsley + + +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 Water of Life + and Other Sermons + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: November 5, 2014 [eBook #5687] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WATER OF LIFE*** + + +Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + THE WATER OF LIFE + _AND OTHER SERMONS_ + + + * * * * * + + BY + CHARLES KINGSLEY. + + * * * * * + + London + MACMILLAN AND CO. + AND NEW YORK + 1890 + + _The right of translation is reserved_ + + * * * * * + + First Edition (Fcap. 8vo), 1867. + New Edition 1872, Reprinted 1873, 1875. + New Edition, Crown 8vo, 1879, Reprinted 1881, 1885. + New Edition 1890. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS. + + SERMON I. + Page +THE WATER OF LIFE. (_Revelation_ xxii. 17.) 1 + SERMON II. +THE PHYSICIAN’S CALLING. (_St. Matthew_ ix. 35.) 14 + SERMON III. +THE VICTORY OF LIFE. (_Isaiah_ xxxviii. 18, 19.) 27 + SERMON IV. +THE WAGES OF SIN. (_Romans_ vi. 21–23.) 40 + SERMON V. +NIGHT AND DAY. (_Romans_ xiii. 12.) 56 + SERMON VI. +THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. (_Hebrews_ xii. 68 +26–29.) + SERMON VII. +THE BATTLE OF LIFE. (_Galatians_ v. 16, 17.) 83 + SERMON VIII. +FREE GRACE. (_Isaiah_ lv. 1.) 90 + SERMON IX. +EZEKIEL’S VISION. (_Ezekiel_ i. 1, 26.) 98 + SERMON X. +RUTH. (_Ruth_ ii. 4.) 111 + SERMON XI. +SOLOMON. (_Ecclesiastes_ i. 12–14.) 123 + SERMON XII. +PROGRESS. (_Ecclesiastes_ vii. 10.) 134 + SERMON XIII. +FAITH. (_Habakkuk_ ii. 4.) 143 + SERMON XIV. +THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. (_Matthew_ xxii. 37, 38.) 153 + SERMON XV. +THE EARTHQUAKE. (_Psalm_ xlvi. 1, 2.) 164 + SERMON XVI. +THE METEOR SHOWER. (_Matthew_ x. 29, 30.) 176 + SERMON XVII. +CHOLERA, 1866. (_Luke_ vii. 16.) 189 + SERMON XVIII. +THE WICKED SERVANT. (_Matthew_ xviii. 23.) 203 + SERMON XIX. +CIVILIZED BARBARISM. (_Mattthew_ ix. 12.) 213 + SERMON XX. +THE GOD OF NATURE. (_Psalm_ cxlvii. 7–9.) 233 + + + + +SERMON I. +THE WATER OF LIFE. + + + (_Preached at Westminster Abbey_) + + REVELATION xxii. 17. + + And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth + say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, + let him take the water of life freely. + +THIS text is its own witness. It needs no man to testify to its origin. +Its own words show it to be inspired and divine. + +But not from its mere poetic beauty, great as that is: greater than we, +in this wet and cold climate, can see at the first glance. We must go to +the far East and the far South to understand the images which were called +up in the mind of an old Jew at the very name of wells and water-springs; +and why the Scriptures speak of them as special gifts of God, life-giving +and divine. We must have seen the treeless waste, the blazing sun, the +sickening glare, the choking dust, the parched rocks, the distant +mountains quivering as in the vapour of a furnace; we must have felt the +lassitude of heat, the torment of thirst, ere we can welcome, as did +those old Easterns, the well dug long ago by pious hands, whither the +maidens come with their jars at eventide, when the stone is rolled away, +to water the thirsty flocks; or the living fountain, under the shadow of +a great rock in a weary land, with its grove of trees, where all the +birds for many a mile flock in, and shake the copses with their song; its +lawn of green, on which the long-dazzled eye rests with refreshment and +delight; its brook, wandering away—perhaps to be lost soon in burning +sand, but giving, as far as it flows, Life; a Water of Life to plant, to +animal, and to man. + +All these images, which we have to call up in our minds one by one, +presented themselves to the mind of an Eastern, whether Jew or heathen, +at once, as a well-known and daily scene; and made him feel, at the very +mention of a water-spring, that the speaker was telling him of the good +and beautiful gift of a beneficent Being. + +And yet—so do extremes meet—like thoughts, though not like images, may be +called up in our minds, here in the heart of London, in murky alleys and +foul courts, where there is too often, as in the poet’s rotting sea— + + ‘Water, water, everywhere, + Yet not a drop to drink.’ + +And we may bless God—as the Easterns bless Him for the ancestors who +digged their wells—for every pious soul who now erects a +drinking-fountain; for he fulfils the letter as well as the spirit of +Scripture, by offering to the bodies as well as the souls of men the +Water of Life freely. + +But the text speaks not of earthly water. No doubt the words ‘Water of +Life’ have a spiritual and mystic meaning. Yet that alone does not prove +the inspiration of the text. They had a spiritual and mystic meaning +already among the heathens of the East—Greeks and barbarians alike. + +The East—and indeed the West likewise—was haunted by dreams of a Water of +Life, a Fount of Perpetual Youth, a Cup of Immortality: dreams at which +only the shallow and the ignorant will smile; for what are they but +tokens of man’s right to Immortality,—of his instinct that he is not as +the beasts,—that there is somewhat in him which ought not to die, which +need not die, and yet which may die, and which perhaps deserves to die? +How could it be kept alive? how strengthened and refreshed into perpetual +youth? + +And water—with its life-giving and refreshing powers, often with +medicinal properties seemingly miraculous—what better symbol could be +found for that which would keep off death? Perhaps there was some +reality which answered the symbol, some actual Cup of Immortality, some +actual Fount of Youth. But who could attain to them? Surely the gods +hid their own special treasure from the grasp of man. Surely that Water +of Life was to be sought for far away, amid trackless mountain-peaks, +guarded by dragons and demons. That Fount of Youth must be hidden in the +rich glades of some tropic forest. That Cup of Immortality must be +earned by years, by ages, of superhuman penance and self torture. +Certain of the old Jews, it is true, had had deeper and truer thoughts. +Here and there a psalmist had said, ‘With God is the well of Life;’ or a +prophet had cried, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, +and buy without money and without price!’ But the Jews had utterly +forgotten (if the mass of them ever understood) the meaning of the old +revelations; and, above all, the Pharisees, the most religious among +them. To their minds, it was only by a proud asceticism,—by being not as +other men were; only by doing some good thing—by performing some +extraordinary religious feat,—that man could earn eternal life. And +bitter and deadly was their selfish wrath when they heard that the Water +of Life was within all men’s reach, then and for ever; that The Eternal +Life was in that Christ who spoke to them; that He gave it freely to +whomsoever He would;—bitter their wrath when they heard His disciples +declare that God had given to men Eternal Life; that the Spirit and the +Bride said. Come. + +They had, indeed, a graceful ceremony, handed down to them from better +times, as a sign that those words of the old psalmists and prophets had +once meant something. At the Feast of Tabernacles—the harvest feast—at +which God was especially to be thanked as the giver of fertility and +Life, their priests drew water with great pomp from the pool of Siloam; +connecting it with the words of the prophet: ‘With joy shall ye draw +water out of the wells of salvation.’ But the ceremony had lost its +meaning. It had become mechanical and empty. They had forgotten that +God was a giver. They would have confessed, of course, that He was the +Lord of Life: but they expected Him to prove that, not by giving Life, +but by taking it away: not by saving the many, but by destroying all +except a favoured few. But bitter and deadly was their wrath when they +were told that their ceremony had still a living meaning, and a meaning +not only for them, but for all men; for that mob of common people whom +they looked on as accursed, because they knew not the law. Bitter and +deadly was their selfish wrath, when they heard One who ate and drank +with publicans and sinners stand up in the very midst of that grand +ceremony, and cry; ‘If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He +that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, Out of him shall flow +rivers of living water.’ A God who said to all ‘Come,’ was not the God +they desired to rule over them. And thus the very words which prove the +text to be divine and inspired, were marked out as such by those bigots +of the old world, who in them saw and hated both Christ and His Father. + +The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Come, and drink freely. + +Those words prove the text, and other texts like it in Holy Scripture, to +be an utterly new Gospel and good news; an utterly new revelation and +unveiling of God, and of the relations of God to man. + +For the old legends and dreams, in whatsoever they differed, agreed at +least in this, that the Water of Life was far away; infinitely difficult +to reach; the prize only of some extraordinary favourite of fortune, or +of some being of superhuman energy and endurance. The gods grudged life +to mortals, as they grudged them joy and all good things. That God +should say Come; that the Water of Life could be a gift, a grace, a boon +of free generosity and perfect condescension, never entered into their +minds. That the gods should keep their immortality to themselves seemed +reasonable enough. That they should bestow it on a few heroes; and, far +away above the stars, give them to eat of their ambrosia, and drink of +their nectar, and so live for ever; that seemed reasonable enough +likewise. + +But that the God of gods, the Maker of the universe should say, ‘Come, +and drink freely;’ that He should stoop from heaven to bring life and +immortality to light,—to tell men what the Water of Life was, and where +it was, and how to attain it; much more, that that God should stoop to +become incarnate, and suffer and die on the cross, that He might purchase +the Water of Life, not for a favoured few, but for all mankind; that He +should offer it to all, without condition, stint, or drawback;—this, +this, never entered into their wildest dreams. + +And yet, when the strange news was told, it looked so probable, although +so strange, to thousands who had seemed mere profligates or outcasts; it +agreed so fully with the deepest voices of their own hearts,—with their +thirst for a nobler, purer, more enduring Life,—with their highest idea +of what a perfect God should be, if He meant to show His perfect +goodness; it seemed at once so human and humane, and yet so superhuman +and divine;—that they accepted it unhesitatingly, as a voice from God +Himself, a revelation of the Eternal Author of the universe; as, God +grant you may accept it this day. + +And what is Life? And what is the Water of Life? + +What are they indeed, my friends? You will find many answers to that +question, in this, as in all ages: but the one which Scripture gives is +this. Life is none other, according to the Scripture, than God Himself, +Jesus Christ our Lord, who bestows on man His own Spirit, to form in him +His own character, which is the character of God. + +He is The one Eternal Life; and it has been manifested in human form, +that human beings might copy it; and behold, it was full of grace and +truth. + +The Life of grace and truth; that is the Life of Christ, and, therefore, +the Life of God. + +The Life of grace—of graciousness, love, pity, generosity, usefulness, +self-sacrifice; the Life of truth—of faithfulness, fairness, justice, the +desire to impart knowledge and to guide men into all truth. The Life, in +one word, of charity, which is both grace and truth, both love and +justice, in one Eternal essence. That is the life which God lives for +ever in heaven. That is The one Eternal Life, which must be also the +Life of God. For, as there is but one Eternal, even God, so is there but +one Eternal Life, which is the life of God and of His Christ. And the +Spirit by which it is inspired into the hearts of men is the Spirit of +God, who proceedeth alike from the Father and from the Son. + +Have you not seen men and women in whom these words have been literally +and palpably fulfilled? Have you not seen those who, though old in +years, were so young in heart, that they seem to have drunk of the +Fountain of perpetual Youth,—in whom, though the outward body decayed, +the soul was renewed day by day; who kept fresh and pure the noblest and +holiest instincts of their childhood, and went on adding to them the +experience, the calm, the charity of age? Persons whose eye was still so +bright, whose smile was still so tender, that it seemed that they could +never die? And when they died, or seemed to die, you felt that THEY were +not dead, but only their husk and shell; that they themselves, the +character which you had loved and reverenced, must endure on, beyond the +grave, beyond the worlds, in a literally Everlasting Life, independent of +nature, and of all the changes of the material universe. + +Surely you have seen such. And surely what you loved in them was the +Spirit of God Himself,—that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, which the natural savage man has not. Has not, I say, look at +him where you will, from the tropics to the pole, because it is a gift +above man; the gift of the Spirit of God; the Eternal Life of goodness, +which natural birth cannot give to man, nor natural death take away. + +You have surely seen such persons—if you have not, _I_ have, thank God, +full many a time;—but if you have seen them, did you not see this?—That +it was not riches which gave them this Life, if they were rich; or +intellect, if they were clever; or science, if they were learned; or +rank, if they were cultivated; or bodily organization, if they were +beautiful and strong: that this noble and gentle life of theirs was +independent of their body, of their mind, of their circumstances? Nay, +have you not seen this,—_I_ have, thank God, full many a time,—That not +many rich, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but that God’s +strength is rather made perfect in man’s weakness,—that in foul garrets, +in lonely sick-beds, in dark places of the earth, you find ignorant +people, sickly people, ugly people, stupid people, in spite of, in +defiance of, every opposing circumstance, leading heroic lives,—a +blessing, a comfort, an example, a very Fount of Life to all around them; +and dying heroic deaths, because they know they have Eternal Life? + +And what was that which had made them different from the mean, the +savage, the drunken, the profligate beings around them? This at least. +That they were of those of whom it is written, ‘Let him that is athirst +come.’ They had been athirst for Life. They had had instincts and +longings; very simple and humble, but very pure and noble. At times, it +may be, they had been unfaithful to those instincts. At times, it may +be, they had fallen. They had said ‘Why should I not do like the rest, +and be a savage? Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die;’ and they +had cast themselves down into sin, for very weariness and heaviness, and +were for a while as the beasts which have no law. + +But the thirst after The noble Life was too deep to be quenched in that +foul puddle. It endured, and it conquered; and they became more and more +true to it, till it was satisfied at last, though never quenched, that +thirst of theirs, in Him who alone can satisfy it—the God who gave it; +for in them were fulfilled the Lord’s own words: ‘Blessed are they that +hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.’ + +There are those, I fear, in this church—there are too many in all +churches—who have not felt, as yet, this divine thirst after a higher +Life; who wish not for an Eternal, but for a merely endless life, and who +would not care greatly what sort of life that endless life might be, if +only it was not too unlike the life which they live now; who would be +glad enough to continue as they are, in their selfish pleasure, selfish +gain, selfish content, for ever; who look on death as an unpleasant +necessity, the end of all which they really prize; and who have taken up +religion chiefly as a means for escaping still more unpleasant +necessities after death. To them, as to all, it is said, ‘Come, and +drink of the water of life freely.’ But The Life of goodness which +Christ offers, is not the life they want. Wherefore they will not come +to Him, that they may have life. Meanwhile, they have no right to sneer +at the Fountain of Youth, or the Cup of Immortality. Well were it for +them if those dreams were true; in their heart of hearts they know it. +Would they not go to the ends of the earth to bathe in the Fountain of +Youth? Would they not give all their gold for a draught of the Cup of +Immortality, and so save themselves, once and for all, the trouble of +becoming good? + +But there are those here, I doubt not, who have in them, by grace of God, +that same divine thirst for the Higher Life; who are discontented with +themselves, ashamed of themselves; who are tormented by longings which +they cannot satisfy, instincts which they cannot analyse, powers which +they cannot employ, duties which they cannot perform, doctrinal +confusions which they cannot unravel; who would welcome any change, even +the most tremendous, which would make them nobler, purer, juster, more +loving, more useful, more clear-headed and sound-minded; and when they +think of death say with the poet,— + + ‘’Tis life, not death for which I pant, + ’Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant, + More life, and fuller, that I want.’ + +To them I say—for God has said it long ago,—Be of good cheer. The +calling and gifts of God are without repentance. If you have the divine +thirst, it will be surely satisfied. If you long to be better men and +women, better men and women you will surely be. Only be true to those +higher instincts; only do not learn to despise and quench that divine +thirst; only struggle on, in spite of mistakes, of failures, even of +sins—for every one of which last your heavenly Father will chastise you, +even while He forgives; in spite of all falls, struggle on. Blessed are +you that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall be filled. +To you—and not in vain—‘The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him +that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever +will, let him drink of the water of life freely.’ + + + + +SERMON II. +THE PHYSICIAN’S CALLING. + + + (_Preached at Whitehall for St. George’s Hospital_.) + + ST. MATTHEW ix. 35. + + And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their + synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing + every sickness and every disease among the people. + +THE Gospels speak of disease and death in a very simple and human tone. +They regard them in theory, as all are forced to regard them in fact, as +sore and sad evils. + +The Gospels never speak of disease or death as necessities; never as the +will of God. It is Satan, not God, who binds the woman with a spirit of +infirmity. It is not the will of our Father in heaven that one little +one should perish. Indeed, we do not sufficiently appreciate the +abhorrence with which the whole of Scripture speaks of disease and death: +because we are in the habit of interpreting many texts which speak of the +disease and death of the body in this life as if they referred to the +punishment and death of the soul in the world to come. We have a perfect +right to do that; for Scripture tells us that there is a mysterious +analogy and likeness between the life of the body and that of the soul, +and therefore between the death of the body and that of the soul: but we +must not forget, in the secondary and higher spiritual interpretation of +such texts, their primary and physical meaning, which is this—that +disease and death are uniformly throughout Scripture held up to the +abhorrence of man. + +Moreover—and this is noteworthy—the Gospels, and indeed all Scripture, +very seldom palliate the misery of disease, by drawing from it those +moral lessons which we ourselves do. I say very seldom. The Bible does +so here and there, to tell us that we may do so likewise. And we may +thank God heartily that the Bible does so. It would be a miserable +world, if all that the clergyman or the friend might say by the sick-bed +were, ‘This is an inevitable evil, like hail and thunder. You must bear +it if you can: and if not, then not.’ A miserable world, if he could not +say with full belief; ‘“My son, despise not thou the chastening of the +Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth +He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Thou knowest +not now why thou art afflicted; perhaps thou wilt never know in this +life. But a day will come when thou wilt know: when thou wilt find that +this sickness came to thee at the exact right time, in the exact right +way; when thou wilt find that God has been keeping thee in the secret +place of His presence from the provoking of men, and hiding thee +privately in His tabernacle from the spite of tongues; when thou wilt +discover that thou hast been learning precious lessons for thy immortal +spirit, while thou didst seem to thyself merely tossing with clouded +intellect on a bed of useless pain; when thou wilt find that God was +nearest to thee, at the very moment when He seemed to have left thee most +utterly.’ + +Thank God, we can say that, and more; and we will say it. But we must +bear in mind, that the Gospels, which are the very parts of Scripture +which speak most concerning disease, omit almost entirely that cheering +and comforting view of it. + +And why? Only to force upon our attention, I believe, a view even more +cheering and comforting: a view deeper and wider, because supplied not +merely to the pious sufferer, but to all sufferers; not merely to the +Christian, but to all mankind. And that is, I believe, none other than +this: that God does not only bring spiritual good out of physical evil, +but that He hates physical evil itself: that He desires not only the +salvation of our souls, but the health of our bodies; and that when He +sent His only begotten Son into the world to do His will, part of that +will was, that He should attack and conquer the physical evil of +disease—as it were instinctively, as his natural enemy, and directly, for +the sake of the body of the sufferer. + +Many excellent men, seeing how the healing of disease was an integral +part of our Lord’s mission, and of the mission of His apostles, have +wished that it should likewise form an integral part of the mission of +the Church: that the clergy should as much as possible be physicians; the +physician, as much as possible, a clergyman. The plan may be useful in +exceptional cases—in that, for instance, of the missionary among the +heathen. + +But experience has decided, that in a civilized and Christian country it +had better be otherwise: that the great principle of the division of +labour should be carried out: that there should be in the land a body of +men whose whole mind and time should be devoted to one part only of our +Lord’s work—the battle with disease and death. And the effect has been +not to lower but to raise the medical profession. It has saved the +doctor from one great danger—that of abusing, for the purposes of +religious proselytizing, the unlimited confidence reposed in him. It has +freed him from many a superstition which enfeebled and confused the +physicians of the Middle Ages. It has enabled him to devote his whole +intellect to physical science, till he has set his art on a sound and +truly scientific foundation. It has enabled him to attack physical evil +with a single-hearted energy and devotion which ought to command the +respect and admiration of his fellow-countrymen. If all classes did +their work half as simply, as bravely, as determinedly, as unselfishly, +as the medical men of Great Britain—and, I doubt not, of other countries +in Europe—this world would be a far fairer place than it is likely to be +for many a year to come. It is good to do one thing and to do it well. +It is good to follow Christ in one thing, and to follow Him utterly in +that. And the medical man has set his mind to do one thing,—to hate +calmly, but with an internecine hatred, disease and death, and to fight +against them to the end. + +The medical man is complained of at times as being too materialistic—as +caring more for the bodies of his patients than for their souls. Do not +blame him too hastily. In his exclusive care for the body, he may be +witnessing unconsciously, yet mightily, for the soul, for God, for the +Bible, for immortality. + +Is he not witnessing for God, when he shows by his acts that he believes +God to be a God of Life, not of death; of health, not of disease; of +order, not of disorder; of joy and strength, not of misery and weakness? + +Is he not witnessing for Christ when, like Christ, he heals all manner of +sickness and disease among the people, and attacks physical evil as the +natural foe of man and of the Creator of man? + +Is he not witnessing for the immortality of the soul when he fights +against death as an evil to be postponed at all hazards and by all means, +even when its advent is certain? Surely it is so. How often have we +seen the doctor by the dying bed, trying to preserve life, when he knew +well that life could not be preserved. We have been tempted to say to +him, ‘Let the sufferer alone. He is senseless. He is going. We can do +nothing more for his soul; you can do nothing more for his body. Why +torment him needlessly for the sake of a few more moments of respiration? +Let him alone to die in peace.’ How have we been tempted to say that? +We have not dared to say it; for we saw that the doctor, and not we, was +in the right; that in all those little efforts, so wise, so anxious, so +tender, so truly chivalrous, to keep the failing breath for a few moments +more in the body of one who had no earthly claim upon his care, that +doctor was bearing a testimony, unconscious yet most weighty, to that +human instinct of which the Bible approves throughout, that death in a +human being is an evil, an anomaly, a curse; against which, though he +could not rescue the man from the clutch of his foe, he was bound, in +duty and honour, to fight until the last, simply because it was death, +and death was the enemy of man. + +But if the medical man bears witness for God and spiritual things when he +seems exclusively occupied with the body, so does the hospital. Look at +those noble buildings which the generosity of our fellow-countrymen have +erected in all our great cities. You may find in them, truly, sermons in +stones; sermons for rich alike and poor. They preach to the rich, these +hospitals, that the sick-bed levels all alike; that they are the equals +and brothers of the poor in the terrible liability to suffer! They +preach to the poor that they are, through Christianity, the equals of the +rich in their means and opportunities of cure. I say through +Christianity. Whether the founders so intended or not (and those who +founded most of them, St. George’s among the rest, did so intend), these +hospitals bear direct witness for Christ. They do this, and would do it, +even if—which God forbid—the name of Christ were never mentioned within +their walls. That may seem a paradox; but it is none. For it is a +historic fact, that hospitals are a creation of Christian times, and of +Christian men. The heathen knew them not. In that great city of ancient +Rome, as far as I have ever been able to discover, there was not a single +hospital,—not even, I fear, a single charitable institution. Fearful +thought—a city of a million and a half inhabitants, the centre of human +civilization: and not a hospital there! The Roman Dives paid his +physician; the Roman Lazarus literally lay at his gate full of sores, +till he died the death of the street dogs which licked those sores, and +was carried forth to be thrust under ground awhile, till the same dogs +came to quarrel over his bones. The misery and helplessness of the lower +classes in the great cities of the Roman empire, till the Church of +Christ arose, literally with healing in its wings, cannot, I believe, be +exaggerated. + +Eastern piety, meanwhile, especially among the Hindoos, had founded +hospitals, in the old meaning of that word—namely, almshouses for the +infirm and aged: but I believe there is no record of hospitals, like our +modern ones, for the cure of disease, till Christianity spread over the +Western world. + +And why? Because then first men began to feel the mighty truth contained +in the text. If Christ were a healer, His servants must be healers +likewise. If Christ regarded physical evil as a direct evil, so must +they. If Christ fought against it with all His power, so must they, with +such power as He revealed to them. And so arose exclusively in the +Christian mind, a feeling not only of the nobleness of the healing art, +but of the religious duty of exercising that art on every human being who +needed it; and hospitals are to be counted, as a historic fact, among the +many triumphs of the Gospel. + +If there be any one—especially a working man—in this church this day who +is inclined to undervalue the Bible and Christianity, let him know that, +but for the Bible and Christianity, he has not the slightest reason to +believe that there would have been at this moment a hospital in London to +receive him and his in the hour of sickness or disabling accident, and to +lavish on him there, unpaid as the light and air of God outside, every +resource of science, care, generosity, and tenderness, simply because he +is a human being. Yes; truly catholic are these hospitals,—catholic as +the bounty of our heavenly Father,—without respect of persons, giving to +all liberally and upbraiding not, like Him in whom all live, and move, +and have their being; witnesses better than all our sermons for the +universal bounty and tolerance of that heavenly Father who causes the sun +to shine on the evil and the good, and his rain to fall upon the just and +on the unjust, and is perfect in this, that He is good to the unthankful +and the evil. + +And, therefore, the preacher can urge his countrymen, let their opinions, +creed, tastes, be what they may, to support hospitals with especial +freedom, earnestness, and confidence. Heaven forbid that I should +undervalue any charitable institution whatever. May God’s blessing be on +them all. But this I have a right to say,—that whatever objections, +suspicions, prejudices there may be concerning any other form of charity, +concerning hospitals there can be none. Every farthing bestowed on them +must go toward the direct doing of good. There is no fear in them of +waste, of misapplication of funds, of private jobbery, of ulterior and +unavowed objects. Palpable and unmistakeable good is all they do and all +they can do. And he who gives to a hospital has the comfort of knowing +that he is bestowing a direct blessing on the bodies of his fellow-men; +and it may be on their souls likewise. + +For I have said that these hospitals witness silently for God and for +Christ; and I must believe that that silent witness is not lost on the +minds of thousands who enter them. It sinks in,—all the more readily +because it is not thrust upon them,—and softens and breaks up their +hearts to receive the precious seed of the word of God. Many a man, too +ready from bitter experience to believe that his fellow-men cared not for +him, has entered the wards of a hospital to be happily undeceived. He +finds that he is cared for; that he is not forgotten either by God or +man; that there is a place for him, too, at God’s table, in his hour of +utmost need; and angels of God, in human form, ready to minister to his +necessities; and, softened by that discovery, he has listened humbly, +perhaps for the first time in his life, to the exhortations of a +clergyman; and has taken in, in the hour of dependence and weakness, the +lessons which he was too proud or too sullen to hear in the day of +independence and sturdy health. And so do these hospitals, it seems to +me, follow the example and practice of our Lord Himself; who, by +ministering to the animal wants and animal sufferings of the people, by +showing them that He sympathised with those lower sorrows of which they +were most immediately conscious, made them follow Him gladly, and listen +to Him with faith, when He proclaimed to them in words of wisdom, that +Father in heaven whom He had already proclaimed to them in acts of mercy. + +And now, I have to appeal to you for the excellent and honourable +foundation of St. George’s Hospital. I might speak to you, and speak, +too, with a personal reverence and affection of many years’ standing, of +the claims of that noble institution; of the illustrious men of science +who have taught within its walls; of the number of able and honourable +young men who go forth out of it, year by year, to carry their blessed +and truly divine art, not only over Great Britain, but to the islands of +the farthest seas. But to say that would be merely to say what is true, +thank God, of every hospital in London. + +One fact only, therefore, I shall urge, which gives St. George’s Hospital +special claims on the attention of the rich. + +Situated, as it is, in the very centre of the west end of London, it is +the special refuge of those who are most especially of service to the +dwellers in the Westend. Those who are used up—fairly or unfairly—in +ministering to the luxuries of the high-born and wealthy: the groom +thrown in the park; the housemaid crippled by lofty stairs; the workman +fallen from the scaffolding of the great man’s palace; the footman or +coachman who has contracted disease from long hours of nightly exposure, +while his master and mistress have been warm and gay at rout and ball; +and those, too, whose number, I fear, are very great, who contract +disease, themselves, their wives, and children, from actual want, when +they are thrown suddenly out of employ at the end of the season, and +London is said to be empty—of all but two million of living souls:—the +great majority of these crowd into St. George’s Hospital to find there +relief and comfort, which those to whom they minister are solemnly bound +to supply by their contributions. The rich and well-born of this land +are very generous. They are doing their duty, on the whole, nobly and +well. Let them do their duty—the duty which literally lies nearest +them—by St. George’s Hospital, and they will wipe off a stain, not on the +hospital, but on the rich people in its neighbourhood—the stain of that +hospital’s debts. + +The deficiency in the funds of the hospital for the year 1862–3—caused, +be it remembered, by no extravagance or sudden change, but simply by the +necessity for succouring those who would otherwise have been destitute of +succour—the deficiency, I say, on an expenditure of 15,000_l._ amounts to +more than 3,200_l._ which has had to be met by selling out funded +property, and so diminishing the capital of the institution. Ought this +to be? I ask. Ought this to be, while more wealth is collected within +half a mile of that hospital than in any spot of like extent in the +globe? + +My friends, this is the time of Lent; the time whereof it is written,—‘Is +not this the fast which I have chosen, to deal thy bread to the hungry, +and bring the poor that is cast out to thine house? when thou seest the +naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own +flesh? If thou let thy soul go forth to the hungry, and satisfy the +afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness +be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and +satisfy thy soul, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a +watered garden, and as a spring that doth not fail.’ + +Let us obey that command literally, and see whether the promise is not +literally fulfilled to us in return. + + + + +SERMON III. +THE VICTORY OF LIFE. + + + (_Preached at the Chapel Royal_.) + + ISAIAH xxxviii. 18, 19. + + The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that + go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the + living, he shall praise thee. + +I MAY seem to have taken a strange text on which to speak,—a mournful, a +seemingly hopeless text. Why I have chosen it, I trust that you will see +presently; certainly not that I may make you hopeless about death. +Meanwhile, let us consider it; for it is in the Bible, and, like all +words in the Bible, was written for our instruction. + +Now it is plain, I think, that the man who said these words—good king +Hezekiah—knew nothing of what we call heaven; of a blessed life with God +after death. He looks on death as his end. If he dies, he says, he will +not see the Lord in the land of the living, any more than he will see man +with the inhabitants of the world. God’s mercies, he thinks, will end +with his death. God can only show His mercy and truth by saving him from +death. For the grave cannot praise God, death cannot celebrate Him; +those who go down into the pit cannot hope for His truth. The living, +the living, shall praise God; as Hezekiah praises Him that day, because +God has cured him of his sickness, and added fifteen years to his life. + +No language can be plainer than this. A man who had believed that he +would go to heaven when he died could not have used it. + +In many of the Psalms, likewise, you will find words of exactly the same +kind, which show that the men who wrote them had no clear conception, if +any conception at all, of a life after death. + +Solomon’s words about death are utterly awful from their sadness. With +him, ‘that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; as one +dieth, so dieth the other. Yea, they have all one breath, so that a man +hath no pre-eminence over a beast, and all is vanity. All go to one +place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the +spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth +downward to the earth?’ + +He knows nothing about it. All he knows is, that the spirit shall return +to God who gave it,—and that a man will surely find, in this life, a +recompence for all his deeds, whether good or evil. + +‘Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil +days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no +pleasure in them. Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the +whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with +every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.’ + +This is the doctrine of the Old Testament; that God judges and rewards +and punishes men in this life: but as for death, it is a great black +cloud into which all men must enter, and see and be seen no more. Only +twice or thrice, perhaps, a gleam of light from beyond breaks through the +dark. David, the noblest and wisest of all the Jews, can say once that +God will not leave his soul in hell, neither suffer His holy one to see +corruption; Job says that, though after his skin worms destroy his body, +yet in his flesh he shall see God; and Isaiah, again, when he sees his +countrymen slaughtered, and his nation all but destroyed, can say, ‘Thy +dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake +and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of the +morning, which brings the parched herbs to life and freshness +again.’—Great and glorious sayings, all of them: but we cannot tell how +far either David, or Job, or Isaiah, were thinking of a life after death. +We can think of a life after death when we use them; for we know how they +have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord; and we can see in them more +than the Jews of old could do; for, like all inspired words, they mean +more than the men who wrote them thought of; but we have no right to +impute our Christianity to them. + +The only undoubted picture, perhaps, of the next life to be found in the +Old Testament, is that grand one in Isaiah xiv., where he paints to us +the tyrant king of Babylon going down into hell:— + +‘Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it +stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it +hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they +shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou +become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the +noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover +thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! +how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the +nations!’—Awful and grand enough: but quite different, you will observe, +from the notions of hell which are common now-a-days; and much more like +those which we read in the old Greek poets, and especially, in the +Necyomanteia of the Odyssey. + +When it was that the Jews gained any fuller notions about the next life, +it is very difficult to say. Certainly not before they were carried away +captive to Babylon. After that they began to mix much with the great +nations of the East: with Greeks, Persians, and Indians; and from them, +most probably, they learned to believe in a heaven after death to which +good men would go, and a fiery hell to which bad men would go. At least, +the heathen nations round them, and our forefathers likewise, believed in +some sort of heaven and hell, hundreds of years before the coming of our +blessed Lord. + +The Jews had learned, also—at least the Pharisees—to believe in the +resurrection of the dead. Martha speaks of it; and St. Paul, when he +tells the Pharisees that, having been brought up a Pharisee, he was on +their side against the Sadducees.—‘I am a Pharisee,’ he says, ‘the son of +a Pharisee; for the hope of the resurrection of the dead I am called in +question.’ + +But if it be so,—if St. Paul and the Apostles believed in heaven and +hell, and the resurrection of the dead, before they became Christians, +what more did they learn about the next life, when they became +Christians? Something they did learn, most certainly—and that most +important. St. Paul speaks of what our Lord and our Lord’s resurrection +had taught him, as something quite infinitely grander, and more blessed, +than what he had known before. He talks of our Lord as having abolished +death, and brought life and immortality to light; of His having conquered +death, and of His destroying death at last. He speaks at moments as if +he did not expect to die at all; and when he does speak of the death of +the Christian, it is merely as a falling asleep. When he speaks of his +own death, it is merely as a change of place. He longs to depart, and to +be with Christ. Death had looked terrible to him once, when he was a +Jew. Death had had a sting, and the grave a victory, which seemed ready +to conquer him: but now he cries, ‘O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, +where is thy victory?’ and then he declares that the terrors of death and +the grave are taken away, not by anything which he knew when he was a +Pharisee, but through our Lord Jesus Christ. + +All his old Jewish notions of the resurrection, though they were true as +far as they went, seemed poor and paltry beside what Christ had taught +him. He was not going to wait till the end of the world—perhaps for +thousands of years—in darkness and the shadow of death, he knew not where +or how. His soul was to pass at once into life,—into joy, and peace, and +bliss, in the presence of his Saviour, till it should have a new body +given to it, in the resurrection of life at the last day. + +This, I think, is what St. Paul learned, and what the Jews had not +learned till our blessed Lord came. They were still afraid of death. It +looked to them a dark and ugly blank; and no wonder. For would it not be +dark and ugly enough to have to wait, we know not where, it may be a +thousand, it may be tens of thousands of years, till the resurrection in +the last day, before we entered into joy, peace, activity or anything +worthy of the name of life? Would not death have a sting indeed, the +grave a victory indeed, if we had to be as good as dead for ten thousands +of years? + +What then? Remember this, that death is an enemy, an evil thing, an +enemy to man, and therefore an enemy to Christ, the King and Head and +Saviour of man. Men ought not to die, and they feel it. It is no use to +tell them, ‘Everything that is born must die, and why not you? All other +animals died. They died, just as they die now, hundreds of thousands of +years before man came upon this earth; and why should man expect to have +a different lot? Why should you not take your death patiently, as you +take any other evil which you cannot escape?’ The heart of man, as soon +as he begins to be a man, and not a mere savage; as soon as he begins to +think reasonably, and feel deeply; the heart of man answers: ‘No, I am +not a mere animal. I have something in me which ought not to die, which +perhaps cannot die. I have a living soul in me, which ought to be able +to keep my body alive likewise, but cannot; and therefore death is my +enemy. I hate him, and I believe that I was meant to hate him. +Something must be wrong with me, or I should not die; something must be +wrong with all mankind, or I should not see those I love dying round me. + +Yes, my friends, death is an enemy,—a hideous, hateful thing. The longer +one looks at it, the more one hates it. The more often one sees it, the +less one grows accustomed to it. Its very commonness makes it all the +more shocking. We may not be so much shocked at seeing the old die. We +say, ‘They have done their work, why should they not go?’ That is not +true. They have not done their work. There is more work in plenty for +them to do, if they could but live; and it seems shocking and sad, at +least to him who loves his country and his kind, that, just as men have +grown old enough to be of use, when they have learnt to conquer their +passions, when their characters are formed, when they have gained sound +experience of this world, and what man ought and can do in it,—just as, +in fact, they have become most able to teach and help their +fellow-men,—that then they are to grow old, and decrepit, and helpless, +and fade away, and die just when they are most fit to live, and the world +needs them most. + +Sad, I say, and strange is that. But sadder, and more strange, and more +utterly shocking, to see the young die; to see parents leaving infant +children, children vanishing early out of the world where they might have +done good work for God and man. + +What arguments will make us believe that that ought to be? That that is +God’s will? That that is anything but an evil, an anomaly, a disease? + +Not the Bible, certainly. The Bible never tells us that such tragedies +as are too often seen are the will of God. The Bible says that it is not +the will of our Father that one of these little ones should perish. The +Bible tells us that Jesus, when on earth, went about fighting and +conquering disease and death, even raising from the dead those who had +died before their time. To fight against death, and to give life +wheresoever He went—that was His work; by that He proclaimed the will of +God, His Father, that none should perish, who sent His Son that men might +have life, and have it more abundantly. By that He declared that death +was an evil and a disorder among men, which He would some day crush and +destroy utterly, that mortality should be swallowed up of life. + +And yet we die, and shall die. Yes. The body is dead, because of sin. +Mankind is a diseased race; and it must pay the penalty of its sins for +many an age to come, and die, and suffer, and sorrow. But not for ever. +For what mean such words as these—for something they must mean?— + +‘If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.’ And again, ‘He that +believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that +liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.’ + +Do such words as these mean only that we shall rise again in the +resurrection at the last day? Surely not. Our Lord spoke them in answer +to that very notion. + +‘Martha said to Him, I know that my brother shall rise again, in the +resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I _am_ the +resurrection and the life;’ and then showed what He meant by bringing +back Lazarus to life, unchanged, and as he had been before he died. + +Surely, if that miracle meant anything, if these words meant anything, it +meant this: that those who die in the fear of God, and in the faith of +Christ, do not really taste death; that to them there is no death, but +only a change of place, a change of state; that they pass at once, and +instantly, into some new life, with all their powers, all their feelings, +unchanged,—purified doubtless from earthly stains, but still the same +living, thinking, active beings which they were here on earth. I say, +active. The Bible says nothing about their sleeping till the Day of +Judgment, as some have fancied. Rest they may; rest they will, if they +need rest. But what is the true rest? Not idleness, but peace of mind. +To rest from sin, from sorrow, from fear, from doubt, from care,—this is +the true rest. Above all, to rest from the worst weariness of +all—knowing one’s duty, and yet not being able to do it. That is true +rest; the rest of God, who works for ever, and yet is at rest for ever; +as the stars over our heads move for ever, thousands of miles each day, +and yet are at perfect rest, because they move orderly, harmoniously, +fulfilling the law which God has given them. Perfect rest, in perfect +work; that surely is the rest of blessed spirits, till the final +consummation of all things, when Christ shall have made up the number of +His elect. + +I hope that this is so. I trust that this is so. I think our Lord’s +great words can mean nothing less than this. And if it be so, what +comfort for us who must die? What comfort for us who have seen others +die, if death be but a new birth into some higher life; if all that it +changes in us is our body—the mere shell and husk of us—such a change as +comes over the snake, when he casts his old skin, and comes out fresh and +gay, or even the crawling caterpillar, which breaks its prison, and +spreads its wings to the sun as a fair butterfly. Where is the sting of +death, then, if death can sting, and poison, and corrupt nothing of us +for which our friends have loved us; nothing of us with which we could do +service to men or God? Where is the victory of the grave, if, so far +from the grave holding us down, it frees us from the very thing which +holds us down,—the mortal body? + +Death is not death, then, if it kills no part of us, save that which +hindered us from perfect life. Death is not death, if it raises us in a +moment from darkness into light, from weakness into strength, from +sinfulness into holiness. Death is not death, if it brings us nearer to +Christ, who is the fount of life. Death is not death, if it perfects our +faith by sight, and lets us behold Him in whom we have believed. Death +is not death, if it gives us to those whom we have loved and lost, for +whom we have lived, for whom we long to live again. Death is not death, +if it joins the child to the mother who is gone before. Death is not +death, if it takes away from that mother for ever all a mother’s +anxieties, a mother’s fears, and lets her see, in the gracious +countenance of her Saviour, a sure and certain pledge that those whom she +has left behind are safe, safe with Christ and in Christ, through all the +chances and dangers of his mortal life. Death is not death, if it rids +us of doubt and fear, of chance and change, of space and time, and all +which space and time bring forth, and then destroy. Death is not death; +for Christ has conquered death, for Himself, and for those who trust in +Him. And to those who say, ‘You were born in time, and in time you must +die, as all other creatures do; Time is your king and lord, as he has +been of all the old worlds before this, and of all the races of beasts, +whose bones and shells lie fossil in the rocks of a thousand +generations;’ then we can answer them, in the words of the wise man, and +in the name of Christ who conquered death:— + + ‘Fly, envious time, till thou run out thy race, + And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, + Which is no more than what is false and vain + And merely mortal dross. + So little is our loss, so little is thy gain. + For when as each bad thing thou hast entombed, + And, last of all, thy greedy self consumed, + Then long eternity shall greet our bliss + With an individual kiss, + And joy shall overtake us as a flood, + When everything that is sincerely good + And perfectly divine, + And truth, and peace, and love shall ever shine + About the supreme throne + Of Him, unto whose happy-making sight alone + When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, + Then all this earthly grossness quit, + Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit + Triumphant over death, and chance, and thee, O Time!’ + + + + +SERMON IV. +THE WAGES OF SIN. + + + (_Chapel Royal June_, 1864) + + ROM. vi. 21–23. + + What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? + for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from + sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, + and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the + gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +THIS is a glorious text, if we will only believe it simply, and take it +as it stands. + +But if in place of St. Paul’s words we put quite different words of our +own, and say—By ‘the wages of sin is death,’ St. Paul means that the +punishment of sin is eternal life in torture, then we say something which +may be true, but which is not what St. Paul is speaking of here. For +wages are not punishment, and death is not eternal life in torture, any +more than in happiness. + +That, one would think, was clear. It is our duty to take St. Paul’s +words, if we really believe them to be inspired, simply as they stand; +and if we do not quite understand them, to explain them by St. Paul’s own +words about these matters in other parts of his writings. + +St. Paul was an inspired Apostle. Let him speak for himself. Surely he +knew best what he wished to say, and how to say it. + +Now St. Paul’s opinions about death and eternal life are very clear; for +he speaks of them often, and at great length. + +He considered that the great enemy of God and man, the last enemy Christ +would destroy, was death; and that, after death was destroyed, the end +would come, when God would be all in all. Then came the question, which +has puzzled men in all ages—How death came into the world. St. Paul +answers, By sin. He says, as the author of the third chapter of Genesis +says, that Adam became subject to death by his fall. By one man, he +says, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed +upon all men, for that all have sinned. And thus, he says, death reigned +even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s +transgression. + +That he is speaking of bodily death is clear, because he is always +putting it in contrast to the resurrection to life,—not merely to a +spiritual resurrection from the death of sin to the life of +righteousness; but to the resurrection of the body,—to our Lord’s being +raised from the dead, that He might die no more. + +Then he speaks of eternal life. He always speaks of it as an actual +life, in a spiritual body, into which our mortal bodies are to be +changed. Nothing can be clearer from what he says in 1 Cor. xv., that he +means an actual rising again of our bodies from bodily death; an actual +change in them; an actual life in them for ever. + +But he says, again and again,—As sin caused the death of the body, so +righteousness is to cause its life. + +‘When ye were the servants of sin,’ he says to the Romans, ‘what fruit +had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those +things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants +to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. +For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life +through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ + +This is St. Paul’s opinion. And we shall do well to believe it, and to +learn from it, this day, and all days. + +The wages of sin and the end of sin is death. Not the punishment of sin; +but something much worse. The wages of sin, and the end of sin. + +And how is that worse news? My friends, every sinner knows so well in +his heart that it is worse news, more terrible news, for him, that he +tries to persuade himself that death is only the arbitrary punishment of +his sin; or, quite as often, that the punishment of his sin is not even +death, but eternal torment in the next life. + +And why? Because, as long as he can believe that death, or hell, are +only punishments arbitrarily fixed by God against his sins, he can hope +that God will let him off the punishment. Die, he knows he must, because +all men die; and so he makes up his mind to that: but being sent to hell +after he dies, is so very terrible a punishment, that he cannot believe +that God will be so hard on him as that. No; he will get off, and be +forgiven at last somehow, for surely God will not condemn him to hell. +And so he finds it very convenient and comfortable to believe in hell, +just because he does not believe that he is going there, whoever else may +be. + +But, it is a very terrible, heartrending thought, for a man to find out +that what he will receive is not punishment, but wages; not punishment +but the end of the very road which he is travelling on. That the wages +of sin, and the end of sin, to which it must lead, are death; that every +time he sins he is earning those wages, deserving them, meriting them, +and therefore receiving them by the just laws of the world of God. That +does torment him, that does terrify him, if he will look steadfastly at +the broad plain fact—You need not dream of being let off, respited, +reprieved, pardoned in any way. The thing cannot be done. It is +contrary to the laws of God and of God’s universe. It is as impossible +as that fire should not burn, or water run up hill. It is not a question +of arbitrary punishment, which may be arbitrarily remitted; but of wages, +which you needs must take, weekly, daily, and hourly; and those wages are +death: a question of travelling on a certain road, whereon, if you travel +it long enough, you must come to the end of it; and the end is death. +Your sins are killing you by inches; all day long they are sowing in you +the seeds of disease and death. Every sin which you commit with your +body shortens your bodily life. Every sin you commit with your mind, +every act of stupidity, folly, wilful ignorance, helps to destroy your +mind, and leave you dull, silly, devoid of right reason. Every sin you +commit with your spirit, each sin of passion and temper, envy and malice, +pride and vanity, injustice and cruelty, extravagance and +self-indulgence, helps to destroy your spiritual life, and leave you bad, +more and more unable to do the right and avoid the wrong, more and more +unable to discern right from wrong; and that last is spiritual death, the +eternal death of your moral being. There are three parts in you—body, +mind, and spirit; and every sin you commit helps to kill one of these +three, and, in many cases, to kill all three together. + +So, sinner, dream not of escaping punishment at the last. You are being +punished now, for you are punishing yourself; and you will continue to be +punished for ever, for you will be punishing yourself for ever, as long +as you go on doing wrong, and breaking the laws which God has appointed +for body, mind and spirit. You can see that a drunkard is killing +himself, body and mind, by drink. You see that he knows that, poor +wretch, as well as you. He knows that every time he gets drunk he is +cutting so much off his life; and yet he cannot help it. He knows that +drink is poison, and yet he goes back to his poison. + +Then know, habitual sinner, that you are like that drunkard. That every +bad habit in which you indulge is shortening the life of some of your +faculties, and that God Himself cannot save you from the doom which you +are earning, deserving, and working out for yourself every day and every +hour. + +Oh how men hate that message!—the message that the true wrath of God, +necessary, inevitable, is revealed from heaven against all +unrighteousness of men. How they writhe under it! How they shut their +ears to it, and cry to their preachers, ‘No! Tell us of any wrath of God +but that! Tell us rather of the torments of the damned, of a frowning +God, of absolute decrees to destruction, of the reprobation of millions +before they are born; any doctrine, however fearful and horrible: because +we don’t quite believe it, but only think that we ought to believe it. +Yes, tell us anything rather than that news, which cuts at the root of +all our pride, of all our comfort, and all our superstition—the news that +we cannot escape the consequences of our own actions; that there are no +back stairs up which we may be smuggled into heaven; that as we sow, so +we shall reap; that we are filled with the fruits of our own devices; +every man his own poisoner, every man his own executioner, every man his +own suicide; that hell begins in this life, and death begins before we +die:—do not say that: because we cannot help believing it; for our own +consciousness and our own experience tell us it is true.’ No wonder that +the preacher who tells men that is hated, is called a Rationalist, a +Pantheist, a heretic, and what not, just because he does set forth such a +living God, such a justice of God, such a wrath of God as would make the +sinner tremble, if he believed in it, not merely once in a way, when he +hears a stirring sermon about the endless torments: but all day long, +going out and coming in, lying on his bed and walking by the way, always +haunted by the shadow of himself, knowing that he is bearing about in him +the perpetually growing death of sin. + +And still more painful would this message be to the sinner, if he had any +kindly feeling for others; and, thank God, there are few who have not +that. For St. Paul’s message to him is, that the wages of his sin is +death, not merely to himself, but to others—to his family and children +above all. So St. Paul declares in what he says of his doctrine of +original or birth sin, by which, as the Article says, every man is very +far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined +to evil, so that the flesh lusteth against the spirit. + +St. Paul’s doctrine is simple and explicit. Death, he says, reigned over +Adam’s children, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of +Adam’s transgression; agreeing with Moses, who declares God to be one who +visits the sins of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth +generation of those who hate Him. But how the sinner will shrink from +this message—and shrink the more, the more feeling he is, the less he is +wrapped up in selfishness. Yes, that message gives us such a view of the +sinfulness of sin as none other can. It tells us why God hates sin with +so unextinguishable a hatred, just because He is a God of Love. It is +not that man’s sin injures God, insults God, as the heathen fancy. Who +is God, that man can stir Him up to pride, or wound or disturb His +everlasting calm, His self-sufficient perfectness? ‘God is tempted of no +man,’ says St. James. No. God hates sin. He loves all, and sin harms +all; and the sinner may be a torment and a curse, not only to himself, +not only to those around him, but to children yet unborn. + +This is bad news; and yet sinners must hear it. They must hear it not +only put into words by Moses, or by St. Paul, or by any other inspired +writer; but they must hear it, likewise, in that perpetual voice of God +which we call facts. + +Let the sinner who wishes to know what original sin means, and how actual +sin in one man breeds original sin in his descendants, look at the world +around him, and see. Let him see how St. Paul’s doctrine and the +doctrine of the Ten Commandments are proved true by experience and by +fact: how the past, and how the present likewise, show us whole families, +whole tribes, whole aristocracies, whole nations, dwindling down to +imbecility, misery, and destruction, because the sins of the fathers are +visited on the children. + +Physicians, who see children born diseased; born stupid, or even idiotic; +born thwart-natured, or passionate, or false, or dishonest, or +brutal,—they know well what original sin means, though they call it by +their own name of hereditary tendencies. And they know, too, how the +sins of a parent, or of a grand parent, or even a great-grandparent, are +visited on the children to the third and fourth generation; and they say +‘It is a law of nature:’ and so it is. But the laws of nature are the +laws of God who made her: and His law is the same law by which death +reigns even over those who have not sinned after the likeness of Adam; +the law by which (even though if Christ be in us, the spirit is life, +because of righteousness) the body, nevertheless, is dead, because of +sin. + +Parents, parents, who hear my words, beware—if not for your own sakes, at +least for the sake of your children, and your children’s children—lest +the wages of your sin should be their death. + +And by this time, surely, some of you will be asking, ‘What has he said? +That there is no escape; that there is no forgiveness?’ + +None whatsoever, my friends, though you were to cry to heaven for ever +and ever, save the one old escape of which you hear in the church every +Sunday morning: ‘When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness +that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he +shall save his soul alive.’ + +What, does not the blood of Christ cleanse us from all sin? + +Yes, from all sin. But not, necessarily, from the wages of all sin. + +Judge for yourselves, my friends, again. Listen to the voice of God +revealed in facts. If you, being a drunkard, have injured your +constitution by drink, and then are converted, and repent, and turn to +God with your whole soul, and become, as you may, if you will, a truly +penitent, good, and therefore sober man,—will that cure the disease of +your body? It will certainly palliate and ease it: because, instead of +being drunken, you will have become sober: but still you will have +shortened your days by your past sins; and, in so far, even though the +Lord has put away your sin its wages still remain, as death. + +So it is, my friends, if you will only believe it, or rather see it with +your own eyes, with every sin, and every sort of sin. + +You will see, if you look, that the Article speaks exact truth when it +says, that the infection of nature doth remain, even in those that are +regenerate. It says that of original sin: but it is equally true of +actual sin. + +Would to God that all men would but believe this, and give up the too +common and too dangerous notion, that it is no matter if they go on wrong +for a while, provided they come right at last! + +No matter? I ask for facts again. Is there a man or woman in this +church twenty years old who does not know that it matters? Who does not +know that, if they have done wrong in youth, their own wrong deeds haunt +them and torment them?—That they are, perhaps the poorer, perhaps the +sicklier, perhaps the more ignorant, perhaps the sillier, perhaps the +more sorrowful this day, for things which they did twenty, thirty years +ago? Is there any one in this church who ever did a wrong thing without +smarting for it? If there is (which I question), let him be sure that it +is only because his time is not come. Do not fancy that because you are +forgiven, you may not be actually less good men all your lives by having +sinned when young. + +I know it is sometimes said, ‘The greater the sinner, the greater the +saint.’ I do not believe that: because I do not see it. I see, and I +thank God for it, that men who have been very wrong at one time, come +very right afterwards; that, having found out in earnest that the wages +of sin are death, they do repent in earnest, and receive the gift of +eternal life through Jesus Christ. But I see, too, that the bad habits, +bad passions, bad methods of thought, which they have indulged in youth, +remain more or less, and make them worse men, sillier men, less useful +men, less happy men, sometimes to their lives’ end: and they, if they be +true Christians, know it, and repent of their early sins, not once for +all only, but all their lives long; because they feel that they have +weakened and worsened themselves thereby. + +It stands to reason, my friends, that it should be so. If a man loses +his way, and finds it again, he is so much the less forward on his way, +surely, by all the time he has spent in getting back into the road. If a +child has a violent illness, it stops growing, because the life and +nourishment which ought to have gone towards its growth, are spent in +curing its disease. And so, if a man has indulged in bad habits in his +youth, he is but too likely (let him do what he will) to be a less good +man for it to his life’s end, because the Spirit of God, which ought to +have been making him grow in grace, freely and healthily, to the stature +of a perfect man, to the fulness of the measure of Christ, is striving to +conquer old bad habits, and cure old diseases of character; and the man, +even though he does enter into life, enters into it halt and maimed; and +the wages of his sin have been, as they always will be, death to some +powers, some faculties of his soul. + +Think over these things, my friends; and believe that the wages of sin +are death, and that there is no escaping from God’s just and everlasting +laws. But meanwhile, let us judge no man. This is a great and a solemn +reason for observing, with fear and trembling, our Lord’s command, for it +is nothing less, ‘Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not and +ye shall not be condemned.’ + +For we never can know how much of any man’s misconduct is to be set down +to original, and how much to actual, sin;—how much disease of mind and +heart he has inherited from his parents, how much he has brought upon +himself. + +Therefore judge no man, but yourselves. Search your own hearts, to see +what manner of men you really wish to be; judge yourselves, lest God +should judge you. + +Do you wish to go on as you like here on earth, right or wrong, in the +hope that, somehow or other, the punishment of your sins will be forgiven +you at the last day? + +Then know that that is impossible. As a man sows, so shall he reap; and +if you sow to the flesh, of the flesh you will reap—corruption. The +wages of sin are death. Those wages will be paid you, and you must take +them whether you like or not. + +But do you wish to be Good? Do you see (I trust in God that many of you +do) that goodness is the only wise, safe, prudent life for you because it +is the only path the end of which is not death? + +Do you see that goodness is the only right and honourable life for you, +because it is the only path by which you can do your duty to man or to +God; the only method by which you can show your gratitude to God for all +His goodness to you, and can please Him, in return for all that He has +done by His grace and free love to bless you? + +Do you, in a word, repent you truly of your former sins, and purpose to +lead a new life? Then know, that all beyond is the free grace, the free +gift of God. You have to earn nothing, to buy nothing. The will is all +God asks. Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ. + +Freely He forgives you all your past sins, for the sake of that precious +blood which was shed on the cross for the sins of the whole world. +Freely He takes you back, as His child, to your Father’s house. Freely, +He gives you His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Goodness, the Spirit of Life, +to put into your mind good desires, and enable you to bring those desires +to good effect, that you may live the eternal life of grace and goodness +for ever, whether in earth or heaven. + +Yes, it is the Gift of God, which raises you from the death of sin to the +life of righteousness; and if you have that gift, you will not murmur, +surely, though you have to bear, more or less, the just and natural +consequences of your former sins; though you be, through your own guilt, +a sadder man to your dying day. Be content. You are forgiven. You are +cleansed from your sin; is not that mercy enough? Why are you to demand +of God, that He should over and above cleanse you from the consequences +of your sin? He may leave them there to trouble and sadden you, just +because He loves you, and desires to chasten you, and keep you in mind of +what you were, and what you would be again, at any moment, if His Spirit +left you to yourself. You may have to enter into life halt and maimed: +yet, be content; you have a thousand times more than you deserve, for at +least you enter into Life. + + + + +SERMON V. +NIGHT AND DAY. + + + (_Preached at the Chapel Royal_.) + + ROMANS xiii. 12. + + The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off + the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. + +CERTAIN commentators would tell us, that St. Paul wrote these words in +the expectation that the end of the world, and the second coming of +Christ, were very near. The night was far spent, and the day of the Lord +at hand. Salvation—deliverance from the destruction impending on the +world, was nearer than when his converts first believed. Shortly the +Lord would appear in glory, and St. Paul and his converts would be caught +up to meet Him in the air. + +No doubt St. Paul’s words will bear this meaning. No doubt there are +many passages in his writings which seem to imply that he thought the end +of the world was near; and that Christ would reappear in glory, while he, +Paul, was yet alive on the earth. And there are passages; too, which +seem to imply that he afterwards altered that opinion, and, no longer +expecting to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, desired to depart +himself, and be with Christ, in the consciousness that ‘He was ready to +be offered up, and the time of his departure was at hand.’ + +I say that there are passages which seem to imply such a change in St. +Paul’s opinions. I do not say that they actually imply it. If I had a +positive opinion on the matter, I should not be hasty to give it. These +questions of ‘criticism,’ as they are now called, are far less important +than men fancy just now. A generation or two hence, it is to be hoped, +men will see how very unimportant they are, and will find that they have +detracted very little from the authority of Scripture as a whole; and +that they have not detracted in the least from the Gospel and good news +which Scripture proclaims to men—the news of a perfect God, who will have +men to become perfect even as He, their Father in heaven, is perfect; who +sent His only begotten Son into the world, that the world through Him +might be saved. + +In this case, I verily believe, it matters little to us whether St. Paul, +when he wrote these words, wrote them under the belief that Christ’s +second coming was at hand. We must apply to his words the great rule, +that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation—that is, +does not apply exclusively to any one fact or event: but fulfils itself +again and again, in a hundred unexpected ways, because he who wrote it +was moved by the Holy Spirit, who revealed to him the eternal and +ever-working laws of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, I say, the words are +true for us at this moment. To us, though we have, as far as I can see, +not the least reasonable cause for supposing the end of the world to be +more imminent than it was a thousand years ago—to us, nevertheless, and +to every generation of men, the night is always far spent, and the day is +always at hand. + +And this, surely, was in the mind of those who appointed this text to be +read as the Epistle for the first Sunday in Advent. + +Year after year, though Christ has not returned to judgment; though +scoffers have been saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? for all +things continue as they were at the beginning’—Year after year, I say, +are the clergy bidden to tell the people that the night is far spent, +that the day is at hand; and to tell them so, because it is true. +Whatsoever St. Paul meant, or did not mean, by the words, a few years +after our Lord’s ascension into heaven, they are there, for ever, written +by one who was moved by the Holy Ghost; and hence they have an eternal +moral and spiritual significance to mankind in every age. + +Whatever these words may, or may not have meant to St. Paul when he wrote +them first, in the prime of life, we may never know, and we need not +know. But we can guess surely enough what they must have meant to him in +after years, when he could say—as would to God we all might be able to +say—‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept +the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, +which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not +to me only, but unto all them that love His appearing.’ + +To him, then, the night would surely mean this mortal life on earth. The +day would mean the immortal life to come. + +For is not this mortal life, compared with that life to come, as night +compared with day? I do not mean to speak evil of it. God forbid that +we should do anything but thank God for this life. God forbid that we +should say impiously to Him, Why hast thou made me thus? No. God made +this mortal life, and therefore, like all things which He has made, it is +very good. But there are good nights, and there are bad nights; and +there are happy lives, and unhappy ones. But what are they at best? +What is the life of the happiest man without the Holy Spirit of God? A +night full of pleasant dreams. What is the life of the wisest man? A +night of darkness, through which he gropes his way by lanthorn-light, +slowly, and with many mistakes and stumbles. When we compare man’s vast +capabilities with his small deeds; when we think how much he might +know,—how little he does know in this mortal life,—can we wonder that the +highest spirits in every age have looked on death as a deliverance out of +darkness and a dungeon? And if this is life at the best, what is life at +the worst? To how many is life a night, not of peace and rest, but of +tossing and weariness, pain and sickness, anxiety and misery, till they +are ready to cry, When will it be over? When will kind Death come and +give me rest? When will the night of this life be spent, and the day of +God arise? ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, +hear my voice. My soul doth wait for the Lord, more than the sick man +who watches for the morning.’ + +Yes, think,—for it is good at times, however happy one may be oneself, to +think—of all the misery and sorrow that there is on earth, and how many +there are who would be glad to hear that it was nearly over; glad to hear +that the night was far spent, and the day was at hand. + +And even the happiest ought to ‘know the time.’ To know that the night +is far spent, and the day at hand. To know, too, that the night at best +was not given us, to sleep it all through, from sunset to sunrise. No +industrious man does that. Either he works after sunset, and often on +through the long hours, and into the short hours, before he goes to rest: +or else he rises before daybreak, and gets ready for the labours of the +coming day. The latter no man can do in this life. For we all sleep +away, more or less, the beginning of our life, in the time of childhood. +There is no sin in that—God seems to have ordained that so it should be. +But, to sleep away our manhood likewise,—is there no sin in that? As we +grow older, must we not awake out of sleep, and set to work, to be ready +for the day of God which will dawn on us when we pass out of this mortal +life into the world to come? + +As we grow older, and as we get our share of the cares, troubles, +experiences of life, it is high time to wake out of sleep, and ask Christ +to give us light—light enough to see our way through the night of this +life, till the everlasting day shall dawn. + +‘Knowing the time;’—the time of this our mortal life. How soon it will +be over, at the longest! How short the time seems since we were young! +How quickly it has gone! How every year, as we grow older seems to go +more and more quickly, and there is less time to do what we want, to +think seriously, to improve ourselves. So soon, and it will be over, and +we shall have no time at all, for we shall be in eternity. And what +then? What then? That depends on what now. On what we are doing now. +Are we letting our short span of life slip away in sleep; fancying +ourselves all the while wide awake, as we do in dreams—till we wake +really; and find that it is daylight, and that all our best dreams were +nothing but useless fancy? How many dream away their lives! Some upon +gain, some upon pleasure, some upon petty self-interest, petty quarrels, +petty ambitions, petty squabbles and jealousies about this person and +that, which are no more worthy to take up a reasonable human being’s time +and thoughts than so many dreams would be. Some, too, dream away their +lives in sin, in works of darkness which they are forced for shame and +safety to hide, lest they should come to the light and be exposed. So +people dream their lives away, and go about their daily business as men +who walk in their sleep, wandering about with their eyes open, and yet +seeing nothing of what is really around them. Seeing nothing: though +they think that they see, and know their own interest, and are shrewd +enough to find their way about this world. But they know nothing—nothing +of the very world with which they pride themselves they are so thoroughly +acquainted. None know less of the world than those who pride themselves +on being men of the world. For the true light, which shines all round +them, they do not see, and therefore they do not see the truth of things +by that light. If they did, then they would see that of which now they +do not even dream. + +They would see that God was around them, about their path and about their +bed, and spying out all their ways; and in the light of His presence, +they dare not be frivolous, dare not be ignorant, dare not be mean, dare +not be spiteful, dare not be unclean. + +They would see that Christ was around them, knocking at the door of their +hearts, that He may enter in, and dwell there, and give them peace; +crying to their restless, fretful, confused, unhappy souls, ‘Come unto +Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. +Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: +and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ + +They would see that Duty was around them. Duty—the only thing really +worth living for. The only thing which will really pay a man, either for +this life or the next. The only thing which will give a man rest and +peace, manly and quiet thoughts, a good conscience and a stout heart, in +the midst of hard labour, anxiety, sorrow and disappointment: because he +feels at least that he is doing his duty; that he is obeying God and +Christ, that he is working with them, and for them, and that, therefore, +they are working with him, and for him. God, Christ, and Duty—these, and +more, will a man see if he will awake out of sleep, and consider where he +is, by the light of God’s Holy Spirit. + +Then will that man feel that he must cast away the works of darkness; +whether of the darkness of foul and base sins; or the darkness of envy, +spite, and revenge; or the mere darkness of ignorance and silliness, +thoughtlessness and frivolity. He must cast them away, he will see. +They will not succeed—they are not safe—in such a serious world as this. +The term of this mortal life is too short, and too awfully important, to +be spent in such dreams as these. The man is too awfully near to God, +and to Christ, to dare to play the fool in their Divine presence. This +earth looks to him, now that he sees it in the true light, one great +temple of God, in which he dare not, for very shame, misbehave himself. +He must cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light, +now in the time of this mortal life; lest, when Christ comes in His glory +to judge the quick and the dead, he be found asleep, dreaming, useless, +unfit for the eternal world to come. + +Then let him awake, and cry to Christ for light: and Christ will give him +light—enough, at least, to see his way through the darkness of this life, +to that eternal life of which it is written, ‘They need no candle there, +nor light of the sun: for the Lord God and the Lamb are the light +thereof.’ And he will find that the armour of light is an armour indeed. +A defence against all enemies, a helmet for his head, and breastplate for +his heart, against all that can really harm his mind our soul. + +If a man, in the struggle of life, sees God, and Christ, and Duty, all +around him, that thought will be a helmet for his head. It will keep his +brain and mind clear, quiet, prudent to perceive and know what things he +ought to do. It will give him that Divine wisdom, of which Solomon says, +in his Proverbs, that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. + +The light will give him, I say, judgment and wisdom to perceive what he +ought to do; and it will give him, too, grace and power faithfully to +fulfil the same. For it will be a breastplate to his heart. It will +keep his heart sound, as well as his head. It will save him from +breaking his good resolutions, and from deserting his duty out of +cowardice, or out of passion. The light of Christ will keep his heart +pure, unselfish, forgiving; ready to hope all things, believe all things, +endure all things, by that Divine charity which God will pour into his +soul. + +For when he looks at things in the light of Christ, what does he see? +Christ hanging on the cross, praying for His murderers, dying for the +sins of the whole world. And what does the light which streams from that +cross show him of Christ? That the likeness of Christ is summed up in +one word—self-sacrificing love. What does the light which streams from +that cross show him of the world and mankind, in spite of all their sins? +That they belong to Him who died for them, and bought them with His own +most precious blood. + +‘Beloved, herein is love indeed. Not that we loved God, but that He +loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins.’ + +‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.’ + +After that sight a man cannot hate; cannot revenge. He must forgive; he +must love. From hence he is in the light, and sees his duty and his path +through life. ‘For he that hateth his brother walketh in darkness, and +knoweth not whither he goeth: because darkness has blinded his eyes. But +he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion +of stumbling in him. For he who dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and +God in him.’ + +Therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put you on the armour of +light, and be good men and true. + +For of this the Holy Ghost prophesies by the mouth of St. Paul, and of +all apostles and prophets. Not of times and seasons, which God the +Father has kept in His own hand: not of that day and hour of which no man +knows; no, not the Angels in heaven, neither the Son; but the Father +only: not of these does the Holy Ghost testify to men. Not of +chronology, past or future: but of holiness; because he is a Holy Spirit. + +For this purpose God, the Holy Father, sent His Son into the world. For +this God, the Holy Son, died upon the cross. For this God, the Holy +Ghost—proceeding from both the Father and the Son—inspired prophets and +apostles; that they might teach men to cast away the works of darkness, +and put on the armour of light; and become holy, as God is holy; pure, as +God is pure; true, as God is true; and good, as God is good. + + + + +SERMON VI. +THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. + + + (_Preached at the Chapel Royal_, _Whitehall_.) + + HEBREWS xii. 26–29. + + But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth + only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the + removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, + that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we + receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby + we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our + God is a consuming fire. + +THIS is one of the Royal texts of the New Testament. It declares one of +those great laws of the kingdom of God, which may fulfil itself, once and +again, at many eras, and by many methods; which fulfilled itself +especially and most gloriously in the first century after Christ; which +fulfilled itself again in the fifth century; and again at the time of the +Crusades; and again at the great Reformation in the sixteenth century; +and is fulfilling itself again at this very day. + +Now, in our fathers’ time, and in our own unto this day, is the Lord +Christ shaking the heavens and the earth, that those things which are +made may be removed, and that those things which cannot be shaken may +remain. We all confess this fact, in different phrases. We say that we +live in an age of change, of transition, of scientific and social +revolution. Our notions of the physical universe are rapidly altering +with the new discoveries of science; and our notions of Ethics and +Theology are altering as rapidly. + +The era looks differently to different minds, just as the first century +after Christ looked differently, according as men looked with faith +towards the future, or with regret towards the past. Some rejoice in the +present era as one of progress. Others lament over it as one of decay. +Some say that we are on the eve of a Reformation, as great and splendid +as that of the sixteenth century. Others say that we are rushing +headlong into scepticism and atheism. Some say that a new era is dawning +on humanity; others that the world and the Church are coming to an end, +and the last day is at hand. Both parties may be right, and both may be +wrong. Men have always talked thus at great crises. They talked thus in +the first century, in the fifth, in the eleventh, in the sixteenth. And +then both parties were right, and yet both wrong. And why not now? What +they meant to say, and what they mean to say now, is what he who wrote +the Epistle to the Hebrews said for them long ago in far deeper, wider, +more accurate words—that the Lord Christ was shaking the heavens and the +earth, that those things which can be shaken may be removed, as things +which are made—cosmogonies, systems, theories, fashions, prejudices, of +man’s invention: while those things which cannot be shaken may remain, +because they are eternal, the creation not of man, but of God. + +‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.’ Not merely +the physical world, and man’s conceptions thereof; but the spiritual +world, and man’s conceptions of that likewise. + +How have our conceptions of the physical world been shaken of late, with +ever-increasing violence! How simple, and easy, and certain, it all +looked to our forefathers! How complex, how uncertain, it looks to us! +With increased knowledge has come—not increased doubt—that I deny; but +increased reverence; increased fear of rash assertions, increased awe of +facts, as the acted words and thoughts of God. Once for all, I deny that +this age is an irreverent one. I say that an irreverent age is an age +like the Middle Age, in which men dared to fancy that they could and did +know all about earth and heaven; and set up their petty cosmogonies, +their petty systems of doctrine, as measures of the ways of that God whom +the heaven and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain. + +It was simple enough, their theory of the universe. The earth was a flat +plain; for did not the earth look flat? Or if some believed the earth to +be a globe, yet the existence of antipodes was an unscriptural heresy. +Above were the heavens: first the lower heavens in which the stars were +fixed and moved; and above them heaven after heaven, each peopled of +higher orders, up to that heaven of heavens in which Deity—and by Him, +the Mother of Deity—were enthroned. + +And below—What could be more clear, more certain, than this—that as above +the earth was the kingdom of light, and joy, and holiness, so below the +earth was the kingdom of darkness, and torment, and sin? What could be +more certain? Had not even the heathens said so, by the mouth of the +poet Virgil? What could be more simple, rational, orthodox, than to +adopt (as they actually did) Virgil’s own words, and talk of Tartarus, +Styx, and Phlegethon, as indisputable Christian entities. They were not +aware that the Buddhists of the far East had held much the same theory of +endless retribution several centuries before; and that Dante, with his +various _bolge_, tenanted each by its various species of sinners, was +merely re-echoing the horrors which are to be seen painted on the walls +of any Buddhist temple, as they were on the walls of so many European +churches during the Middle Ages, when men really believed in that same +Tartarology, with the same intensity with which they now believe in the +conclusions of astronomy or of chemistry. + +To them, indeed, it was all an indisputable or physical fact, as any +astronomic or chemical fact would have been; for they saw it with their +own eyes. + +Virgil had said that the mouth of Tartarus was there in Italy, by the +volcanic lake of Avernus; and after the first eruption of Vesuvius in the +first century, nothing seemed more probable. Etna, Stromboli, Hecla, +must be, likewise, all mouths of hell; and there were not wanting holy +hermits who had heard within those craters, shrieks and clanking chains, +and the shouts of demons tormenting endlessly the souls of the lost. And +now, how has all this been shaken? How much of all this does any +educated man, though he be pious, though he desire with all his heart to +be orthodox—and is orthodox in fact—how much of all this does he believe, +as he believes that the earth is round, or, that if he steals his +neighbour’s goods he commits a crime? + +For, since these days, the earth has been shaken, and with it the heavens +likewise, in that very sense in which the expression is used in the text. +Our conceptions of them have been shaken. The Copernican system shook +them, when it told men that the earth was but a tiny globular planet +revolving round the sun. Geology shook them, when it told men that the +earth has endured for countless ages, during which whole continents have +been submerged, whole seas become dry land, again and again. Even now +the heavens and the earth are being shaken by researches into the +antiquity of the human race, and into the origin and the mutability of +species, which, issue in what results they may, will shake for us, +meanwhile, theories which are venerable with the authority of nearly +eighteen hundred years, and of almost every great Doctor since St. +Augustine. + +And as our conception of the physical universe has been shaken, the old +theory of a Tartarus beneath the earth has been shaken also, till good +men have been glad to place Tartarus in a comet, or in the sun, or to +welcome the possible, but unproved hypothesis, of a central fire in the +earth’s core, not on any scientific grounds, but if by any means a spot +may be found in space corresponding to that of which Virgil, Dante, and +Milton sang. + +And meanwhile—as was to be expected from a generation which abhors +torture, labours for the reformation of criminals, and even doubts +whether it should not abolish capital punishment—a shaking of the heavens +is abroad, of which we shall hear more and more, as the years roll on—a +general inclination to ask whether Holy Scripture really endorses the +Middle-age notions of future punishment in endless torment? Men are +writing and speaking on this matter, not merely with ability and +learning, but with a piety, and reverence for Scripture which (rightly or +wrongly employed) must, and will, command attention. They are saying +that it is not those who deny these notions who disregard the letter of +Scripture, but those who assert them; that they are distorting the plain +literal text, in order to make Scripture fit the writings of Dante and +Milton, when they translate into ‘endless torments after death,’ such +phrases as the outer darkness, the undying worm, the Gehenna of +fire—which manifestly (say these men), if judged by fair rules of +interpretation, refer to this life, and specially to the fate of the +Jewish nation: or when they tell us that eternal death means really +eternal life, only in torments. We demand, they say, not a looser, but a +stricter; not a more metaphoric, but a more literal; not a more careless, +but a more reverent interpretation of Scripture; and whether this demand +be right or wrong, it will not pass unheard. + +And even more severely shaken, meanwhile, is that mediæval conception of +heaven and hell, by the question which educated men are asking more and +more:—‘Heaven and hell—the spiritual world—Are they merely invisible +places in space, which may become visible hereafter? or are they not +rather the moral world—the world of right and wrong? Love and +righteousness—is not that the heaven itself wherein God dwells? Hatred +and sin—is not that hell itself, wherein dwells all that is opposed to +God?’ + +And out of that thought, right or wrong, other thoughts have sprung—of +ethics, of moral retribution—not new at all (say these men), but to be +found in Scripture, and in the writings of all great Christian divines, +when they have listened, not to systems, but to the voice of their own +hearts. + +‘We do not deny’ (they say) ‘that the wages of sin are death. We do not +deny the necessity of punishment—the certainty of punishment. We see it +working awfully enough around us in this life; we believe that it may +work in still more awful forms in the life to come. Only tell us not +that it must be endless, and thereby destroy its whole purpose, and (as +we think) its whole morality. We, too, believe in an eternal fire; but +we believe its existence to be, not a curse, but a Gospel and a blessing, +seeing that that fire is God Himself, who taketh away the sins of the +world, and of whom it is therefore written, Our God is a consuming fire.’ + +Questions, too, have arisen, of—‘What _is_ moral retribution? Should +punishment have any end but the good of the offender? Is God so +controlled that He must needs send into the world beings whom He knows to +be incorrigible, and doomed to endless misery? And if not so controlled, +then is not the other alternative as to His character more fearful still? +Does He not bid us copy Him, His justice, His love? Then is that His +justice, is that His love, which if we copied we should be unjust and +unloving utterly? Are there two moralities, one for God, and quite +another for man, made in the image of God? Can these dark dogmas be true +of a Father who bids us be perfect as He is, in that He sends His sun to +shine on the evil and the good, and His rain on the just and unjust? Or +of a Son who so loved the world that He died to save the world and surely +not in vain?’ + +These questions—be they right or wrong—educated men and women of all +classes and denominations—orthodox, be it remembered, as well as +unorthodox—are asking, and will ask more and more, till they receive an +answer. And if we of the clergy cannot give them an answer which accords +with their conscience and their reason; if we tell them that the words of +Scripture, and the integral doctrines of Christianity, demand the same +notions of moral retribution as were current in the days when men racked +criminals, burned heretics alive, and believed that every Mussulman whom +they slaughtered in a crusade went straight to endless torments,—then +evil times will come, both for the clergy and the Christian religion, for +many a yeas henceforth. + +What then are we to believe? What are we to do, amid this shaking of the +earth and heaven? Are we to degenerate into a lazy and heartless +scepticism, which, under pretence of liberality and charity, believes +that everything is a little true, everything is a little false—in one +word, believes nothing at all? Or are we to degenerate into unmanly and +faithless wailings, crying out that the flood of infidelity is +irresistible, that the last days are come, and that Christ has deserted +His Church? + +Not if we will believe the text. The text tells us of something which +cannot be moved, though all around it reel and crumble—of a firm +standing-ground, which would endure, though the heavens should pass away +as a scroll, and the earth should be removed, and cast into the midst of +the sea. + +We have a kingdom, the Scripture says, which cannot be moved, even the +kingdom of Him whom it calls shortly after ‘Jesus Christ, the same +yesterday, to-day and for ever.’ An eternal and unchangeable kingdom, +ruled by an eternal and unchangeable King. That is what cannot be moved. + +Scripture does not say that we have an unchangeable cosmogony, an +unchangeable theory of moral retribution, an unchangeable system of +dogmatic propositions. Whether we have, or have not, it is not of them +that Scripture reminds the Jews, when the heavens and the earth were +shaken; when their own nation and worship were in their death-agony, and +all the beliefs and practices of men were in a whirl of doubt and +confusion, of decay and birth side by side, such as the world had never +seen before. Not of them does it remind the Jews, but of the changeless +kingdom, and the changeless King. + +My friends, lay it seriously to heart, once and for all. Do you believe +that you are subjects of that kingdom, and that Christ is the living, +ruling, guiding King thereof? Whatsoever Scripture does not say, +Scripture speaks of that, again and again, in the plainest terms. But do +you believe it? These are days in which the preacher ought to ask every +man whether he believes it, and bid him, of whatever else he repents of, +to repent, at least, of not having believed this primary doctrine (I may +almost say) of Scripture and of Christianity. + +But if you do believe it, will it seem strange to you to believe this +also,—That, considering who Christ is, the co-eternal and co-equal Son of +God, He may be actually governing His kingdom; and if so, that He may +know better how to govern it than such poor worms as we? That if the +heavens and the earth be shaken, Christ Himself may be shaking them? if +opinions be changing, Christ Himself may be changing them? If new truths +and facts are being discovered, Christ Himself may be revealing them? +That if those truths seem to contradict the truths which He has already +taught us, they do not really contradict them, any more than those +reasserted in the sixteenth century? That if our God be a consuming +fire, He is now burning up (to use St. Paul’s parable) the chaff and +stubble which men have built on the one foundation of Christ, that, at +last, nought but the pure gold may remain? Is it not possible? Is it +not most probable, if we only believe that Christ is a real, living King, +an active, practical King,—who, with boundless wisdom and skill, love and +patience, is educating and guiding Christendom, and through Christendom +the whole human race? + +If men would but believe that, how different would be their attitude +toward new facts, toward new opinions! They would receive them with +grace; gracefully, courteously, fairly, charitably, and with that +reverence and godly fear which the text tells us is the way to serve God +acceptably. They would say: ‘Christ (so the Scripture tells us) has been +educating man through Abraham, through Moses, through David, through the +Jewish prophets, through the Greeks, through the Romans; then through +Himself, as man as well as God; and after His ascension, through His +Apostles, especially through St. Paul, to an ever-increasing +understanding of God, and the universe, and themselves. And even after +their time He did not cease His education. Why should He? How could He, +who said of Himself, “All power is given to me in heaven and earth;” “Lo, +I am with you alway to the end of the world;” and again, “My Father +worketh hitherto, and I work?” + +‘At the Reformation in the sixteenth century He called on our forefathers +to repent—that is, to change their minds—concerning opinions which had +been undoubted for more than a thousand years. Why should He not be +calling on us at this time likewise? And if any answer, that the +Reformation was only a return to the primitive faith of the Apostles—Why +should not this shaking of the hearts and minds of men issue in a still +further return, in a further correction of errors, a further sweeping +away of additions, which are not integral to the Christian creeds, but +which were left behind, through natural and necessary human frailty, by +our great Reformers? Wise they were,—good and great,—as giants on the +earth, while we are but as dwarfs; but, as the hackneyed proverb tells +us, the dwarf on the giant’s shoulders may see further than the giant +himself.’ + +Ah! that men would approach new truth in that spirit; in the spirit of +godly fear, which is inspired by the thought that we are in the kingdom +of God, and that the King thereof is Christ, both God and man, once +crucified for us, now living for us for ever! Ah! that they would thus +serve God, waiting, as servants before a lord, for the slightest sign +which might intimate his will! Then they would look at new truths with +caution; in that truly conservative spirit which is the duty of all +Christians, and the especial strength of the Englishman. With +caution,—lest in grasping eagerly after what is new, we throw away truth +which we have already: but with awe and reverence; for Christ may have +sent the new truth; and he who fights against it, may haply be found +fighting against God. And so would they indeed obey the Apostolic +injunction—Prove all things, hold fast that which is good,—that which is +pure, fair, noble, tending to the elevation of men; to the improvement of +knowledge, justice, mercy, well-being; to the extermination of ignorance, +cruelty, and vice. That, at least, must come from Christ, unless the +Pharisees were right when they said that evil spirits could be cast out +by Beelzebub, prince of the devils. + +How much more Christian, reverent, faithful, as well as more prudent, +rational, and philosophical, would such a temper be than that which +condemns all changes _à priori_, at the first hearing, or rather, too +often, without any hearing at all, in rage and terror, like that of the +animal who at the same moment barks at, and runs away from, every unknown +object. + +At least that temper of mind will give us calm; faith, patience, hope, +charity, though the heavens and the earth are shaken around us. For we +have received a kingdom which cannot be moved, and in the King thereof we +have the most perfect trust: for us He stooped to earth, was born, and +died on the cross; and can we not trust Him? Let Him do what He will; +let Him teach us what He will; let Him lead us whither He will. Wherever +He leads, we shall find pasture. Wherever He leads, must be the way of +truth, and we will follow, and say, as Socrates of old used to say, Let +us follow the Logos boldly, whithersoever it leadeth. If Socrates had +courage to say it, how much more should we, who know what he, good man, +knew not, that the Logos is not a mere argument, train of thought, +necessity of logic, but a Person—perfect God and perfect man, even Jesus +Christ, ‘the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,’ who promised of old, +and therefore promises to us, and our children after us, to lead those +who trust Him into all truth. + + + + +SERMON VII. +THE BATTLE OF LIFE. + + + GALATIANS v. 16, 17. + + I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of + the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit + against the flesh: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. + +A GREAT poet speaks of ‘Happiness, our being’s end and aim;’ and he has +been reproved for so doing. Men have said, and wisely, the end and aim +of our being is not happiness, but goodness. If goodness comes first, +then happiness may come after. But if not, something better than +happiness may come, even blessedness. + +This it is, I believe, which our Lord may have meant when He said, ‘He +that saveth his life, or soul’ (for the two words in Scripture mean +exactly the same thing), ‘shall lose it. And he that loseth his life, +shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world, +and lose his own life?’ + +How is this? It is a hard saying. Difficult to believe, on account of +the natural selfishness which lies deep in all of us. Difficult even to +understand in these days, when religion itself is selfish, and men learn +more and more to think that the end and aim of religion is not to make +them good while they live, but merely to save their souls after they die. + +But whether it be hard to understand or not, we must understand it, if we +would be good men. And how to understand it, the Epistle for this day +will teach us. + +‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.’ The +Spirit, which is the Spirit of God within our hearts and conscience, +says—Be good. The flesh, the animal, savage nature, which we all have in +common with the dumb animals, says—Be happy. Please yourself. Do what +you like. Eat and drink, for to-morrow you die. + +But, happily for us, the Spirit lusts against the flesh. It draws us the +opposite way. It lifts us up, instead of dragging us down. It has +nobler aims, higher longings. It, as St. Paul puts it, will not let us +do the things that we would. It will not let us do just what we like, +and please ourselves. It often makes us unhappy just when we try to be +happy. It shames us, and cries in our hearts—You were not meant merely +to please yourselves, and be as the beasts which perish. + +But how few listen to that voice of God’s Spirit within their hearts, +though it be just the noblest thing of which they will ever be aware on +earth! + +How few listen to it, till the lusts of the flesh are worn out, and have +worn them out likewise, and made them reap the fruit which they have +sowed—sowing to the selfish flesh, and of the selfish flesh reaping +corruption. + +The young man says—I will be happy and do what I like; and runs after +what he calls pleasure. The middle-aged man, grown more prudent, says—I +will be happy yet, and runs after money, comfort, fame and power. But +what do they gain? ‘The works of the flesh,’ the fruit of this selfish +lusting after mere earthly happiness, ‘are manifest, which are +these:’—not merely that open vice and immorality into which the young man +falls when he craves after mere animal pleasure, but ‘hatred, variance, +emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies’—_i.e._, factions in +Church or State—‘envyings, murders, and such like.’ + +Thus men put themselves under the law. Not under Moses’ law, of course, +but under some law or other. + +For why has law been invented? Why is it needed, with all its expense? +Law is meant to prevent, if possible, men harming each other by their own +selfishness, by those lusts of the flesh which tempt every man to seek +his own happiness, careless of his neighbour’s happiness, interest, +morals; by all the passions which make men their own tormentors, and +which make the history of every nation too often a history of crime, and +folly, and faction, and war, sad and shameful to read; all those passions +of which St. Paul says once and for ever, that those who do such things +‘shall not inherit the kingdom of God.’ + +These are the sad consequences of giving way to the flesh, the selfish +animal nature within us: and most miserable would man be if that were all +he had to look to. Miserable, were there not a kingdom of God, into +which he could enter all day long, and be at peace; and a Spirit of God, +who would raise him up to the spiritual life of love, joy, peace, +long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; and a +Son of God, the King of that kingdom, the Giver of that Spirit, who cries +for ever to every one of us—‘Come unto Me, ye that are weary and heavy +laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you, and learn of Me, +for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your +souls.’ + +Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance; these are the fruits of the Spirit: the spirit of +unselfishness; the spirit of charity; the spirit of justice; the spirit +of purity; the Spirit of God. Against them there is no law. He who is +guided by this Spirit, and he only, may do what he would; for he will +wish to do nought but what is right. He is not under the law, but under +grace; and full of grace will he be in all his words and works. He has +entered into the kingdom of God, and is living therein as God’s subject, +obeying the royal law of liberty—‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as +thyself.’ + +‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, +so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,’ says St. Paul. + +My friends, this is the battle of life. + +In every one of us, more or less, this battle is going on; a battle +between the flesh and the Spirit, between the animal nature and the +divine grace. In every one of us, I say, who is not like the heathen, +dead in trespasses and sins; in every one of us who has a conscience, +excusing or else accusing us. There are those—a very few, I hope—who are +sunk below that state; who have lost their sense of right and wrong; who +only care to fulfil the lusts of the flesh in pleasure, ease, and vanity. +There are those in whom the voice of conscience is lead for a while, +silenced by self-conceit; who say in their prosperity, like the foolish +Laodiceans, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of +nothing,’ and know not that in fact and reality, and in the sight of God, +they are ‘wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ + +Happy, happy for any and all of us,—if ever we fall into that dream of +pride and false security,—to be awakened again, however painful the +awakening may be! Happy for every man that the battle between the Spirit +and the flesh should begin in him again and again, as long as his flesh +is not subdued to his spirit. If he be wrong, the greatest blessing +which can happen to him is, that he should find himself in the wrong. If +he have been deceiving himself, the greatest blessing is, that God should +anoint his eyes that he may see—see himself as he is; see his own inbred +corruption; see the sin which doth so easily beset him, whatever it may +be. Whatever anguish of mind it may cost him, it is a light price to pay +for the inestimable treasure which true repentance and amendment brings; +the fine gold of solid self-knowledge, tried in the fire of bitter +experience; the white raiment of a pure and simple heart; the eye-salve +of honest self-condemnation and noble shame. If he have but these—and +these God will give him, in answer to prayer, the prayer of a broken and +a contrite heart—then he will be able to carry on the battle against the +corrupt flesh, with its affections and lusts, in hope. In the assured +hope of final victory. ‘For greater is He that is with us, than he that +is against us? He that is against us is our self, our selfish self; our +animal nature; and He that is with us is God; God and none other: and who +can pluck us out of His hand? + +My friends, the bread and the wine on that table are God’s own sign to us +that He will not leave us to be, like the savage, the slaves of our own +animal natures; that He will feed not merely our bodies with animal, but +our souls with spiritual food; giving us strength to rise above our +selfish selves; and so subdue the flesh to the Spirit, that at last, +however long and weary the fight, however sore wounded and often worsted +we may be, we shall conquer in the battle of life. + + + + +SERMON VIII. +FREE GRACE. + + + (_Preached before the Queen at Windsor_, _March_ 12, 1865.) + + ISAIAH lv. 1. + + Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath + no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without + money and without price. + +EVERY one who knows his Bible as he should, knows well this noble +chapter. It seems to be one of the separate poems or hymns of which the +Book of Isaiah is composed. It is certainly one of the most beautiful of +them, and also one of the deepest. So beautiful is it, that the good men +of old who translated the Bible into English, could not help catching the +spirit of the words as they went on with their work, and making the +chapter almost a hymn in English, as it is a hymn in Hebrew. Even the +very sound of the words, as we listen to them, is a song in itself; and +there is perhaps no more perfect piece of writing in the English +language, than the greater part of this chapter. + +This may not seem a very important matter; and yet those good men of old +must have felt that there was something in this chapter which went home +especially to their hearts, and would go home to the hearts of us for +whose sake they translated it. + +And those good men judged rightly. The care which they bestowed on +Isaiah’s words has not been in vain. The noble sound of the text has +caught many a man’s ears, in order that the noble meaning of the text +might touch his heart, and bring him back again to God, to seek Him while +He may be found, and call on Him while He is near; that so the wicked +might forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return +to God, for He will have compassion, and to our God, for He will +abundantly pardon; and that he might find that God’s thoughts are not as +man’s thoughts, nor His ways as man’s ways, saith the Lord; for as the +heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways and thoughts higher +than ours. + +Yes—I believe that the beauty of this chapter has made many a man listen +to it, who had perhaps never cared to listen to any good before; and +learn a precious lesson from it, which he could learn nowhere save in the +Bible. + +For this text is one of those which have been called the Evangelical +Prophecies, in which the prophet rises far above Moses’ old law, and the +letter of it, which, as St. Paul says, is a letter which killeth; and the +spirit of it, which is a spirit which, as St. Paul says, gendereth to +bondage and slavish dread of God: an utterance in which the prophet sees +by faith the Lord Jesus Christ and His free grace revealed—dimly, of +course, and in a figure—but still revealed by the Spirit of God, who +spake by the prophets. As St. Paul says, Moses’ law made nothing +perfect, and therefore had to be disannulled for its unprofitableness and +weakness, and a better hope brought in, by which we draw near to God. +And here, in this text, we see the better hope coming in, and as it were +dawning upon men—the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ our +Lord, who was to rise afterwards, to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, +and the glory of His people Israel. + +And what was this better hope? One, St. Paul says, by which we could +draw nigh to God; come near to Him; as to a Father, a Saviour, a +Comforter, a liege lord—not a tyrant who holds us against our will as his +slaves, but a liege lord who holds us with our will as His tenants, His +vassals, His liege men, as the good old English words were; one who will +take His vassals into His counsel, and inform them with His Spirit, and +teach them His mind, that they may do His will and copy His example, and +be treated by Him as His friends—in spite of the infinite difference of +rank between them and Him, which they must never forget. + +But though the difference of rank be infinite and boundless—for it is the +difference between sinful man and God perfect for ever—yet still man can +now draw near to God. He is not commanded to stand afar off in fear and +trembling, as the old Jews were at Sinai. We have not come, says St. +Paul, to a mount which burned with fire, and blackness, and darkness, and +storm, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which those +who heard entreated that they should not be spoken to them any more: for +they could not endure that which was commanded: but we are come to the +city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the Church of the +first-born which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and +to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the +new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling. + +We are come to God, the Judge of all, and to Christ—not bidden to stand +afar off from them. That is the point to which I wish you to attend. +For this agrees with the words of the text, ‘Ho, every one that +thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’ + +This message it is, which made this chapter precious in the eyes of the +good men of old. This message it is, which has made it precious, in all +times, to thousands of troubled, hard-worked, weary, afflicted hearts. +This is what has made it precious to thousands who were wearied with the +burden of their sins, and longed to be made righteous and good; and knew +bitterly well that they could not make themselves good, but that God +alone could do that; and so longed to come to God, that they might be +made good: but did not know whether they might come or not; or whether, +if they came, God would receive them, and help them, and convert them. +This message it is, which has made the text an evangelical prophecy, to +be fulfilled only in Christ—a message which tells men of a God who says, +Come. Of a God whom Moses’ law, saying merely, ‘Thou shalt not,’ did not +reveal to us, divine and admirable as it was, and is, and ever will be. +Of a God whom natural religion, such as even the heathen, St. Paul says, +may gain from studying God’s works in this wonderful world around us—of a +God, I say, whom natural religion does not reveal to us, divine and +admirable as it is. But of a God who was revealed, step by step, to the +Psalmists and the Prophets, more and more clearly as the years went on; +of a God who was fully and utterly revealed, not merely by, but in Jesus +Christ our Lord, who was Himself that God, very God of very God begotten, +being the brightness of His Father’s glory, and the express image of His +person; whose message and call, from the first day of His ministry to His +glorious ascension, was, Come. + +Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh you. + +Come unto Me, and take My yoke on you: for My yoke is easy, and My burden +is light. + +I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he +that believeth in Me shall never thirst. + +All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me. And he that cometh +to Me I will in no wise cast out. + +Nay, the very words of this prophecy Christ took to Himself again and +again, speaking of Himself as the fountain of life, health and light; +when He stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to Me, +and drink. + +Come unto Me, that ye may have life, is the message of Jesus Christ, both +God and man. Come, that you may have forgiveness of your sins; come, +that you may have the Holy Spirit, by which you may sin no more, but live +the life of the Spirit, the everlasting life of goodness, by which the +spirits of just men, and angels, and archangels, live for ever before +God. + +And what says St. Paul? See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. For +if they escaped not, who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall +not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven. + +Yes. The goodness of God, the condescension of God, instead of making it +more easy for sinners to escape, makes it, if possible, more difficult. +There are those who fancy that because God is merciful—because it is +written in this very chapter, Let a man return to the Lord, and He will +have mercy; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,—that, +therefore, God is indulgent, and will overlook their sins; forgetting +that in the verse before it is said, Let the wicked forsake his ways, and +the unrighteous man his thoughts, and then—but not till then—let him +return to God, to be received with compassion and forgiveness. + +Too many know not, as St. Paul says, that the goodness of God leads men, +not to sin freely and carelessly without fear of punishment, but leads +them to repentance. And yet do not our own hearts and consciences tell +us that it is so? That it is more base, and more presumptuous likewise, +to turn away from one who speaks with love, than one who speaks with +sternness; from one who calls us to come to him, with boundless +condescension, than from one who bids us stand afar off and tremble? + +Those Jews of old, when they refused to hear God speaking in the thunders +of Sinai, committed folly. We, if we refuse to hear God speaking in the +tender words of Jesus crucified for us, commit an equal folly: but we +commit baseness and ingratitude likewise. They rebelled against a +Master: we rebel against a Father. + +But, though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. We may be false to Him, +false to our better selves, false to our baptismal vows: but He cannot be +false. He cannot change. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. What He said on earth, that He says eternally in heaven: If any +man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. + +Eternally, and for ever, in heaven, says St. John, Christ says, and is, +and does, what Isaiah prophesied that He would say, and be, and do,—I am +the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And +the Spirit and the Bride (His Spirit and His Church) say, Come. And let +him that is athirst, Come: and whosoever will, let him take of the water +of life freely. For ever He calls to every anxious soul, every afflicted +soul, every weary soul, every discontented soul, to every man who is +ashamed of himself, and angry with himself, and longs to live a soberer, +gentler, nobler, purer, truer, more useful life—Come. Let him who +hungers and thirsts after righteousness, come to the waters; and he that +hath no silver—nothing to give to God in return for all His bounty—let +him buy without silver, and eat; and live for ever that eternal life of +righteousness, holiness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, which is +the one true and only salvation bought for us by the precious blood of +Christ, our Lord. + + + + +SERMON IX. +EZEKIEL’S VISION. + + + (_Preached before the Queen at Windsor_, _June_ 26, 1864.) + + EZEKIEL i. 1, 26. + + Now it came to pass, as I was among the captives by the river of + Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. And + upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of + a man. + +EZEKIEL’S Vision may seem to some a strange and unprofitable subject on +which to preach. It ought not to be so in fact. All Scripture is given +by Inspiration of God, and is profitable for teaching, for correction, +for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. And so will this Vision +be to us, if we try to understand it aright. We shall find in it fresh +knowledge of God, a clearer and fuller revelation, made to Ezekiel, than +had been, up to his time, made to any man. + +I am well aware that there are some very difficult verses in the text. +It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand exactly what presented +itself to Ezekiel’s mind. + +Ezekiel saw a whirlwind come out of the north; a whirling globe of fire; +four living creatures coming out of the midst thereof. So far the +imagery is simple enough, and grand enough. But when he begins to speak +of the living creatures, the cherubim, his description is very obscure. +All that we discover is, a vision of huge creatures with the feet, and +(as some think) the body of an ox, with four wings, and four faces,—those +of a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. Ezekiel seems to discover +afterwards that these are the cherubim, the same which overshadowed the +ark in Moses’ tabernacle and Solomon’s temple—only of a more complex +form; for Moses’ and Solomon’s cherubim are believed to have had but one +face each, while Ezekiel’s had four. + +Now, concerning the cherubim, and what they meant, we know very little. +The Jews, at the time of the fall of Jerusalem, had forgotten their +meaning. Josephus, indeed, says they had forgotten their very shape. + +Some light has been thrown, lately, on the figures of these creatures, by +the sculptures of those very Assyrian cities to which Ezekiel was a +captive,—those huge winged oxen and lions with human heads; and those +huge human figures with four wings each, let down and folded round them +just as Ezekiel describes, and with heads, sometimes of the lion, and +sometimes of the eagle. None, however, have been found as yet, I +believe, with four faces, like those of Ezekiel’s Vision; they are all of +the simpler form of Solomon’s cherubim. But there is little doubt that +these sculptures were standing there perfect in Ezekiel’s time, and that +he and the Jews who were captive with him may have seen them often. And +there is little doubt also what these figures meant: that they were +symbolic of royal spirits—those thrones, dominations, princedoms, powers, +of which Milton speaks,—the powers of the earth and heaven, the royal +archangels who, as the Chaldæans believed, governed the world, and gave +it and all things life; symbolized by them under the types of the four +royal creatures of the world, according to the Eastern nations; the ox +signifying labour, the lion power, the eagle foresight, and the man +reason. + +So with the wheels which Ezekiel sees. We find them in the Assyrian +sculptures—wheels with a living spirit sitting in each, a human figure +with outspread wings; and these seem to have been the genii, or guardian +angels, who watched over their kings, and gave them fortune and victory. + +For these Chaldæans were specially worshippers of angels and spirits; and +they taught the Jews many notions about angels and spirits, which they +brought home with them into Judæa after the captivity. + +Of them, of course, we read little or nothing in Holy Scripture; but +there is much, and too much, about them in the writings of the old +Rabbis, the Scribes and Pharisees of the New Testament. + +Now Ezekiel, inspired by the Spirit of God, rises far above the old +Chaldæans and their dreams. Perhaps the captive Jews were tempted to +worship these cherubim and genii, as the Chaldæans did; and it may be +that Ezekiel was commissioned by God to set them right, and by his vision +to give a type, pattern, or picture of God’s spiritual laws, by which He +rules the world. + +Be that as it may. In the first place, Ezekiel’s cherubim are far more +wonderful and complicated than those which he would see on the walls of +the Assyrian buildings. And rightly so; for this world is far more +wonderful, more complicated, more cunningly made and ruled, than any of +man’s fancies about it; as it is written in the Book of Job,—‘Where wast +thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast +understanding. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who +laid the corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and +all the sons of God shouted for joy?’ + +Next (and this is most important), these different cherubim were not +independent of each other, each going his own way, and doing his own +will. Not so. Ezekiel had found in them a divine and wonderful order, +by which the services of angels as well as of men are constituted. +Orderly and harmoniously they worked together. Out of the same fiery +globe, from the same throne of God, they came forth all alike. They +turned not when they went; whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they went, +and ran and returned like a flash of lightning. Nay, in one place he +speaks as if all the four creatures were but one creature: ‘This is the +living creature which I saw by the river of Chebar.’ + +And so it is, we may be sure, in the world of God, whether in the earthly +or in the heavenly world. All things work together, praising God and +doing His will. Angels and the heavenly host; sun and moon; stars and +light; fire and hail; snow and vapour; wind and storm: all fulfil His +word. ‘He hath made them fast for ever and ever: He hath given them a +law which shall not be broken.’ For before all things, under all things, +and through all things, is a divine unity and order; all things working +towards one end, because all things spring from one beginning, which is +the bosom of God the Father. + +And so with the wheels; the wheels of fortune and victory, and the fate +of nations and of kings. ‘They were so high,’ Ezekiel said, ‘that they +were dreadful.’ But he saw no human genius sitting, one in each wheel of +fortune, each protecting his favourite king and nation. These, too, did +not go their own way and of their own will. They were parts of God’s +divine and wonderful order, and obeyed the same laws as the cherubim. +‘And when the living creatures went, the wheels went with them; for the +spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.’ Everywhere was the +same divine unity and order; the same providence, the same laws of God, +presided over the natural world and over the fortunes of nations and of +kings. Victory and prosperity was not given arbitrarily by separate +genii, each genius protecting his favourite king, each genius striving +against the other on behalf of his favourite. Fortune came from the +providence of One Being; of Him of whom it is written, ‘God standeth in +the congregation of princes: He is the judge among gods.’ And again, +‘The Lord is King, be the people never so impatient: He sitteth between +the cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet.’ + +And is this all? God forbid. This is more than the Chaldæans saw, who +worshipped angels and not God—the creature instead of the Creator. But +where the Chaldæan vision ended, Ezekiel’s only began. His prophecy +rises far above the imaginations of the heathen. + +He hears the sound of the wings of the cherubim, like the tramp of an +army, like the noise of great waters, like the roll of thunder, the voice +of Almighty God: but above their wings he sees a firmament, which the +heathen cannot see, clear as the flashing crystal, and on that firmament +a sapphire throne, and round that throne a rainbow, the type of +forgiveness and faithfulness, and on that throne A Man. + +And the cherubim stand, and let down their wings in submission, waiting +for the voice of One mightier than they. And Ezekiel falls upon his +face, and hears from off the throne a human voice, which calls to him as +human likewise, ‘Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to +thee.’ + +This, this is Ezekiel’s vision: not the fiery globe merely, nor the +cherubim, nor the wheels, nor the powers of nature, nor the angelic +host—dominions and principalities, and powers—but The Man enthroned above +them all, the Lord and Guide and Ruler of the universe; He who makes the +winds His angels, and the flames of fire His ministers; and that Lord +speaking to him, not through cherubim, not through angels, not through +nature, not through mediators, angelic or human, but speaking direct to +him himself, as man speaks to man. + +As man speaks to man. This is the very pith and marrow of the Old +Testament and of the New; which gradually unfolds itself, from the very +first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation,—that man is made in +the likeness of God; and that therefore God can speak to him, and he can +understand God’s words and inspirations. + +Man is like God; and therefore God, in some inconceivable way, is like +man. That is the great truth set forth in the first chapter of Genesis, +which goes on unfolding itself more clearly throughout the Old Testament, +till here, in Ezekiel’s vision, it comes to, perhaps, its clearest stage +save one. + +That human appearance speaks to Ezekiel, the hapless prisoner of war, far +away from his native land. And He speaks to him with human voice, and +claims kindred with him as a human being, saying, ‘Son of man.’ That is +very deep and wonderful. The Lord upon His throne does not wish Ezekiel +to think how different He is to him, but how like He is to him. He says +not to Ezekiel,—‘Creature infinitely below Me! Dust and ashes, unworthy +to appear in My presence! Worm of the earth, as far below Me and unlike +Me as the worm under thy feet is to thee!’ but, ‘Son of man; creature +made in My image and likeness, be not afraid! Stand on thy feet, and be +a man; and speak to others what I speak to thee.’ + +After that great revelation of God there seems but one step more to make +it perfect; and that step was made in God’s good time, in the Incarnation +of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also—He +whom Ezekiel saw in human form enthroned on high—He took part of flesh +and blood likewise, and was not ashamed, yea, rather rejoiced, to call +Himself, what He called Ezekiel, the Son of Man. + +‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His +glory.’ And why? + +For many reasons; but certainly for this one. To make men feel more +utterly and fully what Ezekiel was made to feel. That God could +thoroughly feel for man; and that man could thoroughly trust God. + +That God could thoroughly feel for man. For we have a High Priest who +has been made perfect by sufferings, tempted in all points like as we +are; and we can + + ‘Look to Him who, not in vain, + Experienced every human pain; + He sees our wants, allays our fears, + And counts and treasures up our tears.’ + +Again,—That man could utterly trust God. For when St. John and his +companions (simple fishermen) beheld the glory of Jesus, the Incarnate +Word, what was it like? It was ‘full of grace and truth;’ the perfection +of human graciousness, of human truthfulness, which could win and melt +the hearts of simple folk, and make them see in Him, who was called the +carpenter’s son, the beauty of the glory of the Godhead. + +‘He is the Judge of all the earth.’ And why? Let Him Himself tell us. +He says that the Father has given the Son authority to execute judgment. +And why, once more? Because He is the Son of God? Our Lord says +more,—‘Because,’ He says, ‘He is the Son of Man;’ who knows what is in +man; who can feel, understand, discriminate, pity, make allowances, judge +fair, and righteous, and merciful judgment, among creatures whose +weakness He has experienced, whose temptations He has felt, whose pains +and sorrows He has borne in mortal flesh and blood. + +Oh, Gospel and good news for the weak, the sorrowful, the oppressed; for +those who are wearied with the burden of their sins, or wearied also by +the burden of heavy responsibilities, and awful public duties! When all +mortal counsellors fail them, when all mortal help is too weak, let them +but throw themselves on the mercy of Him who sits upon the throne, and +remember that He, though immortal and eternal, is still the Son of Man, +who knows what is in man. + +There are times in which we are all tempted to worship other things than +God. Not, perhaps, to worship cherubim and genii, angels and spirits, +like the old Chaldees, but to worship the laws of political economy, the +laws of statesmanship, the powers of nature, the laws of physical +science, those lower messengers of God’s providence, of which St. Paul +says, ‘He maketh the winds His angels, and flames of fire His ministers.’ + +In such times we have need to remember Ezekiel’s lesson, that above them +all, ruling and guiding, sits He whose form is as the Son of Man. + +We are not to say that any powers of nature are evil, or the laws of any +science false. Heaven forbid! Ezekiel did not say that the cherubim +were evil, or meaningless; or that the belief in angels ministering to +man was false. He said the very opposite. But he said, All these obey +one whose form is that of a man. He rules them, and they do His will. +They are but ministering spirits before Him. + +Therefore we are not to disbelieve science, nor disregard the laws of +nature, or we shall lose by our folly. But we are to believe that nature +and science are not our gods. They do not rule us; our fortunes are not +in their hands. Above nature and above science sits the Lord of nature +and the Lord of science. Above all the counsels of princes, and the +struggles of nations, and the chances and changes of this world of man, +sits the Judge of princes and of peoples, the Lord of all the nations +upon earth, He by whom all things were made, and who upholdeth all things +by the word of His power; and He is man, of the substance of His mother; +most human and yet most divine; full of justice and truth, full of care +and watchfulness, full of love and pity, full of tenderness and +understanding; a Friend, a Guide, a Counsellor, a Comforter, a Saviour to +all who trust in Him. He is nearer to us than nature and science: and He +should be dearer to us; for they speak only to our understanding; but He +speaks to our human hearts, to our inmost spirits. Nature and science +cannot take away our sins, give peace to our hearts, right judgment to +our minds, strength to our wills, or everlasting life to our souls and +bodies. But there sits One upon the throne who can. And if nature were +to vanish away, and science were to be proved (however correct as far as +it went) a mere child’s guess about this wonderful world, which none can +understand save He who made it—if all the counsels of princes and of +peoples, however just and wise, were to be confounded and come to nought, +still, after all, and beyond all, and above all, Christ would abide for +ever, with human tenderness yearning over human hearts; with human wisdom +teaching human ignorance; with human sympathy sorrowing with human +mourners; for ever saying, ‘Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy +laden, and I will give you rest.’ + +Cherubim and seraphim, angels and archangels, dominions and powers, +whether of nature or of grace—these all serve Him and do His work. He +has constituted their services in a wonderful order: but He has not taken +their nature on Him. Our nature He has taken on Him, that we might be +bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh; able to say to Him for ever, in +all the chances and changes of this mortal life— + + ‘Thou, O Christ, art all I want, + More than all in thee I find; + Raise me, fallen; cheer me, faint; + Heal me, sick; and lead me, blind. + Thou of life the fountain art, + Freely let me drink of Thee; + Spring Thou up within my heart, + Rise to all eternity.’ + + + + +SERMON X. +RUTH. + + + RUTH ii. 4. + + And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The + Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. + +MOST of you know the story of Ruth, from which my text is taken, and you +have thought it, no doubt, a pretty story. But did you ever think why it +was in the Bible? + +Every book in the Bible is meant to teach us, as the Article of our +Church says, something necessary to salvation. But what is there +necessary to our salvation in the Book of Ruth? + +No doubt we learn from it that Ruth was the ancestress of King David; and +that she was, therefore, an ancestress of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ: +but curious and interesting as that is, we can hardly call that something +necessary to salvation. There must be something more in the book. Let +us take it simply as it stands, and see if we can find it out. + +It begins by telling us how a man of Bethlehem has been driven out of his +own country by a famine, he and his wife Naomi and his two sons, and has +gone over the border into Moab, among the heathen; how his two sons have +married heathen women, and the name of the one was Ruth, and the name of +the other Orpah. Then how he dies, and his two sons; and how Naomi, his +widow, hears that the Lord had visited His people, in giving them bread; +how the people of Judah were prosperous again, and she is there all alone +among the heathen; so she sets out to go back to her own people, and her +daughters-in-law go with her. + +But she persuades them not to go. Why do they not stay in their own +land? And they weep over each other; and Orpah kisses her mother-in-law, +and goes back; but Ruth cleaves unto her. + +Then follows that famous speech of Ruth’s, which, for its simple beauty +and poetry, has become a proverb, and even a song, among us to this day. + +And Ruth said, ‘Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following +after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I +will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: + +‘Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so +to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.’ + +So when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go to her, she left +speaking to her. + +And they come to Bethlehem, and all the town was moved about them; and +they said, Is this Naomi? + +‘And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the +Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord +hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the +Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?’ + +And they came to Bethlehem about the passover tide, at the beginning of +barley harvest, and Ruth went out into the fields to glean, and she +lighted on a part of the field which belonged to Boaz, who was of her +husband’s kindred. + +And Boaz was a mighty man of wealth, according to the simple fashions of +that old land and old time. Not like one of our great modern noblemen, +or merchants, but rather like one of our wealthy yeomen: a man who would +not disdain to work in his field with his own slaves, after the wholesome +fashion of those old times, when a royal prince and mighty warrior would +sow the corn with his own hands, while his man opened the furrow with the +plough before him. There Boaz dwelt, with other yeomen, up among the +limestone hills, in the little walled village of Bethlehem, which was +afterwards to become so famous and so holy; and had, we may suppose, his +vineyard and his olive-garden on the rocky slopes, and his corn-fields in +the vale below, and his flock of sheep and goats feeding on the downs; +while all his wealth besides lay, probably, after the Eastern fashion, in +one great chest—full of rich dresses, and gold and silver ornaments, and +coins, all foreign, got in exchange for his corn, and wine, and oil, from +Assyrian, or Egyptian, or Phœnician traders; for the Jews then had no +money, and very little manufacture, of their own. + +And he would have had hired servants, too, and slaves, in his house; +treated kindly enough, as members of the family, eating and drinking at +his table, and faring nearly as well as he fared himself. + +A stately, God-fearing man he plainly was; respectable, courteous, and +upright, and altogether worthy of his wealth; and he went out into the +field, looking after his reapers in the barley harvest—about our +Easter-tide. + +And he said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, The +Lord bless thee. + +Then he saw Ruth, who had happened to light upon his field, gleaning +after the reapers, and found out who she was, and bid her glean without +fear, and abide by his maidens, for he had charged the young men that +they shall not touch her. + +‘And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, and eat of the +bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the +reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was +sufficed, and left. + +‘And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, +saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: and +let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, +that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. + +‘So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had +gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.’ + +Then follows the simple story, after the simple fashion of those days. +How Naomi bids Ruth wash and anoint herself, and put on her best +garments, and go down to Boaz’ floor (his barn as we should call it now) +where he is going to eat, and drink, and sleep, and there claim his +protection as a near kinsman. + +And how Ruth comes in softly and lies down at his feet, and how he treats +her honourably and courteously, and promises to protect her. But there +is a nearer kinsman than he, and he must be asked first if he will do the +kinsman’s part, and buy his cousin’s plot of land, and marry his cousin’s +widow with it. + +And how Boaz goes to the town-gate next day, and sits down in the gate +(for the porch of the gate was a sort of town-hall or vestry-room in the +East, wherein all sorts of business was done), and there he challenges +the kinsman,—Will he buy the ground and marry Ruth? And he will not: he +cannot afford it. Then Boaz calls all the town to witness that day, that +he has bought all that was Elimelech’s, and Ruth the Moabitess to be his +wife. + +‘And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are +witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like +Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do +thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.’ + +And in due time Ruth had a son. ‘And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed +be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that +his name may be famous in Israel. + +‘And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of +thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is +better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. + +‘And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse +unto it. + +‘And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born +to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the +father of David.’ + +And so ends the Book of Ruth. + +Now, my friends, can you not answer for yourselves the question which I +asked at first,—Why is the story of Ruth in the Bible, and what may we +learn from it which is necessary for our salvation? + +I think, at least, that you will be able to answer it—if not in words, +still in your hearts—if you will read the book for yourselves. + +For does it not consecrate to God that simple country life which we lead +here? Does it not tell us that it is blessed in the sight of Him who +makes the grass to grow, and the corn to ripen in its season? + +Does it not tell us, that not only on the city and the palace, on the +cathedral and the college, on the assemblies of statesmen, on the studies +of scholars, but upon the meadow and the corn-field, the farm-house and +the cottage, is written, by the everlasting finger of God—Holiness unto +the Lord? That it is all blessed in His sight; that the simple dwellers +in villages, the simple tillers of the ground, can be as godly and as +pious, as virtuous and as high-minded, as those who have nought to do but +to serve God in the offices of religion? Is it not an honour and a +comfort, to such as us, to find one whole book of the Holy Bible occupied +by the simplest story of the fortunes of a yeoman’s family, in a lonely +village among the hills of Judah? True, the yeoman’s widow became the +ancestress of David, and of his mighty line of kings—nay, the ancestress +of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But the Book of Ruth was not written +mainly to tell us that fact. It mentions it at the end, and as it were +by accident. The book itself is taken up with the most simple and +careful details of country life, country customs, country folk—as if that +was what we were to think of, as we read of Ruth. And that is what we do +think of—not of the ancestress of kings, but of the fair young heathen +gleaning among the corn, with the pious, courteous, high-minded yeoman +bidding her abide fast by his maidens, and when she was athirst drink of +the wine which the young men have drawn, for it has been fully showed him +all she has done for her mother-in-law; and the Lord will recompense her +work, and a full reward be given her of the Lord God of Israel, under the +shadow of whose wings she is to come to trust. That is the scene which +painters naturally draw; that is what we naturally think of; because God, +who gave us the Bible, meant us to think thereof; and to know, that +working in the quiet village, or in the distant field, women may be as +pure and modest, men as high-minded and well-bred, and both as full of +the fear of God, and the thought that God’s eye is upon them, as if they +were in a place, or a station, where they had nothing to do but to watch +over the salvation of their own souls; that the meadow and the +harvest-field need not be, as they too often are, places for temptation +and for defilement; where the old too often teach the young, not to fear +God and keep themselves pure, but to copy their coarse jests and foul +language, and listen to stories which had better be buried for ever in +the dirt out of which they spring. You know what I mean. You know what +field-work too often is. Read the Book of Ruth, and see what field-work +may be, and ought to be. + +Yes, my dear friends. Pure you may be, and gentle, upright, and godly, +about your daily work, if the Spirit of God be within you. + +Country life has its temptations: and so has town life, and every life. +But there has no temptation taken you save such as is common to man. +Boaz, the rich yeoman; Naomi, the broken-hearted and ruined; Ruth, the +fair young widow—all had the very same temptations as are common to you +now, here; but they conquered them, because they feared God and kept His +commandments; and to know that, is necessary for your salvation. + +And, looked at in this light, the Book of Ruth is indeed a prophecy; a +forecast and a shadow of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Himself, who +spake to country folk as never man spake before, and bade them look upon +the simple, every-day matters which were around them in field and wood, +and open their eyes to the Divine lessons of God’s providence, which also +were all around them; who, born Himself in that little village of +Bethlehem, and brought up in the little village of Nazareth, among the +lonely lanes and downs, spoke of country things to country folk, and bade +them read in the great green book which God has laid open before them all +day long. Who bade them to consider the lilies of the field, how they +grew, and the ravens, how God fed them; to look on the fields, white for +harvest, and pray God to send labourers into his spiritual harvest-field; +to look on the tares which grew among the wheat, and know we must not try +to part them ourselves, but leave that to God at the last day; to look on +the fishers, who were casting their net into the Lake of Galilee, and +sorting the fish upon the shore, and be sure that a day was coming, when +God would separate the good from the bad, and judge every man according +to his work and worth; and to learn from the common things of country +life the rule of the living God, and the laws of the kingdom of heaven. + +One word more, and I have done. + +The story of Ruth is also the consecration of woman’s love. I do not +mean of the love of wife to husband, divine and blessed as that is. I +mean that depth and strength of devotion, tenderness, and self-sacrifice, +which God has put in the heart of all true women; and which they spend so +strangely, and so nobly often, on persons who have no claim on them, from +whom they can receive no earthly reward;—the affection which made women +minister of their substance to our Lord Jesus Christ; which brought Mary +Magdalene to the foot of the Cross, and to the door of the tomb, that she +might at least see the last of Him whom she thought lost to her for ever; +the affection which has made a wise man say, that as long as women and +sorrow are left in the world, so long will the Gospel of our Lord Jesus +live and conquer therein; the affection which makes women round us every +day ministering angels, wherever help or comfort are needed; which makes +many a woman do deeds of unselfish goodness known only to God; not known +even to herself; for she does them by instinct, by the inspiration of +God’s Spirit, without self-consciousness or pride, without knowing what +noble things she is doing, without spoiling the beauty of her good work +by even admitting to herself, ‘What a good work it is! How right she is +in doing it! How much it will advance the salvation of her own +soul!’—but thinking herself, perhaps, a very useless and paltry person; +while the angels of God are claiming her as their sister and their peer. + +Yes, if there is a woman in this congregation—and there is one, I will +warrant, in every congregation in England—who is devoting herself for the +good of others; giving up the joys of life to take care of orphans who +have no legal claim on her; or to nurse a relation, who perhaps repays +her with little but exacting peevishness; or who has spent all her +savings, in bringing up her brothers, or in supporting her parents in +their old age,—then let her read the story of Ruth, and be sure that, +like Ruth, she will be repaid by the Lord. Her reward may not be the +same as Ruth’s: but it will be that which is best for her, and she shall +in no wise lose her reward. If she has given up all for Christ, it shall +be repaid her ten-fold in this life, and in the world to come life +everlasting. If, with Ruth, she is true to the inspirations of God’s +Spirit, then, with Ruth, God will be true to her. Let her endure, for in +due time she shall reap, if she faint not;—and to know that, is necessary +for her salvation. + + + + +SERMON XI. +SOLOMON. + + + ECCLESIASTES i. 12–14. + + I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my + heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are + done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of + man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are + done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of + spirit. + +ALL have heard of Solomon the Wise. His name has become a proverb among +men. It was still more a proverb among the old Rabbis, the lawyers and +scribes of the Gospels. + +Their hero, the man of whom they delighted to talk and dream, was not +David, the Psalmist, and the shepherd-boy, the man of many wanderings, +and many sorrows: but his son Solomon, with all his wealth, and pomp and +magic wisdom. Ever since our Lord’s time, if not before it, Solomon has +been the national hero of the Jews; while David, as the truer type and +pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been the hero of Christians. + +The Rabbis, with their Eastern fancy—childishly fond, to this day, of +gold, and jewels, and outward pomp and show—would talk and dream of the +lost glories of Solomon’s court; of his gilded and jewelled temple, with +its pillars of sandal-wood from Ophir, and its sea of molten brass; of +his ivory lion-throne, and his three hundred golden shields; of his +fleets which went away into the far Indian sea, and came back after three +years with foreign riches and curious beasts. And as if that had not +been enough, they delighted to add to the truth fable upon fable. The +Jews, after the time of the Babylonish captivity, seem to have more and +more identified Wisdom with mere Magic; and therefore Solomon was, in +their eyes, the master of all magicians. He knew the secrets of the +stars, and of the elements, the secrets of all charms and spells. By +virtue of his magic seal he had power over all those evil spirits, with +which the Jews believed the earth and sky to be filled. He could command +all spirits, force them to appear to him and bow before him, and send +them to the ends of the earth to do his bidding. Nothing so fantastic, +nothing so impossible, but those old Scribes and Pharisees imputed it to +their idol, Solomon the Wise. + +The Bible, of course, has no such fancies in it, and gives us a sober and +rational account of Solomon’s wisdom, and of Solomon’s greatness. + +It tells us how, when he was yet young, God appeared to him in a dream, +and said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon made answer— + +‘ . . . O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of David +my father; and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come +in. + +‘Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people, +that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this +Thy so great a people? + +‘And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. + +‘And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not +asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor +hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself +understanding to discern judgment; + +‘Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise +and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, +neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. + +‘And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches +and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee +all thy days.’ + +And the promise, says Solomon himself, was fulfilled. + +In his days Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the +sea-shore, for multitude, eating and drinking and making merry; and +Solomon reigned over all kings, from the river to the land of the +Philistines and the border of Egypt; and they brought presents, and +served Solomon all the days of his life. And he had peace on all sides +round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his +own vine and his own fig-tree, all the days of Solomon. + +‘I was great,’ he says, ‘and increased more than all that were before me +in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes +desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy; for +my heart rejoiced in all my labour . . . + +‘Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the +labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and +vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. + +‘And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what +can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been +already done.’ + +Yes, my dear friends, we are too apt to think of exceeding riches, or +wisdom, or power, or glory, as unalloyed blessings from God. How many +are there who would say,—if it were not happily impossible for them,—Oh +that I were like Solomon! Happy man that he was, to be able to say of +himself, ‘I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in +Jerusalem. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them; I +withheld not my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my +labour.’ + +To have everything that he wanted, to be able to do anything that he +liked—was he not a happy man? Is not such a life a Paradise on earth? + +Yes, my friends, it is. But it is the Paradise of fools. + +Yet, Solomon was not a fool. He says expressly that his wisdom remained +with him through all his labour. Through all his pleasure he kept alive +the longing after knowledge. He even tried, as he says, wine, and mirth, +and folly, yet acquainting himself with wisdom. He would try that, as +well as statesmanship, and the rule of a great kingdom, and the building +of temples and palaces, and the planting of parks and gardens, and his +three thousand Proverbs, and his Songs a thousand and five; and his +speech of beasts and of birds and of all plants, from the cedar in +Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the wall. He would know +everything, and try everything. If he was luxurious and proud, he would +be no idler, no useless gay liver. He would work, and discern, and +know,—and at last he found it all out, and this was the sum +thereof—‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity.’ + +He found no rest in pleasure, riches, power, glory, wisdom itself; he had +learnt nothing more after all than he might have known, and doubtless did +know, when he was a child of seven years old. And that was, simply to +fear God and keep His commandments; for that was the whole duty of man. + +But though he knew it, he had lost the power of doing it; and he ended +darkly and shamefully, a dotard worshipping idols of wood and stone, +among his heathen queens. And thus, as in David the height of chivalry +fell to the deepest baseness; so in Solomon the height of wisdom fell to +the deepest folly. + +My friends, the truth is, that exceeding gifts from God like Solomon’s +are not blessings, they are duties; and very solemn and heavy duties. +They do not increase a man’s happiness; they only increase his +responsibility—the awful account which he must give at last of the +talents committed to his charge. They increase, too, his danger. They +increase the chance of his having his head turned to pride and pleasure, +and falling shamefully, and coming to a miserable end. As with David, so +with Solomon. Man is nothing, and God is all in all. + +And as with David and Solomon, so with many a king and many a great man. +Consider those who have been great and glorious in their day. And in how +many cases they have ended sadly! The burden of glory has been too heavy +for them to bear; they have broken down under it. + +The great Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain and all +the Indies: our own great Queen Elizabeth, who found England all but +ruined, and left her strong and rich, glorious and terrible: Lord Bacon, +the wisest of all mortal men since the time of Solomon: and, in our own +fathers’ time, Napoleon Buonaparte, the poor young officer, who rose to +be the conqueror of half Europe, and literally the king of kings,—how +have they all ended? In sadness and darkness, vanity and vexation of +spirit. + +Oh, my friends! if ever proud and ambitious thoughts arise in any of our +hearts, let us crush them down till we can say with David: ‘Lord, my +heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself +in great matters, or in things too high for me. + +‘Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of +his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.’ + +And if ever idle and luxurious thoughts arise in our hearts, and we are +tempted to say, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take +thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry;’ let us hear the word of the Lord +crying against us: ‘Thou fool! This night shall thy soul be required of +thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?’ + +Let us pray, my friends, for that great—I had almost said, that crowning +grace and virtue of moderation, what St. Paul calls sobriety and a sound +mind. Let us pray for moderate appetites, moderate passions, moderate +honours, moderate gains, moderate joys; and, if sorrows be needed to +chasten us, moderate sorrows. Let us long violently after nothing, or +wish too eagerly to rise in life; and be sure that what the Apostle says +of those who long to be rich is equally true of those who long to be +famous, or powerful, or in any way to rise over the heads of their +fellow-men. They all fall, as the Apostle says, into foolish and hurtful +lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition, and so pierce +themselves through with many sorrows. + +And let us thank God heartily if He has put us into circumstances which +do not tempt us to wild and vain hopes of becoming rich, or great or +admired by men. + +Especially let us thank Him for this quiet country life which we lead +here, free from ambition, and rash speculation, and the hope of great and +sudden gains. All know, who have watched the world, how unwholesome for +a man’s soul any trade or occupation is which offers the chance of making +a rapid fortune. It has hurt the souls of too many merchants and +manufacturers ere now. Good and sober-minded men there are among them, +thank God, who can resist the temptation, and are content to go along the +plain path of quiet and patient honesty; but to those who have not the +sober spirit, who have not the fear of God before their eyes, the +temptation is too terrible to withstand; and it is not withstood; and +therefore the columns of our newspapers are so often filled with sad +cases of bankruptcy, forgery, extravagant and desperate trading, bubble +fortunes spent in a few years of vain show and luxury, and ending in +poverty and shame. + +Happy, on the other hand, are those who till the ground; who never can +rise high enough, or suddenly enough, to turn their heads; whose gains +are never great and quick enough to tempt them to wild speculation: but +who can, if they will only do their duty patiently and well, go on year +after year in quiet prosperity, and be content to offer up, week by week, +Agur’s wise prayer: ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me with +food sufficient for me.’ + +They need never complain that they have no time to think of their own +souls; that the hurry and bustle of business must needs drive religion +out of their minds. Their life passes in a quiet round of labours. Day +after day, week after week, season after season, they know beforehand +what they have to do, and can arrange their affairs for this world, so as +to give them full time to think of the world to come. Every week brings +small gains, for which they can thank the God of all plenty; and every +week brings, too, small anxieties, for which they can trust the same God +who has given them His only-begotten Son, and will with Him freely give +them all things needful for them; who has, in mercy to their souls and +bodies, put them in the healthiest and usefullest of all pursuits, the +one which ought to lead their minds most to God, and the one in which (if +they be thoughtful men) they have the deep satisfaction of feeling that +they are not working for themselves only, but for their fellow-men; that +every sheaf of corn they grow is a blessing, not merely to themselves, +but to the whole nation. + +My friends, think of these things, especially at this rich and blessed +harvest-time; and while you thank your God and your Saviour for His +unexampled bounty in this year’s good harvest, do not forget to thank Him +for having given the sowing and the reaping of those crops to you; and +for having called you to that business in life in which, I verily +believe, you will find it most easy to serve and obey Him, and be least +tempted to ambition and speculation, and the lust of riches, and the +pride which goes before a fall. + +Think of these things; and think of the exceeding mercies which God heaps +on you as Englishmen,—peace and safety, freedom and just laws, the +knowledge of His Bible, the teaching of His Church, and all that man +needs for body and soul. Let those who have thanked God already, thank +Him still more earnestly, and show their thankfulness not only in their +lips, but in their lives; and let those who have not thanked Him, awake, +and learn, as St. Paul bids them, from God’s own witness of Himself, in +that He has sent them fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food +and gladness:—let them learn, I say, from that, that they have a Father +in heaven who has given them His only-begotten Son, and will with Him +freely give them all things needful: only asking in return that they +should obey His laws—to obey which is everlasting life. + + + + +SERMON XII. +PROGRESS. + + + (_Preached before the Queen at Clifden_, _June_ 3, 1866.) + + ECCLESIASTES vii. 10, + + Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than + these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. + +THIS text occurs in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which has been for many +centuries generally attributed to Solomon the son of David. I say +generally, because, not only among later critics, but even among the +ancient Jewish Rabbis, there have been those who doubted or denied that +Solomon was its author. + +I cannot presume to decide on such a question: but it seems to me most +probable, that the old tradition is right, even though the book may have +suffered alterations, both in form and in language: but any later author, +personating Solomon, would surely have put into his month very different +words from those of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was the ideal hero-king of the +later Jews. Stories of his superhuman wealth, of magical power, of a +fabulous extent of dominion, grew up about his name. He who was said to +control, by means of his wondrous seal, the genii of earth and air, would +scarcely have been represented as a disappointed and broken-hearted sage, +who pronounced all human labour to be vanity and vexation of spirit; who +saw but one event for the righteous and the wicked, and the wise man and +the fool; and questioned bitterly whether there was any future state, any +pre-eminence in man over the brute. + +These, and other startling utterances, made certain of the early Rabbis +doubt the authenticity and inspiration of the Book of Ecclesiastes, as +containing things contrary to the Law, and to desire its suppression, +till they discovered in it—as we may, if we be wise—a weighty and +world-wide meaning. + +Be that as it may, it would certainly be a loss to Scripture, and to our +knowledge of humanity, if it was proved that this book, in its original +shape, was not written by a great king, and most probably by Solomon +himself. The book gains by that fact, not only in its reality and +truthfulness, but in its value and importance as a lesson of human life. +Especially does this text gain; for it has a natural and deep connection +with Solomon and his times. + +The former days were better than his days: he could not help seeing that +they were. He must have feared lest the generation which was springing +up should inquire into the reason thereof, in a tone which would +breed—which actually did breed—discontent and revolution. + +But the fact seemed at first sight patent. The old heroic days of Samuel +and David were past. The Jewish race no longer produced such men as Saul +and Jonathan, as Joab and Abner. A generation of great men, whose names +are immortal, had died out, and a generation of inferior men, of whom +hardly one name has come down to us, had succeeded them. The nation had +lost its primæval freedom, and the courage and loyalty which freedom +gives. It had become rich, and enervated by luxury and ease. Solomon +had civilised the Jewish kingdom, till it had become one of the greatest +nations of the East; but it had become also, like the other nations of +the East, a vast and gaudy despotism, hollow and rotten to the core; +ready to fall to pieces at Solomon’s death, by selfishness, disloyalty, +and civil war. Therefore it was that Solomon hated all his labour that +he had wrought under the sun; for all was vanity and vexation of spirit. + +Such were the facts. And yet it was not wise to look at them too +closely; not wise to inquire why the former times were better than those. +So it was. Let it alone. Pry not too curiously into the past, or into +the future: but do the duty which lies nearest to thee. Fear God and +keep His commandments. For that is the whole duty of man. + +Thus does Solomon lament over the certain decay of the Jewish Empire. +And his words, however sad, are indeed eternal and inspired. For they +have proved true, and will prove true to the end, of every despotism of +the East, or empire formed on Eastern principles; of the old Persian +Empire, of the Roman, of the Byzantine, of those of Hairoun Alraschid and +of Aurungzebe, of those Turkish and Chinese-Tartar empires whose dominion +is decaying before our very eyes. Of all these the wise man’s words are +true. They are vanity and vexation of spirit. That which is crooked +cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. +The thing which has been is that which shall be, and there is no new +thing under the sun. Incapacity of progress; the same outward +civilization repeating itself again and again; the same intrinsic +certainty of decay and death;—these are the marks of all empire, which is +not founded on that foundation which is laid, even Jesus Christ. + +But of Christian nations these words are not true. They pronounce the +doom of the old world: but the new world has no part in them, unless it +copies the sins and follies of the old. + +It is not true of Christian nations that the thing which has been is that +which shall be; and that there is no new thing under the sun. For over +them is the kingdom of Christ, the Saviour of all men, specially of them +which believe, the King of all the princes of the earth, who has always +asserted, and will for ever assert, His own overruling dominion. And in +them is the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of truth and +righteousness; of improvement, discovery, progress from darkness to +light, from folly to wisdom, from barbarism to justice, and mercy, and +the true civilization of the heart and spirit. + +And, therefore, for us it is not only an act of prudence, but a duty; a +duty of faith in God; a duty of loyalty to Jesus Christ our Lord, not to +ask, Why the former times were better than these? For they were not +better than these. Every age has had its own special nobleness, its own +special use: but every age has been better than the age which went before +it; for the Spirit of God is leading the ages on, toward that whereof it +is written, ‘Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into +the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for +those that love Him.’ + +Very unfaithful are we to the teaching of God’s Spirit; many and heavy +are our sins against light and knowledge, and means, and opportunities of +grace. But let us not add to those sins the sin (for such it is) of +inquiring why the former times were better than these. + +For, first, the inquiry shows disbelief in our Lord’s own words, that all +dominion is given to Him in heaven and earth, and that He is with us +always, even to the end of the world. And next, it is a vain inquiry, +based on a mistake. When we look back longingly to any past age, we look +not at the reality, but at a sentimental and untrue picture of our own +imagination. When we look back longingly to the so-called ages of faith, +to the personal loyalty of the old Cavaliers; when we regret that there +are no more among us such giants in statesmanship and power as those who +brought Europe through the French Revolution; when we long that our lot +was cast in any age beside our own, we know not what we ask. The ages +which seem so beautiful afar off, would look to us, were we in them, +uglier than our own. If we long to be back in those so-called devout +ages of faith, we long for an age in which witches and heretics were +burned alive; if we long after the chivalrous loyalty of the old +Cavaliers, we long for an age in which stage-plays were represented, even +before a virtuous monarch like Charles I., which the lowest of our +playgoers would not now tolerate. When we long for anything that is +past, we long, it may be, for a little good which we seem to have lost; +but we long also for real and fearful evil, which, thanks be to God, we +have lost likewise. We are not, indeed, to fancy this age perfect, and +boast, like some, of the glorious nineteenth century. We are to keep our +eyes open to all its sins and defects, that we may amend them. And we +are to remember, in fear and trembling, that to us much is given, and of +us much is required. But we are to thank God that our lot is cast in an +age which, on the whole, is better than any age whatsoever that has gone +before it, and to do our best that the age which is coming may be better +even than this. + +We are neither to regret the past, nor rest satisfied in the present; +but, like St. Paul, forgetting those things that are behind us, and +reaching onward to those things that are before us, press forward, each +and all, to the prize of our high calling in Jesus Christ. + +And as with nations and empires, so with our own private lives. It is +not wise to ask why the former times were better than these. It is +natural, pardonable: but not wise; because we are so apt to mistake the +subject about which we ask, and when we say, ‘Why were the old times +better?’ merely to mean, ‘Why were the old times happier?’ That is not +the question. There is something higher than happiness, says a wise man. +There is blessedness; the blessedness of being good and doing good, of +being right and doing right. That blessedness we may have at all times; +we may be blest even in anxiety and in sadness; we may be blest, even as +the martyrs of old were blest—in agony and death. The times are to us +whatsoever our character makes them. And if we are better men than we +were in former times, then is the present better than the past, even +though it be less happy. And why should it not be better? Surely the +Spirit of God, the spirit of progress and improvement, is working in us, +the children of God, as well as in the great world around. Surely the +years ought to have made us better, more useful, more worthy. We may +have been disappointed in our lofty ideas of what ought to be done. But +we may have gained more clear and practical notions of what can be done. +We may have lost in enthusiasm, and yet gained in earnestness. We may +have lost in sensibility, yet gained in charity, activity, and power. We +may be able to do far less, and yet what we do may be far better done. + +And our very griefs and disappointments—Have they been useless to us? +Surely not. We shall have gained, instead of lost, by them, if the +Spirit of God be working in us. Our sorrows will have wrought in us +patience, our patience experience of God’s sustaining grace, who promises +that as our day our strength shall be; and of God’s tender providence, +which tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, and lays on none a burden +beyond what they are able to bear. And that experience will have worked +in us hope: hope that He who has led us thus far will lead us farther +still; that He who brought us through the trials of youth, will bring us +through the trials of age; that He who taught us in former days precious +lessons, not only by sore temptations, but most sacred joys, will teach +us in the days to come fresh lessons by temptations which we shall be +more able to endure; and by joys which, though unlike those of old times, +are no less sacred, no less sent as lessons to our souls, by Him from +whom all good gifts come. + +We will believe this. And instead of inquiring why the former days were +better than these, we will trust that the coming days shall be better +than these, and those which are coming after them better still again, +because God is our Father, Christ our Saviour, the Holy Ghost our +Comforter and Guide. We will toil onward: because we know we are toiling +upward. We will live in hope, not in regret; because hope is the only +state of mind fit for a race for whom God has condescended to stoop, and +suffer, and die, and rise again. We will believe that we, and all we +love, whether in earth or heaven, are destined—if we be only true to +God’s Spirit—to rise, improve, progress for ever: and so we will claim +our share, and keep our place, in that vast ascending and improving scale +of being, which, as some dream—and surely not in vain—goes onward and +upward for ever throughout the universe of Him who wills that none should +perish. + + + + +SERMON XIII. +FAITH. + + + (_Preached before the Queen at Windsor_, _December_ 5, 1865) + + HABAKKUK ii. 4. + + The just shall live by his faith. + +WE shall always find it most safe, as well as most reverent, to inquire +first the literal and exact meaning of a text; to see under what +circumstances it was written; what meaning it must have conveyed to those +who heard it; and so to judge what it must have meant in the mind of him +who spoke it. If we do so, we shall find that the simplest +interpretation of Scripture is generally the deepest; and the most +literal interpretation is also the most spiritual. + +Let us examine the circumstances under which the prophet spake these +words. + +It was on the eve of a Chaldean invasion. The heathen were coming into +Judea, as we see them still in the Assyrian sculptures—civilizing, after +their barbarous fashion, the nations round them—conquering, massacring, +transporting whole populations, building cities and temples by their +forced labour; and resistance or escape was impossible. + +The prophet’s faith fails him a moment. What is this but a triumph of +evil? Is there a Divine Providence? Is there a just Ruler of the world? +And he breaks out into pathetic expostulation with God Himself: +‘Wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest +Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than +he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, +which have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the line, +they gather them with the net. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, +and burn incense to their line; for by it their portion is fat, and their +meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare to +slay continually the nations?’ + +Then the Lord answers his doubts: ‘Behold, his soul which is lifted up is +not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.’ + +By his faith, plainly, in a just Ruler of the world,—in a God who avenges +wrong, and makes inquisition for innocent blood. He who will keep his +faith in that just God, will remain just himself. The sense of Justice +will be kept alive in him; and the just will live by his Faith. + +The prophet believes that message; and a mighty change passes over his +spirit. In a burst of magnificent poetry, he proclaims woe to the unjust +Chaldean conqueror. All his greatness is a bubble which will burst; a +suicidal mistake, which will work out its own punishment, and make him a +taunt and a mockery to all nations round. ‘Woe to him who increaseth +that which is not his, and ladeth himself with thick clay! Woe to him +that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest +on high, and be delivered from the power of evil! Woe to him that +buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city with iniquity! +Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in +the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?’ +There is a true civilization for man; but not according to the unjust and +cruel method of those Chaldeans. The Law of the true Civilization, the +prophet says, is this: ‘The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the +Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’ + +But what is this to us? Are we like the Chaldeans? God forbid. But are +we not tried by the same temptations to which they blindly yielded? A +nation, strong, rich, luxurious, prosperous in industry at home, and +aggressive (if not in theory, certainly in practice) to less civilized +races abroad—are we not tempted daily to that habit of mind which the +prophet calls—with that tremendous irony in which the Hebrew prophets +surpass all writers—looking on men as the fishes of the sea, as the +creeping things which have no ruler over them, born to devour each other, +and be caught and devoured in their turn, by a race more cunning than +themselves? There are those among us in thousands, thank God, who nobly +resist that temptation; and they are the very salt of the land, who keep +it from decay. But for the many—for the public—do not too many of them +believe that the law of human society is, after all, only that +internecine conflict of interests, that brute struggle for existence, +which naturalists tell us (and truly) is the law of life for mere plants +and animals? Are they not tempted to forget that men are not mere +animals and things, but persons; that they have a Ruler over them, even +God, who desires to educate them, to sanctify them, to develop their +every faculty, that they may be His children, and not merely our tools; +and do God’s work in the world, and not merely their employer’s work? +Are they not—are we not all—tempted too often to forget this? + +And, then, are we not tempted, all of us, to fall down like the Chaldeans +and worship our own net, because by it our portion is fat, and our meat +plenteous? Are we not tempted to say within ourselves, ‘This present +system of things, with all its anomalies and its defects, still is the +right system, and the only system. It is the path pointed out by +Providence for man. It is of the Lord; for we are comfortable under it. +We grow rich under it; we keep rank and power under it: it suits us, pays +us. What better proof that it is the perfect system of things, which +cannot be amended?’ + +Meanwhile, we are sorry (for the English are a kind-hearted people) for +the victims of our luxury and our neglect. Sorry for the thousands whom +we let die every year by preventible diseases, because we are either too +busy or too comfortable to save their lives. Sorry for the savages whom +we exterminate, by no deliberate evil intent, but by the mere weight of +our heavy footstep. Sorry for the thousands who are used-up yearly in +certain trades, in ministering to our comfort, even to our very luxuries +and frivolities. Sorry for the Sheffield grinders, who go to work as to +certain death; who count how many years they have left, and say, ‘A short +life and a merry one. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.’ +Sorry for the people whose lower jaws decay away in lucifer-match +factories. Sorry for all the miseries and wrongs which this Children’s +Employment Commission has revealed. Sorry for the diseases of artificial +flower-makers. Sorry for the boys working in glass-houses whole days and +nights on end without rest, ‘labouring in the very fire, and wearying +themselves with very vanity.’—Vanity, indeed, if after an amount of +gallant toil which nothing but the indomitable courage of an Englishman +could endure, they grow up animals and heathens. We are sorry for them +all—as the giant is for the worm on which he treads. Alas! poor worm. +But the giant must walk on. He is necessary to the universe, and the +worm is not. So we are sorry—for half an hour; and glad too (for we are +a kind-hearted people) to hear that charitable persons or the government +are going to do something towards alleviating these miseries. And then +we return, too many of us, each to his own ambition, or to his own +luxury, comforting ourselves with the thought, that we did not make the +world, and we are not responsible for it. + +How shall we conquer this temptation to laziness, selfishness, +heartlessness? By faith in God, such as the prophet had. By faith in +God as the eternal enemy of evil, the eternal helper of those who try to +overcome evil with good; the eternal avenger of all the wrong which is +done on earth. By faith in God, as not only our Father, our Saviour, our +Redeemer, our Protector: but the Father, Saviour, Redeemer, Protector, +and if need be, Avenger, of every human being. By faith in God, which +believes that His infinite heart yearns over every human soul, even the +basest and the worst; that He wills that not one little one should +perish, but that all should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the +truth. + +We must believe that, if we wish that it should be true of us, that the +just shall live by his faith. If we wish our faith to keep us just men, +leading just lives, we must believe that God is just, and that He shows +His justice by the only possible method—by doing justice, sooner or +later, for all who are unjustly used. + +If we lose that faith, we shall be in danger—in more than danger—of +becoming unjust ourselves. As we fancy God to be, so shall we become +ourselves. If we believe that God cares little for mankind, we shall +care less and less for them ourselves. If we believe that God neglects +them, we shall neglect them likewise. + +And then the sense of justice—justice for its own sake, justice as the +likeness and will of God—will die out in us, and our souls will surely +not live, but die. + +For there will die out in our hearts, just the most noble and God-like +feelings which God has put into them. The instinct of chivalry; horror +of cruelty and injustice; pity for the weak and ill-used; the longing to +set right whatever is wrong; and, what is even more important, the Spirit +of godly fear, of wholesome terror of God’s wrath, which makes us say, +when we hear of any great and general sin among us, ‘If we do not do our +best to set this right, then God, who does not make men like creeping +things, will take the matter into His own hands, and punish us easy, +luxurious people, for allowing such things to be done.’ + +And when a man loses that spirit of chivalry, he loses his own soul. For +that spirit of chivalry, let worldlings say what they will, is the very +spirit of our spirit, the salt which keeps our characters from utter +decay—the very instinct which raises us above the selfishness of the +brute. Yea, it is the Spirit of God Himself. For what is the feeling of +horror at wrong, of pity for the wronged, of burning desire to set wrong +right, save the Spirit of the Father and the Son, the Spirit which +brought down the Lord Jesus out of the highest heaven, to stoop, to +serve, to suffer and to die, that He might seek and save that which was +lost? + +Some say that the age of chivalry is past: that the spirit of romance is +dead. The age of chivalry is never past, as long as there is a wrong +left unredressed on earth, and a man or woman left to say, ‘I will +redress that wrong, or spend my life in the attempt.’ + +The age of chivalry is never past, as long as men have faith enough in +God to say, ‘God will help me to redress that wrong; or if not me, surely +he will help those that come after me. For His eternal will is, to +overcome evil with good.’ + +The spirit of romance will never die, as long as there is a man left to +see that the world might and can be better, happier, wiser, fairer in all +things, than it is now. The spirit of romance will never die, as long as +a man has faith in God to believe that the world will actually be better +and fairer than it is now; as long as men have faith, however weak, to +believe in the romance of all romances; in the wonder of all wonders; in +that, of which all poets’ dreams have been but childish hints, and dumb +forefeelings—even + + ‘That one far-off divine event + Towards which the whole creation moves;’ + +that wonder of which prophets and apostles have told, each according to +his light; that wonder which Habakkuk saw afar off, and foretold how that +the earth should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters +cover the sea; that wonder which Isaiah saw afar off, and sang how the +Lord should judge among the nations, and rebuke among many people; and +they should beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into +pruning-hooks; nation should not rise against nation, neither should they +learn war any more; that wonder of which St Paul prophesied, and said +that Christ should reign till He had put all His enemies under His feet; +that wonder of which St. John prophesied; and said, ‘I saw the Holy City, +new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. And the nations of +them that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the +earth bring their glory and their honour unto it;’ that wonder, finally, +which our Lord Himself bade us pray for, as for our daily bread, and say, +‘Father, thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. + +‘Thy will be done on earth.’ He who bade us ask that boon for +generations yet unborn, was very God of very God. Do you think that He +would have bidden us ask a blessing, which He knew would never come? + + + + +SERMON XIV. +THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. + + + MATT. xxii. 37, 32. + + Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy + soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great + commandment. + +SOME say, when they hear this,—It is a hard saying. Who can bear it? +Who can expect us to do as much as that? If we are asked to be +respectable and sober, to live and let live, not to harm our neighbours +wilfully or spitefully, and to come to church tolerably regularly—we +understand being asked to do that—it is fair. But to love the Lord our +God with all our hearts. That must be meant only for very great saints; +for a few exceedingly devout people here and there. And devout people +have been too apt to say,—You are right. It is we who are to love God +with all our hearts and souls, and give up the world, and marriage, and +all the joys of life, and turn priests, monks, and nuns, while you need +only be tolerably respectable, and attend to your religious duties from +time to time, while we will pray for you. But, my friends, if we read +our Bibles, we cannot allow that. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,’ +was spoken not to monks and nuns (for there were none in those days), not +to great saints only (for we read of none just then), not even to priests +and clergymen only. It was said to all the Jews, high and low, free and +slave, soldier and labourer, alike—‘Thou, a man living in the world, and +doing work in the world, with wife and family, farm and cattle, horse to +ride, and weapon to wear—thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ + +And therefore these words are said to you and me. We English are neither +monks nor nuns, nor likely (thank God) to become so. We are in the +world, with our own family ties and duties, our own worldly business. +And to us, to you and me, as to those old Jews, the first and great +commandment is, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ + +What, then, does it mean? Does it mean that we are to have the same love +toward God as we have toward a wife or a husband? + +Certainly not. But it means at least this—the love which we should bear +toward a Father. All, my friends, turns on this. Do you look on God as +your Father, or do you not? God is your Father, remember, already. You +cannot (as some people seem to think) make Him your Father by believing +that He is one; and you need not, thanks to His mercy. Neither can you +make Him not your Father by forgetting Him. Be you wise or foolish, +right or wrong, God is your Father in heaven; and you ought to feel +towards Him as towards a father, not with any sentimental, fanciful, +fanatical affection; but with a reverent, solemn, and rational affection; +such as that which the good old Catechism bids us have, when it tells us +our duty toward God. + +‘My duty towards God is to believe in Him, to fear Him, and to love Him +with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my +strength; to worship Him, to give Him thanks, to put my whole trust in +Him, to call upon Him, to honour His holy Name and His Word, and to serve +Him truly all the days of my life.’ + +Now, I ask you—and what I ask you I ask myself,—Do we love the Lord our +God thus? And if not, why not? + +I do not ask you to tell me. I am not going to tell you what is in my +heart; and I do not ask you to tell me what is in yours. We are free +Englishmen, who keep ourselves to ourselves, and think for ourselves, +each man in the depths of his own heart; and who are the stronger and the +wiser for not talking about our feelings to any man, priest or layman. + +But ask yourselves, each of you,—Do I love God? And if not, why not? + +There are two reasons, I believe, which are, alas! very common. For one +of them there are great excuses; for the other, there is no excuse +whatsoever. + +In the first place, too many find it difficult to love God, because they +have not been taught that God is loveable, and worthy of their love. +They have been taught dark and hard doctrines, which have made them +afraid of God. + +They have been taught—too many are taught still—not merely that God will +punish the wicked, but that God will punish nine-tenths, or +ninety-nine-hundredths of the human race. That He will send to endless +torments not merely sinners who have rebelled against what they knew was +right, and His command; who have stained themselves with crimes; who +wilfully injured their fellow-creatures: but that He will do the same by +little children, by innocent young girls, by honourable, respectable, +moral men and women, because they are not what is called sensibly +converted, or else what is called orthodox. They have been taught to +look on God, not as a loving and merciful Father, but as a tyrant and a +task-master, who watches to set down against them the slightest mishap or +neglect; who is extreme to mark what is done amiss; who wills the death +of a sinner. Often—strangest notion of all—they have been told that, +though God intends to punish them, they must still love Him, or they will +be punished—as if such a notion, so far from drawing them to God, could +do anything but drive them from Him. And it is no wonder if persons who +have been taught in their youth such notions concerning God, find it +difficult to love Him. Who can be frightened or threatened into loving +any being? How can we love any being who does not seem to us kind, +merciful, amiable, loving? Our love must be called out by God’s love. +If we are to love God, it must be because He has first loved us. + +But He has first loved us, my friends. The dark and cruel notions about +God—which are too common, and have been too common in all ages—are not +what the world about us teaches, nor what Scripture teaches us either. + +Look out on the world around you. What witness does it bear concerning +the God who made it? Who made the sunshine, and the flowers, and singing +birds, and little children, and all that causes the joy of this life? +Let Christ Himself speak, and His apostles. No one can say that their +words are not true; that they were mistaken in their view of this earth, +or of God who gave it to us that it might bear witness of Him. What said +our Lord to the poor folk of Galilee, of whom the Scribes and the +Pharisees, in their pride, said, ‘This people, who knoweth not the law, +is accursed.’—What said our Lord, very God of very God? He told them to +look on the world around, and learn from it that they had in heaven not a +tyrant, not a destroyer, but a Father; a Father in heaven who is perfect +in this, that He causeth His sun to shine upon them, and is good to the +unthankful and the evil. + +What of Him did St. Paul say?—and that not to Christians, but to +heathens—That God had not left Himself without a witness even to the +heathen who knew Him not—and what sort of witness? The witness of His +bounty and goodness. The simple, but perpetual witness of the yearly +harvest—‘In that He sends men rain and fruitful seasons, filling their +hearts with food and gladness.’ + +This is St. Paul’s witness. And what is St. James’s? He tells men of a +Father of lights, from whom comes down every good and perfect gift; who +gives to all liberally, and upbraideth not, grudges not, stints not, but +gives, and delights in giving,—the same God, in a word, of whom the old +psalmists and prophets spoke, and said, ‘Thou openest Thine hand, and +fillest all things with good.’ + +And if natural religion tells us thus much, and bears witness of a Father +who delights in the happiness of His creatures, what does revealed +religion and the Gospel of Jesus Christ tell us? + +Oh, my friends, dull indeed must be our hearts if we can feel no love for +the God of whom the Gospel speaks! And perverse, indeed, must be our +minds if we can twist the good news of Christ’s salvation into the bad +news of condemnation! What says St. Paul,—That God is against us? No. +But—‘If God be for us, who can be against us? + +‘Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that +justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea +rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who +also maketh intercession for us. + +‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or +distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? + +‘As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are +accounted as sheep for the slaughter. + +‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that +loved us. + +‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor +principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor +height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us +from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ + +What says St. John? Does he say that God the Father desires to punish or +slay us; and that our Lord Jesus Christ, or the Virgin Mary, or the +saints, or any other being, loves us better than God, and will deliver us +out of the hands of God? God forbid! ‘We have known and believed,’ he +says, ‘the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth +in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.’ + +My friends, if we could believe those blessed words—I do not say in all +their fulness—we shall never do that, I believe, in this mortal life—but +if we could only believe them a little, and know and believe even a +little of the love that God has to us, then love to Him would spring up +in our hearts, and we should feel for Him all that child ever felt for +father. If we really believed that God who made heaven and earth was +even now calling to each and every one of us, and beseeching us, by the +sacrifice of His well-beloved Son, crucified for us, ‘My son, give Me thy +heart,’ we could not help giving up our hearts to Him. + +Provided—and there is that second reason why people do not love God, for +which I said there was no excuse—provided only that we wish to be good, +and to obey God. If we do not wish to do what God commands, we shall +never love God. It must be so. There can be no real love of God which +is not based upon a love of virtue and goodness, upon what our Lord calls +a hunger and thirst after righteousness. ‘If ye love Me, keep My +commandments,’ is our Lord’s own rule and test. And it is the only one +possible. If we habitually disobey any person, we shall cease to love +that person. If a child is in the habit of disobeying its parents, dark +and angry feelings towards those parents are sure to arise in its heart. +The child tries to forget its parents, to keep out of their way. It +tries to justify itself, to excuse itself by fancying that its parents +are hard upon it, unjust, grudge it pleasure, or what not. If its +parents’ commandments are grievous to a child, it will try to make out +that those commandments are unfair and unkind. And so shall we do by +God’s commandments. If God’s commandments seem too grievous for us to +obey, then we shall begin to fancy them unjust and unkind. And then, +farewell to any real love to God. If we do not openly rebel against God, +we shall still try to forget Him. The thought of God will seem dark, +unpleasant, and forbidding to us; and we shall try, in our short-sighted +folly, to live as far as we can without God in the world, and, like Adam +after his fall, hide ourselves from the loving God, just because we know +we have disobeyed Him. + +But if, in spite of many bad habits, we desire to get rid of our bad +habits; if, in spite of many faults, we still desire to be faultless and +perfect; if, in spite of many weaknesses, we still desire to be strong; +if, in one word, we still hunger and thirst after righteousness, and long +to be good men; then, in due time, the love of God will be shed abroad in +our hearts by the Holy Spirit. + +For that will happen to us which happens to all those who have the pure, +true, and heroical love. If we really love a person, we shall first +desire to please them, and therefore the thought of disobeying and +paining them will seem more and more grievous unto us. + +But more. We shall soon rise a step higher. The more we love them, and +the more we see in them, in their characters, things worthy to be loved, +the more we shall desire to be like them, to copy those parts of their +characters which most delight us; and we shall copy them: though +insensibly, perhaps, and unawares. + +For no one can look up for any length of time with love and respect +towards a person better, wiser, greater than themselves, without becoming +more or less like that person in character and in habit of thought and +feeling; and so it will be with us towards God. + +If we really long to be good, it will grow more and more easy to us to +love God. The more pure our hearts are, the more pleasant the thought of +God will be to us; even as it is said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, +for they shall see God,’—in this life as well as in the life to come. We +shall not shrink from God, because we shall know that we are not wilfully +offending Him. + +But more. The more we think of God, the more we shall long to be like +Him. How admirable in our eyes will seem His goodness, how admirable His +purity, His justice, and His bounty, His long-suffering, His magnanimity +and greatness of heart. For how great must be that heart of God, of +which it is written, that ‘He hateth nothing that He hath made, but His +mercy is over all His works;’ ‘that He willeth that none should perish, +but that all should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.’ +Although He be infinitely high and far off and we cannot attain to Him, +yet we shall feel it our duty and our joy to copy Him, however faintly, +and however humbly; and our highest hope will be that we may behold, as +in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and be changed into His image from +glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord; that so, whether in +this world or in the world to come, we may at last be perfect, even as +our Father in heaven is perfect, and, like Him, cause the sunlight of our +love to slime upon the evil and on the good; the kindly showers of our +good deeds to fall upon the just and on the unjust; and—like Him who sent +His only begotten Son to save the world—be good to the unthankful and to +the evil. + + + + +SERMON XV. +THE EARTHQUAKE. + + + (_Preached October_ 11, 1863.) + + PSALM xlvi. 1, 2. + + God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. + Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though + the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. + +NO one, my friends, wishes less than I, to frighten you, or to take a +dark and gloomy view of this world, or of God’s dealings with men. But +when God Himself speaks, men are bound to take heed, even though the +message be an awful one. And last week’s earthquake was an awful +message, reminding all reasonable souls how frail man is, how frail his +strongest works, how frail this seemingly solid earth on which we stand; +what a thin crust there is between us and the nether fires, how utterly +it depends on God’s mercy that we do not, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram +of old, go down alive into the pit. + +What do we know of earthquakes? We know that they are connected with +burning mountains; that the eruption of a burning mountain is generally +preceded by, and accompanied with, violent earthquakes. Indeed, the +burning mountains seem to be outlets, by which the earthquake force is +carried off. We know that these burning mountains give out immense +volumes of steam. We know that the expanding power of steam is by far +the strongest force in the world; and, therefore, it is supposed +reasonably, that earthquakes are caused by steam underground. + +We know concerning earthquakes two things: first, that they are quite +uncertain in their effects; secondly, quite uncertain in their +occurrence. + +No one can tell what harm an earthquake will, or will not, do. There are +three kinds. One which raises the ground up perpendicularly, and sets it +down again—which is the least hurtful; one which sets it rolling in +waves, like the waves of the sea—which is more hurtful; and one, the most +terrible of all, which gives the ground a spinning motion, so that things +thrown down by it fall twisted from right to left, or left to right. But +what kind of earthquake will take place, no one can tell. + +Moreover, a very slight earthquake may do fearful damage. People who +only read of them, fancy that an earthquake, to destroy man and his +works, must literally turn the earth upside down; that the ground must +open, swallowing up houses, vomiting fire and water; that rocks must be +cast into the sea, and hills rise where valleys were before. Such awful +things have happened, and will happen again: but it does not need them to +lay a land utterly waste. A very slight shock—a shock only a little +stronger than was felt last Wednesday morning, might have—one hardly dare +think of what it might have done in a country like this, where houses are +thinly built because we have no fear of earthquakes. Every manufactory +and mill throughout the iron districts (where the shock was felt most) +might have toppled to the earth in a moment. Whole rows of houses, +hastily and thinly built, might have crumbled down like packs of cards; +and hundreds of thousands of sleeping human beings might have been buried +in the ruins, without time for a prayer or a cry. + +A little more—a very little more—and all that or more might have +happened; millions’ worth of property might have been destroyed in a few +seconds, and the prosperity and civilization of England have been thrown +back for a whole generation. There is absolutely no reason whatever, I +tell you, save the mercy of God, why that, or worse, should not have +happened; and it is only of the Lord’s mercies that we were not consumed. + +Next, earthquakes are utterly uncertain as to time. No one knows when +they are coming. They give no warning. Even in those unhappy countries +in which they are most common there may not be a shock for months or +years; and then a sudden shock may hurl down whole towns. Or there may +be many, thirty or forty a-day for weeks, as there happened in a part of +South America a few years ago, when day after day, week after week, +terrible shocks went on with a perpetual underground roar, as if brass +and iron were crashing and clanging under the feet, till the people were +half mad with the continual noise and continual anxiety, expecting every +moment one shock, stronger than the rest, to swallow them up. It is +impossible, I say, to calculate when they will come. They are altogether +in the hand of God,—His messengers, whose time and place He alone knows, +and He alone directs. + +Our having had one last week is no reason for our not having another this +week, or any day this week; and no reason, happily, against our having no +more for one hundred years. It is in God’s hands, and in God’s hands we +must leave it. + +All we can say is, that when one comes, it is likely to be least severe +in this part of England, and most severe (like this last) in the coal and +iron districts of the west and north-west, where it is easy to see that +earthquakes were once common, by the cracks, twists and settlements in +the rocks, and the lava streams, poured out from fiery vents (probably +under water) which pierce the rocks in many places. Beyond that we know +nothing, and can only say,—It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not +consumed. + +Why do I say these things? To frighten you? No, but to warn you. When +you say to yourselves,—Earthquakes are so uncommon and so harmless in +England that there is no need to think of them, you say on the whole what +is true. It has been, as yet, God’s will that earthquakes should be +uncommon and slight in England; and therefore we have a reasonable ground +of belief that such will be His will for the future. Certainly He does +not wish us to fold our hands, and say, there is no use in building or +improving the country, if an earthquake may come and destroy it at any +moment. If there be an evil which man can neither prevent or foresee, +then, if he be a wise man, he will go on as if that evil would never +happen. We ever must work on in hope and in faith in God’s goodness, +without tormenting and weakening ourselves by fears about what may +happen. + +But when God gives to a whole country a distinct and solemn warning, +especially after giving that country an enormous bounty in an abundant +harvest, He surely means that country to take the warning. And, if I +dare so judge, He means us perhaps to think of the earthquake, and +somewhat in this way. + +There is hardly any country in the world in which man’s labour has been +so successful as in England. Owing to our having no earthquakes, no +really destructive storms,—and, thank God, no foreign invading +armies,—the wealth of England has gone on increasing steadily and surely +for centuries past, to a degree unexampled. We have never had to rebuild +whole towns after an earthquake. We have never seen (except in small +patches) whole districts of fertile land ruined by the sea or by floods. +We have never seen every mill and house in a country blown down by a +hurricane, and the crops mown off the ground by the mere force of the +wind, as has happened again and again in our West India Islands. Most +blessed of all, we have never seen a foreign army burning our villages, +sacking our towns, carrying off our corn and cattle, and driving us into +the woods to starve. From all these horrors, which have, one or other of +them, fallen on almost every nation upon earth, God has of His great +mercy preserved us. Ours is not the common lot of humanity. We English +do not know the sorrows which average men and women go through, and have +been going through, alas! ever since Adam fell. We have been an +exception, a favoured and peculiar people, allowed to thrive and fatten +quietly and safely for hundreds of years. + +But what if that very security tempts us to forget God? Is it not so? +Are we not—I am sure I am—too apt to take God’s blessings for granted, +without thanking Him for them, or remembering really that He gave them, +and that He can take them away? Do we not take good fortune for granted? +Do we not take for granted that if we build a house it will endure for +ever; that if we buy a piece of land it will be called by our name long +years hence; that if we amass wealth we shall hand it down safely to our +children? Of course we think we shall prosper. We say to ourselves, +To-morrow shall be as to-day, and yet more abundant. + +Nothing can happen to England, is, I fear, the feeling of Englishmen. +Carnal security is the national sin to which we are tempted, because we +have not now for forty years felt anything like national distress; and +Britain says, like Babylon of old, the lady of kingdoms to whom +foreigners so often compare her,—‘I shall be a lady for ever; I am, there +is none beside me. I shall never sit as a widow, nor know the loss of +children.’ + +What, too, if that same security and prosperity tempts us—as foreigners +justly complain of us—to set our hearts on material wealth; to believe +that our life, and the life of Britain, depends on the abundance of the +things which she possesses? To say—Corn and cattle, coal and iron, house +and land, shipping and rail-roads, these make up Great Britain. While +she has these she will endure for ever. + +Ah, my friends—to people in such a temptation, is it wonderful that a +good God should send a warning unmistakeable, though only a warning; most +terrible, though mercifully harmless; a warning which says, in a voice +which the dullest can hear—Endure for ever? The solid ground on which +you stand cannot do that. Safe? Nothing on earth is safe for a moment, +save in the long-suffering and tender mercy of Him of whom are all +things, and by whom are all things, without whom not a sparrow falls to +the ground. Is the wealth of Britain, then, what she can see and handle? +The towns she builds, the roads she makes, the manufactures and goods she +produces? One touch of the finger of God, and that might be all rolled +into a heap of ruins, and the labour of years scattered in the dust. You +trust in the sure solid earth? You shall feel it, if but for once, reel +and quiver under your feet, and learn that it is not solid at all, or +sure at all; that there is nothing solid, sure, or to be depended on, but +the mercy of the living God; and that your solid-seeming earth on which +you build is nothing less than a mine, which may bubble, and heave, and +burst beneath your feet, charged for ever with an explosive force, as +much more terrible than that gunpowder which you have invented to kill +each other withal, as the works of God are greater than the works of man. +Safe, truly! It is of God’s mercy from day to day and hour to hour that +we are not consumed. + +This, surely, or something like this, is what the earthquake says to us. +It speaks to us most gently, and yet most awfully, of a day in which the +heavens may pass away with a great noise, and the elements may melt with +fervent heat, and the earth and the works which are therein may be burnt +up. It tells us that this is no impossible fancy: that the fires +imprisoned below our feet can, and may, burst up and destroy mankind and +the works of man in one great catastrophe, to which the earthquake of +Lisbon in 1755—when 60,000 persons were killed, crushed, drowned, or +swallowed up in a few minutes—would be a merely paltry accident. + +And it bids us think, as St. Peter bids us: ‘When therefore all these +things are dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in holy +conversation and godliness?’ + +What manner of persons? + +Remember, that if an earthquake destroyed all England, or the whole +world; if this earth on which we live crumbled to dust, and were blotted +out of the number of the stars, there is one thing which earthquake, and +fire, and all the forces of nature cannot destroy, and that is—the human +race. + +We should still be. We should still endure. Not, indeed, in flesh and +blood: but in some state or other; each of us the same as now, our +characters, our feelings, our goodness or our badness; our immortal +spirits and very selves, unchanged, ready to receive, and certain to +receive, the reward of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good +or evil. Yes, we should still endure, and God and Christ would still +endure. But as our Saviour, or as our Judge? That is a very awful +thought. + +One day or other, sooner or later, each of us shall stand before the +judgment-seat of Christ, stripped of all we ever had, ever saw, ever +touched, ever even imagined to ourselves, alone with our own consciences, +alone with our own deserts. What shall we be saying to ourselves then? + +Shall we be saying—I have lost all: The world is gone—the world, in which +were set all my hopes, all my wishes; the world in which were all my +pleasures, all my treasures; the world, which was the only thing I cared +for, though it warned me not to trust in it, as it trembled beneath my +feet? But the world is gone, and now I have nothing left! + +Or, shall we be saying,—The world is gone? Then let it go. It was not a +home. I took its good things as thankfully as I could. I took its +sorrows and troubles as patiently as I could. But I have not set my +heart on the world. My treasure, my riches, were not of the world. My +peace was a peace which the world did not give, and could not take away. +And now the world is gone, I keep my peace, I keep my treasure still. My +peace is where it was, in my own heart. My peace is what it was: my +faith in God,—faith that my sins are forgiven me for Christ’s sake: my +faith that God my Father loves me, and cares for me; and that +nothing,—height or depth, or time or space, or life or death, can part me +from His love: my faith that I have not been quite useless in the world; +that I have tried to do my duty in my place; and that the good which I +have done, little as it has been, will not go forgotten by that merciful +God, by whose help it was done, who rewards all men according to the +works which He gives them heart to perform. And my treasure is where it +was—in my heart; and what it was,—the Holy Spirit of God, the spirit of +goodness, of faith and truth, of mercy and justice, of love to God and +love to man, which is everlasting life itself. That I have. That time +cannot abate, nor death abolish, nor the world, nor the destruction of +the world, nor of all worlds, can take away. + +Choose, my friends, which of these two frames of mind would you rather be +in when the great day of the Lord comes, foretold by that earthquake, and +by all earthquakes that ever were. + +Will you be then like those whom St. John saw calling on the mountains to +fall on them, and the hills to hide them from the wrath of Him that sat +on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb? + +Or will you be like him who saith—God is my hope and strength, my present +help in trouble. Therefore will I not fear, though the earth be shaken, +and though the mountains be carried into the depth of the sea? + + + + +SERMON XVI. +THE METEOR SHOWER. + + + (_Preached at the Chapel Royal_, _St. James’s_, _Nov._ 26, 1866.) + + ST. MATTHEW x. 29, 30. + + Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not + fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your + head are all numbered. + +IT will be well for us to recollect, once for all, who spoke these words; +even Jesus Christ, who declared that He was one with God the Father; +Jesus Christ, whom His apostles declared to be the Creator of the +universe. If we believe this, as Christian men, it will be well for us +to take our Lord’s account of a universe which He Himself created; and to +believe that in the most minute occurrence of nature, there is a special +providence, by which not a sparrow falls to the ground without our +Father. + +I confess that it is difficult to believe this heartily. It was never +anything but difficult. In the earliest ages, those who first thought +about the universe found it so difficult that they took refuge in the +fancy of special providence which was administered by the planets above +their heads, and believed that the affairs of men, and of the world on +which they lived, were ruled by the aspects of the sun and moon, and the +host of heaven. + +Men found it so difficult in the Middle Age, that they took refuge in the +fancy of a special providence administered by certain demi-gods whom they +called ‘The Saints;’ and believed that each special disease, or accident, +was warded off from mankind, from their cattle, or from their crops, by a +special saint who overlooked their welfare. + +Men find it so difficult now-a-days, that the great majority of civilized +people believe in no special providence at all, and take refuge in the +belief that the universe is ruled by something which they call law. + +Therein, doubtless, they have hold of a great truth; but one which will +be only half-true, and therefore injurious, unless it be combined with +other truths; unless questions are answered which too many do not care to +answer: as, for instance,—Can there be a law without a law-giver? Can a +law work without one who administers the law? Are not the popular +phrases of ‘laws impressed on matter,’ ‘laws inherent in matter,’ mere +metaphors, dangerous, because inaccurate; confirmed as little by +experience and reason, as by Scripture? + +Does not all law imply a will? Does not an Almighty Will imply a special +providence? + +But these are questions for which most persons have neither time nor +inclination. Indeed, the whole matter is unimportant to them. They have +no special need of a special providence. Their lives and properties are +very safe in this civilized country; and their secret belief is that, +whatever influence God may have on the next world, He has little or no +influence on this world; neither on the facts of nature, nor on the +events of history, nor on the course of their own lives; and that a +special providence seems to them—if they dare confess as much—an +unnecessary superstition. + +Only poor folk in cottages and garrets—and a few more who are, happily, +poor in spirit, though not in purse—grinding amid the iron facts of life, +and learning there by little sound science, it may be, but much sound +theology—still believe that they have a Father in heaven, before whom the +very hairs of their head are all numbered; and that if they had not, then +this would not only be a bad world, but a mad world likewise; and that it +were better for them that they had never been born. + +Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in the special providence of our +Father in heaven. Difficult: though necessary. Just as it is difficult +to believe that the earth moves round the sun. Contrary, like that fact, +to a great deal of our seeming experience. + +It is easy enough, of course, to believe that our Father sends what is +plainly good. Not so easy to believe that He sends what at least seems +evil. + +Easy enough, when we see spring-time and harvest, sunshine and flowers, +to say—Here are ‘acts of God’s providence.’ Not so easy, when we see +blight and pestilence, storm and earthquake, to say,—Here are ‘acts of +God’s providence’ likewise. + +For this innumerable multitude of things, of which we now-a-days talk as +if it were one thing, and had an organic unity of its own, or even as if +it were one person, and had a will of its own, and call it Nature—a word +which will one day be forgotten by philosophers, with the ‘four +elements,’ and the ‘animal spirits;’—this multitude of things, I say, +which we miscall Nature, has its dark and ugly, as well as its bright and +fair side. Nature, says some one, is like the spotted panther—most +playful, and yet most treacherous; most beautiful, and yet most cruel. +It acts at times after a fashion most terrible, undistinguishing, +wholesale, seemingly pitiless. It seems to go on its own way, as in a +storm or an earthquake, careless of what it crushes. Terrible enough +Nature looks to the savage, who thinks it crushes him from mere caprice. +More terrible still does Science make Nature look, when she tells us that +it crushes, not by caprice, but by brute necessity; not by ill-will, but +by inevitable law. Science frees us in many ways (and all thanks to her) +from the bodily terror which the savage feels. But she replaces that, in +the minds of many, by a moral terror which is far more overwhelming. Am +I—a man is driven to ask—am I, and all I love, the victims of an +organised tyranny, from which there can be no escape—for there is not +even a tyrant from whom I may perhaps beg mercy? Are we only helpless +particles, at best separate parts of the wheels of a vast machine, which +will use us till it has worn us away, and ground us to powder? Are our +bodies—and if so, why not our souls?—the puppets, yea, the creatures of +necessary circumstances, and all our strivings and sorrows only vain +beatings against the wires of our cage, cries of ‘Why hast thou made me, +then?’ which are addressed to nothing? Tell us not that the world is +governed by universal law; the news is not comfortable, but simply +horrible, unless you can tell us, or allow others to tell us, that there +is a loving giver, and a just administrator of that law. + +Horrible, I say, and increasingly horrible, not merely to the +sentimentalist, but to the man of sound reason and of sound conscience, +must the scientific aspect of nature become, if a mere abstraction called +law is to be the sole ruler of the universe; if—to quote the famous words +of the German sage—‘If, instead of the Divine Eye, there must glare on us +an empty, black, bottomless eye-socket;’ and the stars and galaxies of +heaven, in spite of all their present seeming regularity, are but an +‘everlasting storm which no man guides.’ + +It was but a few days ago that we, and this little planet on which we +live, caught a strange and startling glimpse of that everlasting storm +which—shall I say it?—no one guides. + +We were swept helpless, astronomers tell us, through a cloud of fiery +stones, to which all the cunning bolts which man invents to slay his +fellow-man, are but slow and weak engines of destruction. + +We were free from the superstitious terror with which that meteor-shower +would have been regarded in old times. We could comfort ourselves, too, +with the fact that heaven’s artillery was not known as yet to have killed +any one; and with the scientific explanation of that fact, namely, that +most of the bolts were small enough to be melted and dissipated by their +rush through our atmosphere. + +But did the thought occur to none of us, how morally ghastly, in spite of +all its physical beauty, was that grand sight, unless we were sure that +behind it all, there was a living God? Unless we believed that not one +of those bolts fell, or did not fall to the ground without our Father? +That He had appointed the path, and the time, and the destiny, and the +use of every atom of that matter, of which science could only tell us +that it was rushing without a purpose, for ever through the homeless +void? + +We may believe that, mind, without denying scientific laws, or their +permanence in any way. It is not a question, this, of a living God, +whether He interferes with His own laws now and then, but whether +interference is not the law of all laws itself. It is not a question of +special providences here and there, in favour of this person or that; but +whether the whole universe and its history is not one perpetual and +innumerable series of special providences. Whether the God who ordained +the laws is not so administering them, so making them interfere with, +balance, and modify each other, as to cause them to work together +perpetually for good; so that every minutest event (excepting always the +sin and folly of rational beings) happens in the place, time, and manner, +where it is specially needed. In one word, the question is not whether +there be a God, but whether there be a living God, who is in any true and +practical sense Master of the universe over which He presides; a King who +is actually ruling His kingdom, or an Epicurean deity who lets his +kingdom rule itself. + +Is there a living God in the universe, or is there none? That is the +greatest of all questions. Has our Lord Jesus Christ answered it, or has +He not? Easy, well-to-do people, who find this world pleasant, and whose +chief concern is to live till they die, care little about that question. +This world suits them well enough, whether there be a living God or not; +and as for the next world, they will be sure to find some preacher or +confessor who will set their minds easy about it. + +Fanatics and bigots, of all denominations, care little about that +question. For they say in their hearts—‘God is our Father, whosesoever +Father He is not. We are His people, and God performs acts of providence +for us. But as for the people outside, who know not the law, nor the +Gospel, either, they are accursed. It is not our concern to discuss +whether God performs acts of providence for them.’ + +But here and there, among rich and poor, there are those whose heart and +flesh—whose conscience and whose intellect—cry out for the living God, +and will know no peace till they have found Him. + +A living God; a true God; a real God; a God worthy of the name; a God who +is working for ever, everywhere, and in all; who hates nothing that He +has made, forgets nothing, neglects nothing; a God who satisfies not only +their heads, but their hearts; not only their logical intellects, but +their higher reason—that pure reason, which is one with the conscience +and moral sense. For Him they cry out; Him they seek: and if they cannot +find Him they know no rest. For then they can find no explanation of the +three great human questions—Where am I? Whither am I going? What must I +do? + +Men come to them and say, ‘Of course there is a God.—He created the world +long ago, and set it spinning ever since by unchangeable laws.’ But they +answer, ‘That may be true; but I want more. I want the living God.’ + +Other men come to them and say, ‘Of course there is a God; and when the +universe is destroyed, He will save a certain number of the elect, or +orthodox. Do you take care that you are among that number, and leave the +rest to Him.’ But they answer, ‘That may be true; but I want more. I +want the living God.’ + +They will say so very confusedly. They will often not be able to make +men understand their meaning. Nay, they will say and do—driven by +despair—very unwise things. They will even fall down and worship the +Holy Bread in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and say, ‘The living +God is in that. You have forbidden us, with your theories, to find the +living God either in heaven or earth. But somewhere He must be. And in +despair, we will fall back upon the old belief that He is in the wafer on +the altar, and find there Him whom our souls must find, or be for ever +without a home.’ Strange and sad, that that should be the last outcome +of the century of mechanical philosophy. But before we blame the +doctrine as materialistic,—which, I fear, it too truly is,—we should +remember that, for the last fifty years, the young have been taught more +and more to be materialists; that they have been taught more and more to +believe in a God who rules over Sundays, but not over week-day business; +over the next world, but not over this; a God, in short, in whom men do +not live, and move, and have their being. They have been brought up, I +say, unconsciously, but surely, as practical materialists, who make their +senses the ground of all their knowledge; and therefore, when a revulsion +happens to them, they are awakened to look for the living God—they look +for him instinctively in visible matter. + +But for the living God thoughtful men will look more and more. Physical +science is forcing on them the question, Do we live, and move, and have +our being in God? Is there a real and perpetual communication between +the visible and the invisible world, or is there not? Are all the +beliefs of man, from the earliest ages, that such there was, dreams and +nothing more? Is any religion whatsoever to be impossible henceforth? +And to find an answer, men will go, either backward to superstition, or +forward into pantheism; for in atheism, whether practical or theoretical, +they cannot abide. + +The Bible says that those old beliefs, however partial or childish, were +no dreams, but instincts of an eternal truth; that there is such a +communication between the universe and the living God. Prophets, +Psalmists, Apostles, speak—like our Nicene Creed—of a Spirit of God, the +Lord and Giver of Life, in words which are not pantheism, but are the +very deliverance from pantheism, because they tell us that that Spirit +proceeds, not merely from a Deity, not merely from a Creator, but from a +Father in heaven, and from a Son who is His likeness and His Word. + +And from this ground Natural Theology must start, if it is ever to revive +again, instead of remaining, as now, an extinct science. It must begin +from the keyword of the text, ‘Your Father.’ As long as Natural Theology +begins from nature, and not from God Himself, it will inevitably drift +into pantheism, as Pope drifted, in spite of himself, when he tried to +look from nature up to nature’s God. As long as men speculate on the +dealings of a Deity or of a Creator, they will find out nothing, because +they are searching under the wrong name, and therefore, as logicians will +tell you, for the wrong thing. + +But when they begin to seek under the right name—the name which our Lord +revealed to the debased multitudes of Judæa, when He told them that not a +sparrow fell to the ground without—not the Deity, not the Creator, but +their Father; then, in God’s good time, all may come clear once more. + +This at least will come clear,—a doubt which often presents itself to the +mind of scientific men. + +This earth—we know now that it is not the centre, not the chief body, of +the universe, but a tiny planet, a speck, an atom among millions of +bodies far vaster than itself. + +It was credible enough in old times, when the earth was held to be all +but the whole universe, that God should descend on earth, and take on Him +human nature, to save human beings. Is it credible now? This little +corner of the systems and the galaxies? This paltry race which we call +man? Are they worthy of the interposition, of the death, of Incarnate +God—of the Maker of such a universe as Science has discovered? + +Yes. If we will keep in mind that one word ‘Father.’ Then we dare say +Yes, in full assurance of Faith. For then we have taken the question off +the mere material ground of size and of power; to put it once and for +ever on that spiritual ground of justice and love, which is implied in +the one word—‘Father.’ + +If God be a perfect Father, then there must be a perpetual intercourse of +some kind between Him and His children; between Him and that planet, +however small, on which He has set His children, that they may be +educated into His likeness. If God be perfect justice, the wrong, and +consequent misery of the universe, how ever small, must be intolerable to +Him. If God be perfect love, there is no sacrifice—remember that great +word—which He may not condescend to make, in order to right that wrong, +and alleviate that misery. If God be the Father of our spirits, the +spiritual welfare of His children may be more important to Him than the +fate of the whole brute matter of the universe. Think not to frighten us +with the idols of size and height. God is a Spirit, before whom all +material things are equally great, and equally small. Let us think of +Him as such, and not merely as a Being of physical power and inventive +craft. Let us believe in our Father in heaven. For then that higher +intellect,—that pure reason, which dwells not in the heads, but in the +hearts of men, will tell them that if they have a Father in heaven, He +must be exercising a special providence over the minutest affairs of +their lives, by which He is striving to educate them into His likeness; a +special providence over the fate of every atom in the universe, by which +His laws shall work together for the moral improvement of every creature +capable thereof; that not a sparrow can fall to the ground without his +knowledge; and that not a hair of their head can be touched, unless +suffering is needed for the education of their souls. + + + + +SERMON XVII. +CHOLERA, 1866. + + + LUKE vii. 16. + + There came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a + great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his + people. + +YOU recollect to what the text refers? How the Lord visited His people? +By raising to life a widow’s son at Nain. That was the result of our +Lord’s visit to the little town of Nain. It is worth our while to think +of that text, and of that word, ‘visit,’ just now. For we are praying to +God to remove the cholera from this land. We are calling it a visitation +of God; and saying that God is visiting our sins on us thereby. And we +are saying the exact truth. We are using the right and scriptural word. + +We know that this cholera comes by no miracle, but by natural causes. We +can more or less foretell where it will break out. We know how to +prevent its breaking out at all, save in a scattered case here and there. +Of this there is no doubt whatsoever in the mind of any well-informed +person. + +But that does not prevent its being a visitation of God; yea, in most +awful and literal earnest, a house-to-house visitation. God uses the +powers of nature to do His work: of Him it is written, ‘He maketh the +winds His angels, and flames of fire His ministers.’ And so this minute +and invisible cholera-seed is the minister of God, by which He is +visiting from house to house, searching out and punishing certain persons +who have been guilty, knowingly or not, of the offence of dirt; of filthy +and careless habits of living; and especially, as has long been known by +well-informed men, of drinking poisoned water. Their sickness, their +deaths, are God’s judgment on that act of theirs, whereby God says to +men,—You shall not drink water unfit for even dumb animals; and if you +do, you shall die. + +To this view there are two objections. First, the poor people themselves +are not in fault, but those who supply poisoned water, and foul +dwellings. + +True: but only half true. If people demanded good water and good houses, +there would soon be a supply of them. But there is not a sufficient +supply; because too many of the labouring classes in towns, though they +are earning very high wages, are contented to live in a condition unfit +for civilized men; and of course, if they are contented so to do, there +will be plenty of covetous or careless landlords who will supply the bad +article with which they are satisfied; and they will be punished by +disease for not having taken care of themselves. + +But as for the owners of filthy houses, and the suppliers of poisoned +water, be sure that, in His own way and His own time, God will visit +them; that when He maketh inquisition for blood, He will assuredly +requite upon the guilty persons, whoever they are, the blood of those +five or six thousand of her Majesty’s subjects who have been foully done +to death by cholera in the last two months, as He requited the blood of +Naboth, or of any other innocent victim of whom we read in Holy Writ. +This outbreak of cholera in London, considering what we now know about +it, and have known for twenty years past, is a national shame, scandal, +and sin, which, if man cannot and will not punish, God can and will. + +But there is another objection, which is far more important and difficult +to answer. This cholera has not slain merely fathers and mothers of +families, who were more or less responsible for the bad state of their +dwellings; but little children, aged widows, and many other persons who +cannot be blamed in the least. + +True. And we must therefore believe that to them—indeed to all—this has +been a visitation not of anger but of love. We must believe that they +are taken away from some evil to come; that God permits the destruction +of their bodies, to the saving of their souls. His laws are inexorable; +and yet He hateth nothing that He hath made. + +And we must believe that this cholera is an instance of the great law, +which fulfils itself again and again, and will to the end of the +world,—‘It is expedient that one die for the people, and that the whole +nation perish not.’ + +For the same dirt which produces cholera now and then, is producing +always, and all day long, stunted and diseased bodies, drunkenness, +recklessness, misery, and sin of all kinds; and the cholera will be a +blessing, a cheap price to have paid, for the abolition of the evil +spirit of dirt. + +And thus much for this very painful subject—of which some of you may +say—‘What is it to us? We cannot prevent cholera; and, blessed as we are +with abundance of the purest water, there is little or no fear of cholera +ever coming into our parish.’ + +That last is true, my friends, and you may thank God for it. Meanwhile, +take this lesson at least home with you, and teach it your children day +by day—that filthy, careless, and unwholesome habits of living are in the +sight of Almighty God so terrible an offence, that He sometimes finds it +necessary to visit them with a severity with which He visits hardly any +sin; namely, by inflicting capital punishment on thousands of His beloved +creatures. + +But though we have not had the cholera among us, has God therefore not +visited us? That would surely be evil news for us, according to Holy +Scripture. For if God do not visit us, then He must be far from us. But +the Psalmist cries, ‘Go not far from me, O Lord.’ His fear is, again and +again, not that God should visit him, but that God should desert him. +And more, the word which is translated ‘to visit,’ in Scripture has the +sense of seeing to a man, overseeing him, being his bishop. If God do +not see to, oversee us, and be our bishop, then He must turn His face +from us, which is what the Psalmist beseeches Him again and again not to +do; praying, ‘Hide not Thy face from me, O Lord,’ and crying out of the +depths of anxiety and trouble, ‘Put thy trust in God, for I shall yet +give Him thanks for the light of His countenance;’ and again, ‘In Thy +presence is’—not death, but—‘life; at Thy right hand is fulness of days +for evermore.’ And again, the Psalmist prays to God to visit him, and +visit his thoughts,—‘Search me, O Lord, and try the ground of my heart. +Search me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any wickedness +in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ Shall we pray that prayer, +my friends? Shall we, with the Psalmist, pray God to visit, and, if need +be, chasten and correct what He sees wrong in us? Or shall we, with the +superstitious, pray to God not to visit us? to keep away from us? to +leave its alone? to forget us? If He did answer that foolish prayer, +there would be an end of us and all created things; for in God they live +and move and have their being—as it is written, ‘When Thou hidest thy +face, they are troubled; when Thou takest away their breath, they die, +and are turned again to their dust.’ But, happily for us, God will not +answer that foolish prayer. For it is written, ‘If I go up to heaven, +Thou art there; if I go down to hell, Thou art there also.’ Nowhither +can we go from God’s presence: nowhither can we flee from His Spirit. + +This is the Scripture language. Is ours like it? Have we not got to +think of a visitation of God as a simple calamity? If a man die suddenly +and strangely, he has died by the visitation of God. But if he be saved +from death strangely and suddenly, it does not occur to us to call that a +visitation, and to say with Scripture, ‘The Lord has visited the man with +His salvation.’ If the cholera comes, or the crops fail, we say,—God is +visiting us. If we have an especially healthy year, or a glorious +harvest, we never say with Scripture, ‘The Lord has visited His people in +giving them bread.’ Yet Scripture, if it says, ‘I will visit their +transgressions,’ says also that the Lord visited the children of Israel +to deliver them out of Egypt. If it talks of death as the visitation of +all men, it speaks of God visiting Sarah and Hannah to give them +children. If it says, ‘I will visit the blood shed in Jezreel,’ it says +also, ‘Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.’ If it says, ‘At the +time they are visited they shall be cast down,’ it says also, ‘The Lord +shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.’ + +If we look through Scripture, we find that the words ‘visit’ and +‘visitation’ are used about ninety times: that in about fifty of them the +meaning of the words is chastisement of some kind or other: in about +forty it is mercy and blessing: and that in the New Testament the words +never mean anything but mercy and blessing, though we have begun of late +years to use them only in the sense of punishment and a curse. + +Now, how is this, my friends? How is it that we, who are not under the +terrors of the Law, but under the Gospel of grace, have quite lost the +Gospel meaning of this word ‘visitation,’ and take a darker view of it +than did even the old Jews under the Law? Have we, whom God hath +visited, indeed, in the person of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, any +right or reason to think worse of a visitation of God than had the Jews +of old? God forbid. And yet we do so, I fear; and show daily that we do +so by our use of the word: for out of the abundance of the heart man’s +mouth speaketh. By his words he is justified, and by his words he is +condemned; and there is no surer sign of what a man’s real belief is, +than the sense in which lie naturally, as it were by instinct, uses +certain words. + +And what is the cause? + +Shall I say it? If I do, I blame not you more than I blame myself, more +than I blame this generation. But it seems to me that there is a +little—or not a little—atheism among us now-a-days; that we are growing +to be ‘without God in the world.’ We are ready enough to believe that +God has to do with the next world: but we are not ready to believe that +He has to do with this world. We, in this generation, do not believe +that in God we live, and move, and have our being. Nay, some object to +capital punishment, because (so they say) ‘it hurries men into the +presence of their Maker;’ as if a human being could be in any better or +safer place than the presence of his Maker; and as if his being there +depended on us, or on any man, and not on God Almighty alone, who is +surely not so much less powerful than an earthly monarch, that He cannot +keep out of His presence or in it whomsoever He chooses. When we talk of +being ‘ushered into the presence of God,’ we mean dying; as if we were +not all in the presence of God at this moment, and all day long. When we +say, ‘Prepare to meet thy God,’ we mean ‘Prepare to die;’ as if we did +not meet our God every time we had the choice between doing a right thing +and doing a wrong one—between yielding to our own lusts and tempers, and +yielding to the Holy Spirit of God. For if the Holy Spirit of God be, as +the Christian faith tells us, God indeed, do we not meet God every time a +right, and true, and gracious thought arises in our hearts? But we have +all forgotten this, and much more connected with this; and our notion of +this world is not that of Holy Scripture—of that grand 104th Psalm, for +instance, which sets forth the Spirit of God as the Lord and Giver of +life to all creation: but our notion is this—that this world is a +machine, which would go on very well by itself, if God would but leave it +alone; that if the course of nature, as we atheistically call it, is not +interfered with, then suns shine, crops grow, trade flourishes, and all +is well, because God does not visit the earth. Ah! blind that we are; +blind to the power and glory of God which is around us, giving life and +breath to all things,—God, without whom not a sparrow falls to the +ground,—God, who visiteth the earth, and maketh it very plenteous,—God, +who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not,—God, whose ever-creating +and ever-sustaining Spirit is the source, not only of all goodness, +virtue, knowledge, but of all life, health, order, fertility. We see not +God’s witness in His sending rain and fruitful seasons, filling our +hearts with food and gladness. And then comes the punishment. Because +we will not keep up a wholesome and trustful belief in God in prosperity, +we are awakened out of our dream of unbelief, to an unwholesome and +mistrustful belief in Him in adversity. Because we will not believe in a +God of love and order, we grow to believe in a God of anger and disorder. +Because we will not fear a God who sends fruitful seasons, we are grown +to dread a God who sends famine and pestilence. Because we will not +believe in the Father in heaven, we grow to believe in a destroyer who +visits from heaven. But we believe in Him only as the destroyer. We +have forgotten that He is the Giver, the Creator, the Redeemer. We look +on His visitations as something dark and ugly, instead of rejoicing in +the thought of God’s presence, as we should, if we had remembered that He +was about our path and about our bed, and spying out all our ways, +whether for joy or for sorrow. We shrink at the thought of His presence. +We look on His visitations as things not to be understood; not to be +searched out in childlike humility—and yet in childlike confidence—that +we may understand why they are sent, and what useful lesson our Father +means us to learn from them: but we look on them as things to be merely +prayed against, if by any means God will, as soon as possible, cease to +visit us, and leave us to ourselves, for we can earn our own bread +comfortably enough, if it were not for His interference and visitations. +We are too like the Gadarenes of old, to whom it mattered little that the +Lord had restored the madman to health and reason, if He caused their +swine to perish in the lake. They were uneasy and terrified at such +visitations of God incarnate. He seemed to them a terrible and dangerous +Being, and they besought Him to depart out of their coasts. + +It would have been wiser, surely, in those Gadarenes, and better for +them, had they cried—‘Lord, what wilt Thou have us to do? We see that +Thou art a Being of infinite power, for mercy, and for punishment +likewise. And Thou art the very Being whom we want, to teach us our +duty, and to make us do it. Tell us what we ought to do, and help us, +and, if need be, compel us to do it, and so to prosper indeed.’ And so +should we pray in the case of this cholera. We may ask God to take it +away: but we are bound to ask God also, why He has sent it. Till then we +have no reason to suppose that He will take it away; we have no reason to +suppose that it will be merciful in Him to take it away, till He has +taught us why it was sent. This question of cholera has come now to a +crisis, in which we must either learn why cholera comes, or incur, I +hold, lasting disgrace and guilt. And—if I may dare to hint at the +counsels of God—it seems as if the Almighty Lord had no mind to relieve +us of that disgrace and guilt. + +For months past we have been praying that this cholera should not enter +England, and our prayers have not been heard. In spite of them the +cholera has come; and has slain thousands, and seems likely to slay +thousands more. What plainer proof can there be to those who believe in +the providence of God, and the rule of Jesus Christ our Lord, than that +we are meant to learn some wholesome lesson from it, which we have not +learnt yet? It cannot be that God means us to learn the physical cause +of cholera, for that we have known these twenty years. Foul lodging, +foul food, and, above all, natural and physical, foul water; there is no +doubt of the cause. But why cannot we save English people from the curse +and destruction which all this foulness brings? That is the question. +That is our national scandal, shame, and sin at this moment. Perhaps the +Lord wills that we should learn that; learn what is the moral and +spiritual cause of our own miserable weakness, negligence, hardness of +heart, which, sinning against light and knowledge, has caused the death +of thousands of innocent souls. God grant that we may learn that lesson. +God grant that He may put into the hearts and minds of some man or men, +the wisdom and courage to deliver us from such scandals for the future. + +But I have little hope that that will happen, till we get rid of our +secret atheism; till we give up the notion that God only visits now and +then, to disorder and destroy His own handiwork, and take back the old +scriptural notion, that God is visiting all day long for ever, to give +order and life to His own work, to set it right whenever it goes wrong, +and re-create it whenever it decays. Till then we can expect only +explanations of cholera and of God’s other visitations of affliction, +which are so superstitious, so irrational, so little connected with the +matter in hand, that they would be ridiculous, were they not somewhat +blasphemous. But when men arise in this land who believe truly in an +ever-present God of order, revealed in His Son Jesus Christ; when men +shall arise in this land, who will believe that faith with their whole +hearts, and will live and die for it and by it; acting as if they really +believed that in God we live, and move, and have our being; as if they +really believed that they were in the kingdom and rule of Christ,—a rule +of awful severity, and yet of perfect love,—a rule, meanwhile, which men +can understand, and are meant to understand, that they may not only obey +the laws of God, but know the mind of God, and copy the dealings of God, +and do the will of God; and when men arise in this land, who have that +holy faith in their hearts, and courage to act upon it, then cholera will +vanish away, and the physical and moral causes of a hundred other evils +which torment poor human beings through no anger of God, but simply +through their own folly, and greediness, and ignorance. + +All these shall vanish away, in the day when the knowledge of the Lord +shall cover the land, and men shall say, in spirit and in truth, as +Christ their Lord has said before,—‘Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou +wouldest not. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is +written of Me, that I should do the will of God.’ And in those days +shall be fulfilled once more, the text which says,—‘That the people +glorified God, saying, A great Prophet, even Christ the Lord Himself, +hath risen up among us, and God hath visited His people.’ + + + + +SERMON XVIII. +THE WICKED SERVANT. + + + ST. MATTHEW xviii. 23. + + The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which would take + account of his servants. + +THIS parable, which you heard in the Gospel for this day, you all know. +And I doubt not that all you who know it, understand it well enough. It +is so human and so humane; it is told with such simplicity, and yet with +such force and brilliancy that—if one dare praise our Lord’s words as we +praise the words of men—all must see its meaning at once, though it +speaks of a state of society different from anything which we have ever +seen, or, thank God, ever shall see. + +The Eastern despotic king who has no law but his own will; who puts his +servant—literally his slave—into a post of such trust and honour, that +the slave can misappropriate and make away with the enormous sum of ten +thousand talents; who commands, not only him, but his wife and children +to be sold to pay the debt; who then forgives him all out of a sudden +burst of pity, and again, when the wretched man has shown himself base +and cruel, unworthy of that pity, revokes his pardon, and delivers him to +the tormentors till he shall pay all—all this is a state of things +impossible in a free country, though it is possible enough still in many +countries of the East, which are governed in this very despotic fashion; +and justice, and very often injustice likewise, is done in this rough, +uncertain way, by the will of the king alone. + +But, however different the circumstances, yet there is a lesson in this +story which is universal and eternal, true for all men, and true for +ever. The same human nature, for good and for evil, is in us, as was in +that Eastern king and his slave. The same kingdom of heaven is over us +as was over them, its laws punishing sinners by their own sins; the same +Spirit of God which strove with their hearts is striving with ours. If +it was not so, the parable would mean nothing to us. It would be a story +of men who belonged to another moral world, and were under another moral +law, not to be judged by our rules of right and wrong; and therefore a +story of men whom we need not copy. + +But it is not so. If the parable be—as I take for granted it is—a true +story; then it was Christ, the Light who lights every man who cometh into +the world, who put into that king’s heart the divine feeling of mercy, +and inspired him to forgive, freely and utterly, the wretched slave who +worshipped him, kneeling with his forehead to the ground, and promising, +in his terror, what he probably knew he could not perform—‘Lord, have +patience with me, and I will pay thee all.’ + +And it was Christ, the Light of men, who inspired that king with the +feeling, not of mere revenge, but of just retribution; who taught him +that, when the slave was unworthy of his mercy, he had a right, in a +noble and divine indignation, to withdraw his mercy; and not to waste his +favours on a bad man, who would only turn them to fresh bad account, but +to keep them for those who had justice and honour enough in their hearts +to forgive others, when their Lord had forgiven them. + +We must bear in mind, that the king must have been right, and acting +(whether he knew it or not) by the Spirit of God; else his conduct would +never have been likened to the kingdom of heaven: that is, to the laws by +which God governs both this world and the world to come. + +The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God—Would that men would believe +in them a little more! It seems, at times, as if all belief in them was +dying out; as if men, throughout all civilized and Christian countries, +had made up their minds to say—There is no kingdom of God or of heaven. +There will be one hereafter, in the next world. This world is the +kingdom of men, and of what they can do for themselves without God’s +help, and without God’s laws. + +My friends, the Jewish rulers of old said so, and cried, ‘We have no king +but Cæsar.’ And they remain an example to all time, of what happens to +those who deny the kingdom of God. Christ came to tell them that the +kingdom of heaven was at hand, and the kingdom of God was among them. +But they would have none of it. And what said our Lord of them and their +notion? ‘The prince of this world,’ said He, ‘cometh, and hath nothing +in me. This is your hour and the power of darkness.’ Yes; the hour in +which men had determined to manage the world in their way, and not in +Christ’s, was also the hour of the power of darkness. That was what they +had gained by having their own way; by saying—The kingdom is ours, and +not God’s. They had fallen under the power of darkness, not of light. +The very light within them was darkness. They utterly mistook their road +on earth. At the very moment that they were trying to make peace with +the Roman governor, by denying that Christ was their King, and demanding +that He should be crucified,—at that very moment the things which +belonged to their peace were hid from their eyes. Never men made so +fatal a mistake, when they thought themselves most politic and prudent. +They said among themselves—‘Unless we put down this man, the Romans will +come and take away our place,’ _i.e._ our privileges, and power, and our +nation. And what followed? That the Romans did come and take away their +place and nation, with horrible massacre and ruin: and so they lost both +the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of God likewise. Never, I +say, did men make a more fatal mistake in the things of this world than +those Jews to whom the kingdom of God came, and they rejected it. + +And so shall we, my friends, if we forget that, whether we like it or +not, the kingdom of God is within us, and we within it likewise. + +1. The kingdom of God is within us. Every gracious motive, every noble, +just, and merciful instinct within us, is a sign to us that the kingdom +of God is come to us; that we are not as the brutes which perish; not as +the heathen who are too often past feeling, being alienated from the life +of God by reason of the ignorance which is in them: but, that we are +God’s children, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; and that God’s +Spirit is teaching us the laws of that kingdom; so that in every child +who is baptized, educated, and civilized, is fulfilled the promise, ‘I +will write my laws upon their hearts, and I will be to them a Father.’ + +God’s Spirit is teaching our hearts as He taught the heart of that old +Eastern king. It may be, it ought to be, that He is teaching us far +deeper lessons than He ever taught that king. + +2. We are in the kingdom of God. It is worth our while to remember that +steadfastly just now. Many people are ready to agree that the kingdom of +God is within them. They will readily confess that religion is a +spiritual matter, and a matter of the heart: but their fancy is that +therefore religion, and all just and noble and beautiful instincts and +aspirations, are very good things for those who have them: but that, if +any one has them not, it does not much matter. + +They do not see that there are not only such things as feelings about +God; but that there are also such things as laws of God; and that God can +enforce those laws, and does enforce them, sometimes in a very terrible +manner. They do not believe enough in a living God, an acting God, a God +who will not merely write His laws in our hearts, if we will let Him, but +may also destroy us off the face of the earth, if we would not let Him. +They fancy that God either cannot, or will not, enforce His own laws, but +leaves a man free to accept them, or reject as he will. There is no +greater mistake. Be not deceived; God is not mocked. As a man sows, so +shall he reap. God says to us, to all men,—Copy Me. Do as I do, and be +My children, and be blest. But if we will not; if, after all God’s care +and love, the tree brings forth no fruit, then, soon or late, the +sentence goes forth against it in God’s kingdom, ‘Cut it down; why +cumbereth it the ground?’ + +There is a saying now-a-days, that nations and tribes who will not live +reasonable lives, and behave as men should to their fellow-men, must be +civilized off the face of the earth. The words are false, if they mean +that we, or any other men, have a right to exterminate their +fellow-creatures. But they are true, and more true than the people who +use them fancy, if they are spoken not of man, but of God. For if men +will not obey the laws of God’s kingdom, God does actually civilize them +off the face of the earth. Great nations, learned churches, powerful +aristocracies, ancient institutions, has God civilized off the face of +the earth before now. Because they would not acknowledge God for their +King, and obey the laws of His kingdom, in which alone are life, and +wealth, and health, God has taken His kingdom away from them, and given +it to others who would bring forth the fruits thereof. The Jews are the +most awful and famous example of that terrible judgment of God, but they +are not the only ones. It has happened again and again. It may happen +to you or me, as well as to this whole nation of England, if we forget +that we are in God’s kingdom, and that only by living according to God’s +laws can we keep our place therein. + +And this is what the parable teaches us. The king tries to teach the +servant one of the laws of his kingdom—that he rules according to +boundless mercy and generosity. God wishes to teach us the same. The +king does so, not by word, but by deed, by actually forgiving the man his +debt. So does God forgive us freely in Jesus Christ our Lord. + +But more than this, he wishes the servant to understand that he is to +copy his king; that if his king has behaved to him like a father to his +child, he must behave as a brother to his fellow-servants. So does God +wish to teach us. + +But he does not tell the man so, in so many words. He does not say to +him, I command thee to forgive thy debtors as I have forgiven thee. He +leaves the man to his own sense of honour and good feeling. It is a +question not of the law, but of the heart. So does God with us. He +educates us, not as children or slaves, but as free men, as moral agents. +He leaves us to our own reason and conscience, to reap the fruit which we +ourselves have sown. Therefore, about a thousand matters in life He lays +on us no special command. He leaves us to act according to our good +feeling, to our own sense of honour. It is a matter, I say, of the +heart. If God’s law be written in our hearts, our hearts will lead us to +do the right thing. If God’s law be not in our hearts, then mere outward +commands will not make us do right, for what we do will not be really +right and good, because it will not be done heartily and of our own will. + +But the servant does not follow his lord’s example. + +Fresh from his lord’s presence, he takes his fellow-servant by the +throat, saying—Pay me that thou owest. His heart has not been touched. +His lord’s example has not softened him. He does not see how beautiful, +how noble, how divine, generosity and mercy are. He is a hard-hearted, +worldly man. The heavenly kingdom, which is justice and love, is not +within him. Then, if the kingdom of heaven is not in him, he shall find +out that he is in it; and that in a very terrible way:—‘Thou wicked +servant, unworthy of my pity, because there is no goodness in thine own +heart. Thou wilt not take into thy heart my law, which tells thee, Be +merciful as I am merciful. Then thou shalt feel another and an equally +universal law of mine. As thou doest so shalt thou be done by. If thou +art merciful, thou shalt find mercy. If thou wilt have nothing but +retribution, then nothing but retribution thou shalt have. If thou must +needs do justice thyself, I will do justice likewise. Because I am +merciful, dost thou think me careless? Because I sit still, that I am +patient? Dost thou think me such a one as thyself?’ And his lord +delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto +him. + +My dear friends, this is an awful story. Let us lay it to heart. And to +do that, let us pray God to lay it to our hearts; to write His laws in +our hearts, that we may not only fear them, but love them; not only see +their profitableness, but their fitness; that we may obey them, not +grudgingly or of necessity, but obey them because they look to us just, +and true, and beautiful, and as they are—Godlike. Let us pray, I say, +that God would make us love what He commands, lest we should neglect and +despise what He commands, and find it some day unexpectedly alive and +terrible after all. Let us pray to God to keep alive His kingdom of +grace within us, lest His kingdom of retribution outside us should fall +upon us, and grind us to powder. + + + + +SERMON XIX. +CIVILIZED BARBARISM. + + + (_Preached for the Bishop of London’s Fund_, _at St. John’s Church_, + _Notting Hill_, _June_ 1866.) + + ST. MATTHEW ix. 12. + + They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. + +I HAVE been honoured by an invitation to preach on behalf of the Bishop +of London’s Fund for providing for the spiritual wants of this +metropolis. By the bishop, and a large number of landowners, employers +of labour, and others who were aware of the increasing heathendom of the +richest and happiest city of the world, it was agreed that, if possible, +a million sterling should be raised during the next ten years, to do what +money could do in wiping out this national disgrace. It is a noble plan; +and it has been as yet—and I doubt not will be to the end—nobly responded +to by the rich laity of this metropolis. + +More than 100,000_l._ was contributed during the first six months; nearly +60,000_l._ in the ensuing year; beside subscriptions which are promised +for the whole, or part of the ten years. The money, therefore, does not +flow in as rapidly as was desired: but there is as yet no falling off. +And I believe that there will be, on the contrary, a gradual increase in +the subscriptions as the objects of this fund are better understood, and +as its benefits are practically felt. + +Now, it is unnecessary—it would be almost an impertinence—to enlarge on a +spiritual destitution of which you are already well aware. There are, we +shall all agree, many thousands in London who are palpably sick of +spiritual disease, and need the physician. But I have special reasons +for not pressing this point. If I attempted to draw subscriptions from +you by painting tragical and revolting pictures of the vice, heathendom, +and misery of this metropolis, I might make you fancy that it was an +altogether vicious, heathen, and miserable spot: than which there can be +no greater mistake. These evils are not the rule, but the exceptions. +Were they not the exceptions, then not merely the society of London, and +the industry of London, and the wealth of London, but the very buildings +of London, the brick and the mortar, would crumble to the ground by +natural and inevitable decay. The unprecedentedly rapid increase of +London is, I firmly believe, a sure sign that things in it are done on +the whole not ill, but well; that God’s blessing is on the place; that, +because it is on the whole obeying the eternal laws of God, therefore it +is increasing, and multiplying, and replenishing the earth, and subduing +it. And I do not hesitate to say, that I have read of no spot of like +size upon this earth, on which there have ever been congregated so many +human beings, who are getting their bread so peaceably, happily, loyally, +and virtuously; and doing their duty—ill enough, no doubt, as we all do +it—but still doing it more or less, by man and God. + +I am well aware that many will differ from me; that many men and many +women—holy, devoted, spending their lives in noble and unselfish +labours—persons whose shoes’ latchet I am not worthy to unloose—take a +far darker view of the state of this metropolis. But the fact is, that +they are naturally brought in contact chiefly with its darker side. +Their first duty is to seek out cases of misery: and even if they do not, +the miserable will, of their own accord, come to them. It is their first +duty too—if they be clergymen—to rebuke, and if possible, to cure, open +vice, open heathendom, as well as to relieve present want and +wretchedness: and may God’s blessing be on all who do that work. But in +doing it they are dealing daily—and ought to deal, and must deal—with the +exceptional, and not with the normal; with cases of palpable and shocking +disease, and not with cases of at least seeming health. They see that, +into London, as into a vast sewer, gravitates yearly all manner of vice, +ignorance, weakness, poverty: but they are apt to forget, at times—and +God knows I do not blame them for it in the least—that there gravitates +into London, not as into a sewer, but as into a wholesome and fruitful +garden, a far greater amount of health, strength, intellect, honesty, +industry, virtue, which makes London; which composes, I verily believe, +four-fifths of the population of London. For if it did not, as I have +said already, London would decay and die, and not grow and live. + +Am I denying the spiritual destitution of this metropolis? Am I arguing +against the necessity of the Bishop of London’s Fund? Am I trying to +cool your generosity towards it? Am I raising against it the text—‘They +that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick?’ Am I trying +to prove that the sick are fewer than was fancied, the healthy more +numerous; and, therefore, the physician less needed? Would to heaven +that I dare so do. Would to heaven that I could prove this fund +unnecessary and superfluous. But instead thereof, I fear that I must +say—that the average of that health, strength, intellect, honesty, +industry, virtue, which makes London—that the average of all that, I +verily believe, is to be counted (though it knows it not) among the sick, +and not among the sound. It is sick, over and above those personal sins +which are common to all classes; it is sick of a great social disease; of +a disease which is very dangerous for the nation to which we belong; +which will increase more and more, and become more and more dangerous, +unless it is stopped wholesale, by some such wholesale measure as this. +That disease is (paradoxical as it may seem) Want of Civilization; +Barbarism, which is the child of ungodliness. And that can, I verily +believe again, be cured only (as far as we in the nineteenth century have +discovered) by an extension of the parochial system. + +And yet—let us beware of that expression—Parochial System. It seems to +imply that the parish is a mere system; an artificial arrangement of +man’s invention. Now that is just what the parish is not. It is founded +on local ties; and they are not a system, but a fact. You do not +assemble men into parishes: you find them already assembled by fact, +which is the will of God. You take your stand upon the merest physical +ground of their living next door to each other; their being likely to +witness each other’s sayings and doings; to help each other and like each +other, or to debauch each other and hate each other; upon the fact that +their children play in the same street, and teach each other harm or +good, thereby influencing generations yet unborn; upon the fact that if +one takes cholera or fever, the man who lives next door is liable to take +it too—in short, on the broad fact that they are members of each other, +for good or evil. You take your stand on this physical ground of mere +neighbourhood; and say—This bond of neighbourhood is, after all, one of +the most human—yea, of the most Divine—of all bonds. Every man you meet +is your brother, and must be, for good or evil: you cannot live without +him; you must help, or you must injure, each other. And, therefore, you +must choose whether you will be a horde of isolated barbarians—your +living in brick and mortar, instead of huts and tents, being a mere +accident—barbarians, I say, at continual war with each other: or whether +you will go on to become civilized men; that is, fellow-citizens, members +of the same body, confessing and exercising duties to each other which +are not self-chosen, not self-invented, but real; which encompass you +whether you know them or not; laid on you by Almighty God, by the mere +fact of your being men and women living in contact with each other. + +Out of this great and true law arises the idea of a parish, a local +self-government for many civil purposes, as well as ecclesiastical ones, +under a priest who—if he is to be considered as a little constitutional +monarch—has his powers limited carefully both by the supreme law, by his +assessors the church-wardens, and by the democratic constitution of the +parish—influences which he is bound, both by law and by Christianity, to +obey. + +Arising, in the first place, from the fact that our forefathers colonized +England in small separate families, each with its own jurisdiction and +worship; our country parish churches being, to this day, often the sites +of old heathen tribe-temples, and this very place, Notting-hill, being +possibly a little colony of the Nottingas—the same tribe which gave their +name to the great city of Nottingham; arising from this fact, and from +the very ancient institution of frank-pledge between local neighbours, +this parochial system, above all other English institutions, has helped +to teach us how to govern, and therefore how to civilize, ourselves. It +was overlaid, all but extinguished, by the monastic system, during the +latter part of the Middle Ages. It re-asserted itself, in fuller vigour +than ever, at the Reformation. But with its benefits, its defects were +restored likewise. The tendency of the mediæval Church had been to +become merely a church for paupers. The tendency of the Church of +England during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, was +to become merely a church for burghers. It has been, of late, to become +merely a church for paupers again. The causes of this reaction are +simple enough. Population increased so rapidly that the old parish +bounds were broken up; the old parish staff became too small for working +purposes. The Church had (and, alas! has still) to be again a missionary +church, as she became in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when +feudal violence had destroyed the self-government of the parishes—often +the parishes themselves—and filled the land with pauperism and barbarism. +But that is but a transitional state. Her duty is now becoming more and +more (and those who wish her well must help her to fulfil her duty) to +reorganize the ancient parochial system on a deeper and sounder footing +than ever; on a footing which will ensure her being a church, not merely +for pauper, nor merely for burgher, but for pauper and for burgher +equally and alike. + +But some will say that parochial civilization is only a peculiar form of +civilization, because its centre is a church. Peculiar? That is the +last word which any one would apply to such a civilization, if he knows +history. Will any one mention any civilization, past or present, whose +centre has not been (as long as it has been living and progressive) a +church? All past civilizations—whether heathen or Mussulman, Jew or +Christian—have each and every one of them, as a fact, held that the +common and local worship of a God was a sign to them of their common and +local unity; a sign to them of their religion, that is, the duties which +bound them to each other, whether they liked or not. To all races and +nations, as yet, their sacred grove, church, temple, or other place of +worship, has been a sign to them that their unity and duties were not +invented by themselves, but were the will and command of an unseen Being, +who would reward or punish them according as they did those duties or +left them undone. So it has been in the civilizations of the past. So +it will be in the civilization of the future. If the Christian religion +were swept away—as it never will be, for it is eternal—and a civilization +founded on what is called Nature put in its place, then we should see a +worship of something called Nature, and a temple thereof, set up as the +symbol of that Natural civilization. So the Jacobins of France—when they +tried to civilize France on the mere ground of what they called +Reason—had, whether they liked it or not, to instal a worship of Reason, +and a goddess of Reason, for as long as they could contrive to last. + +To the world’s end, a church of some kind or other will be the centre and +symbol of every civilization which is worthy of the name; of every +civilization which signifies, not merely that men live in somewhat better +houses, travel rather faster by railway, and read a few more books (which +is the popular meaning of civilization), but which means—as it meant +among the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the Christians, among those who +discovered the idea and the very words which express it—that each and +every truly civilized man is a civis, a citizen, the conscious and +obedient member of a corporate body which he did not make, but which (in +as far as he is not a savage) has made him. + +How far from this idea are the great masses of our really wealthy and +well-to-do Londoners? How much is it needed, that wise men should try to +re-awaken in them the sense of corporate life, and literally civilize +them once more! + +Consider the case, not of the average wretched, but of the average +comfortable man. The small shopkeeper, the workman, skilled or +unskilled—how small a consciousness has he of citizenship. What few +incentives to regard civism as a solemn duty. For consider, of what is +he a member? + +He is a member of a family; and, in general, he fulfils his family duties +well. + +Yes, thank God, the family life of Englishmen is sound. The hearts of +the children do not need to be turned to their fathers, or the hearts of +the fathers to the children, as they did in Judea of old. Family life, +which is the foundation of all national life—nay, of all Christian and +church life—is, on the whole, sound. And having that foundation we can +build on it safely and well, if we be wise. + +But of what else is the average Londoner a member? Of a benefit-club, of +a trades’ union, of a volunteer corps. Each will be a valuable element +of education, for it will teach him that self-government, which is the +school of all freedom, of all loyalty, of all true civilization. + +Or he may be a member of some Nonconformist sect. That, too, will be a +valuable element, for it will teach him the solemn fact of his own +personality; his direct responsibility to God for his own soul. + +And I cannot pass this point of my sermon without expressing my sense of +the great work which the Dissenting sects have done, and are doing, for +this land (with which the Bishop of London’s plan will in no wise +interfere), in teaching this one thing, which the Church of England, +while trying to carry out her far deeper and higher conception of +organization, has often forgotten; that, after all, and before all, and +throughout all, each man stands alone, face to face with Almighty God. +This idea has helped to give the middle classes of England an +independence, a strong, vigorous, sharp-cut personality, which is an +invaluable wealth to the nation. God forbid that we should try to weaken +it, even for reasons which may seem to some devout and orthodox. + +But all these memberships, after all, are only voluntary ones, not +involuntary. They are assumed by man himself—the worldly associations on +the ground of mutual interest; the spiritual associations on that of +identity of opinions. They are not instituted by God, and nature, and +fact, whether the man knows of them or not, likes them or not. They are +of the nature of clubs, not of citizenship. They are not founded on that +human ground which is, by virtue of the Incarnation, the most divine +ground of all. And for the many they do not exist. The majority of +small shopkeepers, and the majority of labourers too, are members, as far +as they are aware, of nothing, unless it be a club at some neighbouring +public-house. The old feudal and burgher bonds of the Middle Age, for +good or for evil, have perished by natural and necessary decay; and +nothing has taken their place. Each man is growing up more and more +isolated; tempted to selfishness, to brutal independence; tempted to +regard his fellow-men as rivals in the struggle for existence; tempted, +in short, to incivism, to a loss of the very soul and marrow of +civilization, while the outward results of it remain; and therefore +tempted to a loss of patriotism, of the belief that he possesses here +something far more precious than his private fortune, or even his family; +even a country for which he must sacrifice, if need be, himself. And if +that grow to be the general temper of England, or of London, in some +great day of the Lord, some crisis of perplexity, want, or danger,—then +may the Lord have mercy upon this land; for it will have no mercy on +itself: but divided, suspicious, heartless, cynical, unpatriotic, each +class, even each family, even each individual man, will run each his own +way, minding his own interest or safety; content, like the debased Jews, +if he can find the life of his hand; and— + + ‘Too happy if, in that dread day, + His life he given him for a prey.’ + +Our fathers saw that happen throughout half Europe, at a crisis when, +while the outward crust of civilization was still kept up, the life of +it, all patriotism, corporate feeling, duty to a common God, and faith in +a common Saviour, had rotted out unperceived. At one blow the gay idol +fell, and broke; and behold, inside was not a soul, but dust. God grant +that we may never see here the same catastrophe, the same disgrace. + +Now, one remedy—I do not say the only remedy—there are no such things as +panaceas; all spiritual and social diseases are complicated, and their +remedies must be complicated likewise—but one remedy, palpable, easy, and +useful, whenever and wherever it has been tried, is this—to go to these +great masses of brave, honest, industrious, but isolated and uncivilized +men, after the method of the Bishop of this diocese, and his fund; and to +say to them,—‘Of whatever body you are, or are not members, you are +members of that human family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was +contented to be betrayed, and to suffer death upon the Cross; over which +He now liveth and reigneth, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, +world without end. You are children of God the Father of spirits, who +wills that all should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. +You are inheritors—that is, members not by your own will, or the will of +any man, but by the will of God who has chosen you to be born in a +Christian land of Christian parents—inheritors, I say, of the kingdom of +heaven, from your cradles to your graves, and after that, if you will, +for ever and ever. Behave as such. Claim your rights; for they are +yours already: and not only claim your rights, but confess your duties. +Remember that every man, woman, and child in your street is, primâ facie, +just as much a member of Christ as you are. Treat them as such; +associate yourselves with them as such. Accept the simple physical fact +that they live next door to you, as God’s will toward you both, and as +God’s sign to you that you and they are members of the same human and +divine family. Enter with them, in that plain form, into the free +corporate self-government of a Christian parish. Fear no priestly +tyranny; from that danger you are guaranteed by the fact, that the great +majority of the promoters of this fund are laymen, of all shades of +opinion. You are guaranteed, still further, by the fact, that in the +parochial system there can be no tyranny. It is one of the very +institutions by which Englishmen have learnt those habits of +self-government, which are the admiration of Europe. + +‘Do, then, the duty which lies nearest you; your duty to the man who +lives next door, and to the man who lives in the next street. Do your +duty to your parish; that you may learn to do your duty by your country +and to all mankind, and prove yourselves thereby civilized men. + +‘And confess your sins in this matter, if not to us, at least to God. +Confess that while you, in your sturdy, comfortable independence, have +been fancying yourselves whole and sound, you have been very sick, and +need the physician to cure you of the deadly and growing disease of +selfish barbarism. Confess that, while you have been priding yourselves +on English self-help and independence, you have not deigned to use them +for those purposes of common organization, common worship, for which the +very savages and heathens have, for ages past, used such freedom as they +have had. Confess that, while you have been talking loudly about the +rights of humanity, you have neglected too often its duties, and lived as +if the people in the same street had no more to do with you than the +beasts which perish. + +‘Confess your sins. We monied men confess ours. We ought to have +foreseen the rapid growth of this city. We ought to have planned and +laboured more earnestly for its better organization. And we freely offer +our money, as a sign of our repentance, to build and establish for you +institutions which you cannot afford to establish for yourselves. We +excuse you, moreover, in very great part. You have been gathered +together so suddenly into these vast new districts, or rather chaos of +houses, and you have meanwhile shifted your dwellings so rapidly, and +under the pressure of such continual labour, that you have not had time +enough to organize yourselves. But we, too, have our excuse. We have +actually been trying, at vast expense and labour to ourselves, for the +last forty years, to meet your new needs. But you have outgrown all our +efforts. Your increase has taken us by surprise. Your prosperity has +outrun our goodwill. It shall do so no more. We are ready to do our +part in the good work of repentance. We ask you to do yours. You are +more able to do it than you ever were: richer, better educated, more +acquainted with the blessings of association. We do not come to you as +to paupers, merely to help you. We come to you as to free and +independent citizens, to teach you to help yourselves, and show +yourselves citizens indeed.’ + +I hope, ay, I believe, that such an appeal as this, made in an honest and +liberal spirit, which proves its honesty and liberality by great and +generous gifts out of such private wealth as no nation ever had before, +will be met by the masses of London, in the same spirit as that in which +it has been made. + +I am certain of it, if only the ecclesiastical staff employed by this +Fund will keep steadfastly in mind what they have to do. True it is, and +happily true, that they can do nothing but good. If they confine +themselves to the celebration of public worship, to teaching children, to +giving the consolations of religion to those with whom want and +wretchedness bring them in contact—all that will be gain, clear gain, +vast gain. But that, valuable, necessary as it is, will not be +sufficient to evoke a full response from the people of London. + +But if they will, not leaving the other undone, do yet more; if they will +attempt the more difficult, but the equally necessary and more permanent +labour—that of attacking the disease of barbarism, not merely in its +symptoms, but in its very roots and its causes; if they will recognise +the fact, that with the disease there coexists a great deal of sturdy and +useful health; if they will have courage and address to face, not merely +the non-working, non-earning, and generally non-thinking hundreds, but +the working, earning, thinking thousands of each parish; in fact, the men +and women who make London what it is; if they will approach them with +charity, confidence, and respect; if they will remember that they are +justly jealous of that personal independence, that civil and religious +liberty, which is theirs by law and right; if they will conduct +themselves, not as lords over God’s heritage, but as examples to the +flock; if they will treat that flock, not as their subjects, but as their +friends, their fellow-workers, their fellow-counsellors—often their +advisers; if they will remember that ‘Give and take, live and let live,’ +are no mere worldly maxims, but necessary, though difficult Christian +duties; then, I believe, they will after awhile receive an answer to +their call such as they dare not as yet expect; such an answer as our +forefathers gave to the clergy of the early Middle Age, when they showed +them that the kingdom of God was the messenger of civilization, of +humanity, of justice and peace, of strength and well-being in this world, +as well as in the next. The clergy would find in the men and women of +London not merely disciples, but helpers. They would meet, not with +fanatical excitement, not even with enthusiasm, not even with much +outward devotion; but with co-operation, hearty and practical though slow +and quiet—co-operation all the more valuable, in every possible sense, +because it will be free and voluntary; and the Bishop of London’s Fund +would receive more and more assistance, not merely of heads and hands, +but of money when money was needed, from the inhabitants of the very +poorest and most heathen districts, as they began to feel that they were +giving their money towards a common blessing, and became proud to pay +their share towards an organization which would belong to them, and to +their children after them. + +So runs my dream. This may be done: God grant that it may! For now, it +may be, is our best chance of doing it. Now is the accepted time; now is +the day of salvation. If these masses increase in numbers and in power +for another generation, in their present state of anarchy, they may be +lost for ever to Christianity, to order, to civilization. But if we can +civilize, in that sense which is both classical and Christian, the masses +of London, and of England, by that parochial method which has been +(according to history) the only method yet discovered, then we shall have +helped, not only to save innumerable souls from sin, and from that misery +which is the inevitable and everlasting consequence of sin, but we shall +have helped to save them from a specious and tawdry barbarism, such as +corrupted and enervated the seemingly civilized masses of the later Roman +empire; and to save our country, within the next century, from some such +catastrophe as overtook the Jewish monarchy in spite of all its outward +religiosity; the catastrophe which has overtaken every nation which has +fancied itself sound and whole, while it was really broken, sick, weak, +ripe for ruin. For such, every nation or empire becomes, though the +minority above be never so well organized, civilized, powerful, educated, +even virtuous, if the majority below are not a people of citizens, but +masses of incoherent atoms, ready to fall to pieces before every storm. + +From that, and from all adversities, may God deliver us, and our children +after us, by graciously beholding this His Family, for which our Lord +Jesus Christ was content to suffer death upon the Cross; and by pouring +out His Spirit upon all estates of men in His holy Church, that every +member of the same, in his calling and ministry, may freely and godly +serve Him; till we have no longer the shame and sorrow of praying for +English men and women, as we do for Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, +that God would take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and +contempt of His Word, and fetch them home to that flock of His, to which +they all belong! + + + + +SERMON XX. +THE GOD OF NATURE. + + + (_Preached during a wet harvest_.) + + PSALM cxlvii. 7–9. + + Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto + our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for + the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to + the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. + +THERE is no reason why those who wrote this Psalm, and the one which +follows it, should have looked more cheerfully on the world about them +than we have a right to do. The country and climate of Judea is not much +superior to ours. If we suffer at times from excess of rain and wind, +Judea suffers from excess of drought and sunshine. It suffers, too, at +times, from that most terrible of earthly calamities, from which we are +free—namely, from earthquakes. The sea, moreover, instead of being +loved, as it is by us, as the highway of our commerce, and the producer +of vast stores of food—the sea, I say, was almost feared by the old Jews, +who were no sailors. They looked on it as a dangerous waste; and were +thankful to God that, though the waves roared, He had set them a bound +which they could not pass. + +So that there is no reason why the old Jews should think and speak more +cheerfully about the world than we here in England ought. They had, too, +the same human afflictions, sicknesses, dangers, disappointments, losses +and chastisements as we have. They had their full share of all the ills +to which flesh is heir. Yet look, I beg you, at the cheerfulness of +these two Psalms, the 147th and 148th. In truth, it is more than +cheerfulness; it is joy, rejoicing which can only express itself in a +song. + +These Psalms are songs, to be sung to music, and even in our translation +they are songs still, sounding like poetry, and not like prose. + +And why is this? Because the men who wrote these Psalms had faith in +God. + +They trusted God. They saw that He was worthy of their trust. They saw +that He was to be honoured, not merely for His boundless wisdom and His +boundless power: for a being might have them, and yet make a bad use of +them. But He was to be trusted, because He was a good God. He was to be +honoured, not for anything which men might get out of Him (as the heathen +fancied) by flattering Him, and begging of Him: but He was to be honoured +for His own sake, for what He was in Himself—a just, merciful, kind, +generous, magnanimous, and utterly noble and perfect, moral Being, worthy +of all admiration, praise, honour, and glory. + +The Psalmist saw that God was good, and worthy to be praised. But he +saw, too, that he and his forefathers would never have found out that for +themselves. It was too great a discovery for man to make. God must have +showed it to them. God had showed His word to Jacob, His statutes and +ordinances to Israel. + +He had not done so to any other nation, neither had the heathen knowledge +of His laws. And, therefore, they did not trust God; they did not +consider Him a good God, and so they worshipped Baalim, the sun and moon +and stars, with silly and foul ceremonies, to procure from them good +harvests; and burnt their children in the fire to Moloch, the fire-king, +to keep off the earthquakes and the floods. God had not taught them what +He had taught Israel—to trust in Him, and in His word which ran very +swiftly, and in His laws, which could not be broken: a faith which, my +friends, we must do our best to keep up in ourselves, and in our children +after us. For it is very easy to lose it, this faith in God. We are +tempted to lose it, all our lives long. + +Our forefathers, in the days of Popery, lost it; and because they did not +trust in God as a good God, who took good care of the world which He had +made, they fell to believing that the devil, and witches, the servants of +the devil, could raise storms, blight crops, strike cattle and human +beings with disease. And they began, too, to pray, not to God, but to +certain saints in heaven, to protect them against bodily ills. + +One saint could cure one disease, and one another; one saint protected +the cattle, another kept off thunder, and so forth—I will not tell you +more, lest I should tempt you to smile in this holy place; and tempt you, +too, to look down on your forefathers, who (though they made these +mistakes) were just as honest and virtuous men as we. + +And even lately, up to this very time, there are those who have not full +faith in God; though they be good and pious persons, and good Protestants +too, who would shrink with horror from worshipping saints, or any being +save God alone. But they are apt to shut their eyes to the beauty and +order of God’s world, and to the glory of God set forth therein, and to +excuse themselves by quoting unfairly texts of Scripture. They say that +this world is all out of joint; corrupt, and cursed for Adam’s sin: yet, +where it is out of joint, and where it is corrupt, they cannot show. +And, as for its being cursed for Adam’s sin, that is a dream which is +contradicted by Holy Scripture itself. For see. We read in Genesis iii. +17, ‘Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it +all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth +to thee.’ + +Now, that the ground does not now bring forth thorns and thistles to us, +we know. For it brings forth whatsoever fair flower, or useful herb, we +plant therein, according to the laws of nature, which are the laws of +God. Neither do men eat thereof in sorrow; but, as Solomon says, ‘eat +their bread in joyfulness of heart.’ And so did they in the Psalmist’s +days; who never speak of the tillage of the land without some expression +of faith and confidence, and thankfulness to that God who crowns the year +with His goodness, and His clouds drop fatness; while the hills rejoice +on every side, and the valleys stand so thick with corn, that they laugh +and sing—of faith, I say, and gratitude toward that God who brings forth +the grass for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men; who +brings food out of the earth, and wine to make glad the heart of man, and +oil to give him a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen man’s +heart. Those well-known words are in the 104th Psalm; and I ask any +reasonable person to read that Psalm through—the Psalm which contains the +Jewish natural theology, the Jew’s view of this world, and of God’s will +and dealings with it—and then say, could a man have written it who +thought that there was any curse upon this earth on account of man’s sin? + +But more. The Book of Genesis says that there is none; for, after it has +said in the third chapter, ‘Cursed is the ground for thy sake,’ it says +again, in the eighth chapter, verse 21, ‘And the Lord said in His heart, +I will not again curse the ground for man’s sake. While the earth +remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, shall +not cease.’ + +Can any words be plainer? Whatever the curse in Adam’s days may have +been, does not the Book of Genesis represent it as being formally +abrogated and taken away in the days of Noah, that the regular course of +nature, fruitful and beneficent, might endure thenceforth? + +Accordingly, we hear no more in the Bible anywhere of this same curse. +We hear instead the very opposite; for one says, in the 119th Psalm, +speaking indeed of God, ‘O Lord, Thy word endureth for ever in heaven. +Thy truth also remaineth from one generation to another. Thou hast laid +the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day +according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve Thee.’ And so in the +148th Psalm, another speaks by the Spirit of God; ‘Let all things praise +the name of the Lord: for He commanded, and they were created. He hath +also established them for ever and ever: He hath given them a law which +shall not be broken.’ + +Yes, my friends, God’s law shall not be broken, and it is not broken. +And that faith, that the laws which govern the whole material universe, +cannot be broken, will be to us faith full of hope, and joy, and +confidence, if we will remember, with the Psalmist, that they are the +laws of the living God, and of the good God. + +They are the laws of the living God: not the laws of nature, or fate, or +necessity—all three words which mean little or nothing—but of a living +God in whom we live, and move, and have our being; whose word—the +creating, organizing, inspiring word—runneth very swiftly, making all +things to obey God, and not themselves. + +And they are the laws of a good God; of a moral God; of a generous, +loving, just, and merciful God, who, as the Psalmist reminds us (and that +is the reason of his confidence and his joy), while He telleth the number +of the stars, and calleth them all by their names, condescends at the +same time to heal those who are broken in heart; of a God who, while He +giveth fodder to the cattle, and feedeth the young ravens who call on +Him, at the same time careth for those who fear Him, and put their trust +in His mercy; of a God who, while His power is great and His wisdom +infinite, at the same time sets up the meek, and brings the ungodly down +to the ground; of a Father in heaven who is perfect in this—that He sends +His sun and rain alike on the just and the unjust, and is good to the +unthankful and the evil; of a Father, lastly, who so loved the world, +that He spared not His only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him for us, and +has committed to that Son all power in heaven and earth;—all power over +the material world, which we call nature, as well as over the moral +world, which is the hearts and spirits of men—to that Word of God who +runneth very swiftly, who is sharper than a two-edged sword, and yet more +tender than the love of woman; even Jesus Christ the Saviour, the Word of +God, who was in the beginning with God, and was God; by whom all things +were made; who is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh +into the world, if by any means he will receive the light of God, and see +thereby the true and wise laws of Nature and of Spirit. + +This is our God. This is He who sends food and wealth, rain and +sunshine. Shall we not trust Him? If we thank Him for plenty, and fine +weather, which we see to be blessings without doubt, shall we not trust +Him for scarcity and bad weather, which do not seem to us to be +blessings, and yet may be blessings nevertheless? Shall we not believe +that His very chastisements are mercies? Shall we not accept them in +faith, as the child takes from its parent’s hand bitter medicine, the use +of which it cannot see; but takes it in faith that its parent knows best, +and that its parent’s purpose is only love and benevolence? Shall we not +say with Job—Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him? He cannot mean +my harm; He must mean my good, and the good of all mankind. He must—even +by such seeming calamities as great rains, or failure of crops—even by +them He must be benefiting mankind. Recollect, as a single instance, +that the great rains of 1860, which terrified so many, are proved now to +have saved some thousands of lives in England from fever and similar +diseases. Take courage; and have, as the old Psalmist had, faith in God. +Believe that nothing goes wrong in this world, save through the sin, and +folly, and ignorance of man; that God is always right, always wise, +always benevolent: and be sure that you, each and all, are— + + ‘Safe in the hand of one disposing Power, + Or in the natal, or the mortal hour, + All nature is but art, unknown to thee; + All chance, discretion which thou can it not see. + All discord, harmony not understood; + All partial evil, universal good; + And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite, + One truth is clear—whatever is, is right.’ + +And pray to God that He may fill you with His Spirit, the spirit of +wisdom and understanding, of knowledge and grace of the Lord, and show to +you, as He showed to the Jews of old, His laws and judgments, and so +teach you how to see that the only thing on earth which is not right, +is—the sin of man. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WATER OF LIFE*** + + +******* This file should be named 5687-0.txt or 5687-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/8/5687 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. 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 Water of Life + and Other Sermons + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: November 5, 2014 [eBook #5687] +[This file was first posted on August 7, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WATER OF LIFE*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>THE WATER OF LIFE<br /> +<span class="GutSmall"><i>AND OTHER SERMONS</i></span></h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +CHARLES KINGSLEY.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><b>London</b><br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND NEW YORK</span><br /> +1890</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>The right of translation is +reserved</i></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">First Edition (Fcap. 8vo), 1867.<br +/> +New Edition 1872, Reprinted 1873, 1875.<br /> +New Edition, Crown 8vo, 1879, Reprinted 1881, 1885.<br /> +New Edition 1890.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON I.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">Page</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Water of Life</span>. +(<i>Revelation</i> xxii. 17.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON II.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Physician’s +Calling</span>. (<i>St. Matthew</i> ix. 35.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page14">14</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON III.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Victory of Life</span>. +(<i>Isaiah</i> xxxviii. 18, 19.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page27">27</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON IV.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Wages of Sin</span>. +(<i>Romans</i> vi. 21–23.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page40">40</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON V.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Night and Day</span>. +(<i>Romans</i> xiii. 12.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page56">56</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON VI.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Shaking of the Heavens and the +Earth</span>. (<i>Hebrews</i> xii. 26–29.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page68">68</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON VII.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Battle of Life</span>. +(<i>Galatians</i> v. 16, 17.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page83">83</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON VIII.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Free Grace</span>. +(<i>Isaiah</i> lv. 1.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page90">90</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON IX.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Ezekiel’s Vision</span>. +(<i>Ezekiel</i> i. 1, 26.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page98">98</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON X.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Ruth</span>. (<i>Ruth</i> ii. +4.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page111">111</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XI.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Solomon</span>. +(<i>Ecclesiastes</i> i. 12–14.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page123">123</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XII.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Progress</span>. +(<i>Ecclesiastes</i> vii. 10.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page134">134</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XIII.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Faith</span>. (<i>Habakkuk</i> +ii. 4.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page143">143</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XIV.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Great Commandment</span>. +(<i>Matthew</i> xxii. 37, 38.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page153">153</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XV.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Earthquake</span>. +(<i>Psalm</i> xlvi. 1, 2.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page164">164</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XVI.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Meteor Shower</span>. +(<i>Matthew</i> x. 29, 30.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page176">176</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XVII.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Cholera</span>, 1866. +(<i>Luke</i> vii. 16.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page189">189</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XVIII.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Wicked Servant</span>. +(<i>Matthew</i> xviii. 23.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page203">203</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XIX.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Civilized Barbarism</span>. +(<i>Mattthew</i> ix. 12.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page213">213</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XX.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The God of Nature</span>. +(<i>Psalm</i> cxlvii. 7–9.)</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page233">233</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>SERMON +I.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE WATER OF LIFE.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached at Westminster +Abbey</i>)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Revelation</span> xxii. 17.</p> +<p>And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that +heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. +And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> text is its own witness. +It needs no man to testify to its origin. Its own words +show it to be inspired and divine.</p> +<p>But not from its mere poetic beauty, great as that is: greater +than we, in this wet and cold climate, can see at the first +glance. We must go to the far East and the far South to +understand the images which were called up in the mind of an old +Jew at the very name of wells and water-springs; and why the +Scriptures speak of them as special gifts of God, life-giving and +divine. We must have seen the treeless waste, the blazing +sun, the sickening glare, the choking dust, the parched rocks, +the distant mountains quivering as in the vapour of a furnace; we +must have felt the lassitude of heat, the torment of thirst, ere +we can welcome, as did those old Easterns, the well dug long ago +by pious hands, whither the maidens come with their jars at +eventide, when the stone is rolled away, to water the thirsty +flocks; or the living fountain, under the shadow of a great rock +in a weary land, with its grove of trees, where all the birds for +many a mile flock in, and shake the copses with their song; its +lawn of green, on which the long-dazzled eye rests with +refreshment and delight; its brook, wandering away—perhaps +to be lost soon in burning sand, but giving, as far as it flows, +Life; a Water of Life to plant, to animal, and to man.</p> +<p>All these images, which we have to call up in our minds one by +one, presented themselves to the mind of an Eastern, whether Jew +or heathen, at once, as a well-known and daily scene; and made +him feel, at the very mention of a water-spring, that the speaker +was telling him of the good and beautiful gift of a beneficent +Being.</p> +<p>And yet—so do extremes meet—like thoughts, though +not like images, may be called up in our minds, here in the heart +of London, in murky alleys and foul courts, where there is too +often, as in the poet’s rotting sea—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Water, water, everywhere,<br /> +Yet not a drop to drink.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And we may bless God—as the Easterns bless Him for the +ancestors who digged their wells—for every pious soul who +now erects a drinking-fountain; for he fulfils the letter as well +as the spirit of Scripture, by offering to the bodies as well as +the souls of men the Water of Life freely.</p> +<p>But the text speaks not of earthly water. No doubt the +words ‘Water of Life’ have a spiritual and mystic +meaning. Yet that alone does not prove the inspiration of +the text. They had a spiritual and mystic meaning already +among the heathens of the East—Greeks and barbarians +alike.</p> +<p>The East—and indeed the West likewise—was haunted +by dreams of a Water of Life, a Fount of Perpetual Youth, a Cup +of Immortality: dreams at which only the shallow and the ignorant +will smile; for what are they but tokens of man’s right to +Immortality,—of his instinct that he is not as the +beasts,—that there is somewhat in him which ought not to +die, which need not die, and yet which may die, and which perhaps +deserves to die? How could it be kept alive? how +strengthened and refreshed into perpetual youth?</p> +<p>And water—with its life-giving and refreshing powers, +often with medicinal properties seemingly miraculous—what +better symbol could be found for that which would keep off +death? Perhaps there was some reality which answered the +symbol, some actual Cup of Immortality, some actual Fount of +Youth. But who could attain to them? Surely the gods +hid their own special treasure from the grasp of man. +Surely that Water of Life was to be sought for far away, amid +trackless mountain-peaks, guarded by dragons and demons. +That Fount of Youth must be hidden in the rich glades of some +tropic forest. That Cup of Immortality must be earned by +years, by ages, of superhuman penance and self torture. +Certain of the old Jews, it is true, had had deeper and truer +thoughts. Here and there a psalmist had said, ‘With +God is the well of Life;’ or a prophet had cried, +‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and +buy without money and without price!’ But the Jews +had utterly forgotten (if the mass of them ever understood) the +meaning of the old revelations; and, above all, the Pharisees, +the most religious among them. To their minds, it was only +by a proud asceticism,—by being not as other men were; only +by doing some good thing—by performing some extraordinary +religious feat,—that man could earn eternal life. And +bitter and deadly was their selfish wrath when they heard that +the Water of Life was within all men’s reach, then and for +ever; that The Eternal Life was in that Christ who spoke to them; +that He gave it freely to whomsoever He would;—bitter their +wrath when they heard His disciples declare that God had given to +men Eternal Life; that the Spirit and the Bride said. +Come.</p> +<p>They had, indeed, a graceful ceremony, handed down to them +from better times, as a sign that those words of the old +psalmists and prophets had once meant something. At the +Feast of Tabernacles—the harvest feast—at which God +was especially to be thanked as the giver of fertility and Life, +their priests drew water with great pomp from the pool of Siloam; +connecting it with the words of the prophet: ‘With joy +shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’ +But the ceremony had lost its meaning. It had become +mechanical and empty. They had forgotten that God was a +giver. They would have confessed, of course, that He was +the Lord of Life: but they expected Him to prove that, not by +giving Life, but by taking it away: not by saving the many, but +by destroying all except a favoured few. But bitter and +deadly was their wrath when they were told that their ceremony +had still a living meaning, and a meaning not only for them, but +for all men; for that mob of common people whom they looked on as +accursed, because they knew not the law. Bitter and deadly +was their selfish wrath, when they heard One who ate and drank +with publicans and sinners stand up in the very midst of that +grand ceremony, and cry; ‘If any man thirst, let him come +to Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture +hath said, Out of him shall flow rivers of living +water.’ A God who said to all ‘Come,’ was +not the God they desired to rule over them. And thus the +very words which prove the text to be divine and inspired, were +marked out as such by those bigots of the old world, who in them +saw and hated both Christ and His Father.</p> +<p>The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Come, and drink +freely.</p> +<p>Those words prove the text, and other texts like it in Holy +Scripture, to be an utterly new Gospel and good news; an utterly +new revelation and unveiling of God, and of the relations of God +to man.</p> +<p>For the old legends and dreams, in whatsoever they differed, +agreed at least in this, that the Water of Life was far away; +infinitely difficult to reach; the prize only of some +extraordinary favourite of fortune, or of some being of +superhuman energy and endurance. The gods grudged life to +mortals, as they grudged them joy and all good things. That +God should say Come; that the Water of Life could be a gift, a +grace, a boon of free generosity and perfect condescension, never +entered into their minds. That the gods should keep their +immortality to themselves seemed reasonable enough. That +they should bestow it on a few heroes; and, far away above the +stars, give them to eat of their ambrosia, and drink of their +nectar, and so live for ever; that seemed reasonable enough +likewise.</p> +<p>But that the God of gods, the Maker of the universe should +say, ‘Come, and drink freely;’ that He should stoop +from heaven to bring life and immortality to light,—to tell +men what the Water of Life was, and where it was, and how to +attain it; much more, that that God should stoop to become +incarnate, and suffer and die on the cross, that He might +purchase the Water of Life, not for a favoured few, but for all +mankind; that He should offer it to all, without condition, +stint, or drawback;—this, this, never entered into their +wildest dreams.</p> +<p>And yet, when the strange news was told, it looked so +probable, although so strange, to thousands who had seemed mere +profligates or outcasts; it agreed so fully with the deepest +voices of their own hearts,—with their thirst for a nobler, +purer, more enduring Life,—with their highest idea of what +a perfect God should be, if He meant to show His perfect +goodness; it seemed at once so human and humane, and yet so +superhuman and divine;—that they accepted it +unhesitatingly, as a voice from God Himself, a revelation of the +Eternal Author of the universe; as, God grant you may accept it +this day.</p> +<p>And what is Life? And what is the Water of Life?</p> +<p>What are they indeed, my friends? You will find many +answers to that question, in this, as in all ages: but the one +which Scripture gives is this. Life is none other, +according to the Scripture, than God Himself, Jesus Christ our +Lord, who bestows on man His own Spirit, to form in him His own +character, which is the character of God.</p> +<p>He is The one Eternal Life; and it has been manifested in +human form, that human beings might copy it; and behold, it was +full of grace and truth.</p> +<p>The Life of grace and truth; that is the Life of Christ, and, +therefore, the Life of God.</p> +<p>The Life of grace—of graciousness, love, pity, +generosity, usefulness, self-sacrifice; the Life of +truth—of faithfulness, fairness, justice, the desire to +impart knowledge and to guide men into all truth. The Life, +in one word, of charity, which is both grace and truth, both love +and justice, in one Eternal essence. That is the life which +God lives for ever in heaven. That is The one Eternal Life, +which must be also the Life of God. For, as there is but +one Eternal, even God, so is there but one Eternal Life, which is +the life of God and of His Christ. And the Spirit by which +it is inspired into the hearts of men is the Spirit of God, who +proceedeth alike from the Father and from the Son.</p> +<p>Have you not seen men and women in whom these words have been +literally and palpably fulfilled? Have you not seen those +who, though old in years, were so young in heart, that they seem +to have drunk of the Fountain of perpetual Youth,—in whom, +though the outward body decayed, the soul was renewed day by day; +who kept fresh and pure the noblest and holiest instincts of +their childhood, and went on adding to them the experience, the +calm, the charity of age? Persons whose eye was still so +bright, whose smile was still so tender, that it seemed that they +could never die? And when they died, or seemed to die, you +felt that THEY were not dead, but only their husk and shell; that +they themselves, the character which you had loved and +reverenced, must endure on, beyond the grave, beyond the worlds, +in a literally Everlasting Life, independent of nature, and of +all the changes of the material universe.</p> +<p>Surely you have seen such. And surely what you loved in +them was the Spirit of God Himself,—that love, joy, peace, +long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, which the natural savage +man has not. Has not, I say, look at him where you will, +from the tropics to the pole, because it is a gift above man; the +gift of the Spirit of God; the Eternal Life of goodness, which +natural birth cannot give to man, nor natural death take +away.</p> +<p>You have surely seen such persons—if you have not, +<i>I</i> have, thank God, full many a time;—but if you have +seen them, did you not see this?—That it was not riches +which gave them this Life, if they were rich; or intellect, if +they were clever; or science, if they were learned; or rank, if +they were cultivated; or bodily organization, if they were +beautiful and strong: that this noble and gentle life of theirs +was independent of their body, of their mind, of their +circumstances? Nay, have you not seen this,—<i>I</i> +have, thank God, full many a time,—That not many rich, not +many mighty, not many noble are called: but that God’s +strength is rather made perfect in man’s +weakness,—that in foul garrets, in lonely sick-beds, in +dark places of the earth, you find ignorant people, sickly +people, ugly people, stupid people, in spite of, in defiance of, +every opposing circumstance, leading heroic lives,—a +blessing, a comfort, an example, a very Fount of Life to all +around them; and dying heroic deaths, because they know they have +Eternal Life?</p> +<p>And what was that which had made them different from the mean, +the savage, the drunken, the profligate beings around them? +This at least. That they were of those of whom it is +written, ‘Let him that is athirst come.’ They +had been athirst for Life. They had had instincts and +longings; very simple and humble, but very pure and noble. +At times, it may be, they had been unfaithful to those +instincts. At times, it may be, they had fallen. They +had said ‘Why should I not do like the rest, and be a +savage? Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die;’ +and they had cast themselves down into sin, for very weariness +and heaviness, and were for a while as the beasts which have no +law.</p> +<p>But the thirst after The noble Life was too deep to be +quenched in that foul puddle. It endured, and it conquered; +and they became more and more true to it, till it was satisfied +at last, though never quenched, that thirst of theirs, in Him who +alone can satisfy it—the God who gave it; for in them were +fulfilled the Lord’s own words: ‘Blessed are they +that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be +filled.’</p> +<p>There are those, I fear, in this church—there are too +many in all churches—who have not felt, as yet, this divine +thirst after a higher Life; who wish not for an Eternal, but for +a merely endless life, and who would not care greatly what sort +of life that endless life might be, if only it was not too unlike +the life which they live now; who would be glad enough to +continue as they are, in their selfish pleasure, selfish gain, +selfish content, for ever; who look on death as an unpleasant +necessity, the end of all which they really prize; and who have +taken up religion chiefly as a means for escaping still more +unpleasant necessities after death. To them, as to all, it +is said, ‘Come, and drink of the water of life +freely.’ But The Life of goodness which Christ +offers, is not the life they want. Wherefore they will not +come to Him, that they may have life. Meanwhile, they have +no right to sneer at the Fountain of Youth, or the Cup of +Immortality. Well were it for them if those dreams were +true; in their heart of hearts they know it. Would they not +go to the ends of the earth to bathe in the Fountain of +Youth? Would they not give all their gold for a draught of +the Cup of Immortality, and so save themselves, once and for all, +the trouble of becoming good?</p> +<p>But there are those here, I doubt not, who have in them, by +grace of God, that same divine thirst for the Higher Life; who +are discontented with themselves, ashamed of themselves; who are +tormented by longings which they cannot satisfy, instincts which +they cannot analyse, powers which they cannot employ, duties +which they cannot perform, doctrinal confusions which they cannot +unravel; who would welcome any change, even the most tremendous, +which would make them nobler, purer, juster, more loving, more +useful, more clear-headed and sound-minded; and when they think +of death say with the poet,—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘’Tis life, not death for which I +pant,<br /> +’Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant,<br /> +More life, and fuller, that I want.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>To them I say—for God has said it long ago,—Be of +good cheer. The calling and gifts of God are without +repentance. If you have the divine thirst, it will be +surely satisfied. If you long to be better men and women, +better men and women you will surely be. Only be true to +those higher instincts; only do not learn to despise and quench +that divine thirst; only struggle on, in spite of mistakes, of +failures, even of sins—for every one of which last your +heavenly Father will chastise you, even while He forgives; in +spite of all falls, struggle on. Blessed are you that +hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall be +filled. To you—and not in vain—‘The +Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth +say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And +whosoever will, let him drink of the water of life +freely.’</p> +<h2><a name="page14"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 14</span>SERMON +II.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE PHYSICIAN’S CALLING.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached at Whitehall for St. +George’s Hospital</i>.)</p> +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">St. Matthew</span> ix. 35.</p> +<p>And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in +their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and +healing every sickness and every disease among the people.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Gospels speak of disease and +death in a very simple and human tone. They regard them in +theory, as all are forced to regard them in fact, as sore and sad +evils.</p> +<p>The Gospels never speak of disease or death as necessities; +never as the will of God. It is Satan, not God, who binds +the woman with a spirit of infirmity. It is not the will of +our Father in heaven that one little one should perish. +Indeed, we do not sufficiently appreciate the abhorrence with +which the whole of Scripture speaks of disease and death: because +we are in the habit of interpreting many texts which speak of the +disease and death of the body in this life as if they referred to +the punishment and death of the soul in the world to come. +We have a perfect right to do that; for Scripture tells us that +there is a mysterious analogy and likeness between the life of +the body and that of the soul, and therefore between the death of +the body and that of the soul: but we must not forget, in the +secondary and higher spiritual interpretation of such texts, +their primary and physical meaning, which is this—that +disease and death are uniformly throughout Scripture held up to +the abhorrence of man.</p> +<p>Moreover—and this is noteworthy—the Gospels, and +indeed all Scripture, very seldom palliate the misery of disease, +by drawing from it those moral lessons which we ourselves +do. I say very seldom. The Bible does so here and +there, to tell us that we may do so likewise. And we may +thank God heartily that the Bible does so. It would be a +miserable world, if all that the clergyman or the friend might +say by the sick-bed were, ‘This is an inevitable evil, like +hail and thunder. You must bear it if you can: and if not, +then not.’ A miserable world, if he could not say +with full belief; ‘“My son, despise not thou the +chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of +Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth +every son whom He receiveth.” Thou knowest not now +why thou art afflicted; perhaps thou wilt never know in this +life. But a day will come when thou wilt know: when thou +wilt find that this sickness came to thee at the exact right +time, in the exact right way; when thou wilt find that God has +been keeping thee in the secret place of His presence from the +provoking of men, and hiding thee privately in His tabernacle +from the spite of tongues; when thou wilt discover that thou hast +been learning precious lessons for thy immortal spirit, while +thou didst seem to thyself merely tossing with clouded intellect +on a bed of useless pain; when thou wilt find that God was +nearest to thee, at the very moment when He seemed to have left +thee most utterly.’</p> +<p>Thank God, we can say that, and more; and we will say +it. But we must bear in mind, that the Gospels, which are +the very parts of Scripture which speak most concerning disease, +omit almost entirely that cheering and comforting view of it.</p> +<p>And why? Only to force upon our attention, I believe, a +view even more cheering and comforting: a view deeper and wider, +because supplied not merely to the pious sufferer, but to all +sufferers; not merely to the Christian, but to all mankind. +And that is, I believe, none other than this: that God does not +only bring spiritual good out of physical evil, but that He hates +physical evil itself: that He desires not only the salvation of +our souls, but the health of our bodies; and that when He sent +His only begotten Son into the world to do His will, part of that +will was, that He should attack and conquer the physical evil of +disease—as it were instinctively, as his natural enemy, and +directly, for the sake of the body of the sufferer.</p> +<p>Many excellent men, seeing how the healing of disease was an +integral part of our Lord’s mission, and of the mission of +His apostles, have wished that it should likewise form an +integral part of the mission of the Church: that the clergy +should as much as possible be physicians; the physician, as much +as possible, a clergyman. The plan may be useful in +exceptional cases—in that, for instance, of the missionary +among the heathen.</p> +<p>But experience has decided, that in a civilized and Christian +country it had better be otherwise: that the great principle of +the division of labour should be carried out: that there should +be in the land a body of men whose whole mind and time should be +devoted to one part only of our Lord’s work—the +battle with disease and death. And the effect has been not +to lower but to raise the medical profession. It has saved +the doctor from one great danger—that of abusing, for the +purposes of religious proselytizing, the unlimited confidence +reposed in him. It has freed him from many a superstition +which enfeebled and confused the physicians of the Middle +Ages. It has enabled him to devote his whole intellect to +physical science, till he has set his art on a sound and truly +scientific foundation. It has enabled him to attack +physical evil with a single-hearted energy and devotion which +ought to command the respect and admiration of his +fellow-countrymen. If all classes did their work half as +simply, as bravely, as determinedly, as unselfishly, as the +medical men of Great Britain—and, I doubt not, of other +countries in Europe—this world would be a far fairer place +than it is likely to be for many a year to come. It is good +to do one thing and to do it well. It is good to follow +Christ in one thing, and to follow Him utterly in that. And +the medical man has set his mind to do one thing,—to hate +calmly, but with an internecine hatred, disease and death, and to +fight against them to the end.</p> +<p>The medical man is complained of at times as being too +materialistic—as caring more for the bodies of his patients +than for their souls. Do not blame him too hastily. +In his exclusive care for the body, he may be witnessing +unconsciously, yet mightily, for the soul, for God, for the +Bible, for immortality.</p> +<p>Is he not witnessing for God, when he shows by his acts that +he believes God to be a God of Life, not of death; of health, not +of disease; of order, not of disorder; of joy and strength, not +of misery and weakness?</p> +<p>Is he not witnessing for Christ when, like Christ, he heals +all manner of sickness and disease among the people, and attacks +physical evil as the natural foe of man and of the Creator of +man?</p> +<p>Is he not witnessing for the immortality of the soul when he +fights against death as an evil to be postponed at all hazards +and by all means, even when its advent is certain? Surely +it is so. How often have we seen the doctor by the dying +bed, trying to preserve life, when he knew well that life could +not be preserved. We have been tempted to say to him, +‘Let the sufferer alone. He is senseless. He is +going. We can do nothing more for his soul; you can do +nothing more for his body. Why torment him needlessly for +the sake of a few more moments of respiration? Let him +alone to die in peace.’ How have we been tempted to +say that? We have not dared to say it; for we saw that the +doctor, and not we, was in the right; that in all those little +efforts, so wise, so anxious, so tender, so truly chivalrous, to +keep the failing breath for a few moments more in the body of one +who had no earthly claim upon his care, that doctor was bearing a +testimony, unconscious yet most weighty, to that human instinct +of which the Bible approves throughout, that death in a human +being is an evil, an anomaly, a curse; against which, though he +could not rescue the man from the clutch of his foe, he was +bound, in duty and honour, to fight until the last, simply +because it was death, and death was the enemy of man.</p> +<p>But if the medical man bears witness for God and spiritual +things when he seems exclusively occupied with the body, so does +the hospital. Look at those noble buildings which the +generosity of our fellow-countrymen have erected in all our great +cities. You may find in them, truly, sermons in stones; +sermons for rich alike and poor. They preach to the rich, +these hospitals, that the sick-bed levels all alike; that they +are the equals and brothers of the poor in the terrible liability +to suffer! They preach to the poor that they are, through +Christianity, the equals of the rich in their means and +opportunities of cure. I say through Christianity. +Whether the founders so intended or not (and those who founded +most of them, St. George’s among the rest, did so intend), +these hospitals bear direct witness for Christ. They do +this, and would do it, even if—which God forbid—the +name of Christ were never mentioned within their walls. +That may seem a paradox; but it is none. For it is a +historic fact, that hospitals are a creation of Christian times, +and of Christian men. The heathen knew them not. In +that great city of ancient Rome, as far as I have ever been able +to discover, there was not a single hospital,—not even, I +fear, a single charitable institution. Fearful +thought—a city of a million and a half inhabitants, the +centre of human civilization: and not a hospital there! The +Roman Dives paid his physician; the Roman Lazarus literally lay +at his gate full of sores, till he died the death of the street +dogs which licked those sores, and was carried forth to be thrust +under ground awhile, till the same dogs came to quarrel over his +bones. The misery and helplessness of the lower classes in +the great cities of the Roman empire, till the Church of Christ +arose, literally with healing in its wings, cannot, I believe, be +exaggerated.</p> +<p>Eastern piety, meanwhile, especially among the Hindoos, had +founded hospitals, in the old meaning of that word—namely, +almshouses for the infirm and aged: but I believe there is no +record of hospitals, like our modern ones, for the cure of +disease, till Christianity spread over the Western world.</p> +<p>And why? Because then first men began to feel the mighty +truth contained in the text. If Christ were a healer, His +servants must be healers likewise. If Christ regarded +physical evil as a direct evil, so must they. If Christ +fought against it with all His power, so must they, with such +power as He revealed to them. And so arose exclusively in +the Christian mind, a feeling not only of the nobleness of the +healing art, but of the religious duty of exercising that art on +every human being who needed it; and hospitals are to be counted, +as a historic fact, among the many triumphs of the Gospel.</p> +<p>If there be any one—especially a working man—in +this church this day who is inclined to undervalue the Bible and +Christianity, let him know that, but for the Bible and +Christianity, he has not the slightest reason to believe that +there would have been at this moment a hospital in London to +receive him and his in the hour of sickness or disabling +accident, and to lavish on him there, unpaid as the light and air +of God outside, every resource of science, care, generosity, and +tenderness, simply because he is a human being. Yes; truly +catholic are these hospitals,—catholic as the bounty of our +heavenly Father,—without respect of persons, giving to all +liberally and upbraiding not, like Him in whom all live, and +move, and have their being; witnesses better than all our sermons +for the universal bounty and tolerance of that heavenly Father +who causes the sun to shine on the evil and the good, and his +rain to fall upon the just and on the unjust, and is perfect in +this, that He is good to the unthankful and the evil.</p> +<p>And, therefore, the preacher can urge his countrymen, let +their opinions, creed, tastes, be what they may, to support +hospitals with especial freedom, earnestness, and +confidence. Heaven forbid that I should undervalue any +charitable institution whatever. May God’s blessing +be on them all. But this I have a right to say,—that +whatever objections, suspicions, prejudices there may be +concerning any other form of charity, concerning hospitals there +can be none. Every farthing bestowed on them must go toward +the direct doing of good. There is no fear in them of +waste, of misapplication of funds, of private jobbery, of +ulterior and unavowed objects. Palpable and unmistakeable +good is all they do and all they can do. And he who gives +to a hospital has the comfort of knowing that he is bestowing a +direct blessing on the bodies of his fellow-men; and it may be on +their souls likewise.</p> +<p>For I have said that these hospitals witness silently for God +and for Christ; and I must believe that that silent witness is +not lost on the minds of thousands who enter them. It sinks +in,—all the more readily because it is not thrust upon +them,—and softens and breaks up their hearts to receive the +precious seed of the word of God. Many a man, too ready +from bitter experience to believe that his fellow-men cared not +for him, has entered the wards of a hospital to be happily +undeceived. He finds that he is cared for; that he is not +forgotten either by God or man; that there is a place for him, +too, at God’s table, in his hour of utmost need; and angels +of God, in human form, ready to minister to his necessities; and, +softened by that discovery, he has listened humbly, perhaps for +the first time in his life, to the exhortations of a clergyman; +and has taken in, in the hour of dependence and weakness, the +lessons which he was too proud or too sullen to hear in the day +of independence and sturdy health. And so do these +hospitals, it seems to me, follow the example and practice of our +Lord Himself; who, by ministering to the animal wants and animal +sufferings of the people, by showing them that He sympathised +with those lower sorrows of which they were most immediately +conscious, made them follow Him gladly, and listen to Him with +faith, when He proclaimed to them in words of wisdom, that Father +in heaven whom He had already proclaimed to them in acts of +mercy.</p> +<p>And now, I have to appeal to you for the excellent and +honourable foundation of St. George’s Hospital. I +might speak to you, and speak, too, with a personal reverence and +affection of many years’ standing, of the claims of that +noble institution; of the illustrious men of science who have +taught within its walls; of the number of able and honourable +young men who go forth out of it, year by year, to carry their +blessed and truly divine art, not only over Great Britain, but to +the islands of the farthest seas. But to say that would be +merely to say what is true, thank God, of every hospital in +London.</p> +<p>One fact only, therefore, I shall urge, which gives St. +George’s Hospital special claims on the attention of the +rich.</p> +<p>Situated, as it is, in the very centre of the west end of +London, it is the special refuge of those who are most especially +of service to the dwellers in the Westend. Those who are +used up—fairly or unfairly—in ministering to the +luxuries of the high-born and wealthy: the groom thrown in the +park; the housemaid crippled by lofty stairs; the workman fallen +from the scaffolding of the great man’s palace; the footman +or coachman who has contracted disease from long hours of nightly +exposure, while his master and mistress have been warm and gay at +rout and ball; and those, too, whose number, I fear, are very +great, who contract disease, themselves, their wives, and +children, from actual want, when they are thrown suddenly out of +employ at the end of the season, and London is said to be +empty—of all but two million of living souls:—the +great majority of these crowd into St. George’s Hospital to +find there relief and comfort, which those to whom they minister +are solemnly bound to supply by their contributions. The +rich and well-born of this land are very generous. They are +doing their duty, on the whole, nobly and well. Let them do +their duty—the duty which literally lies nearest +them—by St. George’s Hospital, and they will wipe off +a stain, not on the hospital, but on the rich people in its +neighbourhood—the stain of that hospital’s debts.</p> +<p>The deficiency in the funds of the hospital for the year +1862–3—caused, be it remembered, by no extravagance +or sudden change, but simply by the necessity for succouring +those who would otherwise have been destitute of +succour—the deficiency, I say, on an expenditure of +15,000<i>l.</i> amounts to more than 3,200<i>l.</i> which has had +to be met by selling out funded property, and so diminishing the +capital of the institution. Ought this to be? I ask. +Ought this to be, while more wealth is collected within half a +mile of that hospital than in any spot of like extent in the +globe?</p> +<p>My friends, this is the time of Lent; the time whereof it is +written,—‘Is not this the fast which I have chosen, +to deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that is cast +out to thine house? when thou seest the naked that thou cover +him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? +If thou let thy soul go forth to the hungry, and satisfy the +afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy +darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee +continually, and satisfy thy soul, and make fat thy bones, and +thou shalt be like a watered garden, and as a spring that doth +not fail.’</p> +<p>Let us obey that command literally, and see whether the +promise is not literally fulfilled to us in return.</p> +<h2><a name="page27"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 27</span>SERMON +III.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE VICTORY OF LIFE.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached at the Chapel +Royal</i>.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Isaiah</span> xxxviii. 18, 19.</p> +<p>The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: +they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. +The living, the living, he shall praise thee.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">may</span> seem to have taken a strange +text on which to speak,—a mournful, a seemingly hopeless +text. Why I have chosen it, I trust that you will see +presently; certainly not that I may make you hopeless about +death. Meanwhile, let us consider it; for it is in the +Bible, and, like all words in the Bible, was written for our +instruction.</p> +<p>Now it is plain, I think, that the man who said these +words—good king Hezekiah—knew nothing of what we call +heaven; of a blessed life with God after death. He looks on +death as his end. If he dies, he says, he will not see the +Lord in the land of the living, any more than he will see man +with the inhabitants of the world. God’s mercies, he +thinks, will end with his death. God can only show His +mercy and truth by saving him from death. For the grave +cannot praise God, death cannot celebrate Him; those who go down +into the pit cannot hope for His truth. The living, the +living, shall praise God; as Hezekiah praises Him that day, +because God has cured him of his sickness, and added fifteen +years to his life.</p> +<p>No language can be plainer than this. A man who had +believed that he would go to heaven when he died could not have +used it.</p> +<p>In many of the Psalms, likewise, you will find words of +exactly the same kind, which show that the men who wrote them had +no clear conception, if any conception at all, of a life after +death.</p> +<p>Solomon’s words about death are utterly awful from their +sadness. With him, ‘that which befalleth the sons of +men befalleth beasts; as one dieth, so dieth the other. +Yea, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence +over a beast, and all is vanity. All go to one place, all +are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth +the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast +that goeth downward to the earth?’</p> +<p>He knows nothing about it. All he knows is, that the +spirit shall return to God who gave it,—and that a man will +surely find, in this life, a recompence for all his deeds, +whether good or evil.</p> +<p>‘Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy +youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, +when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Fear God, +and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of +man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with +every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be +evil.’</p> +<p>This is the doctrine of the Old Testament; that God judges and +rewards and punishes men in this life: but as for death, it is a +great black cloud into which all men must enter, and see and be +seen no more. Only twice or thrice, perhaps, a gleam of +light from beyond breaks through the dark. David, the +noblest and wisest of all the Jews, can say once that God will +not leave his soul in hell, neither suffer His holy one to see +corruption; Job says that, though after his skin worms destroy +his body, yet in his flesh he shall see God; and Isaiah, again, +when he sees his countrymen slaughtered, and his nation all but +destroyed, can say, ‘Thy dead men shall live, together with +my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that +dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of the morning, which +brings the parched herbs to life and freshness +again.’—Great and glorious sayings, all of them: but +we cannot tell how far either David, or Job, or Isaiah, were +thinking of a life after death. We can think of a life +after death when we use them; for we know how they have been +fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord; and we can see in them more +than the Jews of old could do; for, like all inspired words, they +mean more than the men who wrote them thought of; but we have no +right to impute our Christianity to them.</p> +<p>The only undoubted picture, perhaps, of the next life to be +found in the Old Testament, is that grand one in Isaiah xiv., +where he paints to us the tyrant king of Babylon going down into +hell:—</p> +<p>‘Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at +thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief +ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the +kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto +thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto +us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of +thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover +thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of +the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst +weaken the nations!’—Awful and grand enough: but +quite different, you will observe, from the notions of hell which +are common now-a-days; and much more like those which we read in +the old Greek poets, and especially, in the Necyomanteia of the +Odyssey.</p> +<p>When it was that the Jews gained any fuller notions about the +next life, it is very difficult to say. Certainly not +before they were carried away captive to Babylon. After +that they began to mix much with the great nations of the East: +with Greeks, Persians, and Indians; and from them, most probably, +they learned to believe in a heaven after death to which good men +would go, and a fiery hell to which bad men would go. At +least, the heathen nations round them, and our forefathers +likewise, believed in some sort of heaven and hell, hundreds of +years before the coming of our blessed Lord.</p> +<p>The Jews had learned, also—at least the +Pharisees—to believe in the resurrection of the dead. +Martha speaks of it; and St. Paul, when he tells the Pharisees +that, having been brought up a Pharisee, he was on their side +against the Sadducees.—‘I am a Pharisee,’ he +says, ‘the son of a Pharisee; for the hope of the +resurrection of the dead I am called in question.’</p> +<p>But if it be so,—if St. Paul and the Apostles believed +in heaven and hell, and the resurrection of the dead, before they +became Christians, what more did they learn about the next life, +when they became Christians? Something they did learn, most +certainly—and that most important. St. Paul speaks of +what our Lord and our Lord’s resurrection had taught him, +as something quite infinitely grander, and more blessed, than +what he had known before. He talks of our Lord as having +abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light; of +His having conquered death, and of His destroying death at +last. He speaks at moments as if he did not expect to die +at all; and when he does speak of the death of the Christian, it +is merely as a falling asleep. When he speaks of his own +death, it is merely as a change of place. He longs to +depart, and to be with Christ. Death had looked terrible to +him once, when he was a Jew. Death had had a sting, and the +grave a victory, which seemed ready to conquer him: but now he +cries, ‘O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where +is thy victory?’ and then he declares that the terrors of +death and the grave are taken away, not by anything which he knew +when he was a Pharisee, but through our Lord Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>All his old Jewish notions of the resurrection, though they +were true as far as they went, seemed poor and paltry beside what +Christ had taught him. He was not going to wait till the +end of the world—perhaps for thousands of years—in +darkness and the shadow of death, he knew not where or how. +His soul was to pass at once into life,—into joy, and +peace, and bliss, in the presence of his Saviour, till it should +have a new body given to it, in the resurrection of life at the +last day.</p> +<p>This, I think, is what St. Paul learned, and what the Jews had +not learned till our blessed Lord came. They were still +afraid of death. It looked to them a dark and ugly blank; +and no wonder. For would it not be dark and ugly enough to +have to wait, we know not where, it may be a thousand, it may be +tens of thousands of years, till the resurrection in the last +day, before we entered into joy, peace, activity or anything +worthy of the name of life? Would not death have a sting +indeed, the grave a victory indeed, if we had to be as good as +dead for ten thousands of years?</p> +<p>What then? Remember this, that death is an enemy, an +evil thing, an enemy to man, and therefore an enemy to Christ, +the King and Head and Saviour of man. Men ought not to die, +and they feel it. It is no use to tell them, +‘Everything that is born must die, and why not you? +All other animals died. They died, just as they die now, +hundreds of thousands of years before man came upon this earth; +and why should man expect to have a different lot? Why +should you not take your death patiently, as you take any other +evil which you cannot escape?’ The heart of man, as +soon as he begins to be a man, and not a mere savage; as soon as +he begins to think reasonably, and feel deeply; the heart of man +answers: ‘No, I am not a mere animal. I have +something in me which ought not to die, which perhaps cannot +die. I have a living soul in me, which ought to be able to +keep my body alive likewise, but cannot; and therefore death is +my enemy. I hate him, and I believe that I was meant to +hate him. Something must be wrong with me, or I should not +die; something must be wrong with all mankind, or I should not +see those I love dying round me.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, death is an enemy,—a hideous, hateful +thing. The longer one looks at it, the more one hates +it. The more often one sees it, the less one grows +accustomed to it. Its very commonness makes it all the more +shocking. We may not be so much shocked at seeing the old +die. We say, ‘They have done their work, why should +they not go?’ That is not true. They have not +done their work. There is more work in plenty for them to +do, if they could but live; and it seems shocking and sad, at +least to him who loves his country and his kind, that, just as +men have grown old enough to be of use, when they have learnt to +conquer their passions, when their characters are formed, when +they have gained sound experience of this world, and what man +ought and can do in it,—just as, in fact, they have become +most able to teach and help their fellow-men,—that then +they are to grow old, and decrepit, and helpless, and fade away, +and die just when they are most fit to live, and the world needs +them most.</p> +<p>Sad, I say, and strange is that. But sadder, and more +strange, and more utterly shocking, to see the young die; to see +parents leaving infant children, children vanishing early out of +the world where they might have done good work for God and +man.</p> +<p>What arguments will make us believe that that ought to +be? That that is God’s will? That that is +anything but an evil, an anomaly, a disease?</p> +<p>Not the Bible, certainly. The Bible never tells us that +such tragedies as are too often seen are the will of God. +The Bible says that it is not the will of our Father that one of +these little ones should perish. The Bible tells us that +Jesus, when on earth, went about fighting and conquering disease +and death, even raising from the dead those who had died before +their time. To fight against death, and to give life +wheresoever He went—that was His work; by that He +proclaimed the will of God, His Father, that none should perish, +who sent His Son that men might have life, and have it more +abundantly. By that He declared that death was an evil and +a disorder among men, which He would some day crush and destroy +utterly, that mortality should be swallowed up of life.</p> +<p>And yet we die, and shall die. Yes. The body is +dead, because of sin. Mankind is a diseased race; and it +must pay the penalty of its sins for many an age to come, and +die, and suffer, and sorrow. But not for ever. For +what mean such words as these—for something they must +mean?—</p> +<p>‘If a man keep my saying, he shall never see +death.’ And again, ‘He that believeth in Me, +though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that liveth and +believeth in Me shall never die.’</p> +<p>Do such words as these mean only that we shall rise again in +the resurrection at the last day? Surely not. Our +Lord spoke them in answer to that very notion.</p> +<p>‘Martha said to Him, I know that my brother shall rise +again, in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto +her, I <i>am</i> the resurrection and the life;’ and then +showed what He meant by bringing back Lazarus to life, unchanged, +and as he had been before he died.</p> +<p>Surely, if that miracle meant anything, if these words meant +anything, it meant this: that those who die in the fear of God, +and in the faith of Christ, do not really taste death; that to +them there is no death, but only a change of place, a change of +state; that they pass at once, and instantly, into some new life, +with all their powers, all their feelings, +unchanged,—purified doubtless from earthly stains, but +still the same living, thinking, active beings which they were +here on earth. I say, active. The Bible says nothing +about their sleeping till the Day of Judgment, as some have +fancied. Rest they may; rest they will, if they need +rest. But what is the true rest? Not idleness, but +peace of mind. To rest from sin, from sorrow, from fear, +from doubt, from care,—this is the true rest. Above +all, to rest from the worst weariness of all—knowing +one’s duty, and yet not being able to do it. That is +true rest; the rest of God, who works for ever, and yet is at +rest for ever; as the stars over our heads move for ever, +thousands of miles each day, and yet are at perfect rest, because +they move orderly, harmoniously, fulfilling the law which God has +given them. Perfect rest, in perfect work; that surely is +the rest of blessed spirits, till the final consummation of all +things, when Christ shall have made up the number of His +elect.</p> +<p>I hope that this is so. I trust that this is so. I +think our Lord’s great words can mean nothing less than +this. And if it be so, what comfort for us who must +die? What comfort for us who have seen others die, if death +be but a new birth into some higher life; if all that it changes +in us is our body—the mere shell and husk of us—such +a change as comes over the snake, when he casts his old skin, and +comes out fresh and gay, or even the crawling caterpillar, which +breaks its prison, and spreads its wings to the sun as a fair +butterfly. Where is the sting of death, then, if death can +sting, and poison, and corrupt nothing of us for which our +friends have loved us; nothing of us with which we could do +service to men or God? Where is the victory of the grave, +if, so far from the grave holding us down, it frees us from the +very thing which holds us down,—the mortal body?</p> +<p>Death is not death, then, if it kills no part of us, save that +which hindered us from perfect life. Death is not death, if +it raises us in a moment from darkness into light, from weakness +into strength, from sinfulness into holiness. Death is not +death, if it brings us nearer to Christ, who is the fount of +life. Death is not death, if it perfects our faith by +sight, and lets us behold Him in whom we have believed. +Death is not death, if it gives us to those whom we have loved +and lost, for whom we have lived, for whom we long to live +again. Death is not death, if it joins the child to the +mother who is gone before. Death is not death, if it takes +away from that mother for ever all a mother’s anxieties, a +mother’s fears, and lets her see, in the gracious +countenance of her Saviour, a sure and certain pledge that those +whom she has left behind are safe, safe with Christ and in +Christ, through all the chances and dangers of his mortal +life. Death is not death, if it rids us of doubt and fear, +of chance and change, of space and time, and all which space and +time bring forth, and then destroy. Death is not death; for +Christ has conquered death, for Himself, and for those who trust +in Him. And to those who say, ‘You were born in time, +and in time you must die, as all other creatures do; Time is your +king and lord, as he has been of all the old worlds before this, +and of all the races of beasts, whose bones and shells lie fossil +in the rocks of a thousand generations;’ then we can answer +them, in the words of the wise man, and in the name of Christ who +conquered death:—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Fly, envious time, till thou run out thy +race, <br /> +And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, <br /> +Which is no more than what is false and vain <br /> +And merely mortal dross. <br /> +So little is our loss, so little is thy gain. <br /> +For when as each bad thing thou hast entombed, <br /> +And, last of all, thy greedy self consumed, <br /> +Then long eternity shall greet our bliss <br /> +With an individual kiss, <br /> +And joy shall overtake us as a flood, <br /> +When everything that is sincerely good <br /> +And perfectly divine, <br /> +And truth, and peace, and love shall ever shine <br /> +About the supreme throne <br /> +Of Him, unto whose happy-making sight alone <br /> +When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, <br /> +Then all this earthly grossness quit, <br /> +Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit <br /> +Triumphant over death, and chance, and thee, O Time!’</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span>SERMON +IV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE WAGES OF SIN.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Chapel Royal June</i>, +1864)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Rom</span>. vi. 21–23.</p> +<p>What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now +ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now +being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have +your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For +the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life +through Jesus Christ our Lord.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is a glorious text, if we will +only believe it simply, and take it as it stands.</p> +<p>But if in place of St. Paul’s words we put quite +different words of our own, and say—By ‘the wages of +sin is death,’ St. Paul means that the punishment of sin is +eternal life in torture, then we say something which may be true, +but which is not what St. Paul is speaking of here. For +wages are not punishment, and death is not eternal life in +torture, any more than in happiness.</p> +<p>That, one would think, was clear. It is our duty to take +St. Paul’s words, if we really believe them to be inspired, +simply as they stand; and if we do not quite understand them, to +explain them by St. Paul’s own words about these matters in +other parts of his writings.</p> +<p>St. Paul was an inspired Apostle. Let him speak for +himself. Surely he knew best what he wished to say, and how +to say it.</p> +<p>Now St. Paul’s opinions about death and eternal life are +very clear; for he speaks of them often, and at great length.</p> +<p>He considered that the great enemy of God and man, the last +enemy Christ would destroy, was death; and that, after death was +destroyed, the end would come, when God would be all in +all. Then came the question, which has puzzled men in all +ages—How death came into the world. St. Paul answers, +By sin. He says, as the author of the third chapter of +Genesis says, that Adam became subject to death by his +fall. By one man, he says, sin entered into the world, and +death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have +sinned. And thus, he says, death reigned even over those +who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s +transgression.</p> +<p>That he is speaking of bodily death is clear, because he is +always putting it in contrast to the resurrection to +life,—not merely to a spiritual resurrection from the death +of sin to the life of righteousness; but to the resurrection of +the body,—to our Lord’s being raised from the dead, +that He might die no more.</p> +<p>Then he speaks of eternal life. He always speaks of it +as an actual life, in a spiritual body, into which our mortal +bodies are to be changed. Nothing can be clearer from what +he says in 1 Cor. xv., that he means an actual rising again of +our bodies from bodily death; an actual change in them; an actual +life in them for ever.</p> +<p>But he says, again and again,—As sin caused the death of +the body, so righteousness is to cause its life.</p> +<p>‘When ye were the servants of sin,’ he says to the +Romans, ‘what fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are +now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. +But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye +have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting +life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is +eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s opinion. And we shall do well +to believe it, and to learn from it, this day, and all days.</p> +<p>The wages of sin and the end of sin is death. Not the +punishment of sin; but something much worse. The wages of +sin, and the end of sin.</p> +<p>And how is that worse news? My friends, every sinner +knows so well in his heart that it is worse news, more terrible +news, for him, that he tries to persuade himself that death is +only the arbitrary punishment of his sin; or, quite as often, +that the punishment of his sin is not even death, but eternal +torment in the next life.</p> +<p>And why? Because, as long as he can believe that death, +or hell, are only punishments arbitrarily fixed by God against +his sins, he can hope that God will let him off the +punishment. Die, he knows he must, because all men die; and +so he makes up his mind to that: but being sent to hell after he +dies, is so very terrible a punishment, that he cannot believe +that God will be so hard on him as that. No; he will get +off, and be forgiven at last somehow, for surely God will not +condemn him to hell. And so he finds it very convenient and +comfortable to believe in hell, just because he does not believe +that he is going there, whoever else may be.</p> +<p>But, it is a very terrible, heartrending thought, for a man to +find out that what he will receive is not punishment, but wages; +not punishment but the end of the very road which he is +travelling on. That the wages of sin, and the end of sin, +to which it must lead, are death; that every time he sins he is +earning those wages, deserving them, meriting them, and therefore +receiving them by the just laws of the world of God. That +does torment him, that does terrify him, if he will look +steadfastly at the broad plain fact—You need not dream of +being let off, respited, reprieved, pardoned in any way. +The thing cannot be done. It is contrary to the laws of God +and of God’s universe. It is as impossible as that +fire should not burn, or water run up hill. It is not a +question of arbitrary punishment, which may be arbitrarily +remitted; but of wages, which you needs must take, weekly, daily, +and hourly; and those wages are death: a question of travelling +on a certain road, whereon, if you travel it long enough, you +must come to the end of it; and the end is death. Your sins +are killing you by inches; all day long they are sowing in you +the seeds of disease and death. Every sin which you commit +with your body shortens your bodily life. Every sin you +commit with your mind, every act of stupidity, folly, wilful +ignorance, helps to destroy your mind, and leave you dull, silly, +devoid of right reason. Every sin you commit with your +spirit, each sin of passion and temper, envy and malice, pride +and vanity, injustice and cruelty, extravagance and +self-indulgence, helps to destroy your spiritual life, and leave +you bad, more and more unable to do the right and avoid the +wrong, more and more unable to discern right from wrong; and that +last is spiritual death, the eternal death of your moral +being. There are three parts in you—body, mind, and +spirit; and every sin you commit helps to kill one of these +three, and, in many cases, to kill all three together.</p> +<p>So, sinner, dream not of escaping punishment at the +last. You are being punished now, for you are punishing +yourself; and you will continue to be punished for ever, for you +will be punishing yourself for ever, as long as you go on doing +wrong, and breaking the laws which God has appointed for body, +mind and spirit. You can see that a drunkard is killing +himself, body and mind, by drink. You see that he knows +that, poor wretch, as well as you. He knows that every time +he gets drunk he is cutting so much off his life; and yet he +cannot help it. He knows that drink is poison, and yet he +goes back to his poison.</p> +<p>Then know, habitual sinner, that you are like that +drunkard. That every bad habit in which you indulge is +shortening the life of some of your faculties, and that God +Himself cannot save you from the doom which you are earning, +deserving, and working out for yourself every day and every +hour.</p> +<p>Oh how men hate that message!—the message that the true +wrath of God, necessary, inevitable, is revealed from heaven +against all unrighteousness of men. How they writhe under +it! How they shut their ears to it, and cry to their +preachers, ‘No! Tell us of any wrath of God but +that! Tell us rather of the torments of the damned, of a +frowning God, of absolute decrees to destruction, of the +reprobation of millions before they are born; any doctrine, +however fearful and horrible: because we don’t quite +believe it, but only think that we ought to believe it. +Yes, tell us anything rather than that news, which cuts at the +root of all our pride, of all our comfort, and all our +superstition—the news that we cannot escape the +consequences of our own actions; that there are no back stairs up +which we may be smuggled into heaven; that as we sow, so we shall +reap; that we are filled with the fruits of our own devices; +every man his own poisoner, every man his own executioner, every +man his own suicide; that hell begins in this life, and death +begins before we die:—do not say that: because we cannot +help believing it; for our own consciousness and our own +experience tell us it is true.’ No wonder that the +preacher who tells men that is hated, is called a Rationalist, a +Pantheist, a heretic, and what not, just because he does set +forth such a living God, such a justice of God, such a wrath of +God as would make the sinner tremble, if he believed in it, not +merely once in a way, when he hears a stirring sermon about the +endless torments: but all day long, going out and coming in, +lying on his bed and walking by the way, always haunted by the +shadow of himself, knowing that he is bearing about in him the +perpetually growing death of sin.</p> +<p>And still more painful would this message be to the sinner, if +he had any kindly feeling for others; and, thank God, there are +few who have not that. For St. Paul’s message to him +is, that the wages of his sin is death, not merely to himself, +but to others—to his family and children above all. +So St. Paul declares in what he says of his doctrine of original +or birth sin, by which, as the Article says, every man is very +far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature +inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth against the +spirit.</p> +<p>St. Paul’s doctrine is simple and explicit. Death, +he says, reigned over Adam’s children, even over those who +had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression; +agreeing with Moses, who declares God to be one who visits the +sins of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth +generation of those who hate Him. But how the sinner will +shrink from this message—and shrink the more, the more +feeling he is, the less he is wrapped up in selfishness. +Yes, that message gives us such a view of the sinfulness of sin +as none other can. It tells us why God hates sin with so +unextinguishable a hatred, just because He is a God of +Love. It is not that man’s sin injures God, insults +God, as the heathen fancy. Who is God, that man can stir +Him up to pride, or wound or disturb His everlasting calm, His +self-sufficient perfectness? ‘God is tempted of no +man,’ says St. James. No. God hates sin. +He loves all, and sin harms all; and the sinner may be a torment +and a curse, not only to himself, not only to those around him, +but to children yet unborn.</p> +<p>This is bad news; and yet sinners must hear it. They +must hear it not only put into words by Moses, or by St. Paul, or +by any other inspired writer; but they must hear it, likewise, in +that perpetual voice of God which we call facts.</p> +<p>Let the sinner who wishes to know what original sin means, and +how actual sin in one man breeds original sin in his descendants, +look at the world around him, and see. Let him see how St. +Paul’s doctrine and the doctrine of the Ten Commandments +are proved true by experience and by fact: how the past, and how +the present likewise, show us whole families, whole tribes, whole +aristocracies, whole nations, dwindling down to imbecility, +misery, and destruction, because the sins of the fathers are +visited on the children.</p> +<p>Physicians, who see children born diseased; born stupid, or +even idiotic; born thwart-natured, or passionate, or false, or +dishonest, or brutal,—they know well what original sin +means, though they call it by their own name of hereditary +tendencies. And they know, too, how the sins of a parent, +or of a grand parent, or even a great-grandparent, are visited on +the children to the third and fourth generation; and they say +‘It is a law of nature:’ and so it is. But the +laws of nature are the laws of God who made her: and His law is +the same law by which death reigns even over those who have not +sinned after the likeness of Adam; the law by which (even though +if Christ be in us, the spirit is life, because of righteousness) +the body, nevertheless, is dead, because of sin.</p> +<p>Parents, parents, who hear my words, beware—if not for +your own sakes, at least for the sake of your children, and your +children’s children—lest the wages of your sin should +be their death.</p> +<p>And by this time, surely, some of you will be asking, +‘What has he said? That there is no escape; that +there is no forgiveness?’</p> +<p>None whatsoever, my friends, though you were to cry to heaven +for ever and ever, save the one old escape of which you hear in +the church every Sunday morning: ‘When the wicked man +turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and +doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul +alive.’</p> +<p>What, does not the blood of Christ cleanse us from all +sin?</p> +<p>Yes, from all sin. But not, necessarily, from the wages +of all sin.</p> +<p>Judge for yourselves, my friends, again. Listen to the +voice of God revealed in facts. If you, being a drunkard, +have injured your constitution by drink, and then are converted, +and repent, and turn to God with your whole soul, and become, as +you may, if you will, a truly penitent, good, and therefore sober +man,—will that cure the disease of your body? It will +certainly palliate and ease it: because, instead of being +drunken, you will have become sober: but still you will have +shortened your days by your past sins; and, in so far, even +though the Lord has put away your sin its wages still remain, as +death.</p> +<p>So it is, my friends, if you will only believe it, or rather +see it with your own eyes, with every sin, and every sort of +sin.</p> +<p>You will see, if you look, that the Article speaks exact truth +when it says, that the infection of nature doth remain, even in +those that are regenerate. It says that of original sin: +but it is equally true of actual sin.</p> +<p>Would to God that all men would but believe this, and give up +the too common and too dangerous notion, that it is no matter if +they go on wrong for a while, provided they come right at +last!</p> +<p>No matter? I ask for facts again. Is there a man +or woman in this church twenty years old who does not know that +it matters? Who does not know that, if they have done wrong +in youth, their own wrong deeds haunt them and torment +them?—That they are, perhaps the poorer, perhaps the +sicklier, perhaps the more ignorant, perhaps the sillier, perhaps +the more sorrowful this day, for things which they did twenty, +thirty years ago? Is there any one in this church who ever +did a wrong thing without smarting for it? If there is +(which I question), let him be sure that it is only because his +time is not come. Do not fancy that because you are +forgiven, you may not be actually less good men all your lives by +having sinned when young.</p> +<p>I know it is sometimes said, ‘The greater the sinner, +the greater the saint.’ I do not believe that: +because I do not see it. I see, and I thank God for it, +that men who have been very wrong at one time, come very right +afterwards; that, having found out in earnest that the wages of +sin are death, they do repent in earnest, and receive the gift of +eternal life through Jesus Christ. But I see, too, that the +bad habits, bad passions, bad methods of thought, which they have +indulged in youth, remain more or less, and make them worse men, +sillier men, less useful men, less happy men, sometimes to their +lives’ end: and they, if they be true Christians, know it, +and repent of their early sins, not once for all only, but all +their lives long; because they feel that they have weakened and +worsened themselves thereby.</p> +<p>It stands to reason, my friends, that it should be so. +If a man loses his way, and finds it again, he is so much the +less forward on his way, surely, by all the time he has spent in +getting back into the road. If a child has a violent +illness, it stops growing, because the life and nourishment which +ought to have gone towards its growth, are spent in curing its +disease. And so, if a man has indulged in bad habits in his +youth, he is but too likely (let him do what he will) to be a +less good man for it to his life’s end, because the Spirit +of God, which ought to have been making him grow in grace, freely +and healthily, to the stature of a perfect man, to the fulness of +the measure of Christ, is striving to conquer old bad habits, and +cure old diseases of character; and the man, even though he does +enter into life, enters into it halt and maimed; and the wages of +his sin have been, as they always will be, death to some powers, +some faculties of his soul.</p> +<p>Think over these things, my friends; and believe that the +wages of sin are death, and that there is no escaping from +God’s just and everlasting laws. But meanwhile, let +us judge no man. This is a great and a solemn reason for +observing, with fear and trembling, our Lord’s command, for +it is nothing less, ‘Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; +condemn not and ye shall not be condemned.’</p> +<p>For we never can know how much of any man’s misconduct +is to be set down to original, and how much to actual, +sin;—how much disease of mind and heart he has inherited +from his parents, how much he has brought upon himself.</p> +<p>Therefore judge no man, but yourselves. Search your own +hearts, to see what manner of men you really wish to be; judge +yourselves, lest God should judge you.</p> +<p>Do you wish to go on as you like here on earth, right or +wrong, in the hope that, somehow or other, the punishment of your +sins will be forgiven you at the last day?</p> +<p>Then know that that is impossible. As a man sows, so +shall he reap; and if you sow to the flesh, of the flesh you will +reap—corruption. The wages of sin are death. +Those wages will be paid you, and you must take them whether you +like or not.</p> +<p>But do you wish to be Good? Do you see (I trust in God +that many of you do) that goodness is the only wise, safe, +prudent life for you because it is the only path the end of which +is not death?</p> +<p>Do you see that goodness is the only right and honourable life +for you, because it is the only path by which you can do your +duty to man or to God; the only method by which you can show your +gratitude to God for all His goodness to you, and can please Him, +in return for all that He has done by His grace and free love to +bless you?</p> +<p>Do you, in a word, repent you truly of your former sins, and +purpose to lead a new life? Then know, that all beyond is +the free grace, the free gift of God. You have to earn +nothing, to buy nothing. The will is all God asks. +Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>Freely He forgives you all your past sins, for the sake of +that precious blood which was shed on the cross for the sins of +the whole world. Freely He takes you back, as His child, to +your Father’s house. Freely, He gives you His Holy +Spirit, the Spirit of Goodness, the Spirit of Life, to put into +your mind good desires, and enable you to bring those desires to +good effect, that you may live the eternal life of grace and +goodness for ever, whether in earth or heaven.</p> +<p>Yes, it is the Gift of God, which raises you from the death of +sin to the life of righteousness; and if you have that gift, you +will not murmur, surely, though you have to bear, more or less, +the just and natural consequences of your former sins; though you +be, through your own guilt, a sadder man to your dying day. +Be content. You are forgiven. You are cleansed from +your sin; is not that mercy enough? Why are you to demand +of God, that He should over and above cleanse you from the +consequences of your sin? He may leave them there to +trouble and sadden you, just because He loves you, and desires to +chasten you, and keep you in mind of what you were, and what you +would be again, at any moment, if His Spirit left you to +yourself. You may have to enter into life halt and maimed: +yet, be content; you have a thousand times more than you deserve, +for at least you enter into Life.</p> +<h2><a name="page56"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 56</span>SERMON +V.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">NIGHT AND DAY.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached at the Chapel +Royal</i>.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Romans</span> xiii. 12.</p> +<p>The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore +cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of +light.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Certain</span> commentators would tell us, +that St. Paul wrote these words in the expectation that the end +of the world, and the second coming of Christ, were very +near. The night was far spent, and the day of the Lord at +hand. Salvation—deliverance from the destruction +impending on the world, was nearer than when his converts first +believed. Shortly the Lord would appear in glory, and St. +Paul and his converts would be caught up to meet Him in the +air.</p> +<p>No doubt St. Paul’s words will bear this meaning. +No doubt there are many passages in his writings which seem to +imply that he thought the end of the world was near; and that +Christ would reappear in glory, while he, Paul, was yet alive on +the earth. And there are passages; too, which seem to imply +that he afterwards altered that opinion, and, no longer expecting +to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, desired to depart +himself, and be with Christ, in the consciousness that ‘He +was ready to be offered up, and the time of his departure was at +hand.’</p> +<p>I say that there are passages which seem to imply such a +change in St. Paul’s opinions. I do not say that they +actually imply it. If I had a positive opinion on the +matter, I should not be hasty to give it. These questions +of ‘criticism,’ as they are now called, are far less +important than men fancy just now. A generation or two +hence, it is to be hoped, men will see how very unimportant they +are, and will find that they have detracted very little from the +authority of Scripture as a whole; and that they have not +detracted in the least from the Gospel and good news which +Scripture proclaims to men—the news of a perfect God, who +will have men to become perfect even as He, their Father in +heaven, is perfect; who sent His only begotten Son into the +world, that the world through Him might be saved.</p> +<p>In this case, I verily believe, it matters little to us +whether St. Paul, when he wrote these words, wrote them under the +belief that Christ’s second coming was at hand. We +must apply to his words the great rule, that no prophecy of +Scripture is of any private interpretation—that is, does +not apply exclusively to any one fact or event: but fulfils +itself again and again, in a hundred unexpected ways, because he +who wrote it was moved by the Holy Spirit, who revealed to him +the eternal and ever-working laws of the Kingdom of God. +Therefore, I say, the words are true for us at this moment. +To us, though we have, as far as I can see, not the least +reasonable cause for supposing the end of the world to be more +imminent than it was a thousand years ago—to us, +nevertheless, and to every generation of men, the night is always +far spent, and the day is always at hand.</p> +<p>And this, surely, was in the mind of those who appointed this +text to be read as the Epistle for the first Sunday in +Advent.</p> +<p>Year after year, though Christ has not returned to judgment; +though scoffers have been saying, ‘Where is the promise of +His coming? for all things continue as they were at the +beginning’—Year after year, I say, are the clergy +bidden to tell the people that the night is far spent, that the +day is at hand; and to tell them so, because it is true. +Whatsoever St. Paul meant, or did not mean, by the words, a few +years after our Lord’s ascension into heaven, they are +there, for ever, written by one who was moved by the Holy Ghost; +and hence they have an eternal moral and spiritual significance +to mankind in every age.</p> +<p>Whatever these words may, or may not have meant to St. Paul +when he wrote them first, in the prime of life, we may never +know, and we need not know. But we can guess surely enough +what they must have meant to him in after years, when he could +say—as would to God we all might be able to +say—‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my +course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me +a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, +shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them +that love His appearing.’</p> +<p>To him, then, the night would surely mean this mortal life on +earth. The day would mean the immortal life to come.</p> +<p>For is not this mortal life, compared with that life to come, +as night compared with day? I do not mean to speak evil of +it. God forbid that we should do anything but thank God for +this life. God forbid that we should say impiously to Him, +Why hast thou made me thus? No. God made this mortal +life, and therefore, like all things which He has made, it is +very good. But there are good nights, and there are bad +nights; and there are happy lives, and unhappy ones. But +what are they at best? What is the life of the happiest man +without the Holy Spirit of God? A night full of pleasant +dreams. What is the life of the wisest man? A night +of darkness, through which he gropes his way by lanthorn-light, +slowly, and with many mistakes and stumbles. When we +compare man’s vast capabilities with his small deeds; when +we think how much he might know,—how little he does know in +this mortal life,—can we wonder that the highest spirits in +every age have looked on death as a deliverance out of darkness +and a dungeon? And if this is life at the best, what is +life at the worst? To how many is life a night, not of +peace and rest, but of tossing and weariness, pain and sickness, +anxiety and misery, till they are ready to cry, When will it be +over? When will kind Death come and give me rest? +When will the night of this life be spent, and the day of God +arise? ‘Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O +Lord. Lord, hear my voice. My soul doth wait for the +Lord, more than the sick man who watches for the +morning.’</p> +<p>Yes, think,—for it is good at times, however happy one +may be oneself, to think—of all the misery and sorrow that +there is on earth, and how many there are who would be glad to +hear that it was nearly over; glad to hear that the night was far +spent, and the day was at hand.</p> +<p>And even the happiest ought to ‘know the +time.’ To know that the night is far spent, and the +day at hand. To know, too, that the night at best was not +given us, to sleep it all through, from sunset to sunrise. +No industrious man does that. Either he works after sunset, +and often on through the long hours, and into the short hours, +before he goes to rest: or else he rises before daybreak, and +gets ready for the labours of the coming day. The latter no +man can do in this life. For we all sleep away, more or +less, the beginning of our life, in the time of childhood. +There is no sin in that—God seems to have ordained that so +it should be. But, to sleep away our manhood +likewise,—is there no sin in that? As we grow older, +must we not awake out of sleep, and set to work, to be ready for +the day of God which will dawn on us when we pass out of this +mortal life into the world to come?</p> +<p>As we grow older, and as we get our share of the cares, +troubles, experiences of life, it is high time to wake out of +sleep, and ask Christ to give us light—light enough to see +our way through the night of this life, till the everlasting day +shall dawn.</p> +<p>‘Knowing the time;’—the time of this our +mortal life. How soon it will be over, at the +longest! How short the time seems since we were +young! How quickly it has gone! How every year, as we +grow older seems to go more and more quickly, and there is less +time to do what we want, to think seriously, to improve +ourselves. So soon, and it will be over, and we shall have +no time at all, for we shall be in eternity. And what +then? What then? That depends on what now. On +what we are doing now. Are we letting our short span of +life slip away in sleep; fancying ourselves all the while wide +awake, as we do in dreams—till we wake really; and find +that it is daylight, and that all our best dreams were nothing +but useless fancy? How many dream away their lives! +Some upon gain, some upon pleasure, some upon petty +self-interest, petty quarrels, petty ambitions, petty squabbles +and jealousies about this person and that, which are no more +worthy to take up a reasonable human being’s time and +thoughts than so many dreams would be. Some, too, dream +away their lives in sin, in works of darkness which they are +forced for shame and safety to hide, lest they should come to the +light and be exposed. So people dream their lives away, and +go about their daily business as men who walk in their sleep, +wandering about with their eyes open, and yet seeing nothing of +what is really around them. Seeing nothing: though they +think that they see, and know their own interest, and are shrewd +enough to find their way about this world. But they know +nothing—nothing of the very world with which they pride +themselves they are so thoroughly acquainted. None know +less of the world than those who pride themselves on being men of +the world. For the true light, which shines all round them, +they do not see, and therefore they do not see the truth of +things by that light. If they did, then they would see that +of which now they do not even dream.</p> +<p>They would see that God was around them, about their path and +about their bed, and spying out all their ways; and in the light +of His presence, they dare not be frivolous, dare not be +ignorant, dare not be mean, dare not be spiteful, dare not be +unclean.</p> +<p>They would see that Christ was around them, knocking at the +door of their hearts, that He may enter in, and dwell there, and +give them peace; crying to their restless, fretful, confused, +unhappy souls, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon +you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye +shall find rest unto your souls.’</p> +<p>They would see that Duty was around them. Duty—the +only thing really worth living for. The only thing which +will really pay a man, either for this life or the next. +The only thing which will give a man rest and peace, manly and +quiet thoughts, a good conscience and a stout heart, in the midst +of hard labour, anxiety, sorrow and disappointment: because he +feels at least that he is doing his duty; that he is obeying God +and Christ, that he is working with them, and for them, and that, +therefore, they are working with him, and for him. God, +Christ, and Duty—these, and more, will a man see if he will +awake out of sleep, and consider where he is, by the light of +God’s Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>Then will that man feel that he must cast away the works of +darkness; whether of the darkness of foul and base sins; or the +darkness of envy, spite, and revenge; or the mere darkness of +ignorance and silliness, thoughtlessness and frivolity. He +must cast them away, he will see. They will not +succeed—they are not safe—in such a serious world as +this. The term of this mortal life is too short, and too +awfully important, to be spent in such dreams as these. The +man is too awfully near to God, and to Christ, to dare to play +the fool in their Divine presence. This earth looks to him, +now that he sees it in the true light, one great temple of God, +in which he dare not, for very shame, misbehave himself. He +must cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armour of +light, now in the time of this mortal life; lest, when Christ +comes in His glory to judge the quick and the dead, he be found +asleep, dreaming, useless, unfit for the eternal world to +come.</p> +<p>Then let him awake, and cry to Christ for light: and Christ +will give him light—enough, at least, to see his way +through the darkness of this life, to that eternal life of which +it is written, ‘They need no candle there, nor light of the +sun: for the Lord God and the Lamb are the light +thereof.’ And he will find that the armour of light +is an armour indeed. A defence against all enemies, a +helmet for his head, and breastplate for his heart, against all +that can really harm his mind our soul.</p> +<p>If a man, in the struggle of life, sees God, and Christ, and +Duty, all around him, that thought will be a helmet for his +head. It will keep his brain and mind clear, quiet, prudent +to perceive and know what things he ought to do. It will +give him that Divine wisdom, of which Solomon says, in his +Proverbs, that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the +Lord.</p> +<p>The light will give him, I say, judgment and wisdom to +perceive what he ought to do; and it will give him, too, grace +and power faithfully to fulfil the same. For it will be a +breastplate to his heart. It will keep his heart sound, as +well as his head. It will save him from breaking his good +resolutions, and from deserting his duty out of cowardice, or out +of passion. The light of Christ will keep his heart pure, +unselfish, forgiving; ready to hope all things, believe all +things, endure all things, by that Divine charity which God will +pour into his soul.</p> +<p>For when he looks at things in the light of Christ, what does +he see? Christ hanging on the cross, praying for His +murderers, dying for the sins of the whole world. And what +does the light which streams from that cross show him of +Christ? That the likeness of Christ is summed up in one +word—self-sacrificing love. What does the light which +streams from that cross show him of the world and mankind, in +spite of all their sins? That they belong to Him who died +for them, and bought them with His own most precious blood.</p> +<p>‘Beloved, herein is love indeed. Not that we loved +God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the +propitiation of our sins.’</p> +<p>‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one +another.’</p> +<p>After that sight a man cannot hate; cannot revenge. He +must forgive; he must love. From hence he is in the light, +and sees his duty and his path through life. ‘For he +that hateth his brother walketh in darkness, and knoweth not +whither he goeth: because darkness has blinded his eyes. +But he that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is +no occasion of stumbling in him. For he who dwelleth in +love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.’</p> +<p>Therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put you on the +armour of light, and be good men and true.</p> +<p>For of this the Holy Ghost prophesies by the mouth of St. +Paul, and of all apostles and prophets. Not of times and +seasons, which God the Father has kept in His own hand: not of +that day and hour of which no man knows; no, not the Angels in +heaven, neither the Son; but the Father only: not of these does +the Holy Ghost testify to men. Not of chronology, past or +future: but of holiness; because he is a Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>For this purpose God, the Holy Father, sent His Son into the +world. For this God, the Holy Son, died upon the +cross. For this God, the Holy Ghost—proceeding from +both the Father and the Son—inspired prophets and apostles; +that they might teach men to cast away the works of darkness, and +put on the armour of light; and become holy, as God is holy; +pure, as God is pure; true, as God is true; and good, as God is +good.</p> +<h2><a name="page68"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 68</span>SERMON +VI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE +EARTH.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached at the Chapel +Royal</i>, <i>Whitehall</i>.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Hebrews</span> xii. 26–29.</p> +<p>But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not +the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once +more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as +of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken +may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot +be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably +with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming +fire.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is one of the Royal texts of +the New Testament. It declares one of those great laws of +the kingdom of God, which may fulfil itself, once and again, at +many eras, and by many methods; which fulfilled itself especially +and most gloriously in the first century after Christ; which +fulfilled itself again in the fifth century; and again at the +time of the Crusades; and again at the great Reformation in the +sixteenth century; and is fulfilling itself again at this very +day.</p> +<p>Now, in our fathers’ time, and in our own unto this day, +is the Lord Christ shaking the heavens and the earth, that those +things which are made may be removed, and that those things which +cannot be shaken may remain. We all confess this fact, in +different phrases. We say that we live in an age of change, +of transition, of scientific and social revolution. Our +notions of the physical universe are rapidly altering with the +new discoveries of science; and our notions of Ethics and +Theology are altering as rapidly.</p> +<p>The era looks differently to different minds, just as the +first century after Christ looked differently, according as men +looked with faith towards the future, or with regret towards the +past. Some rejoice in the present era as one of +progress. Others lament over it as one of decay. Some +say that we are on the eve of a Reformation, as great and +splendid as that of the sixteenth century. Others say that +we are rushing headlong into scepticism and atheism. Some +say that a new era is dawning on humanity; others that the world +and the Church are coming to an end, and the last day is at +hand. Both parties may be right, and both may be +wrong. Men have always talked thus at great crises. +They talked thus in the first century, in the fifth, in the +eleventh, in the sixteenth. And then both parties were +right, and yet both wrong. And why not now? What they +meant to say, and what they mean to say now, is what he who wrote +the Epistle to the Hebrews said for them long ago in far deeper, +wider, more accurate words—that the Lord Christ was shaking +the heavens and the earth, that those things which can be shaken +may be removed, as things which are made—cosmogonies, +systems, theories, fashions, prejudices, of man’s +invention: while those things which cannot be shaken may remain, +because they are eternal, the creation not of man, but of +God.</p> +<p>‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also +heaven.’ Not merely the physical world, and +man’s conceptions thereof; but the spiritual world, and +man’s conceptions of that likewise.</p> +<p>How have our conceptions of the physical world been shaken of +late, with ever-increasing violence! How simple, and easy, +and certain, it all looked to our forefathers! How complex, +how uncertain, it looks to us! With increased knowledge has +come—not increased doubt—that I deny; but increased +reverence; increased fear of rash assertions, increased awe of +facts, as the acted words and thoughts of God. Once for +all, I deny that this age is an irreverent one. I say that +an irreverent age is an age like the Middle Age, in which men +dared to fancy that they could and did know all about earth and +heaven; and set up their petty cosmogonies, their petty systems +of doctrine, as measures of the ways of that God whom the heaven +and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain.</p> +<p>It was simple enough, their theory of the universe. The +earth was a flat plain; for did not the earth look flat? Or +if some believed the earth to be a globe, yet the existence of +antipodes was an unscriptural heresy. Above were the +heavens: first the lower heavens in which the stars were fixed +and moved; and above them heaven after heaven, each peopled of +higher orders, up to that heaven of heavens in which +Deity—and by Him, the Mother of Deity—were +enthroned.</p> +<p>And below—What could be more clear, more certain, than +this—that as above the earth was the kingdom of light, and +joy, and holiness, so below the earth was the kingdom of +darkness, and torment, and sin? What could be more +certain? Had not even the heathens said so, by the mouth of +the poet Virgil? What could be more simple, rational, +orthodox, than to adopt (as they actually did) Virgil’s own +words, and talk of Tartarus, Styx, and Phlegethon, as +indisputable Christian entities. They were not aware that +the Buddhists of the far East had held much the same theory of +endless retribution several centuries before; and that Dante, +with his various <i>bolge</i>, tenanted each by its various +species of sinners, was merely re-echoing the horrors which are +to be seen painted on the walls of any Buddhist temple, as they +were on the walls of so many European churches during the Middle +Ages, when men really believed in that same Tartarology, with the +same intensity with which they now believe in the conclusions of +astronomy or of chemistry.</p> +<p>To them, indeed, it was all an indisputable or physical fact, +as any astronomic or chemical fact would have been; for they saw +it with their own eyes.</p> +<p>Virgil had said that the mouth of Tartarus was there in Italy, +by the volcanic lake of Avernus; and after the first eruption of +Vesuvius in the first century, nothing seemed more +probable. Etna, Stromboli, Hecla, must be, likewise, all +mouths of hell; and there were not wanting holy hermits who had +heard within those craters, shrieks and clanking chains, and the +shouts of demons tormenting endlessly the souls of the +lost. And now, how has all this been shaken? How much +of all this does any educated man, though he be pious, though he +desire with all his heart to be orthodox—and is orthodox in +fact—how much of all this does he believe, as he believes +that the earth is round, or, that if he steals his +neighbour’s goods he commits a crime?</p> +<p>For, since these days, the earth has been shaken, and with it +the heavens likewise, in that very sense in which the expression +is used in the text. Our conceptions of them have been +shaken. The Copernican system shook them, when it told men +that the earth was but a tiny globular planet revolving round the +sun. Geology shook them, when it told men that the earth +has endured for countless ages, during which whole continents +have been submerged, whole seas become dry land, again and +again. Even now the heavens and the earth are being shaken +by researches into the antiquity of the human race, and into the +origin and the mutability of species, which, issue in what +results they may, will shake for us, meanwhile, theories which +are venerable with the authority of nearly eighteen hundred +years, and of almost every great Doctor since St. Augustine.</p> +<p>And as our conception of the physical universe has been +shaken, the old theory of a Tartarus beneath the earth has been +shaken also, till good men have been glad to place Tartarus in a +comet, or in the sun, or to welcome the possible, but unproved +hypothesis, of a central fire in the earth’s core, not on +any scientific grounds, but if by any means a spot may be found +in space corresponding to that of which Virgil, Dante, and Milton +sang.</p> +<p>And meanwhile—as was to be expected from a generation +which abhors torture, labours for the reformation of criminals, +and even doubts whether it should not abolish capital +punishment—a shaking of the heavens is abroad, of which we +shall hear more and more, as the years roll on—a general +inclination to ask whether Holy Scripture really endorses the +Middle-age notions of future punishment in endless torment? +Men are writing and speaking on this matter, not merely with +ability and learning, but with a piety, and reverence for +Scripture which (rightly or wrongly employed) must, and will, +command attention. They are saying that it is not those who +deny these notions who disregard the letter of Scripture, but +those who assert them; that they are distorting the plain literal +text, in order to make Scripture fit the writings of Dante and +Milton, when they translate into ‘endless torments after +death,’ such phrases as the outer darkness, the undying +worm, the Gehenna of fire—which manifestly (say these men), +if judged by fair rules of interpretation, refer to this life, +and specially to the fate of the Jewish nation: or when they tell +us that eternal death means really eternal life, only in +torments. We demand, they say, not a looser, but a +stricter; not a more metaphoric, but a more literal; not a more +careless, but a more reverent interpretation of Scripture; and +whether this demand be right or wrong, it will not pass +unheard.</p> +<p>And even more severely shaken, meanwhile, is that +mediæval conception of heaven and hell, by the question +which educated men are asking more and more:—‘Heaven +and hell—the spiritual world—Are they merely +invisible places in space, which may become visible hereafter? or +are they not rather the moral world—the world of right and +wrong? Love and righteousness—is not that the heaven +itself wherein God dwells? Hatred and sin—is not that +hell itself, wherein dwells all that is opposed to +God?’</p> +<p>And out of that thought, right or wrong, other thoughts have +sprung—of ethics, of moral retribution—not new at all +(say these men), but to be found in Scripture, and in the +writings of all great Christian divines, when they have listened, +not to systems, but to the voice of their own hearts.</p> +<p>‘We do not deny’ (they say) ‘that the wages +of sin are death. We do not deny the necessity of +punishment—the certainty of punishment. We see it +working awfully enough around us in this life; we believe that it +may work in still more awful forms in the life to come. +Only tell us not that it must be endless, and thereby destroy its +whole purpose, and (as we think) its whole morality. We, +too, believe in an eternal fire; but we believe its existence to +be, not a curse, but a Gospel and a blessing, seeing that that +fire is God Himself, who taketh away the sins of the world, and +of whom it is therefore written, Our God is a consuming +fire.’</p> +<p>Questions, too, have arisen, of—‘What <i>is</i> +moral retribution? Should punishment have any end but the +good of the offender? Is God so controlled that He must +needs send into the world beings whom He knows to be +incorrigible, and doomed to endless misery? And if not so +controlled, then is not the other alternative as to His character +more fearful still? Does He not bid us copy Him, His +justice, His love? Then is that His justice, is that His +love, which if we copied we should be unjust and unloving +utterly? Are there two moralities, one for God, and quite +another for man, made in the image of God? Can these dark +dogmas be true of a Father who bids us be perfect as He is, in +that He sends His sun to shine on the evil and the good, and His +rain on the just and unjust? Or of a Son who so loved the +world that He died to save the world and surely not in +vain?’</p> +<p>These questions—be they right or wrong—educated +men and women of all classes and denominations—orthodox, be +it remembered, as well as unorthodox—are asking, and will +ask more and more, till they receive an answer. And if we +of the clergy cannot give them an answer which accords with their +conscience and their reason; if we tell them that the words of +Scripture, and the integral doctrines of Christianity, demand the +same notions of moral retribution as were current in the days +when men racked criminals, burned heretics alive, and believed +that every Mussulman whom they slaughtered in a crusade went +straight to endless torments,—then evil times will come, +both for the clergy and the Christian religion, for many a yeas +henceforth.</p> +<p>What then are we to believe? What are we to do, amid +this shaking of the earth and heaven? Are we to degenerate +into a lazy and heartless scepticism, which, under pretence of +liberality and charity, believes that everything is a little +true, everything is a little false—in one word, believes +nothing at all? Or are we to degenerate into unmanly and +faithless wailings, crying out that the flood of infidelity is +irresistible, that the last days are come, and that Christ has +deserted His Church?</p> +<p>Not if we will believe the text. The text tells us of +something which cannot be moved, though all around it reel and +crumble—of a firm standing-ground, which would endure, +though the heavens should pass away as a scroll, and the earth +should be removed, and cast into the midst of the sea.</p> +<p>We have a kingdom, the Scripture says, which cannot be moved, +even the kingdom of Him whom it calls shortly after ‘Jesus +Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and for ever.’ An +eternal and unchangeable kingdom, ruled by an eternal and +unchangeable King. That is what cannot be moved.</p> +<p>Scripture does not say that we have an unchangeable cosmogony, +an unchangeable theory of moral retribution, an unchangeable +system of dogmatic propositions. Whether we have, or have +not, it is not of them that Scripture reminds the Jews, when the +heavens and the earth were shaken; when their own nation and +worship were in their death-agony, and all the beliefs and +practices of men were in a whirl of doubt and confusion, of decay +and birth side by side, such as the world had never seen +before. Not of them does it remind the Jews, but of the +changeless kingdom, and the changeless King.</p> +<p>My friends, lay it seriously to heart, once and for all. +Do you believe that you are subjects of that kingdom, and that +Christ is the living, ruling, guiding King thereof? +Whatsoever Scripture does not say, Scripture speaks of that, +again and again, in the plainest terms. But do you believe +it? These are days in which the preacher ought to ask every +man whether he believes it, and bid him, of whatever else he +repents of, to repent, at least, of not having believed this +primary doctrine (I may almost say) of Scripture and of +Christianity.</p> +<p>But if you do believe it, will it seem strange to you to +believe this also,—That, considering who Christ is, the +co-eternal and co-equal Son of God, He may be actually governing +His kingdom; and if so, that He may know better how to govern it +than such poor worms as we? That if the heavens and the +earth be shaken, Christ Himself may be shaking them? if opinions +be changing, Christ Himself may be changing them? If new +truths and facts are being discovered, Christ Himself may be +revealing them? That if those truths seem to contradict the +truths which He has already taught us, they do not really +contradict them, any more than those reasserted in the sixteenth +century? That if our God be a consuming fire, He is now +burning up (to use St. Paul’s parable) the chaff and +stubble which men have built on the one foundation of Christ, +that, at last, nought but the pure gold may remain? Is it +not possible? Is it not most probable, if we only believe +that Christ is a real, living King, an active, practical +King,—who, with boundless wisdom and skill, love and +patience, is educating and guiding Christendom, and through +Christendom the whole human race?</p> +<p>If men would but believe that, how different would be their +attitude toward new facts, toward new opinions! They would +receive them with grace; gracefully, courteously, fairly, +charitably, and with that reverence and godly fear which the text +tells us is the way to serve God acceptably. They would +say: ‘Christ (so the Scripture tells us) has been educating +man through Abraham, through Moses, through David, through the +Jewish prophets, through the Greeks, through the Romans; then +through Himself, as man as well as God; and after His ascension, +through His Apostles, especially through St. Paul, to an +ever-increasing understanding of God, and the universe, and +themselves. And even after their time He did not cease His +education. Why should He? How could He, who said of +Himself, “All power is given to me in heaven and +earth;” “Lo, I am with you alway to the end of the +world;” and again, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I +work?”</p> +<p>‘At the Reformation in the sixteenth century He called +on our forefathers to repent—that is, to change their +minds—concerning opinions which had been undoubted for more +than a thousand years. Why should He not be calling on us +at this time likewise? And if any answer, that the +Reformation was only a return to the primitive faith of the +Apostles—Why should not this shaking of the hearts and +minds of men issue in a still further return, in a further +correction of errors, a further sweeping away of additions, which +are not integral to the Christian creeds, but which were left +behind, through natural and necessary human frailty, by our great +Reformers? Wise they were,—good and great,—as +giants on the earth, while we are but as dwarfs; but, as the +hackneyed proverb tells us, the dwarf on the giant’s +shoulders may see further than the giant himself.’</p> +<p>Ah! that men would approach new truth in that spirit; in the +spirit of godly fear, which is inspired by the thought that we +are in the kingdom of God, and that the King thereof is Christ, +both God and man, once crucified for us, now living for us for +ever! Ah! that they would thus serve God, waiting, as +servants before a lord, for the slightest sign which might +intimate his will! Then they would look at new truths with +caution; in that truly conservative spirit which is the duty of +all Christians, and the especial strength of the +Englishman. With caution,—lest in grasping eagerly +after what is new, we throw away truth which we have already: but +with awe and reverence; for Christ may have sent the new truth; +and he who fights against it, may haply be found fighting against +God. And so would they indeed obey the Apostolic +injunction—Prove all things, hold fast that which is +good,—that which is pure, fair, noble, tending to the +elevation of men; to the improvement of knowledge, justice, +mercy, well-being; to the extermination of ignorance, cruelty, +and vice. That, at least, must come from Christ, unless the +Pharisees were right when they said that evil spirits could be +cast out by Beelzebub, prince of the devils.</p> +<p>How much more Christian, reverent, faithful, as well as more +prudent, rational, and philosophical, would such a temper be than +that which condemns all changes <i>à priori</i>, at the +first hearing, or rather, too often, without any hearing at all, +in rage and terror, like that of the animal who at the same +moment barks at, and runs away from, every unknown object.</p> +<p>At least that temper of mind will give us calm; faith, +patience, hope, charity, though the heavens and the earth are +shaken around us. For we have received a kingdom which +cannot be moved, and in the King thereof we have the most perfect +trust: for us He stooped to earth, was born, and died on the +cross; and can we not trust Him? Let Him do what He will; +let Him teach us what He will; let Him lead us whither He +will. Wherever He leads, we shall find pasture. +Wherever He leads, must be the way of truth, and we will follow, +and say, as Socrates of old used to say, Let us follow the Logos +boldly, whithersoever it leadeth. If Socrates had courage +to say it, how much more should we, who know what he, good man, +knew not, that the Logos is not a mere argument, train of +thought, necessity of logic, but a Person—perfect God and +perfect man, even Jesus Christ, ‘the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever,’ who promised of old, and therefore +promises to us, and our children after us, to lead those who +trust Him into all truth.</p> +<h2><a name="page83"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 83</span>SERMON +VII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE BATTLE OF LIFE.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Galatians</span> v. 16, 17.</p> +<p>I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the +lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the +Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: so that ye cannot do +the things that ye would.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A <span class="smcap">great</span> poet speaks of +‘Happiness, our being’s end and aim;’ and he +has been reproved for so doing. Men have said, and wisely, +the end and aim of our being is not happiness, but +goodness. If goodness comes first, then happiness may come +after. But if not, something better than happiness may +come, even blessedness.</p> +<p>This it is, I believe, which our Lord may have meant when He +said, ‘He that saveth his life, or soul’ (for the two +words in Scripture mean exactly the same thing), ‘shall +lose it. And he that loseth his life, shall save it. +For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world, and lose +his own life?’</p> +<p>How is this? It is a hard saying. Difficult to +believe, on account of the natural selfishness which lies deep in +all of us. Difficult even to understand in these days, when +religion itself is selfish, and men learn more and more to think +that the end and aim of religion is not to make them good while +they live, but merely to save their souls after they die.</p> +<p>But whether it be hard to understand or not, we must +understand it, if we would be good men. And how to +understand it, the Epistle for this day will teach us.</p> +<p>‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of +the flesh.’ The Spirit, which is the Spirit of God +within our hearts and conscience, says—Be good. The +flesh, the animal, savage nature, which we all have in common +with the dumb animals, says—Be happy. Please +yourself. Do what you like. Eat and drink, for +to-morrow you die.</p> +<p>But, happily for us, the Spirit lusts against the flesh. +It draws us the opposite way. It lifts us up, instead of +dragging us down. It has nobler aims, higher +longings. It, as St. Paul puts it, will not let us do the +things that we would. It will not let us do just what we +like, and please ourselves. It often makes us unhappy just +when we try to be happy. It shames us, and cries in our +hearts—You were not meant merely to please yourselves, and +be as the beasts which perish.</p> +<p>But how few listen to that voice of God’s Spirit within +their hearts, though it be just the noblest thing of which they +will ever be aware on earth!</p> +<p>How few listen to it, till the lusts of the flesh are worn +out, and have worn them out likewise, and made them reap the +fruit which they have sowed—sowing to the selfish flesh, +and of the selfish flesh reaping corruption.</p> +<p>The young man says—I will be happy and do what I like; +and runs after what he calls pleasure. The middle-aged man, +grown more prudent, says—I will be happy yet, and runs +after money, comfort, fame and power. But what do they +gain? ‘The works of the flesh,’ the fruit of +this selfish lusting after mere earthly happiness, ‘are +manifest, which are these:’—not merely that open vice +and immorality into which the young man falls when he craves +after mere animal pleasure, but ‘hatred, variance, +emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, +heresies’—<i>i.e.</i>, factions in Church or +State—‘envyings, murders, and such like.’</p> +<p>Thus men put themselves under the law. Not under +Moses’ law, of course, but under some law or other.</p> +<p>For why has law been invented? Why is it needed, with +all its expense? Law is meant to prevent, if possible, men +harming each other by their own selfishness, by those lusts of +the flesh which tempt every man to seek his own happiness, +careless of his neighbour’s happiness, interest, morals; by +all the passions which make men their own tormentors, and which +make the history of every nation too often a history of crime, +and folly, and faction, and war, sad and shameful to read; all +those passions of which St. Paul says once and for ever, that +those who do such things ‘shall not inherit the kingdom of +God.’</p> +<p>These are the sad consequences of giving way to the flesh, the +selfish animal nature within us: and most miserable would man be +if that were all he had to look to. Miserable, were there +not a kingdom of God, into which he could enter all day long, and +be at peace; and a Spirit of God, who would raise him up to the +spiritual life of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; and a Son of God, the King +of that kingdom, the Giver of that Spirit, who cries for ever to +every one of us—‘Come unto Me, ye that are weary and +heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you, +and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall +find rest unto your souls.’</p> +<p>Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, +meekness, temperance; these are the fruits of the Spirit: the +spirit of unselfishness; the spirit of charity; the spirit of +justice; the spirit of purity; the Spirit of God. Against +them there is no law. He who is guided by this Spirit, and +he only, may do what he would; for he will wish to do nought but +what is right. He is not under the law, but under grace; +and full of grace will he be in all his words and works. He +has entered into the kingdom of God, and is living therein as +God’s subject, obeying the royal law of +liberty—‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as +thyself.’</p> +<p>‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit +against the flesh, so that ye cannot do the things that ye +would,’ says St. Paul.</p> +<p>My friends, this is the battle of life.</p> +<p>In every one of us, more or less, this battle is going on; a +battle between the flesh and the Spirit, between the animal +nature and the divine grace. In every one of us, I say, who +is not like the heathen, dead in trespasses and sins; in every +one of us who has a conscience, excusing or else accusing +us. There are those—a very few, I hope—who are +sunk below that state; who have lost their sense of right and +wrong; who only care to fulfil the lusts of the flesh in +pleasure, ease, and vanity. There are those in whom the +voice of conscience is lead for a while, silenced by +self-conceit; who say in their prosperity, like the foolish +Laodiceans, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have +need of nothing,’ and know not that in fact and reality, +and in the sight of God, they are ‘wretched, and miserable, +and poor, and blind, and naked.’</p> +<p>Happy, happy for any and all of us,—if ever we fall into +that dream of pride and false security,—to be awakened +again, however painful the awakening may be! Happy for +every man that the battle between the Spirit and the flesh should +begin in him again and again, as long as his flesh is not subdued +to his spirit. If he be wrong, the greatest blessing which +can happen to him is, that he should find himself in the +wrong. If he have been deceiving himself, the greatest +blessing is, that God should anoint his eyes that he may +see—see himself as he is; see his own inbred corruption; +see the sin which doth so easily beset him, whatever it may +be. Whatever anguish of mind it may cost him, it is a light +price to pay for the inestimable treasure which true repentance +and amendment brings; the fine gold of solid self-knowledge, +tried in the fire of bitter experience; the white raiment of a +pure and simple heart; the eye-salve of honest self-condemnation +and noble shame. If he have but these—and these God +will give him, in answer to prayer, the prayer of a broken and a +contrite heart—then he will be able to carry on the battle +against the corrupt flesh, with its affections and lusts, in +hope. In the assured hope of final victory. +‘For greater is He that is with us, than he that is against +us? He that is against us is our self, our selfish self; +our animal nature; and He that is with us is God; God and none +other: and who can pluck us out of His hand?</p> +<p>My friends, the bread and the wine on that table are +God’s own sign to us that He will not leave us to be, like +the savage, the slaves of our own animal natures; that He will +feed not merely our bodies with animal, but our souls with +spiritual food; giving us strength to rise above our selfish +selves; and so subdue the flesh to the Spirit, that at last, +however long and weary the fight, however sore wounded and often +worsted we may be, we shall conquer in the battle of life.</p> +<h2><a name="page90"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 90</span>SERMON +VIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">FREE GRACE.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached before the Queen at +Windsor</i>, <i>March</i> 12, 1865.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Isaiah</span> lv. 1.</p> +<p>Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he +that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine +and milk without money and without price.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> one who knows his Bible as he +should, knows well this noble chapter. It seems to be one +of the separate poems or hymns of which the Book of Isaiah is +composed. It is certainly one of the most beautiful of +them, and also one of the deepest. So beautiful is it, that +the good men of old who translated the Bible into English, could +not help catching the spirit of the words as they went on with +their work, and making the chapter almost a hymn in English, as +it is a hymn in Hebrew. Even the very sound of the words, +as we listen to them, is a song in itself; and there is perhaps +no more perfect piece of writing in the English language, than +the greater part of this chapter.</p> +<p>This may not seem a very important matter; and yet those good +men of old must have felt that there was something in this +chapter which went home especially to their hearts, and would go +home to the hearts of us for whose sake they translated it.</p> +<p>And those good men judged rightly. The care which they +bestowed on Isaiah’s words has not been in vain. The +noble sound of the text has caught many a man’s ears, in +order that the noble meaning of the text might touch his heart, +and bring him back again to God, to seek Him while He may be +found, and call on Him while He is near; that so the wicked might +forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return +to God, for He will have compassion, and to our God, for He will +abundantly pardon; and that he might find that God’s +thoughts are not as man’s thoughts, nor His ways as +man’s ways, saith the Lord; for as the heavens are higher +than the earth, so are His ways and thoughts higher than +ours.</p> +<p>Yes—I believe that the beauty of this chapter has made +many a man listen to it, who had perhaps never cared to listen to +any good before; and learn a precious lesson from it, which he +could learn nowhere save in the Bible.</p> +<p>For this text is one of those which have been called the +Evangelical Prophecies, in which the prophet rises far above +Moses’ old law, and the letter of it, which, as St. Paul +says, is a letter which killeth; and the spirit of it, which is a +spirit which, as St. Paul says, gendereth to bondage and slavish +dread of God: an utterance in which the prophet sees by faith the +Lord Jesus Christ and His free grace revealed—dimly, of +course, and in a figure—but still revealed by the Spirit of +God, who spake by the prophets. As St. Paul says, +Moses’ law made nothing perfect, and therefore had to be +disannulled for its unprofitableness and weakness, and a better +hope brought in, by which we draw near to God. And here, in +this text, we see the better hope coming in, and as it were +dawning upon men—the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, +Jesus Christ our Lord, who was to rise afterwards, to be a light +to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel.</p> +<p>And what was this better hope? One, St. Paul says, by +which we could draw nigh to God; come near to Him; as to a +Father, a Saviour, a Comforter, a liege lord—not a tyrant +who holds us against our will as his slaves, but a liege lord who +holds us with our will as His tenants, His vassals, His liege +men, as the good old English words were; one who will take His +vassals into His counsel, and inform them with His Spirit, and +teach them His mind, that they may do His will and copy His +example, and be treated by Him as His friends—in spite of +the infinite difference of rank between them and Him, which they +must never forget.</p> +<p>But though the difference of rank be infinite and +boundless—for it is the difference between sinful man and +God perfect for ever—yet still man can now draw near to +God. He is not commanded to stand afar off in fear and +trembling, as the old Jews were at Sinai. We have not come, +says St. Paul, to a mount which burned with fire, and blackness, +and darkness, and storm, and the sound of a trumpet, and the +voice of words, which those who heard entreated that they should +not be spoken to them any more: for they could not endure that +which was commanded: but we are come to the city of the living +God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the Church of the first-born +which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to +the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator +of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.</p> +<p>We are come to God, the Judge of all, and to Christ—not +bidden to stand afar off from them. That is the point to +which I wish you to attend. For this agrees with the words +of the text, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the +waters.’</p> +<p>This message it is, which made this chapter precious in the +eyes of the good men of old. This message it is, which has +made it precious, in all times, to thousands of troubled, +hard-worked, weary, afflicted hearts. This is what has made +it precious to thousands who were wearied with the burden of +their sins, and longed to be made righteous and good; and knew +bitterly well that they could not make themselves good, but that +God alone could do that; and so longed to come to God, that they +might be made good: but did not know whether they might come or +not; or whether, if they came, God would receive them, and help +them, and convert them. This message it is, which has made +the text an evangelical prophecy, to be fulfilled only in +Christ—a message which tells men of a God who says, +Come. Of a God whom Moses’ law, saying merely, +‘Thou shalt not,’ did not reveal to us, divine and +admirable as it was, and is, and ever will be. Of a God +whom natural religion, such as even the heathen, St. Paul says, +may gain from studying God’s works in this wonderful world +around us—of a God, I say, whom natural religion does not +reveal to us, divine and admirable as it is. But of a God +who was revealed, step by step, to the Psalmists and the +Prophets, more and more clearly as the years went on; of a God +who was fully and utterly revealed, not merely by, but in Jesus +Christ our Lord, who was Himself that God, very God of very God +begotten, being the brightness of His Father’s glory, and +the express image of His person; whose message and call, from the +first day of His ministry to His glorious ascension, was, +Come.</p> +<p>Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will +refresh you.</p> +<p>Come unto Me, and take My yoke on you: for My yoke is easy, +and My burden is light.</p> +<p>I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall never +hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.</p> +<p>All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me. +And he that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.</p> +<p>Nay, the very words of this prophecy Christ took to Himself +again and again, speaking of Himself as the fountain of life, +health and light; when He stood and cried, saying, If any man +thirst, let him come to Me, and drink.</p> +<p>Come unto Me, that ye may have life, is the message of Jesus +Christ, both God and man. Come, that you may have +forgiveness of your sins; come, that you may have the Holy +Spirit, by which you may sin no more, but live the life of the +Spirit, the everlasting life of goodness, by which the spirits of +just men, and angels, and archangels, live for ever before +God.</p> +<p>And what says St. Paul? See that ye refuse not Him that +speaketh. For if they escaped not, who refused Him that +spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away +from Him that speaketh from heaven.</p> +<p>Yes. The goodness of God, the condescension of God, +instead of making it more easy for sinners to escape, makes it, +if possible, more difficult. There are those who fancy that +because God is merciful—because it is written in this very +chapter, Let a man return to the Lord, and He will have mercy; +and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,—that, +therefore, God is indulgent, and will overlook their sins; +forgetting that in the verse before it is said, Let the wicked +forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and +then—but not till then—let him return to God, to be +received with compassion and forgiveness.</p> +<p>Too many know not, as St. Paul says, that the goodness of God +leads men, not to sin freely and carelessly without fear of +punishment, but leads them to repentance. And yet do not +our own hearts and consciences tell us that it is so? That +it is more base, and more presumptuous likewise, to turn away +from one who speaks with love, than one who speaks with +sternness; from one who calls us to come to him, with boundless +condescension, than from one who bids us stand afar off and +tremble?</p> +<p>Those Jews of old, when they refused to hear God speaking in +the thunders of Sinai, committed folly. We, if we refuse to +hear God speaking in the tender words of Jesus crucified for us, +commit an equal folly: but we commit baseness and ingratitude +likewise. They rebelled against a Master: we rebel against +a Father.</p> +<p>But, though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. We may +be false to Him, false to our better selves, false to our +baptismal vows: but He cannot be false. He cannot +change. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. What He said on earth, that He says eternally in +heaven: If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.</p> +<p>Eternally, and for ever, in heaven, says St. John, Christ +says, and is, and does, what Isaiah prophesied that He would say, +and be, and do,—I am the root and offspring of David, and +the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the Bride +(His Spirit and His Church) say, Come. And let him that is +athirst, Come: and whosoever will, let him take of the water of +life freely. For ever He calls to every anxious soul, every +afflicted soul, every weary soul, every discontented soul, to +every man who is ashamed of himself, and angry with himself, and +longs to live a soberer, gentler, nobler, purer, truer, more +useful life—Come. Let him who hungers and thirsts +after righteousness, come to the waters; and he that hath no +silver—nothing to give to God in return for all His +bounty—let him buy without silver, and eat; and live for +ever that eternal life of righteousness, holiness, and peace, and +joy in the Holy Spirit, which is the one true and only salvation +bought for us by the precious blood of Christ, our Lord.</p> +<h2><a name="page98"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 98</span>SERMON +IX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">EZEKIEL’S VISION.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached before the Queen at +Windsor</i>, <i>June</i> 26, 1864.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ezekiel</span> i. 1, 26.</p> +<p>Now it came to pass, as I was among the captives by the river +of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of +God. And upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness +as the appearance of a man.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Ezekiel’s</span> Vision may seem to +some a strange and unprofitable subject on which to preach. +It ought not to be so in fact. All Scripture is given by +Inspiration of God, and is profitable for teaching, for +correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. +And so will this Vision be to us, if we try to understand it +aright. We shall find in it fresh knowledge of God, a +clearer and fuller revelation, made to Ezekiel, than had been, up +to his time, made to any man.</p> +<p>I am well aware that there are some very difficult verses in +the text. It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand +exactly what presented itself to Ezekiel’s mind.</p> +<p>Ezekiel saw a whirlwind come out of the north; a whirling +globe of fire; four living creatures coming out of the midst +thereof. So far the imagery is simple enough, and grand +enough. But when he begins to speak of the living +creatures, the cherubim, his description is very obscure. +All that we discover is, a vision of huge creatures with the +feet, and (as some think) the body of an ox, with four wings, and +four faces,—those of a man, an ox, a lion, and an +eagle. Ezekiel seems to discover afterwards that these are +the cherubim, the same which overshadowed the ark in Moses’ +tabernacle and Solomon’s temple—only of a more +complex form; for Moses’ and Solomon’s cherubim are +believed to have had but one face each, while Ezekiel’s had +four.</p> +<p>Now, concerning the cherubim, and what they meant, we know +very little. The Jews, at the time of the fall of +Jerusalem, had forgotten their meaning. Josephus, indeed, +says they had forgotten their very shape.</p> +<p>Some light has been thrown, lately, on the figures of these +creatures, by the sculptures of those very Assyrian cities to +which Ezekiel was a captive,—those huge winged oxen and +lions with human heads; and those huge human figures with four +wings each, let down and folded round them just as Ezekiel +describes, and with heads, sometimes of the lion, and sometimes +of the eagle. None, however, have been found as yet, I +believe, with four faces, like those of Ezekiel’s Vision; +they are all of the simpler form of Solomon’s +cherubim. But there is little doubt that these sculptures +were standing there perfect in Ezekiel’s time, and that he +and the Jews who were captive with him may have seen them +often. And there is little doubt also what these figures +meant: that they were symbolic of royal spirits—those +thrones, dominations, princedoms, powers, of which Milton +speaks,—the powers of the earth and heaven, the royal +archangels who, as the Chaldæans believed, governed the +world, and gave it and all things life; symbolized by them under +the types of the four royal creatures of the world, according to +the Eastern nations; the ox signifying labour, the lion power, +the eagle foresight, and the man reason.</p> +<p>So with the wheels which Ezekiel sees. We find them in +the Assyrian sculptures—wheels with a living spirit sitting +in each, a human figure with outspread wings; and these seem to +have been the genii, or guardian angels, who watched over their +kings, and gave them fortune and victory.</p> +<p>For these Chaldæans were specially worshippers of angels +and spirits; and they taught the Jews many notions about angels +and spirits, which they brought home with them into Judæa +after the captivity.</p> +<p>Of them, of course, we read little or nothing in Holy +Scripture; but there is much, and too much, about them in the +writings of the old Rabbis, the Scribes and Pharisees of the New +Testament.</p> +<p>Now Ezekiel, inspired by the Spirit of God, rises far above +the old Chaldæans and their dreams. Perhaps the +captive Jews were tempted to worship these cherubim and genii, as +the Chaldæans did; and it may be that Ezekiel was +commissioned by God to set them right, and by his vision to give +a type, pattern, or picture of God’s spiritual laws, by +which He rules the world.</p> +<p>Be that as it may. In the first place, Ezekiel’s +cherubim are far more wonderful and complicated than those which +he would see on the walls of the Assyrian buildings. And +rightly so; for this world is far more wonderful, more +complicated, more cunningly made and ruled, than any of +man’s fancies about it; as it is written in the Book of +Job,—‘Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of +the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Whereupon +are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the +corner-stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and +all the sons of God shouted for joy?’</p> +<p>Next (and this is most important), these different cherubim +were not independent of each other, each going his own way, and +doing his own will. Not so. Ezekiel had found in them +a divine and wonderful order, by which the services of angels as +well as of men are constituted. Orderly and harmoniously +they worked together. Out of the same fiery globe, from the +same throne of God, they came forth all alike. They turned +not when they went; whithersoever the Spirit was to go, they +went, and ran and returned like a flash of lightning. Nay, +in one place he speaks as if all the four creatures were but one +creature: ‘This is the living creature which I saw by the +river of Chebar.’</p> +<p>And so it is, we may be sure, in the world of God, whether in +the earthly or in the heavenly world. All things work +together, praising God and doing His will. Angels and the +heavenly host; sun and moon; stars and light; fire and hail; snow +and vapour; wind and storm: all fulfil His word. ‘He +hath made them fast for ever and ever: He hath given them a law +which shall not be broken.’ For before all things, +under all things, and through all things, is a divine unity and +order; all things working towards one end, because all things +spring from one beginning, which is the bosom of God the +Father.</p> +<p>And so with the wheels; the wheels of fortune and victory, and +the fate of nations and of kings. ‘They were so +high,’ Ezekiel said, ‘that they were +dreadful.’ But he saw no human genius sitting, one in +each wheel of fortune, each protecting his favourite king and +nation. These, too, did not go their own way and of their +own will. They were parts of God’s divine and +wonderful order, and obeyed the same laws as the cherubim. +‘And when the living creatures went, the wheels went with +them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the +wheels.’ Everywhere was the same divine unity and +order; the same providence, the same laws of God, presided over +the natural world and over the fortunes of nations and of +kings. Victory and prosperity was not given arbitrarily by +separate genii, each genius protecting his favourite king, each +genius striving against the other on behalf of his +favourite. Fortune came from the providence of One Being; +of Him of whom it is written, ‘God standeth in the +congregation of princes: He is the judge among gods.’ +And again, ‘The Lord is King, be the people never so +impatient: He sitteth between the cherubim, be the earth never so +unquiet.’</p> +<p>And is this all? God forbid. This is more than the +Chaldæans saw, who worshipped angels and not God—the +creature instead of the Creator. But where the +Chaldæan vision ended, Ezekiel’s only began. +His prophecy rises far above the imaginations of the heathen.</p> +<p>He hears the sound of the wings of the cherubim, like the +tramp of an army, like the noise of great waters, like the roll +of thunder, the voice of Almighty God: but above their wings he +sees a firmament, which the heathen cannot see, clear as the +flashing crystal, and on that firmament a sapphire throne, and +round that throne a rainbow, the type of forgiveness and +faithfulness, and on that throne A Man.</p> +<p>And the cherubim stand, and let down their wings in +submission, waiting for the voice of One mightier than +they. And Ezekiel falls upon his face, and hears from off +the throne a human voice, which calls to him as human likewise, +‘Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to +thee.’</p> +<p>This, this is Ezekiel’s vision: not the fiery globe +merely, nor the cherubim, nor the wheels, nor the powers of +nature, nor the angelic host—dominions and principalities, +and powers—but The Man enthroned above them all, the Lord +and Guide and Ruler of the universe; He who makes the winds His +angels, and the flames of fire His ministers; and that Lord +speaking to him, not through cherubim, not through angels, not +through nature, not through mediators, angelic or human, but +speaking direct to him himself, as man speaks to man.</p> +<p>As man speaks to man. This is the very pith and marrow +of the Old Testament and of the New; which gradually unfolds +itself, from the very first chapter of Genesis to the last of +Revelation,—that man is made in the likeness of God; and +that therefore God can speak to him, and he can understand +God’s words and inspirations.</p> +<p>Man is like God; and therefore God, in some inconceivable way, +is like man. That is the great truth set forth in the first +chapter of Genesis, which goes on unfolding itself more clearly +throughout the Old Testament, till here, in Ezekiel’s +vision, it comes to, perhaps, its clearest stage save one.</p> +<p>That human appearance speaks to Ezekiel, the hapless prisoner +of war, far away from his native land. And He speaks to him +with human voice, and claims kindred with him as a human being, +saying, ‘Son of man.’ That is very deep and +wonderful. The Lord upon His throne does not wish Ezekiel +to think how different He is to him, but how like He is to +him. He says not to Ezekiel,—‘Creature +infinitely below Me! Dust and ashes, unworthy to appear in +My presence! Worm of the earth, as far below Me and unlike +Me as the worm under thy feet is to thee!’ but, ‘Son +of man; creature made in My image and likeness, be not +afraid! Stand on thy feet, and be a man; and speak to +others what I speak to thee.’</p> +<p>After that great revelation of God there seems but one step +more to make it perfect; and that step was made in God’s +good time, in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He +also—He whom Ezekiel saw in human form enthroned on +high—He took part of flesh and blood likewise, and was not +ashamed, yea, rather rejoiced, to call Himself, what He called +Ezekiel, the Son of Man.</p> +<p>‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we +beheld His glory.’ And why?</p> +<p>For many reasons; but certainly for this one. To make +men feel more utterly and fully what Ezekiel was made to +feel. That God could thoroughly feel for man; and that man +could thoroughly trust God.</p> +<p>That God could thoroughly feel for man. For we have a +High Priest who has been made perfect by sufferings, tempted in +all points like as we are; and we can</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Look to Him who, not in vain, <br /> +Experienced every human pain; <br /> +He sees our wants, allays our fears, <br /> +And counts and treasures up our tears.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Again,—That man could utterly trust God. For when +St. John and his companions (simple fishermen) beheld the glory +of Jesus, the Incarnate Word, what was it like? It was +‘full of grace and truth;’ the perfection of human +graciousness, of human truthfulness, which could win and melt the +hearts of simple folk, and make them see in Him, who was called +the carpenter’s son, the beauty of the glory of the +Godhead.</p> +<p>‘He is the Judge of all the earth.’ And +why? Let Him Himself tell us. He says that the Father +has given the Son authority to execute judgment. And why, +once more? Because He is the Son of God? Our Lord +says more,—‘Because,’ He says, ‘He is the +Son of Man;’ who knows what is in man; who can feel, +understand, discriminate, pity, make allowances, judge fair, and +righteous, and merciful judgment, among creatures whose weakness +He has experienced, whose temptations He has felt, whose pains +and sorrows He has borne in mortal flesh and blood.</p> +<p>Oh, Gospel and good news for the weak, the sorrowful, the +oppressed; for those who are wearied with the burden of their +sins, or wearied also by the burden of heavy responsibilities, +and awful public duties! When all mortal counsellors fail +them, when all mortal help is too weak, let them but throw +themselves on the mercy of Him who sits upon the throne, and +remember that He, though immortal and eternal, is still the Son +of Man, who knows what is in man.</p> +<p>There are times in which we are all tempted to worship other +things than God. Not, perhaps, to worship cherubim and +genii, angels and spirits, like the old Chaldees, but to worship +the laws of political economy, the laws of statesmanship, the +powers of nature, the laws of physical science, those lower +messengers of God’s providence, of which St. Paul says, +‘He maketh the winds His angels, and flames of fire His +ministers.’</p> +<p>In such times we have need to remember Ezekiel’s lesson, +that above them all, ruling and guiding, sits He whose form is as +the Son of Man.</p> +<p>We are not to say that any powers of nature are evil, or the +laws of any science false. Heaven forbid! Ezekiel did +not say that the cherubim were evil, or meaningless; or that the +belief in angels ministering to man was false. He said the +very opposite. But he said, All these obey one whose form +is that of a man. He rules them, and they do His +will. They are but ministering spirits before Him.</p> +<p>Therefore we are not to disbelieve science, nor disregard the +laws of nature, or we shall lose by our folly. But we are +to believe that nature and science are not our gods. They +do not rule us; our fortunes are not in their hands. Above +nature and above science sits the Lord of nature and the Lord of +science. Above all the counsels of princes, and the +struggles of nations, and the chances and changes of this world +of man, sits the Judge of princes and of peoples, the Lord of all +the nations upon earth, He by whom all things were made, and who +upholdeth all things by the word of His power; and He is man, of +the substance of His mother; most human and yet most divine; full +of justice and truth, full of care and watchfulness, full of love +and pity, full of tenderness and understanding; a Friend, a +Guide, a Counsellor, a Comforter, a Saviour to all who trust in +Him. He is nearer to us than nature and science: and He +should be dearer to us; for they speak only to our understanding; +but He speaks to our human hearts, to our inmost spirits. +Nature and science cannot take away our sins, give peace to our +hearts, right judgment to our minds, strength to our wills, or +everlasting life to our souls and bodies. But there sits +One upon the throne who can. And if nature were to vanish +away, and science were to be proved (however correct as far as it +went) a mere child’s guess about this wonderful world, +which none can understand save He who made it—if all the +counsels of princes and of peoples, however just and wise, were +to be confounded and come to nought, still, after all, and beyond +all, and above all, Christ would abide for ever, with human +tenderness yearning over human hearts; with human wisdom teaching +human ignorance; with human sympathy sorrowing with human +mourners; for ever saying, ‘Come unto me, ye that are weary +and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’</p> +<p>Cherubim and seraphim, angels and archangels, dominions and +powers, whether of nature or of grace—these all serve Him +and do His work. He has constituted their services in a +wonderful order: but He has not taken their nature on Him. +Our nature He has taken on Him, that we might be bone of His bone +and flesh of His flesh; able to say to Him for ever, in all the +chances and changes of this mortal life—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Thou, O Christ, art all I want, <br /> + More than all in thee I find; <br /> +Raise me, fallen; cheer me, faint; <br /> + Heal me, sick; and lead me, blind. <br /> +Thou of life the fountain art, <br /> + Freely let me drink of Thee; <br /> +Spring Thou up within my heart, <br /> + Rise to all eternity.’</p> +</blockquote> +<h2><a name="page111"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +111</span>SERMON X.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">RUTH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ruth</span> ii. 4.</p> +<p>And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the +reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The +Lord bless thee.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Most</span> of you know the story of Ruth, +from which my text is taken, and you have thought it, no doubt, a +pretty story. But did you ever think why it was in the +Bible?</p> +<p>Every book in the Bible is meant to teach us, as the Article +of our Church says, something necessary to salvation. But +what is there necessary to our salvation in the Book of Ruth?</p> +<p>No doubt we learn from it that Ruth was the ancestress of King +David; and that she was, therefore, an ancestress of our blessed +Lord Jesus Christ: but curious and interesting as that is, we can +hardly call that something necessary to salvation. There +must be something more in the book. Let us take it simply +as it stands, and see if we can find it out.</p> +<p>It begins by telling us how a man of Bethlehem has been driven +out of his own country by a famine, he and his wife Naomi and his +two sons, and has gone over the border into Moab, among the +heathen; how his two sons have married heathen women, and the +name of the one was Ruth, and the name of the other Orpah. +Then how he dies, and his two sons; and how Naomi, his widow, +hears that the Lord had visited His people, in giving them bread; +how the people of Judah were prosperous again, and she is there +all alone among the heathen; so she sets out to go back to her +own people, and her daughters-in-law go with her.</p> +<p>But she persuades them not to go. Why do they not stay +in their own land? And they weep over each other; and Orpah +kisses her mother-in-law, and goes back; but Ruth cleaves unto +her.</p> +<p>Then follows that famous speech of Ruth’s, which, for +its simple beauty and poetry, has become a proverb, and even a +song, among us to this day.</p> +<p>And Ruth said, ‘Intreat me not to leave thee, or to +return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will +go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my +people, and thy God my God:</p> +<p>‘Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be +buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death +part thee and me.’</p> +<p>So when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go to her, +she left speaking to her.</p> +<p>And they come to Bethlehem, and all the town was moved about +them; and they said, Is this Naomi?</p> +<p>‘And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me +Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I +went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why +then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, +and the Almighty hath afflicted me?’</p> +<p>And they came to Bethlehem about the passover tide, at the +beginning of barley harvest, and Ruth went out into the fields to +glean, and she lighted on a part of the field which belonged to +Boaz, who was of her husband’s kindred.</p> +<p>And Boaz was a mighty man of wealth, according to the simple +fashions of that old land and old time. Not like one of our +great modern noblemen, or merchants, but rather like one of our +wealthy yeomen: a man who would not disdain to work in his field +with his own slaves, after the wholesome fashion of those old +times, when a royal prince and mighty warrior would sow the corn +with his own hands, while his man opened the furrow with the +plough before him. There Boaz dwelt, with other yeomen, up +among the limestone hills, in the little walled village of +Bethlehem, which was afterwards to become so famous and so holy; +and had, we may suppose, his vineyard and his olive-garden on the +rocky slopes, and his corn-fields in the vale below, and his +flock of sheep and goats feeding on the downs; while all his +wealth besides lay, probably, after the Eastern fashion, in one +great chest—full of rich dresses, and gold and silver +ornaments, and coins, all foreign, got in exchange for his corn, +and wine, and oil, from Assyrian, or Egyptian, or Phœnician +traders; for the Jews then had no money, and very little +manufacture, of their own.</p> +<p>And he would have had hired servants, too, and slaves, in his +house; treated kindly enough, as members of the family, eating +and drinking at his table, and faring nearly as well as he fared +himself.</p> +<p>A stately, God-fearing man he plainly was; respectable, +courteous, and upright, and altogether worthy of his wealth; and +he went out into the field, looking after his reapers in the +barley harvest—about our Easter-tide.</p> +<p>And he said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And +they answered, The Lord bless thee.</p> +<p>Then he saw Ruth, who had happened to light upon his field, +gleaning after the reapers, and found out who she was, and bid +her glean without fear, and abide by his maidens, for he had +charged the young men that they shall not touch her.</p> +<p>‘And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, +and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. +And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, +and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.</p> +<p>‘And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his +young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and +reproach her not: and let fall also some of the handfuls of +purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and +rebuke her not.</p> +<p>‘So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out +that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of +barley.’</p> +<p>Then follows the simple story, after the simple fashion of +those days. How Naomi bids Ruth wash and anoint herself, +and put on her best garments, and go down to Boaz’ floor +(his barn as we should call it now) where he is going to eat, and +drink, and sleep, and there claim his protection as a near +kinsman.</p> +<p>And how Ruth comes in softly and lies down at his feet, and +how he treats her honourably and courteously, and promises to +protect her. But there is a nearer kinsman than he, and he +must be asked first if he will do the kinsman’s part, and +buy his cousin’s plot of land, and marry his cousin’s +widow with it.</p> +<p>And how Boaz goes to the town-gate next day, and sits down in +the gate (for the porch of the gate was a sort of town-hall or +vestry-room in the East, wherein all sorts of business was done), +and there he challenges the kinsman,—Will he buy the ground +and marry Ruth? And he will not: he cannot afford it. +Then Boaz calls all the town to witness that day, that he has +bought all that was Elimelech’s, and Ruth the Moabitess to +be his wife.</p> +<p>‘And all the people that were in the gate, and the +elders, said, We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman +that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which +two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in +Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.’</p> +<p>And in due time Ruth had a son. ‘And the women +said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee +this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in +Israel.</p> +<p>‘And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a +nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth +thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.</p> +<p>‘And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and +became nurse unto it.</p> +<p>‘And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, +There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he +is the father of Jesse, the father of David.’</p> +<p>And so ends the Book of Ruth.</p> +<p>Now, my friends, can you not answer for yourselves the +question which I asked at first,—Why is the story of Ruth +in the Bible, and what may we learn from it which is necessary +for our salvation?</p> +<p>I think, at least, that you will be able to answer it—if +not in words, still in your hearts—if you will read the +book for yourselves.</p> +<p>For does it not consecrate to God that simple country life +which we lead here? Does it not tell us that it is blessed +in the sight of Him who makes the grass to grow, and the corn to +ripen in its season?</p> +<p>Does it not tell us, that not only on the city and the palace, +on the cathedral and the college, on the assemblies of statesmen, +on the studies of scholars, but upon the meadow and the +corn-field, the farm-house and the cottage, is written, by the +everlasting finger of God—Holiness unto the Lord? +That it is all blessed in His sight; that the simple dwellers in +villages, the simple tillers of the ground, can be as godly and +as pious, as virtuous and as high-minded, as those who have +nought to do but to serve God in the offices of religion? +Is it not an honour and a comfort, to such as us, to find one +whole book of the Holy Bible occupied by the simplest story of +the fortunes of a yeoman’s family, in a lonely village +among the hills of Judah? True, the yeoman’s widow +became the ancestress of David, and of his mighty line of +kings—nay, the ancestress of our Lord Jesus Christ +Himself. But the Book of Ruth was not written mainly to +tell us that fact. It mentions it at the end, and as it +were by accident. The book itself is taken up with the most +simple and careful details of country life, country customs, +country folk—as if that was what we were to think of, as we +read of Ruth. And that is what we do think of—not of +the ancestress of kings, but of the fair young heathen gleaning +among the corn, with the pious, courteous, high-minded yeoman +bidding her abide fast by his maidens, and when she was athirst +drink of the wine which the young men have drawn, for it has been +fully showed him all she has done for her mother-in-law; and the +Lord will recompense her work, and a full reward be given her of +the Lord God of Israel, under the shadow of whose wings she is to +come to trust. That is the scene which painters naturally +draw; that is what we naturally think of; because God, who gave +us the Bible, meant us to think thereof; and to know, that +working in the quiet village, or in the distant field, women may +be as pure and modest, men as high-minded and well-bred, and both +as full of the fear of God, and the thought that God’s eye +is upon them, as if they were in a place, or a station, where +they had nothing to do but to watch over the salvation of their +own souls; that the meadow and the harvest-field need not be, as +they too often are, places for temptation and for defilement; +where the old too often teach the young, not to fear God and keep +themselves pure, but to copy their coarse jests and foul +language, and listen to stories which had better be buried for +ever in the dirt out of which they spring. You know what I +mean. You know what field-work too often is. Read the +Book of Ruth, and see what field-work may be, and ought to +be.</p> +<p>Yes, my dear friends. Pure you may be, and gentle, +upright, and godly, about your daily work, if the Spirit of God +be within you.</p> +<p>Country life has its temptations: and so has town life, and +every life. But there has no temptation taken you save such +as is common to man. Boaz, the rich yeoman; Naomi, the +broken-hearted and ruined; Ruth, the fair young widow—all +had the very same temptations as are common to you now, here; but +they conquered them, because they feared God and kept His +commandments; and to know that, is necessary for your +salvation.</p> +<p>And, looked at in this light, the Book of Ruth is indeed a +prophecy; a forecast and a shadow of the teaching of the Lord +Jesus Himself, who spake to country folk as never man spake +before, and bade them look upon the simple, every-day matters +which were around them in field and wood, and open their eyes to +the Divine lessons of God’s providence, which also were all +around them; who, born Himself in that little village of +Bethlehem, and brought up in the little village of Nazareth, +among the lonely lanes and downs, spoke of country things to +country folk, and bade them read in the great green book which +God has laid open before them all day long. Who bade them +to consider the lilies of the field, how they grew, and the +ravens, how God fed them; to look on the fields, white for +harvest, and pray God to send labourers into his spiritual +harvest-field; to look on the tares which grew among the wheat, +and know we must not try to part them ourselves, but leave that +to God at the last day; to look on the fishers, who were casting +their net into the Lake of Galilee, and sorting the fish upon the +shore, and be sure that a day was coming, when God would separate +the good from the bad, and judge every man according to his work +and worth; and to learn from the common things of country life +the rule of the living God, and the laws of the kingdom of +heaven.</p> +<p>One word more, and I have done.</p> +<p>The story of Ruth is also the consecration of woman’s +love. I do not mean of the love of wife to husband, divine +and blessed as that is. I mean that depth and strength of +devotion, tenderness, and self-sacrifice, which God has put in +the heart of all true women; and which they spend so strangely, +and so nobly often, on persons who have no claim on them, from +whom they can receive no earthly reward;—the affection +which made women minister of their substance to our Lord Jesus +Christ; which brought Mary Magdalene to the foot of the Cross, +and to the door of the tomb, that she might at least see the last +of Him whom she thought lost to her for ever; the affection which +has made a wise man say, that as long as women and sorrow are +left in the world, so long will the Gospel of our Lord Jesus live +and conquer therein; the affection which makes women round us +every day ministering angels, wherever help or comfort are +needed; which makes many a woman do deeds of unselfish goodness +known only to God; not known even to herself; for she does them +by instinct, by the inspiration of God’s Spirit, without +self-consciousness or pride, without knowing what noble things +she is doing, without spoiling the beauty of her good work by +even admitting to herself, ‘What a good work it is! +How right she is in doing it! How much it will advance the +salvation of her own soul!’—but thinking herself, +perhaps, a very useless and paltry person; while the angels of +God are claiming her as their sister and their peer.</p> +<p>Yes, if there is a woman in this congregation—and there +is one, I will warrant, in every congregation in +England—who is devoting herself for the good of others; +giving up the joys of life to take care of orphans who have no +legal claim on her; or to nurse a relation, who perhaps repays +her with little but exacting peevishness; or who has spent all +her savings, in bringing up her brothers, or in supporting her +parents in their old age,—then let her read the story of +Ruth, and be sure that, like Ruth, she will be repaid by the +Lord. Her reward may not be the same as Ruth’s: but +it will be that which is best for her, and she shall in no wise +lose her reward. If she has given up all for Christ, it +shall be repaid her ten-fold in this life, and in the world to +come life everlasting. If, with Ruth, she is true to the +inspirations of God’s Spirit, then, with Ruth, God will be +true to her. Let her endure, for in due time she shall +reap, if she faint not;—and to know that, is necessary for +her salvation.</p> +<h2><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +123</span>SERMON XI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">SOLOMON.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ecclesiastes</span> i. 12–14.</p> +<p>I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I +gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all +things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God +given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. I have +seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all +is vanity and vexation of spirit.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">All</span> have heard of Solomon the +Wise. His name has become a proverb among men. It was +still more a proverb among the old Rabbis, the lawyers and +scribes of the Gospels.</p> +<p>Their hero, the man of whom they delighted to talk and dream, +was not David, the Psalmist, and the shepherd-boy, the man of +many wanderings, and many sorrows: but his son Solomon, with all +his wealth, and pomp and magic wisdom. Ever since our +Lord’s time, if not before it, Solomon has been the +national hero of the Jews; while David, as the truer type and +pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been the hero of +Christians.</p> +<p>The Rabbis, with their Eastern fancy—childishly fond, to +this day, of gold, and jewels, and outward pomp and +show—would talk and dream of the lost glories of +Solomon’s court; of his gilded and jewelled temple, with +its pillars of sandal-wood from Ophir, and its sea of molten +brass; of his ivory lion-throne, and his three hundred golden +shields; of his fleets which went away into the far Indian sea, +and came back after three years with foreign riches and curious +beasts. And as if that had not been enough, they delighted +to add to the truth fable upon fable. The Jews, after the +time of the Babylonish captivity, seem to have more and more +identified Wisdom with mere Magic; and therefore Solomon was, in +their eyes, the master of all magicians. He knew the +secrets of the stars, and of the elements, the secrets of all +charms and spells. By virtue of his magic seal he had power +over all those evil spirits, with which the Jews believed the +earth and sky to be filled. He could command all spirits, +force them to appear to him and bow before him, and send them to +the ends of the earth to do his bidding. Nothing so +fantastic, nothing so impossible, but those old Scribes and +Pharisees imputed it to their idol, Solomon the Wise.</p> +<p>The Bible, of course, has no such fancies in it, and gives us +a sober and rational account of Solomon’s wisdom, and of +Solomon’s greatness.</p> +<p>It tells us how, when he was yet young, God appeared to him in +a dream, and said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon +made answer—</p> +<p>‘ . . . O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king +instead of David my father; and I am but a little child: I know +not how to go out or come in.</p> +<p>‘Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to +judge Thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for +who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?</p> +<p>‘And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked +this thing.</p> +<p>‘And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this +thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast +asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine +enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern +judgment;</p> +<p>‘Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have +given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was +none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise +like unto thee.</p> +<p>‘And I have also given thee that which thou hast not +asked, both riches and honour: so that there shall not be any +among the kings like unto thee all thy days.’</p> +<p>And the promise, says Solomon himself, was fulfilled.</p> +<p>In his days Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is +by the sea-shore, for multitude, eating and drinking and making +merry; and Solomon reigned over all kings, from the river to the +land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt; and they brought +presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. And +he had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and +Israel dwelt safely, every man under his own vine and his own +fig-tree, all the days of Solomon.</p> +<p>‘I was great,’ he says, ‘and increased more +than all that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom +remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept +not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart +rejoiced in all my labour . . .</p> +<p>‘Then I looked on all the works that my hands had +wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, +behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no +profit under the sun.</p> +<p>‘And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and +folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even +that which hath been already done.’</p> +<p>Yes, my dear friends, we are too apt to think of exceeding +riches, or wisdom, or power, or glory, as unalloyed blessings +from God. How many are there who would say,—if it +were not happily impossible for them,—Oh that I were like +Solomon! Happy man that he was, to be able to say of +himself, ‘I was great, and increased more than all that +were before me in Jerusalem. And whatsoever mine eyes +desired, I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any +joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my labour.’</p> +<p>To have everything that he wanted, to be able to do anything +that he liked—was he not a happy man? Is not such a +life a Paradise on earth?</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, it is. But it is the Paradise of +fools.</p> +<p>Yet, Solomon was not a fool. He says expressly that his +wisdom remained with him through all his labour. Through +all his pleasure he kept alive the longing after knowledge. +He even tried, as he says, wine, and mirth, and folly, yet +acquainting himself with wisdom. He would try that, as well +as statesmanship, and the rule of a great kingdom, and the +building of temples and palaces, and the planting of parks and +gardens, and his three thousand Proverbs, and his Songs a +thousand and five; and his speech of beasts and of birds and of +all plants, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth +on the wall. He would know everything, and try +everything. If he was luxurious and proud, he would be no +idler, no useless gay liver. He would work, and discern, +and know,—and at last he found it all out, and this was the +sum thereof—‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; +all is vanity.’</p> +<p>He found no rest in pleasure, riches, power, glory, wisdom +itself; he had learnt nothing more after all than he might have +known, and doubtless did know, when he was a child of seven years +old. And that was, simply to fear God and keep His +commandments; for that was the whole duty of man.</p> +<p>But though he knew it, he had lost the power of doing it; and +he ended darkly and shamefully, a dotard worshipping idols of +wood and stone, among his heathen queens. And thus, as in +David the height of chivalry fell to the deepest baseness; so in +Solomon the height of wisdom fell to the deepest folly.</p> +<p>My friends, the truth is, that exceeding gifts from God like +Solomon’s are not blessings, they are duties; and very +solemn and heavy duties. They do not increase a man’s +happiness; they only increase his responsibility—the awful +account which he must give at last of the talents committed to +his charge. They increase, too, his danger. They +increase the chance of his having his head turned to pride and +pleasure, and falling shamefully, and coming to a miserable +end. As with David, so with Solomon. Man is nothing, +and God is all in all.</p> +<p>And as with David and Solomon, so with many a king and many a +great man. Consider those who have been great and glorious +in their day. And in how many cases they have ended +sadly! The burden of glory has been too heavy for them to +bear; they have broken down under it.</p> +<p>The great Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany and King of +Spain and all the Indies: our own great Queen Elizabeth, who +found England all but ruined, and left her strong and rich, +glorious and terrible: Lord Bacon, the wisest of all mortal men +since the time of Solomon: and, in our own fathers’ time, +Napoleon Buonaparte, the poor young officer, who rose to be the +conqueror of half Europe, and literally the king of +kings,—how have they all ended? In sadness and +darkness, vanity and vexation of spirit.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends! if ever proud and ambitious thoughts arise in +any of our hearts, let us crush them down till we can say with +David: ‘Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; +neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too +high for me.</p> +<p>‘Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child +that is weaned of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned +child.’</p> +<p>And if ever idle and luxurious thoughts arise in our hearts, +and we are tempted to say, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid +up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be +merry;’ let us hear the word of the Lord crying against us: +‘Thou fool! This night shall thy soul be required of +thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast +provided?’</p> +<p>Let us pray, my friends, for that great—I had almost +said, that crowning grace and virtue of moderation, what St. Paul +calls sobriety and a sound mind. Let us pray for moderate +appetites, moderate passions, moderate honours, moderate gains, +moderate joys; and, if sorrows be needed to chasten us, moderate +sorrows. Let us long violently after nothing, or wish too +eagerly to rise in life; and be sure that what the Apostle says +of those who long to be rich is equally true of those who long to +be famous, or powerful, or in any way to rise over the heads of +their fellow-men. They all fall, as the Apostle says, into +foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and +perdition, and so pierce themselves through with many +sorrows.</p> +<p>And let us thank God heartily if He has put us into +circumstances which do not tempt us to wild and vain hopes of +becoming rich, or great or admired by men.</p> +<p>Especially let us thank Him for this quiet country life which +we lead here, free from ambition, and rash speculation, and the +hope of great and sudden gains. All know, who have watched +the world, how unwholesome for a man’s soul any trade or +occupation is which offers the chance of making a rapid +fortune. It has hurt the souls of too many merchants and +manufacturers ere now. Good and sober-minded men there are +among them, thank God, who can resist the temptation, and are +content to go along the plain path of quiet and patient honesty; +but to those who have not the sober spirit, who have not the fear +of God before their eyes, the temptation is too terrible to +withstand; and it is not withstood; and therefore the columns of +our newspapers are so often filled with sad cases of bankruptcy, +forgery, extravagant and desperate trading, bubble fortunes spent +in a few years of vain show and luxury, and ending in poverty and +shame.</p> +<p>Happy, on the other hand, are those who till the ground; who +never can rise high enough, or suddenly enough, to turn their +heads; whose gains are never great and quick enough to tempt them +to wild speculation: but who can, if they will only do their duty +patiently and well, go on year after year in quiet prosperity, +and be content to offer up, week by week, Agur’s wise +prayer: ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but feed me +with food sufficient for me.’</p> +<p>They need never complain that they have no time to think of +their own souls; that the hurry and bustle of business must needs +drive religion out of their minds. Their life passes in a +quiet round of labours. Day after day, week after week, +season after season, they know beforehand what they have to do, +and can arrange their affairs for this world, so as to give them +full time to think of the world to come. Every week brings +small gains, for which they can thank the God of all plenty; and +every week brings, too, small anxieties, for which they can trust +the same God who has given them His only-begotten Son, and will +with Him freely give them all things needful for them; who has, +in mercy to their souls and bodies, put them in the healthiest +and usefullest of all pursuits, the one which ought to lead their +minds most to God, and the one in which (if they be thoughtful +men) they have the deep satisfaction of feeling that they are not +working for themselves only, but for their fellow-men; that every +sheaf of corn they grow is a blessing, not merely to themselves, +but to the whole nation.</p> +<p>My friends, think of these things, especially at this rich and +blessed harvest-time; and while you thank your God and your +Saviour for His unexampled bounty in this year’s good +harvest, do not forget to thank Him for having given the sowing +and the reaping of those crops to you; and for having called you +to that business in life in which, I verily believe, you will +find it most easy to serve and obey Him, and be least tempted to +ambition and speculation, and the lust of riches, and the pride +which goes before a fall.</p> +<p>Think of these things; and think of the exceeding mercies +which God heaps on you as Englishmen,—peace and safety, +freedom and just laws, the knowledge of His Bible, the teaching +of His Church, and all that man needs for body and soul. +Let those who have thanked God already, thank Him still more +earnestly, and show their thankfulness not only in their lips, +but in their lives; and let those who have not thanked Him, +awake, and learn, as St. Paul bids them, from God’s own +witness of Himself, in that He has sent them fruitful seasons, +filling their hearts with food and gladness:—let them +learn, I say, from that, that they have a Father in heaven who +has given them His only-begotten Son, and will with Him freely +give them all things needful: only asking in return that they +should obey His laws—to obey which is everlasting life.</p> +<h2><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +134</span>SERMON XII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PROGRESS.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached before the Queen at +Clifden</i>, <i>June</i> 3, 1866.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Ecclesiastes</span> vii. 10,</p> +<p>Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were +better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning +this.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> text occurs in the Book of +Ecclesiastes, which has been for many centuries generally +attributed to Solomon the son of David. I say generally, +because, not only among later critics, but even among the ancient +Jewish Rabbis, there have been those who doubted or denied that +Solomon was its author.</p> +<p>I cannot presume to decide on such a question: but it seems to +me most probable, that the old tradition is right, even though +the book may have suffered alterations, both in form and in +language: but any later author, personating Solomon, would surely +have put into his month very different words from those of +Ecclesiastes. Solomon was the ideal hero-king of the later +Jews. Stories of his superhuman wealth, of magical power, +of a fabulous extent of dominion, grew up about his name. +He who was said to control, by means of his wondrous seal, the +genii of earth and air, would scarcely have been represented as a +disappointed and broken-hearted sage, who pronounced all human +labour to be vanity and vexation of spirit; who saw but one event +for the righteous and the wicked, and the wise man and the fool; +and questioned bitterly whether there was any future state, any +pre-eminence in man over the brute.</p> +<p>These, and other startling utterances, made certain of the +early Rabbis doubt the authenticity and inspiration of the Book +of Ecclesiastes, as containing things contrary to the Law, and to +desire its suppression, till they discovered in it—as we +may, if we be wise—a weighty and world-wide meaning.</p> +<p>Be that as it may, it would certainly be a loss to Scripture, +and to our knowledge of humanity, if it was proved that this +book, in its original shape, was not written by a great king, and +most probably by Solomon himself. The book gains by that +fact, not only in its reality and truthfulness, but in its value +and importance as a lesson of human life. Especially does +this text gain; for it has a natural and deep connection with +Solomon and his times.</p> +<p>The former days were better than his days: he could not help +seeing that they were. He must have feared lest the +generation which was springing up should inquire into the reason +thereof, in a tone which would breed—which actually did +breed—discontent and revolution.</p> +<p>But the fact seemed at first sight patent. The old +heroic days of Samuel and David were past. The Jewish race +no longer produced such men as Saul and Jonathan, as Joab and +Abner. A generation of great men, whose names are immortal, +had died out, and a generation of inferior men, of whom hardly +one name has come down to us, had succeeded them. The +nation had lost its primæval freedom, and the courage and +loyalty which freedom gives. It had become rich, and +enervated by luxury and ease. Solomon had civilised the +Jewish kingdom, till it had become one of the greatest nations of +the East; but it had become also, like the other nations of the +East, a vast and gaudy despotism, hollow and rotten to the core; +ready to fall to pieces at Solomon’s death, by selfishness, +disloyalty, and civil war. Therefore it was that Solomon +hated all his labour that he had wrought under the sun; for all +was vanity and vexation of spirit.</p> +<p>Such were the facts. And yet it was not wise to look at +them too closely; not wise to inquire why the former times were +better than those. So it was. Let it alone. Pry +not too curiously into the past, or into the future: but do the +duty which lies nearest to thee. Fear God and keep His +commandments. For that is the whole duty of man.</p> +<p>Thus does Solomon lament over the certain decay of the Jewish +Empire. And his words, however sad, are indeed eternal and +inspired. For they have proved true, and will prove true to +the end, of every despotism of the East, or empire formed on +Eastern principles; of the old Persian Empire, of the Roman, of +the Byzantine, of those of Hairoun Alraschid and of Aurungzebe, +of those Turkish and Chinese-Tartar empires whose dominion is +decaying before our very eyes. Of all these the wise +man’s words are true. They are vanity and vexation of +spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and +that which is wanting cannot be numbered. The thing which +has been is that which shall be, and there is no new thing under +the sun. Incapacity of progress; the same outward +civilization repeating itself again and again; the same intrinsic +certainty of decay and death;—these are the marks of all +empire, which is not founded on that foundation which is laid, +even Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>But of Christian nations these words are not true. They +pronounce the doom of the old world: but the new world has no +part in them, unless it copies the sins and follies of the +old.</p> +<p>It is not true of Christian nations that the thing which has +been is that which shall be; and that there is no new thing under +the sun. For over them is the kingdom of Christ, the +Saviour of all men, specially of them which believe, the King of +all the princes of the earth, who has always asserted, and will +for ever assert, His own overruling dominion. And in them +is the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of truth and +righteousness; of improvement, discovery, progress from darkness +to light, from folly to wisdom, from barbarism to justice, and +mercy, and the true civilization of the heart and spirit.</p> +<p>And, therefore, for us it is not only an act of prudence, but +a duty; a duty of faith in God; a duty of loyalty to Jesus Christ +our Lord, not to ask, Why the former times were better than +these? For they were not better than these. Every age +has had its own special nobleness, its own special use: but every +age has been better than the age which went before it; for the +Spirit of God is leading the ages on, toward that whereof it is +written, ‘Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor hath it +entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God +hath prepared for those that love Him.’</p> +<p>Very unfaithful are we to the teaching of God’s Spirit; +many and heavy are our sins against light and knowledge, and +means, and opportunities of grace. But let us not add to +those sins the sin (for such it is) of inquiring why the former +times were better than these.</p> +<p>For, first, the inquiry shows disbelief in our Lord’s +own words, that all dominion is given to Him in heaven and earth, +and that He is with us always, even to the end of the +world. And next, it is a vain inquiry, based on a +mistake. When we look back longingly to any past age, we +look not at the reality, but at a sentimental and untrue picture +of our own imagination. When we look back longingly to the +so-called ages of faith, to the personal loyalty of the old +Cavaliers; when we regret that there are no more among us such +giants in statesmanship and power as those who brought Europe +through the French Revolution; when we long that our lot was cast +in any age beside our own, we know not what we ask. The +ages which seem so beautiful afar off, would look to us, were we +in them, uglier than our own. If we long to be back in +those so-called devout ages of faith, we long for an age in which +witches and heretics were burned alive; if we long after the +chivalrous loyalty of the old Cavaliers, we long for an age in +which stage-plays were represented, even before a virtuous +monarch like Charles I., which the lowest of our playgoers would +not now tolerate. When we long for anything that is past, +we long, it may be, for a little good which we seem to have lost; +but we long also for real and fearful evil, which, thanks be to +God, we have lost likewise. We are not, indeed, to fancy +this age perfect, and boast, like some, of the glorious +nineteenth century. We are to keep our eyes open to all its +sins and defects, that we may amend them. And we are to +remember, in fear and trembling, that to us much is given, and of +us much is required. But we are to thank God that our lot +is cast in an age which, on the whole, is better than any age +whatsoever that has gone before it, and to do our best that the +age which is coming may be better even than this.</p> +<p>We are neither to regret the past, nor rest satisfied in the +present; but, like St. Paul, forgetting those things that are +behind us, and reaching onward to those things that are before +us, press forward, each and all, to the prize of our high calling +in Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>And as with nations and empires, so with our own private +lives. It is not wise to ask why the former times were +better than these. It is natural, pardonable: but not wise; +because we are so apt to mistake the subject about which we ask, +and when we say, ‘Why were the old times better?’ +merely to mean, ‘Why were the old times +happier?’ That is not the question. There is +something higher than happiness, says a wise man. There is +blessedness; the blessedness of being good and doing good, of +being right and doing right. That blessedness we may have +at all times; we may be blest even in anxiety and in sadness; we +may be blest, even as the martyrs of old were blest—in +agony and death. The times are to us whatsoever our +character makes them. And if we are better men than we were +in former times, then is the present better than the past, even +though it be less happy. And why should it not be +better? Surely the Spirit of God, the spirit of progress +and improvement, is working in us, the children of God, as well +as in the great world around. Surely the years ought to +have made us better, more useful, more worthy. We may have +been disappointed in our lofty ideas of what ought to be +done. But we may have gained more clear and practical +notions of what can be done. We may have lost in +enthusiasm, and yet gained in earnestness. We may have lost +in sensibility, yet gained in charity, activity, and power. +We may be able to do far less, and yet what we do may be far +better done.</p> +<p>And our very griefs and disappointments—Have they been +useless to us? Surely not. We shall have gained, +instead of lost, by them, if the Spirit of God be working in +us. Our sorrows will have wrought in us patience, our +patience experience of God’s sustaining grace, who promises +that as our day our strength shall be; and of God’s tender +providence, which tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, and lays on +none a burden beyond what they are able to bear. And that +experience will have worked in us hope: hope that He who has led +us thus far will lead us farther still; that He who brought us +through the trials of youth, will bring us through the trials of +age; that He who taught us in former days precious lessons, not +only by sore temptations, but most sacred joys, will teach us in +the days to come fresh lessons by temptations which we shall be +more able to endure; and by joys which, though unlike those of +old times, are no less sacred, no less sent as lessons to our +souls, by Him from whom all good gifts come.</p> +<p>We will believe this. And instead of inquiring why the +former days were better than these, we will trust that the coming +days shall be better than these, and those which are coming after +them better still again, because God is our Father, Christ our +Saviour, the Holy Ghost our Comforter and Guide. We will +toil onward: because we know we are toiling upward. We will +live in hope, not in regret; because hope is the only state of +mind fit for a race for whom God has condescended to stoop, and +suffer, and die, and rise again. We will believe that we, +and all we love, whether in earth or heaven, are +destined—if we be only true to God’s Spirit—to +rise, improve, progress for ever: and so we will claim our share, +and keep our place, in that vast ascending and improving scale of +being, which, as some dream—and surely not in +vain—goes onward and upward for ever throughout the +universe of Him who wills that none should perish.</p> +<h2><a name="page143"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +143</span>SERMON XIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">FAITH.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached before the Queen at +Windsor</i>, <i>December</i> 5, 1865)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Habakkuk</span> ii. 4.</p> +<p>The just shall live by his faith.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> shall always find it most safe, +as well as most reverent, to inquire first the literal and exact +meaning of a text; to see under what circumstances it was +written; what meaning it must have conveyed to those who heard +it; and so to judge what it must have meant in the mind of him +who spoke it. If we do so, we shall find that the simplest +interpretation of Scripture is generally the deepest; and the +most literal interpretation is also the most spiritual.</p> +<p>Let us examine the circumstances under which the prophet spake +these words.</p> +<p>It was on the eve of a Chaldean invasion. The heathen +were coming into Judea, as we see them still in the Assyrian +sculptures—civilizing, after their barbarous fashion, the +nations round them—conquering, massacring, transporting +whole populations, building cities and temples by their forced +labour; and resistance or escape was impossible.</p> +<p>The prophet’s faith fails him a moment. What is +this but a triumph of evil? Is there a Divine +Providence? Is there a just Ruler of the world? And +he breaks out into pathetic expostulation with God Himself: +‘Wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, +and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is +more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the +sea, as the creeping things, which have no ruler over them? +They take up all of them with the line, they gather them with the +net. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn +incense to their line; for by it their portion is fat, and their +meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and +not spare to slay continually the nations?’</p> +<p>Then the Lord answers his doubts: ‘Behold, his soul +which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live +by his faith.’</p> +<p>By his faith, plainly, in a just Ruler of the world,—in +a God who avenges wrong, and makes inquisition for innocent +blood. He who will keep his faith in that just God, will +remain just himself. The sense of Justice will be kept +alive in him; and the just will live by his Faith.</p> +<p>The prophet believes that message; and a mighty change passes +over his spirit. In a burst of magnificent poetry, he +proclaims woe to the unjust Chaldean conqueror. All his +greatness is a bubble which will burst; a suicidal mistake, which +will work out its own punishment, and make him a taunt and a +mockery to all nations round. ‘Woe to him who +increaseth that which is not his, and ladeth himself with thick +clay! Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his +house, that he may set his nest on high, and be delivered from +the power of evil! Woe to him that buildeth a town with +blood, and stablisheth a city with iniquity! Behold, is it +not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the very +fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very +vanity?’ There is a true civilization for man; but +not according to the unjust and cruel method of those +Chaldeans. The Law of the true Civilization, the prophet +says, is this: ‘The earth shall be full of the knowledge of +the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.’</p> +<p>But what is this to us? Are we like the Chaldeans? +God forbid. But are we not tried by the same temptations to +which they blindly yielded? A nation, strong, rich, +luxurious, prosperous in industry at home, and aggressive (if not +in theory, certainly in practice) to less civilized races +abroad—are we not tempted daily to that habit of mind which +the prophet calls—with that tremendous irony in which the +Hebrew prophets surpass all writers—looking on men as the +fishes of the sea, as the creeping things which have no ruler +over them, born to devour each other, and be caught and devoured +in their turn, by a race more cunning than themselves? +There are those among us in thousands, thank God, who nobly +resist that temptation; and they are the very salt of the land, +who keep it from decay. But for the many—for the +public—do not too many of them believe that the law of +human society is, after all, only that internecine conflict of +interests, that brute struggle for existence, which naturalists +tell us (and truly) is the law of life for mere plants and +animals? Are they not tempted to forget that men are not +mere animals and things, but persons; that they have a Ruler over +them, even God, who desires to educate them, to sanctify them, to +develop their every faculty, that they may be His children, and +not merely our tools; and do God’s work in the world, and +not merely their employer’s work? Are they +not—are we not all—tempted too often to forget +this?</p> +<p>And, then, are we not tempted, all of us, to fall down like +the Chaldeans and worship our own net, because by it our portion +is fat, and our meat plenteous? Are we not tempted to say +within ourselves, ‘This present system of things, with all +its anomalies and its defects, still is the right system, and the +only system. It is the path pointed out by Providence for +man. It is of the Lord; for we are comfortable under +it. We grow rich under it; we keep rank and power under it: +it suits us, pays us. What better proof that it is the +perfect system of things, which cannot be amended?’</p> +<p>Meanwhile, we are sorry (for the English are a kind-hearted +people) for the victims of our luxury and our neglect. +Sorry for the thousands whom we let die every year by preventible +diseases, because we are either too busy or too comfortable to +save their lives. Sorry for the savages whom we +exterminate, by no deliberate evil intent, but by the mere weight +of our heavy footstep. Sorry for the thousands who are +used-up yearly in certain trades, in ministering to our comfort, +even to our very luxuries and frivolities. Sorry for the +Sheffield grinders, who go to work as to certain death; who count +how many years they have left, and say, ‘A short life and a +merry one. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we +die.’ Sorry for the people whose lower jaws decay +away in lucifer-match factories. Sorry for all the miseries +and wrongs which this Children’s Employment Commission has +revealed. Sorry for the diseases of artificial +flower-makers. Sorry for the boys working in glass-houses +whole days and nights on end without rest, ‘labouring in +the very fire, and wearying themselves with very +vanity.’—Vanity, indeed, if after an amount of +gallant toil which nothing but the indomitable courage of an +Englishman could endure, they grow up animals and heathens. +We are sorry for them all—as the giant is for the worm on +which he treads. Alas! poor worm. But the giant must +walk on. He is necessary to the universe, and the worm is +not. So we are sorry—for half an hour; and glad too +(for we are a kind-hearted people) to hear that charitable +persons or the government are going to do something towards +alleviating these miseries. And then we return, too many of +us, each to his own ambition, or to his own luxury, comforting +ourselves with the thought, that we did not make the world, and +we are not responsible for it.</p> +<p>How shall we conquer this temptation to laziness, selfishness, +heartlessness? By faith in God, such as the prophet +had. By faith in God as the eternal enemy of evil, the +eternal helper of those who try to overcome evil with good; the +eternal avenger of all the wrong which is done on earth. By +faith in God, as not only our Father, our Saviour, our Redeemer, +our Protector: but the Father, Saviour, Redeemer, Protector, and +if need be, Avenger, of every human being. By faith in God, +which believes that His infinite heart yearns over every human +soul, even the basest and the worst; that He wills that not one +little one should perish, but that all should be saved, and come +to the knowledge of the truth.</p> +<p>We must believe that, if we wish that it should be true of us, +that the just shall live by his faith. If we wish our faith +to keep us just men, leading just lives, we must believe that God +is just, and that He shows His justice by the only possible +method—by doing justice, sooner or later, for all who are +unjustly used.</p> +<p>If we lose that faith, we shall be in danger—in more +than danger—of becoming unjust ourselves. As we fancy +God to be, so shall we become ourselves. If we believe that +God cares little for mankind, we shall care less and less for +them ourselves. If we believe that God neglects them, we +shall neglect them likewise.</p> +<p>And then the sense of justice—justice for its own sake, +justice as the likeness and will of God—will die out in us, +and our souls will surely not live, but die.</p> +<p>For there will die out in our hearts, just the most noble and +God-like feelings which God has put into them. The instinct +of chivalry; horror of cruelty and injustice; pity for the weak +and ill-used; the longing to set right whatever is wrong; and, +what is even more important, the Spirit of godly fear, of +wholesome terror of God’s wrath, which makes us say, when +we hear of any great and general sin among us, ‘If we do +not do our best to set this right, then God, who does not make +men like creeping things, will take the matter into His own +hands, and punish us easy, luxurious people, for allowing such +things to be done.’</p> +<p>And when a man loses that spirit of chivalry, he loses his own +soul. For that spirit of chivalry, let worldlings say what +they will, is the very spirit of our spirit, the salt which keeps +our characters from utter decay—the very instinct which +raises us above the selfishness of the brute. Yea, it is +the Spirit of God Himself. For what is the feeling of +horror at wrong, of pity for the wronged, of burning desire to +set wrong right, save the Spirit of the Father and the Son, the +Spirit which brought down the Lord Jesus out of the highest +heaven, to stoop, to serve, to suffer and to die, that He might +seek and save that which was lost?</p> +<p>Some say that the age of chivalry is past: that the spirit of +romance is dead. The age of chivalry is never past, as long +as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth, and a man or woman +left to say, ‘I will redress that wrong, or spend my life +in the attempt.’</p> +<p>The age of chivalry is never past, as long as men have faith +enough in God to say, ‘God will help me to redress that +wrong; or if not me, surely he will help those that come after +me. For His eternal will is, to overcome evil with +good.’</p> +<p>The spirit of romance will never die, as long as there is a +man left to see that the world might and can be better, happier, +wiser, fairer in all things, than it is now. The spirit of +romance will never die, as long as a man has faith in God to +believe that the world will actually be better and fairer than it +is now; as long as men have faith, however weak, to believe in +the romance of all romances; in the wonder of all wonders; in +that, of which all poets’ dreams have been but childish +hints, and dumb forefeelings—even</p> +<blockquote><p>‘That one far-off divine event<br /> +Towards which the whole creation moves;’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>that wonder of which prophets and apostles have told, each +according to his light; that wonder which Habakkuk saw afar off, +and foretold how that the earth should be filled with the +knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea; that wonder +which Isaiah saw afar off, and sang how the Lord should judge +among the nations, and rebuke among many people; and they should +beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into +pruning-hooks; nation should not rise against nation, neither +should they learn war any more; that wonder of which St Paul +prophesied, and said that Christ should reign till He had put all +His enemies under His feet; that wonder of which St. John +prophesied; and said, ‘I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, +coming down from God out of heaven. And the nations of them +that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of +the earth bring their glory and their honour unto it;’ that +wonder, finally, which our Lord Himself bade us pray for, as for +our daily bread, and say, ‘Father, thy kingdom come; thy +will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.</p> +<p>‘Thy will be done on earth.’ He who bade us +ask that boon for generations yet unborn, was very God of very +God. Do you think that He would have bidden us ask a +blessing, which He knew would never come?</p> +<h2><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +153</span>SERMON XIV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE GREAT COMMANDMENT.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Matt</span>. xxii. 37, 32.</p> +<p>Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with +all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and +great commandment.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> say, when they hear +this,—It is a hard saying. Who can bear it? Who +can expect us to do as much as that? If we are asked to be +respectable and sober, to live and let live, not to harm our +neighbours wilfully or spitefully, and to come to church +tolerably regularly—we understand being asked to do +that—it is fair. But to love the Lord our God with +all our hearts. That must be meant only for very great +saints; for a few exceedingly devout people here and there. +And devout people have been too apt to say,—You are +right. It is we who are to love God with all our hearts and +souls, and give up the world, and marriage, and all the joys of +life, and turn priests, monks, and nuns, while you need only be +tolerably respectable, and attend to your religious duties from +time to time, while we will pray for you. But, my friends, +if we read our Bibles, we cannot allow that. ‘Thou +shalt love the Lord thy God,’ was spoken not to monks and +nuns (for there were none in those days), not to great saints +only (for we read of none just then), not even to priests and +clergymen only. It was said to all the Jews, high and low, +free and slave, soldier and labourer, alike—‘Thou, a +man living in the world, and doing work in the world, with wife +and family, farm and cattle, horse to ride, and weapon to +wear—thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’</p> +<p>And therefore these words are said to you and me. We +English are neither monks nor nuns, nor likely (thank God) to +become so. We are in the world, with our own family ties +and duties, our own worldly business. And to us, to you and +me, as to those old Jews, the first and great commandment is, +‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’</p> +<p>What, then, does it mean? Does it mean that we are to +have the same love toward God as we have toward a wife or a +husband?</p> +<p>Certainly not. But it means at least this—the love +which we should bear toward a Father. All, my friends, +turns on this. Do you look on God as your Father, or do you +not? God is your Father, remember, already. You +cannot (as some people seem to think) make Him your Father by +believing that He is one; and you need not, thanks to His +mercy. Neither can you make Him not your Father by +forgetting Him. Be you wise or foolish, right or wrong, God +is your Father in heaven; and you ought to feel towards Him as +towards a father, not with any sentimental, fanciful, fanatical +affection; but with a reverent, solemn, and rational affection; +such as that which the good old Catechism bids us have, when it +tells us our duty toward God.</p> +<p>‘My duty towards God is to believe in Him, to fear Him, +and to love Him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my +soul, and with all my strength; to worship Him, to give Him +thanks, to put my whole trust in Him, to call upon Him, to honour +His holy Name and His Word, and to serve Him truly all the days +of my life.’</p> +<p>Now, I ask you—and what I ask you I ask myself,—Do +we love the Lord our God thus? And if not, why not?</p> +<p>I do not ask you to tell me. I am not going to tell you +what is in my heart; and I do not ask you to tell me what is in +yours. We are free Englishmen, who keep ourselves to +ourselves, and think for ourselves, each man in the depths of his +own heart; and who are the stronger and the wiser for not talking +about our feelings to any man, priest or layman.</p> +<p>But ask yourselves, each of you,—Do I love God? +And if not, why not?</p> +<p>There are two reasons, I believe, which are, alas! very +common. For one of them there are great excuses; for the +other, there is no excuse whatsoever.</p> +<p>In the first place, too many find it difficult to love God, +because they have not been taught that God is loveable, and +worthy of their love. They have been taught dark and hard +doctrines, which have made them afraid of God.</p> +<p>They have been taught—too many are taught +still—not merely that God will punish the wicked, but that +God will punish nine-tenths, or ninety-nine-hundredths of the +human race. That He will send to endless torments not +merely sinners who have rebelled against what they knew was +right, and His command; who have stained themselves with crimes; +who wilfully injured their fellow-creatures: but that He will do +the same by little children, by innocent young girls, by +honourable, respectable, moral men and women, because they are +not what is called sensibly converted, or else what is called +orthodox. They have been taught to look on God, not as a +loving and merciful Father, but as a tyrant and a task-master, +who watches to set down against them the slightest mishap or +neglect; who is extreme to mark what is done amiss; who wills the +death of a sinner. Often—strangest notion of +all—they have been told that, though God intends to punish +them, they must still love Him, or they will be punished—as +if such a notion, so far from drawing them to God, could do +anything but drive them from Him. And it is no wonder if +persons who have been taught in their youth such notions +concerning God, find it difficult to love Him. Who can be +frightened or threatened into loving any being? How can we +love any being who does not seem to us kind, merciful, amiable, +loving? Our love must be called out by God’s +love. If we are to love God, it must be because He has +first loved us.</p> +<p>But He has first loved us, my friends. The dark and +cruel notions about God—which are too common, and have been +too common in all ages—are not what the world about us +teaches, nor what Scripture teaches us either.</p> +<p>Look out on the world around you. What witness does it +bear concerning the God who made it? Who made the sunshine, +and the flowers, and singing birds, and little children, and all +that causes the joy of this life? Let Christ Himself speak, +and His apostles. No one can say that their words are not +true; that they were mistaken in their view of this earth, or of +God who gave it to us that it might bear witness of Him. +What said our Lord to the poor folk of Galilee, of whom the +Scribes and the Pharisees, in their pride, said, ‘This +people, who knoweth not the law, is accursed.’—What +said our Lord, very God of very God? He told them to look +on the world around, and learn from it that they had in heaven +not a tyrant, not a destroyer, but a Father; a Father in heaven +who is perfect in this, that He causeth His sun to shine upon +them, and is good to the unthankful and the evil.</p> +<p>What of Him did St. Paul say?—and that not to +Christians, but to heathens—That God had not left Himself +without a witness even to the heathen who knew Him not—and +what sort of witness? The witness of His bounty and +goodness. The simple, but perpetual witness of the yearly +harvest—‘In that He sends men rain and fruitful +seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.’</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s witness. And what is St. +James’s? He tells men of a Father of lights, from +whom comes down every good and perfect gift; who gives to all +liberally, and upbraideth not, grudges not, stints not, but +gives, and delights in giving,—the same God, in a word, of +whom the old psalmists and prophets spoke, and said, ‘Thou +openest Thine hand, and fillest all things with good.’</p> +<p>And if natural religion tells us thus much, and bears witness +of a Father who delights in the happiness of His creatures, what +does revealed religion and the Gospel of Jesus Christ tell +us?</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, dull indeed must be our hearts if we can feel +no love for the God of whom the Gospel speaks! And +perverse, indeed, must be our minds if we can twist the good news +of Christ’s salvation into the bad news of +condemnation! What says St. Paul,—That God is against +us? No. But—‘If God be for us, who can be +against us?</p> +<p>‘Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s +elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that +condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is +risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also +maketh intercession for us.</p> +<p>‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall +tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or +nakedness, or peril, or sword?</p> +<p>‘As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the +day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.</p> +<p>‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors +through Him that loved us.</p> +<p>‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor +angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor +things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, +shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in +Christ Jesus our Lord.’</p> +<p>What says St. John? Does he say that God the Father +desires to punish or slay us; and that our Lord Jesus Christ, or +the Virgin Mary, or the saints, or any other being, loves us +better than God, and will deliver us out of the hands of +God? God forbid! ‘We have known and +believed,’ he says, ‘the love that God hath to +us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in +God, and God in him.’</p> +<p>My friends, if we could believe those blessed words—I do +not say in all their fulness—we shall never do that, I +believe, in this mortal life—but if we could only believe +them a little, and know and believe even a little of the love +that God has to us, then love to Him would spring up in our +hearts, and we should feel for Him all that child ever felt for +father. If we really believed that God who made heaven and +earth was even now calling to each and every one of us, and +beseeching us, by the sacrifice of His well-beloved Son, +crucified for us, ‘My son, give Me thy heart,’ we +could not help giving up our hearts to Him.</p> +<p>Provided—and there is that second reason why people do +not love God, for which I said there was no excuse—provided +only that we wish to be good, and to obey God. If we do not +wish to do what God commands, we shall never love God. It +must be so. There can be no real love of God which is not +based upon a love of virtue and goodness, upon what our Lord +calls a hunger and thirst after righteousness. ‘If ye +love Me, keep My commandments,’ is our Lord’s own +rule and test. And it is the only one possible. If we +habitually disobey any person, we shall cease to love that +person. If a child is in the habit of disobeying its +parents, dark and angry feelings towards those parents are sure +to arise in its heart. The child tries to forget its +parents, to keep out of their way. It tries to justify +itself, to excuse itself by fancying that its parents are hard +upon it, unjust, grudge it pleasure, or what not. If its +parents’ commandments are grievous to a child, it will try +to make out that those commandments are unfair and unkind. +And so shall we do by God’s commandments. If +God’s commandments seem too grievous for us to obey, then +we shall begin to fancy them unjust and unkind. And then, +farewell to any real love to God. If we do not openly rebel +against God, we shall still try to forget Him. The thought +of God will seem dark, unpleasant, and forbidding to us; and we +shall try, in our short-sighted folly, to live as far as we can +without God in the world, and, like Adam after his fall, hide +ourselves from the loving God, just because we know we have +disobeyed Him.</p> +<p>But if, in spite of many bad habits, we desire to get rid of +our bad habits; if, in spite of many faults, we still desire to +be faultless and perfect; if, in spite of many weaknesses, we +still desire to be strong; if, in one word, we still hunger and +thirst after righteousness, and long to be good men; then, in due +time, the love of God will be shed abroad in our hearts by the +Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>For that will happen to us which happens to all those who have +the pure, true, and heroical love. If we really love a +person, we shall first desire to please them, and therefore the +thought of disobeying and paining them will seem more and more +grievous unto us.</p> +<p>But more. We shall soon rise a step higher. The +more we love them, and the more we see in them, in their +characters, things worthy to be loved, the more we shall desire +to be like them, to copy those parts of their characters which +most delight us; and we shall copy them: though insensibly, +perhaps, and unawares.</p> +<p>For no one can look up for any length of time with love and +respect towards a person better, wiser, greater than themselves, +without becoming more or less like that person in character and +in habit of thought and feeling; and so it will be with us +towards God.</p> +<p>If we really long to be good, it will grow more and more easy +to us to love God. The more pure our hearts are, the more +pleasant the thought of God will be to us; even as it is said, +‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see +God,’—in this life as well as in the life to +come. We shall not shrink from God, because we shall know +that we are not wilfully offending Him.</p> +<p>But more. The more we think of God, the more we shall +long to be like Him. How admirable in our eyes will seem +His goodness, how admirable His purity, His justice, and His +bounty, His long-suffering, His magnanimity and greatness of +heart. For how great must be that heart of God, of which it +is written, that ‘He hateth nothing that He hath made, but +His mercy is over all His works;’ ‘that He willeth +that none should perish, but that all should be saved, and come +to the knowledge of the truth.’ Although He be +infinitely high and far off and we cannot attain to Him, yet we +shall feel it our duty and our joy to copy Him, however faintly, +and however humbly; and our highest hope will be that we may +behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and be changed into +His image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord; +that so, whether in this world or in the world to come, we may at +last be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect, and, +like Him, cause the sunlight of our love to slime upon the evil +and on the good; the kindly showers of our good deeds to fall +upon the just and on the unjust; and—like Him who sent His +only begotten Son to save the world—be good to the +unthankful and to the evil.</p> +<h2><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +164</span>SERMON XV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE EARTHQUAKE.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached October</i> 11, +1863.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> xlvi. 1, 2.</p> +<p>God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in +trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be +removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of +the sea.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">No</span> one, my friends, wishes less +than I, to frighten you, or to take a dark and gloomy view of +this world, or of God’s dealings with men. But when +God Himself speaks, men are bound to take heed, even though the +message be an awful one. And last week’s earthquake +was an awful message, reminding all reasonable souls how frail +man is, how frail his strongest works, how frail this seemingly +solid earth on which we stand; what a thin crust there is between +us and the nether fires, how utterly it depends on God’s +mercy that we do not, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram of old, go +down alive into the pit.</p> +<p>What do we know of earthquakes? We know that they are +connected with burning mountains; that the eruption of a burning +mountain is generally preceded by, and accompanied with, violent +earthquakes. Indeed, the burning mountains seem to be +outlets, by which the earthquake force is carried off. We +know that these burning mountains give out immense volumes of +steam. We know that the expanding power of steam is by far +the strongest force in the world; and, therefore, it is supposed +reasonably, that earthquakes are caused by steam underground.</p> +<p>We know concerning earthquakes two things: first, that they +are quite uncertain in their effects; secondly, quite uncertain +in their occurrence.</p> +<p>No one can tell what harm an earthquake will, or will not, +do. There are three kinds. One which raises the +ground up perpendicularly, and sets it down again—which is +the least hurtful; one which sets it rolling in waves, like the +waves of the sea—which is more hurtful; and one, the most +terrible of all, which gives the ground a spinning motion, so +that things thrown down by it fall twisted from right to left, or +left to right. But what kind of earthquake will take place, +no one can tell.</p> +<p>Moreover, a very slight earthquake may do fearful +damage. People who only read of them, fancy that an +earthquake, to destroy man and his works, must literally turn the +earth upside down; that the ground must open, swallowing up +houses, vomiting fire and water; that rocks must be cast into the +sea, and hills rise where valleys were before. Such awful +things have happened, and will happen again: but it does not need +them to lay a land utterly waste. A very slight +shock—a shock only a little stronger than was felt last +Wednesday morning, might have—one hardly dare think of what +it might have done in a country like this, where houses are +thinly built because we have no fear of earthquakes. Every +manufactory and mill throughout the iron districts (where the +shock was felt most) might have toppled to the earth in a +moment. Whole rows of houses, hastily and thinly built, +might have crumbled down like packs of cards; and hundreds of +thousands of sleeping human beings might have been buried in the +ruins, without time for a prayer or a cry.</p> +<p>A little more—a very little more—and all that or +more might have happened; millions’ worth of property might +have been destroyed in a few seconds, and the prosperity and +civilization of England have been thrown back for a whole +generation. There is absolutely no reason whatever, I tell +you, save the mercy of God, why that, or worse, should not have +happened; and it is only of the Lord’s mercies that we were +not consumed.</p> +<p>Next, earthquakes are utterly uncertain as to time. No +one knows when they are coming. They give no warning. +Even in those unhappy countries in which they are most common +there may not be a shock for months or years; and then a sudden +shock may hurl down whole towns. Or there may be many, +thirty or forty a-day for weeks, as there happened in a part of +South America a few years ago, when day after day, week after +week, terrible shocks went on with a perpetual underground roar, +as if brass and iron were crashing and clanging under the feet, +till the people were half mad with the continual noise and +continual anxiety, expecting every moment one shock, stronger +than the rest, to swallow them up. It is impossible, I say, +to calculate when they will come. They are altogether in +the hand of God,—His messengers, whose time and place He +alone knows, and He alone directs.</p> +<p>Our having had one last week is no reason for our not having +another this week, or any day this week; and no reason, happily, +against our having no more for one hundred years. It is in +God’s hands, and in God’s hands we must leave it.</p> +<p>All we can say is, that when one comes, it is likely to be +least severe in this part of England, and most severe (like this +last) in the coal and iron districts of the west and north-west, +where it is easy to see that earthquakes were once common, by the +cracks, twists and settlements in the rocks, and the lava +streams, poured out from fiery vents (probably under water) which +pierce the rocks in many places. Beyond that we know +nothing, and can only say,—It is of the Lord’s +mercies that we are not consumed.</p> +<p>Why do I say these things? To frighten you? No, +but to warn you. When you say to +yourselves,—Earthquakes are so uncommon and so harmless in +England that there is no need to think of them, you say on the +whole what is true. It has been, as yet, God’s will +that earthquakes should be uncommon and slight in England; and +therefore we have a reasonable ground of belief that such will be +His will for the future. Certainly He does not wish us to +fold our hands, and say, there is no use in building or improving +the country, if an earthquake may come and destroy it at any +moment. If there be an evil which man can neither prevent +or foresee, then, if he be a wise man, he will go on as if that +evil would never happen. We ever must work on in hope and +in faith in God’s goodness, without tormenting and +weakening ourselves by fears about what may happen.</p> +<p>But when God gives to a whole country a distinct and solemn +warning, especially after giving that country an enormous bounty +in an abundant harvest, He surely means that country to take the +warning. And, if I dare so judge, He means us perhaps to +think of the earthquake, and somewhat in this way.</p> +<p>There is hardly any country in the world in which man’s +labour has been so successful as in England. Owing to our +having no earthquakes, no really destructive storms,—and, +thank God, no foreign invading armies,—the wealth of +England has gone on increasing steadily and surely for centuries +past, to a degree unexampled. We have never had to rebuild +whole towns after an earthquake. We have never seen (except +in small patches) whole districts of fertile land ruined by the +sea or by floods. We have never seen every mill and house +in a country blown down by a hurricane, and the crops mown off +the ground by the mere force of the wind, as has happened again +and again in our West India Islands. Most blessed of all, +we have never seen a foreign army burning our villages, sacking +our towns, carrying off our corn and cattle, and driving us into +the woods to starve. From all these horrors, which have, +one or other of them, fallen on almost every nation upon earth, +God has of His great mercy preserved us. Ours is not the +common lot of humanity. We English do not know the sorrows +which average men and women go through, and have been going +through, alas! ever since Adam fell. We have been an +exception, a favoured and peculiar people, allowed to thrive and +fatten quietly and safely for hundreds of years.</p> +<p>But what if that very security tempts us to forget God? +Is it not so? Are we not—I am sure I am—too apt +to take God’s blessings for granted, without thanking Him +for them, or remembering really that He gave them, and that He +can take them away? Do we not take good fortune for +granted? Do we not take for granted that if we build a +house it will endure for ever; that if we buy a piece of land it +will be called by our name long years hence; that if we amass +wealth we shall hand it down safely to our children? Of +course we think we shall prosper. We say to ourselves, +To-morrow shall be as to-day, and yet more abundant.</p> +<p>Nothing can happen to England, is, I fear, the feeling of +Englishmen. Carnal security is the national sin to which we +are tempted, because we have not now for forty years felt +anything like national distress; and Britain says, like Babylon +of old, the lady of kingdoms to whom foreigners so often compare +her,—‘I shall be a lady for ever; I am, there is none +beside me. I shall never sit as a widow, nor know the loss +of children.’</p> +<p>What, too, if that same security and prosperity tempts +us—as foreigners justly complain of us—to set our +hearts on material wealth; to believe that our life, and the life +of Britain, depends on the abundance of the things which she +possesses? To say—Corn and cattle, coal and iron, +house and land, shipping and rail-roads, these make up Great +Britain. While she has these she will endure for ever.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends—to people in such a temptation, is it +wonderful that a good God should send a warning unmistakeable, +though only a warning; most terrible, though mercifully harmless; +a warning which says, in a voice which the dullest can +hear—Endure for ever? The solid ground on which you +stand cannot do that. Safe? Nothing on earth is safe +for a moment, save in the long-suffering and tender mercy of Him +of whom are all things, and by whom are all things, without whom +not a sparrow falls to the ground. Is the wealth of +Britain, then, what she can see and handle? The towns she +builds, the roads she makes, the manufactures and goods she +produces? One touch of the finger of God, and that might be +all rolled into a heap of ruins, and the labour of years +scattered in the dust. You trust in the sure solid +earth? You shall feel it, if but for once, reel and quiver +under your feet, and learn that it is not solid at all, or sure +at all; that there is nothing solid, sure, or to be depended on, +but the mercy of the living God; and that your solid-seeming +earth on which you build is nothing less than a mine, which may +bubble, and heave, and burst beneath your feet, charged for ever +with an explosive force, as much more terrible than that +gunpowder which you have invented to kill each other withal, as +the works of God are greater than the works of man. Safe, +truly! It is of God’s mercy from day to day and hour +to hour that we are not consumed.</p> +<p>This, surely, or something like this, is what the earthquake +says to us. It speaks to us most gently, and yet most +awfully, of a day in which the heavens may pass away with a great +noise, and the elements may melt with fervent heat, and the earth +and the works which are therein may be burnt up. It tells +us that this is no impossible fancy: that the fires imprisoned +below our feet can, and may, burst up and destroy mankind and the +works of man in one great catastrophe, to which the earthquake of +Lisbon in 1755—when 60,000 persons were killed, crushed, +drowned, or swallowed up in a few minutes—would be a merely +paltry accident.</p> +<p>And it bids us think, as St. Peter bids us: ‘When +therefore all these things are dissolved, what manner of persons +ought ye to be in holy conversation and godliness?’</p> +<p>What manner of persons?</p> +<p>Remember, that if an earthquake destroyed all England, or the +whole world; if this earth on which we live crumbled to dust, and +were blotted out of the number of the stars, there is one thing +which earthquake, and fire, and all the forces of nature cannot +destroy, and that is—the human race.</p> +<p>We should still be. We should still endure. Not, +indeed, in flesh and blood: but in some state or other; each of +us the same as now, our characters, our feelings, our goodness or +our badness; our immortal spirits and very selves, unchanged, +ready to receive, and certain to receive, the reward of the deeds +done in the body, whether they be good or evil. Yes, we +should still endure, and God and Christ would still endure. +But as our Saviour, or as our Judge? That is a very awful +thought.</p> +<p>One day or other, sooner or later, each of us shall stand +before the judgment-seat of Christ, stripped of all we ever had, +ever saw, ever touched, ever even imagined to ourselves, alone +with our own consciences, alone with our own deserts. What +shall we be saying to ourselves then?</p> +<p>Shall we be saying—I have lost all: The world is +gone—the world, in which were set all my hopes, all my +wishes; the world in which were all my pleasures, all my +treasures; the world, which was the only thing I cared for, +though it warned me not to trust in it, as it trembled beneath my +feet? But the world is gone, and now I have nothing +left!</p> +<p>Or, shall we be saying,—The world is gone? Then +let it go. It was not a home. I took its good things +as thankfully as I could. I took its sorrows and troubles +as patiently as I could. But I have not set my heart on the +world. My treasure, my riches, were not of the world. +My peace was a peace which the world did not give, and could not +take away. And now the world is gone, I keep my peace, I +keep my treasure still. My peace is where it was, in my own +heart. My peace is what it was: my faith in +God,—faith that my sins are forgiven me for Christ’s +sake: my faith that God my Father loves me, and cares for me; and +that nothing,—height or depth, or time or space, or life or +death, can part me from His love: my faith that I have not been +quite useless in the world; that I have tried to do my duty in my +place; and that the good which I have done, little as it has +been, will not go forgotten by that merciful God, by whose help +it was done, who rewards all men according to the works which He +gives them heart to perform. And my treasure is where it +was—in my heart; and what it was,—the Holy Spirit of +God, the spirit of goodness, of faith and truth, of mercy and +justice, of love to God and love to man, which is everlasting +life itself. That I have. That time cannot abate, nor +death abolish, nor the world, nor the destruction of the world, +nor of all worlds, can take away.</p> +<p>Choose, my friends, which of these two frames of mind would +you rather be in when the great day of the Lord comes, foretold +by that earthquake, and by all earthquakes that ever were.</p> +<p>Will you be then like those whom St. John saw calling on the +mountains to fall on them, and the hills to hide them from the +wrath of Him that sat on the throne, and from the anger of the +Lamb?</p> +<p>Or will you be like him who saith—God is my hope and +strength, my present help in trouble. Therefore will I not +fear, though the earth be shaken, and though the mountains be +carried into the depth of the sea?</p> +<h2><a name="page176"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +176</span>SERMON XVI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE METEOR SHOWER.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached at the Chapel +Royal</i>, <i>St. James’s</i>, <i>Nov.</i> 26, 1866.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">St. +Matthew</span> x. 29, 30.</p> +<p>Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them +shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the +very hairs of your head are all numbered.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> will be well for us to +recollect, once for all, who spoke these words; even Jesus +Christ, who declared that He was one with God the Father; Jesus +Christ, whom His apostles declared to be the Creator of the +universe. If we believe this, as Christian men, it will be +well for us to take our Lord’s account of a universe which +He Himself created; and to believe that in the most minute +occurrence of nature, there is a special providence, by which not +a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father.</p> +<p>I confess that it is difficult to believe this heartily. +It was never anything but difficult. In the earliest ages, +those who first thought about the universe found it so difficult +that they took refuge in the fancy of special providence which +was administered by the planets above their heads, and believed +that the affairs of men, and of the world on which they lived, +were ruled by the aspects of the sun and moon, and the host of +heaven.</p> +<p>Men found it so difficult in the Middle Age, that they took +refuge in the fancy of a special providence administered by +certain demi-gods whom they called ‘The Saints;’ and +believed that each special disease, or accident, was warded off +from mankind, from their cattle, or from their crops, by a +special saint who overlooked their welfare.</p> +<p>Men find it so difficult now-a-days, that the great majority +of civilized people believe in no special providence at all, and +take refuge in the belief that the universe is ruled by something +which they call law.</p> +<p>Therein, doubtless, they have hold of a great truth; but one +which will be only half-true, and therefore injurious, unless it +be combined with other truths; unless questions are answered +which too many do not care to answer: as, for instance,—Can +there be a law without a law-giver? Can a law work without +one who administers the law? Are not the popular phrases of +‘laws impressed on matter,’ ‘laws inherent in +matter,’ mere metaphors, dangerous, because inaccurate; +confirmed as little by experience and reason, as by +Scripture?</p> +<p>Does not all law imply a will? Does not an Almighty Will +imply a special providence?</p> +<p>But these are questions for which most persons have neither +time nor inclination. Indeed, the whole matter is +unimportant to them. They have no special need of a special +providence. Their lives and properties are very safe in +this civilized country; and their secret belief is that, whatever +influence God may have on the next world, He has little or no +influence on this world; neither on the facts of nature, nor on +the events of history, nor on the course of their own lives; and +that a special providence seems to them—if they dare +confess as much—an unnecessary superstition.</p> +<p>Only poor folk in cottages and garrets—and a few more +who are, happily, poor in spirit, though not in +purse—grinding amid the iron facts of life, and learning +there by little sound science, it may be, but much sound +theology—still believe that they have a Father in heaven, +before whom the very hairs of their head are all numbered; and +that if they had not, then this would not only be a bad world, +but a mad world likewise; and that it were better for them that +they had never been born.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in the special +providence of our Father in heaven. Difficult: though +necessary. Just as it is difficult to believe that the +earth moves round the sun. Contrary, like that fact, to a +great deal of our seeming experience.</p> +<p>It is easy enough, of course, to believe that our Father sends +what is plainly good. Not so easy to believe that He sends +what at least seems evil.</p> +<p>Easy enough, when we see spring-time and harvest, sunshine and +flowers, to say—Here are ‘acts of God’s +providence.’ Not so easy, when we see blight and +pestilence, storm and earthquake, to say,—Here are +‘acts of God’s providence’ likewise.</p> +<p>For this innumerable multitude of things, of which we +now-a-days talk as if it were one thing, and had an organic unity +of its own, or even as if it were one person, and had a will of +its own, and call it Nature—a word which will one day be +forgotten by philosophers, with the ‘four elements,’ +and the ‘animal spirits;’—this multitude of +things, I say, which we miscall Nature, has its dark and ugly, as +well as its bright and fair side. Nature, says some one, is +like the spotted panther—most playful, and yet most +treacherous; most beautiful, and yet most cruel. It acts at +times after a fashion most terrible, undistinguishing, wholesale, +seemingly pitiless. It seems to go on its own way, as in a +storm or an earthquake, careless of what it crushes. +Terrible enough Nature looks to the savage, who thinks it crushes +him from mere caprice. More terrible still does Science +make Nature look, when she tells us that it crushes, not by +caprice, but by brute necessity; not by ill-will, but by +inevitable law. Science frees us in many ways (and all +thanks to her) from the bodily terror which the savage +feels. But she replaces that, in the minds of many, by a +moral terror which is far more overwhelming. Am I—a +man is driven to ask—am I, and all I love, the victims of +an organised tyranny, from which there can be no escape—for +there is not even a tyrant from whom I may perhaps beg +mercy? Are we only helpless particles, at best separate +parts of the wheels of a vast machine, which will use us till it +has worn us away, and ground us to powder? Are our +bodies—and if so, why not our souls?—the puppets, +yea, the creatures of necessary circumstances, and all our +strivings and sorrows only vain beatings against the wires of our +cage, cries of ‘Why hast thou made me, then?’ which +are addressed to nothing? Tell us not that the world is +governed by universal law; the news is not comfortable, but +simply horrible, unless you can tell us, or allow others to tell +us, that there is a loving giver, and a just administrator of +that law.</p> +<p>Horrible, I say, and increasingly horrible, not merely to the +sentimentalist, but to the man of sound reason and of sound +conscience, must the scientific aspect of nature become, if a +mere abstraction called law is to be the sole ruler of the +universe; if—to quote the famous words of the German +sage—‘If, instead of the Divine Eye, there must glare +on us an empty, black, bottomless eye-socket;’ and the +stars and galaxies of heaven, in spite of all their present +seeming regularity, are but an ‘everlasting storm which no +man guides.’</p> +<p>It was but a few days ago that we, and this little planet on +which we live, caught a strange and startling glimpse of that +everlasting storm which—shall I say it?—no one +guides.</p> +<p>We were swept helpless, astronomers tell us, through a cloud +of fiery stones, to which all the cunning bolts which man invents +to slay his fellow-man, are but slow and weak engines of +destruction.</p> +<p>We were free from the superstitious terror with which that +meteor-shower would have been regarded in old times. We +could comfort ourselves, too, with the fact that heaven’s +artillery was not known as yet to have killed any one; and with +the scientific explanation of that fact, namely, that most of the +bolts were small enough to be melted and dissipated by their rush +through our atmosphere.</p> +<p>But did the thought occur to none of us, how morally ghastly, +in spite of all its physical beauty, was that grand sight, unless +we were sure that behind it all, there was a living God? +Unless we believed that not one of those bolts fell, or did not +fall to the ground without our Father? That He had +appointed the path, and the time, and the destiny, and the use of +every atom of that matter, of which science could only tell us +that it was rushing without a purpose, for ever through the +homeless void?</p> +<p>We may believe that, mind, without denying scientific laws, or +their permanence in any way. It is not a question, this, of +a living God, whether He interferes with His own laws now and +then, but whether interference is not the law of all laws +itself. It is not a question of special providences here +and there, in favour of this person or that; but whether the +whole universe and its history is not one perpetual and +innumerable series of special providences. Whether the God +who ordained the laws is not so administering them, so making +them interfere with, balance, and modify each other, as to cause +them to work together perpetually for good; so that every +minutest event (excepting always the sin and folly of rational +beings) happens in the place, time, and manner, where it is +specially needed. In one word, the question is not whether +there be a God, but whether there be a living God, who is in any +true and practical sense Master of the universe over which He +presides; a King who is actually ruling His kingdom, or an +Epicurean deity who lets his kingdom rule itself.</p> +<p>Is there a living God in the universe, or is there none? +That is the greatest of all questions. Has our Lord Jesus +Christ answered it, or has He not? Easy, well-to-do people, +who find this world pleasant, and whose chief concern is to live +till they die, care little about that question. This world +suits them well enough, whether there be a living God or not; and +as for the next world, they will be sure to find some preacher or +confessor who will set their minds easy about it.</p> +<p>Fanatics and bigots, of all denominations, care little about +that question. For they say in their +hearts—‘God is our Father, whosesoever Father He is +not. We are His people, and God performs acts of providence +for us. But as for the people outside, who know not the +law, nor the Gospel, either, they are accursed. It is not +our concern to discuss whether God performs acts of providence +for them.’</p> +<p>But here and there, among rich and poor, there are those whose +heart and flesh—whose conscience and whose +intellect—cry out for the living God, and will know no +peace till they have found Him.</p> +<p>A living God; a true God; a real God; a God worthy of the +name; a God who is working for ever, everywhere, and in all; who +hates nothing that He has made, forgets nothing, neglects +nothing; a God who satisfies not only their heads, but their +hearts; not only their logical intellects, but their higher +reason—that pure reason, which is one with the conscience +and moral sense. For Him they cry out; Him they seek: and +if they cannot find Him they know no rest. For then they +can find no explanation of the three great human +questions—Where am I? Whither am I going? What +must I do?</p> +<p>Men come to them and say, ‘Of course there is a +God.—He created the world long ago, and set it spinning +ever since by unchangeable laws.’ But they answer, +‘That may be true; but I want more. I want the living +God.’</p> +<p>Other men come to them and say, ‘Of course there is a +God; and when the universe is destroyed, He will save a certain +number of the elect, or orthodox. Do you take care that you +are among that number, and leave the rest to Him.’ +But they answer, ‘That may be true; but I want more. +I want the living God.’</p> +<p>They will say so very confusedly. They will often not be +able to make men understand their meaning. Nay, they will +say and do—driven by despair—very unwise +things. They will even fall down and worship the Holy Bread +in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and say, ‘The +living God is in that. You have forbidden us, with your +theories, to find the living God either in heaven or earth. +But somewhere He must be. And in despair, we will fall back +upon the old belief that He is in the wafer on the altar, and +find there Him whom our souls must find, or be for ever without a +home.’ Strange and sad, that that should be the last +outcome of the century of mechanical philosophy. But before +we blame the doctrine as materialistic,—which, I fear, it +too truly is,—we should remember that, for the last fifty +years, the young have been taught more and more to be +materialists; that they have been taught more and more to believe +in a God who rules over Sundays, but not over week-day business; +over the next world, but not over this; a God, in short, in whom +men do not live, and move, and have their being. They have +been brought up, I say, unconsciously, but surely, as practical +materialists, who make their senses the ground of all their +knowledge; and therefore, when a revulsion happens to them, they +are awakened to look for the living God—they look for him +instinctively in visible matter.</p> +<p>But for the living God thoughtful men will look more and +more. Physical science is forcing on them the question, Do +we live, and move, and have our being in God? Is there a +real and perpetual communication between the visible and the +invisible world, or is there not? Are all the beliefs of +man, from the earliest ages, that such there was, dreams and +nothing more? Is any religion whatsoever to be impossible +henceforth? And to find an answer, men will go, either +backward to superstition, or forward into pantheism; for in +atheism, whether practical or theoretical, they cannot abide.</p> +<p>The Bible says that those old beliefs, however partial or +childish, were no dreams, but instincts of an eternal truth; that +there is such a communication between the universe and the living +God. Prophets, Psalmists, Apostles, speak—like our +Nicene Creed—of a Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver of +Life, in words which are not pantheism, but are the very +deliverance from pantheism, because they tell us that that Spirit +proceeds, not merely from a Deity, not merely from a Creator, but +from a Father in heaven, and from a Son who is His likeness and +His Word.</p> +<p>And from this ground Natural Theology must start, if it is +ever to revive again, instead of remaining, as now, an extinct +science. It must begin from the keyword of the text, +‘Your Father.’ As long as Natural Theology +begins from nature, and not from God Himself, it will inevitably +drift into pantheism, as Pope drifted, in spite of himself, when +he tried to look from nature up to nature’s God. As +long as men speculate on the dealings of a Deity or of a Creator, +they will find out nothing, because they are searching under the +wrong name, and therefore, as logicians will tell you, for the +wrong thing.</p> +<p>But when they begin to seek under the right name—the +name which our Lord revealed to the debased multitudes of +Judæa, when He told them that not a sparrow fell to the +ground without—not the Deity, not the Creator, but their +Father; then, in God’s good time, all may come clear once +more.</p> +<p>This at least will come clear,—a doubt which often +presents itself to the mind of scientific men.</p> +<p>This earth—we know now that it is not the centre, not +the chief body, of the universe, but a tiny planet, a speck, an +atom among millions of bodies far vaster than itself.</p> +<p>It was credible enough in old times, when the earth was held +to be all but the whole universe, that God should descend on +earth, and take on Him human nature, to save human beings. +Is it credible now? This little corner of the systems and +the galaxies? This paltry race which we call man? Are +they worthy of the interposition, of the death, of Incarnate +God—of the Maker of such a universe as Science has +discovered?</p> +<p>Yes. If we will keep in mind that one word +‘Father.’ Then we dare say Yes, in full +assurance of Faith. For then we have taken the question off +the mere material ground of size and of power; to put it once and +for ever on that spiritual ground of justice and love, which is +implied in the one word—‘Father.’</p> +<p>If God be a perfect Father, then there must be a perpetual +intercourse of some kind between Him and His children; between +Him and that planet, however small, on which He has set His +children, that they may be educated into His likeness. If +God be perfect justice, the wrong, and consequent misery of the +universe, how ever small, must be intolerable to Him. If +God be perfect love, there is no sacrifice—remember that +great word—which He may not condescend to make, in order to +right that wrong, and alleviate that misery. If God be the +Father of our spirits, the spiritual welfare of His children may +be more important to Him than the fate of the whole brute matter +of the universe. Think not to frighten us with the idols of +size and height. God is a Spirit, before whom all material +things are equally great, and equally small. Let us think +of Him as such, and not merely as a Being of physical power and +inventive craft. Let us believe in our Father in +heaven. For then that higher intellect,—that pure +reason, which dwells not in the heads, but in the hearts of men, +will tell them that if they have a Father in heaven, He must be +exercising a special providence over the minutest affairs of +their lives, by which He is striving to educate them into His +likeness; a special providence over the fate of every atom in the +universe, by which His laws shall work together for the moral +improvement of every creature capable thereof; that not a sparrow +can fall to the ground without his knowledge; and that not a hair +of their head can be touched, unless suffering is needed for the +education of their souls.</p> +<h2><a name="page189"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +189</span>SERMON XVII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">CHOLERA, 1866.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Luke</span> vii. 16.</p> +<p>There came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That +a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited +his people.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">You</span> recollect to what the text +refers? How the Lord visited His people? By raising +to life a widow’s son at Nain. That was the result of +our Lord’s visit to the little town of Nain. It is +worth our while to think of that text, and of that word, +‘visit,’ just now. For we are praying to God to +remove the cholera from this land. We are calling it a +visitation of God; and saying that God is visiting our sins on us +thereby. And we are saying the exact truth. We are +using the right and scriptural word.</p> +<p>We know that this cholera comes by no miracle, but by natural +causes. We can more or less foretell where it will break +out. We know how to prevent its breaking out at all, save +in a scattered case here and there. Of this there is no +doubt whatsoever in the mind of any well-informed person.</p> +<p>But that does not prevent its being a visitation of God; yea, +in most awful and literal earnest, a house-to-house +visitation. God uses the powers of nature to do His work: +of Him it is written, ‘He maketh the winds His angels, and +flames of fire His ministers.’ And so this minute and +invisible cholera-seed is the minister of God, by which He is +visiting from house to house, searching out and punishing certain +persons who have been guilty, knowingly or not, of the offence of +dirt; of filthy and careless habits of living; and especially, as +has long been known by well-informed men, of drinking poisoned +water. Their sickness, their deaths, are God’s +judgment on that act of theirs, whereby God says to +men,—You shall not drink water unfit for even dumb animals; +and if you do, you shall die.</p> +<p>To this view there are two objections. First, the poor +people themselves are not in fault, but those who supply poisoned +water, and foul dwellings.</p> +<p>True: but only half true. If people demanded good water +and good houses, there would soon be a supply of them. But +there is not a sufficient supply; because too many of the +labouring classes in towns, though they are earning very high +wages, are contented to live in a condition unfit for civilized +men; and of course, if they are contented so to do, there will be +plenty of covetous or careless landlords who will supply the bad +article with which they are satisfied; and they will be punished +by disease for not having taken care of themselves.</p> +<p>But as for the owners of filthy houses, and the suppliers of +poisoned water, be sure that, in His own way and His own time, +God will visit them; that when He maketh inquisition for blood, +He will assuredly requite upon the guilty persons, whoever they +are, the blood of those five or six thousand of her +Majesty’s subjects who have been foully done to death by +cholera in the last two months, as He requited the blood of +Naboth, or of any other innocent victim of whom we read in Holy +Writ. This outbreak of cholera in London, considering what +we now know about it, and have known for twenty years past, is a +national shame, scandal, and sin, which, if man cannot and will +not punish, God can and will.</p> +<p>But there is another objection, which is far more important +and difficult to answer. This cholera has not slain merely +fathers and mothers of families, who were more or less +responsible for the bad state of their dwellings; but little +children, aged widows, and many other persons who cannot be +blamed in the least.</p> +<p>True. And we must therefore believe that to +them—indeed to all—this has been a visitation not of +anger but of love. We must believe that they are taken away +from some evil to come; that God permits the destruction of their +bodies, to the saving of their souls. His laws are +inexorable; and yet He hateth nothing that He hath made.</p> +<p>And we must believe that this cholera is an instance of the +great law, which fulfils itself again and again, and will to the +end of the world,—‘It is expedient that one die for +the people, and that the whole nation perish not.’</p> +<p>For the same dirt which produces cholera now and then, is +producing always, and all day long, stunted and diseased bodies, +drunkenness, recklessness, misery, and sin of all kinds; and the +cholera will be a blessing, a cheap price to have paid, for the +abolition of the evil spirit of dirt.</p> +<p>And thus much for this very painful subject—of which +some of you may say—‘What is it to us? We +cannot prevent cholera; and, blessed as we are with abundance of +the purest water, there is little or no fear of cholera ever +coming into our parish.’</p> +<p>That last is true, my friends, and you may thank God for +it. Meanwhile, take this lesson at least home with you, and +teach it your children day by day—that filthy, careless, +and unwholesome habits of living are in the sight of Almighty God +so terrible an offence, that He sometimes finds it necessary to +visit them with a severity with which He visits hardly any sin; +namely, by inflicting capital punishment on thousands of His +beloved creatures.</p> +<p>But though we have not had the cholera among us, has God +therefore not visited us? That would surely be evil news +for us, according to Holy Scripture. For if God do not +visit us, then He must be far from us. But the Psalmist +cries, ‘Go not far from me, O Lord.’ His fear +is, again and again, not that God should visit him, but that God +should desert him. And more, the word which is translated +‘to visit,’ in Scripture has the sense of seeing to a +man, overseeing him, being his bishop. If God do not see +to, oversee us, and be our bishop, then He must turn His face +from us, which is what the Psalmist beseeches Him again and again +not to do; praying, ‘Hide not Thy face from me, O +Lord,’ and crying out of the depths of anxiety and trouble, +‘Put thy trust in God, for I shall yet give Him thanks for +the light of His countenance;’ and again, ‘In Thy +presence is’—not death, but—‘life; at Thy +right hand is fulness of days for evermore.’ And +again, the Psalmist prays to God to visit him, and visit his +thoughts,—‘Search me, O Lord, and try the ground of +my heart. Search me, and examine my thoughts. Look +well if there be any wickedness in me, and lead me in the way +everlasting.’ Shall we pray that prayer, my +friends? Shall we, with the Psalmist, pray God to visit, +and, if need be, chasten and correct what He sees wrong in +us? Or shall we, with the superstitious, pray to God not to +visit us? to keep away from us? to leave its alone? to forget +us? If He did answer that foolish prayer, there would be an +end of us and all created things; for in God they live and move +and have their being—as it is written, ‘When Thou +hidest thy face, they are troubled; when Thou takest away their +breath, they die, and are turned again to their +dust.’ But, happily for us, God will not answer that +foolish prayer. For it is written, ‘If I go up to +heaven, Thou art there; if I go down to hell, Thou art there +also.’ Nowhither can we go from God’s presence: +nowhither can we flee from His Spirit.</p> +<p>This is the Scripture language. Is ours like it? +Have we not got to think of a visitation of God as a simple +calamity? If a man die suddenly and strangely, he has died +by the visitation of God. But if he be saved from death +strangely and suddenly, it does not occur to us to call that a +visitation, and to say with Scripture, ‘The Lord has +visited the man with His salvation.’ If the cholera +comes, or the crops fail, we say,—God is visiting us. +If we have an especially healthy year, or a glorious harvest, we +never say with Scripture, ‘The Lord has visited His people +in giving them bread.’ Yet Scripture, if it says, +‘I will visit their transgressions,’ says also that +the Lord visited the children of Israel to deliver them out of +Egypt. If it talks of death as the visitation of all men, +it speaks of God visiting Sarah and Hannah to give them +children. If it says, ‘I will visit the blood shed in +Jezreel,’ it says also, ‘Thy visitation hath +preserved my spirit.’ If it says, ‘At the time +they are visited they shall be cast down,’ it says also, +‘The Lord shall visit them, and turn away their +captivity.’</p> +<p>If we look through Scripture, we find that the words +‘visit’ and ‘visitation’ are used about +ninety times: that in about fifty of them the meaning of the +words is chastisement of some kind or other: in about forty it is +mercy and blessing: and that in the New Testament the words never +mean anything but mercy and blessing, though we have begun of +late years to use them only in the sense of punishment and a +curse.</p> +<p>Now, how is this, my friends? How is it that we, who are +not under the terrors of the Law, but under the Gospel of grace, +have quite lost the Gospel meaning of this word +‘visitation,’ and take a darker view of it than did +even the old Jews under the Law? Have we, whom God hath +visited, indeed, in the person of His only-begotten Son Jesus +Christ, any right or reason to think worse of a visitation of God +than had the Jews of old? God forbid. And yet we do +so, I fear; and show daily that we do so by our use of the word: +for out of the abundance of the heart man’s mouth +speaketh. By his words he is justified, and by his words he +is condemned; and there is no surer sign of what a man’s +real belief is, than the sense in which lie naturally, as it were +by instinct, uses certain words.</p> +<p>And what is the cause?</p> +<p>Shall I say it? If I do, I blame not you more than I +blame myself, more than I blame this generation. But it +seems to me that there is a little—or not a +little—atheism among us now-a-days; that we are growing to +be ‘without God in the world.’ We are ready +enough to believe that God has to do with the next world: but we +are not ready to believe that He has to do with this world. +We, in this generation, do not believe that in God we live, and +move, and have our being. Nay, some object to capital +punishment, because (so they say) ‘it hurries men into the +presence of their Maker;’ as if a human being could be in +any better or safer place than the presence of his Maker; and as +if his being there depended on us, or on any man, and not on God +Almighty alone, who is surely not so much less powerful than an +earthly monarch, that He cannot keep out of His presence or in it +whomsoever He chooses. When we talk of being ‘ushered +into the presence of God,’ we mean dying; as if we were not +all in the presence of God at this moment, and all day +long. When we say, ‘Prepare to meet thy God,’ +we mean ‘Prepare to die;’ as if we did not meet our +God every time we had the choice between doing a right thing and +doing a wrong one—between yielding to our own lusts and +tempers, and yielding to the Holy Spirit of God. For if the +Holy Spirit of God be, as the Christian faith tells us, God +indeed, do we not meet God every time a right, and true, and +gracious thought arises in our hearts? But we have all +forgotten this, and much more connected with this; and our notion +of this world is not that of Holy Scripture—of that grand +104th Psalm, for instance, which sets forth the Spirit of God as +the Lord and Giver of life to all creation: but our notion is +this—that this world is a machine, which would go on very +well by itself, if God would but leave it alone; that if the +course of nature, as we atheistically call it, is not interfered +with, then suns shine, crops grow, trade flourishes, and all is +well, because God does not visit the earth. Ah! blind that +we are; blind to the power and glory of God which is around us, +giving life and breath to all things,—God, without whom not +a sparrow falls to the ground,—God, who visiteth the earth, +and maketh it very plenteous,—God, who giveth to all +liberally, and upbraideth not,—God, whose ever-creating and +ever-sustaining Spirit is the source, not only of all goodness, +virtue, knowledge, but of all life, health, order, +fertility. We see not God’s witness in His sending +rain and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and +gladness. And then comes the punishment. Because we +will not keep up a wholesome and trustful belief in God in +prosperity, we are awakened out of our dream of unbelief, to an +unwholesome and mistrustful belief in Him in adversity. +Because we will not believe in a God of love and order, we grow +to believe in a God of anger and disorder. Because we will +not fear a God who sends fruitful seasons, we are grown to dread +a God who sends famine and pestilence. Because we will not +believe in the Father in heaven, we grow to believe in a +destroyer who visits from heaven. But we believe in Him +only as the destroyer. We have forgotten that He is the +Giver, the Creator, the Redeemer. We look on His +visitations as something dark and ugly, instead of rejoicing in +the thought of God’s presence, as we should, if we had +remembered that He was about our path and about our bed, and +spying out all our ways, whether for joy or for sorrow. We +shrink at the thought of His presence. We look on His +visitations as things not to be understood; not to be searched +out in childlike humility—and yet in childlike +confidence—that we may understand why they are sent, and +what useful lesson our Father means us to learn from them: but we +look on them as things to be merely prayed against, if by any +means God will, as soon as possible, cease to visit us, and leave +us to ourselves, for we can earn our own bread comfortably +enough, if it were not for His interference and +visitations. We are too like the Gadarenes of old, to whom +it mattered little that the Lord had restored the madman to +health and reason, if He caused their swine to perish in the +lake. They were uneasy and terrified at such visitations of +God incarnate. He seemed to them a terrible and dangerous +Being, and they besought Him to depart out of their coasts.</p> +<p>It would have been wiser, surely, in those Gadarenes, and +better for them, had they cried—‘Lord, what wilt Thou +have us to do? We see that Thou art a Being of infinite +power, for mercy, and for punishment likewise. And Thou art +the very Being whom we want, to teach us our duty, and to make us +do it. Tell us what we ought to do, and help us, and, if +need be, compel us to do it, and so to prosper +indeed.’ And so should we pray in the case of this +cholera. We may ask God to take it away: but we are bound +to ask God also, why He has sent it. Till then we have no +reason to suppose that He will take it away; we have no reason to +suppose that it will be merciful in Him to take it away, till He +has taught us why it was sent. This question of cholera has +come now to a crisis, in which we must either learn why cholera +comes, or incur, I hold, lasting disgrace and guilt. +And—if I may dare to hint at the counsels of God—it +seems as if the Almighty Lord had no mind to relieve us of that +disgrace and guilt.</p> +<p>For months past we have been praying that this cholera should +not enter England, and our prayers have not been heard. In +spite of them the cholera has come; and has slain thousands, and +seems likely to slay thousands more. What plainer proof can +there be to those who believe in the providence of God, and the +rule of Jesus Christ our Lord, than that we are meant to learn +some wholesome lesson from it, which we have not learnt +yet? It cannot be that God means us to learn the physical +cause of cholera, for that we have known these twenty +years. Foul lodging, foul food, and, above all, natural and +physical, foul water; there is no doubt of the cause. But +why cannot we save English people from the curse and destruction +which all this foulness brings? That is the question. +That is our national scandal, shame, and sin at this +moment. Perhaps the Lord wills that we should learn that; +learn what is the moral and spiritual cause of our own miserable +weakness, negligence, hardness of heart, which, sinning against +light and knowledge, has caused the death of thousands of +innocent souls. God grant that we may learn that +lesson. God grant that He may put into the hearts and minds +of some man or men, the wisdom and courage to deliver us from +such scandals for the future.</p> +<p>But I have little hope that that will happen, till we get rid +of our secret atheism; till we give up the notion that God only +visits now and then, to disorder and destroy His own handiwork, +and take back the old scriptural notion, that God is visiting all +day long for ever, to give order and life to His own work, to set +it right whenever it goes wrong, and re-create it whenever it +decays. Till then we can expect only explanations of +cholera and of God’s other visitations of affliction, which +are so superstitious, so irrational, so little connected with the +matter in hand, that they would be ridiculous, were they not +somewhat blasphemous. But when men arise in this land who +believe truly in an ever-present God of order, revealed in His +Son Jesus Christ; when men shall arise in this land, who will +believe that faith with their whole hearts, and will live and die +for it and by it; acting as if they really believed that in God +we live, and move, and have our being; as if they really believed +that they were in the kingdom and rule of Christ,—a rule of +awful severity, and yet of perfect love,—a rule, meanwhile, +which men can understand, and are meant to understand, that they +may not only obey the laws of God, but know the mind of God, and +copy the dealings of God, and do the will of God; and when men +arise in this land, who have that holy faith in their hearts, and +courage to act upon it, then cholera will vanish away, and the +physical and moral causes of a hundred other evils which torment +poor human beings through no anger of God, but simply through +their own folly, and greediness, and ignorance.</p> +<p>All these shall vanish away, in the day when the knowledge of +the Lord shall cover the land, and men shall say, in spirit and +in truth, as Christ their Lord has said +before,—‘Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldest +not. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the +book it is written of Me, that I should do the will of +God.’ And in those days shall be fulfilled once more, +the text which says,—‘That the people glorified God, +saying, A great Prophet, even Christ the Lord Himself, hath risen +up among us, and God hath visited His people.’</p> +<h2><a name="page203"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +203</span>SERMON XVIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE WICKED SERVANT.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">St. +Matthew</span> xviii. 23.</p> +<p>The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which +would take account of his servants.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> parable, which you heard in +the Gospel for this day, you all know. And I doubt not that +all you who know it, understand it well enough. It is so +human and so humane; it is told with such simplicity, and yet +with such force and brilliancy that—if one dare praise our +Lord’s words as we praise the words of men—all must +see its meaning at once, though it speaks of a state of society +different from anything which we have ever seen, or, thank God, +ever shall see.</p> +<p>The Eastern despotic king who has no law but his own will; who +puts his servant—literally his slave—into a post of +such trust and honour, that the slave can misappropriate and make +away with the enormous sum of ten thousand talents; who commands, +not only him, but his wife and children to be sold to pay the +debt; who then forgives him all out of a sudden burst of pity, +and again, when the wretched man has shown himself base and +cruel, unworthy of that pity, revokes his pardon, and delivers +him to the tormentors till he shall pay all—all this is a +state of things impossible in a free country, though it is +possible enough still in many countries of the East, which are +governed in this very despotic fashion; and justice, and very +often injustice likewise, is done in this rough, uncertain way, +by the will of the king alone.</p> +<p>But, however different the circumstances, yet there is a +lesson in this story which is universal and eternal, true for all +men, and true for ever. The same human nature, for good and +for evil, is in us, as was in that Eastern king and his +slave. The same kingdom of heaven is over us as was over +them, its laws punishing sinners by their own sins; the same +Spirit of God which strove with their hearts is striving with +ours. If it was not so, the parable would mean nothing to +us. It would be a story of men who belonged to another +moral world, and were under another moral law, not to be judged +by our rules of right and wrong; and therefore a story of men +whom we need not copy.</p> +<p>But it is not so. If the parable be—as I take for +granted it is—a true story; then it was Christ, the Light +who lights every man who cometh into the world, who put into that +king’s heart the divine feeling of mercy, and inspired him +to forgive, freely and utterly, the wretched slave who worshipped +him, kneeling with his forehead to the ground, and promising, in +his terror, what he probably knew he could not +perform—‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay +thee all.’</p> +<p>And it was Christ, the Light of men, who inspired that king +with the feeling, not of mere revenge, but of just retribution; +who taught him that, when the slave was unworthy of his mercy, he +had a right, in a noble and divine indignation, to withdraw his +mercy; and not to waste his favours on a bad man, who would only +turn them to fresh bad account, but to keep them for those who +had justice and honour enough in their hearts to forgive others, +when their Lord had forgiven them.</p> +<p>We must bear in mind, that the king must have been right, and +acting (whether he knew it or not) by the Spirit of God; else his +conduct would never have been likened to the kingdom of heaven: +that is, to the laws by which God governs both this world and the +world to come.</p> +<p>The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God—Would +that men would believe in them a little more! It seems, at +times, as if all belief in them was dying out; as if men, +throughout all civilized and Christian countries, had made up +their minds to say—There is no kingdom of God or of +heaven. There will be one hereafter, in the next +world. This world is the kingdom of men, and of what they +can do for themselves without God’s help, and without +God’s laws.</p> +<p>My friends, the Jewish rulers of old said so, and cried, +‘We have no king but Cæsar.’ And they +remain an example to all time, of what happens to those who deny +the kingdom of God. Christ came to tell them that the +kingdom of heaven was at hand, and the kingdom of God was among +them. But they would have none of it. And what said +our Lord of them and their notion? ‘The prince of +this world,’ said He, ‘cometh, and hath nothing in +me. This is your hour and the power of +darkness.’ Yes; the hour in which men had determined +to manage the world in their way, and not in Christ’s, was +also the hour of the power of darkness. That was what they +had gained by having their own way; by saying—The kingdom +is ours, and not God’s. They had fallen under the +power of darkness, not of light. The very light within them +was darkness. They utterly mistook their road on +earth. At the very moment that they were trying to make +peace with the Roman governor, by denying that Christ was their +King, and demanding that He should be crucified,—at that +very moment the things which belonged to their peace were hid +from their eyes. Never men made so fatal a mistake, when +they thought themselves most politic and prudent. They said +among themselves—‘Unless we put down this man, the +Romans will come and take away our place,’ <i>i.e.</i> our +privileges, and power, and our nation. And what +followed? That the Romans did come and take away their +place and nation, with horrible massacre and ruin: and so they +lost both the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of God +likewise. Never, I say, did men make a more fatal mistake +in the things of this world than those Jews to whom the kingdom +of God came, and they rejected it.</p> +<p>And so shall we, my friends, if we forget that, whether we +like it or not, the kingdom of God is within us, and we within it +likewise.</p> +<p>1. The kingdom of God is within us. Every gracious +motive, every noble, just, and merciful instinct within us, is a +sign to us that the kingdom of God is come to us; that we are not +as the brutes which perish; not as the heathen who are too often +past feeling, being alienated from the life of God by reason of +the ignorance which is in them: but, that we are God’s +children, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; and that +God’s Spirit is teaching us the laws of that kingdom; so +that in every child who is baptized, educated, and civilized, is +fulfilled the promise, ‘I will write my laws upon their +hearts, and I will be to them a Father.’</p> +<p>God’s Spirit is teaching our hearts as He taught the +heart of that old Eastern king. It may be, it ought to be, +that He is teaching us far deeper lessons than He ever taught +that king.</p> +<p>2. We are in the kingdom of God. It is worth our +while to remember that steadfastly just now. Many people +are ready to agree that the kingdom of God is within them. +They will readily confess that religion is a spiritual matter, +and a matter of the heart: but their fancy is that therefore +religion, and all just and noble and beautiful instincts and +aspirations, are very good things for those who have them: but +that, if any one has them not, it does not much matter.</p> +<p>They do not see that there are not only such things as +feelings about God; but that there are also such things as laws +of God; and that God can enforce those laws, and does enforce +them, sometimes in a very terrible manner. They do not +believe enough in a living God, an acting God, a God who will not +merely write His laws in our hearts, if we will let Him, but may +also destroy us off the face of the earth, if we would not let +Him. They fancy that God either cannot, or will not, +enforce His own laws, but leaves a man free to accept them, or +reject as he will. There is no greater mistake. Be +not deceived; God is not mocked. As a man sows, so shall he +reap. God says to us, to all men,—Copy Me. Do +as I do, and be My children, and be blest. But if we will +not; if, after all God’s care and love, the tree brings +forth no fruit, then, soon or late, the sentence goes forth +against it in God’s kingdom, ‘Cut it down; why +cumbereth it the ground?’</p> +<p>There is a saying now-a-days, that nations and tribes who will +not live reasonable lives, and behave as men should to their +fellow-men, must be civilized off the face of the earth. +The words are false, if they mean that we, or any other men, have +a right to exterminate their fellow-creatures. But they are +true, and more true than the people who use them fancy, if they +are spoken not of man, but of God. For if men will not obey +the laws of God’s kingdom, God does actually civilize them +off the face of the earth. Great nations, learned churches, +powerful aristocracies, ancient institutions, has God civilized +off the face of the earth before now. Because they would +not acknowledge God for their King, and obey the laws of His +kingdom, in which alone are life, and wealth, and health, God has +taken His kingdom away from them, and given it to others who +would bring forth the fruits thereof. The Jews are the most +awful and famous example of that terrible judgment of God, but +they are not the only ones. It has happened again and +again. It may happen to you or me, as well as to this whole +nation of England, if we forget that we are in God’s +kingdom, and that only by living according to God’s laws +can we keep our place therein.</p> +<p>And this is what the parable teaches us. The king tries +to teach the servant one of the laws of his kingdom—that he +rules according to boundless mercy and generosity. God +wishes to teach us the same. The king does so, not by word, +but by deed, by actually forgiving the man his debt. So +does God forgive us freely in Jesus Christ our Lord.</p> +<p>But more than this, he wishes the servant to understand that +he is to copy his king; that if his king has behaved to him like +a father to his child, he must behave as a brother to his +fellow-servants. So does God wish to teach us.</p> +<p>But he does not tell the man so, in so many words. He +does not say to him, I command thee to forgive thy debtors as I +have forgiven thee. He leaves the man to his own sense of +honour and good feeling. It is a question not of the law, +but of the heart. So does God with us. He educates +us, not as children or slaves, but as free men, as moral +agents. He leaves us to our own reason and conscience, to +reap the fruit which we ourselves have sown. Therefore, +about a thousand matters in life He lays on us no special +command. He leaves us to act according to our good feeling, +to our own sense of honour. It is a matter, I say, of the +heart. If God’s law be written in our hearts, our +hearts will lead us to do the right thing. If God’s +law be not in our hearts, then mere outward commands will not +make us do right, for what we do will not be really right and +good, because it will not be done heartily and of our own +will.</p> +<p>But the servant does not follow his lord’s example.</p> +<p>Fresh from his lord’s presence, he takes his +fellow-servant by the throat, saying—Pay me that thou +owest. His heart has not been touched. His +lord’s example has not softened him. He does not see +how beautiful, how noble, how divine, generosity and mercy +are. He is a hard-hearted, worldly man. The heavenly +kingdom, which is justice and love, is not within him. +Then, if the kingdom of heaven is not in him, he shall find out +that he is in it; and that in a very terrible +way:—‘Thou wicked servant, unworthy of my pity, +because there is no goodness in thine own heart. Thou wilt +not take into thy heart my law, which tells thee, Be merciful as +I am merciful. Then thou shalt feel another and an equally +universal law of mine. As thou doest so shalt thou be done +by. If thou art merciful, thou shalt find mercy. If +thou wilt have nothing but retribution, then nothing but +retribution thou shalt have. If thou must needs do justice +thyself, I will do justice likewise. Because I am merciful, +dost thou think me careless? Because I sit still, that I am +patient? Dost thou think me such a one as +thyself?’ And his lord delivered him to the +tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him.</p> +<p>My dear friends, this is an awful story. Let us lay it +to heart. And to do that, let us pray God to lay it to our +hearts; to write His laws in our hearts, that we may not only +fear them, but love them; not only see their profitableness, but +their fitness; that we may obey them, not grudgingly or of +necessity, but obey them because they look to us just, and true, +and beautiful, and as they are—Godlike. Let us pray, +I say, that God would make us love what He commands, lest we +should neglect and despise what He commands, and find it some day +unexpectedly alive and terrible after all. Let us pray to +God to keep alive His kingdom of grace within us, lest His +kingdom of retribution outside us should fall upon us, and grind +us to powder.</p> +<h2><a name="page213"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +213</span>SERMON XIX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">CIVILIZED BARBARISM.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached for the Bishop of +London’s Fund</i>, <i>at St. John’s Church</i>, +<i>Notting Hill</i>, <i>June</i> 1866.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">St. +Matthew</span> ix. 12.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">They that be whole need not a +physician, but they that are sick.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">have</span> been honoured by an +invitation to preach on behalf of the Bishop of London’s +Fund for providing for the spiritual wants of this +metropolis. By the bishop, and a large number of +landowners, employers of labour, and others who were aware of the +increasing heathendom of the richest and happiest city of the +world, it was agreed that, if possible, a million sterling should +be raised during the next ten years, to do what money could do in +wiping out this national disgrace. It is a noble plan; and +it has been as yet—and I doubt not will be to the +end—nobly responded to by the rich laity of this +metropolis.</p> +<p>More than 100,000<i>l.</i> was contributed during the first +six months; nearly 60,000<i>l.</i> in the ensuing year; beside +subscriptions which are promised for the whole, or part of the +ten years. The money, therefore, does not flow in as +rapidly as was desired: but there is as yet no falling off. +And I believe that there will be, on the contrary, a gradual +increase in the subscriptions as the objects of this fund are +better understood, and as its benefits are practically felt.</p> +<p>Now, it is unnecessary—it would be almost an +impertinence—to enlarge on a spiritual destitution of which +you are already well aware. There are, we shall all agree, +many thousands in London who are palpably sick of spiritual +disease, and need the physician. But I have special reasons +for not pressing this point. If I attempted to draw +subscriptions from you by painting tragical and revolting +pictures of the vice, heathendom, and misery of this metropolis, +I might make you fancy that it was an altogether vicious, +heathen, and miserable spot: than which there can be no greater +mistake. These evils are not the rule, but the +exceptions. Were they not the exceptions, then not merely +the society of London, and the industry of London, and the wealth +of London, but the very buildings of London, the brick and the +mortar, would crumble to the ground by natural and inevitable +decay. The unprecedentedly rapid increase of London is, I +firmly believe, a sure sign that things in it are done on the +whole not ill, but well; that God’s blessing is on the +place; that, because it is on the whole obeying the eternal laws +of God, therefore it is increasing, and multiplying, and +replenishing the earth, and subduing it. And I do not +hesitate to say, that I have read of no spot of like size upon +this earth, on which there have ever been congregated so many +human beings, who are getting their bread so peaceably, happily, +loyally, and virtuously; and doing their duty—ill enough, +no doubt, as we all do it—but still doing it more or less, +by man and God.</p> +<p>I am well aware that many will differ from me; that many men +and many women—holy, devoted, spending their lives in noble +and unselfish labours—persons whose shoes’ latchet I +am not worthy to unloose—take a far darker view of the +state of this metropolis. But the fact is, that they are +naturally brought in contact chiefly with its darker side. +Their first duty is to seek out cases of misery: and even if they +do not, the miserable will, of their own accord, come to +them. It is their first duty too—if they be +clergymen—to rebuke, and if possible, to cure, open vice, +open heathendom, as well as to relieve present want and +wretchedness: and may God’s blessing be on all who do that +work. But in doing it they are dealing daily—and +ought to deal, and must deal—with the exceptional, and not +with the normal; with cases of palpable and shocking disease, and +not with cases of at least seeming health. They see that, +into London, as into a vast sewer, gravitates yearly all manner +of vice, ignorance, weakness, poverty: but they are apt to +forget, at times—and God knows I do not blame them for it +in the least—that there gravitates into London, not as into +a sewer, but as into a wholesome and fruitful garden, a far +greater amount of health, strength, intellect, honesty, industry, +virtue, which makes London; which composes, I verily believe, +four-fifths of the population of London. For if it did not, +as I have said already, London would decay and die, and not grow +and live.</p> +<p>Am I denying the spiritual destitution of this +metropolis? Am I arguing against the necessity of the +Bishop of London’s Fund? Am I trying to cool your +generosity towards it? Am I raising against it the +text—‘They that be whole need not a physician, but +they that are sick?’ Am I trying to prove that the +sick are fewer than was fancied, the healthy more numerous; and, +therefore, the physician less needed? Would to heaven that +I dare so do. Would to heaven that I could prove this fund +unnecessary and superfluous. But instead thereof, I fear +that I must say—that the average of that health, strength, +intellect, honesty, industry, virtue, which makes +London—that the average of all that, I verily believe, is +to be counted (though it knows it not) among the sick, and not +among the sound. It is sick, over and above those personal +sins which are common to all classes; it is sick of a great +social disease; of a disease which is very dangerous for the +nation to which we belong; which will increase more and more, and +become more and more dangerous, unless it is stopped wholesale, +by some such wholesale measure as this. That disease is +(paradoxical as it may seem) Want of Civilization; Barbarism, +which is the child of ungodliness. And that can, I verily +believe again, be cured only (as far as we in the nineteenth +century have discovered) by an extension of the parochial +system.</p> +<p>And yet—let us beware of that expression—Parochial +System. It seems to imply that the parish is a mere system; +an artificial arrangement of man’s invention. Now +that is just what the parish is not. It is founded on local +ties; and they are not a system, but a fact. You do not +assemble men into parishes: you find them already assembled by +fact, which is the will of God. You take your stand upon +the merest physical ground of their living next door to each +other; their being likely to witness each other’s sayings +and doings; to help each other and like each other, or to debauch +each other and hate each other; upon the fact that their children +play in the same street, and teach each other harm or good, +thereby influencing generations yet unborn; upon the fact that if +one takes cholera or fever, the man who lives next door is liable +to take it too—in short, on the broad fact that they are +members of each other, for good or evil. You take your +stand on this physical ground of mere neighbourhood; and +say—This bond of neighbourhood is, after all, one of the +most human—yea, of the most Divine—of all +bonds. Every man you meet is your brother, and must be, for +good or evil: you cannot live without him; you must help, or you +must injure, each other. And, therefore, you must choose +whether you will be a horde of isolated barbarians—your +living in brick and mortar, instead of huts and tents, being a +mere accident—barbarians, I say, at continual war with each +other: or whether you will go on to become civilized men; that +is, fellow-citizens, members of the same body, confessing and +exercising duties to each other which are not self-chosen, not +self-invented, but real; which encompass you whether you know +them or not; laid on you by Almighty God, by the mere fact of +your being men and women living in contact with each other.</p> +<p>Out of this great and true law arises the idea of a parish, a +local self-government for many civil purposes, as well as +ecclesiastical ones, under a priest who—if he is to be +considered as a little constitutional monarch—has his +powers limited carefully both by the supreme law, by his +assessors the church-wardens, and by the democratic constitution +of the parish—influences which he is bound, both by law and +by Christianity, to obey.</p> +<p>Arising, in the first place, from the fact that our +forefathers colonized England in small separate families, each +with its own jurisdiction and worship; our country parish +churches being, to this day, often the sites of old heathen +tribe-temples, and this very place, Notting-hill, being possibly +a little colony of the Nottingas—the same tribe which gave +their name to the great city of Nottingham; arising from this +fact, and from the very ancient institution of frank-pledge +between local neighbours, this parochial system, above all other +English institutions, has helped to teach us how to govern, and +therefore how to civilize, ourselves. It was overlaid, all +but extinguished, by the monastic system, during the latter part +of the Middle Ages. It re-asserted itself, in fuller vigour +than ever, at the Reformation. But with its benefits, its +defects were restored likewise. The tendency of the +mediæval Church had been to become merely a church for +paupers. The tendency of the Church of England during the +sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, was to become +merely a church for burghers. It has been, of late, to +become merely a church for paupers again. The causes of +this reaction are simple enough. Population increased so +rapidly that the old parish bounds were broken up; the old parish +staff became too small for working purposes. The Church had +(and, alas! has still) to be again a missionary church, as she +became in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when feudal +violence had destroyed the self-government of the +parishes—often the parishes themselves—and filled the +land with pauperism and barbarism. But that is but a +transitional state. Her duty is now becoming more and more +(and those who wish her well must help her to fulfil her duty) to +reorganize the ancient parochial system on a deeper and sounder +footing than ever; on a footing which will ensure her being a +church, not merely for pauper, nor merely for burgher, but for +pauper and for burgher equally and alike.</p> +<p>But some will say that parochial civilization is only a +peculiar form of civilization, because its centre is a +church. Peculiar? That is the last word which any one +would apply to such a civilization, if he knows history. +Will any one mention any civilization, past or present, whose +centre has not been (as long as it has been living and +progressive) a church? All past civilizations—whether +heathen or Mussulman, Jew or Christian—have each and every +one of them, as a fact, held that the common and local worship of +a God was a sign to them of their common and local unity; a sign +to them of their religion, that is, the duties which bound them +to each other, whether they liked or not. To all races and +nations, as yet, their sacred grove, church, temple, or other +place of worship, has been a sign to them that their unity and +duties were not invented by themselves, but were the will and +command of an unseen Being, who would reward or punish them +according as they did those duties or left them undone. So +it has been in the civilizations of the past. So it will be +in the civilization of the future. If the Christian +religion were swept away—as it never will be, for it is +eternal—and a civilization founded on what is called Nature +put in its place, then we should see a worship of something +called Nature, and a temple thereof, set up as the symbol of that +Natural civilization. So the Jacobins of France—when +they tried to civilize France on the mere ground of what they +called Reason—had, whether they liked it or not, to instal +a worship of Reason, and a goddess of Reason, for as long as they +could contrive to last.</p> +<p>To the world’s end, a church of some kind or other will +be the centre and symbol of every civilization which is worthy of +the name; of every civilization which signifies, not merely that +men live in somewhat better houses, travel rather faster by +railway, and read a few more books (which is the popular meaning +of civilization), but which means—as it meant among the +Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the Christians, among those who +discovered the idea and the very words which express +it—that each and every truly civilized man is a civis, a +citizen, the conscious and obedient member of a corporate body +which he did not make, but which (in as far as he is not a +savage) has made him.</p> +<p>How far from this idea are the great masses of our really +wealthy and well-to-do Londoners? How much is it needed, +that wise men should try to re-awaken in them the sense of +corporate life, and literally civilize them once more!</p> +<p>Consider the case, not of the average wretched, but of the +average comfortable man. The small shopkeeper, the workman, +skilled or unskilled—how small a consciousness has he of +citizenship. What few incentives to regard civism as a +solemn duty. For consider, of what is he a member?</p> +<p>He is a member of a family; and, in general, he fulfils his +family duties well.</p> +<p>Yes, thank God, the family life of Englishmen is sound. +The hearts of the children do not need to be turned to their +fathers, or the hearts of the fathers to the children, as they +did in Judea of old. Family life, which is the foundation +of all national life—nay, of all Christian and church +life—is, on the whole, sound. And having that +foundation we can build on it safely and well, if we be wise.</p> +<p>But of what else is the average Londoner a member? Of a +benefit-club, of a trades’ union, of a volunteer +corps. Each will be a valuable element of education, for it +will teach him that self-government, which is the school of all +freedom, of all loyalty, of all true civilization.</p> +<p>Or he may be a member of some Nonconformist sect. That, +too, will be a valuable element, for it will teach him the solemn +fact of his own personality; his direct responsibility to God for +his own soul.</p> +<p>And I cannot pass this point of my sermon without expressing +my sense of the great work which the Dissenting sects have done, +and are doing, for this land (with which the Bishop of +London’s plan will in no wise interfere), in teaching this +one thing, which the Church of England, while trying to carry out +her far deeper and higher conception of organization, has often +forgotten; that, after all, and before all, and throughout all, +each man stands alone, face to face with Almighty God. This +idea has helped to give the middle classes of England an +independence, a strong, vigorous, sharp-cut personality, which is +an invaluable wealth to the nation. God forbid that we +should try to weaken it, even for reasons which may seem to some +devout and orthodox.</p> +<p>But all these memberships, after all, are only voluntary ones, +not involuntary. They are assumed by man himself—the +worldly associations on the ground of mutual interest; the +spiritual associations on that of identity of opinions. +They are not instituted by God, and nature, and fact, whether the +man knows of them or not, likes them or not. They are of +the nature of clubs, not of citizenship. They are not +founded on that human ground which is, by virtue of the +Incarnation, the most divine ground of all. And for the +many they do not exist. The majority of small shopkeepers, +and the majority of labourers too, are members, as far as they +are aware, of nothing, unless it be a club at some neighbouring +public-house. The old feudal and burgher bonds of the +Middle Age, for good or for evil, have perished by natural and +necessary decay; and nothing has taken their place. Each +man is growing up more and more isolated; tempted to selfishness, +to brutal independence; tempted to regard his fellow-men as +rivals in the struggle for existence; tempted, in short, to +incivism, to a loss of the very soul and marrow of civilization, +while the outward results of it remain; and therefore tempted to +a loss of patriotism, of the belief that he possesses here +something far more precious than his private fortune, or even his +family; even a country for which he must sacrifice, if need be, +himself. And if that grow to be the general temper of +England, or of London, in some great day of the Lord, some crisis +of perplexity, want, or danger,—then may the Lord have +mercy upon this land; for it will have no mercy on itself: but +divided, suspicious, heartless, cynical, unpatriotic, each class, +even each family, even each individual man, will run each his own +way, minding his own interest or safety; content, like the +debased Jews, if he can find the life of his hand; and—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Too happy if, in that dread day,<br /> +His life he given him for a prey.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Our fathers saw that happen throughout half Europe, at a +crisis when, while the outward crust of civilization was still +kept up, the life of it, all patriotism, corporate feeling, duty +to a common God, and faith in a common Saviour, had rotted out +unperceived. At one blow the gay idol fell, and broke; and +behold, inside was not a soul, but dust. God grant that we +may never see here the same catastrophe, the same disgrace.</p> +<p>Now, one remedy—I do not say the only remedy—there +are no such things as panaceas; all spiritual and social diseases +are complicated, and their remedies must be complicated +likewise—but one remedy, palpable, easy, and useful, +whenever and wherever it has been tried, is this—to go to +these great masses of brave, honest, industrious, but isolated +and uncivilized men, after the method of the Bishop of this +diocese, and his fund; and to say to them,—‘Of +whatever body you are, or are not members, you are members of +that human family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented +to be betrayed, and to suffer death upon the Cross; over which He +now liveth and reigneth, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one +God, world without end. You are children of God the Father +of spirits, who wills that all should be saved, and come to the +knowledge of the truth. You are inheritors—that is, +members not by your own will, or the will of any man, but by the +will of God who has chosen you to be born in a Christian land of +Christian parents—inheritors, I say, of the kingdom of +heaven, from your cradles to your graves, and after that, if you +will, for ever and ever. Behave as such. Claim your +rights; for they are yours already: and not only claim your +rights, but confess your duties. Remember that every man, +woman, and child in your street is, primâ facie, just as +much a member of Christ as you are. Treat them as such; +associate yourselves with them as such. Accept the simple +physical fact that they live next door to you, as God’s +will toward you both, and as God’s sign to you that you and +they are members of the same human and divine family. Enter +with them, in that plain form, into the free corporate +self-government of a Christian parish. Fear no priestly +tyranny; from that danger you are guaranteed by the fact, that +the great majority of the promoters of this fund are laymen, of +all shades of opinion. You are guaranteed, still further, +by the fact, that in the parochial system there can be no +tyranny. It is one of the very institutions by which +Englishmen have learnt those habits of self-government, which are +the admiration of Europe.</p> +<p>‘Do, then, the duty which lies nearest you; your duty to +the man who lives next door, and to the man who lives in the next +street. Do your duty to your parish; that you may learn to +do your duty by your country and to all mankind, and prove +yourselves thereby civilized men.</p> +<p>‘And confess your sins in this matter, if not to us, at +least to God. Confess that while you, in your sturdy, +comfortable independence, have been fancying yourselves whole and +sound, you have been very sick, and need the physician to cure +you of the deadly and growing disease of selfish barbarism. +Confess that, while you have been priding yourselves on English +self-help and independence, you have not deigned to use them for +those purposes of common organization, common worship, for which +the very savages and heathens have, for ages past, used such +freedom as they have had. Confess that, while you have been +talking loudly about the rights of humanity, you have neglected +too often its duties, and lived as if the people in the same +street had no more to do with you than the beasts which +perish.</p> +<p>‘Confess your sins. We monied men confess +ours. We ought to have foreseen the rapid growth of this +city. We ought to have planned and laboured more earnestly +for its better organization. And we freely offer our money, +as a sign of our repentance, to build and establish for you +institutions which you cannot afford to establish for +yourselves. We excuse you, moreover, in very great +part. You have been gathered together so suddenly into +these vast new districts, or rather chaos of houses, and you have +meanwhile shifted your dwellings so rapidly, and under the +pressure of such continual labour, that you have not had time +enough to organize yourselves. But we, too, have our +excuse. We have actually been trying, at vast expense and +labour to ourselves, for the last forty years, to meet your new +needs. But you have outgrown all our efforts. Your +increase has taken us by surprise. Your prosperity has +outrun our goodwill. It shall do so no more. We are +ready to do our part in the good work of repentance. We ask +you to do yours. You are more able to do it than you ever +were: richer, better educated, more acquainted with the blessings +of association. We do not come to you as to paupers, merely +to help you. We come to you as to free and independent +citizens, to teach you to help yourselves, and show yourselves +citizens indeed.’</p> +<p>I hope, ay, I believe, that such an appeal as this, made in an +honest and liberal spirit, which proves its honesty and +liberality by great and generous gifts out of such private wealth +as no nation ever had before, will be met by the masses of +London, in the same spirit as that in which it has been made.</p> +<p>I am certain of it, if only the ecclesiastical staff employed +by this Fund will keep steadfastly in mind what they have to +do. True it is, and happily true, that they can do nothing +but good. If they confine themselves to the celebration of +public worship, to teaching children, to giving the consolations +of religion to those with whom want and wretchedness bring them +in contact—all that will be gain, clear gain, vast +gain. But that, valuable, necessary as it is, will not be +sufficient to evoke a full response from the people of +London.</p> +<p>But if they will, not leaving the other undone, do yet more; +if they will attempt the more difficult, but the equally +necessary and more permanent labour—that of attacking the +disease of barbarism, not merely in its symptoms, but in its very +roots and its causes; if they will recognise the fact, that with +the disease there coexists a great deal of sturdy and useful +health; if they will have courage and address to face, not merely +the non-working, non-earning, and generally non-thinking +hundreds, but the working, earning, thinking thousands of each +parish; in fact, the men and women who make London what it is; if +they will approach them with charity, confidence, and respect; if +they will remember that they are justly jealous of that personal +independence, that civil and religious liberty, which is theirs +by law and right; if they will conduct themselves, not as lords +over God’s heritage, but as examples to the flock; if they +will treat that flock, not as their subjects, but as their +friends, their fellow-workers, their +fellow-counsellors—often their advisers; if they will +remember that ‘Give and take, live and let live,’ are +no mere worldly maxims, but necessary, though difficult Christian +duties; then, I believe, they will after awhile receive an answer +to their call such as they dare not as yet expect; such an answer +as our forefathers gave to the clergy of the early Middle Age, +when they showed them that the kingdom of God was the messenger +of civilization, of humanity, of justice and peace, of strength +and well-being in this world, as well as in the next. The +clergy would find in the men and women of London not merely +disciples, but helpers. They would meet, not with fanatical +excitement, not even with enthusiasm, not even with much outward +devotion; but with co-operation, hearty and practical though slow +and quiet—co-operation all the more valuable, in every +possible sense, because it will be free and voluntary; and the +Bishop of London’s Fund would receive more and more +assistance, not merely of heads and hands, but of money when +money was needed, from the inhabitants of the very poorest and +most heathen districts, as they began to feel that they were +giving their money towards a common blessing, and became proud to +pay their share towards an organization which would belong to +them, and to their children after them.</p> +<p>So runs my dream. This may be done: God grant that it +may! For now, it may be, is our best chance of doing +it. Now is the accepted time; now is the day of +salvation. If these masses increase in numbers and in power +for another generation, in their present state of anarchy, they +may be lost for ever to Christianity, to order, to +civilization. But if we can civilize, in that sense which +is both classical and Christian, the masses of London, and of +England, by that parochial method which has been (according to +history) the only method yet discovered, then we shall have +helped, not only to save innumerable souls from sin, and from +that misery which is the inevitable and everlasting consequence +of sin, but we shall have helped to save them from a specious and +tawdry barbarism, such as corrupted and enervated the seemingly +civilized masses of the later Roman empire; and to save our +country, within the next century, from some such catastrophe as +overtook the Jewish monarchy in spite of all its outward +religiosity; the catastrophe which has overtaken every nation +which has fancied itself sound and whole, while it was really +broken, sick, weak, ripe for ruin. For such, every nation +or empire becomes, though the minority above be never so well +organized, civilized, powerful, educated, even virtuous, if the +majority below are not a people of citizens, but masses of +incoherent atoms, ready to fall to pieces before every storm.</p> +<p>From that, and from all adversities, may God deliver us, and +our children after us, by graciously beholding this His Family, +for which our Lord Jesus Christ was content to suffer death upon +the Cross; and by pouring out His Spirit upon all estates of men +in His holy Church, that every member of the same, in his calling +and ministry, may freely and godly serve Him; till we have no +longer the shame and sorrow of praying for English men and women, +as we do for Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, that God would +take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of +His Word, and fetch them home to that flock of His, to which they +all belong!</p> +<h2><a name="page233"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +233</span>SERMON XX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE GOD OF NATURE.</span></h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Preached during a wet +harvest</i>.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> cxlvii. 7–9.</p> +<p>Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the +harp unto our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who +prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the +mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the +young ravens which cry.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is no reason why those who +wrote this Psalm, and the one which follows it, should have +looked more cheerfully on the world about them than we have a +right to do. The country and climate of Judea is not much +superior to ours. If we suffer at times from excess of rain +and wind, Judea suffers from excess of drought and +sunshine. It suffers, too, at times, from that most +terrible of earthly calamities, from which we are +free—namely, from earthquakes. The sea, moreover, +instead of being loved, as it is by us, as the highway of our +commerce, and the producer of vast stores of food—the sea, +I say, was almost feared by the old Jews, who were no +sailors. They looked on it as a dangerous waste; and were +thankful to God that, though the waves roared, He had set them a +bound which they could not pass.</p> +<p>So that there is no reason why the old Jews should think and +speak more cheerfully about the world than we here in England +ought. They had, too, the same human afflictions, +sicknesses, dangers, disappointments, losses and chastisements as +we have. They had their full share of all the ills to which +flesh is heir. Yet look, I beg you, at the cheerfulness of +these two Psalms, the 147th and 148th. In truth, it is more +than cheerfulness; it is joy, rejoicing which can only express +itself in a song.</p> +<p>These Psalms are songs, to be sung to music, and even in our +translation they are songs still, sounding like poetry, and not +like prose.</p> +<p>And why is this? Because the men who wrote these Psalms +had faith in God.</p> +<p>They trusted God. They saw that He was worthy of their +trust. They saw that He was to be honoured, not merely for +His boundless wisdom and His boundless power: for a being might +have them, and yet make a bad use of them. But He was to be +trusted, because He was a good God. He was to be honoured, +not for anything which men might get out of Him (as the heathen +fancied) by flattering Him, and begging of Him: but He was to be +honoured for His own sake, for what He was in Himself—a +just, merciful, kind, generous, magnanimous, and utterly noble +and perfect, moral Being, worthy of all admiration, praise, +honour, and glory.</p> +<p>The Psalmist saw that God was good, and worthy to be +praised. But he saw, too, that he and his forefathers would +never have found out that for themselves. It was too great +a discovery for man to make. God must have showed it to +them. God had showed His word to Jacob, His statutes and +ordinances to Israel.</p> +<p>He had not done so to any other nation, neither had the +heathen knowledge of His laws. And, therefore, they did not +trust God; they did not consider Him a good God, and so they +worshipped Baalim, the sun and moon and stars, with silly and +foul ceremonies, to procure from them good harvests; and burnt +their children in the fire to Moloch, the fire-king, to keep off +the earthquakes and the floods. God had not taught them +what He had taught Israel—to trust in Him, and in His word +which ran very swiftly, and in His laws, which could not be +broken: a faith which, my friends, we must do our best to keep up +in ourselves, and in our children after us. For it is very +easy to lose it, this faith in God. We are tempted to lose +it, all our lives long.</p> +<p>Our forefathers, in the days of Popery, lost it; and because +they did not trust in God as a good God, who took good care of +the world which He had made, they fell to believing that the +devil, and witches, the servants of the devil, could raise +storms, blight crops, strike cattle and human beings with +disease. And they began, too, to pray, not to God, but to +certain saints in heaven, to protect them against bodily +ills.</p> +<p>One saint could cure one disease, and one another; one saint +protected the cattle, another kept off thunder, and so +forth—I will not tell you more, lest I should tempt you to +smile in this holy place; and tempt you, too, to look down on +your forefathers, who (though they made these mistakes) were just +as honest and virtuous men as we.</p> +<p>And even lately, up to this very time, there are those who +have not full faith in God; though they be good and pious +persons, and good Protestants too, who would shrink with horror +from worshipping saints, or any being save God alone. But +they are apt to shut their eyes to the beauty and order of +God’s world, and to the glory of God set forth therein, and +to excuse themselves by quoting unfairly texts of +Scripture. They say that this world is all out of joint; +corrupt, and cursed for Adam’s sin: yet, where it is out of +joint, and where it is corrupt, they cannot show. And, as +for its being cursed for Adam’s sin, that is a dream which +is contradicted by Holy Scripture itself. For see. We +read in Genesis iii. 17, ‘Cursed is the ground for thy +sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; +thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.’</p> +<p>Now, that the ground does not now bring forth thorns and +thistles to us, we know. For it brings forth whatsoever +fair flower, or useful herb, we plant therein, according to the +laws of nature, which are the laws of God. Neither do men +eat thereof in sorrow; but, as Solomon says, ‘eat their +bread in joyfulness of heart.’ And so did they in the +Psalmist’s days; who never speak of the tillage of the land +without some expression of faith and confidence, and thankfulness +to that God who crowns the year with His goodness, and His clouds +drop fatness; while the hills rejoice on every side, and the +valleys stand so thick with corn, that they laugh and +sing—of faith, I say, and gratitude toward that God who +brings forth the grass for the cattle, and green herb for the +service of men; who brings food out of the earth, and wine to +make glad the heart of man, and oil to give him a cheerful +countenance, and bread to strengthen man’s heart. +Those well-known words are in the 104th Psalm; and I ask any +reasonable person to read that Psalm through—the Psalm +which contains the Jewish natural theology, the Jew’s view +of this world, and of God’s will and dealings with +it—and then say, could a man have written it who thought +that there was any curse upon this earth on account of +man’s sin?</p> +<p>But more. The Book of Genesis says that there is none; +for, after it has said in the third chapter, ‘Cursed is the +ground for thy sake,’ it says again, in the eighth chapter, +verse 21, ‘And the Lord said in His heart, I will not again +curse the ground for man’s sake. While the earth +remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and +winter, shall not cease.’</p> +<p>Can any words be plainer? Whatever the curse in +Adam’s days may have been, does not the Book of Genesis +represent it as being formally abrogated and taken away in the +days of Noah, that the regular course of nature, fruitful and +beneficent, might endure thenceforth?</p> +<p>Accordingly, we hear no more in the Bible anywhere of this +same curse. We hear instead the very opposite; for one +says, in the 119th Psalm, speaking indeed of God, ‘O Lord, +Thy word endureth for ever in heaven. Thy truth also +remaineth from one generation to another. Thou hast laid +the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They continue +this day according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve +Thee.’ And so in the 148th Psalm, another speaks by +the Spirit of God; ‘Let all things praise the name of the +Lord: for He commanded, and they were created. He hath also +established them for ever and ever: He hath given them a law +which shall not be broken.’</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, God’s law shall not be broken, and it +is not broken. And that faith, that the laws which govern +the whole material universe, cannot be broken, will be to us +faith full of hope, and joy, and confidence, if we will remember, +with the Psalmist, that they are the laws of the living God, and +of the good God.</p> +<p>They are the laws of the living God: not the laws of nature, +or fate, or necessity—all three words which mean little or +nothing—but of a living God in whom we live, and move, and +have our being; whose word—the creating, organizing, +inspiring word—runneth very swiftly, making all things to +obey God, and not themselves.</p> +<p>And they are the laws of a good God; of a moral God; of a +generous, loving, just, and merciful God, who, as the Psalmist +reminds us (and that is the reason of his confidence and his +joy), while He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them +all by their names, condescends at the same time to heal those +who are broken in heart; of a God who, while He giveth fodder to +the cattle, and feedeth the young ravens who call on Him, at the +same time careth for those who fear Him, and put their trust in +His mercy; of a God who, while His power is great and His wisdom +infinite, at the same time sets up the meek, and brings the +ungodly down to the ground; of a Father in heaven who is perfect +in this—that He sends His sun and rain alike on the just +and the unjust, and is good to the unthankful and the evil; of a +Father, lastly, who so loved the world, that He spared not His +only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him for us, and has committed +to that Son all power in heaven and earth;—all power over +the material world, which we call nature, as well as over the +moral world, which is the hearts and spirits of men—to that +Word of God who runneth very swiftly, who is sharper than a +two-edged sword, and yet more tender than the love of woman; even +Jesus Christ the Saviour, the Word of God, who was in the +beginning with God, and was God; by whom all things were made; +who is the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into +the world, if by any means he will receive the light of God, and +see thereby the true and wise laws of Nature and of Spirit.</p> +<p>This is our God. This is He who sends food and wealth, +rain and sunshine. Shall we not trust Him? If we +thank Him for plenty, and fine weather, which we see to be +blessings without doubt, shall we not trust Him for scarcity and +bad weather, which do not seem to us to be blessings, and yet may +be blessings nevertheless? Shall we not believe that His +very chastisements are mercies? Shall we not accept them in +faith, as the child takes from its parent’s hand bitter +medicine, the use of which it cannot see; but takes it in faith +that its parent knows best, and that its parent’s purpose +is only love and benevolence? Shall we not say with +Job—Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him? He +cannot mean my harm; He must mean my good, and the good of all +mankind. He must—even by such seeming calamities as +great rains, or failure of crops—even by them He must be +benefiting mankind. Recollect, as a single instance, that +the great rains of 1860, which terrified so many, are proved now +to have saved some thousands of lives in England from fever and +similar diseases. Take courage; and have, as the old +Psalmist had, faith in God. Believe that nothing goes wrong +in this world, save through the sin, and folly, and ignorance of +man; that God is always right, always wise, always benevolent: +and be sure that you, each and all, are—</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,<br +/> +Or in the natal, or the mortal hour,<br /> +All nature is but art, unknown to thee;<br /> +All chance, discretion which thou can it not see.<br /> +All discord, harmony not understood;<br /> +All partial evil, universal good;<br /> +And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,<br /> +One truth is clear—whatever is, is right.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And pray to God that He may fill you with His Spirit, the +spirit of wisdom and understanding, of knowledge and grace of the +Lord, and show to you, as He showed to the Jews of old, His laws +and judgments, and so teach you how to see that the only thing on +earth which is not right, is—the sin of man.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WATER OF LIFE***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 5687-h.htm or 5687-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/8/5687 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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And let him that heareth +say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, +let him take the water of life freely. + + +This text is its own witness. It needs no man to testify to its +origin. Its own words show it to be inspired and divine. + +But not from its mere poetic beauty, great as that is: greater than +we, in this wet and cold climate, can see at the first glance. We +must go to the far East and the far South to understand the images +which were called up in the mind of an old Jew at the very name of +wells and water-springs; and why the Scriptures speak of them as +special gifts of God, life-giving and divine. We must have seen the +treeless waste, the blazing sun, the sickening glare, the choking +dust, the parched rocks, the distant mountains quivering as in the +vapour of a furnace; we must have felt the lassitude of heat, the +torment of thirst, ere we can welcome, as did those old Easterns, the +well dug long ago by pious hands, whither the maidens come with their +jars at eventide, when the stone is rolled away, to water the thirsty +flocks; or the living fountain, under the shadow of a great rock in a +weary land, with its grove of trees, where all the birds for many a +mile flock in, and shake the copses with their song; its lawn of +green, on which the long-dazzled eye rests with refreshment and +delight; its brook, wandering away--perhaps to be lost soon in +burning sand, but giving, as far as it flows, Life; a Water of Life +to plant, to animal, and to man. + +All these images, which we have to call up in our minds one by one, +presented themselves to the mind of an Eastern, whether Jew or +heathen, at once, as a well-known and daily scene; and made him feel, +at the very mention of a water-spring, that the speaker was telling +him of the good and beautiful gift of a beneficent Being. + +And yet--so do extremes meet--like thoughts, though not like images, +may be called up in our minds, here in the heart of London, in murky +alleys and foul courts, where there is too often, as in the poet's +rotting sea - + + +'Water, water, everywhere, +Yet not a drop to drink.' + + +And we may bless God--as the Easterns bless Him for the ancestors who +digged their wells--for every pious soul who now erects a drinking- +fountain; for he fulfils the letter as well as the spirit of +Scripture, by offering to the bodies as well as the souls of men the +Water of Life freely. + +But the text speaks not of earthly water. No doubt the words 'Water +of Life' have a spiritual and mystic meaning. Yet that alone does +not prove the inspiration of the text. They had a spiritual and +mystic meaning already among the heathens of the East--Greeks and +barbarians alike. + +The East--and indeed the West likewise--was haunted by dreams of a +Water of Life, a Fount of Perpetual Youth, a Cup of Immortality: +dreams at which only the shallow and the ignorant will smile; for +what are they but tokens of man's right to Immortality,--of his +instinct that he is not as the beasts,--that there is somewhat in him +which ought not to die, which need not die, and yet which may die, +and which perhaps deserves to die? How could it be kept alive? how +strengthened and refreshed into perpetual youth? + +And water--with its life-giving and refreshing powers, often with +medicinal properties seemingly miraculous--what better symbol could +be found for that which would keep off death? Perhaps there was some +reality which answered the symbol, some actual Cup of Immortality, +some actual Fount of Youth. But who could attain to them? Surely +the gods hid their own special treasure from the grasp of man. +Surely that Water of Life was to be sought for far away, amid +trackless mountain-peaks, guarded by dragons and demons. That Fount +of Youth must be hidden in the rich glades of some tropic forest. +That Cup of Immortality must be earned by years, by ages, of +superhuman penance and self torture. Certain of the old Jews, it is +true, had had deeper and truer thoughts. Here and there a psalmist +had said, 'With God is the well of Life;' or a prophet had cried, +'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and buy without +money and without price!' But the Jews had utterly forgotten (if the +mass of them ever understood) the meaning of the old revelations; +and, above all, the Pharisees, the most religious among them. To +their minds, it was only by a proud asceticism,--by being not as +other men were; only by doing some good thing--by performing some +extraordinary religious feat,--that man could earn eternal life. And +bitter and deadly was their selfish wrath when they heard that the +Water of Life was within all men's reach, then and for ever; that The +Eternal Life was in that Christ who spoke to them; that He gave it +freely to whomsoever He would;--bitter their wrath when they heard +His disciples declare that God had given to men Eternal Life; that +the Spirit and the Bride said. Come. + +They had, indeed, a graceful ceremony, handed down to them from +better times, as a sign that those words of the old psalmists and +prophets had once meant something. At the Feast of Tabernacles--the +harvest feast--at which God was especially to be thanked as the giver +of fertility and Life, their priests drew water with great pomp from +the pool of Siloam; connecting it with the words of the prophet: +'With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.' But +the ceremony had lost its meaning. It had become mechanical and +empty. They had forgotten that God was a giver. They would have +confessed, of course, that He was the Lord of Life: but they +expected Him to prove that, not by giving Life, but by taking it +away: not by saving the many, but by destroying all except a +favoured few. But bitter and deadly was their wrath when they were +told that their ceremony had still a living meaning, and a meaning +not only for them, but for all men; for that mob of common people +whom they looked on as accursed, because they knew not the law. +Bitter and deadly was their selfish wrath, when they heard One who +ate and drank with publicans and sinners stand up in the very midst +of that grand ceremony, and cry; 'If any man thirst, let him come to +Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, +Out of him shall flow rivers of living water.' A God who said to all +'Come,' was not the God they desired to rule over them. And thus the +very words which prove the text to be divine and inspired, were +marked out as such by those bigots of the old world, who in them saw +and hated both Christ and His Father. + +The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Come, and drink freely. + +Those words prove the text, and other texts like it in Holy +Scripture, to be an utterly new Gospel and good news; an utterly new +revelation and unveiling of God, and of the relations of God to man. + +For the old legends and dreams, in whatsoever they differed, agreed +at least in this, that the Water of Life was far away; infinitely +difficult to reach; the prize only of some extraordinary favourite of +fortune, or of some being of superhuman energy and endurance. The +gods grudged life to mortals, as they grudged them joy and all good +things. That God should say Come; that the Water of Life could be a +gift, a grace, a boon of free generosity and perfect condescension, +never entered into their minds. That the gods should keep their +immortality to themselves seemed reasonable enough. That they should +bestow it on a few heroes; and, far away above the stars, give them +to eat of their ambrosia, and drink of their nectar, and so live for +ever; that seemed reasonable enough likewise. + +But that the God of gods, the Maker of the universe should say, +'Come, and drink freely;' that He should stoop from heaven to bring +life and immortality to light,--to tell men what the Water of Life +was, and where it was, and how to attain it; much more, that that God +should stoop to become incarnate, and suffer and die on the cross, +that He might purchase the Water of Life, not for a favoured few, but +for all mankind; that He should offer it to all, without condition, +stint, or drawback;--this, this, never entered into their wildest +dreams. + +And yet, when the strange news was told, it looked so probable, +although so strange, to thousands who had seemed mere profligates or +outcasts; it agreed so fully with the deepest voices of their own +hearts,--with their thirst for a nobler, purer, more enduring Life,-- +with their highest idea of what a perfect God should be, if He meant +to show His perfect goodness; it seemed at once so human and humane, +and yet so superhuman and divine;--that they accepted it +unhesitatingly, as a voice from God Himself, a revelation of the +Eternal Author of the universe; as, God grant you may accept it this +day. + +And what is Life? And what is the Water of Life? + +What are they indeed, my friends? You will find many answers to that +question, in this, as in all ages: but the one which Scripture gives +is this. Life is none other, according to the Scripture, than God +Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord, who bestows on man His own Spirit, to +form in him His own character, which is the character of God. + +He is The one Eternal Life; and it has been manifested in human form, +that human beings might copy it; and behold, it was full of grace and +truth. + +The Life of grace and truth; that is the Life of Christ, and, +therefore, the Life of God. + +The Life of grace--of graciousness, love, pity, generosity, +usefulness, self-sacrifice; the Life of truth--of faithfulness, +fairness, justice, the desire to impart knowledge and to guide men +into all truth. The Life, in one word, of charity, which is both +grace and truth, both love and justice, in one Eternal essence. That +is the life which God lives for ever in heaven. That is The one +Eternal Life, which must be also the Life of God. For, as there is +but one Eternal, even God, so is there but one Eternal Life, which is +the life of God and of His Christ. And the Spirit by which it is +inspired into the hearts of men is the Spirit of God, who proceedeth +alike from the Father and from the Son. + +Have you not seen men and women in whom these words have been +literally and palpably fulfilled? Have you not seen those who, +though old in years, were so young in heart, that they seem to have +drunk of the Fountain of perpetual Youth,--in whom, though the +outward body decayed, the soul was renewed day by day; who kept fresh +and pure the noblest and holiest instincts of their childhood, and +went on adding to them the experience, the calm, the charity of age? +Persons whose eye was still so bright, whose smile was still so +tender, that it seemed that they could never die? And when they +died, or seemed to die, you felt that THEY were not dead, but only +their husk and shell; that they themselves, the character which you +had loved and reverenced, must endure on, beyond the grave, beyond +the worlds, in a literally Everlasting Life, independent of nature, +and of all the changes of the material universe. + +Surely you have seen such. And surely what you loved in them was the +Spirit of God Himself,--that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, +gentleness, goodness, which the natural savage man has not. Has not, +I say, look at him where you will, from the tropics to the pole, +because it is a gift above man; the gift of the Spirit of God; the +Eternal Life of goodness, which natural birth cannot give to man, nor +natural death take away. + +You have surely seen such persons--if you have not, _I_ have, thank +God, full many a time;--but if you have seen them, did you not see +this?--That it was not riches which gave them this Life, if they were +rich; or intellect, if they were clever; or science, if they were +learned; or rank, if they were cultivated; or bodily organization, if +they were beautiful and strong: that this noble and gentle life of +theirs was independent of their body, of their mind, of their +circumstances? Nay, have you not seen this,--_I_ have, thank God, +full many a time,--That not many rich, not many mighty, not many +noble are called: but that God's strength is rather made perfect in +man's weakness,--that in foul garrets, in lonely sick-beds, in dark +places of the earth, you find ignorant people, sickly people, ugly +people, stupid people, in spite of, in defiance of, every opposing +circumstance, leading heroic lives,--a blessing, a comfort, an +example, a very Fount of Life to all around them; and dying heroic +deaths, because they know they have Eternal Life? + +And what was that which had made them different from the mean, the +savage, the drunken, the profligate beings around them? This at +least. That they were of those of whom it is written, 'Let him that +is athirst come.' They had been athirst for Life. They had had +instincts and longings; very simple and humble, but very pure and +noble. At times, it may be, they had been unfaithful to those +instincts. At times, it may be, they had fallen. They had said 'Why +should I not do like the rest, and be a savage? Let me eat and +drink, for to-morrow I die;' and they had cast themselves down into +sin, for very weariness and heaviness, and were for a while as the +beasts which have no law. + +But the thirst after The noble Life was too deep to be quenched in +that foul puddle. It endured, and it conquered; and they became more +and more true to it, till it was satisfied at last, though never +quenched, that thirst of theirs, in Him who alone can satisfy it--the +God who gave it; for in them were fulfilled the Lord's own words: +'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for +they shall be filled.' + +There are those, I fear, in this church--there are too many in all +churches--who have not felt, as yet, this divine thirst after a +higher Life; who wish not for an Eternal, but for a merely endless +life, and who would not care greatly what sort of life that endless +life might be, if only it was not too unlike the life which they live +now; who would be glad enough to continue as they are, in their +selfish pleasure, selfish gain, selfish content, for ever; who look +on death as an unpleasant necessity, the end of all which they really +prize; and who have taken up religion chiefly as a means for escaping +still more unpleasant necessities after death. To them, as to all, +it is said, 'Come, and drink of the water of life freely.' But The +Life of goodness which Christ offers, is not the life they want. +Wherefore they will not come to Him, that they may have life. +Meanwhile, they have no right to sneer at the Fountain of Youth, or +the Cup of Immortality. Well were it for them if those dreams were +true; in their heart of hearts they know it. Would they not go to +the ends of the earth to bathe in the Fountain of Youth? Would they +not give all their gold for a draught of the Cup of Immortality, and +so save themselves, once and for all, the trouble of becoming good? + +But there are those here, I doubt not, who have in them, by grace of +God, that same divine thirst for the Higher Life; who are +discontented with themselves, ashamed of themselves; who are +tormented by longings which they cannot satisfy, instincts which they +cannot analyse, powers which they cannot employ, duties which they +cannot perform, doctrinal confusions which they cannot unravel; who +would welcome any change, even the most tremendous, which would make +them nobler, purer, juster, more loving, more useful, more clear- +headed and sound-minded; and when they think of death say with the +poet, - + + +''Tis life, not death for which I pant, +'Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant, +More life, and fuller, that I want.' + + +To them I say--for God has said it long ago,--Be of good cheer. The +calling and gifts of God are without repentance. If you have the +divine thirst, it will be surely satisfied. If you long to be better +men and women, better men and women you will surely be. Only be true +to those higher instincts; only do not learn to despise and quench +that divine thirst; only struggle on, in spite of mistakes, of +failures, even of sins--for every one of which last your heavenly +Father will chastise you, even while He forgives; in spite of all +falls, struggle on. Blessed are you that hunger and thirst after +righteousness, for you shall be filled. To you--and not in vain-- +'The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, +Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him +drink of the water of life freely.' + + + +SERMON II. THE PHYSICIAN'S CALLING +(Preached at Whitehall for St. George's Hospital.) + + + +ST. MATTHEW ix. 35. + +And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their +synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing +every sickness and every disease among the people. + + +The Gospels speak of disease and death in a very simple and human +tone. They regard them in theory, as all are forced to regard them +in fact, as sore and sad evils. + +The Gospels never speak of disease or death as necessities; never as +the will of God. It is Satan, not God, who binds the woman with a +spirit of infirmity. It is not the will of our Father in heaven that +one little one should perish. Indeed, we do not sufficiently +appreciate the abhorrence with which the whole of Scripture speaks of +disease and death: because we are in the habit of interpreting many +texts which speak of the disease and death of the body in this life +as if they referred to the punishment and death of the soul in the +world to come. We have a perfect right to do that; for Scripture +tells us that there is a mysterious analogy and likeness between the +life of the body and that of the soul, and therefore between the +death of the body and that of the soul: but we must not forget, in +the secondary and higher spiritual interpretation of such texts, +their primary and physical meaning, which is this--that disease and +death are uniformly throughout Scripture held up to the abhorrence of +man. + +Moreover--and this is noteworthy--the Gospels, and indeed all +Scripture, very seldom palliate the misery of disease, by drawing +from it those moral lessons which we ourselves do. I say very +seldom. The Bible does so here and there, to tell us that we may do +so likewise. And we may thank God heartily that the Bible does so. +It would be a miserable world, if all that the clergyman or the +friend might say by the sick-bed were, 'This is an inevitable evil, +like hail and thunder. You must bear it if you can: and if not, +then not.' A miserable world, if he could not say with full belief; +'"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when +thou art rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and +scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." Thou knowest not now why +thou art afflicted; perhaps thou wilt never know in this life. But a +day will come when thou wilt know: when thou wilt find that this +sickness came to thee at the exact right time, in the exact right +way; when thou wilt find that God has been keeping thee in the secret +place of His presence from the provoking of men, and hiding thee +privately in His tabernacle from the spite of tongues; when thou wilt +discover that thou hast been learning precious lessons for thy +immortal spirit, while thou didst seem to thyself merely tossing with +clouded intellect on a bed of useless pain; when thou wilt find that +God was nearest to thee, at the very moment when He seemed to have +left thee most utterly.' + +Thank God, we can say that, and more; and we will say it. But we +must bear in mind, that the Gospels, which are the very parts of +Scripture which speak most concerning disease, omit almost entirely +that cheering and comforting view of it. + +And why? Only to force upon our attention, I believe, a view even +more cheering and comforting: a view deeper and wider, because +supplied not merely to the pious sufferer, but to all sufferers; not +merely to the Christian, but to all mankind. And that is, I believe, +none other than this: that God does not only bring spiritual good +out of physical evil, but that He hates physical evil itself: that +He desires not only the salvation of our souls, but the health of our +bodies; and that when He sent His only begotten Son into the world to +do His will, part of that will was, that He should attack and conquer +the physical evil of disease--as it were instinctively, as his +natural enemy, and directly, for the sake of the body of the +sufferer. + +Many excellent men, seeing how the healing of disease was an integral +part of our Lord's mission, and of the mission of His apostles, have +wished that it should likewise form an integral part of the mission +of the Church: that the clergy should as much as possible be +physicians; the physician, as much as possible, a clergyman. The +plan may be useful in exceptional cases--in that, for instance, of +the missionary among the heathen. + +But experience has decided, that in a civilized and Christian country +it had better be otherwise: that the great principle of the division +of labour should be carried out: that there should be in the land a +body of men whose whole mind and time should be devoted to one part +only of our Lord's work--the battle with disease and death. And the +effect has been not to lower but to raise the medical profession. It +has saved the doctor from one great danger--that of abusing, for the +purposes of religious proselytizing, the unlimited confidence reposed +in him. It has freed him from many a superstition which enfeebled +and confused the physicians of the Middle Ages. It has enabled him +to devote his whole intellect to physical science, till he has set +his art on a sound and truly scientific foundation. It has enabled +him to attack physical evil with a single-hearted energy and devotion +which ought to command the respect and admiration of his fellow- +countrymen. If all classes did their work half as simply, as +bravely, as determinedly, as unselfishly, as the medical men of Great +Britain--and, I doubt not, of other countries in Europe--this world +would be a far fairer place than it is likely to be for many a year +to come. It is good to do one thing and to do it well. It is good +to follow Christ in one thing, and to follow Him utterly in that. +And the medical man has set his mind to do one thing,--to hate +calmly, but with an internecine hatred, disease and death, and to +fight against them to the end. + +The medical man is complained of at times as being too materialistic- +-as caring more for the bodies of his patients than for their souls. +Do not blame him too hastily. In his exclusive care for the body, he +may be witnessing unconsciously, yet mightily, for the soul, for God, +for the Bible, for immortality. + +Is he not witnessing for God, when he shows by his acts that he +believes God to be a God of Life, not of death; of health, not of +disease; of order, not of disorder; of joy and strength, not of +misery and weakness? + +Is he not witnessing for Christ when, like Christ, he heals all +manner of sickness and disease among the people, and attacks physical +evil as the natural foe of man and of the Creator of man? + +Is he not witnessing for the immortality of the soul when he fights +against death as an evil to be postponed at all hazards and by all +means, even when its advent is certain? Surely it is so. How often +have we seen the doctor by the dying bed, trying to preserve life, +when he knew well that life could not be preserved. We have been +tempted to say to him, 'Let the sufferer alone. He is senseless. He +is going. We can do nothing more for his soul; you can do nothing +more for his body. Why torment him needlessly for the sake of a few +more moments of respiration? Let him alone to die in peace.' How +have we been tempted to say that? We have not dared to say it; for +we saw that the doctor, and not we, was in the right; that in all +those little efforts, so wise, so anxious, so tender, so truly +chivalrous, to keep the failing breath for a few moments more in the +body of one who had no earthly claim upon his care, that doctor was +bearing a testimony, unconscious yet most weighty, to that human +instinct of which the Bible approves throughout, that death in a +human being is an evil, an anomaly, a curse; against which, though he +could not rescue the man from the clutch of his foe, he was bound, in +duty and honour, to fight until the last, simply because it was +death, and death was the enemy of man. + +But if the medical man bears witness for God and spiritual things +when he seems exclusively occupied with the body, so does the +hospital. Look at those noble buildings which the generosity of our +fellow-countrymen have erected in all our great cities. You may find +in them, truly, sermons in stones; sermons for rich alike and poor. +They preach to the rich, these hospitals, that the sick-bed levels +all alike; that they are the equals and brothers of the poor in the +terrible liability to suffer! They preach to the poor that they are, +through Christianity, the equals of the rich in their means and +opportunities of cure. I say through Christianity. Whether the +founders so intended or not (and those who founded most of them, St. +George's among the rest, did so intend), these hospitals bear direct +witness for Christ. They do this, and would do it, even if--which +God forbid--the name of Christ were never mentioned within their +walls. That may seem a paradox; but it is none. For it is a +historic fact, that hospitals are a creation of Christian times, and +of Christian men. The heathen knew them not. In that great city of +ancient Rome, as far as I have ever been able to discover, there was +not a single hospital,--not even, I fear, a single charitable +institution. Fearful thought--a city of a million and a half +inhabitants, the centre of human civilization: and not a hospital +there! The Roman Dives paid his physician; the Roman Lazarus +literally lay at his gate full of sores, till he died the death of +the street dogs which licked those sores, and was carried forth to be +thrust under ground awhile, till the same dogs came to quarrel over +his bones. The misery and helplessness of the lower classes in the +great cities of the Roman empire, till the Church of Christ arose, +literally with healing in its wings, cannot, I believe, be +exaggerated. + +Eastern piety, meanwhile, especially among the Hindoos, had founded +hospitals, in the old meaning of that word--namely, almshouses for +the infirm and aged: but I believe there is no record of hospitals, +like our modern ones, for the cure of disease, till Christianity +spread over the Western world. + +And why? Because then first men began to feel the mighty truth +contained in the text. If Christ were a healer, His servants must be +healers likewise. If Christ regarded physical evil as a direct evil, +so must they. If Christ fought against it with all His power, so +must they, with such power as He revealed to them. And so arose +exclusively in the Christian mind, a feeling not only of the +nobleness of the healing art, but of the religious duty of exercising +that art on every human being who needed it; and hospitals are to be +counted, as a historic fact, among the many triumphs of the Gospel. + +If there be any one--especially a working man--in this church this +day who is inclined to undervalue the Bible and Christianity, let him +know that, but for the Bible and Christianity, he has not the +slightest reason to believe that there would have been at this moment +a hospital in London to receive him and his in the hour of sickness +or disabling accident, and to lavish on him there, unpaid as the +light and air of God outside, every resource of science, care, +generosity, and tenderness, simply because he is a human being. Yes; +truly catholic are these hospitals,--catholic as the bounty of our +heavenly Father,--without respect of persons, giving to all liberally +and upbraiding not, like Him in whom all live, and move, and have +their being; witnesses better than all our sermons for the universal +bounty and tolerance of that heavenly Father who causes the sun to +shine on the evil and the good, and his rain to fall upon the just +and on the unjust, and is perfect in this, that He is good to the +unthankful and the evil. + +And, therefore, the preacher can urge his countrymen, let their +opinions, creed, tastes, be what they may, to support hospitals with +especial freedom, earnestness, and confidence. Heaven forbid that I +should undervalue any charitable institution whatever. May God's +blessing be on them all. But this I have a right to say,--that +whatever objections, suspicions, prejudices there may be concerning +any other form of charity, concerning hospitals there can be none. +Every farthing bestowed on them must go toward the direct doing of +good. There is no fear in them of waste, of misapplication of funds, +of private jobbery, of ulterior and unavowed objects. Palpable and +unmistakeable good is all they do and all they can do. And he who +gives to a hospital has the comfort of knowing that he is bestowing a +direct blessing on the bodies of his fellow-men; and it may be on +their souls likewise. + +For I have said that these hospitals witness silently for God and for +Christ; and I must believe that that silent witness is not lost on +the minds of thousands who enter them. It sinks in,--all the more +readily because it is not thrust upon them,--and softens and breaks +up their hearts to receive the precious seed of the word of God. +Many a man, too ready from bitter experience to believe that his +fellow-men cared not for him, has entered the wards of a hospital to +be happily undeceived. He finds that he is cared for; that he is not +forgotten either by God or man; that there is a place for him, too, +at God's table, in his hour of utmost need; and angels of God, in +human form, ready to minister to his necessities; and, softened by +that discovery, he has listened humbly, perhaps for the first time in +his life, to the exhortations of a clergyman; and has taken in, in +the hour of dependence and weakness, the lessons which he was too +proud or too sullen to hear in the day of independence and sturdy +health. And so do these hospitals, it seems to me, follow the +example and practice of our Lord Himself; who, by ministering to the +animal wants and animal sufferings of the people, by showing them +that He sympathised with those lower sorrows of which they were most +immediately conscious, made them follow Him gladly, and listen to Him +with faith, when He proclaimed to them in words of wisdom, that +Father in heaven whom He had already proclaimed to them in acts of +mercy. + +And now, I have to appeal to you for the excellent and honourable +foundation of St. George's Hospital. I might speak to you, and +speak, too, with a personal reverence and affection of many years' +standing, of the claims of that noble institution; of the illustrious +men of science who have taught within its walls; of the number of +able and honourable young men who go forth out of it, year by year, +to carry their blessed and truly divine art, not only over Great +Britain, but to the islands of the farthest seas. But to say that +would be merely to say what is true, thank God, of every hospital in +London. + +One fact only, therefore, I shall urge, which gives St. George's +Hospital special claims on the attention of the rich. + +Situated, as it is, in the very centre of the west end of London, it +is the special refuge of those who are most especially of service to +the dwellers in the Westend. Those who are used up--fairly or +unfairly--in ministering to the luxuries of the high-born and +wealthy: the groom thrown in the park; the housemaid crippled by +lofty stairs; the workman fallen from the scaffolding of the great +man's palace; the footman or coachman who has contracted disease from +long hours of nightly exposure, while his master and mistress have +been warm and gay at rout and ball; and those, too, whose number, I +fear, are very great, who contract disease, themselves, their wives, +and children, from actual want, when they are thrown suddenly out of +employ at the end of the season, and London is said to be empty--of +all but two million of living souls: --the great majority of these +crowd into St. George's Hospital to find there relief and comfort, +which those to whom they minister are solemnly bound to supply by +their contributions. The rich and well-born of this land are very +generous. They are doing their duty, on the whole, nobly and well. +Let them do their duty--the duty which literally lies nearest them-- +by St. George's Hospital, and they will wipe off a stain, not on the +hospital, but on the rich people in its neighbourhood--the stain of +that hospital's debts. + +The deficiency in the funds of the hospital for the year 1862-3-- +caused, be it remembered, by no extravagance or sudden change, but +simply by the necessity for succouring those who would otherwise have +been destitute of succour--the deficiency, I say, on an expenditure +of 15,000l. amounts to more than 3,200l. which has had to be met by +selling out funded property, and so diminishing the capital of the +institution. Ought this to be? I ask. Ought this to be, while more +wealth is collected within half a mile of that hospital than in any +spot of like extent in the globe? + +My friends, this is the time of Lent; the time whereof it is +written,--'Is not this the fast which I have chosen, to deal thy +bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that is cast out to thine +house? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou +hide not thyself from thine own flesh? If thou let thy soul go forth +to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light +rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord +shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul, and make fat thy +bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and as a spring that +doth not fail.' + +Let us obey that command literally, and see whether the promise is +not literally fulfilled to us in return. + + + +SERMON III. THE VICTORY OF LIFE +(Preached at the Chapel Royal.) + + + +ISAIAH xxxviii. 18, 19. + +The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that +go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the +living, he shall praise thee. + + +I may seem to have taken a strange text on which to speak,--a +mournful, a seemingly hopeless text. Why I have chosen it, I trust +that you will see presently; certainly not that I may make you +hopeless about death. Meanwhile, let us consider it; for it is in +the Bible, and, like all words in the Bible, was written for our +instruction. + +Now it is plain, I think, that the man who said these words--good +king Hezekiah--knew nothing of what we call heaven; of a blessed life +with God after death. He looks on death as his end. If he dies, he +says, he will not see the Lord in the land of the living, any more +than he will see man with the inhabitants of the world. God's +mercies, he thinks, will end with his death. God can only show His +mercy and truth by saving him from death. For the grave cannot +praise God, death cannot celebrate Him; those who go down into the +pit cannot hope for His truth. The living, the living, shall praise +God; as Hezekiah praises Him that day, because God has cured him of +his sickness, and added fifteen years to his life. + +No language can be plainer than this. A man who had believed that he +would go to heaven when he died could not have used it. + +In many of the Psalms, likewise, you will find words of exactly the +same kind, which show that the men who wrote them had no clear +conception, if any conception at all, of a life after death. + +Solomon's words about death are utterly awful from their sadness. +With him, 'that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; as +one dieth, so dieth the other. Yea, they have all one breath, so +that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast, and all is vanity. All +go to one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. +Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of +the beast that goeth downward to the earth?' + +He knows nothing about it. All he knows is, that the spirit shall +return to God who gave it,--and that a man will surely find, in this +life, a recompence for all his deeds, whether good or evil. + +'Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the +evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I +have no pleasure in them. Fear God, and keep His commandments; for +this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into +judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it +be evil.' + +This is the doctrine of the Old Testament; that God judges and +rewards and punishes men in this life: but as for death, it is a +great black cloud into which all men must enter, and see and be seen +no more. Only twice or thrice, perhaps, a gleam of light from beyond +breaks through the dark. David, the noblest and wisest of all the +Jews, can say once that God will not leave his soul in hell, neither +suffer His holy one to see corruption; Job says that, though after +his skin worms destroy his body, yet in his flesh he shall see God; +and Isaiah, again, when he sees his countrymen slaughtered, and his +nation all but destroyed, can say, 'Thy dead men shall live, together +with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in +dust: for thy dew is as the dew of the morning, which brings the +parched herbs to life and freshness again.'--Great and glorious +sayings, all of them: but we cannot tell how far either David, or +Job, or Isaiah, were thinking of a life after death. We can think of +a life after death when we use them; for we know how they have been +fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord; and we can see in them more than +the Jews of old could do; for, like all inspired words, they mean +more than the men who wrote them thought of; but we have no right to +impute our Christianity to them. + +The only undoubted picture, perhaps, of the next life to be found in +the Old Testament, is that grand one in Isaiah xiv., where he paints +to us the tyrant king of Babylon going down into hell:- + +'Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; it +stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; +it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. +All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as +we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the +grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, +and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O +Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, +which didst weaken the nations!'--Awful and grand enough: but quite +different, you will observe, from the notions of hell which are +common now-a-days; and much more like those which we read in the old +Greek poets, and especially, in the Necyomanteia of the Odyssey. + +When it was that the Jews gained any fuller notions about the next +life, it is very difficult to say. Certainly not before they were +carried away captive to Babylon. After that they began to mix much +with the great nations of the East: with Greeks, Persians, and +Indians; and from them, most probably, they learned to believe in a +heaven after death to which good men would go, and a fiery hell to +which bad men would go. At least, the heathen nations round them, +and our forefathers likewise, believed in some sort of heaven and +hell, hundreds of years before the coming of our blessed Lord. + +The Jews had learned, also--at least the Pharisees--to believe in the +resurrection of the dead. Martha speaks of it; and St. Paul, when he +tells the Pharisees that, having been brought up a Pharisee, he was +on their side against the Sadducees.--'I am a Pharisee,' he says, +'the son of a Pharisee; for the hope of the resurrection of the dead +I am called in question.' + +But if it be so,--if St. Paul and the Apostles believed in heaven and +hell, and the resurrection of the dead, before they became +Christians, what more did they learn about the next life, when they +became Christians? Something they did learn, most certainly--and +that most important. St. Paul speaks of what our Lord and our Lord's +resurrection had taught him, as something quite infinitely grander, +and more blessed, than what he had known before. He talks of our +Lord as having abolished death, and brought life and immortality to +light; of His having conquered death, and of His destroying death at +last. He speaks at moments as if he did not expect to die at all; +and when he does speak of the death of the Christian, it is merely as +a falling asleep. When he speaks of his own death, it is merely as a +change of place. He longs to depart, and to be with Christ. Death +had looked terrible to him once, when he was a Jew. Death had had a +sting, and the grave a victory, which seemed ready to conquer him: +but now he cries, 'O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is +thy victory?' and then he declares that the terrors of death and the +grave are taken away, not by anything which he knew when he was a +Pharisee, but through our Lord Jesus Christ. + +All his old Jewish notions of the resurrection, though they were true +as far as they went, seemed poor and paltry beside what Christ had +taught him. He was not going to wait till the end of the world-- +perhaps for thousands of years--in darkness and the shadow of death, +he knew not where or how. His soul was to pass at once into life,-- +into joy, and peace, and bliss, in the presence of his Saviour, till +it should have a new body given to it, in the resurrection of life at +the last day. + +This, I think, is what St. Paul learned, and what the Jews had not +learned till our blessed Lord came. They were still afraid of death. +It looked to them a dark and ugly blank; and no wonder. For would it +not be dark and ugly enough to have to wait, we know not where, it +may be a thousand, it may be tens of thousands of years, till the +resurrection in the last day, before we entered into joy, peace, +activity or anything worthy of the name of life? Would not death +have a sting indeed, the grave a victory indeed, if we had to be as +good as dead for ten thousands of years? + +What then? Remember this, that death is an enemy, an evil thing, an +enemy to man, and therefore an enemy to Christ, the King and Head and +Saviour of man. Men ought not to die, and they feel it. It is no +use to tell them, 'Everything that is born must die, and why not you? +All other animals died. They died, just as they die now, hundreds of +thousands of years before man came upon this earth; and why should +man expect to have a different lot? Why should you not take your +death patiently, as you take any other evil which you cannot escape?' +The heart of man, as soon as he begins to be a man, and not a mere +savage; as soon as he begins to think reasonably, and feel deeply; +the heart of man answers: 'No, I am not a mere animal. I have +something in me which ought not to die, which perhaps cannot die. I +have a living soul in me, which ought to be able to keep my body +alive likewise, but cannot; and therefore death is my enemy. I hate +him, and I believe that I was meant to hate him. Something must be +wrong with me, or I should not die; something must be wrong with all +mankind, or I should not see those I love dying round me. + +Yes, my friends, death is an enemy,--a hideous, hateful thing. The +longer one looks at it, the more one hates it. The more often one +sees it, the less one grows accustomed to it. Its very commonness +makes it all the more shocking. We may not be so much shocked at +seeing the old die. We say, 'They have done their work, why should +they not go?' That is not true. They have not done their work. +There is more work in plenty for them to do, if they could but live; +and it seems shocking and sad, at least to him who loves his country +and his kind, that, just as men have grown old enough to be of use, +when they have learnt to conquer their passions, when their +characters are formed, when they have gained sound experience of this +world, and what man ought and can do in it,--just as, in fact, they +have become most able to teach and help their fellow-men,--that then +they are to grow old, and decrepit, and helpless, and fade away, and +die just when they are most fit to live, and the world needs them +most. + +Sad, I say, and strange is that. But sadder, and more strange, and +more utterly shocking, to see the young die; to see parents leaving +infant children, children vanishing early out of the world where they +might have done good work for God and man. + +What arguments will make us believe that that ought to be? That that +is God's will? That that is anything but an evil, an anomaly, a +disease? + +Not the Bible, certainly. The Bible never tells us that such +tragedies as are too often seen are the will of God. The Bible says +that it is not the will of our Father that one of these little ones +should perish. The Bible tells us that Jesus, when on earth, went +about fighting and conquering disease and death, even raising from +the dead those who had died before their time. To fight against +death, and to give life wheresoever He went--that was His work; by +that He proclaimed the will of God, His Father, that none should +perish, who sent His Son that men might have life, and have it more +abundantly. By that He declared that death was an evil and a +disorder among men, which He would some day crush and destroy +utterly, that mortality should be swallowed up of life. + +And yet we die, and shall die. Yes. The body is dead, because of +sin. Mankind is a diseased race; and it must pay the penalty of its +sins for many an age to come, and die, and suffer, and sorrow. But +not for ever. For what mean such words as these--for something they +must mean? - + +'If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.' + +And again, 'He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall +he live; and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.' + +Do such words as these mean only that we shall rise again in the +resurrection at the last day? Surely not. Our Lord spoke them in +answer to that very notion. + +'Martha said to Him, I know that my brother shall rise again, in the +resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I AM the +resurrection and the life;' and then showed what He meant by bringing +back Lazarus to life, unchanged, and as he had been before he died. + +Surely, if that miracle meant anything, if these words meant +anything, it meant this: that those who die in the fear of God, and +in the faith of Christ, do not really taste death; that to them there +is no death, but only a change of place, a change of state; that they +pass at once, and instantly, into some new life, with all their +powers, all their feelings, unchanged,--purified doubtless from +earthly stains, but still the same living, thinking, active beings +which they were here on earth. I say, active. The Bible says +nothing about their sleeping till the Day of Judgment, as some have +fancied. Rest they may; rest they will, if they need rest. But what +is the true rest? Not idleness, but peace of mind. To rest from +sin, from sorrow, from fear, from doubt, from care,--this is the true +rest. Above all, to rest from the worst weariness of all--knowing +one's duty, and yet not being able to do it. That is true rest; the +rest of God, who works for ever, and yet is at rest for ever; as the +stars over our heads move for ever, thousands of miles each day, and +yet are at perfect rest, because they move orderly, harmoniously, +fulfilling the law which God has given them. Perfect rest, in +perfect work; that surely is the rest of blessed spirits, till the +final consummation of all things, when Christ shall have made up the +number of His elect. + +I hope that this is so. I trust that this is so. I think our Lord's +great words can mean nothing less than this. And if it be so, what +comfort for us who must die? What comfort for us who have seen +others die, if death be but a new birth into some higher life; if all +that it changes in us is our body--the mere shell and husk of us-- +such a change as comes over the snake, when he casts his old skin, +and comes out fresh and gay, or even the crawling caterpillar, which +breaks its prison, and spreads its wings to the sun as a fair +butterfly. Where is the sting of death, then, if death can sting, +and poison, and corrupt nothing of us for which our friends have +loved us; nothing of us with which we could do service to men or God? +Where is the victory of the grave, if, so far from the grave holding +us down, it frees us from the very thing which holds us down,--the +mortal body? + +Death is not death, then, if it kills no part of us, save that which +hindered us from perfect life. Death is not death, if it raises us +in a moment from darkness into light, from weakness into strength, +from sinfulness into holiness. Death is not death, if it brings us +nearer to Christ, who is the fount of life. Death is not death, if +it perfects our faith by sight, and lets us behold Him in whom we +have believed. Death is not death, if it gives us to those whom we +have loved and lost, for whom we have lived, for whom we long to live +again. Death is not death, if it joins the child to the mother who +is gone before. Death is not death, if it takes away from that +mother for ever all a mother's anxieties, a mother's fears, and lets +her see, in the gracious countenance of her Saviour, a sure and +certain pledge that those whom she has left behind are safe, safe +with Christ and in Christ, through all the chances and dangers of his +mortal life. Death is not death, if it rids us of doubt and fear, of +chance and change, of space and time, and all which space and time +bring forth, and then destroy. Death is not death; for Christ has +conquered death, for Himself, and for those who trust in Him. And to +those who say, 'You were born in time, and in time you must die, as +all other creatures do; Time is your king and lord, as he has been of +all the old worlds before this, and of all the races of beasts, whose +bones and shells lie fossil in the rocks of a thousand generations;' +then we can answer them, in the words of the wise man, and in the +name of Christ who conquered death:- + + +'Fly, envious time, till thou run out thy race, +And glut thyself with what thy womb devours, +Which is no more than what is false and vain +And merely mortal dross. +So little is our loss, so little is thy gain. +For when as each bad thing thou hast entombed, +And, last of all, thy greedy self consumed, +Then long eternity shall greet our bliss +With an individual kiss, +And joy shall overtake us as a flood, +When everything that is sincerely good +And perfectly divine, +And truth, and peace, and love shall ever shine +About the supreme throne +Of Him, unto whose happy-making sight alone +When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb, +Then all this earthly grossness quit, +Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit +Triumphant over death, and chance, and thee, O Time!' + + + +SERMON IV. THE WAGES OF SIN +(Chapel Royal June, 1864) + + + +ROM. vi. 21-23. + +What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? +for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from +sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, +and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the +gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. + + +This is a glorious text, if we will only believe it simply, and take +it as it stands. + +But if in place of St. Paul's words we put quite different words of +our own, and say--By 'the wages of sin is death,' St. Paul means that +the punishment of sin is eternal life in torture, then we say +something which may be true, but which is not what St. Paul is +speaking of here. For wages are not punishment, and death is not +eternal life in torture, any more than in happiness. + +That, one would think, was clear. It is our duty to take St. Paul's +words, if we really believe them to be inspired, simply as they +stand; and if we do not quite understand them, to explain them by St. +Paul's own words about these matters in other parts of his writings. + +St. Paul was an inspired Apostle. Let him speak for himself. Surely +he knew best what he wished to say, and how to say it. + +Now St. Paul's opinions about death and eternal life are very clear; +for he speaks of them often, and at great length. + +He considered that the great enemy of God and man, the last enemy +Christ would destroy, was death; and that, after death was destroyed, +the end would come, when God would be all in all. Then came the +question, which has puzzled men in all ages--How death came into the +world. St. Paul answers, By sin. He says, as the author of the +third chapter of Genesis says, that Adam became subject to death by +his fall. By one man, he says, sin entered into the world, and death +by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. +And thus, he says, death reigned even over those who had not sinned +after the likeness of Adam's transgression. + +That he is speaking of bodily death is clear, because he is always +putting it in contrast to the resurrection to life,--not merely to a +spiritual resurrection from the death of sin to the life of +righteousness; but to the resurrection of the body,--to our Lord's +being raised from the dead, that He might die no more. + +Then he speaks of eternal life. He always speaks of it as an actual +life, in a spiritual body, into which our mortal bodies are to be +changed. Nothing can be clearer from what he says in 1 Cor. xv., +that he means an actual rising again of our bodies from bodily death; +an actual change in them; an actual life in them for ever. + +But he says, again and again,--As sin caused the death of the body, +so righteousness is to cause its life. + +'When ye were the servants of sin,' he says to the Romans, 'what +fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end +of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and +become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end +everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God +is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.' + +This is St. Paul's opinion. And we shall do well to believe it, and +to learn from it, this day, and all days. + +The wages of sin and the end of sin is death. Not the punishment of +sin; but something much worse. The wages of sin, and the end of sin. + +And how is that worse news? My friends, every sinner knows so well +in his heart that it is worse news, more terrible news, for him, that +he tries to persuade himself that death is only the arbitrary +punishment of his sin; or, quite as often, that the punishment of his +sin is not even death, but eternal torment in the next life. + +And why? Because, as long as he can believe that death, or hell, are +only punishments arbitrarily fixed by God against his sins, he can +hope that God will let him off the punishment. Die, he knows he +must, because all men die; and so he makes up his mind to that: but +being sent to hell after he dies, is so very terrible a punishment, +that he cannot believe that God will be so hard on him as that. No; +he will get off, and be forgiven at last somehow, for surely God will +not condemn him to hell. And so he finds it very convenient and +comfortable to believe in hell, just because he does not believe that +he is going there, whoever else may be. + +But, it is a very terrible, heartrending thought, for a man to find +out that what he will receive is not punishment, but wages; not +punishment but the end of the very road which he is travelling on. +That the wages of sin, and the end of sin, to which it must lead, are +death; that every time he sins he is earning those wages, deserving +them, meriting them, and therefore receiving them by the just laws of +the world of God. That does torment him, that does terrify him, if +he will look steadfastly at the broad plain fact--You need not dream +of being let off, respited, reprieved, pardoned in any way. The +thing cannot be done. It is contrary to the laws of God and of God's +universe. It is as impossible as that fire should not burn, or water +run up hill. It is not a question of arbitrary punishment, which may +be arbitrarily remitted; but of wages, which you needs must take, +weekly, daily, and hourly; and those wages are death: a question of +travelling on a certain road, whereon, if you travel it long enough, +you must come to the end of it; and the end is death. Your sins are +killing you by inches; all day long they are sowing in you the seeds +of disease and death. Every sin which you commit with your body +shortens your bodily life. Every sin you commit with your mind, +every act of stupidity, folly, wilful ignorance, helps to destroy +your mind, and leave you dull, silly, devoid of right reason. Every +sin you commit with your spirit, each sin of passion and temper, envy +and malice, pride and vanity, injustice and cruelty, extravagance and +self-indulgence, helps to destroy your spiritual life, and leave you +bad, more and more unable to do the right and avoid the wrong, more +and more unable to discern right from wrong; and that last is +spiritual death, the eternal death of your moral being. There are +three parts in you--body, mind, and spirit; and every sin you commit +helps to kill one of these three, and, in many cases, to kill all +three together. + +So, sinner, dream not of escaping punishment at the last. You are +being punished now, for you are punishing yourself; and you will +continue to be punished for ever, for you will be punishing yourself +for ever, as long as you go on doing wrong, and breaking the laws +which God has appointed for body, mind and spirit. You can see that +a drunkard is killing himself, body and mind, by drink. You see that +he knows that, poor wretch, as well as you. He knows that every time +he gets drunk he is cutting so much off his life; and yet he cannot +help it. He knows that drink is poison, and yet he goes back to his +poison. + +Then know, habitual sinner, that you are like that drunkard. That +every bad habit in which you indulge is shortening the life of some +of your faculties, and that God Himself cannot save you from the doom +which you are earning, deserving, and working out for yourself every +day and every hour. + +Oh how men hate that message!--the message that the true wrath of +God, necessary, inevitable, is revealed from heaven against all +unrighteousness of men. How they writhe under it! How they shut +their ears to it, and cry to their preachers, 'No! Tell us of any +wrath of God but that! Tell us rather of the torments of the damned, +of a frowning God, of absolute decrees to destruction, of the +reprobation of millions before they are born; any doctrine, however +fearful and horrible: because we don't quite believe it, but only +think that we ought to believe it. Yes, tell us anything rather than +that news, which cuts at the root of all our pride, of all our +comfort, and all our superstition--the news that we cannot escape the +consequences of our own actions; that there are no back stairs up +which we may be smuggled into heaven; that as we sow, so we shall +reap; that we are filled with the fruits of our own devices; every +man his own poisoner, every man his own executioner, every man his +own suicide; that hell begins in this life, and death begins before +we die: --do not say that: because we cannot help believing it; for +our own consciousness and our own experience tell us it is true.' No +wonder that the preacher who tells men that is hated, is called a +Rationalist, a Pantheist, a heretic, and what not, just because he +does set forth such a living God, such a justice of God, such a wrath +of God as would make the sinner tremble, if he believed in it, not +merely once in a way, when he hears a stirring sermon about the +endless torments: but all day long, going out and coming in, lying +on his bed and walking by the way, always haunted by the shadow of +himself, knowing that he is bearing about in him the perpetually +growing death of sin. + +And still more painful would this message be to the sinner, if he had +any kindly feeling for others; and, thank God, there are few who have +not that. For St. Paul's message to him is, that the wages of his +sin is death, not merely to himself, but to others--to his family and +children above all. So St. Paul declares in what he says of his +doctrine of original or birth sin, by which, as the Article says, +every man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his +own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth against the +spirit. + +St. Paul's doctrine is simple and explicit. Death, he says, reigned +over Adam's children, even over those who had not sinned after the +likeness of Adam's transgression; agreeing with Moses, who declares +God to be one who visits the sins of the fathers on the children, to +the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. But how the +sinner will shrink from this message--and shrink the more, the more +feeling he is, the less he is wrapped up in selfishness. Yes, that +message gives us such a view of the sinfulness of sin as none other +can. It tells us why God hates sin with so unextinguishable a +hatred, just because He is a God of Love. It is not that man's sin +injures God, insults God, as the heathen fancy. Who is God, that man +can stir Him up to pride, or wound or disturb His everlasting calm, +His self-sufficient perfectness? 'God is tempted of no man,' says +St. James. No. God hates sin. He loves all, and sin harms all; and +the sinner may be a torment and a curse, not only to himself, not +only to those around him, but to children yet unborn. + +This is bad news; and yet sinners must hear it. They must hear it +not only put into words by Moses, or by St. Paul, or by any other +inspired writer; but they must hear it, likewise, in that perpetual +voice of God which we call facts. + +Let the sinner who wishes to know what original sin means, and how +actual sin in one man breeds original sin in his descendants, look at +the world around him, and see. Let him see how St. Paul's doctrine +and the doctrine of the Ten Commandments are proved true by +experience and by fact: how the past, and how the present likewise, +show us whole families, whole tribes, whole aristocracies, whole +nations, dwindling down to imbecility, misery, and destruction, +because the sins of the fathers are visited on the children. + +Physicians, who see children born diseased; born stupid, or even +idiotic; born thwart-natured, or passionate, or false, or dishonest, +or brutal,--they know well what original sin means, though they call +it by their own name of hereditary tendencies. And they know, too, +how the sins of a parent, or of a grand parent, or even a great- +grandparent, are visited on the children to the third and fourth +generation; and they say 'It is a law of nature:' and so it is. But +the laws of nature are the laws of God who made her: and His law is +the same law by which death reigns even over those who have not +sinned after the likeness of Adam; the law by which (even though if +Christ be in us, the spirit is life, because of righteousness) the +body, nevertheless, is dead, because of sin. + +Parents, parents, who hear my words, beware--if not for your own +sakes, at least for the sake of your children, and your children's +children--lest the wages of your sin should be their death. + +And by this time, surely, some of you will be asking, 'What has he +said? That there is no escape; that there is no forgiveness?' + +None whatsoever, my friends, though you were to cry to heaven for +ever and ever, save the one old escape of which you hear in the +church every Sunday morning: 'When the wicked man turneth away from +his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful +and right, he shall save his soul alive.' + +What, does not the blood of Christ cleanse us from all sin? + +Yes, from all sin. But not, necessarily, from the wages of all sin. + +Judge for yourselves, my friends, again. Listen to the voice of God +revealed in facts. If you, being a drunkard, have injured your +constitution by drink, and then are converted, and repent, and turn +to God with your whole soul, and become, as you may, if you will, a +truly penitent, good, and therefore sober man,--will that cure the +disease of your body? It will certainly palliate and ease it: +because, instead of being drunken, you will have become sober: but +still you will have shortened your days by your past sins; and, in so +far, even though the Lord has put away your sin its wages still +remain, as death. + +So it is, my friends, if you will only believe it, or rather see it +with your own eyes, with every sin, and every sort of sin. + +You will see, if you look, that the Article speaks exact truth when +it says, that the infection of nature doth remain, even in those that +are regenerate. It says that of original sin: but it is equally +true of actual sin. + +Would to God that all men would but believe this, and give up the too +common and too dangerous notion, that it is no matter if they go on +wrong for a while, provided they come right at last! + +No matter? I ask for facts again. Is there a man or woman in this +church twenty years old who does not know that it matters? Who does +not know that, if they have done wrong in youth, their own wrong +deeds haunt them and torment them?--That they are, perhaps the +poorer, perhaps the sicklier, perhaps the more ignorant, perhaps the +sillier, perhaps the more sorrowful this day, for things which they +did twenty, thirty years ago? Is there any one in this church who +ever did a wrong thing without smarting for it? If there is (which I +question), let him be sure that it is only because his time is not +come. Do not fancy that because you are forgiven, you may not be +actually less good men all your lives by having sinned when young. + +I know it is sometimes said, 'The greater the sinner, the greater the +saint.' I do not believe that: because I do not see it. I see, and +I thank God for it, that men who have been very wrong at one time, +come very right afterwards; that, having found out in earnest that +the wages of sin are death, they do repent in earnest, and receive +the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But I see, too, that +the bad habits, bad passions, bad methods of thought, which they have +indulged in youth, remain more or less, and make them worse men, +sillier men, less useful men, less happy men, sometimes to their +lives' end: and they, if they be true Christians, know it, and +repent of their early sins, not once for all only, but all their +lives long; because they feel that they have weakened and worsened +themselves thereby. + +It stands to reason, my friends, that it should be so. If a man +loses his way, and finds it again, he is so much the less forward on +his way, surely, by all the time he has spent in getting back into +the road. If a child has a violent illness, it stops growing, +because the life and nourishment which ought to have gone towards its +growth, are spent in curing its disease. And so, if a man has +indulged in bad habits in his youth, he is but too likely (let him do +what he will) to be a less good man for it to his life's end, because +the Spirit of God, which ought to have been making him grow in grace, +freely and healthily, to the stature of a perfect man, to the fulness +of the measure of Christ, is striving to conquer old bad habits, and +cure old diseases of character; and the man, even though he does +enter into life, enters into it halt and maimed; and the wages of his +sin have been, as they always will be, death to some powers, some +faculties of his soul. + +Think over these things, my friends; and believe that the wages of +sin are death, and that there is no escaping from God's just and +everlasting laws. But meanwhile, let us judge no man. This is a +great and a solemn reason for observing, with fear and trembling, our +Lord's command, for it is nothing less, 'Judge not, and ye shall not +be judged; condemn not and ye shall not be condemned.' + +For we never can know how much of any man's misconduct is to be set +down to original, and how much to actual, sin;--how much disease of +mind and heart he has inherited from his parents, how much he has +brought upon himself + +Therefore judge no man, but yourselves. Search your own hearts, to +see what manner of men you really wish to be; judge yourselves, lest +God should judge you. + +Do you wish to go on as you like here on earth, right or wrong, in +the hope that, somehow or other, the punishment of your sins will be +forgiven you at the last day? + +Then know that that is impossible. As a man sows, so shall he reap; +and if you sow to the flesh, of the flesh you will reap--corruption. +The wages of sin are death. Those wages will be paid you, and you +must take them whether you like or not. + +But do you wish to be Good? Do you see (I trust in God that many of +you do) that goodness is the only wise, safe, prudent life for you +because it is the only path the end of which is not death? + +Do you see that goodness is the only right and honourable life for +you, because it is the only path by which you can do your duty to man +or to God; the only method by which you can show your gratitude to +God for all His goodness to you, and can please Him, in return for +all that He has done by His grace and free love to bless you? + +Do you, in a word, repent you truly of your former sins, and purpose +to lead a new life? Then know, that all beyond is the free grace, +the free gift of God. You have to earn nothing, to buy nothing. The +will is all God asks. Eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus +Christ. + +Freely He forgives you all your past sins, for the sake of that +precious blood which was shed on the cross for the sins of the whole +world. Freely He takes you back, as His child, to your Father's +house. Freely, He gives you His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Goodness, +the Spirit of Life, to put into your mind good desires, and enable +you to bring those desires to good effect, that you may live the +eternal life of grace and goodness for ever, whether in earth or +heaven. + +Yes, it is the Gift of God, which raises you from the death of sin to +the life of righteousness; and if you have that gift, you will not +murmur, surely, though you have to bear, more or less, the just and +natural consequences of your former sins; though you be, through your +own guilt, a sadder man to your dying day. Be content. You are +forgiven. You are cleansed from your sin; is not that mercy enough? +Why are you to demand of God, that He should over and above cleanse +you from the consequences of your sin? He may leave them there to +trouble and sadden you, just because He loves you, and desires to +chasten you, and keep you in mind of what you were, and what you +would be again, at any moment, if His Spirit left you to yourself. +You may have to enter into life halt and maimed: yet, be content; +you have a thousand times more than you deserve, for at least you +enter into Life. + + + +SERMON V. NIGHT AND DAY +(Preached at the Chapel Royal) + + + +ROMANS xiii. 12. + +The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off +the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. + + +Certain commentators would tell us, that St. Paul wrote these words +in the expectation that the end of the world, and the second coming +of Christ, were very near. The night was far spent, and the day of +the Lord at hand. Salvation--deliverance from the destruction +impending on the world, was nearer than when his converts first +believed. Shortly the Lord would appear in glory, and St. Paul and +his converts would be caught up to meet Him in the air. + +No doubt St. Paul's words will bear this meaning. No doubt there are +many passages in his writings which seem to imply that he thought the +end of the world was near; and that Christ would reappear in glory, +while he, Paul, was yet alive on the earth. And there are passages; +too, which seem to imply that he afterwards altered that opinion, +and, no longer expecting to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, +desired to depart himself, and be with Christ, in the consciousness +that 'He was ready to be offered up, and the time of his departure +was at hand.' + +I say that there are passages which seem to imply such a change in +St. Paul's opinions. I do not say that they actually imply it. If I +had a positive opinion on the matter, I should not be hasty to give +it. These questions of 'criticism,' as they are now called, are far +less important than men fancy just now. A generation or two hence, +it is to be hoped, men will see how very unimportant they are, and +will find that they have detracted very little from the authority of +Scripture as a whole; and that they have not detracted in the least +from the Gospel and good news which Scripture proclaims to men--the +news of a perfect God, who will have men to become perfect even as +He, their Father in heaven, is perfect; who sent His only begotten +Son into the world, that the world through Him might be saved. + +In this case, I verily believe, it matters little to us whether St. +Paul, when he wrote these words, wrote them under the belief that +Christ's second coming was at hand. We must apply to his words the +great rule, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private +interpretation--that is, does not apply exclusively to any one fact +or event: but fulfils itself again and again, in a hundred +unexpected ways, because he who wrote it was moved by the Holy +Spirit, who revealed to him the eternal and ever-working laws of the +Kingdom of God. Therefore, I say, the words are true for us at this +moment. To us, though we have, as far as I can see, not the least +reasonable cause for supposing the end of the world to be more +imminent than it was a thousand years ago--to us, nevertheless, and +to every generation of men, the night is always far spent, and the +day is always at hand. + +And this, surely, was in the mind of those who appointed this text to +be read as the Epistle for the first Sunday in Advent. + +Year after year, though Christ has not returned to judgment; though +scoffers have been saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? for +all things continue as they were at the beginning'--Year after year, +I say, are the clergy bidden to tell the people that the night is far +spent, that the day is at hand; and to tell them so, because it is +true. Whatsoever St. Paul meant, or did not mean, by the words, a +few years after our Lord's ascension into heaven, they are there, for +ever, written by one who was moved by the Holy Ghost; and hence they +have an eternal moral and spiritual significance to mankind in every +age. + +Whatever these words may, or may not have meant to St. Paul when he +wrote them first, in the prime of life, we may never know, and we +need not know. But we can guess surely enough what they must have +meant to him in after years, when he could say--as would to God we +all might be able to say--'I have fought a good fight, I have +finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid +up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous +Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all +them that love His appearing.' + +To him, then, the night would surely mean this mortal life on earth. +The day would mean the immortal life to come. + +For is not this mortal life, compared with that life to come, as +night compared with day? I do not mean to speak evil of it. God +forbid that we should do anything but thank God for this life. God +forbid that we should say impiously to Him, Why hast thou made me +thus? No. God made this mortal life, and therefore, like all things +which He has made, it is very good. But there are good nights, and +there are bad nights; and there are happy lives, and unhappy ones. +But what are they at best? What is the life of the happiest man +without the Holy Spirit of God? A night full of pleasant dreams. +What is the life of the wisest man? A night of darkness, through +which he gropes his way by lanthorn-light, slowly, and with many +mistakes and stumbles. When we compare man's vast capabilities with +his small deeds; when we think how much he might know,--how little he +does know in this mortal life,--can we wonder that the highest +spirits in every age have looked on death as a deliverance out of +darkness and a dungeon? And if this is life at the best, what is +life at the worst? To how many is life a night, not of peace and +rest, but of tossing and weariness, pain and sickness, anxiety and +misery, till they are ready to cry, When will it be over? When will +kind Death come and give me rest? When will the night of this life +be spent, and the day of God arise? 'Out of the depths have I cried +unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. My soul doth wait for the +Lord, more than the sick man who watches for the morning.' + +Yes, think,--for it is good at times, however happy one may be +oneself, to think--of all the misery and sorrow that there is on +earth, and how many there are who would be glad to hear that it was +nearly over; glad to hear that the night was far spent, and the day +was at hand. + +And even the happiest ought to 'know the time.' To know that the +night is far spent, and the day at hand. To know, too, that the +night at best was not given us, to sleep it all through, from sunset +to sunrise. No industrious man does that. Either he works after +sunset, and often on through the long hours, and into the short +hours, before he goes to rest: or else he rises before daybreak, and +gets ready for the labours of the coming day. The latter no man can +do in this life. For we all sleep away, more or less, the beginning +of our life, in the time of childhood. There is no sin in that--God +seems to have ordained that so it should be. But, to sleep away our +manhood likewise,--is there no sin in that? As we grow older, must +we not awake out of sleep, and set to work, to be ready for the day +of God which will dawn on us when we pass out of this mortal life +into the world to come? + +As we grow older, and as we get our share of the cares, troubles, +experiences of life, it is high time to wake out of sleep, and ask +Christ to give us light--light enough to see our way through the +night of this life, till the everlasting day shall dawn. + +'Knowing the time;'--the time of this our mortal life. How soon it +will be over, at the longest! How short the time seems since we were +young! How quickly it has gone! How every year, as we grow older +seems to go more and more quickly, and there is less time to do what +we want, to think seriously, to improve ourselves. So soon, and it +will be over, and we shall have no time at all, for we shall be in +eternity. And what then? What then? That depends on what now. On +what we are doing now. Are we letting our short span of life slip +away in sleep; fancying ourselves all the while wide awake, as we do +in dreams--till we wake really; and find that it is daylight, and +that all our best dreams were nothing but useless fancy? How many +dream away their lives! Some upon gain, some upon pleasure, some +upon petty self-interest, petty quarrels, petty ambitions, petty +squabbles and jealousies about this person and that, which are no +more worthy to take up a reasonable human being's time and thoughts +than so many dreams would be. Some, too, dream away their lives in +sin, in works of darkness which they are forced for shame and safety +to hide, lest they should come to the light and be exposed. So +people dream their lives away, and go about their daily business as +men who walk in their sleep, wandering about with their eyes open, +and yet seeing nothing of what is really around them. Seeing +nothing: though they think that they see, and know their own +interest, and are shrewd enough to find their way about this world. +But they know nothing--nothing of the very world with which they +pride themselves they are so thoroughly acquainted. None know less +of the world than those who pride themselves on being men of the +world. For the true light, which shines all round them, they do not +see, and therefore they do not see the truth of things by that light. +If they did, then they would see that of which now they do not even +dream. + +They would see that God was around them, about their path and about +their bed, and spying out all their ways; and in the light of His +presence, they dare not be frivolous, dare not be ignorant, dare not +be mean, dare not be spiteful, dare not be unclean. + +They would see that Christ was around them, knocking at the door of +their hearts, that He may enter in, and dwell there, and give them +peace; crying to their restless, fretful, confused, unhappy souls, +'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek +and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' + +They would see that Duty was around them. Duty--the only thing +really worth living for. The only thing which will really pay a man, +either for this life or the next. The only thing which will give a +man rest and peace, manly and quiet thoughts, a good conscience and a +stout heart, in the midst of hard labour, anxiety, sorrow and +disappointment: because he feels at least that he is doing his duty; +that he is obeying God and Christ, that he is working with them, and +for them, and that, therefore, they are working with him, and for +him. God, Christ, and Duty--these, and more, will a man see if he +will awake out of sleep, and consider where he is, by the light of +God's Holy Spirit. + +Then will that man feel that he must cast away the works of darkness; +whether of the darkness of foul and base sins; or the darkness of +envy, spite, and revenge; or the mere darkness of ignorance and +silliness, thoughtlessness and frivolity. He must cast them away, he +will see. They will not succeed--they are not safe--in such a +serious world as this. The term of this mortal life is too short, +and too awfully important, to be spent in such dreams as these. The +man is too awfully near to God, and to Christ, to dare to play the +fool in their Divine presence. This earth looks to him, now that he +sees it in the true light, one great temple of God, in which he dare +not, for very shame, misbehave himself. He must cast away the works +of darkness, and put on the armour of light, now in the time of this +mortal life; lest, when Christ comes in His glory to judge the quick +and the dead, he be found asleep, dreaming, useless, unfit for the +eternal world to come. + +Then let him awake, and cry to Christ for light: and Christ will +give him light--enough, at least, to see his way through the darkness +of this life, to that eternal life of which it is written, 'They need +no candle there, nor light of the sun: for the Lord God and the Lamb +are the light thereof.' And he will find that the armour of light is +an armour indeed. A defence against all enemies, a helmet for his +head, and breastplate for his heart, against all that can really harm +his mind our soul. + +If a man, in the struggle of life, sees God, and Christ, and Duty, +all around him, that thought will be a helmet for his head. It will +keep his brain and mind clear, quiet, prudent to perceive and know +what things he ought to do. It will give him that Divine wisdom, of +which Solomon says, in his Proverbs, that the beginning of wisdom is +the fear of the Lord. + +The light will give him, I say, judgment and wisdom to perceive what +he ought to do; and it will give him, too, grace and power faithfully +to fulfil the same. For it will be a breastplate to his heart. It +will keep his heart sound, as well as his head. It will save him +from breaking his good resolutions, and from deserting his duty out +of cowardice, or out of passion. The light of Christ will keep his +heart pure, unselfish, forgiving; ready to hope all things, believe +all things, endure all things, by that Divine charity which God will +pour into his soul. + +For when he looks at things in the light of Christ, what does he see? +Christ hanging on the cross, praying for His murderers, dying for the +sins of the whole world. And what does the light which streams from +that cross show him of Christ? That the likeness of Christ is summed +up in one word--self-sacrificing love. What does the light which +streams from that cross show him of the world and mankind, in spite +of all their sins? That they belong to Him who died for them, and +bought them with His own most precious blood. + +'Beloved, herein is love indeed. Not that we loved God, but that He +loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins.' + +'Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.' + +After that sight a man cannot hate; cannot revenge. He must forgive; +he must love. From hence he is in the light, and sees his duty and +his path through life. 'For he that hateth his brother walketh in +darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth: because darkness has +blinded his eyes. But he that loveth his brother abideth in the +light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. For he who +dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.' + +Therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put you on the armour +of light, and be good men and true. + +For of this the Holy Ghost prophesies by the mouth of St. Paul, and +of all apostles and prophets. Not of times and seasons, which God +the Father has kept in His own hand: not of that day and hour of +which no man knows; no, not the Angels in heaven, neither the Son; +but the Father only: not of these does the Holy Ghost testify to +men. Not of chronology, past or future: but of holiness; because he +is a Holy Spirit. + +For this purpose God, the Holy Father, sent His Son into the world. +For this God, the Holy Son, died upon the cross. For this God, the +Holy Ghost--proceeding from both the Father and the Son--inspired +prophets and apostles; that they might teach men to cast away the +works of darkness, and put on the armour of light; and become holy, +as God is holy; pure, as God is pure; true, as God is true; and good, +as God is good. + + + +SERMON VI. THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH +(Preached at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall.) + + + +HEBREWS XII. 26-29. + +But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth +only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the +removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, +that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we +receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby +we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our +God is a consuming fire. + + +This is one of the Royal texts of the New Testament. It declares one +of those great laws of the kingdom of God, which may fulfil itself, +once and again, at many eras, and by many methods; which fulfilled +itself especially and most gloriously in the first century after +Christ; which fulfilled itself again in the fifth century; and again +at the time of the Crusades; and again at the great Reformation in +the sixteenth century; and is fulfilling itself again at this very +day. + +Now, in our fathers' time, and in our own unto this day, is the Lord +Christ shaking the heavens and the earth, that those things which are +made may be removed, and that those things which cannot be shaken may +remain. We all confess this fact, in different phrases. We say that +we live in an age of change, of transition, of scientific and social +revolution. Our notions of the physical universe are rapidly +altering with the new discoveries of science; and our notions of +Ethics and Theology are altering as rapidly. + +The era looks differently to different minds, just as the first +century after Christ looked differently, according as men looked with +faith towards the future, or with regret towards the past. Some +rejoice in the present era as one of progress. Others lament over it +as one of decay. Some say that we are on the eve of a Reformation, +as great and splendid as that of the sixteenth century. Others say +that we are rushing headlong into scepticism and atheism. Some say +that a new era is dawning on humanity; others that the world and the +Church are coming to an end, and the last day is at hand. Both +parties may be right, and both may be wrong. Men have always talked +thus at great crises. They talked thus in the first century, in the +fifth, in the eleventh, in the sixteenth. And then both parties were +right, and yet both wrong. And why not now? What they meant to say, +and what they mean to say now, is what he who wrote the Epistle to +the Hebrews said for them long ago in far deeper, wider, more +accurate words--that the Lord Christ was shaking the heavens and the +earth, that those things which can be shaken may be removed, as +things which are made--cosmogonies, systems, theories, fashions, +prejudices, of man's invention: while those things which cannot be +shaken may remain, because they are eternal, the creation not of man, +but of God. + +'Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.' Not +merely the physical world, and man's conceptions thereof; but the +spiritual world, and man's conceptions of that likewise. + +How have our conceptions of the physical world been shaken of late, +with ever-increasing violence! How simple, and easy, and certain, it +all looked to our forefathers! How complex, how uncertain, it looks +to us! With increased knowledge has come--not increased doubt--that +I deny; but increased reverence; increased fear of rash assertions, +increased awe of facts, as the acted words and thoughts of God. Once +for all, I deny that this age is an irreverent one. I say that an +irreverent age is an age like the Middle Age, in which men dared to +fancy that they could and did know all about earth and heaven; and +set up their petty cosmogonies, their petty systems of doctrine, as +measures of the ways of that God whom the heaven and the heaven of +heavens, cannot contain. + +It was simple enough, their theory of the universe. The earth was a +flat plain; for did not the earth look flat? Or if some believed the +earth to be a globe, yet the existence of antipodes was an +unscriptural heresy. Above were the heavens: first the lower +heavens in which the stars were fixed and moved; and above them +heaven after heaven, each peopled of higher orders, up to that heaven +of heavens in which Deity--and by Him, the Mother of Deity--were +enthroned. + +And below--What could be more clear, more certain, than this--that as +above the earth was the kingdom of light, and joy, and holiness, so +below the earth was the kingdom of darkness, and torment, and sin? +What could be more certain? Had not even the heathens said so, by +the mouth of the poet Virgil? What could be more simple, rational, +orthodox, than to adopt (as they actually did) Virgil's own words, +and talk of Tartarus, Styx, and Phlegethon, as indisputable Christian +entities. They were not aware that the Buddhists of the far East had +held much the same theory of endless retribution several centuries +before; and that Dante, with his various bolge, tenanted each by its +various species of sinners, was merely re-echoing the horrors which +are to be seen painted on the walls of any Buddhist temple, as they +were on the walls of so many European churches during the Middle +Ages, when men really believed in that same Tartarology, with the +same intensity with which they now believe in the conclusions of +astronomy or of chemistry. + +To them, indeed, it was all an indisputable or physical fact, as any +astronomic or chemical fact would have been; for they saw it with +their own eyes. + +Virgil had said that the mouth of Tartarus was there in Italy, by the +volcanic lake of Avernus; and after the first eruption of Vesuvius in +the first century, nothing seemed more probable. Etna, Stromboli, +Hecla, must be, likewise, all mouths of hell; and there were not +wanting holy hermits who had heard within those craters, shrieks and +clanking chains, and the shouts of demons tormenting endlessly the +souls of the lost. And now, how has all this been shaken? How much +of all this does any educated man, though he be pious, though he +desire with all his heart to be orthodox--and is orthodox in fact-- +how much of all this does he believe, as he believes that the earth +is round, or, that if he steals his neighbour's goods he commits a +crime? + +For, since these days, the earth has been shaken, and with it the +heavens likewise, in that very sense in which the expression is used +in the text. Our conceptions of them have been shaken. The +Copernican system shook them, when it told men that the earth was but +a tiny globular planet revolving round the sun. Geology shook them, +when it told men that the earth has endured for countless ages, +during which whole continents have been submerged, whole seas become +dry land, again and again. Even now the heavens and the earth are +being shaken by researches into the antiquity of the human race, and +into the origin and the mutability of species, which, issue in what +results they may, will shake for us, meanwhile, theories which are +venerable with the authority of nearly eighteen hundred years, and of +almost every great Doctor since St. Augustine. + +And as our conception of the physical universe has been shaken, the +old theory of a Tartarus beneath the earth has been shaken also, till +good men have been glad to place Tartarus in a comet, or in the sun, +or to welcome the possible, but unproved hypothesis, of a central +fire in the earth's core, not on any scientific grounds, but if by +any means a spot may be found in space corresponding to that of which +Virgil, Dante, and Milton sang. + +And meanwhile--as was to be expected from a generation which abhors +torture, labours for the reformation of criminals, and even doubts +whether it should not abolish capital punishment--a shaking of the +heavens is abroad, of which we shall hear more and more, as the years +roll on--a general inclination to ask whether Holy Scripture really +endorses the Middle-age notions of future punishment in endless +torment? Men are writing and speaking on this matter, not merely +with ability and learning, but with a piety, and reverence for +Scripture which (rightly or wrongly employed) must, and will, command +attention. They are saying that it is not those who deny these +notions who disregard the letter of Scripture, but those who assert +them; that they are distorting the plain literal text, in order to +make Scripture fit the writings of Dante and Milton, when they +translate into 'endless torments after death,' such phrases as the +outer darkness, the undying worm, the Gehenna of fire--which +manifestly (say these men), if judged by fair rules of +interpretation, refer to this life, and specially to the fate of the +Jewish nation: or when they tell us that eternal death means really +eternal life, only in torments. We demand, they say, not a looser, +but a stricter; not a more metaphoric, but a more literal; not a more +careless, but a more reverent interpretation of Scripture; and +whether this demand be right or wrong, it will not pass unheard. + +And even more severely shaken, meanwhile, is that mediaeval +conception of heaven and hell, by the question which educated men are +asking more and more:- 'Heaven and hell--the spiritual world--Are +they merely invisible places in space, which may become visible +hereafter? or are they not rather the moral world--the world of right +and wrong? Love and righteousness--is not that the heaven itself +wherein God dwells? Hatred and sin--is not that hell itself, wherein +dwells all that is opposed to God?' + +And out of that thought, right or wrong, other thoughts have sprung-- +of ethics, of moral retribution--not new at all (say these men), but +to be found in Scripture, and in the writings of all great Christian +divines, when they have listened, not to systems, but to the voice of +their own hearts. + +'We do not deny' (they say) 'that the wages of sin are death. We do +not deny the necessity of punishment--the certainty of punishment. +We see it working awfully enough around us in this life; we believe +that it may work in still more awful forms in the life to come. Only +tell us not that it must be endless, and thereby destroy its whole +purpose, and (as we think) its whole morality. We, too, believe in +an eternal fire; but we believe its existence to be, not a curse, but +a Gospel and a blessing, seeing that that fire is God Himself, who +taketh away the sins of the world, and of whom it is therefore +written, Our God is a consuming fire.' + +Questions, too, have arisen, of--'What IS moral retribution? Should +punishment have any end but the good of the offender? Is God so +controlled that He must needs send into the world beings whom He +knows to be incorrigible, and doomed to endless misery? And if not +so controlled, then is not the other alternative as to His character +more fearful still? Does He not bid us copy Him, His justice, His +love? Then is that His justice, is that His love, which if we copied +we should be unjust and unloving utterly? Are there two moralities, +one for God, and quite another for man, made in the image of God? +Can these dark dogmas be true of a Father who bids us be perfect as +He is, in that He sends His sun to shine on the evil and the good, +and His rain on the just and unjust? Or of a Son who so loved the +world that He died to save the world and surely not in vain?' + +These questions--be they right or wrong--educated men and women of +all classes and denominations--orthodox, be it remembered, as well as +unorthodox--are asking, and will ask more and more, till they receive +an answer. And if we of the clergy cannot give them an answer which +accords with their conscience and their reason; if we tell them that +the words of Scripture, and the integral doctrines of Christianity, +demand the same notions of moral retribution as were current in the +days when men racked criminals, burned heretics alive, and believed +that every Mussulman whom they slaughtered in a crusade went straight +to endless torments,--then evil times will come, both for the clergy +and the Christian religion, for many a yeas henceforth. + +What then are we to believe? What are we to do, amid this shaking of +the earth and heaven? Are we to degenerate into a lazy and heartless +scepticism, which, under pretence of liberality and charity, believes +that everything is a little true, everything is a little false--in +one word, believes nothing at all? Or are we to degenerate into +unmanly and faithless wailings, crying out that the flood of +infidelity is irresistible, that the last days are come, and that +Christ has deserted His Church? + +Not if we will believe the text. The text tells us of something +which cannot be moved, though all around it reel and crumble--of a +firm standing-ground, which would endure, though the heavens should +pass away as a scroll, and the earth should be removed, and cast into +the midst of the sea. + +We have a kingdom, the Scripture says, which cannot be moved, even +the kingdom of Him whom it calls shortly after 'Jesus Christ, the +same yesterday, to-day and for ever.' An eternal and unchangeable +kingdom, ruled by an eternal and unchangeable King. That is what +cannot be moved. + +Scripture does not say that we have an unchangeable cosmogony, an +unchangeable theory of moral retribution, an unchangeable system of +dogmatic propositions. Whether we have, or have not, it is not of +them that Scripture reminds the Jews, when the heavens and the earth +were shaken; when their own nation and worship were in their death- +agony, and all the beliefs and practices of men were in a whirl of +doubt and confusion, of decay and birth side by side, such as the +world had never seen before. Not of them does it remind the Jews, +but of the changeless kingdom, and the changeless King. + +My friends, lay it seriously to heart, once and for all. Do you +believe that you are subjects of that kingdom, and that Christ is the +living, ruling, guiding King thereof? Whatsoever Scripture does not +say, Scripture speaks of that, again and again, in the plainest +terms. But do you believe it? These are days in which the preacher +ought to ask every man whether he believes it, and bid him, of +whatever else he repents of, to repent, at least, of not having +believed this primary doctrine (I may almost say) of Scripture and of +Christianity. + +But if you do believe it, will it seem strange to you to believe this +also,--That, considering who Christ is, the co-eternal and co-equal +Son of God, He may be actually governing His kingdom; and if so, that +He may know better how to govern it than such poor worms as we? That +if the heavens and the earth be shaken, Christ Himself may be shaking +them? if opinions be changing, Christ Himself may be changing them? +If new truths and facts are being discovered, Christ Himself may be +revealing them? That if those truths seem to contradict the truths +which He has already taught us, they do not really contradict them, +any more than those reasserted in the sixteenth century? That if our +God be a consuming fire, He is now burning up (to use St. Paul's +parable) the chaff and stubble which men have built on the one +foundation of Christ, that, at last, nought but the pure gold may +remain? Is it not possible? Is it not most probable, if we only +believe that Christ is a real, living King, an active, practical +King,--who, with boundless wisdom and skill, love and patience, is +educating and guiding Christendom, and through Christendom the whole +human race? + +If men would but believe that, how different would be their attitude +toward new facts, toward new opinions! They would receive them with +grace; gracefully, courteously, fairly, charitably, and with that +reverence and godly fear which the text tells us is the way to serve +God acceptably. They would say: 'Christ (so the Scripture tells us) +has been educating man through Abraham, through Moses, through David, +through the Jewish prophets, through the Greeks, through the Romans; +then through Himself, as man as well as God; and after His ascension, +through His Apostles, especially through St. Paul, to an ever- +increasing understanding of God, and the universe, and themselves. +And even after their time He did not cease His education. Why should +He? How could He, who said of Himself, "All power is given to me in +heaven and earth;" "Lo, I am with you alway to the end of the world;" +and again, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work?" + +'At the Reformation in the sixteenth century He called on our +forefathers to repent--that is, to change their minds--concerning +opinions which had been undoubted for more than a thousand years. +Why should He not be calling on us at this time likewise? And if any +answer, that the Reformation was only a return to the primitive faith +of the Apostles--Why should not this shaking of the hearts and minds +of men issue in a still further return, in a further correction of +errors, a further sweeping away of additions, which are not integral +to the Christian creeds, but which were left behind, through natural +and necessary human frailty, by our great Reformers? Wise they +were,--good and great,--as giants on the earth, while we are but as +dwarfs; but, as the hackneyed proverb tells us, the dwarf on the +giant's shoulders may see further than the giant himself.' + +Ah! that men would approach new truth in that spirit; in the spirit +of godly fear, which is inspired by the thought that we are in the +kingdom of God, and that the King thereof is Christ, both God and +man, once crucified for us, now living for us for ever! Ah! that +they would thus serve God, waiting, as servants before a lord, for +the slightest sign which might intimate his will! Then they would +look at new truths with caution; in that truly conservative spirit +which is the duty of all Christians, and the especial strength of the +Englishman. With caution,--lest in grasping eagerly after what is +new, we throw away truth which we have already: but with awe and +reverence; for Christ may have sent the new truth; and he who fights +against it, may haply be found fighting against God. And so would +they indeed obey the Apostolic injunction--Prove all things, hold +fast that which is good,--that which is pure, fair, noble, tending to +the elevation of men; to the improvement of knowledge, justice, +mercy, well-being; to the extermination of ignorance, cruelty, and +vice. That, at least, must come from Christ, unless the Pharisees +were right when they said that evil spirits could be cast out by +Beelzebub, prince of the devils. + +How much more Christian, reverent, faithful, as well as more prudent, +rational, and philosophical, would such a temper be than that which +condemns all changes a priori, at the first hearing, or rather, too +often, without any hearing at all, in rage and terror, like that of +the animal who at the same moment barks at, and runs away from, every +unknown object. + +At least that temper of mind will give us calm; faith, patience, +hope, charity, though the heavens and the earth are shaken around us. +For we have received a kingdom which cannot be moved, and in the King +thereof we have the most perfect trust: for us He stooped to earth, +was born, and died on the cross; and can we not trust Him? Let Him +do what He will; let Him teach us what He will; let Him lead us +whither He will. Wherever He leads, we shall find pasture. Wherever +He leads, must be the way of truth, and we will follow, and say, as +Socrates of old used to say, Let us follow the Logos boldly, +whithersoever it leadeth. If Socrates had courage to say it, how +much more should we, who know what he, good man, knew not, that the +Logos is not a mere argument, train of thought, necessity of logic, +but a Person--perfect God and perfect man, even Jesus Christ, 'the +same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,' who promised of old, and +therefore promises to us, and our children after us, to lead those +who trust Him into all truth. + + + +SERMON VII. THE BATTLE OF LIFE + + + +GALATIANS v. 16, 17. + +I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of +the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit +against the flesh: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. + + +A great poet speaks of 'Happiness, our being's end and aim;' and he +has been reproved for so doing. Men have said, and wisely, the end +and aim of our being is not happiness, but goodness. If goodness +comes first, then happiness may come after. But if not, something +better than happiness may come, even blessedness. + +This it is, I believe, which our Lord may have meant when He said, +'He that saveth his life, or soul' (for the two words in Scripture +mean exactly the same thing), 'shall lose it. And he that loseth his +life, shall save it. For what is a man profited if he gain the whole +world, and lose his own life?' + +How is this? It is a hard saying. Difficult to believe, on account +of the natural selfishness which lies deep in all of us. Difficult +even to understand in these days, when religion itself is selfish, +and men learn more and more to think that the end and aim of religion +is not to make them good while they live, but merely to save their +souls after they die. + +But whether it be hard to understand or not, we must understand it, +if we would be good men. And how to understand it, the Epistle for +this day will teach us. + +'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.' +The Spirit, which is the Spirit of God within our hearts and +conscience, says--Be good. The flesh, the animal, savage nature, +which we all have in common with the dumb animals, says--Be happy. +Please yourself. Do what you like. Eat and drink, for to-morrow you +die. + +But, happily for us, the Spirit lusts against the flesh. It draws us +the opposite way. It lifts us up, instead of dragging us down. It +has nobler aims, higher longings. It, as St. Paul puts it, will not +let us do the things that we would. It will not let us do just what +we like, and please ourselves. It often makes us unhappy just when +we try to be happy. It shames us, and cries in our hearts--You were +not meant merely to please yourselves, and be as the beasts which +perish. + +But how few listen to that voice of God's Spirit within their hearts, +though it be just the noblest thing of which they will ever be aware +on earth! + +How few listen to it, till the lusts of the flesh are worn out, and +have worn them out likewise, and made them reap the fruit which they +have sowed--sowing to the selfish flesh, and of the selfish flesh +reaping corruption. + +The young man says--I will be happy and do what I like; and runs +after what he calls pleasure. The middle-aged man, grown more +prudent, says--I will be happy yet, and runs after money, comfort, +fame and power. But what do they gain? 'The works of the flesh,' +the fruit of this selfish lusting after mere earthly happiness, 'are +manifest, which are these:'--not merely that open vice and immorality +into which the young man falls when he craves after mere animal +pleasure, but 'hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, +seditions, heresies'--i.e., factions in Church or State--'envyings, +murders, and such like.' + +Thus men put themselves under the law. Not under Moses' law, of +course, but under some law or other. + +For why has law been invented? Why is it needed, with all its +expense? Law is meant to prevent, if possible, men harming each +other by their own selfishness, by those lusts of the flesh which +tempt every man to seek his own happiness, careless of his +neighbour's happiness, interest, morals; by all the passions which +make men their own tormentors, and which make the history of every +nation too often a history of crime, and folly, and faction, and war, +sad and shameful to read; all those passions of which St. Paul says +once and for ever, that those who do such things 'shall not inherit +the kingdom of God.' + +These are the sad consequences of giving way to the flesh, the +selfish animal nature within us: and most miserable would man be if +that were all he had to look to. Miserable, were there not a kingdom +of God, into which he could enter all day long, and be at peace; and +a Spirit of God, who would raise him up to the spiritual life of +love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, +meekness, temperance; and a Son of God, the King of that kingdom, the +Giver of that Spirit, who cries for ever to every one of us--'Come +unto Me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. +Take My yoke on you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of +heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.' + +Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, +meekness, temperance; these are the fruits of the Spirit: the spirit +of unselfishness; the spirit of charity; the spirit of justice; the +spirit of purity; the Spirit of God. Against them there is no law. +He who is guided by this Spirit, and he only, may do what he would; +for he will wish to do nought but what is right. He is not under the +law, but under grace; and full of grace will he be in all his words +and works. He has entered into the kingdom of God, and is living +therein as God's subject, obeying the royal law of liberty--'Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' + +'The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the +flesh, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,' says St. Paul. + +My friends, this is the battle of life. + +In every one of us, more or less, this battle is going on; a battle +between the flesh and the Spirit, between the animal nature and the +divine grace. In every one of us, I say, who is not like the +heathen, dead in trespasses and sins; in every one of us who has a +conscience, excusing or else accusing us. There are those--a very +few, I hope--who are sunk below that state; who have lost their sense +of right and wrong; who only care to fulfil the lusts of the flesh in +pleasure, ease, and vanity. There are those in whom the voice of +conscience is lead for a while, silenced by self-conceit; who say in +their prosperity, like the foolish Laodiceans, 'I am rich, and +increased with goods, and have need of nothing,' and know not that in +fact and reality, and in the sight of God, they are 'wretched, and +miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' + +Happy, happy for any and all of us,--if ever we fall into that dream +of pride and false security,--to be awakened again, however painful +the awakening may be! Happy for every man that the battle between +the Spirit and the flesh should begin in him again and again, as long +as his flesh is not subdued to his spirit. If he be wrong, the +greatest blessing which can happen to him is, that he should find +himself in the wrong. If he have been deceiving himself, the +greatest blessing is, that God should anoint his eyes that he may +see--see himself as he is; see his own inbred corruption; see the sin +which doth so easily beset him, whatever it may be. Whatever anguish +of mind it may cost him, it is a light price to pay for the +inestimable treasure which true repentance and amendment brings; the +fine gold of solid self-knowledge, tried in the fire of bitter +experience; the white raiment of a pure and simple heart; the eye- +salve of honest self-condemnation and noble shame. If he have but +these--and these God will give him, in answer to prayer, the prayer +of a broken and a contrite heart--then he will be able to carry on +the battle against the corrupt flesh, with its affections and lusts, +in hope. In the assured hope of final victory. 'For greater is He +that is with us, than he that is against us? He that is against us +is our self, our selfish self; our animal nature; and He that is with +us is God; God and none other: and who can pluck us out of His hand? + +My friends, the bread and the wine on that table are God's own sign +to us that He will not leave us to be, like the savage, the slaves of +our own animal natures; that He will feed not merely our bodies with +animal, but our souls with spiritual food; giving us strength to rise +above our selfish selves; and so subdue the flesh to the Spirit, that +at last, however long and weary the fight, however sore wounded and +often worsted we may be, we shall conquer in the battle of life. + + + +SERMON VIII. FREE GRACE +(Preached before the Queen at Windsor, March 12, 1865.) + + + +ISAIAH iv. 1. + +Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath +no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without +money and without price. + + +Every one who knows his Bible as he should, knows well this noble +chapter. It seems to be one of the separate poems or hymns of which +the Book of Isaiah is composed. It is certainly one of the most +beautiful of them, and also one of the deepest. So beautiful is it, +that the good men of old who translated the Bible into English, could +not help catching the spirit of the words as they went on with their +work, and making the chapter almost a hymn in English, as it is a +hymn in Hebrew. Even the very sound of the words, as we listen to +them, is a song in itself; and there is perhaps no more perfect piece +of writing in the English language, than the greater part of this +chapter. + +This may not seem a very important matter; and yet those good men of +old must have felt that there was something in this chapter which +went home especially to their hearts, and would go home to the hearts +of us for whose sake they translated it. + +And those good men judged rightly. The care which they bestowed on +Isaiah's words has not been in vain. The noble sound of the text has +caught many a man's ears, in order that the noble meaning of the text +might touch his heart, and bring him back again to God, to seek Him +while He may be found, and call on Him while He is near; that so the +wicked might forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, +and return to God, for He will have compassion, and to our God, for +He will abundantly pardon; and that he might find that God's thoughts +are not as man's thoughts, nor His ways as man's ways, saith the +Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways +and thoughts higher than ours. + +Yes--I believe that the beauty of this chapter has made many a man +listen to it, who had perhaps never cared to listen to any good +before; and learn a precious lesson from it, which he could learn +nowhere save in the Bible. + +For this text is one of those which have been called the Evangelical +Prophecies, in which the prophet rises far above Moses' old law, and +the letter of it, which, as St. Paul says, is a letter which killeth; +and the spirit of it, which is a spirit which, as St. Paul says, +gendereth to bondage and slavish dread of God: an utterance in which +the prophet sees by faith the Lord Jesus Christ and His free grace +revealed--dimly, of course, and in a figure--but still revealed by +the Spirit of God, who spake by the prophets. As St. Paul says, +Moses' law made nothing perfect, and therefore had to be disannulled +for its unprofitableness and weakness, and a better hope brought in, +by which we draw near to God. And here, in this text, we see the +better hope coming in, and as it were dawning upon men--the dawn of +the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was to rise +afterwards, to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of +His people Israel. + +And what was this better hope? One, St. Paul says, by which we could +draw nigh to God; come near to Him; as to a Father, a Saviour, a +Comforter, a liege lord--not a tyrant who holds us against our will +as his slaves, but a liege lord who holds us with our will as His +tenants, His vassals, His liege men, as the good old English words +were; one who will take His vassals into His counsel, and inform them +with His Spirit, and teach them His mind, that they may do His will +and copy His example, and be treated by Him as His friends--in spite +of the infinite difference of rank between them and Him, which they +must never forget. + +But though the difference of rank be infinite and boundless--for it +is the difference between sinful man and God perfect for ever--yet +still man can now draw near to God. He is not commanded to stand +afar off in fear and trembling, as the old Jews were at Sinai. We +have not come, says St. Paul, to a mount which burned with fire, and +blackness, and darkness, and storm, and the sound of a trumpet, and +the voice of words, which those who heard entreated that they should +not be spoken to them any more: for they could not endure that which +was commanded: but we are come to the city of the living God, the +heavenly Jerusalem, and to the Church of the first-born which are +written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of +just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, +and to the blood of sprinkling. + +We are come to God, the Judge of all, and to Christ--not bidden to +stand afar off from them. That is the point to which I wish you to +attend. For this agrees with the words of the text, 'Ho, every one +that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' + +This message it is, which made this chapter precious in the eyes of +the good men of old. This message it is, which has made it precious, +in all times, to thousands of troubled, hard-worked, weary, afflicted +hearts. This is what has made it precious to thousands who were +wearied with the burden of their sins, and longed to be made +righteous and good; and knew bitterly well that they could not make +themselves good, but that God alone could do that; and so longed to +come to God, that they might be made good: but did not know whether +they might come or not; or whether, if they came, God would receive +them, and help them, and convert them. This message it is, which has +made the text an evangelical prophecy, to be fulfilled only in +Christ--a message which tells men of a God who says, Come. Of a God +whom Moses' law, saying merely, 'Thou shalt not,' did not reveal to +us, divine and admirable as it was, and is, and ever will be. Of a +God whom natural religion, such as even the heathen, St. Paul says, +may gain from studying God's works in this wonderful world around us- +-of a God, I say, whom natural religion does not reveal to us, divine +and admirable as it is. But of a God who was revealed, step by step, +to the Psalmists and the Prophets, more and more clearly as the years +went on; of a God who was fully and utterly revealed, not merely by, +but in Jesus Christ our Lord, who was Himself that God, very God of +very God begotten, being the brightness of His Father's glory, and +the express image of His person; whose message and call, from the +first day of His ministry to His glorious ascension, was, Come. + +Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh +you. + +Come unto Me, and take My yoke on you: for My yoke is easy, and My +burden is light. + +I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and +he that believeth in Me shall never thirst. + +All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me. And he that +cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. + +Nay, the very words of this prophecy Christ took to Himself again and +again, speaking of Himself as the fountain of life, health and light; +when He stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to +Me, and drink. + +Come unto Me, that ye may have life, is the message of Jesus Christ, +both God and man. Come, that you may have forgiveness of your sins; +come, that you may have the Holy Spirit, by which you may sin no +more, but live the life of the Spirit, the everlasting life of +goodness, by which the spirits of just men, and angels, and +archangels, live for ever before God. + +And what says St. Paul? See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. +For if they escaped not, who refused Him that spake on earth, much +more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from +heaven. + +Yes. The goodness of God, the condescension of God, instead of +making it more easy for sinners to escape, makes it, if possible, +more difficult. There are those who fancy that because God is +merciful--because it is written in this very chapter, Let a man +return to the Lord, and He will have mercy; and to our God, for He +will abundantly pardon,--that, therefore, God is indulgent, and will +overlook their sins; forgetting that in the verse before it is said, +Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts, and then--but not till then--let him return to God, to be +received with compassion and forgiveness. + +Too many know not, as St. Paul says, that the goodness of God leads +men, not to sin freely and carelessly without fear of punishment, but +leads them to repentance. And yet do not our own hearts and +consciences tell us that it is so? That it is more base, and more +presumptuous likewise, to turn away from one who speaks with love, +than one who speaks with sternness; from one who calls us to come to +him, with boundless condescension, than from one who bids us stand +afar off and tremble? + +Those Jews of old, when they refused to hear God speaking in the +thunders of Sinai, committed folly. We, if we refuse to hear God +speaking in the tender words of Jesus crucified for us, commit an +equal folly: but we commit baseness and ingratitude likewise. They +rebelled against a Master: we rebel against a Father. + +But, though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. We may be false to +Him, false to our better selves, false to our baptismal vows: but He +cannot be false. He cannot change. He is the same yesterday, to- +day, and for ever. What He said on earth, that He says eternally in +heaven: If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. + +Eternally, and for ever, in heaven, says St. John, Christ says, and +is, and does, what Isaiah prophesied that He would say, and be, and +do,--I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning +star. And the Spirit and the Bride (His Spirit and His Church) say, +Come. And let him that is athirst, Come: and whosoever will, let +him take of the water of life freely. For ever He calls to every +anxious soul, every afflicted soul, every weary soul, every +discontented soul, to every man who is ashamed of himself, and angry +with himself, and longs to live a soberer, gentler, nobler, purer, +truer, more useful life--Come. Let him who hungers and thirsts after +righteousness, come to the waters; and he that hath no silver-- +nothing to give to God in return for all His bounty--let him buy +without silver, and eat; and live for ever that eternal life of +righteousness, holiness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, which +is the one true and only salvation bought for us by the precious +blood of Christ, our Lord. + + + +SERMON IX. EZEKIEL'S VISION +(Preached before the Queen at Windsor, June 16, 1864.) + + + +EZEKIEL i. 1, 26. + +Now it came to pass, as I was among the captives by the river of +Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. And +upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of +a man. + + +Ezekiel's Vision may seem to some a strange and unprofitable subject +on which to preach. It ought not to be so in fact. All Scripture is +given by Inspiration of God, and is profitable for teaching, for +correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. And so +will this Vision be to us, if we try to understand it aright. We +shall find in it fresh knowledge of God, a clearer and fuller +revelation, made to Ezekiel, than had been, up to his time, made to +any man. + +I am well aware that there are some very difficult verses in the +text. It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand exactly what +presented itself to Ezekiel's mind. + +Ezekiel saw a whirlwind come out of the north; a whirling globe of +fire; four living creatures coming out of the midst thereof. So far +the imagery is simple enough, and grand enough. But when he begins +to speak of the living creatures, the cherubim, his description is +very obscure. All that we discover is, a vision of huge creatures +with the feet, and (as some think) the body of an ox, with four +wings, and four faces,--those of a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. +Ezekiel seems to discover afterwards that these are the cherubim, the +same which overshadowed the ark in Moses' tabernacle and Solomon's +temple--only of a more complex form; for Moses' and Solomon's +cherubim are believed to have had but one face each, while Ezekiel's +had four. + +Now, concerning the cherubim, and what they meant, we know very +little. The Jews, at the time of the fall of Jerusalem, had +forgotten their meaning. Josephus, indeed, says they had forgotten +their very shape. + +Some light has been thrown, lately, on the figures of these +creatures, by the sculptures of those very Assyrian cities to which +Ezekiel was a captive,--those huge winged oxen and lions with human +heads; and those huge human figures with four wings each, let down +and folded round them just as Ezekiel describes, and with heads, +sometimes of the lion, and sometimes of the eagle. None, however, +have been found as yet, I believe, with four faces, like those of +Ezekiel's Vision; they are all of the simpler form of Solomon's +cherubim. But there is little doubt that these sculptures were +standing there perfect in Ezekiel's time, and that he and the Jews +who were captive with him may have seen them often. And there is +little doubt also what these figures meant: that they were symbolic +of royal spirits--those thrones, dominations, princedoms, powers, of +which Milton speaks,--the powers of the earth and heaven, the royal +archangels who, as the Chaldaeans believed, governed the world, and +gave it and all things life; symbolized by them under the types of +the four royal creatures of the world, according to the Eastern +nations; the ox signifying labour, the lion power, the eagle +foresight, and the man reason. + +So with the wheels which Ezekiel sees. We find them in the Assyrian +sculptures--wheels with a living spirit sitting in each, a human +figure with outspread wings; and these seem to have been the genii, +or guardian angels, who watched over their kings, and gave them +fortune and victory. + +For these Chaldaeans were specially worshippers of angels and +spirits; and they taught the Jews many notions about angels and +spirits, which they brought home with them into Judaea after the +captivity. + +Of them, of course, we read little or nothing in Holy Scripture; but +there is much, and too much, about them in the writings of the old +Rabbis, the Scribes and Pharisees of the New Testament. + +Now Ezekiel, inspired by the Spirit of God, rises far above the old +Chaldaeans and their dreams. Perhaps the captive Jews were tempted +to worship these cherubim and genii, as the Chaldaeans did; and it +may be that Ezekiel was commissioned by God to set them right, and by +his vision to give a type, pattern, or picture of God's spiritual +laws, by which He rules the world. + +Be that as it may. In the first place, Ezekiel's cherubim are far +more wonderful and complicated than those which he would see on the +walls of the Assyrian buildings. And rightly so; for this world is +far more wonderful, more complicated, more cunningly made and ruled, +than any of man's fancies about it; as it is written in the Book of +Job,--'Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? +declare, if thou hast understanding. Whereupon are the foundations +thereof fastened? or who laid the corner-stone thereof; when the +morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for +joy?' + +Next (and this is most important), these different cherubim were not +independent of each other, each going his own way, and doing his own +will. Not so. Ezekiel had found in them a divine and wonderful +order, by which the services of angels as well as of men are +constituted. Orderly and harmoniously they worked together. Out of +the same fiery globe, from the same throne of God, they came forth +all alike. They turned not when they went; whithersoever the Spirit +was to go, they went, and ran and returned like a flash of lightning. +Nay, in one place he speaks as if all the four creatures were but one +creature: 'This is the living creature which I saw by the river of +Chebar.' + +And so it is, we may be sure, in the world of God, whether in the +earthly or in the heavenly world. All things work together, praising +God and doing His will. Angels and the heavenly host; sun and moon; +stars and light; fire and hail; snow and vapour; wind and storm: all +fulfil His word. 'He hath made them fast for ever and ever: He hath +given them a law which shall not be broken.' For before all things, +under all things, and through all things, is a divine unity and +order; all things working towards one end, because all things spring +from one beginning, which is the bosom of God the Father. + +And so with the wheels; the wheels of fortune and victory, and the +fate of nations and of kings. 'They were so high,' Ezekiel said, +'that they were dreadful.' But he saw no human genius sitting, one +in each wheel of fortune, each protecting his favourite king and +nation. These, too, did not go their own way and of their own will. +They were parts of God's divine and wonderful order, and obeyed the +same laws as the cherubim. 'And when the living creatures went, the +wheels went with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in +the wheels.' Everywhere was the same divine unity and order; the +same providence, the same laws of God, presided over the natural +world and over the fortunes of nations and of kings. Victory and +prosperity was not given arbitrarily by separate genii, each genius +protecting his favourite king, each genius striving against the other +on behalf of his favourite. Fortune came from the providence of One +Being; of Him of whom it is written, 'God standeth in the +congregation of princes: He is the judge among gods.' And again, +'The Lord is King, be the people never so impatient: He sitteth +between the cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet.' + +And is this all? God forbid. This is more than the Chaldaeans saw, +who worshipped angels and not God--the creature instead of the +Creator. But where the Chaldaean vision ended, Ezekiel's only began. +His prophecy rises far above the imaginations of the heathen. + +He hears the sound of the wings of the cherubim, like the tramp of an +army, like the noise of great waters, like the roll of thunder, the +voice of Almighty God: but above their wings he sees a firmament, +which the heathen cannot see, clear as the flashing crystal, and on +that firmament a sapphire throne, and round that throne a rainbow, +the type of forgiveness and faithfulness, and on that throne A Man. + +And the cherubim stand, and let down their wings in submission, +waiting for the voice of One mightier than they. And Ezekiel falls +upon his face, and hears from off the throne a human voice, which +calls to him as human likewise, 'Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and +I will speak to thee.' + +This, this is Ezekiel's vision: not the fiery globe merely, nor the +cherubim, nor the wheels, nor the powers of nature, nor the angelic +host--dominions and principalities, and powers--but The Man enthroned +above them all, the Lord and Guide and Ruler of the universe; He who +makes the winds His angels, and the flames of fire His ministers; and +that Lord speaking to him, not through cherubim, not through angels, +not through nature, not through mediators, angelic or human, but +speaking direct to him himself, as man speaks to man. + +As man speaks to man. This is the very pith and marrow of the Old +Testament and of the New; which gradually unfolds itself, from the +very first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation,--that man is +made in the likeness of God; and that therefore God can speak to him, +and he can understand God's words and inspirations. + +Man is like God; and therefore God, in some inconceivable way, is +like man. That is the great truth set forth in the first chapter of +Genesis, which goes on unfolding itself more clearly throughout the +Old Testament, till here, in Ezekiel's vision, it comes to, perhaps, +its clearest stage save one. + +That human appearance speaks to Ezekiel, the hapless prisoner of war, +far away from his native land. And He speaks to him with human +voice, and claims kindred with him as a human being, saying, 'Son of +man.' That is very deep and wonderful. The Lord upon His throne +does not wish Ezekiel to think how different He is to him, but how +like He is to him. He says not to Ezekiel,--'Creature infinitely +below Me! Dust and ashes, unworthy to appear in My presence! Worm +of the earth, as far below Me and unlike Me as the worm under thy +feet is to thee!' but, 'Son of man; creature made in My image and +likeness, be not afraid! Stand on thy feet, and be a man; and speak +to others what I speak to thee.' + +After that great revelation of God there seems but one step more to +make it perfect; and that step was made in God's good time, in the +Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also-- +He whom Ezekiel saw in human form enthroned on high--He took part of +flesh and blood likewise, and was not ashamed, yea, rather rejoiced, +to call Himself, what He called Ezekiel, the Son of Man. + +'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His +glory.' And why? + +For many reasons; but certainly for this one. To make men feel more +utterly and fully what Ezekiel was made to feel. That God could +thoroughly feel for man; and that man could thoroughly trust God. + +That God could thoroughly feel for man. For we have a High Priest +who has been made perfect by sufferings, tempted in all points like +as we are; and we can + + +'Look to Him who, not in vain, +Experienced every human pain; +He sees our wants, allays our fears, +And counts and treasures up our tears.' + + +Again,--That man could utterly trust God. For when St. John and his +companions (simple fishermen) beheld the glory of Jesus, the +Incarnate Word, what was it like? It was 'full of grace and truth;' +the perfection of human graciousness, of human truthfulness, which +could win and melt the hearts of simple folk, and make them see in +Him, who was called the carpenter's son, the beauty of the glory of +the Godhead. + +'He is the Judge of all the earth.' And why? Let Him Himself tell +us. He says that the Father has given the Son authority to execute +judgment. And why, once more? Because He is the Son of God? Our +Lord says more,--'Because,' He says, 'He is the Son of Man;' who +knows what is in man; who can feel, understand, discriminate, pity, +make allowances, judge fair, and righteous, and merciful judgment, +among creatures whose weakness He has experienced, whose temptations +He has felt, whose pains and sorrows He has borne in mortal flesh and +blood. + +Oh, Gospel and good news for the weak, the sorrowful, the oppressed; +for those who are wearied with the burden of their sins, or wearied +also by the burden of heavy responsibilities, and awful public +duties! When all mortal counsellors fail them, when all mortal help +is too weak, let them but throw themselves on the mercy of Him who +sits upon the throne, and remember that He, though immortal and +eternal, is still the Son of Man, who knows what is in man. + +There are times in which we are all tempted to worship other things +than God. Not, perhaps, to worship cherubim and genii, angels and +spirits, like the old Chaldees, but to worship the laws of political +economy, the laws of statesmanship, the powers of nature, the laws of +physical science, those lower messengers of God's providence, of +which St. Paul says, 'He maketh the winds His angels, and flames of +fire His ministers.' + +In such times we have need to remember Ezekiel's lesson, that above +them all, ruling and guiding, sits He whose form is as the Son of +Man. + +We are not to say that any powers of nature are evil, or the laws of +any science false. Heaven forbid! Ezekiel did not say that the +cherubim were evil, or meaningless; or that the belief in angels +ministering to man was false. He said the very opposite. But he +said, All these obey one whose form is that of a man. He rules them, +and they do His will. They are but ministering spirits before Him. + +Therefore we are not to disbelieve science, nor disregard the laws of +nature, or we shall lose by our folly. But we are to believe that +nature and science are not our gods. They do not rule us; our +fortunes are not in their hands. Above nature and above science sits +the Lord of nature and the Lord of science. Above all the counsels +of princes, and the struggles of nations, and the chances and changes +of this world of man, sits the Judge of princes and of peoples, the +Lord of all the nations upon earth, He by whom all things were made, +and who upholdeth all things by the word of His power; and He is man, +of the substance of His mother; most human and yet most divine; full +of justice and truth, full of care and watchfulness, full of love and +pity, full of tenderness and understanding; a Friend, a Guide, a +Counsellor, a Comforter, a Saviour to all who trust in Him. He is +nearer to us than nature and science: and He should be dearer to us; +for they speak only to our understanding; but He speaks to our human +hearts, to our inmost spirits. Nature and science cannot take away +our sins, give peace to our hearts, right judgment to our minds, +strength to our wills, or everlasting life to our souls and bodies. +But there sits One upon the throne who can. And if nature were to +vanish away, and science were to be proved (however correct as far as +it went) a mere child's guess about this wonderful world, which none +can understand save He who made it--if all the counsels of princes +and of peoples, however just and wise, were to be confounded and come +to nought, still, after all, and beyond all, and above all, Christ +would abide for ever, with human tenderness yearning over human +hearts; with human wisdom teaching human ignorance; with human +sympathy sorrowing with human mourners; for ever saying, 'Come unto +me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' + +Cherubim and seraphim, angels and archangels, dominions and powers, +whether of nature or of grace--these all serve Him and do His work. +He has constituted their services in a wonderful order: but He has +not taken their nature on Him. Our nature He has taken on Him, that +we might be bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh; able to say to +Him for ever, in all the chances and changes of this mortal life - + + +'Thou, O Christ, art all I want, + More than all in thee I find; +Raise me, fallen; cheer me, faint; + Heal me, sick; and lead me, blind. +Thou of life the fountain art, + Freely let me drink of Thee; +Spring Thou up within my heart, + Rise to all eternity.' + + + +SERMON X. RUTH + + + +RUTH ii. 4. + +And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The +Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. + + +Most of you know the story of Ruth, from which my text is taken, and +you have thought it, no doubt, a pretty story. But did you ever +think why it was in the Bible? + +Every book in the Bible is meant to teach us, as the Article of our +Church says, something necessary to salvation. But what is there +necessary to our salvation in the Book of Ruth? + +No doubt we learn from it that Ruth was the ancestress of King David; +and that she was, therefore, an ancestress of our blessed Lord Jesus +Christ: but curious and interesting as that is, we can hardly call +that something necessary to salvation. There must be something more +in the book. Let us take it simply as it stands, and see if we can +find it out. + +It begins by telling us how a man of Bethlehem has been driven out of +his own country by a famine, he and his wife Naomi and his two sons, +and has gone over the border into Moab, among the heathen; how his +two sons have married heathen women, and the name of the one was +Ruth, and the name of the other Orpah. Then how he dies, and his two +sons; and how Naomi, his widow, hears that the Lord had visited His +people, in giving them bread; how the people of Judah were prosperous +again, and she is there all alone among the heathen; so she sets out +to go back to her own people, and her daughters-in-law go with her. + +But she persuades them not to go. Why do they not stay in their own +land? And they weep over each other; and Orpah kisses her mother-in- +law, and goes back; but Ruth cleaves unto her. + +Then follows that famous speech of Ruth's, which, for its simple +beauty and poetry, has become a proverb, and even a song, among us to +this day. + +And Ruth said, 'Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from +following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where +thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy +God my God: + +'Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord +do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.' + +So when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go to her, she +left speaking to her. + +And they come to Bethlehem, and all the town was moved about them; +and they said, Is this Naomi? + +'And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the +Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the +Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, +seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath +afflicted me?' + +And they came to Bethlehem about the passover tide, at the beginning +of barley harvest, and Ruth went out into the fields to glean, and +she lighted on a part of the field which belonged to Boaz, who was of +her husband's kindred. + +And Boaz was a mighty man of wealth, according to the simple fashions +of that old land and old time. Not like one of our great modern +noblemen, or merchants, but rather like one of our wealthy yeomen: a +man who would not disdain to work in his field with his own slaves, +after the wholesome fashion of those old times, when a royal prince +and mighty warrior would sow the corn with his own hands, while his +man opened the furrow with the plough before him. There Boaz dwelt, +with other yeomen, up among the limestone hills, in the little walled +village of Bethlehem, which was afterwards to become so famous and so +holy; and had, we may suppose, his vineyard and his olive-garden on +the rocky slopes, and his corn-fields in the vale below, and his +flock of sheep and goats feeding on the downs; while all his wealth +besides lay, probably, after the Eastern fashion, in one great chest- +-full of rich dresses, and gold and silver ornaments, and coins, all +foreign, got in exchange for his corn, and wine, and oil, from +Assyrian, or Egyptian, or Phoenician traders; for the Jews then had +no money, and very little manufacture, of their own. + +And he would have had hired servants, too, and slaves, in his house; +treated kindly enough, as members of the family, eating and drinking +at his table, and faring nearly as well as he fared himself. + +A stately, God-fearing man he plainly was; respectable, courteous, +and upright, and altogether worthy of his wealth; and he went out +into the field, looking after his reapers in the barley harvest-- +about our Easter-tide. + +And he said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, +The Lord bless thee. + +Then he saw Ruth, who had happened to light upon his field, gleaning +after the reapers, and found out who she was, and bid her glean +without fear, and abide by his maidens, for he had charged the young +men that they shall not touch her. + +'And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, and eat of +the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the +reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was +sufficed, and left. + +'And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, +saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: +and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave +them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. + +'So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had +gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.' + +Then follows the simple story, after the simple fashion of those +days. How Naomi bids Ruth wash and anoint herself, and put on her +best garments, and go down to Boaz' floor (his barn as we should call +it now) where he is going to eat, and drink, and sleep, and there +claim his protection as a near kinsman. + +And how Ruth comes in softly and lies down at his feet, and how he +treats her honourably and courteously, and promises to protect her. +But there is a nearer kinsman than he, and he must be asked first if +he will do the kinsman's part, and buy his cousin's plot of land, and +marry his cousin's widow with it. + +And how Boaz goes to the town-gate next day, and sits down in the +gate (for the porch of the gate was a sort of town-hall or vestry- +room in the East, wherein all sorts of business was done), and there +he challenges the kinsman,--Will he buy the ground and marry Ruth? +And he will not: he cannot afford it. Then Boaz calls all the town +to witness that day, that he has bought all that was Elimelech's, and +Ruth the Moabitess to be his wife. + +'And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We +are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house +like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: +and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.' + +And in due time Ruth had a son. 'And the women said unto Naomi, +Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a +kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. + +'And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of +thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is +better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. + +'And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse +unto it. + +'And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son +born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of +Jesse, the father of David.' + +And so ends the Book of Ruth. + +Now, my friends, can you not answer for yourselves the question which +I asked at first,--Why is the story of Ruth in the Bible, and what +may we learn from it which is necessary for our salvation? + +I think, at least, that you will be able to answer it--if not in +words, still in your hearts--if you will read the book for +yourselves. + +For does it not consecrate to God that simple country life which we +lead here? Does it not tell us that it is blessed in the sight of +Him who makes the grass to grow, and the corn to ripen in its season? + +Does it not tell us, that not only on the city and the palace, on the +cathedral and the college, on the assemblies of statesmen, on the +studies of scholars, but upon the meadow and the corn-field, the +farm-house and the cottage, is written, by the everlasting finger of +God--Holiness unto the Lord? That it is all blessed in His sight; +that the simple dwellers in villages, the simple tillers of the +ground, can be as godly and as pious, as virtuous and as high-minded, +as those who have nought to do but to serve God in the offices of +religion? Is it not an honour and a comfort, to such as us, to find +one whole book of the Holy Bible occupied by the simplest story of +the fortunes of a yeoman's family, in a lonely village among the +hills of Judah? True, the yeoman's widow became the ancestress of +David, and of his mighty line of kings--nay, the ancestress of our +Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But the Book of Ruth was not written +mainly to tell us that fact. It mentions it at the end, and as it +were by accident. The book itself is taken up with the most simple +and careful details of country life, country customs, country folk-- +as if that was what we were to think of, as we read of Ruth. And +that is what we do think of--not of the ancestress of kings, but of +the fair young heathen gleaning among the corn, with the pious, +courteous, high-minded yeoman bidding her abide fast by his maidens, +and when she was athirst drink of the wine which the young men have +drawn, for it has been fully showed him all she has done for her +mother-in-law; and the Lord will recompense her work, and a full +reward be given her of the Lord God of Israel, under the shadow of +whose wings she is to come to trust. That is the scene which +painters naturally draw; that is what we naturally think of; because +God, who gave us the Bible, meant us to think thereof; and to know, +that working in the quiet village, or in the distant field, women may +be as pure and modest, men as high-minded and well-bred, and both as +full of the fear of God, and the thought that God's eye is upon them, +as if they were in a place, or a station, where they had nothing to +do but to watch over the salvation of their own souls; that the +meadow and the harvest-field need not be, as they too often are, +places for temptation and for defilement; where the old too often +teach the young, not to fear God and keep themselves pure, but to +copy their coarse jests and foul language, and listen to stories +which had better be buried for ever in the dirt out of which they +spring. You know what I mean. You know what field-work too often +is. Read the Book of Ruth, and see what field-work may be, and ought +to be. + +Yes, my dear friends. Pure you may be, and gentle, upright, and +godly, about your daily work, if the Spirit of God be within you. + +Country life has its temptations: and so has town life, and every +life. But there has no temptation taken you save such as is common +to man. Boaz, the rich yeoman; Naomi, the broken-hearted and ruined; +Ruth, the fair young widow--all had the very same temptations as are +common to you now, here; but they conquered them, because they feared +God and kept His commandments; and to know that, is necessary for +your salvation. + +And, looked at in this light, the Book of Ruth is indeed a prophecy; +a forecast and a shadow of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Himself, +who spake to country folk as never man spake before, and bade them +look upon the simple, every-day matters which were around them in +field and wood, and open their eyes to the Divine lessons of God's +providence, which also were all around them; who, born Himself in +that little village of Bethlehem, and brought up in the little +village of Nazareth, among the lonely lanes and downs, spoke of +country things to country folk, and bade them read in the great green +book which God has laid open before them all day long. Who bade them +to consider the lilies of the field, how they grew, and the ravens, +how God fed them; to look on the fields, white for harvest, and pray +God to send labourers into his spiritual harvest-field; to look on +the tares which grew among the wheat, and know we must not try to +part them ourselves, but leave that to God at the last day; to look +on the fishers, who were casting their net into the Lake of Galilee, +and sorting the fish upon the shore, and be sure that a day was +coming, when God would separate the good from the bad, and judge +every man according to his work and worth; and to learn from the +common things of country life the rule of the living God, and the +laws of the kingdom of heaven. + +One word more, and I have done. + +The story of Ruth is also the consecration of woman's love. I do not +mean of the love of wife to husband, divine and blessed as that is. +I mean that depth and strength of devotion, tenderness, and self- +sacrifice, which God has put in the heart of all true women; and +which they spend so strangely, and so nobly often, on persons who +have no claim on them, from whom they can receive no earthly reward;- +-the affection which made women minister of their substance to our +Lord Jesus Christ; which brought Mary Magdalene to the foot of the +Cross, and to the door of the tomb, that she might at least see the +last of Him whom she thought lost to her for ever; the affection +which has made a wise man say, that as long as women and sorrow are +left in the world, so long will the Gospel of our Lord Jesus live and +conquer therein; the affection which makes women round us every day +ministering angels, wherever help or comfort are needed; which makes +many a woman do deeds of unselfish goodness known only to God; not +known even to herself; for she does them by instinct, by the +inspiration of God's Spirit, without self-consciousness or pride, +without knowing what noble things she is doing, without spoiling the +beauty of her good work by even admitting to herself, 'What a good +work it is! How right she is in doing it! How much it will advance +the salvation of her own soul!'--but thinking herself, perhaps, a +very useless and paltry person; while the angels of God are claiming +her as their sister and their peer. + +Yes, if there is a woman in this congregation--and there is one, I +will warrant, in every congregation in England--who is devoting +herself for the good of others; giving up the joys of life to take +care of orphans who have no legal claim on her; or to nurse a +relation, who perhaps repays her with little but exacting +peevishness; or who has spent all her savings, in bringing up her +brothers, or in supporting her parents in their old age,--then let +her read the story of Ruth, and be sure that, like Ruth, she will be +repaid by the Lord. Her reward may not be the same as Ruth's: but +it will be that which is best for her, and she shall in no wise lose +her reward. If she has given up all for Christ, it shall be repaid +her ten-fold in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting. +If, with Ruth, she is true to the inspirations of God's Spirit, then, +with Ruth, God will be true to her. Let her endure, for in due time +she shall reap, if she faint not;--and to know that, is necessary for +her salvation. + + + +SERMON XI. SOLOMON + + + +ECCLESIASTES i. 12-14. + +I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my +heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are +done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of +man to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are +done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of +spirit. + + +All have heard of Solomon the Wise. His name has become a proverb +among men. It was still more a proverb among the old Rabbis, the +lawyers and scribes of the Gospels. + +Their hero, the man of whom they delighted to talk and dream, was not +David, the Psalmist, and the shepherd-boy, the man of many +wanderings, and many sorrows: but his son Solomon, with all his +wealth, and pomp and magic wisdom. Ever since our Lord's time, if +not before it, Solomon has been the national hero of the Jews; while +David, as the truer type and pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, has +been the hero of Christians. + +The Rabbis, with their Eastern fancy--childishly fond, to this day, +of gold, and jewels, and outward pomp and show--would talk and dream +of the lost glories of Solomon's court; of his gilded and jewelled +temple, with its pillars of sandal-wood from Ophir, and its sea of +molten brass; of his ivory lion-throne, and his three hundred golden +shields; of his fleets which went away into the far Indian sea, and +came back after three years with foreign riches and curious beasts. +And as if that had not been enough, they delighted to add to the +truth fable upon fable. The Jews, after the time of the Babylonish +captivity, seem to have more and more identified Wisdom with mere +Magic; and therefore Solomon was, in their eyes, the master of all +magicians. He knew the secrets of the stars, and of the elements, +the secrets of all charms and spells. By virtue of his magic seal he +had power over all those evil spirits, with which the Jews believed +the earth and sky to be filled. He could command all spirits, force +them to appear to him and bow before him, and send them to the ends +of the earth to do his bidding. Nothing so fantastic, nothing so +impossible, but those old Scribes and Pharisees imputed it to their +idol, Solomon the Wise. + +The Bible, of course, has no such fancies in it, and gives us a sober +and rational account of Solomon's wisdom, and of Solomon's greatness. + +It tells us how, when he was yet young, God appeared to him in a +dream, and said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon made answer +- + +' . . . O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead of +David my father; and I am but a little child: I know not how to go +out or come in. + +'Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy +people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to +judge this Thy so great a people? + +'And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. + +'And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast +not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for +thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for +thyself understanding to discern judgment; + +'Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a +wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee +before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. + +'And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both +riches and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings +like unto thee all thy days.' + +And the promise, says Solomon himself, was fulfilled. + +In his days Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the +sea-shore, for multitude, eating and drinking and making merry; and +Solomon reigned over all kings, from the river to the land of the +Philistines and the border of Egypt; and they brought presents, and +served Solomon all the days of his life. And he had peace on all +sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man +under his own vine and his own fig-tree, all the days of Solomon. + +'I was great,' he says, 'and increased more than all that were before +me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever +mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from +any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour . . . + +'Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the +labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and +vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. + +'And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for +what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath +been already done.' + +Yes, my dear friends, we are too apt to think of exceeding riches, or +wisdom, or power, or glory, as unalloyed blessings from God. How +many are there who would say,--if it were not happily impossible for +them,--Oh that I were like Solomon! Happy man that he was, to be +able to say of himself, 'I was great, and increased more than all +that were before me in Jerusalem. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, +I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, for my +heart rejoiced in all my labour.' + +To have everything that he wanted, to be able to do anything that he +liked--was he not a happy man? Is not such a life a Paradise on +earth? + +Yes, my friends, it is. But it is the Paradise of fools. + +Yet, Solomon was not a fool. He says expressly that his wisdom +remained with him through all his labour. Through all his pleasure +he kept alive the longing after knowledge. He even tried, as he +says, wine, and mirth, and folly, yet acquainting himself with +wisdom. He would try that, as well as statesmanship, and the rule of +a great kingdom, and the building of temples and palaces, and the +planting of parks and gardens, and his three thousand Proverbs, and +his Songs a thousand and five; and his speech of beasts and of birds +and of all plants, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop which +groweth on the wall. He would know everything, and try everything. +If he was luxurious and proud, he would be no idler, no useless gay +liver. He would work, and discern, and know,--and at last he found +it all out, and this was the sum thereof--'Vanity of vanities, saith +the Preacher; all is vanity.' + +He found no rest in pleasure, riches, power, glory, wisdom itself; he +had learnt nothing more after all than he might have known, and +doubtless did know, when he was a child of seven years old. And that +was, simply to fear God and keep His commandments; for that was the +whole duty of man. + +But though he knew it, he had lost the power of doing it; and he +ended darkly and shamefully, a dotard worshipping idols of wood and +stone, among his heathen queens. And thus, as in David the height of +chivalry fell to the deepest baseness; so in Solomon the height of +wisdom fell to the deepest folly. + +My friends, the truth is, that exceeding gifts from God like +Solomon's are not blessings, they are duties; and very solemn and +heavy duties. They do not increase a man's happiness; they only +increase his responsibility--the awful account which he must give at +last of the talents committed to his charge. They increase, too, his +danger. They increase the chance of his having his head turned to +pride and pleasure, and falling shamefully, and coming to a miserable +end. As with David, so with Solomon. Man is nothing, and God is all +in all. + +And as with David and Solomon, so with many a king and many a great +man. Consider those who have been great and glorious in their day. +And in how many cases they have ended sadly! The burden of glory has +been too heavy for them to bear; they have broken down under it. + +The great Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain and +all the Indies: our own great Queen Elizabeth, who found England all +but ruined, and left her strong and rich, glorious and terrible: +Lord Bacon, the wisest of all mortal men since the time of Solomon: +and, in our own fathers' time, Napoleon Buonaparte, the poor young +officer, who rose to be the conqueror of half Europe, and literally +the king of kings,--how have they all ended? In sadness and +darkness, vanity and vexation of spirit. + +Oh, my friends! if ever proud and ambitious thoughts arise in any of +our hearts, let us crush them down till we can say with David: +'Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I +exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. + +'Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned +of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.' + +And if ever idle and luxurious thoughts arise in our hearts, and we +are tempted to say, 'Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many +years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry;' let us hear the +word of the Lord crying against us: 'Thou fool! This night shall +thy soul be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which +thou hast provided?' + +Let us pray, my friends, for that great--I had almost said, that +crowning grace and virtue of moderation, what St. Paul calls sobriety +and a sound mind. Let us pray for moderate appetites, moderate +passions, moderate honours, moderate gains, moderate joys; and, if +sorrows be needed to chasten us, moderate sorrows. Let us long +violently after nothing, or wish too eagerly to rise in life; and be +sure that what the Apostle says of those who long to be rich is +equally true of those who long to be famous, or powerful, or in any +way to rise over the heads of their fellow-men. They all fall, as +the Apostle says, into foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in +destruction and perdition, and so pierce themselves through with many +sorrows. + +And let us thank God heartily if He has put us into circumstances +which do not tempt us to wild and vain hopes of becoming rich, or +great or admired by men. + +Especially let us thank Him for this quiet country life which we lead +here, free from ambition, and rash speculation, and the hope of great +and sudden gains. All know, who have watched the world, how +unwholesome for a man's soul any trade or occupation is which offers +the chance of making a rapid fortune. It has hurt the souls of too +many merchants and manufacturers ere now. Good and sober-minded men +there are among them, thank God, who can resist the temptation, and +are content to go along the plain path of quiet and patient honesty; +but to those who have not the sober spirit, who have not the fear of +God before their eyes, the temptation is too terrible to withstand; +and it is not withstood; and therefore the columns of our newspapers +are so often filled with sad cases of bankruptcy, forgery, +extravagant and desperate trading, bubble fortunes spent in a few +years of vain show and luxury, and ending in poverty and shame. + +Happy, on the other hand, are those who till the ground; who never +can rise high enough, or suddenly enough, to turn their heads; whose +gains are never great and quick enough to tempt them to wild +speculation: but who can, if they will only do their duty patiently +and well, go on year after year in quiet prosperity, and be content +to offer up, week by week, Agur's wise prayer: 'Give me neither +poverty nor riches, but feed me with food sufficient for me.' + +They need never complain that they have no time to think of their own +souls; that the hurry and bustle of business must needs drive +religion out of their minds. Their life passes in a quiet round of +labours. Day after day, week after week, season after season, they +know beforehand what they have to do, and can arrange their affairs +for this world, so as to give them full time to think of the world to +come. Every week brings small gains, for which they can thank the +God of all plenty; and every week brings, too, small anxieties, for +which they can trust the same God who has given them His only- +begotten Son, and will with Him freely give them all things needful +for them; who has, in mercy to their souls and bodies, put them in +the healthiest and usefullest of all pursuits, the one which ought to +lead their minds most to God, and the one in which (if they be +thoughtful men) they have the deep satisfaction of feeling that they +are not working for themselves only, but for their fellow-men; that +every sheaf of corn they grow is a blessing, not merely to +themselves, but to the whole nation. + +My friends, think of these things, especially at this rich and +blessed harvest-time; and while you thank your God and your Saviour +for His unexampled bounty in this year's good harvest, do not forget +to thank Him for having given the sowing and the reaping of those +crops to you; and for having called you to that business in life in +which, I verily believe, you will find it most easy to serve and obey +Him, and be least tempted to ambition and speculation, and the lust +of riches, and the pride which goes before a fall. + +Think of these things; and think of the exceeding mercies which God +heaps on you as Englishmen,--peace and safety, freedom and just laws, +the knowledge of His Bible, the teaching of His Church, and all that +man needs for body and soul. Let those who have thanked God already, +thank Him still more earnestly, and show their thankfulness not only +in their lips, but in their lives; and let those who have not thanked +Him, awake, and learn, as St. Paul bids them, from God's own witness +of Himself, in that He has sent them fruitful seasons, filling their +hearts with food and gladness: --let them learn, I say, from that, +that they have a Father in heaven who has given them His only- +begotten Son, and will with Him freely give them all things needful: +only asking in return that they should obey His laws--to obey which +is everlasting life. + + + +SERMON XII. PROGRESS +(Preached before the Queen at Clifden, June 3, 1866.) + + + +ECCLESIASTES vii. 10, + +Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than +these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. + + +This text occurs in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which has been for many +centuries generally attributed to Solomon the son of David. I say +generally, because, not only among later critics, but even among the +ancient Jewish Rabbis, there have been those who doubted or denied +that Solomon was its author. + +I cannot presume to decide on such a question: but it seems to me +most probable, that the old tradition is right, even though the book +may have suffered alterations, both in form and in language: but any +later author, personating Solomon, would surely have put into his +month very different words from those of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was +the ideal hero-king of the later Jews. Stories of his superhuman +wealth, of magical power, of a fabulous extent of dominion, grew up +about his name. He who was said to control, by means of his wondrous +seal, the genii of earth and air, would scarcely have been +represented as a disappointed and broken-hearted sage, who pronounced +all human labour to be vanity and vexation of spirit; who saw but one +event for the righteous and the wicked, and the wise man and the +fool; and questioned bitterly whether there was any future state, any +pre-eminence in man over the brute. + +These, and other startling utterances, made certain of the early +Rabbis doubt the authenticity and inspiration of the Book of +Ecclesiastes, as containing things contrary to the Law, and to desire +its suppression, till they discovered in it--as we may, if we be +wise--a weighty and world-wide meaning. + +Be that as it may, it would certainly be a loss to Scripture, and to +our knowledge of humanity, if it was proved that this book, in its +original shape, was not written by a great king, and most probably by +Solomon himself. The book gains by that fact, not only in its +reality and truthfulness, but in its value and importance as a lesson +of human life. Especially does this text gain; for it has a natural +and deep connection with Solomon and his times. + +The former days were better than his days: he could not help seeing +that they were. He must have feared lest the generation which was +springing up should inquire into the reason thereof, in a tone which +would breed--which actually did breed--discontent and revolution. + +But the fact seemed at first sight patent. The old heroic days of +Samuel and David were past. The Jewish race no longer produced such +men as Saul and Jonathan, as Joab and Abner. A generation of great +men, whose names are immortal, had died out, and a generation of +inferior men, of whom hardly one name has come down to us, had +succeeded them. The nation had lost its primaeval freedom, and the +courage and loyalty which freedom gives. It had become rich, and +enervated by luxury and ease. Solomon had civilised the Jewish +kingdom, till it had become one of the greatest nations of the East; +but it had become also, like the other nations of the East, a vast +and gaudy despotism, hollow and rotten to the core; ready to fall to +pieces at Solomon's death, by selfishness, disloyalty, and civil war. +Therefore it was that Solomon hated all his labour that he had +wrought under the sun; for all was vanity and vexation of spirit. + +Such were the facts. And yet it was not wise to look at them too +closely; not wise to inquire why the former times were better than +those. So it was. Let it alone. Pry not too curiously into the +past, or into the future: but do the duty which lies nearest to +thee. Fear God and keep His commandments. For that is the whole +duty of man. + +Thus does Solomon lament over the certain decay of the Jewish Empire. +And his words, however sad, are indeed eternal and inspired. For +they have proved true, and will prove true to the end, of every +despotism of the East, or empire formed on Eastern principles; of the +old Persian Empire, of the Roman, of the Byzantine, of those of +Hairoun Alraschid and of Aurungzebe, of those Turkish and Chinese- +Tartar empires whose dominion is decaying before our very eyes. Of +all these the wise man's words are true. They are vanity and +vexation of spirit. That which is crooked cannot be made straight, +and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. The thing which has +been is that which shall be, and there is no new thing under the sun. +Incapacity of progress; the same outward civilization repeating +itself again and again; the same intrinsic certainty of decay and +death;--these are the marks of all empire, which is not founded on +that foundation which is laid, even Jesus Christ. + +But of Christian nations these words are not true. They pronounce +the doom of the old world: but the new world has no part in them, +unless it copies the sins and follies of the old. + +It is not true of Christian nations that the thing which has been is +that which shall be; and that there is no new thing under the sun. +For over them is the kingdom of Christ, the Saviour of all men, +specially of them which believe, the King of all the princes of the +earth, who has always asserted, and will for ever assert, His own +overruling dominion. And in them is the Spirit of God, which is the +spirit of truth and righteousness; of improvement, discovery, +progress from darkness to light, from folly to wisdom, from barbarism +to justice, and mercy, and the true civilization of the heart and +spirit. + +And, therefore, for us it is not only an act of prudence, but a duty; +a duty of faith in God; a duty of loyalty to Jesus Christ our Lord, +not to ask, Why the former times were better than these? For they +were not better than these. Every age has had its own special +nobleness, its own special use: but every age has been better than +the age which went before it; for the Spirit of God is leading the +ages on, toward that whereof it is written, 'Eye hath not seen nor +ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the +things which God hath prepared for those that love Him.' + +Very unfaithful are we to the teaching of God's Spirit; many and +heavy are our sins against light and knowledge, and means, and +opportunities of grace. But let us not add to those sins the sin +(for such it is) of inquiring why the former times were better than +these. + +For, first, the inquiry shows disbelief in our Lord's own words, that +all dominion is given to Him in heaven and earth, and that He is with +us always, even to the end of the world. And next, it is a vain +inquiry, based on a mistake. When we look back longingly to any past +age, we look not at the reality, but at a sentimental and untrue +picture of our own imagination. When we look back longingly to the +so-called ages of faith, to the personal loyalty of the old +Cavaliers; when we regret that there are no more among us such giants +in statesmanship and power as those who brought Europe through the +French Revolution; when we long that our lot was cast in any age +beside our own, we know not what we ask. The ages which seem so +beautiful afar off, would look to us, were we in them, uglier than +our own. If we long to be back in those so-called devout ages of +faith, we long for an age in which witches and heretics were burned +alive; if we long after the chivalrous loyalty of the old Cavaliers, +we long for an age in which stage-plays were represented, even before +a virtuous monarch like Charles I., which the lowest of our playgoers +would not now tolerate. When we long for anything that is past, we +long, it may be, for a little good which we seem to have lost; but we +long also for real and fearful evil, which, thanks be to God, we have +lost likewise. We are not, indeed, to fancy this age perfect, and +boast, like some, of the glorious nineteenth century. We are to keep +our eyes open to all its sins and defects, that we may amend them. +And we are to remember, in fear and trembling, that to us much is +given, and of us much is required. But we are to thank God that our +lot is cast in an age which, on the whole, is better than any age +whatsoever that has gone before it, and to do our best that the age +which is coming may be better even than this. + +We are neither to regret the past, nor rest satisfied in the present; +but, like St. Paul, forgetting those things that are behind us, and +reaching onward to those things that are before us, press forward, +each and all, to the prize of our high calling in Jesus Christ. + +And as with nations and empires, so with our own private lives. It +is not wise to ask why the former times were better than these. It +is natural, pardonable: but not wise; because we are so apt to +mistake the subject about which we ask, and when we say, 'Why were +the old times better?' merely to mean, 'Why were the old times +happier?' That is not the question. There is something higher than +happiness, says a wise man. There is blessedness; the blessedness of +being good and doing good, of being right and doing right. That +blessedness we may have at all times; we may be blest even in anxiety +and in sadness; we may be blest, even as the martyrs of old were +blest--in agony and death. The times are to us whatsoever our +character makes them. And if we are better men than we were in +former times, then is the present better than the past, even though +it be less happy. And why should it not be better? Surely the +Spirit of God, the spirit of progress and improvement, is working in +us, the children of God, as well as in the great world around. +Surely the years ought to have made us better, more useful, more +worthy. We may have been disappointed in our lofty ideas of what +ought to be done. But we may have gained more clear and practical +notions of what can be done. We may have lost in enthusiasm, and yet +gained in earnestness. We may have lost in sensibility, yet gained +in charity, activity, and power. We may be able to do far less, and +yet what we do may be far better done. + +And our very griefs and disappointments--Have they been useless to +us? Surely not. We shall have gained, instead of lost, by them, if +the Spirit of God be working in us. Our sorrows will have wrought in +us patience, our patience experience of God's sustaining grace, who +promises that as our day our strength shall be; and of God's tender +providence, which tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, and lays on +none a burden beyond what they are able to bear. And that experience +will have worked in us hope: hope that He who has led us thus far +will lead us farther still; that He who brought us through the trials +of youth, will bring us through the trials of age; that He who taught +us in former days precious lessons, not only by sore temptations, but +most sacred joys, will teach us in the days to come fresh lessons by +temptations which we shall be more able to endure; and by joys which, +though unlike those of old times, are no less sacred, no less sent as +lessons to our souls, by Him from whom all good gifts come. + +We will believe this. And instead of inquiring why the former days +were better than these, we will trust that the coming days shall be +better than these, and those which are coming after them better still +again, because God is our Father, Christ our Saviour, the Holy Ghost +our Comforter and Guide. We will toil onward: because we know we +are toiling upward. We will live in hope, not in regret; because +hope is the only state of mind fit for a race for whom God has +condescended to stoop, and suffer, and die, and rise again. We will +believe that we, and all we love, whether in earth or heaven, are +destined--if we be only true to God's Spirit--to rise, improve, +progress for ever: and so we will claim our share, and keep our +place, in that vast ascending and improving scale of being, which, as +some dream--and surely not in vain--goes onward and upward for ever +throughout the universe of Him who wills that none should perish. + + + +SERMON XIII. FAITH +(Preached before the Queen at Windsor, December 5, 1865) + + + +HABAKKUK ii. 4. + +The just shall live by his faith. + + +We shall always find it most safe, as well as most reverent, to +inquire first the literal and exact meaning of a text; to see under +what circumstances it was written; what meaning it must have conveyed +to those who heard it; and so to judge what it must have meant in the +mind of him who spoke it. If we do so, we shall find that the +simplest interpretation of Scripture is generally the deepest; and +the most literal interpretation is also the most spiritual. + +Let us examine the circumstances under which the prophet spake these +words. + +It was on the eve of a Chaldean invasion. The heathen were coming +into Judea, as we see them still in the Assyrian sculptures-- +civilizing, after their barbarous fashion, the nations round them-- +conquering, massacring, transporting whole populations, building +cities and temples by their forced labour; and resistance or escape +was impossible. + +The prophet's faith fails him a moment. What is this but a triumph +of evil? Is there a Divine Providence? Is there a just Ruler of the +world? And he breaks out into pathetic expostulation with God +Himself: 'Wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, +and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more +righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the +creeping things, which have no ruler over them? They take up all of +them with the line, they gather them with the net. Therefore they +sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense to their line; for by it +their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore +empty their net, and not spare to slay continually the nations?' + +Then the Lord answers his doubts: 'Behold, his soul which is lifted +up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.' + +By his faith, plainly, in a just Ruler of the world,--in a God who +avenges wrong, and makes inquisition for innocent blood. He who will +keep his faith in that just God, will remain just himself. The sense +of Justice will be kept alive in him; and the just will live by his +Faith. + +The prophet believes that message; and a mighty change passes over +his spirit. In a burst of magnificent poetry, he proclaims woe to +the unjust Chaldean conqueror. All his greatness is a bubble which +will burst; a suicidal mistake, which will work out its own +punishment, and make him a taunt and a mockery to all nations round. +'Woe to him who increaseth that which is not his, and ladeth himself +with thick clay! Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to +his house, that he may set his nest on high, and be delivered from +the power of evil! Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and +stablisheth a city with iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of +hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people +shall weary themselves for very vanity?' There is a true +civilization for man; but not according to the unjust and cruel +method of those Chaldeans. The Law of the true Civilization, the +prophet says, is this: 'The earth shall be full of the knowledge of +the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.' + +But what is this to us? Are we like the Chaldeans? God forbid. But +are we not tried by the same temptations to which they blindly +yielded? A nation, strong, rich, luxurious, prosperous in industry +at home, and aggressive (if not in theory, certainly in practice) to +less civilized races abroad--are we not tempted daily to that habit +of mind which the prophet calls--with that tremendous irony in which +the Hebrew prophets surpass all writers--looking on men as the fishes +of the sea, as the creeping things which have no ruler over them, +born to devour each other, and be caught and devoured in their turn, +by a race more cunning than themselves? There are those among us in +thousands, thank God, who nobly resist that temptation; and they are +the very salt of the land, who keep it from decay. But for the many- +-for the public--do not too many of them believe that the law of +human society is, after all, only that internecine conflict of +interests, that brute struggle for existence, which naturalists tell +us (and truly) is the law of life for mere plants and animals? Are +they not tempted to forget that men are not mere animals and things, +but persons; that they have a Ruler over them, even God, who desires +to educate them, to sanctify them, to develop their every faculty, +that they may be His children, and not merely our tools; and do God's +work in the world, and not merely their employer's work? Are they +not--are we not all--tempted too often to forget this? + +And, then, are we not tempted, all of us, to fall down like the +Chaldeans and worship our own net, because by it our portion is fat, +and our meat plenteous? Are we not tempted to say within ourselves, +'This present system of things, with all its anomalies and its +defects, still is the right system, and the only system. It is the +path pointed out by Providence for man. It is of the Lord; for we +are comfortable under it. We grow rich under it; we keep rank and +power under it: it suits us, pays us. What better proof that it is +the perfect system of things, which cannot be amended?' + +Meanwhile, we are sorry (for the English are a kindhearted people) +for the victims of our luxury and our neglect. Sorry for the +thousands whom we let die every year by preventible diseases, because +we are either too busy or too comfortable to save their lives. Sorry +for the savages whom we exterminate, by no deliberate evil intent, +but by the mere weight of our heavy footstep. Sorry for the +thousands who are used-up yearly in certain trades, in ministering to +our comfort, even to our very luxuries and frivolities. Sorry for +the Sheffield grinders, who go to work as to certain death; who count +how many years they have left, and say, 'A short life and a merry +one. Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.' Sorry for the +people whose lower jaws decay away in lucifer-match factories. Sorry +for all the miseries and wrongs which this Children's Employment +Commission has revealed. Sorry for the diseases of artificial +flower-makers. Sorry for the boys working in glass-houses whole days +and nights on end without rest, 'labouring in the very fire, and +wearying themselves with very vanity.'--Vanity, indeed, if after an +amount of gallant toil which nothing but the indomitable courage of +an Englishman could endure, they grow up animals and heathens. We +are sorry for them all--as the giant is for the worm on which he +treads. Alas! poor worm. But the giant must walk on. He is +necessary to the universe, and the worm is not. So we are sorry--for +half an hour; and glad too (for we are a kind-hearted people) to hear +that charitable persons or the government are going to do something +towards alleviating these miseries. And then we return, too many of +us, each to his own ambition, or to his own luxury, comforting +ourselves with the thought, that we did not make the world, and we +are not responsible for it. + +How shall we conquer this temptation to laziness, selfishness, +heartlessness? By faith in God, such as the prophet had. By faith +in God as the eternal enemy of evil, the eternal helper of those who +try to overcome evil with good; the eternal avenger of all the wrong +which is done on earth. By faith in God, as not only our Father, our +Saviour, our Redeemer, our Protector: but the Father, Saviour, +Redeemer, Protector, and if need be, Avenger, of every human being. +By faith in God, which believes that His infinite heart yearns over +every human soul, even the basest and the worst; that He wills that +not one little one should perish, but that all should be saved, and +come to the knowledge of the truth. + +We must believe that, if we wish that it should be true of us, that +the just shall live by his faith. If we wish our faith to keep us +just men, leading just lives, we must believe that God is just, and +that He shows His justice by the only possible method--by doing +justice, sooner or later, for all who are unjustly used. + +If we lose that faith, we shall be in danger--in more than danger--of +becoming unjust ourselves. As we fancy God to be, so shall we become +ourselves. If we believe that God cares little for mankind, we shall +care less and less for them ourselves. If we believe that God +neglects them, we shall neglect them likewise. + +And then the sense of justice--justice for its own sake, justice as +the likeness and will of God--will die out in us, and our souls will +surely not live, but die. + +For there will die out in our hearts, just the most noble and God- +like feelings which God has put into them. The instinct of chivalry; +horror of cruelty and injustice; pity for the weak and ill-used; the +longing to set right whatever is wrong; and, what is even more +important, the Spirit of godly fear, of wholesome terror of God's +wrath, which makes us say, when we hear of any great and general sin +among us, 'If we do not do our best to set this right, then God, who +does not make men like creeping things, will take the matter into His +own hands, and punish us easy, luxurious people, for allowing such +things to be done.' + +And when a man loses that spirit of chivalry, he loses his own soul. +For that spirit of chivalry, let worldlings say what they will, is +the very spirit of our spirit, the salt which keeps our characters +from utter decay--the very instinct which raises us above the +selfishness of the brute. Yea, it is the Spirit of God Himself. For +what is the feeling of horror at wrong, of pity for the wronged, of +burning desire to set wrong right, save the Spirit of the Father and +the Son, the Spirit which brought down the Lord Jesus out of the +highest heaven, to stoop, to serve, to suffer and to die, that He +might seek and save that which was lost? + +Some say that the age of chivalry is past: that the spirit of +romance is dead. The age of chivalry is never past, as long as there +is a wrong left unredressed on earth, and a man or woman left to say, +'I will redress that wrong, or spend my life in the attempt.' + +The age of chivalry is never past, as long as men have faith enough +in God to say, 'God will help me to redress that wrong; or if not me, +surely he will help those that come after me. For His eternal will +is, to overcome evil with good.' + +The spirit of romance will never die, as long as there is a man left +to see that the world might and can be better, happier, wiser, fairer +in all things, than it is now. The spirit of romance will never die, +as long as a man has faith in God to believe that the world will +actually be better and fairer than it is now; as long as men have +faith, however weak, to believe in the romance of all romances; in +the wonder of all wonders; in that, of which all poets' dreams have +been but childish hints, and dumb forefeelings--even + + +'That one far-off divine event +Towards which the whole creation moves;' + + +that wonder of which prophets and apostles have told, each according +to his light; that wonder which Habakkuk saw afar off, and foretold +how that the earth should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, +as the waters cover the sea; that wonder which Isaiah saw afar off, +and sang how the Lord should judge among the nations, and rebuke +among many people; and they should beat their swords into plough- +shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation should not rise +against nation, neither should they learn war any more; that wonder +of which St Paul prophesied, and said that Christ should reign till +He had put all His enemies under His feet; that wonder of which St. +John prophesied; and said, 'I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, +coming down from God out of heaven. And the nations of them that are +saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring +their glory and their honour unto it;' that wonder, finally, which +our Lord Himself bade us pray for, as for our daily bread, and say, +'Father, thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in +heaven. + +'Thy will be done on earth.' He who bade us ask that boon for +generations yet unborn, was very God of very God. Do you think that +He would have bidden us ask a blessing, which He knew would never +come? + + + +SERMON XIV. THE GREAT COMMANDMENT + + + +MATT. xxii. 37, 32. + +Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy +soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great +commandment. + + +Some say, when they hear this,--It is a hard saying. Who can bear +it? Who can expect us to do as much as that? If we are asked to be +respectable and sober, to live and let live, not to harm our +neighbours wilfully or spitefully, and to come to church tolerably +regularly--we understand being asked to do that--it is fair. But to +love the Lord our God with all our hearts. That must be meant only +for very great saints; for a few exceedingly devout people here and +there. And devout people have been too apt to say,--You are right. +It is we who are to love God with all our hearts and souls, and give +up the world, and marriage, and all the joys of life, and turn +priests, monks, and nuns, while you need only be tolerably +respectable, and attend to your religious duties from time to time, +while we will pray for you. But, my friends, if we read our Bibles, +we cannot allow that. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,' was spoken +not to monks and nuns (for there were none in those days), not to +great saints only (for we read of none just then), not even to +priests and clergymen only. It was said to all the Jews, high and +low, free and slave, soldier and labourer, alike--'Thou, a man living +in the world, and doing work in the world, with wife and family, farm +and cattle, horse to ride, and weapon to wear--thou shalt love the +Lord thy God.' + +And therefore these words are said to you and me. We English are +neither monks nor nuns, nor likely (thank God) to become so. We are +in the world, with our own family ties and duties, our own worldly +business. And to us, to you and me, as to those old Jews, the first +and great commandment is, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.' + +What, then, does it mean? Does it mean that we are to have the same +love toward God as we have toward a wife or a husband? + +Certainly not. But it means at least this--the love which we should +bear toward a Father. All, my friends, turns on this. Do you look +on God as your Father, or do you not? God is your Father, remember, +already. You cannot (as some people seem to think) make Him your +Father by believing that He is one; and you need not, thanks to His +mercy. Neither can you make Him not your Father by forgetting Him. +Be you wise or foolish, right or wrong, God is your Father in heaven; +and you ought to feel towards Him as towards a father, not with any +sentimental, fanciful, fanatical affection; but with a reverent, +solemn, and rational affection; such as that which the good old +Catechism bids us have, when it tells us our duty toward God. + +'My duty towards God is to believe in Him, to fear Him, and to love +Him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with +all my strength; to worship Him, to give Him thanks, to put my whole +trust in Him, to call upon Him, to honour His holy Name and His Word, +and to serve Him truly all the days of my life.' + +Now, I ask you--and what I ask you I ask myself,--Do we love the Lord +our God thus? And if not, why not? + +I do not ask you to tell me. I am not going to tell you what is in +my heart; and I do not ask you to tell me what is in yours. We are +free Englishmen, who keep ourselves to ourselves, and think for +ourselves, each man in the depths of his own heart; and who are the +stronger and the wiser for not talking about our feelings to any man, +priest or layman. + +But ask yourselves, each of you,--Do I love God? And if not, why +not? + +There are two reasons, I believe, which are, alas! very common. For +one of them there are great excuses; for the other, there is no +excuse whatsoever. + +In the first place, too many find it difficult to love God, because +they have not been taught that God is loveable, and worthy of their +love. They have been taught dark and hard doctrines, which have made +them afraid of God. + +They have been taught--too many are taught still--not merely that God +will punish the wicked, but that God will punish nine-tenths, or +ninety-nine-hundredths of the human race. That He will send to +endless torments not merely sinners who have rebelled against what +they knew was right, and His command; who have stained themselves +with crimes; who wilfully injured their fellow-creatures: but that +He will do the same by little children, by innocent young girls, by +honourable, respectable, moral men and women, because they are not +what is called sensibly converted, or else what is called orthodox. +They have been taught to look on God, not as a loving and merciful +Father, but as a tyrant and a task-master, who watches to set down +against them the slightest mishap or neglect; who is extreme to mark +what is done amiss; who wills the death of a sinner. Often-- +strangest notion of all--they have been told that, though God intends +to punish them, they must still love Him, or they will be punished-- +as if such a notion, so far from drawing them to God, could do +anything but drive them from Him. And it is no wonder if persons who +have been taught in their youth such notions concerning God, find it +difficult to love Him. Who can be frightened or threatened into +loving any being? How can we love any being who does not seem to us +kind, merciful, amiable, loving? Our love must be called out by +God's love. If we are to love God, it must be because He has first +loved us. + +But He has first loved us, my friends. The dark and cruel notions +about God--which are too common, and have been too common in all +ages--are not what the world about us teaches, nor what Scripture +teaches us either. + +Look out on the world around you. What witness does it bear +concerning the God who made it? Who made the sunshine, and the +flowers, and singing birds, and little children, and all that causes +the joy of this life? Let Christ Himself speak, and His apostles. +No one can say that their words are not true; that they were mistaken +in their view of this earth, or of God who gave it to us that it +might bear witness of Him. What said our Lord to the poor folk of +Galilee, of whom the Scribes and the Pharisees, in their pride, said, +'This people, who knoweth not the law, is accursed.'--What said our +Lord, very God of very God? He told them to look on the world +around, and learn from it that they had in heaven not a tyrant, not a +destroyer, but a Father; a Father in heaven who is perfect in this, +that He causeth His sun to shine upon them, and is good to the +unthankful and the evil. + +What of Him did St. Paul say?--and that not to Christians, but to +heathens--That God had not left Himself without a witness even to the +heathen who knew Him not--and what sort of witness? The witness of +His bounty and goodness. The simple, but perpetual witness of the +yearly harvest--'In that He sends men rain and fruitful seasons, +filling their hearts with food and gladness.' + +This is St. Paul's witness. And what is St. James's? He tells men +of a Father of lights, from whom comes down every good and perfect +gift; who gives to all liberally, and upbraideth not, grudges not, +stints not, but gives, and delights in giving,--the same God, in a +word, of whom the old psalmists and prophets spoke, and said, 'Thou +openest Thine hand, and fillest all things with good.' + +And if natural religion tells us thus much, and bears witness of a +Father who delights in the happiness of His creatures, what does +revealed religion and the Gospel of Jesus Christ tell us? + +Oh, my friends, dull indeed must be our hearts if we can feel no love +for the God of whom the Gospel speaks! And perverse, indeed, must be +our minds if we can twist the good news of Christ's salvation into +the bad news of condemnation! What says St. Paul,--That God is +against us? No. But--'If God be for us, who can be against us? + +'Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God +that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, +yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of +God, who also maketh intercession for as. + +'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or +distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or +sword? + +'As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we +are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. + +'Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him +that loved us. + +'For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor +principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, +nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to +separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' + +What says St. John? Does he say that God the Father desires to +punish or slay us; and that our Lord Jesus Christ, or the Virgin +Mary, or the saints, or any other being, loves us better than God, +and will deliver us out of the hands of God? God forbid! 'We have +known and believed,' he says, 'the love that God hath to us. God is +love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.' + +My friends, if we could believe those blessed words--I do not say in +all their fulness--we shall never do that, I believe, in this mortal +life--but if we could only believe them a little, and know and +believe even a little of the love that God has to us, then love to +Him would spring up in our hearts, and we should feel for Him all +that child ever felt for father. If we really believed that God who +made heaven and earth was even now calling to each and every one of +us, and beseeching us, by the sacrifice of His well-beloved Son, +crucified for us, 'My son, give Me thy heart,' we could not help +giving up our hearts to Him. + +Provided--and there is that second reason why people do not love God, +for which I said there was no excuse--provided only that we wish to +be good, and to obey God. If we do not wish to do what God commands, +we shall never love God. It must be so. There can be no real love +of God which is not based upon a love of virtue and goodness, upon +what our Lord calls a hunger and thirst after righteousness. 'If ye +love Me, keep My commandments,' is our Lord's own rule and test. And +it is the only one possible. If we habitually disobey any person, we +shall cease to love that person. If a child is in the habit of +disobeying its parents, dark and angry feelings towards those parents +are sure to arise in its heart. The child tries to forget its +parents, to keep out of their way. It tries to justify itself, to +excuse itself by fancying that its parents are hard upon it, unjust, +grudge it pleasure, or what not. If its parents' commandments are +grievous to a child, it will try to make out that those commandments +are unfair and unkind. And so shall we do by God's commandments. If +God's commandments seem too grievous for us to obey, then we shall +begin to fancy them unjust and unkind. And then, farewell to any +real love to God. If we do not openly rebel against God, we shall +still try to forget Him. The thought of God will seem dark, +unpleasant, and forbidding to us; and we shall try, in our short- +sighted folly, to live as far as we can without God in the world, +and, like Adam after his fall, hide ourselves from the loving God, +just because we know we have disobeyed Him. + +But if, in spite of many bad habits, we desire to get rid of our bad +habits; if, in spite of many faults, we still desire to be faultless +and perfect; if, in spite of many weaknesses, we still desire to be +strong; if, in one word, we still hunger and thirst after +righteousness, and long to be good men; then, in due time, the love +of God will be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. + +For that will happen to us which happens to all those who have the +pure, true, and heroical love. If we really love a person, we shall +first desire to please them, and therefore the thought of disobeying +and paining them will seem more and more grievous unto us. + +But more. We shall soon rise a step higher. The more we love them, +and the more we see in them, in their characters, things worthy to be +loved, the more we shall desire to be like them, to copy those parts +of their characters which most delight us; and we shall copy them: +though insensibly, perhaps, and unawares. + +For no one can look up for any length of time with love and respect +towards a person better, wiser, greater than themselves, without +becoming more or less like that person in character and in habit of +thought and feeling; and so it will be with us towards God. + +If we really long to be good, it will grow more and more easy to us +to love God. The more pure our hearts are, the more pleasant the +thought of God will be to us; even as it is said, 'Blessed are the +pure in heart, for they shall see God,'--in this life as well as in +the life to come. We shall not shrink from God, because we shall +know that we are not wilfully offending Him. + +But more. The more we think of God, the more we shall long to be +like Him. How admirable in our eyes will seem His goodness, how +admirable His purity, His justice, and His bounty, His long- +suffering, His magnanimity and greatness of heart. For how great +must be that heart of God, of which it is written, that 'He hateth +nothing that He hath made, but His mercy is over all His works;' +'that He willeth that none should perish, but that all should be +saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.' Although He be +infinitely high and far off and we cannot attain to Him, yet we shall +feel it our duty and our joy to copy Him, however faintly, and +however humbly; and our highest hope will be that we may behold, as +in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and be changed into His image from +glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord; that so, whether +in this world or in the world to come, we may at last be perfect, +even as our Father in heaven is perfect, and, like Him, cause the +sunlight of our love to slime upon the evil and on the good; the +kindly showers of our good deeds to fall upon the just and on the +unjust; and--like Him who sent His only begotten Son to save the +world--be good to the unthankful and to the evil. + + + +SERMON XV. THE EARTHQUAKE +(Preached October 11, 1863.) + + + +PSALM xlvi. 1, 2. + +God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. +Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though +the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. + + +No one, my friends, wishes less than I, to frighten you, or to take a +dark and gloomy view of this world, or of God's dealings with men. +But when God Himself speaks, men are bound to take heed, even though +the message be an awful one. And last week's earthquake was an awful +message, reminding all reasonable souls how frail man is, how frail +his strongest works, how frail this seemingly solid earth on which we +stand; what a thin crust there is between us and the nether fires, +how utterly it depends on God's mercy that we do not, like Korah, +Dathan, and Abiram of old, go down alive into the pit. + +What do we know of earthquakes? We know that they are connected with +burning mountains; that the eruption of a burning mountain is +generally preceded by, and accompanied with, violent earthquakes. +Indeed, the burning mountains seem to be outlets, by which the +earthquake force is carried off. We know that these burning +mountains give out immense volumes of steam. We know that the +expanding power of steam is by far the strongest force in the world; +and, therefore, it is supposed reasonably, that earthquakes are +caused by steam underground. + +We know concerning earthquakes two things: first, that they are +quite uncertain in their effects; secondly, quite uncertain in their +occurrence. + +No one can tell what harm an earthquake will, or will not, do. There +are three kinds. One which raises the ground up perpendicularly, and +sets it down again--which is the least hurtful; one which sets it +rolling in waves, like the waves of the sea--which is more hurtful; +and one, the most terrible of all, which gives the ground a spinning +motion, so that things thrown down by it fall twisted from right to +left, or left to right. But what kind of earthquake will take place, +no one can tell. + +Moreover, a very slight earthquake may do fearful damage. People who +only read of them, fancy that an earthquake, to destroy man and his +works, must literally turn the earth upside down; that the ground +must open, swallowing up houses, vomiting fire and water; that rocks +must be cast into the sea, and hills rise where valleys were before. +Such awful things have happened, and will happen again: but it does +not need them to lay a land utterly waste. A very slight shock--a +shock only a little stronger than was felt last Wednesday morning, +might have--one hardly dare think of what it might have done in a +country like this, where houses are thinly built because we have no +fear of earthquakes. Every manufactory and mill throughout the iron +districts (where the shock was felt most) might have toppled to the +earth in a moment. Whole rows of houses, hastily and thinly built, +might have crumbled down like packs of cards; and hundreds of +thousands of sleeping human beings might have been buried in the +ruins, without time for a prayer or a cry. + +A little more--a very little more--and all that or more might have +happened; millions' worth of property might have been destroyed in a +few seconds, and the prosperity and civilization of England have been +thrown back for a whole generation. There is absolutely no reason +whatever, I tell you, save the mercy of God, why that, or worse, +should not have happened; and it is only of the Lord's mercies that +we were not consumed. + +Next, earthquakes are utterly uncertain as to time. No one knows +when they are coming. They give no warning. Even in those unhappy +countries in which they are most common there may not be a shock for +months or years; and then a sudden shock may hurl down whole towns. +Or there may be many, thirty or forty a-day for weeks, as there +happened in a part of South America a few years ago, when day after +day, week after week, terrible shocks went on with a perpetual +underground roar, as if brass and iron were crashing and clanging +under the feet, till the people were half mad with the continual +noise and continual anxiety, expecting every moment one shock, +stronger than the rest, to swallow them up. It is impossible, I say, +to calculate when they will come. They are altogether in the hand of +God,--His messengers, whose time and place He alone knows, and He +alone directs. + +Our having had one last week is no reason for our not having another +this week, or any day this week; and no reason, happily, against our +having no more for one hundred years. It is in God's hands, and in +God's hands we must leave it. + +All we can say is, that when one comes, it is likely to be least +severe in this part of England, and most severe (like this last) in +the coal and iron districts of the west and north-west, where it is +easy to see that earthquakes were once common, by the cracks, twists +and settlements in the rocks, and the lava streams, poured out from +fiery vents (probably under water) which pierce the rocks in many +places. Beyond that we know nothing, and can only say,--It is of the +Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. + +Why do I say these things? To frighten you? No, but to warn you. +When you say to yourselves,--Earthquakes are so uncommon and so +harmless in England that there is no need to think of them, you say +on the whole what is true. It has been, as yet, God's will that +earthquakes should be uncommon and slight in England; and therefore +we have a reasonable ground of belief that such will be His will for +the future. Certainly He does not wish us to fold our hands, and +say, there is no use in building or improving the country, if an +earthquake may come and destroy it at any moment. If there be an +evil which man can neither prevent or foresee, then, if he be a wise +man, he will go on as if that evil would never happen. We ever must +work on in hope and in faith in God's goodness, without tormenting +and weakening ourselves by fears about what may happen. + +But when God gives to a whole country a distinct and solemn warning, +especially after giving that country an enormous bounty in an +abundant harvest, He surely means that country to take the warning. +And, if I dare so judge, He means us perhaps to think of the +earthquake, and somewhat in this way. + +There is hardly any country in the world in which man's labour has +been so successful as in England. Owing to our having no +earthquakes, no really destructive storms,--and, thank God, no +foreign invading armies,--the wealth of England has gone on +increasing steadily and surely for centuries past, to a degree +unexampled. We have never had to rebuild whole towns after an +earthquake. We have never seen (except in small patches) whole +districts of fertile land ruined by the sea or by floods. We have +never seen every mill and house in a country blown down by a +hurricane, and the crops mown off the ground by the mere force of the +wind, as has happened again and again in our West India Islands. +Most blessed of all, we have never seen a foreign army burning our +villages, sacking our towns, carrying off our corn and cattle, and +driving us into the woods to starve. From all these horrors, which +have, one or other of them, fallen on almost every nation upon earth, +God has of His great mercy preserved us. Ours is not the common lot +of humanity. We English do not know the sorrows which average men +and women go through, and have been going through, alas! ever since +Adam fell. We have been an exception, a favoured and peculiar +people, allowed to thrive and fatten quietly and safely for hundreds +of years. + +But what if that very security tempts us to forget God? Is it not +so? Are we not--I am sure I am--too apt to take God's blessings for +granted, without thanking Him for them, or remembering really that He +gave them, and that He can take them away? Do we not take good +fortune for granted? Do we not take for granted that if we build a +house it will endure for ever; that if we buy a piece of land it will +be called by our name long years hence; that if we amass wealth we +shall hand it down safely to our children? Of course we think we +shall prosper. We say to ourselves, To-morrow shall be as to-day, +and yet more abundant. + +Nothing can happen to England, is, I fear, the feeling of Englishmen. +Carnal security is the national sin to which we are tempted, because +we have not now for forty years felt anything like national distress; +and Britain says, like Babylon of old, the lady of kingdoms to whom +foreigners so often compare her,--'I shall be a lady for ever; I am, +there is none beside me. I shall never sit as a widow, nor know the +loss of children.' + +What, too, if that same security and prosperity tempts us--as +foreigners justly complain of us--to set our hearts on material +wealth; to believe that our life, and the life of Britain, depends on +the abundance of the things which she possesses? To say--Corn and +cattle, coal and iron, house and land, shipping and rail-roads, these +make up Great Britain. While she has these she will endure for ever. + +Ah, my friends--to people in such a temptation, is it wonderful that +a good God should send a warning unmistakeable, though only a +warning; most terrible, though mercifully harmless; a warning which +says, in a voice which the dullest can hear--Endure for ever? The +solid ground on which you stand cannot do that. Safe? Nothing on +earth is safe for a moment, save in the long-suffering and tender +mercy of Him of whom are all things, and by whom are all things, +without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground. Is the wealth of +Britain, then, what she can see and handle? The towns she builds, +the roads she makes, the manufactures and goods she produces? One +touch of the finger of God, and that might be all rolled into a heap +of ruins, and the labour of years scattered in the dust. You trust +in the sure solid earth? You shall feel it, if but for once, reel +and quiver under your feet, and learn that it is not solid at all, or +sure at all; that there is nothing solid, sure, or to be depended on, +but the mercy of the living God; and that your solid-seeming earth on +which you build is nothing less than a mine, which may bubble, and +heave, and burst beneath your feet, charged for ever with an +explosive force, as much more terrible than that gunpowder which you +have invented to kill each other withal, as the works of God are +greater than the works of man. Safe, truly! It is of God's mercy +from day to day and hour to hour that we are not consumed. + +This, surely, or something like this, is what the earthquake says to +us. It speaks to us most gently, and yet most awfully, of a day in +which the heavens may pass away with a great noise, and the elements +may melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works which are +therein may be burnt up. It tells us that this is no impossible +fancy: that the fires imprisoned below our feet can, and may, burst +up and destroy mankind and the works of man in one great catastrophe, +to which the earthquake of Lisbon in 1755--when 60,000 persons were +killed, crushed, drowned, or swallowed up in a few minutes--would be +a merely paltry accident. + +And it bids us think, as St. Peter bids us: 'When therefore all +these things are dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in +holy conversation and godliness?' + +What manner of persons? + +Remember, that if an earthquake destroyed all England, or the whole +world; if this earth on which we live crumbled to dust, and were +blotted out of the number of the stars, there is one thing which +earthquake, and fire, and all the forces of nature cannot destroy, +and that is--the human race. + +We should still be. We should still endure. Not, indeed, in flesh +and blood: but in some state or other; each of us the same as now, +our characters, our feelings, our goodness or our badness; our +immortal spirits and very selves, unchanged, ready to receive, and +certain to receive, the reward of the deeds done in the body, whether +they be good or evil. Yes, we should still endure, and God and +Christ would still endure. But as our Saviour, or as our Judge? +That is a very awful thought. + +One day or other, sooner or later, each of us shall stand before the +judgment-seat of Christ, stripped of all we ever had, ever saw, ever +touched, ever even imagined to ourselves, alone with our own +consciences, alone with our own deserts. What shall we be saying to +ourselves then? + +Shall we be saying--I have lost all: The world is gone--the world, +in which were set all my hopes, all my wishes; the world in which +were all my pleasures, all my treasures; the world, which was the +only thing I cared for, though it warned me not to trust in it, as it +trembled beneath my feet? But the world is gone, and now I have +nothing left! + +Or, shall we be saying,--The world is gone? Then let it go. It was +not a home. I took its good things as thankfully as I could. I took +its sorrows and troubles as patiently as I could. But I have not set +my heart on the world. My treasure, my riches, were not of the +world. My peace was a peace which the world did not give, and could +not take away. And now the world is gone, I keep my peace, I keep my +treasure still. My peace is where it was, in my own heart. My peace +is what it was: my faith in God,--faith that my sins are forgiven me +for Christ's sake: my faith that God my Father loves me, and cares +for me; and that nothing,--height or depth, or time or space, or life +or death, can part me from His love: my faith that I have not been +quite useless in the world; that I have tried to do my duty in my +place; and that the good which I have done, little as it has been, +will not go forgotten by that merciful God, by whose help it was +done, who rewards all men according to the works which He gives them +heart to perform. And my treasure is where it was--in my heart; and +what it was,--the Holy Spirit of God, the spirit of goodness, of +faith and truth, of mercy and justice, of love to God and love to +man, which is everlasting life itself. That I have. That time +cannot abate, nor death abolish, nor the world, nor the destruction +of the world, nor of all worlds, can take away. + +Choose, my friends, which of these two frames of mind would you +rather be in when the great day of the Lord comes, foretold by that +earthquake, and by all earthquakes that ever were. + +Will you be then like those whom St. John saw calling on the +mountains to fall on them, and the hills to hide them from the wrath +of Him that sat on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb? + +Or will you be like him who saith--God is my hope and strength, my +present help in trouble. Therefore will I not fear, though the earth +be shaken, and though the mountains be carried into the depth of the +sea? + + + +SERMON XVI. THE METEOR SHOWER +(Preached at the Chapel Royal, St. James's, Nov. 26, 1866.) + + + +ST. MATTHEW x. 29, 30. + +Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not +fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your +head are all numbered. + + +It will be well for us to recollect, once for all, who spoke these +words; even Jesus Christ, who declared that He was one with God the +Father; Jesus Christ, whom His apostles declared to be the Creator of +the universe. If we believe this, as Christian men, it will be well +for us to take our Lord's account of a universe which He Himself +created; and to believe that in the most minute occurrence of nature, +there is a special providence, by which not a sparrow falls to the +ground without our Father. + +I confess that it is difficult to believe this heartily. It was +never anything but difficult. In the earliest ages, those who first +thought about the universe found it so difficult that they took +refuge in the fancy of special providence which was administered by +the planets above their heads, and believed that the affairs of men, +and of the world on which they lived, were ruled by the aspects of +the sun and moon, and the host of heaven. + +Men found it so difficult in the Middle Age, that they took refuge in +the fancy of a special providence administered by certain demi-gods +whom they called 'The Saints;' and believed that each special +disease, or accident, was warded off from mankind, from their cattle, +or from their crops, by a special saint who overlooked their welfare. + +Men find it so difficult now-a-days, that the great majority of +civilized people believe in no special providence at all, and take +refuge in the belief that the universe is ruled by something which +they call law. + +Therein, doubtless, they have hold of a great truth; but one which +will be only half-true, and therefore injurious, unless it be +combined with other truths; unless questions are answered which too +many do not care to answer: as, for instance,--Can there be a law +without a law-giver? Can a law work without one who administers the +law? Are not the popular phrases of 'laws impressed on matter,' +'laws inherent in matter,' mere metaphors, dangerous, because +inaccurate; confirmed as little by experience and reason, as by +Scripture? + +Does not all law imply a will? Does not an Almighty Will imply a +special providence? + +But these are questions for which most persons have neither time nor +inclination. Indeed, the whole matter is unimportant to them. They +have no special need of a special providence. Their lives and +properties are very safe in this civilized country; and their secret +belief is that, whatever influence God may have on the next world, He +has little or no influence on this world; neither on the facts of +nature, nor on the events of history, nor on the course of their own +lives; and that a special providence seems to them--if they dare +confess as much--an unnecessary superstition. + +Only poor folk in cottages and garrets--and a few more who are, +happily, poor in spirit, though not in purse--grinding amid the iron +facts of life, and learning there by little sound science, it may be, +but much sound theology--still believe that they have a Father in +heaven, before whom the very hairs of their head are all numbered; +and that if they had not, then this would not only be a bad world, +but a mad world likewise; and that it were better for them that they +had never been born. + +Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in the special providence of +our Father in heaven. Difficult: though necessary. Just as it is +difficult to believe that the earth moves round the sun. Contrary, +like that fact, to a great deal of our seeming experience. + +It is easy enough, of course, to believe that our Father sends what +is plainly good. Not so easy to believe that He sends what at least +seems evil. + +Easy enough, when we see spring-time and harvest, sunshine and +flowers, to say--Here are 'acts of God's providence.' Not so easy, +when we see blight and pestilence, storm and earthquake, to say,-- +Here are 'acts of God's providence' likewise. + +For this innumerable multitude of things, of which we now-a-days talk +as if it were one thing, and had an organic unity of its own, or even +as if it were one person, and had a will of its own, and call it +Nature--a word which will one day be forgotten by philosophers, with +the 'four elements,' and the 'animal spirits;'--this multitude of +things, I say, which we miscall Nature, has its dark and ugly, as +well as its bright and fair side. Nature, says some one, is like the +spotted panther--most playful, and yet most treacherous; most +beautiful, and yet most cruel. It acts at times after a fashion most +terrible, undistinguishing, wholesale, seemingly pitiless. It seems +to go on its own way, as in a storm or an earthquake, careless of +what it crushes. Terrible enough Nature looks to the savage, who +thinks it crushes him from mere caprice. More terrible still does +Science make Nature look, when she tells us that it crushes, not by +caprice, but by brute necessity; not by ill-will, but by inevitable +law. Science frees us in many ways (and all thanks to her) from the +bodily terror which the savage feels. But she replaces that, in the +minds of many, by a moral terror which is far more overwhelming. Am +I--a man is driven to ask--am I, and all I love, the victims of an +organised tyranny, from which there can be no escape--for there is +not even a tyrant from whom I may perhaps beg mercy? Are we only +helpless particles, at best separate parts of the wheels of a vast +machine, which will use us till it has worn us away, and ground us to +powder? Are our bodies--and if so, why not our souls?--the puppets, +yea, the creatures of necessary circumstances, and all our strivings +and sorrows only vain beatings against the wires of our cage, cries +of 'Why hast thou made me, then?' which are addressed to nothing? +Tell us not that the world is governed by universal law; the news is +not comfortable, but simply horrible, unless you can tell us, or +allow others to tell us, that there is a loving giver, and a just +administrator of that law. + +Horrible, I say, and increasingly horrible, not merely to the +sentimentalist, but to the man of sound reason and of sound +conscience, must the scientific aspect of nature become, if a mere +abstraction called law is to be the sole ruler of the universe; if-- +to quote the famous words of the German sage--'If, instead of the +Divine Eye, there must glare on us an empty, black, bottomless eye- +socket;' and the stars and galaxies of heaven, in spite of all their +present seeming regularity, are but an 'everlasting storm which no +man guides.' + +It was but a few days ago that we, and this little planet on which we +live, caught a strange and startling glimpse of that everlasting +storm which--shall I say it?--no one guides. + +We were swept helpless, astronomers tell us, through a cloud of fiery +stones, to which all the cunning bolts which man invents to slay his +fellow-man, are but slow and weak engines of destruction. + +We were free from the superstitious terror with which that meteor- +shower would have been regarded in old times. We could comfort +ourselves, too, with the fact that heaven's artillery was not known +as yet to have killed any one; and with the scientific explanation of +that fact, namely, that most of the bolts were small enough to be +melted and dissipated by their rush through our atmosphere. + +But did the thought occur to none of us, how morally ghastly, in +spite of all its physical beauty, was that grand sight, unless we +were sure that behind it all, there was a living God? Unless we +believed that not one of those bolts fell, or did not fall to the +ground without our Father? That He had appointed the path, and the +time, and the destiny, and the use of every atom of that matter, of +which science could only tell us that it was rushing without a +purpose, for ever through the homeless void? + +We may believe that, mind, without denying scientific laws, or their +permanence in any way. It is not a question, this, of a living God, +whether He interferes with His own laws now and then, but whether +interference is not the law of all laws itself. It is not a question +of special providences here and there, in favour of this person or +that; but whether the whole universe and its history is not one +perpetual and innumerable series of special providences. Whether the +God who ordained the laws is not so administering them, so making +them interfere with, balance, and modify each other, as to cause them +to work together perpetually for good; so that every minutest event +(excepting always the sin and folly of rational beings) happens in +the place, time, and manner, where it is specially needed. In one +word, the question is not whether there be a God, but whether there +be a living God, who is in any true and practical sense Master of the +universe over which He presides; a King who is actually ruling His +kingdom, or an Epicurean deity who lets his kingdom rule itself. + +Is there a living God in the universe, or is there none? That is the +greatest of all questions. Has our Lord Jesus Christ answered it, or +has He not? Easy, well-to-do people, who find this world pleasant, +and whose chief concern is to live till they die, care little about +that question. This world suits them well enough, whether there be a +living God or not; and as for the next world, they will be sure to +find some preacher or confessor who will set their minds easy about +it. + +Fanatics and bigots, of all denominations, care little about that +question. For they say in their hearts--'God is our Father, +whosesoever Father He is not. We are His people, and God performs +acts of providence for us. But as for the people outside, who know +not the law, nor the Gospel, either, they are accursed. It is not +our concern to discuss whether God performs acts of providence for +them.' + +But here and there, among rich and poor, there are those whose heart +and flesh--whose conscience and whose intellect--cry out for the +living God, and will know no peace till they have found Him. + +A living God; a true God; a real God; a God worthy of the name; a God +who is working for ever, everywhere, and in all; who hates nothing +that He has made, forgets nothing, neglects nothing; a God who +satisfies not only their heads, but their hearts; not only their +logical intellects, but their higher reason--that pure reason, which +is one with the conscience and moral sense. For Him they cry out; +Him they seek: and if they cannot find Him they know no rest. For +then they can find no explanation of the three great human questions- +-Where am I? Whither am I going? What must I do? + +Men come to them and say, 'Of course there is a God.--He created the +world long ago, and set it spinning ever since by unchangeable laws.' +But they answer, 'That may be true; but I want more. I want the +living God.' + +Other men come to them and say, 'Of course there is a God; and when +the universe is destroyed, He will save a certain number of the +elect, or orthodox. Do you take care that you are among that number, +and leave the rest to Him.' But they answer, 'That may be true; but +I want more. I want the living God.' + +They will say so very confusedly. They will often not be able to +make men understand their meaning. Nay, they will say and do--driven +by despair--very unwise things. They will even fall down and worship +the Holy Bread in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and say, 'The +living God is in that. You have forbidden us, with your theories, to +find the living God either in heaven or earth. But somewhere He must +be. And in despair, we will fall back upon the old belief that He is +in the wafer on the altar, and find there Him whom our souls must +find, or be for ever without a home.' Strange and sad, that that +should be the last outcome of the century of mechanical philosophy. +But before we blame the doctrine as materialistic,--which, I fear, it +too truly is,--we should remember that, for the last fifty years, the +young have been taught more and more to be materialists; that they +have been taught more and more to believe in a God who rules over +Sundays, but not over week-day business; over the next world, but not +over this; a God, in short, in whom men do not live, and move, and +have their being. They have been brought up, I say, unconsciously, +but surely, as practical materialists, who make their senses the +ground of all their knowledge; and therefore, when a revulsion +happens to them, they are awakened to look for the living God--they +look for him instinctively in visible matter. + +But for the living God thoughtful men will look more and more. +Physical science is forcing on them the question, Do we live, and +move, and have our being in God? Is there a real and perpetual +communication between the visible and the invisible world, or is +there not? Are all the beliefs of man, from the earliest ages, that +such there was, dreams and nothing more? Is any religion whatsoever +to be impossible henceforth? And to find an answer, men will go, +either backward to superstition, or forward into pantheism; for in +atheism, whether practical or theoretical, they cannot abide. + +The Bible says that those old beliefs, however partial or childish, +were no dreams, but instincts of an eternal truth; that there is such +a communication between the universe and the living God. Prophets, +Psalmists, Apostles, speak--like our Nicene Creed--of a Spirit of +God, the Lord and Giver of Life, in words which are not pantheism, +but are the very deliverance from pantheism, because they tell us +that that Spirit proceeds, not merely from a Deity, not merely from a +Creator, but from a Father in heaven, and from a Son who is His +likeness and His Word. + +And from this ground Natural Theology must start, if it is ever to +revive again, instead of remaining, as now, an extinct science. It +must begin from the keyword of the text, 'Your Father.' As long as +Natural Theology begins from nature, and not from God Himself, it +will inevitably drift into pantheism, as Pope drifted, in spite of +himself, when he tried to look from nature up to nature's God. As +long as men speculate on the dealings of a Deity or of a Creator, +they will find out nothing, because they are searching under the +wrong name, and therefore, as logicians will tell you, for the wrong +thing. + +But when they begin to seek under the right name--the name which our +Lord revealed to the debased multitudes of Judaea, when He told them +that not a sparrow fell to the ground without--not the Deity, not the +Creator, but their Father; then, in God's good time, all may come +clear once more. + +This at least will come clear,--a doubt which often presents itself +to the mind of scientific men. + +This earth--we know now that it is not the centre, not the chief +body, of the universe, but a tiny planet, a speck, an atom among +millions of bodies far vaster than itself. + +It was credible enough in old times, when the earth was held to be +all but the whole universe, that God should descend on earth, and +take on Him human nature, to save human beings. Is it credible now? +This little corner of the systems and the galaxies? This paltry race +which we call man? Are they worthy of the interposition, of the +death, of Incarnate God--of the Maker of such a universe as Science +has discovered? + +Yes. If we will keep in mind that one word 'Father.' Then we dare +say Yes, in full assurance of Faith. For then we have taken the +question off the mere material ground of size and of power; to put it +once and for ever on that spiritual ground of justice and love, which +is implied in the one word--'Father.' + +If God be a perfect Father, then there must be a perpetual +intercourse of some kind between Him and His children; between Him +and that planet, however small, on which He has set His children, +that they may be educated into His likeness. If God be perfect +justice, the wrong, and consequent misery of the universe, how ever +small, must be intolerable to Him. If God be perfect love, there is +no sacrifice--remember that great word--which He may not condescend +to make, in order to right that wrong, and alleviate that misery. If +God be the Father of our spirits, the spiritual welfare of His +children may be more important to Him than the fate of the whole +brute matter of the universe. Think not to frighten us with the +idols of size and height. God is a Spirit, before whom all material +things are equally great, and equally small. Let us think of Him as +such, and not merely as a Being of physical power and inventive +craft. Let us believe in our Father in heaven. For then that higher +intellect,--that pure reason, which dwells not in the heads, but in +the hearts of men, will tell them that if they have a Father in +heaven, He must be exercising a special providence over the minutest +affairs of their lives, by which He is striving to educate them into +His likeness; a special providence over the fate of every atom in the +universe, by which His laws shall work together for the moral +improvement of every creature capable thereof; that not a sparrow can +fall to the ground without his knowledge; and that not a hair of +their head can be touched, unless suffering is needed for the +education of their souls. + + + +SERMON XVII. CHOLERA, 1866 + + + +LUKE vii. 16. + +There came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a +great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his +people. + + +You recollect to what the text refers? How the Lord visited His +people? By raising to life a widow's son at Nain. That was the +result of our Lord's visit to the little town of Nain. It is worth +our while to think of that text, and of that word, 'visit,' just now. +For we are praying to God to remove the cholera from this land. We +are calling it a visitation of God; and saying that God is visiting +our sins on us thereby. And we are saying the exact truth. We are +using the right and scriptural word. + +We know that this cholera comes by no miracle, but by natural causes. +We can more or less foretell where it will break out. We know how to +prevent its breaking out at all, save in a scattered case here and +there. Of this there is no doubt whatsoever in the mind of any well- +informed person. + +But that does not prevent its being a visitation of God; yea, in most +awful and literal earnest, a house-to-house visitation. God uses the +powers of nature to do His work: of Him it is written, 'He maketh +the winds His angels, and flames of fire His ministers.' And so this +minute and invisible cholera-seed is the minister of God, by which He +is visiting from house to house, searching out and punishing certain +persons who have been guilty, knowingly or not, of the offence of +dirt; of filthy and careless habits of living; and especially, as has +long been known by well-informed men, of drinking poisoned water. +Their sickness, their deaths, are God's judgment on that act of +theirs, whereby God says to men,--You shall not drink water unfit for +even dumb animals; and if you do, you shall die. + +To this view there are two objections. First, the poor people +themselves are not in fault, but those who supply poisoned water, and +foul dwellings. + +True: but only half true. If people demanded good water and good +houses, there would soon be a supply of them. But there is not a +sufficient supply; because too many of the labouring classes in +towns, though they are earning very high wages, are contented to live +in a condition unfit for civilized men; and of course, if they are +contented so to do, there will be plenty of covetous or careless +landlords who will supply the bad article with which they are +satisfied; and they will be punished by disease for not having taken +care of themselves. + +But as for the owners of filthy houses, and the suppliers of poisoned +water, be sure that, in His own way and His own time, God will visit +them; that when He maketh inquisition for blood, He will assuredly +requite upon the guilty persons, whoever they are, the blood of those +five or six thousand of her Majesty's subjects who have been foully +done to death by cholera in the last two months, as He requited the +blood of Naboth, or of any other innocent victim of whom we read in +Holy Writ. This outbreak of cholera in London, considering what we +now know about it, and have known for twenty years past, is a +national shame, scandal, and sin, which, if man cannot and will not +punish, God can and will. + +But there is another objection, which is far more important and +difficult to answer. This cholera has not slain merely fathers and +mothers of families, who were more or less responsible for the bad +state of their dwellings; but little children, aged widows, and many +other persons who cannot be blamed in the least. + +True. And we must therefore believe that to them--indeed to all-- +this has been a visitation not of anger but of love. We must believe +that they are taken away from some evil to come; that God permits the +destruction of their bodies, to the saving of their souls. His laws +are inexorable; and yet He hateth nothing that He hath made. + +And we must believe that this cholera is an instance of the great +law, which fulfils itself again and again, and will to the end of the +world,--'It is expedient that one die for the people, and that the +whole nation perish not.' + +For the same dirt which produces cholera now and then, is producing +always, and all day long, stunted and diseased bodies, drunkenness, +recklessness, misery, and sin of all kinds; and the cholera will be a +blessing, a cheap price to have paid, for the abolition of the evil +spirit of dirt. + +And thus much for this very painful subject--of which some of you may +say--'What is it to us? We cannot prevent cholera; and, blessed as +we are with abundance of the purest water, there is little or no fear +of cholera ever coming into our parish.' + +That last is true, my friends, and you may thank God for it. +Meanwhile, take this lesson at least home with you, and teach it your +children day by day--that filthy, careless, and unwholesome habits of +living are in the sight of Almighty God so terrible an offence, that +He sometimes finds it necessary to visit them with a severity with +which He visits hardly any sin; namely, by inflicting capital +punishment on thousands of His beloved creatures. + +But though we have not had the cholera among us, has God therefore +not visited us? That would surely be evil news for us, according to +Holy Scripture. For if God do not visit us, then He must be far from +us. But the Psalmist cries, 'Go not far from me, O Lord.' His fear +is, again and again, not that God should visit him, but that God +should desert him. And more, the word which is translated 'to +visit,' in Scripture has the sense of seeing to a man, overseeing +him, being his bishop. If God do not see to, oversee us, and be our +bishop, then He must turn His face from us, which is what the +Psalmist beseeches Him again and again not to do; praying, 'Hide not +Thy face from me, O Lord,' and crying out of the depths of anxiety +and trouble, 'Put thy trust in God, for I shall yet give Him thanks +for the light of His countenance;' and again, 'In Thy presence is'-- +not death, but--'life; at Thy right hand is fulness of days for +evermore.' And again, the Psalmist prays to God to visit him, and +visit his thoughts,--'Search me, O Lord, and try the ground of my +heart. Search me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be +any wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' Shall we +pray that prayer, my friends? Shall we, with the Psalmist, pray God +to visit, and, if need be, chasten and correct what He sees wrong in +us? Or shall we, with the superstitious, pray to God not to visit +us? to keep away from us? to leave its alone? to forget us? If He +did answer that foolish prayer, there would be an end of us and all +created things; for in God they live and move and have their being-- +as it is written, 'When Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; when +Thou takest away their breath, they die, and are turned again to +their dust.' But, happily for us, God will not answer that foolish +prayer. For it is written, 'If I go up to heaven, Thou art there; if +I go down to hell, Thou art there also.' Nowhither can we go from +God's presence: nowhither can we flee from His Spirit. + +This is the Scripture language. Is ours like it? Have we not got to +think of a visitation of God as a simple calamity? If a man die +suddenly and strangely, he has died by the visitation of God. But if +he be saved from death strangely and suddenly, it does not occur to +us to call that a visitation, and to say with Scripture, 'The Lord +has visited the man with His salvation.' If the cholera comes, or +the crops fail, we say,--God is visiting us. If we have an +especially healthy year, or a glorious harvest, we never say with +Scripture, 'The Lord has visited His people in giving them bread.' +Yet Scripture, if it says, 'I will visit their transgressions,' says +also that the Lord visited the children of Israel to deliver them out +of Egypt. If it talks of death as the visitation of all men, it +speaks of God visiting Sarah and Hannah to give them children. If it +says, 'I will visit the blood shed in Jezreel,' it says also, 'Thy +visitation hath preserved my spirit.' If it says, 'At the time they +are visited they shall be cast down,' it says also, 'The Lord shall +visit them, and turn away their captivity.' + +If we look through Scripture, we find that the words 'visit' and +'visitation' are used about ninety times: that in about fifty of +them the meaning of the words is chastisement of some kind or other: +in about forty it is mercy and blessing: and that in the New +Testament the words never mean anything but mercy and blessing, +though we have begun of late years to use them only in the sense of +punishment and a curse. + +Now, how is this, my friends? How is it that we, who are not under +the terrors of the Law, but under the Gospel of grace, have quite +lost the Gospel meaning of this word 'visitation,' and take a darker +view of it than did even the old Jews under the Law? Have we, whom +God hath visited, indeed, in the person of His only-begotten Son +Jesus Christ, any right or reason to think worse of a visitation of +God than had the Jews of old? God forbid. And yet we do so, I fear; +and show daily that we do so by our use of the word: for out of the +abundance of the heart man's mouth speaketh. By his words he is +justified, and by his words he is condemned; and there is no surer +sign of what a man's real belief is, than the sense in which lie +naturally, as it were by instinct, uses certain words. + +And what is the cause? + +Shall I say it? If I do, I blame not you more than I blame myself, +more than I blame this generation. But it seems to me that there is +a little--or not a little--atheism among us now-a-days; that we are +growing to be 'without God in the world.' We are ready enough to +believe that God has to do with the next world: but we are not ready +to believe that He has to do with this world. We, in this +generation, do not believe that in God we live, and move, and have +our being. Nay, some object to capital punishment, because (so they +say) 'it hurries men into the presence of their Maker;' as if a human +being could be in any better or safer place than the presence of his +Maker; and as if his being there depended on us, or on any man, and +not on God Almighty alone, who is surely not so much less powerful +than an earthly monarch, that He cannot keep out of His presence or +in it whomsoever He chooses. When we talk of being 'ushered into the +presence of God,' we mean dying; as if we were not all in the +presence of God at this moment, and all day long. When we say, +'Prepare to meet thy God,' we mean 'Prepare to die;' as if we did not +meet our God every time we had the choice between doing a right thing +and doing a wrong one--between yielding to our own lusts and tempers, +and yielding to the Holy Spirit of God. For if the Holy Spirit of +God be, as the Christian faith tells us, God indeed, do we not meet +God every time a right, and true, and gracious thought arises in our +hearts? But we have all forgotten this, and much more connected with +this; and our notion of this world is not that of Holy Scripture--of +that grand 104th Psalm, for instance, which sets forth the Spirit of +God as the Lord and Giver of life to all creation: but our notion is +this--that this world is a machine, which would go on very well by +itself, if God would but leave it alone; that if the course of +nature, as we atheistically call it, is not interfered with, then +suns shine, crops grow, trade flourishes, and all is well, because +God does not visit the earth. Ah! blind that we are; blind to the +power and glory of God which is around us, giving life and breath to +all things,--God, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground,-- +God, who visiteth the earth, and maketh it very plenteous,--God, who +giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not,--God, whose ever- +creating and ever-sustaining Spirit is the source, not only of all +goodness, virtue, knowledge, but of all life, health, order, +fertility. We see not God's witness in His sending rain and fruitful +seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And then comes +the punishment. Because we will not keep up a wholesome and trustful +belief in God in prosperity, we are awakened out of our dream of +unbelief, to an unwholesome and mistrustful belief in Him in +adversity. Because we will not believe in a God of love and order, +we grow to believe in a God of anger and disorder. Because we will +not fear a God who sends fruitful seasons, we are grown to dread a +God who sends famine and pestilence. Because we will not believe in +the Father in heaven, we grow to believe in a destroyer who visits +from heaven. But we believe in Him only as the destroyer. We have +forgotten that He is the Giver, the Creator, the Redeemer. We look +on His visitations as something dark and ugly, instead of rejoicing +in the thought of God's presence, as we should, if we had remembered +that He was about our path and about our bed, and spying out all our +ways, whether for joy or for sorrow. We shrink at the thought of His +presence. We look on His visitations as things not to be understood; +not to be searched out in childlike humility--and yet in childlike +confidence--that we may understand why they are sent, and what useful +lesson our Father means us to learn from them: but we look on them +as things to be merely prayed against, if by any means God will, as +soon as possible, cease to visit us, and leave us to ourselves, for +we can earn our own bread comfortably enough, if it were not for His +interference and visitations. We are too like the Gadarenes of old, +to whom it mattered little that the Lord had restored the madman to +health and reason, if He caused their swine to perish in the lake. +They were uneasy and terrified at such visitations of God incarnate. +He seemed to them a terrible and dangerous Being, and they besought +Him to depart out of their coasts. + +It would have been wiser, surely, in those Gadarenes, and better for +them, had they cried--'Lord, what wilt Thou have us to do? We see +that Thou art a Being of infinite power, for mercy, and for +punishment likewise. And Thou art the very Being whom we want, to +teach us our duty, and to make us do it. Tell us what we ought to +do, and help us, and, if need be, compel us to do it, and so to +prosper indeed.' And so should we pray in the case of this cholera. +We may ask God to take it away: but we are bound to ask God also, +why He has sent it. Till then we have no reason to suppose that He +will take it away; we have no reason to suppose that it will be +merciful in Him to take it away, till He has taught us why it was +sent. This question of cholera has come now to a crisis, in which we +must either learn why cholera comes, or incur, I hold, lasting +disgrace and guilt. And--if I may dare to hint at the counsels of +God--it seems as if the Almighty Lord had no mind to relieve us of +that disgrace and guilt. + +For months past we have been praying that this cholera should not +enter England, and our prayers have not been heard. In spite of them +the cholera has come; and has slain thousands, and seems likely to +slay thousands more. What plainer proof can there be to those who +believe in the providence of God, and the rule of Jesus Christ our +Lord, than that we are meant to learn some wholesome lesson from it, +which we have not learnt yet? It cannot be that God means us to +learn the physical cause of cholera, for that we have known these +twenty years. Foul lodging, foul food, and, above all, natural and +physical, foul water; there is no doubt of the cause. But why cannot +we save English people from the curse and destruction which all this +foulness brings? That is the question. That is our national +scandal, shame, and sin at this moment. Perhaps the Lord wills that +we should learn that; learn what is the moral and spiritual cause of +our own miserable weakness, negligence, hardness of heart, which, +sinning against light and knowledge, has caused the death of +thousands of innocent souls. God grant that we may learn that +lesson. God grant that He may put into the hearts and minds of some +man or men, the wisdom and courage to deliver us from such scandals +for the future. + +But I have little hope that that will happen, till we get rid of our +secret atheism; till we give up the notion that God only visits now +and then, to disorder and destroy His own handiwork, and take back +the old scriptural notion, that God is visiting all day long for +ever, to give order and life to His own work, to set it right +whenever it goes wrong, and re-create it whenever it decays. Till +then we can expect only explanations of cholera and of God's other +visitations of affliction, which are so superstitious, so irrational, +so little connected with the matter in hand, that they would be +ridiculous, were they not somewhat blasphemous. But when men arise +in this land who believe truly in an ever-present God of order, +revealed in His Son Jesus Christ; when men shall arise in this land, +who will believe that faith with their whole hearts, and will live +and die for it and by it; acting as if they really believed that in +God we live, and move, and have our being; as if they really believed +that they were in the kingdom and rule of Christ,--a rule of awful +severity, and yet of perfect love,--a rule, meanwhile, which men can +understand, and are meant to understand, that they may not only obey +the laws of God, but know the mind of God, and copy the dealings of +God, and do the will of God; and when men arise in this land, who +have that holy faith in their hearts, and courage to act upon it, +then cholera will vanish away, and the physical and moral causes of a +hundred other evils which torment poor human beings through no anger +of God, but simply through their own folly, and greediness, and +ignorance. + +All these shall vanish away, in the day when the knowledge of the +Lord shall cover the land, and men shall say, in spirit and in truth, +as Christ their Lord has said before,--'Sacrifice and burnt-offering +thou wouldest not. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the +book it is written of Me, that I should do the will of God.' And in +those days shall be fulfilled once more, the text which says,--'That +the people glorified God, saying, A great Prophet, even Christ the +Lord Himself, hath risen up among us, and God hath visited His +people.' + + + +SERMON XVIII. THE WICKED SERVANT + + + +ST. MATTHEW xviii. 23. + +The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which would take +account of his servants. + + +This parable, which you heard in the Gospel for this day, you all +know. And I doubt not that all you who know it, understand it well +enough. It is so human and so humane; it is told with such +simplicity, and yet with such force and brilliancy that--if one dare +praise our Lord's words as we praise the words of men--all must see +its meaning at once, though it speaks of a state of society different +from anything which we have ever seen, or, thank God, ever shall see. + +The Eastern despotic king who has no law but his own will; who puts +his servant--literally his slave--into a post of such trust and +honour, that the slave can misappropriate and make away with the +enormous sum of ten thousand talents; who commands, not only him, but +his wife and children to be sold to pay the debt; who then forgives +him all out of a sudden burst of pity, and again, when the wretched +man has shown himself base and cruel, unworthy of that pity, revokes +his pardon, and delivers him to the tormentors till he shall pay all- +-all this is a state of things impossible in a free country, though +it is possible enough still in many countries of the East, which are +governed in this very despotic fashion; and justice, and very often +injustice likewise, is done in this rough, uncertain way, by the will +of the king alone. + +But, however different the circumstances, yet there is a lesson in +this story which is universal and eternal, true for all men, and true +for ever. The same human nature, for good and for evil, is in us, as +was in that Eastern king and his slave. The same kingdom of heaven +is over us as was over them, its laws punishing sinners by their own +sins; the same Spirit of God which strove with their hearts is +striving with ours. If it was not so, the parable would mean nothing +to us. It would be a story of men who belonged to another moral +world, and were under another moral law, not to be judged by our +rules of right and wrong; and therefore a story of men whom we need +not copy. + +But it is not so. If the parable be--as I take for granted it is--a +true story; then it was Christ, the Light who lights every man who +cometh into the world, who put into that king's heart the divine +feeling of mercy, and inspired him to forgive, freely and utterly, +the wretched slave who worshipped him, kneeling with his forehead to +the ground, and promising, in his terror, what he probably knew he +could not perform--'Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee +all.' + +And it was Christ, the Light of men, who inspired that king with the +feeling, not of mere revenge, but of just retribution; who taught him +that, when the slave was unworthy of his mercy, he had a right, in a +noble and divine indignation, to withdraw his mercy; and not to waste +his favours on a bad man, who would only turn them to fresh bad +account, but to keep them for those who had justice and honour enough +in their hearts to forgive others, when their Lord had forgiven them. + +We must bear in mind, that the king must have been right, and acting +(whether he knew it or not) by the Spirit of God; else his conduct +would never have been likened to the kingdom of heaven: that is, to +the laws by which God governs both this world and the world to come. + +The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God--Would that men would +believe in them a little more! It seems, at times, as if all belief +in them was dying out; as if men, throughout all civilized and +Christian countries, had made up their minds to say--There is no +kingdom of God or of heaven. There will be one hereafter, in the +next world. This world is the kingdom of men, and of what they can +do for themselves without God's help, and without God's laws. + +My friends, the Jewish rulers of old said so, and cried, 'We have no +king but Caesar.' And they remain an example to all time, of what +happens to those who deny the kingdom of God. Christ came to tell +them that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and the kingdom of God +was among them. But they would have none of it. And what said our +Lord of them and their notion? 'The prince of this world,' said He, +'cometh, and hath nothing in me. This is your hour and the power of +darkness.' Yes; the hour in which men had determined to manage the +world in their way, and not in Christ's, was also the hour of the +power of darkness. That was what they had gained by having their own +way; by saying--The kingdom is ours, and not God's. They had fallen +under the power of darkness, not of light. The very light within +them was darkness. They utterly mistook their road on earth. At the +very moment that they were trying to make peace with the Roman +governor, by denying that Christ was their King, and demanding that +He should be crucified,--at that very moment the things which +belonged to their peace were hid from their eyes. Never men made so +fatal a mistake, when they thought themselves most politic and +prudent. They said among themselves--'Unless we put down this man, +the Romans will come and take away our place,' i.e. our privileges, +and power, and our nation. And what followed? That the Romans did +come and take away their place and nation, with horrible massacre and +ruin: and so they lost both the kingdom of this world, and the +kingdom of God likewise. Never, I say, did men make a more fatal +mistake in the things of this world than those Jews to whom the +kingdom of God came, and they rejected it. + +And so shall we, my friends, if we forget that, whether we like it or +not, the kingdom of God is within us, and we within it likewise. + +1. The kingdom of God is within us. Every gracious motive, every +noble, just, and merciful instinct within us, is a sign to us that +the kingdom of God is come to us; that we are not as the brutes which +perish; not as the heathen who are too often past feeling, being +alienated from the life of God by reason of the ignorance which is in +them: but, that we are God's children, inheritors of the kingdom of +heaven; and that God's Spirit is teaching us the laws of that +kingdom; so that in every child who is baptized, educated, and +civilized, is fulfilled the promise, 'I will write my laws upon their +hearts, and I will be to them a Father.' + +God's Spirit is teaching our hearts as He taught the heart of that +old Eastern king. It may be, it ought to be, that He is teaching us +far deeper lessons than He ever taught that king. + +2. We are in the kingdom of God. It is worth our while to remember +that steadfastly just now. Many people are ready to agree that the +kingdom of God is within them. They will readily confess that +religion is a spiritual matter, and a matter of the heart: but their +fancy is that therefore religion, and all just and noble and +beautiful instincts and aspirations, are very good things for those +who have them: but that, if any one has them not, it does not much +matter. + +They do not see that there are not only such things as feelings about +God; but that there are also such things as laws of God; and that God +can enforce those laws, and does enforce them, sometimes in a very +terrible manner. They do not believe enough in a living God, an +acting God, a God who will not merely write His laws in our hearts, +if we will let Him, but may also destroy us off the face of the +earth, if we would not let Him. They fancy that God either cannot, +or will not, enforce His own laws, but leaves a man free to accept +them, or reject as he will. There is no greater mistake. Be not +deceived; God is not mocked. As a man sows, so shall he reap. God +says to us, to all men,--Copy Me. Do as I do, and be My children, +and be blest. But if we will not; if, after all God's care and love, +the tree brings forth no fruit, then, soon or late, the sentence goes +forth against it in God's kingdom, 'Cut it down; why cumbereth it the +ground?' + +There is a saying now-a-days, that nations and tribes who will not +live reasonable lives, and behave as men should to their fellow-men, +must be civilized off the face of the earth. The words are false, if +they mean that we, or any other men, have a right to exterminate +their fellow-creatures. But they are true, and more true than the +people who use them fancy, if they are spoken not of man, but of God. +For if men will not obey the laws of God's kingdom, God does actually +civilize them off the face of the earth. Great nations, learned +churches, powerful aristocracies, ancient institutions, has God +civilized off the face of the earth before now. Because they would +not acknowledge God for their King, and obey the laws of His kingdom, +in which alone are life, and wealth, and health, God has taken His +kingdom away from them, and given it to others who would bring forth +the fruits thereof. The Jews are the most awful and famous example +of that terrible judgment of God, but they are not the only ones. It +has happened again and again. It may happen to you or me, as well as +to this whole nation of England, if we forget that we are in God's +kingdom, and that only by living according to God's laws can we keep +our place therein. + +And this is what the parable teaches us. The king tries to teach the +servant one of the laws of his kingdom--that he rules according to +boundless mercy and generosity. God wishes to teach us the same. +The king does so, not by word, but by deed, by actually forgiving the +man his debt. So does God forgive us freely in Jesus Christ our +Lord. + +But more than this, he wishes the servant to understand that he is to +copy his king; that if his king has behaved to him like a father to +his child, he must behave as a brother to his fellow-servants. So +does God wish to teach us. + +But he does not tell the man so, in so many words. He does not say +to him, I command thee to forgive thy debtors as I have forgiven +thee. He leaves the man to his own sense of honour and good feeling. +It is a question not of the law, but of the heart. So does God with +us. He educates us, not as children or slaves, but as free men, as +moral agents. He leaves us to our own reason and conscience, to reap +the fruit which we ourselves have sown. Therefore, about a thousand +matters in life He lays on us no special command. He leaves us to +act according to our good feeling, to our own sense of honour. It is +a matter, I say, of the heart. If God's law be written in our +hearts, our hearts will lead us to do the right thing. If God's law +be not in our hearts, then mere outward commands will not make us do +right, for what we do will not be really right and good, because it +will not be done heartily and of our own will. + +But the servant does not follow his lord's example. + +Fresh from his lord's presence, he takes his fellow-servant by the +throat, saying--Pay me that thou owest. His heart has not been +touched. His lord's example has not softened him. He does not see +how beautiful, how noble, how divine, generosity and mercy are. He +is a hard-hearted, worldly man. The heavenly kingdom, which is +justice and love, is not within him. Then, if the kingdom of heaven +is not in him, he shall find out that he is in it; and that in a very +terrible way:- 'Thou wicked servant, unworthy of my pity, because +there is no goodness in thine own heart. Thou wilt not take into thy +heart my law, which tells thee, Be merciful as I am merciful. Then +thou shalt feel another and an equally universal law of mine. As +thou doest so shalt thou be done by. If thou art merciful, thou +shalt find mercy. If thou wilt have nothing but retribution, then +nothing but retribution thou shalt have. If thou must needs do +justice thyself, I will do justice likewise. Because I am merciful, +dost thou think me careless? Because I sit still, that I am patient? +Dost thou think me such a one as thyself?' And his lord delivered +him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due unto him. + +My dear friends, this is an awful story. Let us lay it to heart. +And to do that, let us pray God to lay it to our hearts; to write His +laws in our hearts, that we may not only fear them, but love them; +not only see their profitableness, but their fitness; that we may +obey them, not grudgingly or of necessity, but obey them because they +look to us just, and true, and beautiful, and as they are--Godlike. +Let us pray, I say, that God would make us love what He commands, +lest we should neglect and despise what He commands, and find it some +day unexpectedly alive and terrible after all. Let us pray to God to +keep alive His kingdom of grace within us, lest His kingdom of +retribution outside us should fall upon us, and grind us to powder. + + + +SERMON XIX. CIVILIZED BARBARISM +(Preached for the Bishop of London's Fund, at St. John's Church, +Notting Hill, June 1866.) + + + +ST. MATTHEW ix. 12. + +They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. + + +I have been honoured by an invitation to preach on behalf of the +Bishop of London's Fund for providing for the spiritual wants of this +metropolis. By the bishop, and a large number of landowners, +employers of labour, and others who were aware of the increasing +heathendom of the richest and happiest city of the world, it was +agreed that, if possible, a million sterling should be raised during +the next ten years, to do what money could do in wiping out this +national disgrace. It is a noble plan; and it has been as yet--and I +doubt not will be to the end--nobly responded to by the rich laity of +this metropolis. + +More than 100,000l. was contributed during the first six months; +nearly 60,000l. in the ensuing year; beside subscriptions which are +promised for the whole, or part of the ten years. The money, +therefore, does not flow in as rapidly as was desired: but there is +as yet no falling off. And I believe that there will be, on the +contrary, a gradual increase in the subscriptions as the objects of +this fund are better understood, and as its benefits are practically +felt. + +Now, it is unnecessary--it would be almost an impertinence--to +enlarge on a spiritual destitution of which you are already well +aware. There are, we shall all agree, many thousands in London who +are palpably sick of spiritual disease, and need the physician. But +I have special reasons for not pressing this point. If I attempted +to draw subscriptions from you by painting tragical and revolting +pictures of the vice, heathendom, and misery of this metropolis, I +might make you fancy that it was an altogether vicious, heathen, and +miserable spot: than which there can be no greater mistake. These +evils are not the rule, but the exceptions. Were they not the +exceptions, then not merely the society of London, and the industry +of London, and the wealth of London, but the very buildings of +London, the brick and the mortar, would crumble to the ground by +natural and inevitable decay. The unprecedentedly rapid increase of +London is, I firmly believe, a sure sign that things in it are done +on the whole not ill, but well; that God's blessing is on the place; +that, because it is on the whole obeying the eternal laws of God, +therefore it is increasing, and multiplying, and replenishing the +earth, and subduing it. And I do not hesitate to say, that I have +read of no spot of like size upon this earth, on which there have +ever been congregated so many human beings, who are getting their +bread so peaceably, happily, loyally, and virtuously; and doing their +duty--ill enough, no doubt, as we all do it--but still doing it more +or less, by man and God. + +I am well aware that many will differ from me; that many men and many +women--holy, devoted, spending their lives in noble and unselfish +labours--persons whose shoes' latchet I am not worthy to unloose-- +take a far darker view of the state of this metropolis. But the fact +is, that they are naturally brought in contact chiefly with its +darker side. Their first duty is to seek out cases of misery: and +even if they do not, the miserable will, of their own accord, come to +them. It is their first duty too--if they be clergymen--to rebuke, +and if possible, to cure, open vice, open heathendom, as well as to +relieve present want and wretchedness: and may God's blessing be on +all who do that work. But in doing it they are dealing daily--and +ought to deal, and must deal--with the exceptional, and not with the +normal; with cases of palpable and shocking disease, and not with +cases of at least seeming health. They see that, into London, as +into a vast sewer, gravitates yearly all manner of vice, ignorance, +weakness, poverty: but they are apt to forget, at times--and God +knows I do not blame them for it in the least--that there gravitates +into London, not as into a sewer, but as into a wholesome and +fruitful garden, a far greater amount of health, strength, intellect, +honesty, industry, virtue, which makes London; which composes, I +verily believe, four-fifths of the population of London. For if it +did not, as I have said already, London would decay and die, and not +grow and live. + +Am I denying the spiritual destitution of this metropolis? Am I +arguing against the necessity of the Bishop of London's Fund? Am I +trying to cool your generosity towards it? Am I raising against it +the text--'They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are +sick?' Am I trying to prove that the sick are fewer than was +fancied, the healthy more numerous; and, therefore, the physician +less needed? Would to heaven that I dare so do. Would to heaven +that I could prove this fund unnecessary and superfluous. But +instead thereof, I fear that I must say--that the average of that +health, strength, intellect, honesty, industry, virtue, which makes +London--that the average of all that, I verily believe, is to be +counted (though it knows it not) among the sick, and not among the +sound. It is sick, over and above those personal sins which are +common to all classes; it is sick of a great social disease; of a +disease which is very dangerous for the nation to which we belong; +which will increase more and more, and become more and more +dangerous, unless it is stopped wholesale, by some such wholesale +measure as this. That disease is (paradoxical as it may seem) Want +of Civilization; Barbarism, which is the child of ungodliness. And +that can, I verily believe again, be cured only (as far as we in the +nineteenth century have discovered) by an extension of the parochial +system. + +And yet--let us beware of that expression--Parochial System. It +seems to imply that the parish is a mere system; an artificial +arrangement of man's invention. Now that is just what the parish is +not. It is founded on local ties; and they are not a system, but a +fact. You do not assemble men into parishes: you find them already +assembled by fact, which is the will of God. You take your stand +upon the merest physical ground of their living next door to each +other; their being likely to witness each other's sayings and doings; +to help each other and like each other, or to debauch each other and +hate each other; upon the fact that their children play in the same +street, and teach each other harm or good, thereby influencing +generations yet unborn; upon the fact that if one takes cholera or +fever, the man who lives next door is liable to take it too--in +short, on the broad fact that they are members of each other, for +good or evil. You take your stand on this physical ground of mere +neighbourhood; and say--This bond of neighbourhood is, after all, one +of the most human--yea, of the most Divine--of all bonds. Every man +you meet is your brother, and must be, for good or evil: you cannot +live without him; you must help, or you must injure, each other. +And, therefore, you must choose whether you will be a horde of +isolated barbarians--your living in brick and mortar, instead of huts +and tents, being a mere accident--barbarians, I say, at continual war +with each other: or whether you will go on to become civilized men; +that is, fellow-citizens, members of the same body, confessing and +exercising duties to each other which are not self-chosen, not self- +invented, but real; which encompass you whether you know them or not; +laid on you by Almighty God, by the mere fact of your being men and +women living in contact with each other. + +Out of this great and true law arises the idea of a parish, a local +self-government for many civil purposes, as well as ecclesiastical +ones, under a priest who--if he is to be considered as a little +constitutional monarch--has his powers limited carefully both by the +supreme law, by his assessors the church-wardens, and by the +democratic constitution of the parish--influences which he is bound, +both by law and by Christianity, to obey. + +Arising, in the first place, from the fact that our forefathers +colonized England in small separate families, each with its own +jurisdiction and worship; our country parish churches being, to this +day, often the sites of old heathen tribe-temples, and this very +place, Notting-hill, being possibly a little colony of the Nottingas- +-the same tribe which gave their name to the great city of +Nottingham; arising from this fact, and from the very ancient +institution of frank-pledge between local neighbours, this parochial +system, above all other English institutions, has helped to teach us +how to govern, and therefore how to civilize, ourselves. It was +overlaid, all but extinguished, by the monastic system, during the +latter part of the Middle Ages. It re-asserted itself, in fuller +vigour than ever, at the Reformation. But with its benefits, its +defects were restored likewise. The tendency of the mediaeval Church +had been to become merely a church for paupers. The tendency of the +Church of England during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth +centuries, was to become merely a church for burghers. It has been, +of late, to become merely a church for paupers again. The causes of +this reaction are simple enough. Population increased so rapidly +that the old parish bounds were broken up; the old parish staff +became too small for working purposes. The Church had (and, alas! +has still) to be again a missionary church, as she became in the +twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when feudal violence had destroyed +the self-government of the parishes--often the parishes themselves-- +and filled the land with pauperism and barbarism. But that is but a +transitional state. Her duty is now becoming more and more (and +those who wish her well must help her to fulfil her duty) to +reorganize the ancient parochial system on a deeper and sounder +footing than ever; on a footing which will ensure her being a church, +not merely for pauper, nor merely for burgher, but for pauper and for +burgher equally and alike. + +But some will say that parochial civilization is only a peculiar form +of civilization, because its centre is a church. Peculiar? That is +the last word which any one would apply to such a civilization, if he +knows history. Will any one mention any civilization, past or +present, whose centre has not been (as long as it has been living and +progressive) a church? All past civilizations--whether heathen or +Mussulman, Jew or Christian--have each and every one of them, as a +fact, held that the common and local worship of a God was a sign to +them of their common and local unity; a sign to them of their +religion, that is, the duties which bound them to each other, whether +they liked or not. To all races and nations, as yet, their sacred +grove, church, temple, or other place of worship, has been a sign to +them that their unity and duties were not invented by themselves, but +were the will and command of an unseen Being, who would reward or +punish them according as they did those duties or left them undone. +So it has been in the civilizations of the past. So it will be in +the civilization of the future. If the Christian religion were swept +away--as it never will be, for it is eternal--and a civilization +founded on what is called Nature put in its place, then we should see +a worship of something called Nature, and a temple thereof, set up as +the symbol of that Natural civilization. So the Jacobins of France-- +when they tried to civilize France on the mere ground of what they +called Reason--had, whether they liked it or not, to instal a worship +of Reason, and a goddess of Reason, for as long as they could +contrive to last. + +To the world's end, a church of some kind or other will be the centre +and symbol of every civilization which is worthy of the name; of +every civilization which signifies, not merely that men live in +somewhat better houses, travel rather faster by railway, and read a +few more books (which is the popular meaning of civilization), but +which means--as it meant among the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the +Christians, among those who discovered the idea and the very words +which express it--that each and every truly civilized man is a civis, +a citizen, the conscious and obedient member of a corporate body +which he did not make, but which (in as far as he is not a savage) +has made him. + +How far from this idea are the great masses of our really wealthy and +well-to-do Londoners? How much is it needed, that wise men should +try to re-awaken in them the sense of corporate life, and literally +civilize them once more! + +Consider the case, not of the average wretched, but of the average +comfortable man. The small shopkeeper, the workman, skilled or +unskilled--how small a consciousness has he of citizenship. What few +incentives to regard civism as a solemn duty. For consider, of what +is he a member? + +He is a member of a family; and, in general, he fulfils his family +duties well. + +Yes, thank God, the family life of Englishmen is sound. The hearts +of the children do not need to be turned to their fathers, or the +hearts of the fathers to the children, as they did in Judea of old. +Family life, which is the foundation of all national life--nay, of +all Christian and church life--is, on the whole, sound. And having +that foundation we can build on it safely and well, if we be wise. + +But of what else is the average Londoner a member? Of a benefit- +club, of a trades' union, of a volunteer corps. Each will be a +valuable element of education, for it will teach him that self- +government, which is the school of all freedom, of all loyalty, of +all true civilization. + +Or he may be a member of some Nonconformist sect. That, too, will be +a valuable element, for it will teach him the solemn fact of his own +personality; his direct responsibility to God for his own soul. + +And I cannot pass this point of my sermon without expressing my sense +of the great work which the Dissenting sects have done, and are +doing, for this land (with which the Bishop of London's plan will in +no wise interfere), in teaching this one thing, which the Church of +England, while trying to carry out her far deeper and higher +conception of organization, has often forgotten; that, after all, and +before all, and throughout all, each man stands alone, face to face +with Almighty God. This idea has helped to give the middle classes +of England an independence, a strong, vigorous, sharp-cut +personality, which is an invaluable wealth to the nation. God forbid +that we should try to weaken it, even for reasons which may seem to +some devout and orthodox. + +But all these memberships, after all, are only voluntary ones, not +involuntary. They are assumed by man himself--the worldly +associations on the ground of mutual interest; the spiritual +associations on that of identity of opinions. They are not +instituted by God, and nature, and fact, whether the man knows of +them or not, likes them or not. They are of the nature of clubs, not +of citizenship. They are not founded on that human ground which is, +by virtue of the Incarnation, the most divine ground of all. And for +the many they do not exist. The majority of small shopkeepers, and +the majority of labourers too, are members, as far as they are aware, +of nothing, unless it be a club at some neighbouring public-house. +The old feudal and burgher bonds of the Middle Age, for good or for +evil, have perished by natural and necessary decay; and nothing has +taken their place. Each man is growing up more and more isolated; +tempted to selfishness, to brutal independence; tempted to regard his +fellow-men as rivals in the struggle for existence; tempted, in +short, to incivism, to a loss of the very soul and marrow of +civilization, while the outward results of it remain; and therefore +tempted to a loss of patriotism, of the belief that he possesses here +something far more precious than his private fortune, or even his +family; even a country for which he must sacrifice, if need be, +himself. And if that grow to be the general temper of England, or of +London, in some great day of the Lord, some crisis of perplexity, +want, or danger,--then may the Lord have mercy upon this land; for it +will have no mercy on itself: but divided, suspicious, heartless, +cynical, unpatriotic, each class, even each family, even each +individual man, will run each his own way, minding his own interest +or safety; content, like the debased Jews, if he can find the life of +his hand; and:- + + +'Too happy if, in that dread day, +His life he given him for a prey.' + + +Our fathers saw that happen throughout half Europe, at a crisis when, +while the outward crust of civilization was still kept up, the life +of it, all patriotism, corporate feeling, duty to a common God, and +faith in a common Saviour, had rotted out unperceived. At one blow +the gay idol fell, and broke; and behold, inside was not a soul, but +dust. God grant that we may never see here the same catastrophe, the +same disgrace. + +Now, one remedy--I do not say the only remedy--there are no such +things as panaceas; all spiritual and social diseases are +complicated, and their remedies must be complicated likewise--but one +remedy, palpable, easy, and useful, whenever and wherever it has been +tried, is this--to go to these great masses of brave, honest, +industrious, but isolated and uncivilized men, after the method of +the Bishop of this diocese, and his fund; and to say to them,--'Of +whatever body you are, or are not members, you are members of that +human family for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be +betrayed, and to suffer death upon the Cross; over which He now +liveth and reigneth, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, one God, +world without end. You are children of God the Father of spirits, +who wills that all should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the +truth. You are inheritors--that is, members not by your own will, or +the will of any man, but by the will of God who has chosen you to be +born in a Christian land of Christian parents--inheritors, I say, of +the kingdom of heaven, from your cradles to your graves, and after +that, if you will, for ever and ever. Behave as such. Claim your +rights; for they are yours already: and not only claim your rights, +but confess your duties. Remember that every man, woman, and child +in your street is, prima facie, just as much a member of Christ as +you are. Treat them as such; associate yourselves with them as such. +Accept the simple physical fact that they live next door to you, as +God's will toward you both, and as God's sign to you that you and +they are members of the same human and divine family. Enter with +them, in that plain form, into the free corporate self-government of +a Christian parish. Fear no priestly tyranny; from that danger you +are guaranteed by the fact, that the great majority of the promoters +of this fund are laymen, of all shades of opinion. You are +guaranteed, still further, by the fact, that in the parochial system +there can be no tyranny. It is one of the very institutions by which +Englishmen have learnt those habits of self-government, which are the +admiration of Europe. + +'Do, then, the duty which lies nearest you; your duty to the man who +lives next door, and to the man who lives in the next street. Do +your duty to your parish; that you may learn to do your duty by your +country and to all mankind, and prove yourselves thereby civilized +men. + +'And confess your sins in this matter, if not to us, at least to God. +Confess that while you, in your sturdy, comfortable independence, +have been fancying yourselves whole and sound, you have been very +sick, and need the physician to cure you of the deadly and growing +disease of selfish barbarism. Confess that, while you have been +priding yourselves on English self-help and independence, you have +not deigned to use them for those purposes of common organization, +common worship, for which the very savages and heathens have, for +ages past, used such freedom as they have had. Confess that, while +you have been talking loudly about the rights of humanity, you have +neglected too often its duties, and lived as if the people in the +same street had no more to do with you than the beasts which perish. + +'Confess your sins. We monied men confess ours. We ought to have +foreseen the rapid growth of this city. We ought to have planned and +laboured more earnestly for its better organization. And we freely +offer our money, as a sign of our repentance, to build and establish +for you institutions which you cannot afford to establish for +yourselves. We excuse you, moreover, in very great part. You have +been gathered together so suddenly into these vast new districts, or +rather chaos of houses, and you have meanwhile shifted your dwellings +so rapidly, and under the pressure of such continual labour, that you +have not had time enough to organize yourselves. But we, too, have +our excuse. We have actually been trying, at vast expense and labour +to ourselves, for the last forty years, to meet your new needs. But +you have outgrown all our efforts. Your increase has taken us by +surprise. Your prosperity has outrun our goodwill. It shall do so +no more. We are ready to do our part in the good work of repentance. +We ask you to do yours. You are more able to do it than you ever +were: richer, better educated, more acquainted with the blessings of +association. We do not come to you as to paupers, merely to help +you. We come to you as to free and independent citizens, to teach +you to help yourselves, and show yourselves citizens indeed.' + +I hope, ay, I believe, that such an appeal as this, made in an honest +and liberal spirit, which proves its honesty and liberality by great +and generous gifts out of such private wealth as no nation ever had +before, will be met by the masses of London, in the same spirit as +that in which it has been made. + +I am certain of it, if only the ecclesiastical staff employed by this +Fund will keep steadfastly in mind what they have to do. True it is, +and happily true, that they can do nothing but good. If they confine +themselves to the celebration of public worship, to teaching +children, to giving the consolations of religion to those with whom +want and wretchedness bring them in contact--all that will be gain, +clear gain, vast gain. But that, valuable, necessary as it is, will +not be sufficient to evoke a full response from the people of London. + +But if they will, not leaving the other undone, do yet more; if they +will attempt the more difficult, but the equally necessary and more +permanent labour--that of attacking the disease of barbarism, not +merely in its symptoms, but in its very roots and its causes; if they +will recognise the fact, that with the disease there coexists a great +deal of sturdy and useful health; if they will have courage and +address to face, not merely the non-working, non-earning, and +generally non-thinking hundreds, but the working, earning, thinking +thousands of each parish; in fact, the men and women who make London +what it is; if they will approach them with charity, confidence, and +respect; if they will remember that they are justly jealous of that +personal independence, that civil and religious liberty, which is +theirs by law and right; if they will conduct themselves, not as +lords over God's heritage, but as examples to the flock; if they will +treat that flock, not as their subjects, but as their friends, their +fellow-workers, their fellow-counsellors--often their advisers; if +they will remember that 'Give and take, live and let live,' are no +mere worldly maxims, but necessary, though difficult Christian +duties; then, I believe, they will after awhile receive an answer to +their call such as they dare not as yet expect; such an answer as our +forefathers gave to the clergy of the early Middle Age, when they +showed them that the kingdom of God was the messenger of +civilization, of humanity, of justice and peace, of strength and +well-being in this world, as well as in the next. The clergy would +find in the men and women of London not merely disciples, but +helpers. They would meet, not with fanatical excitement, not even +with enthusiasm, not even with much outward devotion; but with co- +operation, hearty and practical though slow and quiet--co-operation +all the more valuable, in every possible sense, because it will be +free and voluntary; and the Bishop of London's Fund would receive +more and more assistance, not merely of heads and hands, but of money +when money was needed, from the inhabitants of the very poorest and +most heathen districts, as they began to feel that they were giving +their money towards a common blessing, and became proud to pay their +share towards an organization which would belong to them, and to +their children after them. + +So runs my dream. This may be done: God grant that it may! For +now, it may be, is our best chance of doing it. Now is the accepted +time; now is the day of salvation. If these masses increase in +numbers and in power for another generation, in their present state +of anarchy, they may be lost for ever to Christianity, to order, to +civilization. But if we can civilize, in that sense which is both +classical and Christian, the masses of London, and of England, by +that parochial method which has been (according to history) the only +method yet discovered, then we shall have helped, not only to save +innumerable souls from sin, and from that misery which is the +inevitable and everlasting consequence of sin, but we shall have +helped to save them from a specious and tawdry barbarism, such as +corrupted and enervated the seemingly civilized masses of the later +Roman empire; and to save our country, within the next century, from +some such catastrophe as overtook the Jewish monarchy in spite of all +its outward religiosity; the catastrophe which has overtaken every +nation which has fancied itself sound and whole, while it was really +broken, sick, weak, ripe for ruin. For such, every nation or empire +becomes, though the minority above be never so well organized, +civilized, powerful, educated, even virtuous, if the majority below +are not a people of citizens, but masses of incoherent atoms, ready +to fall to pieces before every storm. + +From that, and from all adversities, may God deliver us, and our +children after us, by graciously beholding this His Family, for which +our Lord Jesus Christ was content to suffer death upon the Cross; and +by pouring out His Spirit upon all estates of men in His holy Church, +that every member of the same, in his calling and ministry, may +freely and godly serve Him; till we have no longer the shame and +sorrow of praying for English men and women, as we do for Jews, +Turks, infidels, and heretics, that God would take from them all +ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of His Word, and fetch +them home to that flock of His, to which they all belong! + + + +SERMON XX. THE GOD OF NATURE +(Preached during a wet harvest.) + + + +PSALM cxlvii. 7-9. + +Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto +our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for +the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to +the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. + + +There is no reason why those who wrote this Psalm, and the one which +follows it, should have looked more cheerfully on the world about +them than we have a right to do. The country and climate of Judea is +not much superior to ours. If we suffer at times from excess of rain +and wind, Judea suffers from excess of drought and sunshine. It +suffers, too, at times, from that most terrible of earthly +calamities, from which we are free--namely, from earthquakes. The +sea, moreover, instead of being loved, as it is by us, as the highway +of our commerce, and the producer of vast stores of food--the sea, I +say, was almost feared by the old Jews, who were no sailors. They +looked on it as a dangerous waste; and were thankful to God that, +though the waves roared, He had set them a bound which they could not +pass. + +So that there is no reason why the old Jews should think and speak +more cheerfully about the world than we here in England ought. They +had, too, the same human afflictions, sicknesses, dangers, +disappointments, losses and chastisements as we have. They had their +full share of all the ills to which flesh is heir. Yet look, I beg +you, at the cheerfulness of these two Psalms, the 147th and 148th. +In truth, it is more than cheerfulness; it is joy, rejoicing which +can only express itself in a song. + +These Psalms are songs, to be sung to music, and even in our +translation they are songs still, sounding like poetry, and not like +prose. + +And why is this? Because the men who wrote these Psalms had faith in +God. + +They trusted God. They saw that He was worthy of their trust. They +saw that He was to be honoured, not merely for His boundless wisdom +and His boundless power: for a being might have them, and yet make a +bad use of them. But He was to be trusted, because He was a good +God. He was to be honoured, not for anything which men might get out +of Him (as the heathen fancied) by flattering Him, and begging of +Him: but He was to be honoured for His own sake, for what He was in +Himself--a just, merciful, kind, generous, magnanimous, and utterly +noble and perfect, moral Being, worthy of all admiration, praise, +honour, and glory. + +The Psalmist saw that God was good, and worthy to be praised. But he +saw, too, that he and his forefathers would never have found out that +for themselves. It was too great a discovery for man to make. God +must have showed it to them. God had showed His word to Jacob, His +statutes and ordinances to Israel. + +He had not done so to any other nation, neither had the heathen +knowledge of His laws. And, therefore, they did not trust God; they +did not consider Him a good God, and so they worshipped Baalim, the +sun and moon and stars, with silly and foul ceremonies, to procure +from them good harvests; and burnt their children in the fire to +Moloch, the fire-king, to keep off the earthquakes and the floods. +God had not taught them what He had taught Israel--to trust in Him, +and in His word which ran very swiftly, and in His laws, which could +not be broken: a faith which, my friends, we must do our best to +keep up in ourselves, and in our children after us. For it is very +easy to lose it, this faith in God. We are tempted to lose it, all +our lives long. + +Our forefathers, in the days of Popery, lost it; and because they did +not trust in God as a good God, who took good care of the world which +He had made, they fell to believing that the devil, and witches, the +servants of the devil, could raise storms, blight crops, strike +cattle and human beings with disease. And they began, too, to pray, +not to God, but to certain saints in heaven, to protect them against +bodily ills. + +One saint could cure one disease, and one another; one saint +protected the cattle, another kept off thunder, and so forth--I will +not tell you more, lest I should tempt you to smile in this holy +place; and tempt you, too, to look down on your forefathers, who +(though they made these mistakes) were just as honest and virtuous +men as we. + +And even lately, up to this very time, there are those who have not +full faith in God; though they be good and pious persons, and good +Protestants too, who would shrink with horror from worshipping +saints, or any being save God alone. But they are apt to shut their +eyes to the beauty and order of God's world, and to the glory of God +set forth therein, and to excuse themselves by quoting unfairly texts +of Scripture. They say that this world is all out of joint; corrupt, +and cursed for Adam's sin: yet, where it is out of joint, and where +it is corrupt, they cannot show. And, as for its being cursed for +Adam's sin, that is a dream which is contradicted by Holy Scripture +itself. For see. We read in Genesis iii. 17, 'Cursed is the ground +for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy +life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.' + +Now, that the ground does not now bring forth thorns and thistles to +us, we know. For it brings forth whatsoever fair flower, or useful +herb, we plant therein, according to the laws of nature, which are +the laws of God. Neither do men eat thereof in sorrow; but, as +Solomon says, 'eat their bread in joyfulness of heart.' And so did +they in the Psalmist's days; who never speak of the tillage of the +land without some expression of faith and confidence, and +thankfulness to that God who crowns the year with His goodness, and +His clouds drop fatness; while the hills rejoice on every side, and +the valleys stand so thick with corn, that they laugh and sing--of +faith, I say, and gratitude toward that God who brings forth the +grass for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men; who +brings food out of the earth, and wine to make glad the heart of man, +and oil to give him a cheerful countenance, and bread to strengthen +man's heart. Those well-known words are in the 104th Psalm; and I +ask any reasonable person to read that Psalm through--the Psalm which +contains the Jewish natural theology, the Jew's view of this world, +and of God's will and dealings with it--and then say, could a man +have written it who thought that there was any curse upon this earth +on account of man's sin? + +But more. The Book of Genesis says that there is none; for, after it +has said in the third chapter, 'Cursed is the ground for thy sake,' +it says again, in the eighth chapter, verse 21, 'And the Lord said in +His heart, I will not again curse the ground for man's sake. While +the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and +winter, shall not cease.' + +Can any words be plainer? Whatever the curse in Adam's days may have +been, does not the Book of Genesis represent it as being formally +abrogated and taken away in the days of Noah, that the regular course +of nature, fruitful and beneficent, might endure thenceforth? + +Accordingly, we hear no more in the Bible anywhere of this same +curse. We hear instead the very opposite; for one says, in the 119th +Psalm, speaking indeed of God, 'O Lord, Thy word endureth for ever in +heaven. Thy truth also remaineth from one generation to another. +Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They +continue this day according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve +Thee.' And so in the 148th Psalm, another speaks by the Spirit of +God; 'Let all things praise the name of the Lord: for He commanded, +and they were created. He hath also established them for ever and +ever: He hath given them a law which shall not be broken.' + +Yes, my friends, God's law shall not be broken, and it is not broken. +And that faith, that the laws which govern the whole material +universe, cannot be broken, will be to us faith full of hope, and +joy, and confidence, if we will remember, with the Psalmist, that +they are the laws of the living God, and of the good God. + +They are the laws of the living God: not the laws of nature, or +fate, or necessity--all three words which mean little or nothing--but +of a living God in whom we live, and move, and have our being; whose +word--the creating, organizing, inspiring word--runneth very swiftly, +making all things to obey God, and not themselves. + +And they are the laws of a good God; of a moral God; of a generous, +loving, just, and merciful God, who, as the Psalmist reminds us (and +that is the reason of his confidence and his joy), while He telleth +the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names, +condescends at the same time to heal those who are broken in heart; +of a God who, while He giveth fodder to the cattle, and feedeth the +young ravens who call on Him, at the same time careth for those who +fear Him, and put their trust in His mercy; of a God who, while His +power is great and His wisdom infinite, at the same time sets up the +meek, and brings the ungodly down to the ground; of a Father in +heaven who is perfect in this--that He sends His sun and rain alike +on the just and the unjust, and is good to the unthankful and the +evil; of a Father, lastly, who so loved the world, that He spared not +His only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him for us, and has committed +to that Son all power in heaven and earth;--all power over the +material world, which we call nature, as well as over the moral +world, which is the hearts and spirits of men--to that Word of God +who runneth very swiftly, who is sharper than a two-edged sword, and +yet more tender than the love of woman; even Jesus Christ the +Saviour, the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, and was +God; by whom all things were made; who is the true Light, which +lighteth every man that cometh into the world, if by any means he +will receive the light of God, and see thereby the true and wise laws +of Nature and of Spirit. + +This is our God. This is He who sends food and wealth, rain and +sunshine. Shall we not trust Him? If we thank Him for plenty, and +fine weather, which we see to be blessings without doubt, shall we +not trust Him for scarcity and bad weather, which do not seem to us +to be blessings, and yet may be blessings nevertheless? Shall we not +believe that His very chastisements are mercies? Shall we not accept +them in faith, as the child takes from its parent's hand bitter +medicine, the use of which it cannot see; but takes it in faith that +its parent knows best, and that its parent's purpose is only love and +benevolence? Shall we not say with Job--Though He slay me, yet will +I trust in Him? He cannot mean my harm; He must mean my good, and +the good of all mankind. He must--even by such seeming calamities as +great rains, or failure of crops--even by them He must be benefiting +mankind. Recollect, as a single instance, that the great rains of +1860, which terrified so many, are proved now to have saved some +thousands of lives in England from fever and similar diseases. Take +courage; and have, as the old Psalmist had, faith in God. Believe +that nothing goes wrong in this world, save through the sin, and +folly, and ignorance of man; that God is always right, always wise, +always benevolent: and be sure that you, each and all, are - + + +'Safe in the hand of one disposing Power, +Or in the natal, or the mortal hour, +All nature is but art, unknown to thee; +All chance, discretion which thou can it not see. +All discord, harmony not understood; +All partial evil, universal good; +And spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, +One truth is clear--whatever is, is right.' + + +And pray to God that He may fill you with His Spirit, the spirit of +wisdom and understanding, of knowledge and grace of the Lord, and +show to you, as He showed to the Jews of old, His laws and judgments, +and so teach you how to see that the only thing on earth which is not +right, is--the sin of man. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WATER OF LIFE ETC. *** + +This file should be named wtlf10.txt or wtlf10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, wtlf11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wtlf10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/wtlf10.zip b/old/wtlf10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d51272e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wtlf10.zip diff --git a/old/wtlf10h.htm b/old/wtlf10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4d8609 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wtlf10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5966 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> +<title>The Water of Life and Other Sermons</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Water of Life and Other Sermons, by Charles Kingsley</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Water of Life and Other Sermons +by Charles Kingsley +(#13 in our series by Charles Kingsley) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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THE WATER OF LIFE<br> +(<i>Preached at Westminster Abbey</i>)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +REVELATION xxii. 17.<br> +<br> +And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth +say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever +will, let him take the water of life freely.<br> +<br> +<br> +This text is its own witness. It needs no man to testify to its +origin. Its own words show it to be inspired and divine.<br> +<br> +But not from its mere poetic beauty, great as that is: greater than +we, in this wet and cold climate, can see at the first glance. +We must go to the far East and the far South to understand the images +which were called up in the mind of an old Jew at the very name of wells +and water-springs; and why the Scriptures speak of them as special gifts +of God, life-giving and divine. We must have seen the treeless +waste, the blazing sun, the sickening glare, the choking dust, the parched +rocks, the distant mountains quivering as in the vapour of a furnace; +we must have felt the lassitude of heat, the torment of thirst, ere +we can welcome, as did those old Easterns, the well dug long ago by +pious hands, whither the maidens come with their jars at eventide, when +the stone is rolled away, to water the thirsty flocks; or the living +fountain, under the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, with its +grove of trees, where all the birds for many a mile flock in, and shake +the copses with their song; its lawn of green, on which the long-dazzled +eye rests with refreshment and delight; its brook, wandering away - +perhaps to be lost soon in burning sand, but giving, as far as it flows, +Life; a Water of Life to plant, to animal, and to man.<br> +<br> +All these images, which we have to call up in our minds one by one, +presented themselves to the mind of an Eastern, whether Jew or heathen, +at once, as a well-known and daily scene; and made him feel, at the +very mention of a water-spring, that the speaker was telling him of +the good and beautiful gift of a beneficent Being.<br> +<br> +And yet - so do extremes meet - like thoughts, though not like images, +may be called up in our minds, here in the heart of London, in murky +alleys and foul courts, where there is too often, as in the poet’s +rotting sea -<br> +<br> +<br> +‘Water, water, everywhere,<br> +Yet not a drop to drink.’<br> +<br> +<br> +And we may bless God - as the Easterns bless Him for the ancestors who +digged their wells - for every pious soul who now erects a drinking-fountain; +for he fulfils the letter as well as the spirit of Scripture, by offering +to the bodies as well as the souls of men the Water of Life freely.<br> +<br> +But the text speaks not of earthly water. No doubt the words ‘Water +of Life’ have a spiritual and mystic meaning. Yet that alone +does not prove the inspiration of the text. They had a spiritual +and mystic meaning already among the heathens of the East - Greeks and +barbarians alike.<br> +<br> +The East - and indeed the West likewise - was haunted by dreams of a +Water of Life, a Fount of Perpetual Youth, a Cup of Immortality: dreams +at which only the shallow and the ignorant will smile; for what are +they but tokens of man’s right to Immortality, - of his instinct +that he is not as the beasts, - that there is somewhat in him which +ought not to die, which need not die, and yet which may die, and which +perhaps deserves to die? How could it be kept alive? how strengthened +and refreshed into perpetual youth?<br> +<br> +And water - with its life-giving and refreshing powers, often with medicinal +properties seemingly miraculous - what better symbol could be found +for that which would keep off death? Perhaps there was some reality +which answered the symbol, some actual Cup of Immortality, some actual +Fount of Youth. But who could attain to them? Surely the +gods hid their own special treasure from the grasp of man. Surely +that Water of Life was to be sought for far away, amid trackless mountain-peaks, +guarded by dragons and demons. That Fount of Youth must be hidden +in the rich glades of some tropic forest. That Cup of Immortality +must be earned by years, by ages, of superhuman penance and self torture. +Certain of the old Jews, it is true, had had deeper and truer thoughts. +Here and there a psalmist had said, ‘With God is the well of Life;’ +or a prophet had cried, ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye +to the waters, and buy without money and without price!’ +But the Jews had utterly forgotten (if the mass of them ever understood) +the meaning of the old revelations; and, above all, the Pharisees, the +most religious among them. To their minds, it was only by a proud +asceticism, - by being not as other men were; only by doing some good +thing - by performing some extraordinary religious feat, - that man +could earn eternal life. And bitter and deadly was their selfish +wrath when they heard that the Water of Life was within all men’s +reach, then and for ever; that The Eternal Life was in that Christ who +spoke to them; that He gave it freely to whomsoever He would; - bitter +their wrath when they heard His disciples declare that God had given +to men Eternal Life; that the Spirit and the Bride said. Come.<br> +<br> +They had, indeed, a graceful ceremony, handed down to them from better +times, as a sign that those words of the old psalmists and prophets +had once meant something. At the Feast of Tabernacles - the harvest +feast - at which God was especially to be thanked as the giver of fertility +and Life, their priests drew water with great pomp from the pool of +Siloam; connecting it with the words of the prophet: ‘With joy +shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.’ But +the ceremony had lost its meaning. It had become mechanical and +empty. They had forgotten that God was a giver. They would +have confessed, of course, that He was the Lord of Life: but they expected +Him to prove that, not by giving Life, but by taking it away: not by +saving the many, but by destroying all except a favoured few. +But bitter and deadly was their wrath when they were told that their +ceremony had still a living meaning, and a meaning not only for them, +but for all men; for that mob of common people whom they looked on as +accursed, because they knew not the law. Bitter and deadly was +their selfish wrath, when they heard One who ate and drank with publicans +and sinners stand up in the very midst of that grand ceremony, and cry; +‘If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that +believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, Out of him shall flow rivers +of living water.’ A God who said to all ‘Come,’ +was not the God they desired to rule over them. And thus the very +words which prove the text to be divine and inspired, were marked out +as such by those bigots of the old world, who in them saw and hated +both Christ and His Father.<br> +<br> +The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Come, and drink freely.<br> +<br> +Those words prove the text, and other texts like it in Holy Scripture, +to be an utterly new Gospel and good news; an utterly new revelation +and unveiling of God, and of the relations of God to man.<br> +<br> +For the old legends and dreams, in whatsoever they differed, agreed +at least in this, that the Water of Life was far away; infinitely difficult +to reach; the prize only of some extraordinary favourite of fortune, +or of some being of superhuman energy and endurance. The gods +grudged life to mortals, as they grudged them joy and all good things. +That God should say Come; that the Water of Life could be a gift, a +grace, a boon of free generosity and perfect condescension, never entered +into their minds. That the gods should keep their immortality +to themselves seemed reasonable enough. That they should bestow +it on a few heroes; and, far away above the stars, give them to eat +of their ambrosia, and drink of their nectar, and so live for ever; +that seemed reasonable enough likewise.<br> +<br> +But that the God of gods, the Maker of the universe should say, ‘Come, +and drink freely;’ that He should stoop from heaven to bring life +and immortality to light, - to tell men what the Water of Life was, +and where it was, and how to attain it; much more, that that God should +stoop to become incarnate, and suffer and die on the cross, that He +might purchase the Water of Life, not for a favoured few, but for all +mankind; that He should offer it to all, without condition, stint, or +drawback; - this, this, never entered into their wildest dreams.<br> +<br> +And yet, when the strange news was told, it looked so probable, although +so strange, to thousands who had seemed mere profligates or outcasts; +it agreed so fully with the deepest voices of their own hearts, - with +their thirst for a nobler, purer, more enduring Life, - with their highest +idea of what a perfect God should be, if He meant to show His perfect +goodness; it seemed at once so human and humane, and yet so superhuman +and divine; - that they accepted it unhesitatingly, as a voice from +God Himself, a revelation of the Eternal Author of the universe; as, +God grant you may accept it this day.<br> +<br> +And what is Life? And what is the Water of Life?<br> +<br> +What are they indeed, my friends? You will find many answers to +that question, in this, as in all ages: but the one which Scripture +gives is this. Life is none other, according to the Scripture, +than God Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord, who bestows on man His own +Spirit, to form in him His own character, which is the character of +God.<br> +<br> +He is The one Eternal Life; and it has been manifested in human form, +that human beings might copy it; and behold, it was full of grace and +truth.<br> +<br> +The Life of grace and truth; that is the Life of Christ, and, therefore, +the Life of God.<br> +<br> +The Life of grace - of graciousness, love, pity, generosity, usefulness, +self-sacrifice; the Life of truth - of faithfulness, fairness, justice, +the desire to impart knowledge and to guide men into all truth. +The Life, in one word, of charity, which is both grace and truth, both +love and justice, in one Eternal essence. That is the life which +God lives for ever in heaven. That is The one Eternal Life, which +must be also the Life of God. For, as there is but one Eternal, +even God, so is there but one Eternal Life, which is the life of God +and of His Christ. And the Spirit by which it is inspired into +the hearts of men is the Spirit of God, who proceedeth alike from the +Father and from the Son.<br> +<br> +Have you not seen men and women in whom these words have been literally +and palpably fulfilled? Have you not seen those who, though old +in years, were so young in heart, that they seem to have drunk of the +Fountain of perpetual Youth, - in whom, though the outward body decayed, +the soul was renewed day by day; who kept fresh and pure the noblest +and holiest instincts of their childhood, and went on adding to them +the experience, the calm, the charity of age? Persons whose eye +was still so bright, whose smile was still so tender, that it seemed +that they could never die? And when they died, or seemed to die, +you felt that THEY were not dead, but only their husk and shell; that +they themselves, the character which you had loved and reverenced, must +endure on, beyond the grave, beyond the worlds, in a literally Everlasting +Life, independent of nature, and of all the changes of the material +universe.<br> +<br> +Surely you have seen such. And surely what you loved in them was +the Spirit of God Himself, - that love, joy, peace, long-suffering, +gentleness, goodness, which the natural savage man has not. Has +not, I say, look at him where you will, from the tropics to the pole, +because it is a gift above man; the gift of the Spirit of God; the Eternal +Life of goodness, which natural birth cannot give to man, nor natural +death take away.<br> +<br> +You have surely seen such persons - if you have not, <i>I</i> have, +thank God, full many a time; - but if you have seen them, did you not +see this? - That it was not riches which gave them this Life, if they +were rich; or intellect, if they were clever; or science, if they were +learned; or rank, if they were cultivated; or bodily organization, if +they were beautiful and strong: that this noble and gentle life of theirs +was independent of their body, of their mind, of their circumstances? +Nay, have you not seen this, - <i>I</i> have, thank God, full many a +time, - That not many rich, not many mighty, not many noble are called: +but that God’s strength is rather made perfect in man’s +weakness, - that in foul garrets, in lonely sick-beds, in dark places +of the earth, you find ignorant people, sickly people, ugly people, +stupid people, in spite of, in defiance of, every opposing circumstance, +leading heroic lives, - a blessing, a comfort, an example, a very Fount +of Life to all around them; and dying heroic deaths, because they know +they have Eternal Life?<br> +<br> +And what was that which had made them different from the mean, the savage, +the drunken, the profligate beings around them? This at least. +That they were of those of whom it is written, ‘Let him that is +athirst come.’ They had been athirst for Life. They +had had instincts and longings; very simple and humble, but very pure +and noble. At times, it may be, they had been unfaithful to those +instincts. At times, it may be, they had fallen. They had +said ‘Why should I not do like the rest, and be a savage? +Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die;’ and they had cast +themselves down into sin, for very weariness and heaviness, and were +for a while as the beasts which have no law.<br> +<br> +But the thirst after The noble Life was too deep to be quenched in that +foul puddle. It endured, and it conquered; and they became more +and more true to it, till it was satisfied at last, though never quenched, +that thirst of theirs, in Him who alone can satisfy it - the God who +gave it; for in them were fulfilled the Lord’s own words: ‘Blessed +are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall +be filled.’<br> +<br> +There are those, I fear, in this church - there are too many in all +churches - who have not felt, as yet, this divine thirst after a higher +Life; who wish not for an Eternal, but for a merely endless life, and +who would not care greatly what sort of life that endless life might +be, if only it was not too unlike the life which they live now; who +would be glad enough to continue as they are, in their selfish pleasure, +selfish gain, selfish content, for ever; who look on death as an unpleasant +necessity, the end of all which they really prize; and who have taken +up religion chiefly as a means for escaping still more unpleasant necessities +after death. To them, as to all, it is said, ‘Come, and +drink of the water of life freely.’ But The Life of goodness +which Christ offers, is not the life they want. Wherefore they +will not come to Him, that they may have life. Meanwhile, they +have no right to sneer at the Fountain of Youth, or the Cup of Immortality. +Well were it for them if those dreams were true; in their heart of hearts +they know it. Would they not go to the ends of the earth to bathe +in the Fountain of Youth? Would they not give all their gold for +a draught of the Cup of Immortality, and so save themselves, once and +for all, the trouble of becoming good?<br> +<br> +But there are those here, I doubt not, who have in them, by grace of +God, that same divine thirst for the Higher Life; who are discontented +with themselves, ashamed of themselves; who are tormented by longings +which they cannot satisfy, instincts which they cannot analyse, powers +which they cannot employ, duties which they cannot perform, doctrinal +confusions which they cannot unravel; who would welcome any change, +even the most tremendous, which would make them nobler, purer, juster, +more loving, more useful, more clear-headed and sound-minded; and when +they think of death say with the poet, -<br> +<br> +<br> +‘’Tis life, not death for which I pant,<br> +’Tis life, whereof my nerves are scant,<br> +More life, and fuller, that I want.’<br> +<br> +<br> +To them I say - for God has said it long ago, - Be of good cheer. +The calling and gifts of God are without repentance. If you have +the divine thirst, it will be surely satisfied. If you long to +be better men and women, better men and women you will surely be. +Only be true to those higher instincts; only do not learn to despise +and quench that divine thirst; only struggle on, in spite of mistakes, +of failures, even of sins - for every one of which last your heavenly +Father will chastise you, even while He forgives; in spite of all falls, +struggle on. Blessed are you that hunger and thirst after righteousness, +for you shall be filled. To you - and not in vain - ‘The +Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, +Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, +let him drink of the water of life freely.’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON II. THE PHYSICIAN’S CALLING<br> +(<i>Preached at Whitehall for St. George’s Hospital</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ST. MATTHEW ix. 35.<br> +<br> +And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their +synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every +sickness and every disease among the people.<br> +<br> +<br> +The Gospels speak of disease and death in a very simple and human tone. +They regard them in theory, as all are forced to regard them in fact, +as sore and sad evils.<br> +<br> +The Gospels never speak of disease or death as necessities; never as +the will of God. It is Satan, not God, who binds the woman with +a spirit of infirmity. It is not the will of our Father in heaven +that one little one should perish. Indeed, we do not sufficiently +appreciate the abhorrence with which the whole of Scripture speaks of +disease and death: because we are in the habit of interpreting many +texts which speak of the disease and death of the body in this life +as if they referred to the punishment and death of the soul in the world +to come. We have a perfect right to do that; for Scripture tells +us that there is a mysterious analogy and likeness between the life +of the body and that of the soul, and therefore between the death of +the body and that of the soul: but we must not forget, in the secondary +and higher spiritual interpretation of such texts, their primary and +physical meaning, which is this - that disease and death are uniformly +throughout Scripture held up to the abhorrence of man.<br> +<br> +Moreover - and this is noteworthy - the Gospels, and indeed all Scripture, +very seldom palliate the misery of disease, by drawing from it those +moral lessons which we ourselves do. I say very seldom. +The Bible does so here and there, to tell us that we may do so likewise. +And we may thank God heartily that the Bible does so. It would +be a miserable world, if all that the clergyman or the friend might +say by the sick-bed were, ‘This is an inevitable evil, like hail +and thunder. You must bear it if you can: and if not, then not.’ +A miserable world, if he could not say with full belief; ‘“My +son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou +art rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and +scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” Thou knowest not +now why thou art afflicted; perhaps thou wilt never know in this life. +But a day will come when thou wilt know: when thou wilt find that this +sickness came to thee at the exact right time, in the exact right way; +when thou wilt find that God has been keeping thee in the secret place +of His presence from the provoking of men, and hiding thee privately +in His tabernacle from the spite of tongues; when thou wilt discover +that thou hast been learning precious lessons for thy immortal spirit, +while thou didst seem to thyself merely tossing with clouded intellect +on a bed of useless pain; when thou wilt find that God was nearest to +thee, at the very moment when He seemed to have left thee most utterly.’<br> +<br> +Thank God, we can say that, and more; and we will say it. But +we must bear in mind, that the Gospels, which are the very parts of +Scripture which speak most concerning disease, omit almost entirely +that cheering and comforting view of it.<br> +<br> +And why? Only to force upon our attention, I believe, a view even +more cheering and comforting: a view deeper and wider, because supplied +not merely to the pious sufferer, but to all sufferers; not merely to +the Christian, but to all mankind. And that is, I believe, none +other than this: that God does not only bring spiritual good out of +physical evil, but that He hates physical evil itself: that He desires +not only the salvation of our souls, but the health of our bodies; and +that when He sent His only begotten Son into the world to do His will, +part of that will was, that He should attack and conquer the physical +evil of disease - as it were instinctively, as his natural enemy, and +directly, for the sake of the body of the sufferer.<br> +<br> +Many excellent men, seeing how the healing of disease was an integral +part of our Lord’s mission, and of the mission of His apostles, +have wished that it should likewise form an integral part of the mission +of the Church: that the clergy should as much as possible be physicians; +the physician, as much as possible, a clergyman. The plan may +be useful in exceptional cases - in that, for instance, of the missionary +among the heathen.<br> +<br> +But experience has decided, that in a civilized and Christian country +it had better be otherwise: that the great principle of the division +of labour should be carried out: that there should be in the land a +body of men whose whole mind and time should be devoted to one part +only of our Lord’s work - the battle with disease and death. +And the effect has been not to lower but to raise the medical profession. +It has saved the doctor from one great danger - that of abusing, for +the purposes of religious proselytizing, the unlimited confidence reposed +in him. It has freed him from many a superstition which enfeebled +and confused the physicians of the Middle Ages. It has enabled +him to devote his whole intellect to physical science, till he has set +his art on a sound and truly scientific foundation. It has enabled +him to attack physical evil with a single-hearted energy and devotion +which ought to command the respect and admiration of his fellow-countrymen. +If all classes did their work half as simply, as bravely, as determinedly, +as unselfishly, as the medical men of Great Britain - and, I doubt not, +of other countries in Europe - this world would be a far fairer place +than it is likely to be for many a year to come. It is good to +do one thing and to do it well. It is good to follow Christ in +one thing, and to follow Him utterly in that. And the medical +man has set his mind to do one thing, - to hate calmly, but with an +internecine hatred, disease and death, and to fight against them to +the end.<br> +<br> +The medical man is complained of at times as being too materialistic +- as caring more for the bodies of his patients than for their souls. +Do not blame him too hastily. In his exclusive care for the body, +he may be witnessing unconsciously, yet mightily, for the soul, for +God, for the Bible, for immortality.<br> +<br> +Is he not witnessing for God, when he shows by his acts that he believes +God to be a God of Life, not of death; of health, not of disease; of +order, not of disorder; of joy and strength, not of misery and weakness?<br> +<br> +Is he not witnessing for Christ when, like Christ, he heals all manner +of sickness and disease among the people, and attacks physical evil +as the natural foe of man and of the Creator of man?<br> +<br> +Is he not witnessing for the immortality of the soul when he fights +against death as an evil to be postponed at all hazards and by all means, +even when its advent is certain? Surely it is so. How often +have we seen the doctor by the dying bed, trying to preserve life, when +he knew well that life could not be preserved. We have been tempted +to say to him, ‘Let the sufferer alone. He is senseless. +He is going. We can do nothing more for his soul; you can do nothing +more for his body. Why torment him needlessly for the sake of +a few more moments of respiration? Let him alone to die in peace.’ +How have we been tempted to say that? We have not dared to say +it; for we saw that the doctor, and not we, was in the right; that in +all those little efforts, so wise, so anxious, so tender, so truly chivalrous, +to keep the failing breath for a few moments more in the body of one +who had no earthly claim upon his care, that doctor was bearing a testimony, +unconscious yet most weighty, to that human instinct of which the Bible +approves throughout, that death in a human being is an evil, an anomaly, +a curse; against which, though he could not rescue the man from the +clutch of his foe, he was bound, in duty and honour, to fight until +the last, simply because it was death, and death was the enemy of man.<br> +<br> +But if the medical man bears witness for God and spiritual things when +he seems exclusively occupied with the body, so does the hospital. +Look at those noble buildings which the generosity of our fellow-countrymen +have erected in all our great cities. You may find in them, truly, +sermons in stones; sermons for rich alike and poor. They preach +to the rich, these hospitals, that the sick-bed levels all alike; that +they are the equals and brothers of the poor in the terrible liability +to suffer! They preach to the poor that they are, through Christianity, +the equals of the rich in their means and opportunities of cure. +I say through Christianity. Whether the founders so intended or +not (and those who founded most of them, St. George’s among the +rest, did so intend), these hospitals bear direct witness for Christ. +They do this, and would do it, even if - which God forbid - the name +of Christ were never mentioned within their walls. That may seem +a paradox; but it is none. For it is a historic fact, that hospitals +are a creation of Christian times, and of Christian men. The heathen +knew them not. In that great city of ancient Rome, as far as I +have ever been able to discover, there was not a single hospital, - +not even, I fear, a single charitable institution. Fearful thought +- a city of a million and a half inhabitants, the centre of human civilization: +and not a hospital there! The Roman Dives paid his physician; +the Roman Lazarus literally lay at his gate full of sores, till he died +the death of the street dogs which licked those sores, and was carried +forth to be thrust under ground awhile, till the same dogs came to quarrel +over his bones. The misery and helplessness of the lower classes +in the great cities of the Roman empire, till the Church of Christ arose, +literally with healing in its wings, cannot, I believe, be exaggerated.<br> +<br> +Eastern piety, meanwhile, especially among the Hindoos, had founded +hospitals, in the old meaning of that word - namely, almshouses for +the infirm and aged: but I believe there is no record of hospitals, +like our modern ones, for the cure of disease, till Christianity spread +over the Western world.<br> +<br> +And why? Because then first men began to feel the mighty truth +contained in the text. If Christ were a healer, His servants must +be healers likewise. If Christ regarded physical evil as a direct +evil, so must they. If Christ fought against it with all His power, +so must they, with such power as He revealed to them. And so arose +exclusively in the Christian mind, a feeling not only of the nobleness +of the healing art, but of the religious duty of exercising that art +on every human being who needed it; and hospitals are to be counted, +as a historic fact, among the many triumphs of the Gospel.<br> +<br> +If there be any one - especially a working man - in this church this +day who is inclined to undervalue the Bible and Christianity, let him +know that, but for the Bible and Christianity, he has not the slightest +reason to believe that there would have been at this moment a hospital +in London to receive him and his in the hour of sickness or disabling +accident, and to lavish on him there, unpaid as the light and air of +God outside, every resource of science, care, generosity, and tenderness, +simply because he is a human being. Yes; truly catholic are these +hospitals, - catholic as the bounty of our heavenly Father, - without +respect of persons, giving to all liberally and upbraiding not, like +Him in whom all live, and move, and have their being; witnesses better +than all our sermons for the universal bounty and tolerance of that +heavenly Father who causes the sun to shine on the evil and the good, +and his rain to fall upon the just and on the unjust, and is perfect +in this, that He is good to the unthankful and the evil.<br> +<br> +And, therefore, the preacher can urge his countrymen, let their opinions, +creed, tastes, be what they may, to support hospitals with especial +freedom, earnestness, and confidence. Heaven forbid that I should +undervalue any charitable institution whatever. May God’s +blessing be on them all. But this I have a right to say, - that +whatever objections, suspicions, prejudices there may be concerning +any other form of charity, concerning hospitals there can be none. +Every farthing bestowed on them must go toward the direct doing of good. +There is no fear in them of waste, of misapplication of funds, of private +jobbery, of ulterior and unavowed objects. Palpable and unmistakeable +good is all they do and all they can do. And he who gives to a +hospital has the comfort of knowing that he is bestowing a direct blessing +on the bodies of his fellow-men; and it may be on their souls likewise.<br> +<br> +For I have said that these hospitals witness silently for God and for +Christ; and I must believe that that silent witness is not lost on the +minds of thousands who enter them. It sinks in, - all the more +readily because it is not thrust upon them, - and softens and breaks +up their hearts to receive the precious seed of the word of God. +Many a man, too ready from bitter experience to believe that his fellow-men +cared not for him, has entered the wards of a hospital to be happily +undeceived. He finds that he is cared for; that he is not forgotten +either by God or man; that there is a place for him, too, at God’s +table, in his hour of utmost need; and angels of God, in human form, +ready to minister to his necessities; and, softened by that discovery, +he has listened humbly, perhaps for the first time in his life, to the +exhortations of a clergyman; and has taken in, in the hour of dependence +and weakness, the lessons which he was too proud or too sullen to hear +in the day of independence and sturdy health. And so do these +hospitals, it seems to me, follow the example and practice of our Lord +Himself; who, by ministering to the animal wants and animal sufferings +of the people, by showing them that He sympathised with those lower +sorrows of which they were most immediately conscious, made them follow +Him gladly, and listen to Him with faith, when He proclaimed to them +in words of wisdom, that Father in heaven whom He had already proclaimed +to them in acts of mercy.<br> +<br> +And now, I have to appeal to you for the excellent and honourable foundation +of St. George’s Hospital. I might speak to you, and speak, +too, with a personal reverence and affection of many years’ standing, +of the claims of that noble institution; of the illustrious men of science +who have taught within its walls; of the number of able and honourable +young men who go forth out of it, year by year, to carry their blessed +and truly divine art, not only over Great Britain, but to the islands +of the farthest seas. But to say that would be merely to say what +is true, thank God, of every hospital in London.<br> +<br> +One fact only, therefore, I shall urge, which gives St. George’s +Hospital special claims on the attention of the rich.<br> +<br> +Situated, as it is, in the very centre of the west end of London, it +is the special refuge of those who are most especially of service to +the dwellers in the Westend. Those who are used up - fairly or +unfairly - in ministering to the luxuries of the high-born and wealthy: +the groom thrown in the park; the housemaid crippled by lofty stairs; +the workman fallen from the scaffolding of the great man’s palace; +the footman or coachman who has contracted disease from long hours of +nightly exposure, while his master and mistress have been warm and gay +at rout and ball; and those, too, whose number, I fear, are very great, +who contract disease, themselves, their wives, and children, from actual +want, when they are thrown suddenly out of employ at the end of the +season, and London is said to be empty - of all but two million of living +souls: - the great majority of these crowd into St. George’s Hospital +to find there relief and comfort, which those to whom they minister +are solemnly bound to supply by their contributions. The rich +and well-born of this land are very generous. They are doing their +duty, on the whole, nobly and well. Let them do their duty - the +duty which literally lies nearest them - by St. George’s Hospital, +and they will wipe off a stain, not on the hospital, but on the rich +people in its neighbourhood - the stain of that hospital’s debts.<br> +<br> +The deficiency in the funds of the hospital for the year 1862-3 - caused, +be it remembered, by no extravagance or sudden change, but simply by +the necessity for succouring those who would otherwise have been destitute +of succour - the deficiency, I say, on an expenditure of 15,000<i>l</i>. +amounts to more than 3,200<i>l</i>. which has had to be met by selling +out funded property, and so diminishing the capital of the institution. +Ought this to be? I ask. Ought this to be, while more wealth is +collected within half a mile of that hospital than in any spot of like +extent in the globe?<br> +<br> +My friends, this is the time of Lent; the time whereof it is written, +- ‘Is not this the fast which I have chosen, to deal thy bread +to the hungry, and bring the poor that is cast out to thine house? when +thou seest the naked that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself +from thine own flesh? If thou let thy soul go forth to the hungry, +and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, +and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee +continually, and satisfy thy soul, and make fat thy bones, and thou +shalt be like a watered garden, and as a spring that doth not fail.’<br> +<br> +Let us obey that command literally, and see whether the promise is not +literally fulfilled to us in return.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON III. THE VICTORY OF LIFE<br> +(<i>Preached at the Chapel Royal</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ISAIAH xxxviii. 18, 19.<br> +<br> +The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that +go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the +living, he shall praise thee.<br> +<br> +<br> +I may seem to have taken a strange text on which to speak, - a mournful, +a seemingly hopeless text. Why I have chosen it, I trust that +you will see presently; certainly not that I may make you hopeless about +death. Meanwhile, let us consider it; for it is in the Bible, +and, like all words in the Bible, was written for our instruction.<br> +<br> +Now it is plain, I think, that the man who said these words - good king +Hezekiah - knew nothing of what we call heaven; of a blessed life with +God after death. He looks on death as his end. If he dies, +he says, he will not see the Lord in the land of the living, any more +than he will see man with the inhabitants of the world. God’s +mercies, he thinks, will end with his death. God can only show +His mercy and truth by saving him from death. For the grave cannot +praise God, death cannot celebrate Him; those who go down into the pit +cannot hope for His truth. The living, the living, shall praise +God; as Hezekiah praises Him that day, because God has cured him of +his sickness, and added fifteen years to his life.<br> +<br> +No language can be plainer than this. A man who had believed that +he would go to heaven when he died could not have used it.<br> +<br> +In many of the Psalms, likewise, you will find words of exactly the +same kind, which show that the men who wrote them had no clear conception, +if any conception at all, of a life after death.<br> +<br> +Solomon’s words about death are utterly awful from their sadness. +With him, ‘that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; +as one dieth, so dieth the other. Yea, they have all one breath, +so that a man hath no pre-eminence over a beast, and all is vanity. +All go to one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. +Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the +beast that goeth downward to the earth?’<br> +<br> +He knows nothing about it. All he knows is, that the spirit shall +return to God who gave it, - and that a man will surely find, in this +life, a recompence for all his deeds, whether good or evil.<br> +<br> +‘Remember therefore thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while +the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, +I have no pleasure in them. Fear God, and keep His commandments; +for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work +into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether +it be evil.’<br> +<br> +This is the doctrine of the Old Testament; that God judges and rewards +and punishes men in this life: but as for death, it is a great black +cloud into which all men must enter, and see and be seen no more. +Only twice or thrice, perhaps, a gleam of light from beyond breaks through +the dark. David, the noblest and wisest of all the Jews, can say +once that God will not leave his soul in hell, neither suffer His holy +one to see corruption; Job says that, though after his skin worms destroy +his body, yet in his flesh he shall see God; and Isaiah, again, when +he sees his countrymen slaughtered, and his nation all but destroyed, +can say, ‘Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body +shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy +dew is as the dew of the morning, which brings the parched herbs to +life and freshness again.’ - Great and glorious sayings, all of +them: but we cannot tell how far either David, or Job, or Isaiah, were +thinking of a life after death. We can think of a life after death +when we use them; for we know how they have been fulfilled in Jesus +Christ our Lord; and we can see in them more than the Jews of old could +do; for, like all inspired words, they mean more than the men who wrote +them thought of; but we have no right to impute our Christianity to +them.<br> +<br> +The only undoubted picture, perhaps, of the next life to be found in +the Old Testament, is that grand one in Isaiah xiv., where he paints +to us the tyrant king of Babylon going down into hell:-<br> +<br> +‘Hell from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming; +it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; +it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. +All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as +we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to +the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, +and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, +son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst +weaken the nations!’ - Awful and grand enough: but quite different, +you will observe, from the notions of hell which are common now-a-days; +and much more like those which we read in the old Greek poets, and especially, +in the Necyomanteia of the Odyssey.<br> +<br> +When it was that the Jews gained any fuller notions about the next life, +it is very difficult to say. Certainly not before they were carried +away captive to Babylon. After that they began to mix much with +the great nations of the East: with Greeks, Persians, and Indians; and +from them, most probably, they learned to believe in a heaven after +death to which good men would go, and a fiery hell to which bad men +would go. At least, the heathen nations round them, and our forefathers +likewise, believed in some sort of heaven and hell, hundreds of years +before the coming of our blessed Lord.<br> +<br> +The Jews had learned, also - at least the Pharisees - to believe in +the resurrection of the dead. Martha speaks of it; and St. Paul, +when he tells the Pharisees that, having been brought up a Pharisee, +he was on their side against the Sadducees. - ‘I am a Pharisee,’ +he says, ‘the son of a Pharisee; for the hope of the resurrection +of the dead I am called in question.’<br> +<br> +But if it be so, - if St. Paul and the Apostles believed in heaven and +hell, and the resurrection of the dead, before they became Christians, +what more did they learn about the next life, when they became Christians? +Something they did learn, most certainly - and that most important. +St. Paul speaks of what our Lord and our Lord’s resurrection had +taught him, as something quite infinitely grander, and more blessed, +than what he had known before. He talks of our Lord as having +abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light; of His having +conquered death, and of His destroying death at last. He speaks +at moments as if he did not expect to die at all; and when he does speak +of the death of the Christian, it is merely as a falling asleep. +When he speaks of his own death, it is merely as a change of place. +He longs to depart, and to be with Christ. Death had looked terrible +to him once, when he was a Jew. Death had had a sting, and the +grave a victory, which seemed ready to conquer him: but now he cries, +‘O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?’ +and then he declares that the terrors of death and the grave are taken +away, not by anything which he knew when he was a Pharisee, but through +our Lord Jesus Christ.<br> +<br> +All his old Jewish notions of the resurrection, though they were true +as far as they went, seemed poor and paltry beside what Christ had taught +him. He was not going to wait till the end of the world - perhaps +for thousands of years - in darkness and the shadow of death, he knew +not where or how. His soul was to pass at once into life, - into +joy, and peace, and bliss, in the presence of his Saviour, till it should +have a new body given to it, in the resurrection of life at the last +day.<br> +<br> +This, I think, is what St. Paul learned, and what the Jews had not learned +till our blessed Lord came. They were still afraid of death. +It looked to them a dark and ugly blank; and no wonder. For would +it not be dark and ugly enough to have to wait, we know not where, it +may be a thousand, it may be tens of thousands of years, till the resurrection +in the last day, before we entered into joy, peace, activity or anything +worthy of the name of life? Would not death have a sting indeed, +the grave a victory indeed, if we had to be as good as dead for ten +thousands of years?<br> +<br> +What then? Remember this, that death is an enemy, an evil thing, +an enemy to man, and therefore an enemy to Christ, the King and Head +and Saviour of man. Men ought not to die, and they feel it. +It is no use to tell them, ‘Everything that is born must die, +and why not you? All other animals died. They died, just +as they die now, hundreds of thousands of years before man came upon +this earth; and why should man expect to have a different lot? +Why should you not take your death patiently, as you take any other +evil which you cannot escape?’ The heart of man, as soon +as he begins to be a man, and not a mere savage; as soon as he begins +to think reasonably, and feel deeply; the heart of man answers: ‘No, +I am not a mere animal. I have something in me which ought not +to die, which perhaps cannot die. I have a living soul in me, +which ought to be able to keep my body alive likewise, but cannot; and +therefore death is my enemy. I hate him, and I believe that I +was meant to hate him. Something must be wrong with me, or I should +not die; something must be wrong with all mankind, or I should not see +those I love dying round me.<br> +<br> +Yes, my friends, death is an enemy, - a hideous, hateful thing. +The longer one looks at it, the more one hates it. The more often +one sees it, the less one grows accustomed to it. Its very commonness +makes it all the more shocking. We may not be so much shocked +at seeing the old die. We say, ‘They have done their work, +why should they not go?’ That is not true. They have +not done their work. There is more work in plenty for them to +do, if they could but live; and it seems shocking and sad, at least +to him who loves his country and his kind, that, just as men have grown +old enough to be of use, when they have learnt to conquer their passions, +when their characters are formed, when they have gained sound experience +of this world, and what man ought and can do in it, - just as, in fact, +they have become most able to teach and help their fellow-men, - that +then they are to grow old, and decrepit, and helpless, and fade away, +and die just when they are most fit to live, and the world needs them +most.<br> +<br> +Sad, I say, and strange is that. But sadder, and more strange, +and more utterly shocking, to see the young die; to see parents leaving +infant children, children vanishing early out of the world where they +might have done good work for God and man.<br> +<br> +What arguments will make us believe that that ought to be? That +that is God’s will? That that is anything but an evil, an +anomaly, a disease?<br> +<br> +Not the Bible, certainly. The Bible never tells us that such tragedies +as are too often seen are the will of God. The Bible says that +it is not the will of our Father that one of these little ones should +perish. The Bible tells us that Jesus, when on earth, went about +fighting and conquering disease and death, even raising from the dead +those who had died before their time. To fight against death, +and to give life wheresoever He went - that was His work; by that He +proclaimed the will of God, His Father, that none should perish, who +sent His Son that men might have life, and have it more abundantly. +By that He declared that death was an evil and a disorder among men, +which He would some day crush and destroy utterly, that mortality should +be swallowed up of life.<br> +<br> +And yet we die, and shall die. Yes. The body is dead, because +of sin. Mankind is a diseased race; and it must pay the penalty +of its sins for many an age to come, and die, and suffer, and sorrow. +But not for ever. For what mean such words as these - for something +they must mean? -<br> +<br> +‘If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.’<br> +<br> +And again, ‘He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet +shall he live; and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.’<br> +<br> +Do such words as these mean only that we shall rise again in the resurrection +at the last day? Surely not. Our Lord spoke them in answer +to that very notion.<br> +<br> +‘Martha said to Him, I know that my brother shall rise again, +in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I <i>am</i> +the resurrection and the life;’ and then showed what He meant +by bringing back Lazarus to life, unchanged, and as he had been before +he died.<br> +<br> +Surely, if that miracle meant anything, if these words meant anything, +it meant this: that those who die in the fear of God, and in the faith +of Christ, do not really taste death; that to them there is no death, +but only a change of place, a change of state; that they pass at once, +and instantly, into some new life, with all their powers, all their +feelings, unchanged, - purified doubtless from earthly stains, but still +the same living, thinking, active beings which they were here on earth. +I say, active. The Bible says nothing about their sleeping till +the Day of Judgment, as some have fancied. Rest they may; rest +they will, if they need rest. But what is the true rest? +Not idleness, but peace of mind. To rest from sin, from sorrow, +from fear, from doubt, from care, - this is the true rest. Above +all, to rest from the worst weariness of all - knowing one’s duty, +and yet not being able to do it. That is true rest; the rest of +God, who works for ever, and yet is at rest for ever; as the stars over +our heads move for ever, thousands of miles each day, and yet are at +perfect rest, because they move orderly, harmoniously, fulfilling the +law which God has given them. Perfect rest, in perfect work; that +surely is the rest of blessed spirits, till the final consummation of +all things, when Christ shall have made up the number of His elect.<br> +<br> +I hope that this is so. I trust that this is so. I think +our Lord’s great words can mean nothing less than this. +And if it be so, what comfort for us who must die? What comfort +for us who have seen others die, if death be but a new birth into some +higher life; if all that it changes in us is our body - the mere shell +and husk of us - such a change as comes over the snake, when he casts +his old skin, and comes out fresh and gay, or even the crawling caterpillar, +which breaks its prison, and spreads its wings to the sun as a fair +butterfly. Where is the sting of death, then, if death can sting, +and poison, and corrupt nothing of us for which our friends have loved +us; nothing of us with which we could do service to men or God? +Where is the victory of the grave, if, so far from the grave holding +us down, it frees us from the very thing which holds us down, - the +mortal body?<br> +<br> +Death is not death, then, if it kills no part of us, save that which +hindered us from perfect life. Death is not death, if it raises +us in a moment from darkness into light, from weakness into strength, +from sinfulness into holiness. Death is not death, if it brings +us nearer to Christ, who is the fount of life. Death is not death, +if it perfects our faith by sight, and lets us behold Him in whom we +have believed. Death is not death, if it gives us to those whom +we have loved and lost, for whom we have lived, for whom we long to +live again. Death is not death, if it joins the child to the mother +who is gone before. Death is not death, if it takes away from +that mother for ever all a mother’s anxieties, a mother’s +fears, and lets her see, in the gracious countenance of her Saviour, +a sure and certain pledge that those whom she has left behind are safe, +safe with Christ and in Christ, through all the chances and dangers +of his mortal life. Death is not death, if it rids us of doubt +and fear, of chance and change, of space and time, and all which space +and time bring forth, and then destroy. Death is not death; for +Christ has conquered death, for Himself, and for those who trust in +Him. And to those who say, ‘You were born in time, and in +time you must die, as all other creatures do; Time is your king and +lord, as he has been of all the old worlds before this, and of all the +races of beasts, whose bones and shells lie fossil in the rocks of a +thousand generations;’ then we can answer them, in the words of +the wise man, and in the name of Christ who conquered death:-<br> +<br> +<br> +‘Fly, envious time, till thou run out thy race,<br> +And glut thyself with what thy womb devours,<br> +Which is no more than what is false and vain<br> +And merely mortal dross.<br> +So little is our loss, so little is thy gain.<br> +For when as each bad thing thou hast entombed,<br> +And, last of all, thy greedy self consumed,<br> +Then long eternity shall greet our bliss<br> +With an individual kiss,<br> +And joy shall overtake us as a flood,<br> +When everything that is sincerely good<br> +And perfectly divine,<br> +And truth, and peace, and love shall ever shine<br> +About the supreme throne<br> +Of Him, unto whose happy-making sight alone<br> +When once our heavenly-guided soul shall climb,<br> +Then all this earthly grossness quit,<br> +Attired with stars, we shall for ever sit<br> +Triumphant over death, and chance, and thee, O Time!’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON IV. THE WAGES OF SIN<br> +(<i>Chapel Royal June</i>, 1864)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ROM. vi. 21-23.<br> +<br> +What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for +the end of those things is death. But now being made free from +sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and +the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the +gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.<br> +<br> +<br> +This is a glorious text, if we will only believe it simply, and take +it as it stands.<br> +<br> +But if in place of St. Paul’s words we put quite different words +of our own, and say - By ‘the wages of sin is death,’ St. +Paul means that the punishment of sin is eternal life in torture, then +we say something which may be true, but which is not what St. Paul is +speaking of here. For wages are not punishment, and death is not +eternal life in torture, any more than in happiness.<br> +<br> +That, one would think, was clear. It is our duty to take St. Paul’s +words, if we really believe them to be inspired, simply as they stand; +and if we do not quite understand them, to explain them by St. Paul’s +own words about these matters in other parts of his writings.<br> +<br> +St. Paul was an inspired Apostle. Let him speak for himself. +Surely he knew best what he wished to say, and how to say it.<br> +<br> +Now St. Paul’s opinions about death and eternal life are very +clear; for he speaks of them often, and at great length.<br> +<br> +He considered that the great enemy of God and man, the last enemy Christ +would destroy, was death; and that, after death was destroyed, the end +would come, when God would be all in all. Then came the question, +which has puzzled men in all ages - How death came into the world. +St. Paul answers, By sin. He says, as the author of the third +chapter of Genesis says, that Adam became subject to death by his fall. +By one man, he says, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and +so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And thus, +he says, death reigned even over those who had not sinned after the +likeness of Adam’s transgression.<br> +<br> +That he is speaking of bodily death is clear, because he is always putting +it in contrast to the resurrection to life, - not merely to a spiritual +resurrection from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; but +to the resurrection of the body, - to our Lord’s being raised +from the dead, that He might die no more.<br> +<br> +Then he speaks of eternal life. He always speaks of it as an actual +life, in a spiritual body, into which our mortal bodies are to be changed. +Nothing can be clearer from what he says in 1 Cor. xv., that he means +an actual rising again of our bodies from bodily death; an actual change +in them; an actual life in them for ever.<br> +<br> +But he says, again and again, - As sin caused the death of the body, +so righteousness is to cause its life.<br> +<br> +‘When ye were the servants of sin,’ he says to the Romans, +‘what fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? +For the end of those things is death. But now being made free +from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, +and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but +the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’<br> +<br> +This is St. Paul’s opinion. And we shall do well to believe +it, and to learn from it, this day, and all days.<br> +<br> +The wages of sin and the end of sin is death. Not the punishment +of sin; but something much worse. The wages of sin, and the end +of sin.<br> +<br> +And how is that worse news? My friends, every sinner knows so +well in his heart that it is worse news, more terrible news, for him, +that he tries to persuade himself that death is only the arbitrary punishment +of his sin; or, quite as often, that the punishment of his sin is not +even death, but eternal torment in the next life.<br> +<br> +And why? Because, as long as he can believe that death, or hell, +are only punishments arbitrarily fixed by God against his sins, he can +hope that God will let him off the punishment. Die, he knows he +must, because all men die; and so he makes up his mind to that: but +being sent to hell after he dies, is so very terrible a punishment, +that he cannot believe that God will be so hard on him as that. +No; he will get off, and be forgiven at last somehow, for surely God +will not condemn him to hell. And so he finds it very convenient +and comfortable to believe in hell, just because he does not believe +that he is going there, whoever else may be.<br> +<br> +But, it is a very terrible, heartrending thought, for a man to find +out that what he will receive is not punishment, but wages; not punishment +but the end of the very road which he is travelling on. That the +wages of sin, and the end of sin, to which it must lead, are death; +that every time he sins he is earning those wages, deserving them, meriting +them, and therefore receiving them by the just laws of the world of +God. That does torment him, that does terrify him, if he will +look steadfastly at the broad plain fact - You need not dream of being +let off, respited, reprieved, pardoned in any way. The thing cannot +be done. It is contrary to the laws of God and of God’s +universe. It is as impossible as that fire should not burn, or +water run up hill. It is not a question of arbitrary punishment, +which may be arbitrarily remitted; but of wages, which you needs must +take, weekly, daily, and hourly; and those wages are death: a question +of travelling on a certain road, whereon, if you travel it long enough, +you must come to the end of it; and the end is death. Your sins +are killing you by inches; all day long they are sowing in you the seeds +of disease and death. Every sin which you commit with your body +shortens your bodily life. Every sin you commit with your mind, +every act of stupidity, folly, wilful ignorance, helps to destroy your +mind, and leave you dull, silly, devoid of right reason. Every +sin you commit with your spirit, each sin of passion and temper, envy +and malice, pride and vanity, injustice and cruelty, extravagance and +self-indulgence, helps to destroy your spiritual life, and leave you +bad, more and more unable to do the right and avoid the wrong, more +and more unable to discern right from wrong; and that last is spiritual +death, the eternal death of your moral being. There are three +parts in you - body, mind, and spirit; and every sin you commit helps +to kill one of these three, and, in many cases, to kill all three together.<br> +<br> +So, sinner, dream not of escaping punishment at the last. You +are being punished now, for you are punishing yourself; and you will +continue to be punished for ever, for you will be punishing yourself +for ever, as long as you go on doing wrong, and breaking the laws which +God has appointed for body, mind and spirit. You can see that +a drunkard is killing himself, body and mind, by drink. You see +that he knows that, poor wretch, as well as you. He knows that +every time he gets drunk he is cutting so much off his life; and yet +he cannot help it. He knows that drink is poison, and yet he goes +back to his poison.<br> +<br> +Then know, habitual sinner, that you are like that drunkard. That +every bad habit in which you indulge is shortening the life of some +of your faculties, and that God Himself cannot save you from the doom +which you are earning, deserving, and working out for yourself every +day and every hour.<br> +<br> +Oh how men hate that message! - the message that the true wrath of God, +necessary, inevitable, is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness +of men. How they writhe under it! How they shut their ears +to it, and cry to their preachers, ‘No! Tell us of any wrath +of God but that! Tell us rather of the torments of the damned, +of a frowning God, of absolute decrees to destruction, of the reprobation +of millions before they are born; any doctrine, however fearful and +horrible: because we don’t quite believe it, but only think that +we ought to believe it. Yes, tell us anything rather than that +news, which cuts at the root of all our pride, of all our comfort, and +all our superstition - the news that we cannot escape the consequences +of our own actions; that there are no back stairs up which we may be +smuggled into heaven; that as we sow, so we shall reap; that we are +filled with the fruits of our own devices; every man his own poisoner, +every man his own executioner, every man his own suicide; that hell +begins in this life, and death begins before we die: - do not say that: +because we cannot help believing it; for our own consciousness and our +own experience tell us it is true.’ No wonder that the preacher +who tells men that is hated, is called a Rationalist, a Pantheist, a +heretic, and what not, just because he does set forth such a living +God, such a justice of God, such a wrath of God as would make the sinner +tremble, if he believed in it, not merely once in a way, when he hears +a stirring sermon about the endless torments: but all day long, going +out and coming in, lying on his bed and walking by the way, always haunted +by the shadow of himself, knowing that he is bearing about in him the +perpetually growing death of sin.<br> +<br> +And still more painful would this message be to the sinner, if he had +any kindly feeling for others; and, thank God, there are few who have +not that. For St. Paul’s message to him is, that the wages +of his sin is death, not merely to himself, but to others - to his family +and children above all. So St. Paul declares in what he says of +his doctrine of original or birth sin, by which, as the Article says, +every man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his +own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth against the spirit.<br> +<br> +St. Paul’s doctrine is simple and explicit. Death, he says, +reigned over Adam’s children, even over those who had not sinned +after the likeness of Adam’s transgression; agreeing with Moses, +who declares God to be one who visits the sins of the fathers on the +children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. +But how the sinner will shrink from this message - and shrink the more, +the more feeling he is, the less he is wrapped up in selfishness. +Yes, that message gives us such a view of the sinfulness of sin as none +other can. It tells us why God hates sin with so unextinguishable +a hatred, just because He is a God of Love. It is not that man’s +sin injures God, insults God, as the heathen fancy. Who is God, +that man can stir Him up to pride, or wound or disturb His everlasting +calm, His self-sufficient perfectness? ‘God is tempted of +no man,’ says St. James. No. God hates sin. +He loves all, and sin harms all; and the sinner may be a torment and +a curse, not only to himself, not only to those around him, but to children +yet unborn.<br> +<br> +This is bad news; and yet sinners must hear it. They must hear +it not only put into words by Moses, or by St. Paul, or by any other +inspired writer; but they must hear it, likewise, in that perpetual +voice of God which we call facts.<br> +<br> +Let the sinner who wishes to know what original sin means, and how actual +sin in one man breeds original sin in his descendants, look at the world +around him, and see. Let him see how St. Paul’s doctrine +and the doctrine of the Ten Commandments are proved true by experience +and by fact: how the past, and how the present likewise, show us whole +families, whole tribes, whole aristocracies, whole nations, dwindling +down to imbecility, misery, and destruction, because the sins of the +fathers are visited on the children.<br> +<br> +Physicians, who see children born diseased; born stupid, or even idiotic; +born thwart-natured, or passionate, or false, or dishonest, or brutal, +- they know well what original sin means, though they call it by their +own name of hereditary tendencies. And they know, too, how the +sins of a parent, or of a grand parent, or even a great-grandparent, +are visited on the children to the third and fourth generation; and +they say ‘It is a law of nature:’ and so it is. But +the laws of nature are the laws of God who made her: and His law is +the same law by which death reigns even over those who have not sinned +after the likeness of Adam; the law by which (even though if Christ +be in us, the spirit is life, because of righteousness) the body, nevertheless, +is dead, because of sin.<br> +<br> +Parents, parents, who hear my words, beware - if not for your own sakes, +at least for the sake of your children, and your children’s children +- lest the wages of your sin should be their death.<br> +<br> +And by this time, surely, some of you will be asking, ‘What has +he said? That there is no escape; that there is no forgiveness?’<br> +<br> +None whatsoever, my friends, though you were to cry to heaven for ever +and ever, save the one old escape of which you hear in the church every +Sunday morning: ‘When the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness +that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he +shall save his soul alive.’<br> +<br> +What, does not the blood of Christ cleanse us from all sin?<br> +<br> +Yes, from all sin. But not, necessarily, from the wages of all +sin.<br> +<br> +Judge for yourselves, my friends, again. Listen to the voice of +God revealed in facts. If you, being a drunkard, have injured +your constitution by drink, and then are converted, and repent, and +turn to God with your whole soul, and become, as you may, if you will, +a truly penitent, good, and therefore sober man, - will that cure the +disease of your body? It will certainly palliate and ease it: +because, instead of being drunken, you will have become sober: but still +you will have shortened your days by your past sins; and, in so far, +even though the Lord has put away your sin its wages still remain, as +death.<br> +<br> +So it is, my friends, if you will only believe it, or rather see it +with your own eyes, with every sin, and every sort of sin.<br> +<br> +You will see, if you look, that the Article speaks exact truth when +it says, that the infection of nature doth remain, even in those that +are regenerate. It says that of original sin: but it is equally +true of actual sin.<br> +<br> +Would to God that all men would but believe this, and give up the too +common and too dangerous notion, that it is no matter if they go on +wrong for a while, provided they come right at last!<br> +<br> +No matter? I ask for facts again. Is there a man or woman +in this church twenty years old who does not know that it matters? +Who does not know that, if they have done wrong in youth, their own +wrong deeds haunt them and torment them? - That they are, perhaps the +poorer, perhaps the sicklier, perhaps the more ignorant, perhaps the +sillier, perhaps the more sorrowful this day, for things which they +did twenty, thirty years ago? Is there any one in this church +who ever did a wrong thing without smarting for it? If there is +(which I question), let him be sure that it is only because his time +is not come. Do not fancy that because you are forgiven, you may +not be actually less good men all your lives by having sinned when young.<br> +<br> +I know it is sometimes said, ‘The greater the sinner, the greater +the saint.’ I do not believe that: because I do not see +it. I see, and I thank God for it, that men who have been very +wrong at one time, come very right afterwards; that, having found out +in earnest that the wages of sin are death, they do repent in earnest, +and receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. But +I see, too, that the bad habits, bad passions, bad methods of thought, +which they have indulged in youth, remain more or less, and make them +worse men, sillier men, less useful men, less happy men, sometimes to +their lives’ end: and they, if they be true Christians, know it, +and repent of their early sins, not once for all only, but all their +lives long; because they feel that they have weakened and worsened themselves +thereby.<br> +<br> +It stands to reason, my friends, that it should be so. If a man +loses his way, and finds it again, he is so much the less forward on +his way, surely, by all the time he has spent in getting back into the +road. If a child has a violent illness, it stops growing, because +the life and nourishment which ought to have gone towards its growth, +are spent in curing its disease. And so, if a man has indulged +in bad habits in his youth, he is but too likely (let him do what he +will) to be a less good man for it to his life’s end, because +the Spirit of God, which ought to have been making him grow in grace, +freely and healthily, to the stature of a perfect man, to the fulness +of the measure of Christ, is striving to conquer old bad habits, and +cure old diseases of character; and the man, even though he does enter +into life, enters into it halt and maimed; and the wages of his sin +have been, as they always will be, death to some powers, some faculties +of his soul.<br> +<br> +Think over these things, my friends; and believe that the wages of sin +are death, and that there is no escaping from God’s just and everlasting +laws. But meanwhile, let us judge no man. This is a great +and a solemn reason for observing, with fear and trembling, our Lord’s +command, for it is nothing less, ‘Judge not, and ye shall not +be judged; condemn not and ye shall not be condemned.’<br> +<br> +For we never can know how much of any man’s misconduct is to be +set down to original, and how much to actual, sin; - how much disease +of mind and heart he has inherited from his parents, how much he has +brought upon himself<br> +<br> +Therefore judge no man, but yourselves. Search your own hearts, +to see what manner of men you really wish to be; judge yourselves, lest +God should judge you.<br> +<br> +Do you wish to go on as you like here on earth, right or wrong, in the +hope that, somehow or other, the punishment of your sins will be forgiven +you at the last day?<br> +<br> +Then know that that is impossible. As a man sows, so shall he +reap; and if you sow to the flesh, of the flesh you will reap - corruption. +The wages of sin are death. Those wages will be paid you, and +you must take them whether you like or not.<br> +<br> +But do you wish to be Good? Do you see (I trust in God that many +of you do) that goodness is the only wise, safe, prudent life for you +because it is the only path the end of which is not death?<br> +<br> +Do you see that goodness is the only right and honourable life for you, +because it is the only path by which you can do your duty to man or +to God; the only method by which you can show your gratitude to God +for all His goodness to you, and can please Him, in return for all that +He has done by His grace and free love to bless you?<br> +<br> +Do you, in a word, repent you truly of your former sins, and purpose +to lead a new life? Then know, that all beyond is the free grace, +the free gift of God. You have to earn nothing, to buy nothing. +The will is all God asks. Eternal life is the gift of God through +Jesus Christ.<br> +<br> +Freely He forgives you all your past sins, for the sake of that precious +blood which was shed on the cross for the sins of the whole world. +Freely He takes you back, as His child, to your Father’s house. +Freely, He gives you His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Goodness, the Spirit +of Life, to put into your mind good desires, and enable you to bring +those desires to good effect, that you may live the eternal life of +grace and goodness for ever, whether in earth or heaven.<br> +<br> +Yes, it is the Gift of God, which raises you from the death of sin to +the life of righteousness; and if you have that gift, you will not murmur, +surely, though you have to bear, more or less, the just and natural +consequences of your former sins; though you be, through your own guilt, +a sadder man to your dying day. Be content. You are forgiven. +You are cleansed from your sin; is not that mercy enough? Why +are you to demand of God, that He should over and above cleanse you +from the consequences of your sin? He may leave them there to +trouble and sadden you, just because He loves you, and desires to chasten +you, and keep you in mind of what you were, and what you would be again, +at any moment, if His Spirit left you to yourself. You may have +to enter into life halt and maimed: yet, be content; you have a thousand +times more than you deserve, for at least you enter into Life.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON V. NIGHT AND DAY<br> +(<i>Preached at the Chapel Royal</i>)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ROMANS xiii. 12.<br> +<br> +The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off +the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.<br> +<br> +<br> +Certain commentators would tell us, that St. Paul wrote these words +in the expectation that the end of the world, and the second coming +of Christ, were very near. The night was far spent, and the day +of the Lord at hand. Salvation - deliverance from the destruction +impending on the world, was nearer than when his converts first believed. +Shortly the Lord would appear in glory, and St. Paul and his converts +would be caught up to meet Him in the air.<br> +<br> +No doubt St. Paul’s words will bear this meaning. No doubt +there are many passages in his writings which seem to imply that he +thought the end of the world was near; and that Christ would reappear +in glory, while he, Paul, was yet alive on the earth. And there +are passages; too, which seem to imply that he afterwards altered that +opinion, and, no longer expecting to be caught up to meet the Lord in +the air, desired to depart himself, and be with Christ, in the consciousness +that ‘He was ready to be offered up, and the time of his departure +was at hand.’<br> +<br> +I say that there are passages which seem to imply such a change in St. +Paul’s opinions. I do not say that they actually imply it. +If I had a positive opinion on the matter, I should not be hasty to +give it. These questions of ‘criticism,’ as they are +now called, are far less important than men fancy just now. A +generation or two hence, it is to be hoped, men will see how very unimportant +they are, and will find that they have detracted very little from the +authority of Scripture as a whole; and that they have not detracted +in the least from the Gospel and good news which Scripture proclaims +to men - the news of a perfect God, who will have men to become perfect +even as He, their Father in heaven, is perfect; who sent His only begotten +Son into the world, that the world through Him might be saved.<br> +<br> +In this case, I verily believe, it matters little to us whether St. +Paul, when he wrote these words, wrote them under the belief that Christ’s +second coming was at hand. We must apply to his words the great +rule, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation +- that is, does not apply exclusively to any one fact or event: but +fulfils itself again and again, in a hundred unexpected ways, because +he who wrote it was moved by the Holy Spirit, who revealed to him the +eternal and ever-working laws of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, +I say, the words are true for us at this moment. To us, though +we have, as far as I can see, not the least reasonable cause for supposing +the end of the world to be more imminent than it was a thousand years +ago - to us, nevertheless, and to every generation of men, the night +is always far spent, and the day is always at hand.<br> +<br> +And this, surely, was in the mind of those who appointed this text to +be read as the Epistle for the first Sunday in Advent.<br> +<br> +Year after year, though Christ has not returned to judgment; though +scoffers have been saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? +for all things continue as they were at the beginning’ - Year +after year, I say, are the clergy bidden to tell the people that the +night is far spent, that the day is at hand; and to tell them so, because +it is true. Whatsoever St. Paul meant, or did not mean, by the +words, a few years after our Lord’s ascension into heaven, they +are there, for ever, written by one who was moved by the Holy Ghost; +and hence they have an eternal moral and spiritual significance to mankind +in every age.<br> +<br> +Whatever these words may, or may not have meant to St. Paul when he +wrote them first, in the prime of life, we may never know, and we need +not know. But we can guess surely enough what they must have meant +to him in after years, when he could say - as would to God we all might +be able to say - ‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished +my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me +a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall +give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love +His appearing.’<br> +<br> +To him, then, the night would surely mean this mortal life on earth. +The day would mean the immortal life to come.<br> +<br> +For is not this mortal life, compared with that life to come, as night +compared with day? I do not mean to speak evil of it. God +forbid that we should do anything but thank God for this life. +God forbid that we should say impiously to Him, Why hast thou made me +thus? No. God made this mortal life, and therefore, like +all things which He has made, it is very good. But there are good +nights, and there are bad nights; and there are happy lives, and unhappy +ones. But what are they at best? What is the life of the +happiest man without the Holy Spirit of God? A night full of pleasant +dreams. What is the life of the wisest man? A night of darkness, +through which he gropes his way by lanthorn-light, slowly, and with +many mistakes and stumbles. When we compare man’s vast capabilities +with his small deeds; when we think how much he might know, - how little +he does know in this mortal life, - can we wonder that the highest spirits +in every age have looked on death as a deliverance out of darkness and +a dungeon? And if this is life at the best, what is life at the +worst? To how many is life a night, not of peace and rest, but +of tossing and weariness, pain and sickness, anxiety and misery, till +they are ready to cry, When will it be over? When will kind Death +come and give me rest? When will the night of this life be spent, +and the day of God arise? ‘Out of the depths have I cried +unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. My soul doth wait +for the Lord, more than the sick man who watches for the morning.’<br> +<br> +Yes, think, - for it is good at times, however happy one may be oneself, +to think - of all the misery and sorrow that there is on earth, and +how many there are who would be glad to hear that it was nearly over; +glad to hear that the night was far spent, and the day was at hand.<br> +<br> +And even the happiest ought to ‘know the time.’ To +know that the night is far spent, and the day at hand. To know, +too, that the night at best was not given us, to sleep it all through, +from sunset to sunrise. No industrious man does that. Either +he works after sunset, and often on through the long hours, and into +the short hours, before he goes to rest: or else he rises before daybreak, +and gets ready for the labours of the coming day. The latter no +man can do in this life. For we all sleep away, more or less, +the beginning of our life, in the time of childhood. There is +no sin in that - God seems to have ordained that so it should be. +But, to sleep away our manhood likewise, - is there no sin in that? +As we grow older, must we not awake out of sleep, and set to work, to +be ready for the day of God which will dawn on us when we pass out of +this mortal life into the world to come?<br> +<br> +As we grow older, and as we get our share of the cares, troubles, experiences +of life, it is high time to wake out of sleep, and ask Christ to give +us light - light enough to see our way through the night of this life, +till the everlasting day shall dawn.<br> +<br> +‘Knowing the time;’ - the time of this our mortal life. +How soon it will be over, at the longest! How short the time seems +since we were young! How quickly it has gone! How every +year, as we grow older seems to go more and more quickly, and there +is less time to do what we want, to think seriously, to improve ourselves. +So soon, and it will be over, and we shall have no time at all, for +we shall be in eternity. And what then? What then? +That depends on what now. On what we are doing now. Are +we letting our short span of life slip away in sleep; fancying ourselves +all the while wide awake, as we do in dreams - till we wake really; +and find that it is daylight, and that all our best dreams were nothing +but useless fancy? How many dream away their lives! Some +upon gain, some upon pleasure, some upon petty self-interest, petty +quarrels, petty ambitions, petty squabbles and jealousies about this +person and that, which are no more worthy to take up a reasonable human +being’s time and thoughts than so many dreams would be. +Some, too, dream away their lives in sin, in works of darkness which +they are forced for shame and safety to hide, lest they should come +to the light and be exposed. So people dream their lives away, +and go about their daily business as men who walk in their sleep, wandering +about with their eyes open, and yet seeing nothing of what is really +around them. Seeing nothing: though they think that they see, +and know their own interest, and are shrewd enough to find their way +about this world. But they know nothing - nothing of the very +world with which they pride themselves they are so thoroughly acquainted. +None know less of the world than those who pride themselves on being +men of the world. For the true light, which shines all round them, +they do not see, and therefore they do not see the truth of things by +that light. If they did, then they would see that of which now +they do not even dream.<br> +<br> +They would see that God was around them, about their path and about +their bed, and spying out all their ways; and in the light of His presence, +they dare not be frivolous, dare not be ignorant, dare not be mean, +dare not be spiteful, dare not be unclean.<br> +<br> +They would see that Christ was around them, knocking at the door of +their hearts, that He may enter in, and dwell there, and give them peace; +crying to their restless, fretful, confused, unhappy souls, ‘Come +unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you +rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and +lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’<br> +<br> +They would see that Duty was around them. Duty - the only thing +really worth living for. The only thing which will really pay +a man, either for this life or the next. The only thing which +will give a man rest and peace, manly and quiet thoughts, a good conscience +and a stout heart, in the midst of hard labour, anxiety, sorrow and +disappointment: because he feels at least that he is doing his duty; +that he is obeying God and Christ, that he is working with them, and +for them, and that, therefore, they are working with him, and for him. +God, Christ, and Duty - these, and more, will a man see if he will awake +out of sleep, and consider where he is, by the light of God’s +Holy Spirit.<br> +<br> +Then will that man feel that he must cast away the works of darkness; +whether of the darkness of foul and base sins; or the darkness of envy, +spite, and revenge; or the mere darkness of ignorance and silliness, +thoughtlessness and frivolity. He must cast them away, he will +see. They will not succeed - they are not safe - in such a serious +world as this. The term of this mortal life is too short, and +too awfully important, to be spent in such dreams as these. The +man is too awfully near to God, and to Christ, to dare to play the fool +in their Divine presence. This earth looks to him, now that he +sees it in the true light, one great temple of God, in which he dare +not, for very shame, misbehave himself. He must cast away the +works of darkness, and put on the armour of light, now in the time of +this mortal life; lest, when Christ comes in His glory to judge the +quick and the dead, he be found asleep, dreaming, useless, unfit for +the eternal world to come.<br> +<br> +Then let him awake, and cry to Christ for light: and Christ will give +him light - enough, at least, to see his way through the darkness of +this life, to that eternal life of which it is written, ‘They +need no candle there, nor light of the sun: for the Lord God and the +Lamb are the light thereof.’ And he will find that the armour +of light is an armour indeed. A defence against all enemies, a +helmet for his head, and breastplate for his heart, against all that +can really harm his mind our soul.<br> +<br> +If a man, in the struggle of life, sees God, and Christ, and Duty, all +around him, that thought will be a helmet for his head. It will +keep his brain and mind clear, quiet, prudent to perceive and know what +things he ought to do. It will give him that Divine wisdom, of +which Solomon says, in his Proverbs, that the beginning of wisdom is +the fear of the Lord.<br> +<br> +The light will give him, I say, judgment and wisdom to perceive what +he ought to do; and it will give him, too, grace and power faithfully +to fulfil the same. For it will be a breastplate to his heart. +It will keep his heart sound, as well as his head. It will save +him from breaking his good resolutions, and from deserting his duty +out of cowardice, or out of passion. The light of Christ will +keep his heart pure, unselfish, forgiving; ready to hope all things, +believe all things, endure all things, by that Divine charity which +God will pour into his soul.<br> +<br> +For when he looks at things in the light of Christ, what does he see? +Christ hanging on the cross, praying for His murderers, dying for the +sins of the whole world. And what does the light which streams +from that cross show him of Christ? That the likeness of Christ +is summed up in one word - self-sacrificing love. What does the +light which streams from that cross show him of the world and mankind, +in spite of all their sins? That they belong to Him who died for +them, and bought them with His own most precious blood.<br> +<br> +‘Beloved, herein is love indeed. Not that we loved God, +but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation of our +sins.’<br> +<br> +‘Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.’<br> +<br> +After that sight a man cannot hate; cannot revenge. He must forgive; +he must love. From hence he is in the light, and sees his duty +and his path through life. ‘For he that hateth his brother +walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth: because darkness +has blinded his eyes. But he that loveth his brother abideth in +the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. For he +who dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him.’<br> +<br> +Therefore cast away the works of darkness, and put you on the armour +of light, and be good men and true.<br> +<br> +For of this the Holy Ghost prophesies by the mouth of St. Paul, and +of all apostles and prophets. Not of times and seasons, which +God the Father has kept in His own hand: not of that day and hour of +which no man knows; no, not the Angels in heaven, neither the Son; but +the Father only: not of these does the Holy Ghost testify to men. +Not of chronology, past or future: but of holiness; because he is a +Holy Spirit.<br> +<br> +For this purpose God, the Holy Father, sent His Son into the world. +For this God, the Holy Son, died upon the cross. For this God, +the Holy Ghost - proceeding from both the Father and the Son - inspired +prophets and apostles; that they might teach men to cast away the works +of darkness, and put on the armour of light; and become holy, as God +is holy; pure, as God is pure; true, as God is true; and good, as God +is good.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON VI. THE SHAKING OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH<br> +(<i>Preached at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +HEBREWS XII. 26-29.<br> +<br> +But now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth +only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth +the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are +made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, +we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby +we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God +is a consuming fire.<br> +<br> +<br> +This is one of the Royal texts of the New Testament. It declares +one of those great laws of the kingdom of God, which may fulfil itself, +once and again, at many eras, and by many methods; which fulfilled itself +especially and most gloriously in the first century after Christ; which +fulfilled itself again in the fifth century; and again at the time of +the Crusades; and again at the great Reformation in the sixteenth century; +and is fulfilling itself again at this very day.<br> +<br> +Now, in our fathers’ time, and in our own unto this day, is the +Lord Christ shaking the heavens and the earth, that those things which +are made may be removed, and that those things which cannot be shaken +may remain. We all confess this fact, in different phrases. +We say that we live in an age of change, of transition, of scientific +and social revolution. Our notions of the physical universe are +rapidly altering with the new discoveries of science; and our notions +of Ethics and Theology are altering as rapidly.<br> +<br> +The era looks differently to different minds, just as the first century +after Christ looked differently, according as men looked with faith +towards the future, or with regret towards the past. Some rejoice +in the present era as one of progress. Others lament over it as +one of decay. Some say that we are on the eve of a Reformation, +as great and splendid as that of the sixteenth century. Others +say that we are rushing headlong into scepticism and atheism. +Some say that a new era is dawning on humanity; others that the world +and the Church are coming to an end, and the last day is at hand. +Both parties may be right, and both may be wrong. Men have always +talked thus at great crises. They talked thus in the first century, +in the fifth, in the eleventh, in the sixteenth. And then both +parties were right, and yet both wrong. And why not now? +What they meant to say, and what they mean to say now, is what he who +wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews said for them long ago in far deeper, +wider, more accurate words - that the Lord Christ was shaking the heavens +and the earth, that those things which can be shaken may be removed, +as things which are made - cosmogonies, systems, theories, fashions, +prejudices, of man’s invention: while those things which cannot +be shaken may remain, because they are eternal, the creation not of +man, but of God.<br> +<br> +‘Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.’ +Not merely the physical world, and man’s conceptions thereof; +but the spiritual world, and man’s conceptions of that likewise.<br> +<br> +How have our conceptions of the physical world been shaken of late, +with ever-increasing violence! How simple, and easy, and certain, +it all looked to our forefathers! How complex, how uncertain, +it looks to us! With increased knowledge has come - not increased +doubt - that I deny; but increased reverence; increased fear of rash +assertions, increased awe of facts, as the acted words and thoughts +of God. Once for all, I deny that this age is an irreverent one. +I say that an irreverent age is an age like the Middle Age, in which +men dared to fancy that they could and did know all about earth and +heaven; and set up their petty cosmogonies, their petty systems of doctrine, +as measures of the ways of that God whom the heaven and the heaven of +heavens, cannot contain.<br> +<br> +It was simple enough, their theory of the universe. The earth +was a flat plain; for did not the earth look flat? Or if some +believed the earth to be a globe, yet the existence of antipodes was +an unscriptural heresy. Above were the heavens: first the lower +heavens in which the stars were fixed and moved; and above them heaven +after heaven, each peopled of higher orders, up to that heaven of heavens +in which Deity - and by Him, the Mother of Deity - were enthroned.<br> +<br> +And below - What could be more clear, more certain, than this - that +as above the earth was the kingdom of light, and joy, and holiness, +so below the earth was the kingdom of darkness, and torment, and sin? +What could be more certain? Had not even the heathens said so, +by the mouth of the poet Virgil? What could be more simple, rational, +orthodox, than to adopt (as they actually did) Virgil’s own words, +and talk of Tartarus, Styx, and Phlegethon, as indisputable Christian +entities. They were not aware that the Buddhists of the far East +had held much the same theory of endless retribution several centuries +before; and that Dante, with his various <i>bolge</i>, tenanted each +by its various species of sinners, was merely re-echoing the horrors +which are to be seen painted on the walls of any Buddhist temple, as +they were on the walls of so many European churches during the Middle +Ages, when men really believed in that same Tartarology, with the same +intensity with which they now believe in the conclusions of astronomy +or of chemistry.<br> +<br> +To them, indeed, it was all an indisputable or physical fact, as any +astronomic or chemical fact would have been; for they saw it with their +own eyes.<br> +<br> +Virgil had said that the mouth of Tartarus was there in Italy, by the +volcanic lake of Avernus; and after the first eruption of Vesuvius in +the first century, nothing seemed more probable. Etna, Stromboli, +Hecla, must be, likewise, all mouths of hell; and there were not wanting +holy hermits who had heard within those craters, shrieks and clanking +chains, and the shouts of demons tormenting endlessly the souls of the +lost. And now, how has all this been shaken? How much of +all this does any educated man, though he be pious, though he desire +with all his heart to be orthodox - and is orthodox in fact - how much +of all this does he believe, as he believes that the earth is round, +or, that if he steals his neighbour’s goods he commits a crime?<br> +<br> +For, since these days, the earth has been shaken, and with it the heavens +likewise, in that very sense in which the expression is used in the +text. Our conceptions of them have been shaken. The Copernican +system shook them, when it told men that the earth was but a tiny globular +planet revolving round the sun. Geology shook them, when it told +men that the earth has endured for countless ages, during which whole +continents have been submerged, whole seas become dry land, again and +again. Even now the heavens and the earth are being shaken by +researches into the antiquity of the human race, and into the origin +and the mutability of species, which, issue in what results they may, +will shake for us, meanwhile, theories which are venerable with the +authority of nearly eighteen hundred years, and of almost every great +Doctor since St. Augustine.<br> +<br> +And as our conception of the physical universe has been shaken, the +old theory of a Tartarus beneath the earth has been shaken also, till +good men have been glad to place Tartarus in a comet, or in the sun, +or to welcome the possible, but unproved hypothesis, of a central fire +in the earth’s core, not on any scientific grounds, but if by +any means a spot may be found in space corresponding to that of which +Virgil, Dante, and Milton sang.<br> +<br> +And meanwhile - as was to be expected from a generation which abhors +torture, labours for the reformation of criminals, and even doubts whether +it should not abolish capital punishment - a shaking of the heavens +is abroad, of which we shall hear more and more, as the years roll on +- a general inclination to ask whether Holy Scripture really endorses +the Middle-age notions of future punishment in endless torment? +Men are writing and speaking on this matter, not merely with ability +and learning, but with a piety, and reverence for Scripture which (rightly +or wrongly employed) must, and will, command attention. They are +saying that it is not those who deny these notions who disregard the +letter of Scripture, but those who assert them; that they are distorting +the plain literal text, in order to make Scripture fit the writings +of Dante and Milton, when they translate into ‘endless torments +after death,’ such phrases as the outer darkness, the undying +worm, the Gehenna of fire - which manifestly (say these men), if judged +by fair rules of interpretation, refer to this life, and specially to +the fate of the Jewish nation: or when they tell us that eternal death +means really eternal life, only in torments. We demand, they say, +not a looser, but a stricter; not a more metaphoric, but a more literal; +not a more careless, but a more reverent interpretation of Scripture; +and whether this demand be right or wrong, it will not pass unheard.<br> +<br> +And even more severely shaken, meanwhile, is that mediæval conception +of heaven and hell, by the question which educated men are asking more +and more:- ‘Heaven and hell - the spiritual world - Are they merely +invisible places in space, which may become visible hereafter? or are +they not rather the moral world - the world of right and wrong? +Love and righteousness - is not that the heaven itself wherein God dwells? +Hatred and sin - is not that hell itself, wherein dwells all that is +opposed to God?’<br> +<br> +And out of that thought, right or wrong, other thoughts have sprung +- of ethics, of moral retribution - not new at all (say these men), +but to be found in Scripture, and in the writings of all great Christian +divines, when they have listened, not to systems, but to the voice of +their own hearts.<br> +<br> +‘We do not deny’ (they say) ‘that the wages of sin +are death. We do not deny the necessity of punishment - the certainty +of punishment. We see it working awfully enough around us in this +life; we believe that it may work in still more awful forms in the life +to come. Only tell us not that it must be endless, and thereby +destroy its whole purpose, and (as we think) its whole morality. +We, too, believe in an eternal fire; but we believe its existence to +be, not a curse, but a Gospel and a blessing, seeing that that fire +is God Himself, who taketh away the sins of the world, and of whom it +is therefore written, Our God is a consuming fire.’<br> +<br> +Questions, too, have arisen, of - ‘What <i>is</i> moral retribution? +Should punishment have any end but the good of the offender? Is +God so controlled that He must needs send into the world beings whom +He knows to be incorrigible, and doomed to endless misery? And +if not so controlled, then is not the other alternative as to His character +more fearful still? Does He not bid us copy Him, His justice, +His love? Then is that His justice, is that His love, which if +we copied we should be unjust and unloving utterly? Are there +two moralities, one for God, and quite another for man, made in the +image of God? Can these dark dogmas be true of a Father who bids +us be perfect as He is, in that He sends His sun to shine on the evil +and the good, and His rain on the just and unjust? Or of a Son +who so loved the world that He died to save the world and surely not +in vain?’<br> +<br> +These questions - be they right or wrong - educated men and women of +all classes and denominations - orthodox, be it remembered, as well +as unorthodox - are asking, and will ask more and more, till they receive +an answer. And if we of the clergy cannot give them an answer +which accords with their conscience and their reason; if we tell them +that the words of Scripture, and the integral doctrines of Christianity, +demand the same notions of moral retribution as were current in the +days when men racked criminals, burned heretics alive, and believed +that every Mussulman whom they slaughtered in a crusade went straight +to endless torments, - then evil times will come, both for the clergy +and the Christian religion, for many a yeas henceforth.<br> +<br> +What then are we to believe? What are we to do, amid this shaking +of the earth and heaven? Are we to degenerate into a lazy and +heartless scepticism, which, under pretence of liberality and charity, +believes that everything is a little true, everything is a little false +- in one word, believes nothing at all? Or are we to degenerate +into unmanly and faithless wailings, crying out that the flood of infidelity +is irresistible, that the last days are come, and that Christ has deserted +His Church?<br> +<br> +Not if we will believe the text. The text tells us of something +which cannot be moved, though all around it reel and crumble - of a +firm standing-ground, which would endure, though the heavens should +pass away as a scroll, and the earth should be removed, and cast into +the midst of the sea.<br> +<br> +We have a kingdom, the Scripture says, which cannot be moved, even the +kingdom of Him whom it calls shortly after ‘Jesus Christ, the +same yesterday, to-day and for ever.’ An eternal and unchangeable +kingdom, ruled by an eternal and unchangeable King. That is what +cannot be moved.<br> +<br> +Scripture does not say that we have an unchangeable cosmogony, an unchangeable +theory of moral retribution, an unchangeable system of dogmatic propositions. +Whether we have, or have not, it is not of them that Scripture reminds +the Jews, when the heavens and the earth were shaken; when their own +nation and worship were in their death-agony, and all the beliefs and +practices of men were in a whirl of doubt and confusion, of decay and +birth side by side, such as the world had never seen before. Not +of them does it remind the Jews, but of the changeless kingdom, and +the changeless King.<br> +<br> +My friends, lay it seriously to heart, once and for all. Do you +believe that you are subjects of that kingdom, and that Christ is the +living, ruling, guiding King thereof? Whatsoever Scripture does +not say, Scripture speaks of that, again and again, in the plainest +terms. But do you believe it? These are days in which the +preacher ought to ask every man whether he believes it, and bid him, +of whatever else he repents of, to repent, at least, of not having believed +this primary doctrine (I may almost say) of Scripture and of Christianity.<br> +<br> +But if you do believe it, will it seem strange to you to believe this +also, - That, considering who Christ is, the co-eternal and co-equal +Son of God, He may be actually governing His kingdom; and if so, that +He may know better how to govern it than such poor worms as we? +That if the heavens and the earth be shaken, Christ Himself may be shaking +them? if opinions be changing, Christ Himself may be changing them? +If new truths and facts are being discovered, Christ Himself may be +revealing them? That if those truths seem to contradict the truths +which He has already taught us, they do not really contradict them, +any more than those reasserted in the sixteenth century? That +if our God be a consuming fire, He is now burning up (to use St. Paul’s +parable) the chaff and stubble which men have built on the one foundation +of Christ, that, at last, nought but the pure gold may remain? +Is it not possible? Is it not most probable, if we only believe +that Christ is a real, living King, an active, practical King, - who, +with boundless wisdom and skill, love and patience, is educating and +guiding Christendom, and through Christendom the whole human race?<br> +<br> +If men would but believe that, how different would be their attitude +toward new facts, toward new opinions! They would receive them +with grace; gracefully, courteously, fairly, charitably, and with that +reverence and godly fear which the text tells us is the way to serve +God acceptably. They would say: ‘Christ (so the Scripture +tells us) has been educating man through Abraham, through Moses, through +David, through the Jewish prophets, through the Greeks, through the +Romans; then through Himself, as man as well as God; and after His ascension, +through His Apostles, especially through St. Paul, to an ever-increasing +understanding of God, and the universe, and themselves. And even +after their time He did not cease His education. Why should He? +How could He, who said of Himself, “All power is given to me in +heaven and earth;” “Lo, I am with you alway to the end of +the world;” and again, “My Father worketh hitherto, and +I work?”<br> +<br> +‘At the Reformation in the sixteenth century He called on our +forefathers to repent - that is, to change their minds - concerning +opinions which had been undoubted for more than a thousand years. +Why should He not be calling on us at this time likewise? And +if any answer, that the Reformation was only a return to the primitive +faith of the Apostles - Why should not this shaking of the hearts and +minds of men issue in a still further return, in a further correction +of errors, a further sweeping away of additions, which are not integral +to the Christian creeds, but which were left behind, through natural +and necessary human frailty, by our great Reformers? Wise they +were, - good and great, - as giants on the earth, while we are but as +dwarfs; but, as the hackneyed proverb tells us, the dwarf on the giant’s +shoulders may see further than the giant himself.’<br> +<br> +Ah! that men would approach new truth in that spirit; in the spirit +of godly fear, which is inspired by the thought that we are in the kingdom +of God, and that the King thereof is Christ, both God and man, once +crucified for us, now living for us for ever! Ah! that they would +thus serve God, waiting, as servants before a lord, for the slightest +sign which might intimate his will! Then they would look at new +truths with caution; in that truly conservative spirit which is the +duty of all Christians, and the especial strength of the Englishman. +With caution, - lest in grasping eagerly after what is new, we throw +away truth which we have already: but with awe and reverence; for Christ +may have sent the new truth; and he who fights against it, may haply +be found fighting against God. And so would they indeed obey the +Apostolic injunction - Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, +- that which is pure, fair, noble, tending to the elevation of men; +to the improvement of knowledge, justice, mercy, well-being; to the +extermination of ignorance, cruelty, and vice. That, at least, +must come from Christ, unless the Pharisees were right when they said +that evil spirits could be cast out by Beelzebub, prince of the devils.<br> +<br> +How much more Christian, reverent, faithful, as well as more prudent, +rational, and philosophical, would such a temper be than that which +condemns all changes <i>à priori</i>, at the first hearing, or +rather, too often, without any hearing at all, in rage and terror, like +that of the animal who at the same moment barks at, and runs away from, +every unknown object.<br> +<br> +At least that temper of mind will give us calm; faith, patience, hope, +charity, though the heavens and the earth are shaken around us. +For we have received a kingdom which cannot be moved, and in the King +thereof we have the most perfect trust: for us He stooped to earth, +was born, and died on the cross; and can we not trust Him? Let +Him do what He will; let Him teach us what He will; let Him lead us +whither He will. Wherever He leads, we shall find pasture. +Wherever He leads, must be the way of truth, and we will follow, and +say, as Socrates of old used to say, Let us follow the Logos boldly, +whithersoever it leadeth. If Socrates had courage to say it, how +much more should we, who know what he, good man, knew not, that the +Logos is not a mere argument, train of thought, necessity of logic, +but a Person - perfect God and perfect man, even Jesus Christ, ‘the +same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,’ who promised of old, and +therefore promises to us, and our children after us, to lead those who +trust Him into all truth.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON VII. THE BATTLE OF LIFE<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +GALATIANS v. 16, 17.<br> +<br> +I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of +the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit +against the flesh: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.<br> +<br> +<br> +A great poet speaks of ‘Happiness, our being’s end and aim;’ +and he has been reproved for so doing. Men have said, and wisely, +the end and aim of our being is not happiness, but goodness. If +goodness comes first, then happiness may come after. But if not, +something better than happiness may come, even blessedness.<br> +<br> +This it is, I believe, which our Lord may have meant when He said, ‘He +that saveth his life, or soul’ (for the two words in Scripture +mean exactly the same thing), ‘shall lose it. And he that +loseth his life, shall save it. For what is a man profited if +he gain the whole world, and lose his own life?’<br> +<br> +How is this? It is a hard saying. Difficult to believe, +on account of the natural selfishness which lies deep in all of us. +Difficult even to understand in these days, when religion itself is +selfish, and men learn more and more to think that the end and aim of +religion is not to make them good while they live, but merely to save +their souls after they die.<br> +<br> +But whether it be hard to understand or not, we must understand it, +if we would be good men. And how to understand it, the Epistle +for this day will teach us.<br> +<br> +‘Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.’ +The Spirit, which is the Spirit of God within our hearts and conscience, +says - Be good. The flesh, the animal, savage nature, which we +all have in common with the dumb animals, says - Be happy. Please +yourself. Do what you like. Eat and drink, for to-morrow +you die.<br> +<br> +But, happily for us, the Spirit lusts against the flesh. It draws +us the opposite way. It lifts us up, instead of dragging us down. +It has nobler aims, higher longings. It, as St. Paul puts it, +will not let us do the things that we would. It will not let us +do just what we like, and please ourselves. It often makes us +unhappy just when we try to be happy. It shames us, and cries +in our hearts - You were not meant merely to please yourselves, and +be as the beasts which perish.<br> +<br> +But how few listen to that voice of God’s Spirit within their +hearts, though it be just the noblest thing of which they will ever +be aware on earth!<br> +<br> +How few listen to it, till the lusts of the flesh are worn out, and +have worn them out likewise, and made them reap the fruit which they +have sowed - sowing to the selfish flesh, and of the selfish flesh reaping +corruption.<br> +<br> +The young man says - I will be happy and do what I like; and runs after +what he calls pleasure. The middle-aged man, grown more prudent, +says - I will be happy yet, and runs after money, comfort, fame and +power. But what do they gain? ‘The works of the flesh,’ +the fruit of this selfish lusting after mere earthly happiness, ‘are +manifest, which are these:’ - not merely that open vice and immorality +into which the young man falls when he craves after mere animal pleasure, +but ‘hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies’ +- <i>i.e</i>., factions in Church or State - ‘envyings, murders, +and such like.’<br> +<br> +Thus men put themselves under the law. Not under Moses’ +law, of course, but under some law or other.<br> +<br> +For why has law been invented? Why is it needed, with all its +expense? Law is meant to prevent, if possible, men harming each +other by their own selfishness, by those lusts of the flesh which tempt +every man to seek his own happiness, careless of his neighbour’s +happiness, interest, morals; by all the passions which make men their +own tormentors, and which make the history of every nation too often +a history of crime, and folly, and faction, and war, sad and shameful +to read; all those passions of which St. Paul says once and for ever, +that those who do such things ‘shall not inherit the kingdom of +God.’<br> +<br> +These are the sad consequences of giving way to the flesh, the selfish +animal nature within us: and most miserable would man be if that were +all he had to look to. Miserable, were there not a kingdom of +God, into which he could enter all day long, and be at peace; and a +Spirit of God, who would raise him up to the spiritual life of love, +joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; +and a Son of God, the King of that kingdom, the Giver of that Spirit, +who cries for ever to every one of us - ‘Come unto Me, ye that +are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke +on you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall +find rest unto your souls.’<br> +<br> +Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance; these are the fruits of the Spirit: the spirit of unselfishness; +the spirit of charity; the spirit of justice; the spirit of purity; +the Spirit of God. Against them there is no law. He who +is guided by this Spirit, and he only, may do what he would; for he +will wish to do nought but what is right. He is not under the +law, but under grace; and full of grace will he be in all his words +and works. He has entered into the kingdom of God, and is living +therein as God’s subject, obeying the royal law of liberty - ‘Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’<br> +<br> +‘The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against +the flesh, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,’ says +St. Paul.<br> +<br> +My friends, this is the battle of life.<br> +<br> +In every one of us, more or less, this battle is going on; a battle +between the flesh and the Spirit, between the animal nature and the +divine grace. In every one of us, I say, who is not like the heathen, +dead in trespasses and sins; in every one of us who has a conscience, +excusing or else accusing us. There are those - a very few, I +hope - who are sunk below that state; who have lost their sense of right +and wrong; who only care to fulfil the lusts of the flesh in pleasure, +ease, and vanity. There are those in whom the voice of conscience +is lead for a while, silenced by self-conceit; who say in their prosperity, +like the foolish Laodiceans, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, +and have need of nothing,’ and know not that in fact and reality, +and in the sight of God, they are ‘wretched, and miserable, and +poor, and blind, and naked.’<br> +<br> +Happy, happy for any and all of us, - if ever we fall into that dream +of pride and false security, - to be awakened again, however painful +the awakening may be! Happy for every man that the battle between +the Spirit and the flesh should begin in him again and again, as long +as his flesh is not subdued to his spirit. If he be wrong, the +greatest blessing which can happen to him is, that he should find himself +in the wrong. If he have been deceiving himself, the greatest +blessing is, that God should anoint his eyes that he may see - see himself +as he is; see his own inbred corruption; see the sin which doth so easily +beset him, whatever it may be. Whatever anguish of mind it may +cost him, it is a light price to pay for the inestimable treasure which +true repentance and amendment brings; the fine gold of solid self-knowledge, +tried in the fire of bitter experience; the white raiment of a pure +and simple heart; the eye-salve of honest self-condemnation and noble +shame. If he have but these - and these God will give him, in +answer to prayer, the prayer of a broken and a contrite heart - then +he will be able to carry on the battle against the corrupt flesh, with +its affections and lusts, in hope. In the assured hope of final +victory. ‘For greater is He that is with us, than he that +is against us? He that is against us is our self, our selfish +self; our animal nature; and He that is with us is God; God and none +other: and who can pluck us out of His hand?<br> +<br> +My friends, the bread and the wine on that table are God’s own +sign to us that He will not leave us to be, like the savage, the slaves +of our own animal natures; that He will feed not merely our bodies with +animal, but our souls with spiritual food; giving us strength to rise +above our selfish selves; and so subdue the flesh to the Spirit, that +at last, however long and weary the fight, however sore wounded and +often worsted we may be, we shall conquer in the battle of life.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON VIII. FREE GRACE<br> +(<i>Preached before the Queen at Windsor, March 12, 1865</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ISAIAH iv. 1.<br> +<br> +Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath +no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without +money and without price.<br> +<br> +<br> +Every one who knows his Bible as he should, knows well this noble chapter. +It seems to be one of the separate poems or hymns of which the Book +of Isaiah is composed. It is certainly one of the most beautiful +of them, and also one of the deepest. So beautiful is it, that +the good men of old who translated the Bible into English, could not +help catching the spirit of the words as they went on with their work, +and making the chapter almost a hymn in English, as it is a hymn in +Hebrew. Even the very sound of the words, as we listen to them, +is a song in itself; and there is perhaps no more perfect piece of writing +in the English language, than the greater part of this chapter.<br> +<br> +This may not seem a very important matter; and yet those good men of +old must have felt that there was something in this chapter which went +home especially to their hearts, and would go home to the hearts of +us for whose sake they translated it.<br> +<br> +And those good men judged rightly. The care which they bestowed +on Isaiah’s words has not been in vain. The noble sound +of the text has caught many a man’s ears, in order that the noble +meaning of the text might touch his heart, and bring him back again +to God, to seek Him while He may be found, and call on Him while He +is near; that so the wicked might forsake his way, and the unrighteous +man his thoughts, and return to God, for He will have compassion, and +to our God, for He will abundantly pardon; and that he might find that +God’s thoughts are not as man’s thoughts, nor His ways as +man’s ways, saith the Lord; for as the heavens are higher than +the earth, so are His ways and thoughts higher than ours.<br> +<br> +Yes - I believe that the beauty of this chapter has made many a man +listen to it, who had perhaps never cared to listen to any good before; +and learn a precious lesson from it, which he could learn nowhere save +in the Bible.<br> +<br> +For this text is one of those which have been called the Evangelical +Prophecies, in which the prophet rises far above Moses’ old law, +and the letter of it, which, as St. Paul says, is a letter which killeth; +and the spirit of it, which is a spirit which, as St. Paul says, gendereth +to bondage and slavish dread of God: an utterance in which the prophet +sees by faith the Lord Jesus Christ and His free grace revealed - dimly, +of course, and in a figure - but still revealed by the Spirit of God, +who spake by the prophets. As St. Paul says, Moses’ law +made nothing perfect, and therefore had to be disannulled for its unprofitableness +and weakness, and a better hope brought in, by which we draw near to +God. And here, in this text, we see the better hope coming in, +and as it were dawning upon men - the dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, +Jesus Christ our Lord, who was to rise afterwards, to be a light to +lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel.<br> +<br> +And what was this better hope? One, St. Paul says, by which we +could draw nigh to God; come near to Him; as to a Father, a Saviour, +a Comforter, a liege lord - not a tyrant who holds us against our will +as his slaves, but a liege lord who holds us with our will as His tenants, +His vassals, His liege men, as the good old English words were; one +who will take His vassals into His counsel, and inform them with His +Spirit, and teach them His mind, that they may do His will and copy +His example, and be treated by Him as His friends - in spite of the +infinite difference of rank between them and Him, which they must never +forget.<br> +<br> +But though the difference of rank be infinite and boundless - for it +is the difference between sinful man and God perfect for ever - yet +still man can now draw near to God. He is not commanded to stand +afar off in fear and trembling, as the old Jews were at Sinai. +We have not come, says St. Paul, to a mount which burned with fire, +and blackness, and darkness, and storm, and the sound of a trumpet, +and the voice of words, which those who heard entreated that they should +not be spoken to them any more: for they could not endure that which +was commanded: but we are come to the city of the living God, the heavenly +Jerusalem, and to the Church of the first-born which are written in +heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men +made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to +the blood of sprinkling.<br> +<br> +We are come to God, the Judge of all, and to Christ - not bidden to +stand afar off from them. That is the point to which I wish you +to attend. For this agrees with the words of the text, ‘Ho, +every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.’<br> +<br> +This message it is, which made this chapter precious in the eyes of +the good men of old. This message it is, which has made it precious, +in all times, to thousands of troubled, hard-worked, weary, afflicted +hearts. This is what has made it precious to thousands who were +wearied with the burden of their sins, and longed to be made righteous +and good; and knew bitterly well that they could not make themselves +good, but that God alone could do that; and so longed to come to God, +that they might be made good: but did not know whether they might come +or not; or whether, if they came, God would receive them, and help them, +and convert them. This message it is, which has made the text +an evangelical prophecy, to be fulfilled only in Christ - a message +which tells men of a God who says, Come. Of a God whom Moses’ +law, saying merely, ‘Thou shalt not,’ did not reveal to +us, divine and admirable as it was, and is, and ever will be. +Of a God whom natural religion, such as even the heathen, St. Paul says, +may gain from studying God’s works in this wonderful world around +us - of a God, I say, whom natural religion does not reveal to us, divine +and admirable as it is. But of a God who was revealed, step by +step, to the Psalmists and the Prophets, more and more clearly as the +years went on; of a God who was fully and utterly revealed, not merely +by, but in Jesus Christ our Lord, who was Himself that God, very God +of very God begotten, being the brightness of His Father’s glory, +and the express image of His person; whose message and call, from the +first day of His ministry to His glorious ascension, was, Come.<br> +<br> +Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh +you.<br> +<br> +Come unto Me, and take My yoke on you: for My yoke is easy, and My burden +is light.<br> +<br> +I am the bread of life. He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, +and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.<br> +<br> +All that the Father hath given Me shall come unto Me. And he that +cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.<br> +<br> +Nay, the very words of this prophecy Christ took to Himself again and +again, speaking of Himself as the fountain of life, health and light; +when He stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to +Me, and drink.<br> +<br> +Come unto Me, that ye may have life, is the message of Jesus Christ, +both God and man. Come, that you may have forgiveness of your +sins; come, that you may have the Holy Spirit, by which you may sin +no more, but live the life of the Spirit, the everlasting life of goodness, +by which the spirits of just men, and angels, and archangels, live for +ever before God.<br> +<br> +And what says St. Paul? See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh. +For if they escaped not, who refused Him that spake on earth, much more +shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.<br> +<br> +Yes. The goodness of God, the condescension of God, instead of +making it more easy for sinners to escape, makes it, if possible, more +difficult. There are those who fancy that because God is merciful +- because it is written in this very chapter, Let a man return to the +Lord, and He will have mercy; and to our God, for He will abundantly +pardon, - that, therefore, God is indulgent, and will overlook their +sins; forgetting that in the verse before it is said, Let the wicked +forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and then - but +not till then - let him return to God, to be received with compassion +and forgiveness.<br> +<br> +Too many know not, as St. Paul says, that the goodness of God leads +men, not to sin freely and carelessly without fear of punishment, but +leads them to repentance. And yet do not our own hearts and consciences +tell us that it is so? That it is more base, and more presumptuous +likewise, to turn away from one who speaks with love, than one who speaks +with sternness; from one who calls us to come to him, with boundless +condescension, than from one who bids us stand afar off and tremble?<br> +<br> +Those Jews of old, when they refused to hear God speaking in the thunders +of Sinai, committed folly. We, if we refuse to hear God speaking +in the tender words of Jesus crucified for us, commit an equal folly: +but we commit baseness and ingratitude likewise. They rebelled +against a Master: we rebel against a Father.<br> +<br> +But, though we deny Him, He cannot deny Himself. We may be false +to Him, false to our better selves, false to our baptismal vows: but +He cannot be false. He cannot change. He is the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever. What He said on earth, that He says eternally +in heaven: If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink.<br> +<br> +Eternally, and for ever, in heaven, says St. John, Christ says, and +is, and does, what Isaiah prophesied that He would say, and be, and +do, - I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning +star. And the Spirit and the Bride (His Spirit and His Church) +say, Come. And let him that is athirst, Come: and whosoever will, +let him take of the water of life freely. For ever He calls to +every anxious soul, every afflicted soul, every weary soul, every discontented +soul, to every man who is ashamed of himself, and angry with himself, +and longs to live a soberer, gentler, nobler, purer, truer, more useful +life - Come. Let him who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, +come to the waters; and he that hath no silver - nothing to give to +God in return for all His bounty - let him buy without silver, and eat; +and live for ever that eternal life of righteousness, holiness, and +peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, which is the one true and only salvation +bought for us by the precious blood of Christ, our Lord.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON IX. EZEKIEL’S VISION<br> +(<i>Preached before the Queen at Windsor, June 16, 1864</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +EZEKIEL i. 1, 26.<br> +<br> +Now it came to pass, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, +that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. And upon +the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man.<br> +<br> +<br> +Ezekiel’s Vision may seem to some a strange and unprofitable subject +on which to preach. It ought not to be so in fact. All Scripture +is given by Inspiration of God, and is profitable for teaching, for +correction, for reproof, for instruction in righteousness. And +so will this Vision be to us, if we try to understand it aright. +We shall find in it fresh knowledge of God, a clearer and fuller revelation, +made to Ezekiel, than had been, up to his time, made to any man.<br> +<br> +I am well aware that there are some very difficult verses in the text. +It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand exactly what presented +itself to Ezekiel’s mind.<br> +<br> +Ezekiel saw a whirlwind come out of the north; a whirling globe of fire; +four living creatures coming out of the midst thereof. So far +the imagery is simple enough, and grand enough. But when he begins +to speak of the living creatures, the cherubim, his description is very +obscure. All that we discover is, a vision of huge creatures with +the feet, and (as some think) the body of an ox, with four wings, and +four faces, - those of a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle. Ezekiel +seems to discover afterwards that these are the cherubim, the same which +overshadowed the ark in Moses’ tabernacle and Solomon’s +temple - only of a more complex form; for Moses’ and Solomon’s +cherubim are believed to have had but one face each, while Ezekiel’s +had four.<br> +<br> +Now, concerning the cherubim, and what they meant, we know very little. +The Jews, at the time of the fall of Jerusalem, had forgotten their +meaning. Josephus, indeed, says they had forgotten their very +shape.<br> +<br> +Some light has been thrown, lately, on the figures of these creatures, +by the sculptures of those very Assyrian cities to which Ezekiel was +a captive, - those huge winged oxen and lions with human heads; and +those huge human figures with four wings each, let down and folded round +them just as Ezekiel describes, and with heads, sometimes of the lion, +and sometimes of the eagle. None, however, have been found as +yet, I believe, with four faces, like those of Ezekiel’s Vision; +they are all of the simpler form of Solomon’s cherubim. +But there is little doubt that these sculptures were standing there +perfect in Ezekiel’s time, and that he and the Jews who were captive +with him may have seen them often. And there is little doubt also +what these figures meant: that they were symbolic of royal spirits - +those thrones, dominations, princedoms, powers, of which Milton speaks, +- the powers of the earth and heaven, the royal archangels who, as the +Chaldæans believed, governed the world, and gave it and all things +life; symbolized by them under the types of the four royal creatures +of the world, according to the Eastern nations; the ox signifying labour, +the lion power, the eagle foresight, and the man reason.<br> +<br> +So with the wheels which Ezekiel sees. We find them in the Assyrian +sculptures - wheels with a living spirit sitting in each, a human figure +with outspread wings; and these seem to have been the genii, or guardian +angels, who watched over their kings, and gave them fortune and victory.<br> +<br> +For these Chaldæans were specially worshippers of angels and spirits; +and they taught the Jews many notions about angels and spirits, which +they brought home with them into Judæa after the captivity.<br> +<br> +Of them, of course, we read little or nothing in Holy Scripture; but +there is much, and too much, about them in the writings of the old Rabbis, +the Scribes and Pharisees of the New Testament.<br> +<br> +Now Ezekiel, inspired by the Spirit of God, rises far above the old +Chaldæans and their dreams. Perhaps the captive Jews were +tempted to worship these cherubim and genii, as the Chaldæans +did; and it may be that Ezekiel was commissioned by God to set them +right, and by his vision to give a type, pattern, or picture of God’s +spiritual laws, by which He rules the world.<br> +<br> +Be that as it may. In the first place, Ezekiel’s cherubim +are far more wonderful and complicated than those which he would see +on the walls of the Assyrian buildings. And rightly so; for this +world is far more wonderful, more complicated, more cunningly made and +ruled, than any of man’s fancies about it; as it is written in +the Book of Job, - ‘Where wast thou when I laid the foundations +of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Whereupon are +the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner-stone thereof; +when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted +for joy?’<br> +<br> +Next (and this is most important), these different cherubim were not +independent of each other, each going his own way, and doing his own +will. Not so. Ezekiel had found in them a divine and wonderful +order, by which the services of angels as well as of men are constituted. +Orderly and harmoniously they worked together. Out of the same +fiery globe, from the same throne of God, they came forth all alike. +They turned not when they went; whithersoever the Spirit was to go, +they went, and ran and returned like a flash of lightning. Nay, +in one place he speaks as if all the four creatures were but one creature: +‘This is the living creature which I saw by the river of Chebar.’<br> +<br> +And so it is, we may be sure, in the world of God, whether in the earthly +or in the heavenly world. All things work together, praising God +and doing His will. Angels and the heavenly host; sun and moon; +stars and light; fire and hail; snow and vapour; wind and storm: all +fulfil His word. ‘He hath made them fast for ever and ever: +He hath given them a law which shall not be broken.’ For +before all things, under all things, and through all things, is a divine +unity and order; all things working towards one end, because all things +spring from one beginning, which is the bosom of God the Father.<br> +<br> +And so with the wheels; the wheels of fortune and victory, and the fate +of nations and of kings. ‘They were so high,’ Ezekiel +said, ‘that they were dreadful.’ But he saw no human +genius sitting, one in each wheel of fortune, each protecting his favourite +king and nation. These, too, did not go their own way and of their +own will. They were parts of God’s divine and wonderful +order, and obeyed the same laws as the cherubim. ‘And when +the living creatures went, the wheels went with them; for the spirit +of the living creature was in the wheels.’ Everywhere was +the same divine unity and order; the same providence, the same laws +of God, presided over the natural world and over the fortunes of nations +and of kings. Victory and prosperity was not given arbitrarily +by separate genii, each genius protecting his favourite king, each genius +striving against the other on behalf of his favourite. Fortune +came from the providence of One Being; of Him of whom it is written, +‘God standeth in the congregation of princes: He is the judge +among gods.’ And again, ‘The Lord is King, be the +people never so impatient: He sitteth between the cherubim, be the earth +never so unquiet.’<br> +<br> +And is this all? God forbid. This is more than the Chaldæans +saw, who worshipped angels and not God - the creature instead of the +Creator. But where the Chaldæan vision ended, Ezekiel’s +only began. His prophecy rises far above the imaginations of the +heathen.<br> +<br> +He hears the sound of the wings of the cherubim, like the tramp of an +army, like the noise of great waters, like the roll of thunder, the +voice of Almighty God: but above their wings he sees a firmament, which +the heathen cannot see, clear as the flashing crystal, and on that firmament +a sapphire throne, and round that throne a rainbow, the type of forgiveness +and faithfulness, and on that throne A Man.<br> +<br> +And the cherubim stand, and let down their wings in submission, waiting +for the voice of One mightier than they. And Ezekiel falls upon +his face, and hears from off the throne a human voice, which calls to +him as human likewise, ‘Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I +will speak to thee.’<br> +<br> +This, this is Ezekiel’s vision: not the fiery globe merely, nor +the cherubim, nor the wheels, nor the powers of nature, nor the angelic +host - dominions and principalities, and powers - but The Man enthroned +above them all, the Lord and Guide and Ruler of the universe; He who +makes the winds His angels, and the flames of fire His ministers; and +that Lord speaking to him, not through cherubim, not through angels, +not through nature, not through mediators, angelic or human, but speaking +direct to him himself, as man speaks to man.<br> +<br> +As man speaks to man. This is the very pith and marrow of the +Old Testament and of the New; which gradually unfolds itself, from the +very first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation, - that man +is made in the likeness of God; and that therefore God can speak to +him, and he can understand God’s words and inspirations.<br> +<br> +Man is like God; and therefore God, in some inconceivable way, is like +man. That is the great truth set forth in the first chapter of +Genesis, which goes on unfolding itself more clearly throughout the +Old Testament, till here, in Ezekiel’s vision, it comes to, perhaps, +its clearest stage save one.<br> +<br> +That human appearance speaks to Ezekiel, the hapless prisoner of war, +far away from his native land. And He speaks to him with human +voice, and claims kindred with him as a human being, saying, ‘Son +of man.’ That is very deep and wonderful. The Lord +upon His throne does not wish Ezekiel to think how different He is to +him, but how like He is to him. He says not to Ezekiel, - ‘Creature +infinitely below Me! Dust and ashes, unworthy to appear in My +presence! Worm of the earth, as far below Me and unlike Me as +the worm under thy feet is to thee!’ but, ‘Son of man; creature +made in My image and likeness, be not afraid! Stand on thy feet, +and be a man; and speak to others what I speak to thee.’<br> +<br> +After that great revelation of God there seems but one step more to +make it perfect; and that step was made in God’s good time, in +the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.<br> +<br> +Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also +- He whom Ezekiel saw in human form enthroned on high - He took part +of flesh and blood likewise, and was not ashamed, yea, rather rejoiced, +to call Himself, what He called Ezekiel, the Son of Man.<br> +<br> +‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld +His glory.’ And why?<br> +<br> +For many reasons; but certainly for this one. To make men feel +more utterly and fully what Ezekiel was made to feel. That God +could thoroughly feel for man; and that man could thoroughly trust God.<br> +<br> +That God could thoroughly feel for man. For we have a High Priest +who has been made perfect by sufferings, tempted in all points like +as we are; and we can<br> +<br> +<br> +‘Look to Him who, not in vain,<br> +Experienced every human pain;<br> +He sees our wants, allays our fears,<br> +And counts and treasures up our tears.’<br> +<br> +<br> +Again, - That man could utterly trust God. For when St. John and +his companions (simple fishermen) beheld the glory of Jesus, the Incarnate +Word, what was it like? It was ‘full of grace and truth;’ +the perfection of human graciousness, of human truthfulness, which could +win and melt the hearts of simple folk, and make them see in Him, who +was called the carpenter’s son, the beauty of the glory of the +Godhead.<br> +<br> +‘He is the Judge of all the earth.’ And why? +Let Him Himself tell us. He says that the Father has given the +Son authority to execute judgment. And why, once more? Because +He is the Son of God? Our Lord says more, - ‘Because,’ +He says, ‘He is the Son of Man;’ who knows what is in man; +who can feel, understand, discriminate, pity, make allowances, judge +fair, and righteous, and merciful judgment, among creatures whose weakness +He has experienced, whose temptations He has felt, whose pains and sorrows +He has borne in mortal flesh and blood.<br> +<br> +Oh, Gospel and good news for the weak, the sorrowful, the oppressed; +for those who are wearied with the burden of their sins, or wearied +also by the burden of heavy responsibilities, and awful public duties! +When all mortal counsellors fail them, when all mortal help is too weak, +let them but throw themselves on the mercy of Him who sits upon the +throne, and remember that He, though immortal and eternal, is still +the Son of Man, who knows what is in man.<br> +<br> +There are times in which we are all tempted to worship other things +than God. Not, perhaps, to worship cherubim and genii, angels +and spirits, like the old Chaldees, but to worship the laws of political +economy, the laws of statesmanship, the powers of nature, the laws of +physical science, those lower messengers of God’s providence, +of which St. Paul says, ‘He maketh the winds His angels, and flames +of fire His ministers.’<br> +<br> +In such times we have need to remember Ezekiel’s lesson, that +above them all, ruling and guiding, sits He whose form is as the Son +of Man.<br> +<br> +We are not to say that any powers of nature are evil, or the laws of +any science false. Heaven forbid! Ezekiel did not say that +the cherubim were evil, or meaningless; or that the belief in angels +ministering to man was false. He said the very opposite. +But he said, All these obey one whose form is that of a man. He +rules them, and they do His will. They are but ministering spirits +before Him.<br> +<br> +Therefore we are not to disbelieve science, nor disregard the laws of +nature, or we shall lose by our folly. But we are to believe that +nature and science are not our gods. They do not rule us; our +fortunes are not in their hands. Above nature and above science +sits the Lord of nature and the Lord of science. Above all the +counsels of princes, and the struggles of nations, and the chances and +changes of this world of man, sits the Judge of princes and of peoples, +the Lord of all the nations upon earth, He by whom all things were made, +and who upholdeth all things by the word of His power; and He is man, +of the substance of His mother; most human and yet most divine; full +of justice and truth, full of care and watchfulness, full of love and +pity, full of tenderness and understanding; a Friend, a Guide, a Counsellor, +a Comforter, a Saviour to all who trust in Him. He is nearer to +us than nature and science: and He should be dearer to us; for they +speak only to our understanding; but He speaks to our human hearts, +to our inmost spirits. Nature and science cannot take away our +sins, give peace to our hearts, right judgment to our minds, strength +to our wills, or everlasting life to our souls and bodies. But +there sits One upon the throne who can. And if nature were to +vanish away, and science were to be proved (however correct as far as +it went) a mere child’s guess about this wonderful world, which +none can understand save He who made it - if all the counsels of princes +and of peoples, however just and wise, were to be confounded and come +to nought, still, after all, and beyond all, and above all, Christ would +abide for ever, with human tenderness yearning over human hearts; with +human wisdom teaching human ignorance; with human sympathy sorrowing +with human mourners; for ever saying, ‘Come unto me, ye that are +weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’<br> +<br> +Cherubim and seraphim, angels and archangels, dominions and powers, +whether of nature or of grace - these all serve Him and do His work. +He has constituted their services in a wonderful order: but He has not +taken their nature on Him. Our nature He has taken on Him, that +we might be bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh; able to say to +Him for ever, in all the chances and changes of this mortal life -<br> +<br> +<br> +‘Thou, O Christ, art all I want,<br> + More than all in thee I find;<br> +Raise me, fallen; cheer me, faint;<br> + Heal me, sick; and lead me, blind.<br> +Thou of life the fountain art,<br> + Freely let me drink of Thee;<br> +Spring Thou up within my heart,<br> + Rise to all eternity.’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON X. RUTH<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +RUTH ii. 4.<br> +<br> +And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The +Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee.<br> +<br> +<br> +Most of you know the story of Ruth, from which my text is taken, and +you have thought it, no doubt, a pretty story. But did you ever +think why it was in the Bible?<br> +<br> +Every book in the Bible is meant to teach us, as the Article of our +Church says, something necessary to salvation. But what is there +necessary to our salvation in the Book of Ruth?<br> +<br> +No doubt we learn from it that Ruth was the ancestress of King David; +and that she was, therefore, an ancestress of our blessed Lord Jesus +Christ: but curious and interesting as that is, we can hardly call that +something necessary to salvation. There must be something more +in the book. Let us take it simply as it stands, and see if we +can find it out.<br> +<br> +It begins by telling us how a man of Bethlehem has been driven out of +his own country by a famine, he and his wife Naomi and his two sons, +and has gone over the border into Moab, among the heathen; how his two +sons have married heathen women, and the name of the one was Ruth, and +the name of the other Orpah. Then how he dies, and his two sons; +and how Naomi, his widow, hears that the Lord had visited His people, +in giving them bread; how the people of Judah were prosperous again, +and she is there all alone among the heathen; so she sets out to go +back to her own people, and her daughters-in-law go with her.<br> +<br> +But she persuades them not to go. Why do they not stay in their +own land? And they weep over each other; and Orpah kisses her +mother-in-law, and goes back; but Ruth cleaves unto her.<br> +<br> +Then follows that famous speech of Ruth’s, which, for its simple +beauty and poetry, has become a proverb, and even a song, among us to +this day.<br> +<br> +And Ruth said, ‘Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from +following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou +lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my +God:<br> +<br> +‘Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the +Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.’<br> +<br> +So when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go to her, she left +speaking to her.<br> +<br> +And they come to Bethlehem, and all the town was moved about them; and +they said, Is this Naomi?<br> +<br> +‘And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for +the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, +and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, +seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted +me?’<br> +<br> +And they came to Bethlehem about the passover tide, at the beginning +of barley harvest, and Ruth went out into the fields to glean, and she +lighted on a part of the field which belonged to Boaz, who was of her +husband’s kindred.<br> +<br> +And Boaz was a mighty man of wealth, according to the simple fashions +of that old land and old time. Not like one of our great modern +noblemen, or merchants, but rather like one of our wealthy yeomen: a +man who would not disdain to work in his field with his own slaves, +after the wholesome fashion of those old times, when a royal prince +and mighty warrior would sow the corn with his own hands, while his +man opened the furrow with the plough before him. There Boaz dwelt, +with other yeomen, up among the limestone hills, in the little walled +village of Bethlehem, which was afterwards to become so famous and so +holy; and had, we may suppose, his vineyard and his olive-garden on +the rocky slopes, and his corn-fields in the vale below, and his flock +of sheep and goats feeding on the downs; while all his wealth besides +lay, probably, after the Eastern fashion, in one great chest - full +of rich dresses, and gold and silver ornaments, and coins, all foreign, +got in exchange for his corn, and wine, and oil, from Assyrian, or Egyptian, +or Phœnician traders; for the Jews then had no money, and very +little manufacture, of their own.<br> +<br> +And he would have had hired servants, too, and slaves, in his house; +treated kindly enough, as members of the family, eating and drinking +at his table, and faring nearly as well as he fared himself.<br> +<br> +A stately, God-fearing man he plainly was; respectable, courteous, and +upright, and altogether worthy of his wealth; and he went out into the +field, looking after his reapers in the barley harvest - about our Easter-tide.<br> +<br> +And he said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered, +The Lord bless thee.<br> +<br> +Then he saw Ruth, who had happened to light upon his field, gleaning +after the reapers, and found out who she was, and bid her glean without +fear, and abide by his maidens, for he had charged the young men that +they shall not touch her.<br> +<br> +‘And Boaz said unto her, At meal-time come thou hither, and eat +of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside +the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was +sufficed, and left.<br> +<br> +‘And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young +men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her +not: and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and +leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.<br> +<br> +‘So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she +had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.’<br> +<br> +Then follows the simple story, after the simple fashion of those days. +How Naomi bids Ruth wash and anoint herself, and put on her best garments, +and go down to Boaz’ floor (his barn as we should call it now) +where he is going to eat, and drink, and sleep, and there claim his +protection as a near kinsman.<br> +<br> +And how Ruth comes in softly and lies down at his feet, and how he treats +her honourably and courteously, and promises to protect her. But +there is a nearer kinsman than he, and he must be asked first if he +will do the kinsman’s part, and buy his cousin’s plot of +land, and marry his cousin’s widow with it.<br> +<br> +And how Boaz goes to the town-gate next day, and sits down in the gate +(for the porch of the gate was a sort of town-hall or vestry-room in +the East, wherein all sorts of business was done), and there he challenges +the kinsman, - Will he buy the ground and marry Ruth? And he will +not: he cannot afford it. Then Boaz calls all the town to witness +that day, that he has bought all that was Elimelech’s, and Ruth +the Moabitess to be his wife.<br> +<br> +‘And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, +We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman that is come into thine +house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: +and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem.’<br> +<br> +And in due time Ruth had a son. ‘And the women said unto +Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without +a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.<br> +<br> +‘And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher +of thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which +is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.<br> +<br> +‘And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became +nurse unto it.<br> +<br> +‘And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is +a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father +of Jesse, the father of David.’<br> +<br> +And so ends the Book of Ruth.<br> +<br> +Now, my friends, can you not answer for yourselves the question which +I asked at first, - Why is the story of Ruth in the Bible, and what +may we learn from it which is necessary for our salvation?<br> +<br> +I think, at least, that you will be able to answer it - if not in words, +still in your hearts - if you will read the book for yourselves.<br> +<br> +For does it not consecrate to God that simple country life which we +lead here? Does it not tell us that it is blessed in the sight +of Him who makes the grass to grow, and the corn to ripen in its season?<br> +<br> +Does it not tell us, that not only on the city and the palace, on the +cathedral and the college, on the assemblies of statesmen, on the studies +of scholars, but upon the meadow and the corn-field, the farm-house +and the cottage, is written, by the everlasting finger of God - Holiness +unto the Lord? That it is all blessed in His sight; that the simple +dwellers in villages, the simple tillers of the ground, can be as godly +and as pious, as virtuous and as high-minded, as those who have nought +to do but to serve God in the offices of religion? Is it not an +honour and a comfort, to such as us, to find one whole book of the Holy +Bible occupied by the simplest story of the fortunes of a yeoman’s +family, in a lonely village among the hills of Judah? True, the +yeoman’s widow became the ancestress of David, and of his mighty +line of kings - nay, the ancestress of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. +But the Book of Ruth was not written mainly to tell us that fact. +It mentions it at the end, and as it were by accident. The book +itself is taken up with the most simple and careful details of country +life, country customs, country folk - as if that was what we were to +think of, as we read of Ruth. And that is what we do think of +- not of the ancestress of kings, but of the fair young heathen gleaning +among the corn, with the pious, courteous, high-minded yeoman bidding +her abide fast by his maidens, and when she was athirst drink of the +wine which the young men have drawn, for it has been fully showed him +all she has done for her mother-in-law; and the Lord will recompense +her work, and a full reward be given her of the Lord God of Israel, +under the shadow of whose wings she is to come to trust. That +is the scene which painters naturally draw; that is what we naturally +think of; because God, who gave us the Bible, meant us to think thereof; +and to know, that working in the quiet village, or in the distant field, +women may be as pure and modest, men as high-minded and well-bred, and +both as full of the fear of God, and the thought that God’s eye +is upon them, as if they were in a place, or a station, where they had +nothing to do but to watch over the salvation of their own souls; that +the meadow and the harvest-field need not be, as they too often are, +places for temptation and for defilement; where the old too often teach +the young, not to fear God and keep themselves pure, but to copy their +coarse jests and foul language, and listen to stories which had better +be buried for ever in the dirt out of which they spring. You know +what I mean. You know what field-work too often is. Read +the Book of Ruth, and see what field-work may be, and ought to be.<br> +<br> +Yes, my dear friends. Pure you may be, and gentle, upright, and +godly, about your daily work, if the Spirit of God be within you.<br> +<br> +Country life has its temptations: and so has town life, and every life. +But there has no temptation taken you save such as is common to man. +Boaz, the rich yeoman; Naomi, the broken-hearted and ruined; Ruth, the +fair young widow - all had the very same temptations as are common to +you now, here; but they conquered them, because they feared God and +kept His commandments; and to know that, is necessary for your salvation.<br> +<br> +And, looked at in this light, the Book of Ruth is indeed a prophecy; +a forecast and a shadow of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Himself, who +spake to country folk as never man spake before, and bade them look +upon the simple, every-day matters which were around them in field and +wood, and open their eyes to the Divine lessons of God’s providence, +which also were all around them; who, born Himself in that little village +of Bethlehem, and brought up in the little village of Nazareth, among +the lonely lanes and downs, spoke of country things to country folk, +and bade them read in the great green book which God has laid open before +them all day long. Who bade them to consider the lilies of the +field, how they grew, and the ravens, how God fed them; to look on the +fields, white for harvest, and pray God to send labourers into his spiritual +harvest-field; to look on the tares which grew among the wheat, and +know we must not try to part them ourselves, but leave that to God at +the last day; to look on the fishers, who were casting their net into +the Lake of Galilee, and sorting the fish upon the shore, and be sure +that a day was coming, when God would separate the good from the bad, +and judge every man according to his work and worth; and to learn from +the common things of country life the rule of the living God, and the +laws of the kingdom of heaven.<br> +<br> +One word more, and I have done.<br> +<br> +The story of Ruth is also the consecration of woman’s love. +I do not mean of the love of wife to husband, divine and blessed as +that is. I mean that depth and strength of devotion, tenderness, +and self-sacrifice, which God has put in the heart of all true women; +and which they spend so strangely, and so nobly often, on persons who +have no claim on them, from whom they can receive no earthly reward; +- the affection which made women minister of their substance to our +Lord Jesus Christ; which brought Mary Magdalene to the foot of the Cross, +and to the door of the tomb, that she might at least see the last of +Him whom she thought lost to her for ever; the affection which has made +a wise man say, that as long as women and sorrow are left in the world, +so long will the Gospel of our Lord Jesus live and conquer therein; +the affection which makes women round us every day ministering angels, +wherever help or comfort are needed; which makes many a woman do deeds +of unselfish goodness known only to God; not known even to herself; +for she does them by instinct, by the inspiration of God’s Spirit, +without self-consciousness or pride, without knowing what noble things +she is doing, without spoiling the beauty of her good work by even admitting +to herself, ‘What a good work it is! How right she is in +doing it! How much it will advance the salvation of her own soul!’ +- but thinking herself, perhaps, a very useless and paltry person; while +the angels of God are claiming her as their sister and their peer.<br> +<br> +Yes, if there is a woman in this congregation - and there is one, I +will warrant, in every congregation in England - who is devoting herself +for the good of others; giving up the joys of life to take care of orphans +who have no legal claim on her; or to nurse a relation, who perhaps +repays her with little but exacting peevishness; or who has spent all +her savings, in bringing up her brothers, or in supporting her parents +in their old age, - then let her read the story of Ruth, and be sure +that, like Ruth, she will be repaid by the Lord. Her reward may +not be the same as Ruth’s: but it will be that which is best for +her, and she shall in no wise lose her reward. If she has given +up all for Christ, it shall be repaid her ten-fold in this life, and +in the world to come life everlasting. If, with Ruth, she is true +to the inspirations of God’s Spirit, then, with Ruth, God will +be true to her. Let her endure, for in due time she shall reap, +if she faint not; - and to know that, is necessary for her salvation.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XI. SOLOMON<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ECCLESIASTES i. 12-14.<br> +<br> +I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I gave my +heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are +done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man +to be exercised therewith. I have seen all the works that are +done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.<br> +<br> +<br> +All have heard of Solomon the Wise. His name has become a proverb +among men. It was still more a proverb among the old Rabbis, the +lawyers and scribes of the Gospels.<br> +<br> +Their hero, the man of whom they delighted to talk and dream, was not +David, the Psalmist, and the shepherd-boy, the man of many wanderings, +and many sorrows: but his son Solomon, with all his wealth, and pomp +and magic wisdom. Ever since our Lord’s time, if not before +it, Solomon has been the national hero of the Jews; while David, as +the truer type and pattern of the Lord Jesus Christ, has been the hero +of Christians.<br> +<br> +The Rabbis, with their Eastern fancy - childishly fond, to this day, +of gold, and jewels, and outward pomp and show - would talk and dream +of the lost glories of Solomon’s court; of his gilded and jewelled +temple, with its pillars of sandal-wood from Ophir, and its sea of molten +brass; of his ivory lion-throne, and his three hundred golden shields; +of his fleets which went away into the far Indian sea, and came back +after three years with foreign riches and curious beasts. And +as if that had not been enough, they delighted to add to the truth fable +upon fable. The Jews, after the time of the Babylonish captivity, +seem to have more and more identified Wisdom with mere Magic; and therefore +Solomon was, in their eyes, the master of all magicians. He knew +the secrets of the stars, and of the elements, the secrets of all charms +and spells. By virtue of his magic seal he had power over all +those evil spirits, with which the Jews believed the earth and sky to +be filled. He could command all spirits, force them to appear +to him and bow before him, and send them to the ends of the earth to +do his bidding. Nothing so fantastic, nothing so impossible, but +those old Scribes and Pharisees imputed it to their idol, Solomon the +Wise.<br> +<br> +The Bible, of course, has no such fancies in it, and gives us a sober +and rational account of Solomon’s wisdom, and of Solomon’s +greatness.<br> +<br> +It tells us how, when he was yet young, God appeared to him in a dream, +and said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon made answer +-<br> +<br> +‘ . . . O Lord my God, Thou hast made Thy servant king instead +of David my father; and I am but a little child: I know not how to go +out or come in.<br> +<br> +‘Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy +people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to +judge this Thy so great a people?<br> +<br> +‘And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this +thing.<br> +<br> +‘And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and +hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for +thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for +thyself understanding to discern judgment;<br> +<br> +‘Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given +thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like +thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.<br> +<br> +‘And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both +riches and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like +unto thee all thy days.’<br> +<br> +And the promise, says Solomon himself, was fulfilled.<br> +<br> +In his days Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the +sea-shore, for multitude, eating and drinking and making merry; and +Solomon reigned over all kings, from the river to the land of the Philistines +and the border of Egypt; and they brought presents, and served Solomon +all the days of his life. And he had peace on all sides round +about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under +his own vine and his own fig-tree, all the days of Solomon.<br> +<br> +‘I was great,’ he says, ‘and increased more than all +that were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. +And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not +my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour . . .<br> +<br> +‘Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and +on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity +and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.<br> +<br> +‘And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: +for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which +hath been already done.’<br> +<br> +Yes, my dear friends, we are too apt to think of exceeding riches, or +wisdom, or power, or glory, as unalloyed blessings from God. How +many are there who would say, - if it were not happily impossible for +them, - Oh that I were like Solomon! Happy man that he was, to +be able to say of himself, ‘I was great, and increased more than +all that were before me in Jerusalem. And whatsoever mine eyes +desired, I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any joy, +for my heart rejoiced in all my labour.’<br> +<br> +To have everything that he wanted, to be able to do anything that he +liked - was he not a happy man? Is not such a life a Paradise +on earth?<br> +<br> +Yes, my friends, it is. But it is the Paradise of fools.<br> +<br> +Yet, Solomon was not a fool. He says expressly that his wisdom +remained with him through all his labour. Through all his pleasure +he kept alive the longing after knowledge. He even tried, as he +says, wine, and mirth, and folly, yet acquainting himself with wisdom. +He would try that, as well as statesmanship, and the rule of a great +kingdom, and the building of temples and palaces, and the planting of +parks and gardens, and his three thousand Proverbs, and his Songs a +thousand and five; and his speech of beasts and of birds and of all +plants, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the +wall. He would know everything, and try everything. If he +was luxurious and proud, he would be no idler, no useless gay liver. +He would work, and discern, and know, - and at last he found it all +out, and this was the sum thereof - ‘Vanity of vanities, saith +the Preacher; all is vanity.’<br> +<br> +He found no rest in pleasure, riches, power, glory, wisdom itself; he +had learnt nothing more after all than he might have known, and doubtless +did know, when he was a child of seven years old. And that was, +simply to fear God and keep His commandments; for that was the whole +duty of man.<br> +<br> +But though he knew it, he had lost the power of doing it; and he ended +darkly and shamefully, a dotard worshipping idols of wood and stone, +among his heathen queens. And thus, as in David the height of +chivalry fell to the deepest baseness; so in Solomon the height of wisdom +fell to the deepest folly.<br> +<br> +My friends, the truth is, that exceeding gifts from God like Solomon’s +are not blessings, they are duties; and very solemn and heavy duties. +They do not increase a man’s happiness; they only increase his +responsibility - the awful account which he must give at last of the +talents committed to his charge. They increase, too, his danger. +They increase the chance of his having his head turned to pride and +pleasure, and falling shamefully, and coming to a miserable end. +As with David, so with Solomon. Man is nothing, and God is all +in all.<br> +<br> +And as with David and Solomon, so with many a king and many a great +man. Consider those who have been great and glorious in their +day. And in how many cases they have ended sadly! The burden +of glory has been too heavy for them to bear; they have broken down +under it.<br> +<br> +The great Charles the Fifth, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain and +all the Indies: our own great Queen Elizabeth, who found England all +but ruined, and left her strong and rich, glorious and terrible: Lord +Bacon, the wisest of all mortal men since the time of Solomon: and, +in our own fathers’ time, Napoleon Buonaparte, the poor young +officer, who rose to be the conqueror of half Europe, and literally +the king of kings, - how have they all ended? In sadness and darkness, +vanity and vexation of spirit.<br> +<br> +Oh, my friends! if ever proud and ambitious thoughts arise in any of +our hearts, let us crush them down till we can say with David: ‘Lord, +my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise +myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.<br> +<br> +‘Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is +weaned of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.’<br> +<br> +And if ever idle and luxurious thoughts arise in our hearts, and we +are tempted to say, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many +years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry;’ let us hear +the word of the Lord crying against us: ‘Thou fool! This +night shall thy soul be required of thee. Then whose shall those +things be which thou hast provided?’<br> +<br> +Let us pray, my friends, for that great - I had almost said, that crowning +grace and virtue of moderation, what St. Paul calls sobriety and a sound +mind. Let us pray for moderate appetites, moderate passions, moderate +honours, moderate gains, moderate joys; and, if sorrows be needed to +chasten us, moderate sorrows. Let us long violently after nothing, +or wish too eagerly to rise in life; and be sure that what the Apostle +says of those who long to be rich is equally true of those who long +to be famous, or powerful, or in any way to rise over the heads of their +fellow-men. They all fall, as the Apostle says, into foolish and +hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition, and so +pierce themselves through with many sorrows.<br> +<br> +And let us thank God heartily if He has put us into circumstances which +do not tempt us to wild and vain hopes of becoming rich, or great or +admired by men.<br> +<br> +Especially let us thank Him for this quiet country life which we lead +here, free from ambition, and rash speculation, and the hope of great +and sudden gains. All know, who have watched the world, how unwholesome +for a man’s soul any trade or occupation is which offers the chance +of making a rapid fortune. It has hurt the souls of too many merchants +and manufacturers ere now. Good and sober-minded men there are +among them, thank God, who can resist the temptation, and are content +to go along the plain path of quiet and patient honesty; but to those +who have not the sober spirit, who have not the fear of God before their +eyes, the temptation is too terrible to withstand; and it is not withstood; +and therefore the columns of our newspapers are so often filled with +sad cases of bankruptcy, forgery, extravagant and desperate trading, +bubble fortunes spent in a few years of vain show and luxury, and ending +in poverty and shame.<br> +<br> +Happy, on the other hand, are those who till the ground; who never can +rise high enough, or suddenly enough, to turn their heads; whose gains +are never great and quick enough to tempt them to wild speculation: +but who can, if they will only do their duty patiently and well, go +on year after year in quiet prosperity, and be content to offer up, +week by week, Agur’s wise prayer: ‘Give me neither poverty +nor riches, but feed me with food sufficient for me.’<br> +<br> +They need never complain that they have no time to think of their own +souls; that the hurry and bustle of business must needs drive religion +out of their minds. Their life passes in a quiet round of labours. +Day after day, week after week, season after season, they know beforehand +what they have to do, and can arrange their affairs for this world, +so as to give them full time to think of the world to come. Every +week brings small gains, for which they can thank the God of all plenty; +and every week brings, too, small anxieties, for which they can trust +the same God who has given them His only-begotten Son, and will with +Him freely give them all things needful for them; who has, in mercy +to their souls and bodies, put them in the healthiest and usefullest +of all pursuits, the one which ought to lead their minds most to God, +and the one in which (if they be thoughtful men) they have the deep +satisfaction of feeling that they are not working for themselves only, +but for their fellow-men; that every sheaf of corn they grow is a blessing, +not merely to themselves, but to the whole nation.<br> +<br> +My friends, think of these things, especially at this rich and blessed +harvest-time; and while you thank your God and your Saviour for His +unexampled bounty in this year’s good harvest, do not forget to +thank Him for having given the sowing and the reaping of those crops +to you; and for having called you to that business in life in which, +I verily believe, you will find it most easy to serve and obey Him, +and be least tempted to ambition and speculation, and the lust of riches, +and the pride which goes before a fall.<br> +<br> +Think of these things; and think of the exceeding mercies which God +heaps on you as Englishmen, - peace and safety, freedom and just laws, +the knowledge of His Bible, the teaching of His Church, and all that +man needs for body and soul. Let those who have thanked God already, +thank Him still more earnestly, and show their thankfulness not only +in their lips, but in their lives; and let those who have not thanked +Him, awake, and learn, as St. Paul bids them, from God’s own witness +of Himself, in that He has sent them fruitful seasons, filling their +hearts with food and gladness: - let them learn, I say, from that, that +they have a Father in heaven who has given them His only-begotten Son, +and will with Him freely give them all things needful: only asking in +return that they should obey His laws - to obey which is everlasting +life.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XII. PROGRESS<br> +(<i>Preached before the Queen at Clifden, June</i> 3, 1866.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ECCLESIASTES vii. 10,<br> +<br> +Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than +these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.<br> +<br> +<br> +This text occurs in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which has been for many +centuries generally attributed to Solomon the son of David. I +say generally, because, not only among later critics, but even among +the ancient Jewish Rabbis, there have been those who doubted or denied +that Solomon was its author.<br> +<br> +I cannot presume to decide on such a question: but it seems to me most +probable, that the old tradition is right, even though the book may +have suffered alterations, both in form and in language: but any later +author, personating Solomon, would surely have put into his month very +different words from those of Ecclesiastes. Solomon was the ideal +hero-king of the later Jews. Stories of his superhuman wealth, +of magical power, of a fabulous extent of dominion, grew up about his +name. He who was said to control, by means of his wondrous seal, +the genii of earth and air, would scarcely have been represented as +a disappointed and broken-hearted sage, who pronounced all human labour +to be vanity and vexation of spirit; who saw but one event for the righteous +and the wicked, and the wise man and the fool; and questioned bitterly +whether there was any future state, any pre-eminence in man over the +brute.<br> +<br> +These, and other startling utterances, made certain of the early Rabbis +doubt the authenticity and inspiration of the Book of Ecclesiastes, +as containing things contrary to the Law, and to desire its suppression, +till they discovered in it - as we may, if we be wise - a weighty and +world-wide meaning.<br> +<br> +Be that as it may, it would certainly be a loss to Scripture, and to +our knowledge of humanity, if it was proved that this book, in its original +shape, was not written by a great king, and most probably by Solomon +himself. The book gains by that fact, not only in its reality +and truthfulness, but in its value and importance as a lesson of human +life. Especially does this text gain; for it has a natural and +deep connection with Solomon and his times.<br> +<br> +The former days were better than his days: he could not help seeing +that they were. He must have feared lest the generation which +was springing up should inquire into the reason thereof, in a tone which +would breed - which actually did breed - discontent and revolution.<br> +<br> +But the fact seemed at first sight patent. The old heroic days +of Samuel and David were past. The Jewish race no longer produced +such men as Saul and Jonathan, as Joab and Abner. A generation +of great men, whose names are immortal, had died out, and a generation +of inferior men, of whom hardly one name has come down to us, had succeeded +them. The nation had lost its primæval freedom, and the +courage and loyalty which freedom gives. It had become rich, and +enervated by luxury and ease. Solomon had civilised the Jewish +kingdom, till it had become one of the greatest nations of the East; +but it had become also, like the other nations of the East, a vast and +gaudy despotism, hollow and rotten to the core; ready to fall to pieces +at Solomon’s death, by selfishness, disloyalty, and civil war. +Therefore it was that Solomon hated all his labour that he had wrought +under the sun; for all was vanity and vexation of spirit.<br> +<br> +Such were the facts. And yet it was not wise to look at them too +closely; not wise to inquire why the former times were better than those. +So it was. Let it alone. Pry not too curiously into the +past, or into the future: but do the duty which lies nearest to thee. +Fear God and keep His commandments. For that is the whole duty +of man.<br> +<br> +Thus does Solomon lament over the certain decay of the Jewish Empire. +And his words, however sad, are indeed eternal and inspired. For +they have proved true, and will prove true to the end, of every despotism +of the East, or empire formed on Eastern principles; of the old Persian +Empire, of the Roman, of the Byzantine, of those of Hairoun Alraschid +and of Aurungzebe, of those Turkish and Chinese-Tartar empires whose +dominion is decaying before our very eyes. Of all these the wise +man’s words are true. They are vanity and vexation of spirit. +That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting +cannot be numbered. The thing which has been is that which shall +be, and there is no new thing under the sun. Incapacity of progress; +the same outward civilization repeating itself again and again; the +same intrinsic certainty of decay and death; - these are the marks of +all empire, which is not founded on that foundation which is laid, even +Jesus Christ.<br> +<br> +But of Christian nations these words are not true. They pronounce +the doom of the old world: but the new world has no part in them, unless +it copies the sins and follies of the old.<br> +<br> +It is not true of Christian nations that the thing which has been is +that which shall be; and that there is no new thing under the sun. +For over them is the kingdom of Christ, the Saviour of all men, specially +of them which believe, the King of all the princes of the earth, who +has always asserted, and will for ever assert, His own overruling dominion. +And in them is the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of truth and righteousness; +of improvement, discovery, progress from darkness to light, from folly +to wisdom, from barbarism to justice, and mercy, and the true civilization +of the heart and spirit.<br> +<br> +And, therefore, for us it is not only an act of prudence, but a duty; +a duty of faith in God; a duty of loyalty to Jesus Christ our Lord, +not to ask, Why the former times were better than these? For they +were not better than these. Every age has had its own special +nobleness, its own special use: but every age has been better than the +age which went before it; for the Spirit of God is leading the ages +on, toward that whereof it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen nor +ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the +things which God hath prepared for those that love Him.’<br> +<br> +Very unfaithful are we to the teaching of God’s Spirit; many and +heavy are our sins against light and knowledge, and means, and opportunities +of grace. But let us not add to those sins the sin (for such it +is) of inquiring why the former times were better than these.<br> +<br> +For, first, the inquiry shows disbelief in our Lord’s own words, +that all dominion is given to Him in heaven and earth, and that He is +with us always, even to the end of the world. And next, it is +a vain inquiry, based on a mistake. When we look back longingly +to any past age, we look not at the reality, but at a sentimental and +untrue picture of our own imagination. When we look back longingly +to the so-called ages of faith, to the personal loyalty of the old Cavaliers; +when we regret that there are no more among us such giants in statesmanship +and power as those who brought Europe through the French Revolution; +when we long that our lot was cast in any age beside our own, we know +not what we ask. The ages which seem so beautiful afar off, would +look to us, were we in them, uglier than our own. If we long to +be back in those so-called devout ages of faith, we long for an age +in which witches and heretics were burned alive; if we long after the +chivalrous loyalty of the old Cavaliers, we long for an age in which +stage-plays were represented, even before a virtuous monarch like Charles +I., which the lowest of our playgoers would not now tolerate. +When we long for anything that is past, we long, it may be, for a little +good which we seem to have lost; but we long also for real and fearful +evil, which, thanks be to God, we have lost likewise. We are not, +indeed, to fancy this age perfect, and boast, like some, of the glorious +nineteenth century. We are to keep our eyes open to all its sins +and defects, that we may amend them. And we are to remember, in +fear and trembling, that to us much is given, and of us much is required. +But we are to thank God that our lot is cast in an age which, on the +whole, is better than any age whatsoever that has gone before it, and +to do our best that the age which is coming may be better even than +this.<br> +<br> +We are neither to regret the past, nor rest satisfied in the present; +but, like St. Paul, forgetting those things that are behind us, and +reaching onward to those things that are before us, press forward, each +and all, to the prize of our high calling in Jesus Christ.<br> +<br> +And as with nations and empires, so with our own private lives. +It is not wise to ask why the former times were better than these. +It is natural, pardonable: but not wise; because we are so apt to mistake +the subject about which we ask, and when we say, ‘Why were the +old times better?’ merely to mean, ‘Why were the old times +happier?’ That is not the question. There is something +higher than happiness, says a wise man. There is blessedness; +the blessedness of being good and doing good, of being right and doing +right. That blessedness we may have at all times; we may be blest +even in anxiety and in sadness; we may be blest, even as the martyrs +of old were blest - in agony and death. The times are to us whatsoever +our character makes them. And if we are better men than we were +in former times, then is the present better than the past, even though +it be less happy. And why should it not be better? Surely +the Spirit of God, the spirit of progress and improvement, is working +in us, the children of God, as well as in the great world around. +Surely the years ought to have made us better, more useful, more worthy. +We may have been disappointed in our lofty ideas of what ought to be +done. But we may have gained more clear and practical notions +of what can be done. We may have lost in enthusiasm, and yet gained +in earnestness. We may have lost in sensibility, yet gained in +charity, activity, and power. We may be able to do far less, and +yet what we do may be far better done.<br> +<br> +And our very griefs and disappointments - Have they been useless to +us? Surely not. We shall have gained, instead of lost, by +them, if the Spirit of God be working in us. Our sorrows will +have wrought in us patience, our patience experience of God’s +sustaining grace, who promises that as our day our strength shall be; +and of God’s tender providence, which tempers the wind to the +shorn lamb, and lays on none a burden beyond what they are able to bear. +And that experience will have worked in us hope: hope that He who has +led us thus far will lead us farther still; that He who brought us through +the trials of youth, will bring us through the trials of age; that He +who taught us in former days precious lessons, not only by sore temptations, +but most sacred joys, will teach us in the days to come fresh lessons +by temptations which we shall be more able to endure; and by joys which, +though unlike those of old times, are no less sacred, no less sent as +lessons to our souls, by Him from whom all good gifts come.<br> +<br> +We will believe this. And instead of inquiring why the former +days were better than these, we will trust that the coming days shall +be better than these, and those which are coming after them better still +again, because God is our Father, Christ our Saviour, the Holy Ghost +our Comforter and Guide. We will toil onward: because we know +we are toiling upward. We will live in hope, not in regret; because +hope is the only state of mind fit for a race for whom God has condescended +to stoop, and suffer, and die, and rise again. We will believe +that we, and all we love, whether in earth or heaven, are destined - +if we be only true to God’s Spirit - to rise, improve, progress +for ever: and so we will claim our share, and keep our place, in that +vast ascending and improving scale of being, which, as some dream - +and surely not in vain - goes onward and upward for ever throughout +the universe of Him who wills that none should perish.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XIII. FAITH<br> +(<i>Preached before the Queen at Windsor, December</i> 5, 1865)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +HABAKKUK ii. 4.<br> +<br> +The just shall live by his faith.<br> +<br> +<br> +We shall always find it most safe, as well as most reverent, to inquire +first the literal and exact meaning of a text; to see under what circumstances +it was written; what meaning it must have conveyed to those who heard +it; and so to judge what it must have meant in the mind of him who spoke +it. If we do so, we shall find that the simplest interpretation +of Scripture is generally the deepest; and the most literal interpretation +is also the most spiritual.<br> +<br> +Let us examine the circumstances under which the prophet spake these +words.<br> +<br> +It was on the eve of a Chaldean invasion. The heathen were coming +into Judea, as we see them still in the Assyrian sculptures - civilizing, +after their barbarous fashion, the nations round them - conquering, +massacring, transporting whole populations, building cities and temples +by their forced labour; and resistance or escape was impossible.<br> +<br> +The prophet’s faith fails him a moment. What is this but +a triumph of evil? Is there a Divine Providence? Is there +a just Ruler of the world? And he breaks out into pathetic expostulation +with God Himself: ‘Wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal +treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the +man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes +of the sea, as the creeping things, which have no ruler over them? +They take up all of them with the line, they gather them with the net. +Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense to their line; +for by it their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall +they therefore empty their net, and not spare to slay continually the +nations?’<br> +<br> +Then the Lord answers his doubts: ‘Behold, his soul which is lifted +up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.’<br> +<br> +By his faith, plainly, in a just Ruler of the world, - in a God who +avenges wrong, and makes inquisition for innocent blood. He who +will keep his faith in that just God, will remain just himself. +The sense of Justice will be kept alive in him; and the just will live +by his Faith.<br> +<br> +The prophet believes that message; and a mighty change passes over his +spirit. In a burst of magnificent poetry, he proclaims woe to +the unjust Chaldean conqueror. All his greatness is a bubble which +will burst; a suicidal mistake, which will work out its own punishment, +and make him a taunt and a mockery to all nations round. ‘Woe +to him who increaseth that which is not his, and ladeth himself with +thick clay! Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his +house, that he may set his nest on high, and be delivered from the power +of evil! Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth +a city with iniquity! Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that +the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary +themselves for very vanity?’ There is a true civilization +for man; but not according to the unjust and cruel method of those Chaldeans. +The Law of the true Civilization, the prophet says, is this: ‘The +earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover +the sea.’<br> +<br> +But what is this to us? Are we like the Chaldeans? God forbid. +But are we not tried by the same temptations to which they blindly yielded? +A nation, strong, rich, luxurious, prosperous in industry at home, and +aggressive (if not in theory, certainly in practice) to less civilized +races abroad - are we not tempted daily to that habit of mind which +the prophet calls - with that tremendous irony in which the Hebrew prophets +surpass all writers - looking on men as the fishes of the sea, as the +creeping things which have no ruler over them, born to devour each other, +and be caught and devoured in their turn, by a race more cunning than +themselves? There are those among us in thousands, thank God, +who nobly resist that temptation; and they are the very salt of the +land, who keep it from decay. But for the many - for the public +- do not too many of them believe that the law of human society is, +after all, only that internecine conflict of interests, that brute struggle +for existence, which naturalists tell us (and truly) is the law of life +for mere plants and animals? Are they not tempted to forget that +men are not mere animals and things, but persons; that they have a Ruler +over them, even God, who desires to educate them, to sanctify them, +to develop their every faculty, that they may be His children, and not +merely our tools; and do God’s work in the world, and not merely +their employer’s work? Are they not - are we not all - tempted +too often to forget this?<br> +<br> +And, then, are we not tempted, all of us, to fall down like the Chaldeans +and worship our own net, because by it our portion is fat, and our meat +plenteous? Are we not tempted to say within ourselves, ‘This +present system of things, with all its anomalies and its defects, still +is the right system, and the only system. It is the path pointed +out by Providence for man. It is of the Lord; for we are comfortable +under it. We grow rich under it; we keep rank and power under +it: it suits us, pays us. What better proof that it is the perfect +system of things, which cannot be amended?’<br> +<br> +Meanwhile, we are sorry (for the English are a kindhearted people) for +the victims of our luxury and our neglect. Sorry for the thousands +whom we let die every year by preventible diseases, because we are either +too busy or too comfortable to save their lives. Sorry for the +savages whom we exterminate, by no deliberate evil intent, but by the +mere weight of our heavy footstep. Sorry for the thousands who +are used-up yearly in certain trades, in ministering to our comfort, +even to our very luxuries and frivolities. Sorry for the Sheffield +grinders, who go to work as to certain death; who count how many years +they have left, and say, ‘A short life and a merry one. +Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.’ Sorry for the +people whose lower jaws decay away in lucifer-match factories. +Sorry for all the miseries and wrongs which this Children’s Employment +Commission has revealed. Sorry for the diseases of artificial +flower-makers. Sorry for the boys working in glass-houses whole +days and nights on end without rest, ‘labouring in the very fire, +and wearying themselves with very vanity.’ - Vanity, indeed, if +after an amount of gallant toil which nothing but the indomitable courage +of an Englishman could endure, they grow up animals and heathens. +We are sorry for them all - as the giant is for the worm on which he +treads. Alas! poor worm. But the giant must walk on. +He is necessary to the universe, and the worm is not. So we are +sorry - for half an hour; and glad too (for we are a kind-hearted people) +to hear that charitable persons or the government are going to do something +towards alleviating these miseries. And then we return, too many +of us, each to his own ambition, or to his own luxury, comforting ourselves +with the thought, that we did not make the world, and we are not responsible +for it.<br> +<br> +How shall we conquer this temptation to laziness, selfishness, heartlessness? +By faith in God, such as the prophet had. By faith in God as the +eternal enemy of evil, the eternal helper of those who try to overcome +evil with good; the eternal avenger of all the wrong which is done on +earth. By faith in God, as not only our Father, our Saviour, our +Redeemer, our Protector: but the Father, Saviour, Redeemer, Protector, +and if need be, Avenger, of every human being. By faith in God, +which believes that His infinite heart yearns over every human soul, +even the basest and the worst; that He wills that not one little one +should perish, but that all should be saved, and come to the knowledge +of the truth.<br> +<br> +We must believe that, if we wish that it should be true of us, that +the just shall live by his faith. If we wish our faith to keep +us just men, leading just lives, we must believe that God is just, and +that He shows His justice by the only possible method - by doing justice, +sooner or later, for all who are unjustly used.<br> +<br> +If we lose that faith, we shall be in danger - in more than danger - +of becoming unjust ourselves. As we fancy God to be, so shall +we become ourselves. If we believe that God cares little for mankind, +we shall care less and less for them ourselves. If we believe +that God neglects them, we shall neglect them likewise.<br> +<br> +And then the sense of justice - justice for its own sake, justice as +the likeness and will of God - will die out in us, and our souls will +surely not live, but die.<br> +<br> +For there will die out in our hearts, just the most noble and God-like +feelings which God has put into them. The instinct of chivalry; +horror of cruelty and injustice; pity for the weak and ill-used; the +longing to set right whatever is wrong; and, what is even more important, +the Spirit of godly fear, of wholesome terror of God’s wrath, +which makes us say, when we hear of any great and general sin among +us, ‘If we do not do our best to set this right, then God, who +does not make men like creeping things, will take the matter into His +own hands, and punish us easy, luxurious people, for allowing such things +to be done.’<br> +<br> +And when a man loses that spirit of chivalry, he loses his own soul. +For that spirit of chivalry, let worldlings say what they will, is the +very spirit of our spirit, the salt which keeps our characters from +utter decay - the very instinct which raises us above the selfishness +of the brute. Yea, it is the Spirit of God Himself. For +what is the feeling of horror at wrong, of pity for the wronged, of +burning desire to set wrong right, save the Spirit of the Father and +the Son, the Spirit which brought down the Lord Jesus out of the highest +heaven, to stoop, to serve, to suffer and to die, that He might seek +and save that which was lost?<br> +<br> +Some say that the age of chivalry is past: that the spirit of romance +is dead. The age of chivalry is never past, as long as there is +a wrong left unredressed on earth, and a man or woman left to say, ‘I +will redress that wrong, or spend my life in the attempt.’<br> +<br> +The age of chivalry is never past, as long as men have faith enough +in God to say, ‘God will help me to redress that wrong; or if +not me, surely he will help those that come after me. For His +eternal will is, to overcome evil with good.’<br> +<br> +The spirit of romance will never die, as long as there is a man left +to see that the world might and can be better, happier, wiser, fairer +in all things, than it is now. The spirit of romance will never +die, as long as a man has faith in God to believe that the world will +actually be better and fairer than it is now; as long as men have faith, +however weak, to believe in the romance of all romances; in the wonder +of all wonders; in that, of which all poets’ dreams have been +but childish hints, and dumb forefeelings - even<br> +<br> +<br> +‘That one far-off divine event<br> +Towards which the whole creation moves;’<br> +<br> +<br> +that wonder of which prophets and apostles have told, each according +to his light; that wonder which Habakkuk saw afar off, and foretold +how that the earth should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, +as the waters cover the sea; that wonder which Isaiah saw afar off, +and sang how the Lord should judge among the nations, and rebuke among +many people; and they should beat their swords into plough-shares, and +their spears into pruning-hooks; nation should not rise against nation, +neither should they learn war any more; that wonder of which St Paul +prophesied, and said that Christ should reign till He had put all His +enemies under His feet; that wonder of which St. John prophesied; and +said, ‘I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God +out of heaven. And the nations of them that are saved shall walk +in the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and +their honour unto it;’ that wonder, finally, which our Lord Himself +bade us pray for, as for our daily bread, and say, ‘Father, thy +kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.<br> +<br> +‘Thy will be done on earth.’ He who bade us ask that +boon for generations yet unborn, was very God of very God. Do +you think that He would have bidden us ask a blessing, which He knew +would never come?<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XIV. THE GREAT COMMANDMENT<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +MATT. xxii. 37, 32.<br> +<br> +Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy +soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.<br> +<br> +<br> +Some say, when they hear this, - It is a hard saying. Who can +bear it? Who can expect us to do as much as that? If we +are asked to be respectable and sober, to live and let live, not to +harm our neighbours wilfully or spitefully, and to come to church tolerably +regularly - we understand being asked to do that - it is fair. +But to love the Lord our God with all our hearts. That must be +meant only for very great saints; for a few exceedingly devout people +here and there. And devout people have been too apt to say, - +You are right. It is we who are to love God with all our hearts +and souls, and give up the world, and marriage, and all the joys of +life, and turn priests, monks, and nuns, while you need only be tolerably +respectable, and attend to your religious duties from time to time, +while we will pray for you. But, my friends, if we read our Bibles, +we cannot allow that. ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,’ +was spoken not to monks and nuns (for there were none in those days), +not to great saints only (for we read of none just then), not even to +priests and clergymen only. It was said to all the Jews, high +and low, free and slave, soldier and labourer, alike - ‘Thou, +a man living in the world, and doing work in the world, with wife and +family, farm and cattle, horse to ride, and weapon to wear - thou shalt +love the Lord thy God.’<br> +<br> +And therefore these words are said to you and me. We English are +neither monks nor nuns, nor likely (thank God) to become so. We +are in the world, with our own family ties and duties, our own worldly +business. And to us, to you and me, as to those old Jews, the +first and great commandment is, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy +God.’<br> +<br> +What, then, does it mean? Does it mean that we are to have the +same love toward God as we have toward a wife or a husband?<br> +<br> +Certainly not. But it means at least this - the love which we +should bear toward a Father. All, my friends, turns on this. +Do you look on God as your Father, or do you not? God is your +Father, remember, already. You cannot (as some people seem to +think) make Him your Father by believing that He is one; and you need +not, thanks to His mercy. Neither can you make Him not your Father +by forgetting Him. Be you wise or foolish, right or wrong, God +is your Father in heaven; and you ought to feel towards Him as towards +a father, not with any sentimental, fanciful, fanatical affection; but +with a reverent, solemn, and rational affection; such as that which +the good old Catechism bids us have, when it tells us our duty toward +God.<br> +<br> +‘My duty towards God is to believe in Him, to fear Him, and to +love Him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and +with all my strength; to worship Him, to give Him thanks, to put my +whole trust in Him, to call upon Him, to honour His holy Name and His +Word, and to serve Him truly all the days of my life.’<br> +<br> +Now, I ask you - and what I ask you I ask myself, - Do we love the Lord +our God thus? And if not, why not?<br> +<br> +I do not ask you to tell me. I am not going to tell you what is +in my heart; and I do not ask you to tell me what is in yours. +We are free Englishmen, who keep ourselves to ourselves, and think for +ourselves, each man in the depths of his own heart; and who are the +stronger and the wiser for not talking about our feelings to any man, +priest or layman.<br> +<br> +But ask yourselves, each of you, - Do I love God? And if not, +why not?<br> +<br> +There are two reasons, I believe, which are, alas! very common. +For one of them there are great excuses; for the other, there is no +excuse whatsoever.<br> +<br> +In the first place, too many find it difficult to love God, because +they have not been taught that God is loveable, and worthy of their +love. They have been taught dark and hard doctrines, which have +made them afraid of God.<br> +<br> +They have been taught - too many are taught still - not merely that +God will punish the wicked, but that God will punish nine-tenths, or +ninety-nine-hundredths of the human race. That He will send to +endless torments not merely sinners who have rebelled against what they +knew was right, and His command; who have stained themselves with crimes; +who wilfully injured their fellow-creatures: but that He will do the +same by little children, by innocent young girls, by honourable, respectable, +moral men and women, because they are not what is called sensibly converted, +or else what is called orthodox. They have been taught to look +on God, not as a loving and merciful Father, but as a tyrant and a task-master, +who watches to set down against them the slightest mishap or neglect; +who is extreme to mark what is done amiss; who wills the death of a +sinner. Often - strangest notion of all - they have been told +that, though God intends to punish them, they must still love Him, or +they will be punished - as if such a notion, so far from drawing them +to God, could do anything but drive them from Him. And it is no +wonder if persons who have been taught in their youth such notions concerning +God, find it difficult to love Him. Who can be frightened or threatened +into loving any being? How can we love any being who does not +seem to us kind, merciful, amiable, loving? Our love must be called +out by God’s love. If we are to love God, it must be because +He has first loved us.<br> +<br> +But He has first loved us, my friends. The dark and cruel notions +about God - which are too common, and have been too common in all ages +- are not what the world about us teaches, nor what Scripture teaches +us either.<br> +<br> +Look out on the world around you. What witness does it bear concerning +the God who made it? Who made the sunshine, and the flowers, and +singing birds, and little children, and all that causes the joy of this +life? Let Christ Himself speak, and His apostles. No one +can say that their words are not true; that they were mistaken in their +view of this earth, or of God who gave it to us that it might bear witness +of Him. What said our Lord to the poor folk of Galilee, of whom +the Scribes and the Pharisees, in their pride, said, ‘This people, +who knoweth not the law, is accursed.’ - What said our Lord, very +God of very God? He told them to look on the world around, and +learn from it that they had in heaven not a tyrant, not a destroyer, +but a Father; a Father in heaven who is perfect in this, that He causeth +His sun to shine upon them, and is good to the unthankful and the evil.<br> +<br> +What of Him did St. Paul say? - and that not to Christians, but to heathens +- That God had not left Himself without a witness even to the heathen +who knew Him not - and what sort of witness? The witness of His +bounty and goodness. The simple, but perpetual witness of the +yearly harvest - ‘In that He sends men rain and fruitful seasons, +filling their hearts with food and gladness.’<br> +<br> +This is St. Paul’s witness. And what is St. James’s? +He tells men of a Father of lights, from whom comes down every good +and perfect gift; who gives to all liberally, and upbraideth not, grudges +not, stints not, but gives, and delights in giving, - the same God, +in a word, of whom the old psalmists and prophets spoke, and said, ‘Thou +openest Thine hand, and fillest all things with good.’<br> +<br> +And if natural religion tells us thus much, and bears witness of a Father +who delights in the happiness of His creatures, what does revealed religion +and the Gospel of Jesus Christ tell us?<br> +<br> +Oh, my friends, dull indeed must be our hearts if we can feel no love +for the God of whom the Gospel speaks! And perverse, indeed, must +be our minds if we can twist the good news of Christ’s salvation +into the bad news of condemnation! What says St. Paul, - That +God is against us? No. But - ‘If God be for us, who +can be against us?<br> +<br> +‘Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? +It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It +is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at +the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for as.<br> +<br> +‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, +or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?<br> +<br> +‘As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; +we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.<br> +<br> +‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through +Him that loved us.<br> +<br> +‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, +nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, +nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate +us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’<br> +<br> +What says St. John? Does he say that God the Father desires to +punish or slay us; and that our Lord Jesus Christ, or the Virgin Mary, +or the saints, or any other being, loves us better than God, and will +deliver us out of the hands of God? God forbid! ‘We +have known and believed,’ he says, ‘the love that God hath +to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, +and God in him.’<br> +<br> +My friends, if we could believe those blessed words - I do not say in +all their fulness - we shall never do that, I believe, in this mortal +life - but if we could only believe them a little, and know and believe +even a little of the love that God has to us, then love to Him would +spring up in our hearts, and we should feel for Him all that child ever +felt for father. If we really believed that God who made heaven +and earth was even now calling to each and every one of us, and beseeching +us, by the sacrifice of His well-beloved Son, crucified for us, ‘My +son, give Me thy heart,’ we could not help giving up our hearts +to Him.<br> +<br> +Provided - and there is that second reason why people do not love God, +for which I said there was no excuse - provided only that we wish to +be good, and to obey God. If we do not wish to do what God commands, +we shall never love God. It must be so. There can be no +real love of God which is not based upon a love of virtue and goodness, +upon what our Lord calls a hunger and thirst after righteousness. +‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments,’ is our Lord’s +own rule and test. And it is the only one possible. If we +habitually disobey any person, we shall cease to love that person. +If a child is in the habit of disobeying its parents, dark and angry +feelings towards those parents are sure to arise in its heart. +The child tries to forget its parents, to keep out of their way. +It tries to justify itself, to excuse itself by fancying that its parents +are hard upon it, unjust, grudge it pleasure, or what not. If +its parents’ commandments are grievous to a child, it will try +to make out that those commandments are unfair and unkind. And +so shall we do by God’s commandments. If God’s commandments +seem too grievous for us to obey, then we shall begin to fancy them +unjust and unkind. And then, farewell to any real love to God. +If we do not openly rebel against God, we shall still try to forget +Him. The thought of God will seem dark, unpleasant, and forbidding +to us; and we shall try, in our short-sighted folly, to live as far +as we can without God in the world, and, like Adam after his fall, hide +ourselves from the loving God, just because we know we have disobeyed +Him.<br> +<br> +But if, in spite of many bad habits, we desire to get rid of our bad +habits; if, in spite of many faults, we still desire to be faultless +and perfect; if, in spite of many weaknesses, we still desire to be +strong; if, in one word, we still hunger and thirst after righteousness, +and long to be good men; then, in due time, the love of God will be +shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.<br> +<br> +For that will happen to us which happens to all those who have the pure, +true, and heroical love. If we really love a person, we shall +first desire to please them, and therefore the thought of disobeying +and paining them will seem more and more grievous unto us.<br> +<br> +But more. We shall soon rise a step higher. The more we +love them, and the more we see in them, in their characters, things +worthy to be loved, the more we shall desire to be like them, to copy +those parts of their characters which most delight us; and we shall +copy them: though insensibly, perhaps, and unawares.<br> +<br> +For no one can look up for any length of time with love and respect +towards a person better, wiser, greater than themselves, without becoming +more or less like that person in character and in habit of thought and +feeling; and so it will be with us towards God.<br> +<br> +If we really long to be good, it will grow more and more easy to us +to love God. The more pure our hearts are, the more pleasant the +thought of God will be to us; even as it is said, ‘Blessed are +the pure in heart, for they shall see God,’ - in this life as +well as in the life to come. We shall not shrink from God, because +we shall know that we are not wilfully offending Him.<br> +<br> +But more. The more we think of God, the more we shall long to +be like Him. How admirable in our eyes will seem His goodness, +how admirable His purity, His justice, and His bounty, His long-suffering, +His magnanimity and greatness of heart. For how great must be +that heart of God, of which it is written, that ‘He hateth nothing +that He hath made, but His mercy is over all His works;’ ‘that +He willeth that none should perish, but that all should be saved, and +come to the knowledge of the truth.’ Although He be infinitely +high and far off and we cannot attain to Him, yet we shall feel it our +duty and our joy to copy Him, however faintly, and however humbly; and +our highest hope will be that we may behold, as in a glass, the glory +of the Lord, and be changed into His image from glory to glory, even +as by the Spirit of the Lord; that so, whether in this world or in the +world to come, we may at last be perfect, even as our Father in heaven +is perfect, and, like Him, cause the sunlight of our love to slime upon +the evil and on the good; the kindly showers of our good deeds to fall +upon the just and on the unjust; and - like Him who sent His only begotten +Son to save the world - be good to the unthankful and to the evil.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XV. THE EARTHQUAKE<br> +(<i>Preached October</i> 11, 1863.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +PSALM xlvi. 1, 2.<br> +<br> +God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. +Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though +the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.<br> +<br> +<br> +No one, my friends, wishes less than I, to frighten you, or to take +a dark and gloomy view of this world, or of God’s dealings with +men. But when God Himself speaks, men are bound to take heed, +even though the message be an awful one. And last week’s +earthquake was an awful message, reminding all reasonable souls how +frail man is, how frail his strongest works, how frail this seemingly +solid earth on which we stand; what a thin crust there is between us +and the nether fires, how utterly it depends on God’s mercy that +we do not, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram of old, go down alive into +the pit.<br> +<br> +What do we know of earthquakes? We know that they are connected +with burning mountains; that the eruption of a burning mountain is generally +preceded by, and accompanied with, violent earthquakes. Indeed, +the burning mountains seem to be outlets, by which the earthquake force +is carried off. We know that these burning mountains give out +immense volumes of steam. We know that the expanding power of +steam is by far the strongest force in the world; and, therefore, it +is supposed reasonably, that earthquakes are caused by steam underground.<br> +<br> +We know concerning earthquakes two things: first, that they are quite +uncertain in their effects; secondly, quite uncertain in their occurrence.<br> +<br> +No one can tell what harm an earthquake will, or will not, do. +There are three kinds. One which raises the ground up perpendicularly, +and sets it down again - which is the least hurtful; one which sets +it rolling in waves, like the waves of the sea - which is more hurtful; +and one, the most terrible of all, which gives the ground a spinning +motion, so that things thrown down by it fall twisted from right to +left, or left to right. But what kind of earthquake will take +place, no one can tell.<br> +<br> +Moreover, a very slight earthquake may do fearful damage. People +who only read of them, fancy that an earthquake, to destroy man and +his works, must literally turn the earth upside down; that the ground +must open, swallowing up houses, vomiting fire and water; that rocks +must be cast into the sea, and hills rise where valleys were before. +Such awful things have happened, and will happen again: but it does +not need them to lay a land utterly waste. A very slight shock +- a shock only a little stronger than was felt last Wednesday morning, +might have - one hardly dare think of what it might have done in a country +like this, where houses are thinly built because we have no fear of +earthquakes. Every manufactory and mill throughout the iron districts +(where the shock was felt most) might have toppled to the earth in a +moment. Whole rows of houses, hastily and thinly built, might +have crumbled down like packs of cards; and hundreds of thousands of +sleeping human beings might have been buried in the ruins, without time +for a prayer or a cry.<br> +<br> +A little more - a very little more - and all that or more might have +happened; millions’ worth of property might have been destroyed +in a few seconds, and the prosperity and civilization of England have +been thrown back for a whole generation. There is absolutely no +reason whatever, I tell you, save the mercy of God, why that, or worse, +should not have happened; and it is only of the Lord’s mercies +that we were not consumed.<br> +<br> +Next, earthquakes are utterly uncertain as to time. No one knows +when they are coming. They give no warning. Even in those +unhappy countries in which they are most common there may not be a shock +for months or years; and then a sudden shock may hurl down whole towns. +Or there may be many, thirty or forty a-day for weeks, as there happened +in a part of South America a few years ago, when day after day, week +after week, terrible shocks went on with a perpetual underground roar, +as if brass and iron were crashing and clanging under the feet, till +the people were half mad with the continual noise and continual anxiety, +expecting every moment one shock, stronger than the rest, to swallow +them up. It is impossible, I say, to calculate when they will +come. They are altogether in the hand of God, - His messengers, +whose time and place He alone knows, and He alone directs.<br> +<br> +Our having had one last week is no reason for our not having another +this week, or any day this week; and no reason, happily, against our +having no more for one hundred years. It is in God’s hands, +and in God’s hands we must leave it.<br> +<br> +All we can say is, that when one comes, it is likely to be least severe +in this part of England, and most severe (like this last) in the coal +and iron districts of the west and north-west, where it is easy to see +that earthquakes were once common, by the cracks, twists and settlements +in the rocks, and the lava streams, poured out from fiery vents (probably +under water) which pierce the rocks in many places. Beyond that +we know nothing, and can only say, - It is of the Lord’s mercies +that we are not consumed.<br> +<br> +Why do I say these things? To frighten you? No, but to warn +you. When you say to yourselves, - Earthquakes are so uncommon +and so harmless in England that there is no need to think of them, you +say on the whole what is true. It has been, as yet, God’s +will that earthquakes should be uncommon and slight in England; and +therefore we have a reasonable ground of belief that such will be His +will for the future. Certainly He does not wish us to fold our +hands, and say, there is no use in building or improving the country, +if an earthquake may come and destroy it at any moment. If there +be an evil which man can neither prevent or foresee, then, if he be +a wise man, he will go on as if that evil would never happen. +We ever must work on in hope and in faith in God’s goodness, without +tormenting and weakening ourselves by fears about what may happen.<br> +<br> +But when God gives to a whole country a distinct and solemn warning, +especially after giving that country an enormous bounty in an abundant +harvest, He surely means that country to take the warning. And, +if I dare so judge, He means us perhaps to think of the earthquake, +and somewhat in this way.<br> +<br> +There is hardly any country in the world in which man’s labour +has been so successful as in England. Owing to our having no earthquakes, +no really destructive storms, - and, thank God, no foreign invading +armies, - the wealth of England has gone on increasing steadily and +surely for centuries past, to a degree unexampled. We have never +had to rebuild whole towns after an earthquake. We have never +seen (except in small patches) whole districts of fertile land ruined +by the sea or by floods. We have never seen every mill and house +in a country blown down by a hurricane, and the crops mown off the ground +by the mere force of the wind, as has happened again and again in our +West India Islands. Most blessed of all, we have never seen a +foreign army burning our villages, sacking our towns, carrying off our +corn and cattle, and driving us into the woods to starve. From +all these horrors, which have, one or other of them, fallen on almost +every nation upon earth, God has of His great mercy preserved us. +Ours is not the common lot of humanity. We English do not know +the sorrows which average men and women go through, and have been going +through, alas! ever since Adam fell. We have been an exception, +a favoured and peculiar people, allowed to thrive and fatten quietly +and safely for hundreds of years.<br> +<br> +But what if that very security tempts us to forget God? Is it +not so? Are we not - I am sure I am - too apt to take God’s +blessings for granted, without thanking Him for them, or remembering +really that He gave them, and that He can take them away? Do we +not take good fortune for granted? Do we not take for granted +that if we build a house it will endure for ever; that if we buy a piece +of land it will be called by our name long years hence; that if we amass +wealth we shall hand it down safely to our children? Of course +we think we shall prosper. We say to ourselves, To-morrow shall +be as to-day, and yet more abundant.<br> +<br> +Nothing can happen to England, is, I fear, the feeling of Englishmen. +Carnal security is the national sin to which we are tempted, because +we have not now for forty years felt anything like national distress; +and Britain says, like Babylon of old, the lady of kingdoms to whom +foreigners so often compare her, - ‘I shall be a lady for ever; +I am, there is none beside me. I shall never sit as a widow, nor +know the loss of children.’<br> +<br> +What, too, if that same security and prosperity tempts us - as foreigners +justly complain of us - to set our hearts on material wealth; to believe +that our life, and the life of Britain, depends on the abundance of +the things which she possesses? To say - Corn and cattle, coal +and iron, house and land, shipping and rail-roads, these make up Great +Britain. While she has these she will endure for ever.<br> +<br> +Ah, my friends - to people in such a temptation, is it wonderful that +a good God should send a warning unmistakeable, though only a warning; +most terrible, though mercifully harmless; a warning which says, in +a voice which the dullest can hear - Endure for ever? The solid +ground on which you stand cannot do that. Safe? Nothing +on earth is safe for a moment, save in the long-suffering and tender +mercy of Him of whom are all things, and by whom are all things, without +whom not a sparrow falls to the ground. Is the wealth of Britain, +then, what she can see and handle? The towns she builds, the roads +she makes, the manufactures and goods she produces? One touch +of the finger of God, and that might be all rolled into a heap of ruins, +and the labour of years scattered in the dust. You trust in the +sure solid earth? You shall feel it, if but for once, reel and +quiver under your feet, and learn that it is not solid at all, or sure +at all; that there is nothing solid, sure, or to be depended on, but +the mercy of the living God; and that your solid-seeming earth on which +you build is nothing less than a mine, which may bubble, and heave, +and burst beneath your feet, charged for ever with an explosive force, +as much more terrible than that gunpowder which you have invented to +kill each other withal, as the works of God are greater than the works +of man. Safe, truly! It is of God’s mercy from day +to day and hour to hour that we are not consumed.<br> +<br> +This, surely, or something like this, is what the earthquake says to +us. It speaks to us most gently, and yet most awfully, of a day +in which the heavens may pass away with a great noise, and the elements +may melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works which are therein +may be burnt up. It tells us that this is no impossible fancy: +that the fires imprisoned below our feet can, and may, burst up and +destroy mankind and the works of man in one great catastrophe, to which +the earthquake of Lisbon in 1755 - when 60,000 persons were killed, +crushed, drowned, or swallowed up in a few minutes - would be a merely +paltry accident.<br> +<br> +And it bids us think, as St. Peter bids us: ‘When therefore all +these things are dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in +holy conversation and godliness?’<br> +<br> +What manner of persons?<br> +<br> +Remember, that if an earthquake destroyed all England, or the whole +world; if this earth on which we live crumbled to dust, and were blotted +out of the number of the stars, there is one thing which earthquake, +and fire, and all the forces of nature cannot destroy, and that is - +the human race.<br> +<br> +We should still be. We should still endure. Not, indeed, +in flesh and blood: but in some state or other; each of us the same +as now, our characters, our feelings, our goodness or our badness; our +immortal spirits and very selves, unchanged, ready to receive, and certain +to receive, the reward of the deeds done in the body, whether they be +good or evil. Yes, we should still endure, and God and Christ +would still endure. But as our Saviour, or as our Judge? +That is a very awful thought.<br> +<br> +One day or other, sooner or later, each of us shall stand before the +judgment-seat of Christ, stripped of all we ever had, ever saw, ever +touched, ever even imagined to ourselves, alone with our own consciences, +alone with our own deserts. What shall we be saying to ourselves +then?<br> +<br> +Shall we be saying - I have lost all: The world is gone - the world, +in which were set all my hopes, all my wishes; the world in which were +all my pleasures, all my treasures; the world, which was the only thing +I cared for, though it warned me not to trust in it, as it trembled +beneath my feet? But the world is gone, and now I have nothing +left!<br> +<br> +Or, shall we be saying, - The world is gone? Then let it go. +It was not a home. I took its good things as thankfully as I could. +I took its sorrows and troubles as patiently as I could. But I +have not set my heart on the world. My treasure, my riches, were +not of the world. My peace was a peace which the world did not +give, and could not take away. And now the world is gone, I keep +my peace, I keep my treasure still. My peace is where it was, +in my own heart. My peace is what it was: my faith in God, - faith +that my sins are forgiven me for Christ’s sake: my faith that +God my Father loves me, and cares for me; and that nothing, - height +or depth, or time or space, or life or death, can part me from His love: +my faith that I have not been quite useless in the world; that I have +tried to do my duty in my place; and that the good which I have done, +little as it has been, will not go forgotten by that merciful God, by +whose help it was done, who rewards all men according to the works which +He gives them heart to perform. And my treasure is where it was +- in my heart; and what it was, - the Holy Spirit of God, the spirit +of goodness, of faith and truth, of mercy and justice, of love to God +and love to man, which is everlasting life itself. That I have. +That time cannot abate, nor death abolish, nor the world, nor the destruction +of the world, nor of all worlds, can take away.<br> +<br> +Choose, my friends, which of these two frames of mind would you rather +be in when the great day of the Lord comes, foretold by that earthquake, +and by all earthquakes that ever were.<br> +<br> +Will you be then like those whom St. John saw calling on the mountains +to fall on them, and the hills to hide them from the wrath of Him that +sat on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb?<br> +<br> +Or will you be like him who saith - God is my hope and strength, my +present help in trouble. Therefore will I not fear, though the +earth be shaken, and though the mountains be carried into the depth +of the sea?<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XVI. THE METEOR SHOWER<br> +(<i>Preached at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s, Nov</i>. 26, 1866.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ST. MATTHEW x. 29, 30.<br> +<br> +Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not +fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of +your head are all numbered.<br> +<br> +<br> +It will be well for us to recollect, once for all, who spoke these words; +even Jesus Christ, who declared that He was one with God the Father; +Jesus Christ, whom His apostles declared to be the Creator of the universe. +If we believe this, as Christian men, it will be well for us to take +our Lord’s account of a universe which He Himself created; and +to believe that in the most minute occurrence of nature, there is a +special providence, by which not a sparrow falls to the ground without +our Father.<br> +<br> +I confess that it is difficult to believe this heartily. It was +never anything but difficult. In the earliest ages, those who +first thought about the universe found it so difficult that they took +refuge in the fancy of special providence which was administered by +the planets above their heads, and believed that the affairs of men, +and of the world on which they lived, were ruled by the aspects of the +sun and moon, and the host of heaven.<br> +<br> +Men found it so difficult in the Middle Age, that they took refuge in +the fancy of a special providence administered by certain demi-gods +whom they called ‘The Saints;’ and believed that each special +disease, or accident, was warded off from mankind, from their cattle, +or from their crops, by a special saint who overlooked their welfare.<br> +<br> +Men find it so difficult now-a-days, that the great majority of civilized +people believe in no special providence at all, and take refuge in the +belief that the universe is ruled by something which they call law.<br> +<br> +Therein, doubtless, they have hold of a great truth; but one which will +be only half-true, and therefore injurious, unless it be combined with +other truths; unless questions are answered which too many do not care +to answer: as, for instance, - Can there be a law without a law-giver? +Can a law work without one who administers the law? Are not the +popular phrases of ‘laws impressed on matter,’ ‘laws +inherent in matter,’ mere metaphors, dangerous, because inaccurate; +confirmed as little by experience and reason, as by Scripture?<br> +<br> +Does not all law imply a will? Does not an Almighty Will imply +a special providence?<br> +<br> +But these are questions for which most persons have neither time nor +inclination. Indeed, the whole matter is unimportant to them. +They have no special need of a special providence. Their lives +and properties are very safe in this civilized country; and their secret +belief is that, whatever influence God may have on the next world, He +has little or no influence on this world; neither on the facts of nature, +nor on the events of history, nor on the course of their own lives; +and that a special providence seems to them - if they dare confess as +much - an unnecessary superstition.<br> +<br> +Only poor folk in cottages and garrets - and a few more who are, happily, +poor in spirit, though not in purse - grinding amid the iron facts of +life, and learning there by little sound science, it may be, but much +sound theology - still believe that they have a Father in heaven, before +whom the very hairs of their head are all numbered; and that if they +had not, then this would not only be a bad world, but a mad world likewise; +and that it were better for them that they had never been born.<br> +<br> +Nevertheless, it is difficult to believe in the special providence of +our Father in heaven. Difficult: though necessary. Just +as it is difficult to believe that the earth moves round the sun. +Contrary, like that fact, to a great deal of our seeming experience.<br> +<br> +It is easy enough, of course, to believe that our Father sends what +is plainly good. Not so easy to believe that He sends what at +least seems evil.<br> +<br> +Easy enough, when we see spring-time and harvest, sunshine and flowers, +to say - Here are ‘acts of God’s providence.’ +Not so easy, when we see blight and pestilence, storm and earthquake, +to say, - Here are ‘acts of God’s providence’ likewise.<br> +<br> +For this innumerable multitude of things, of which we now-a-days talk +as if it were one thing, and had an organic unity of its own, or even +as if it were one person, and had a will of its own, and call it Nature +- a word which will one day be forgotten by philosophers, with the ‘four +elements,’ and the ‘animal spirits;’ - this multitude +of things, I say, which we miscall Nature, has its dark and ugly, as +well as its bright and fair side. Nature, says some one, is like +the spotted panther - most playful, and yet most treacherous; most beautiful, +and yet most cruel. It acts at times after a fashion most terrible, +undistinguishing, wholesale, seemingly pitiless. It seems to go +on its own way, as in a storm or an earthquake, careless of what it +crushes. Terrible enough Nature looks to the savage, who thinks +it crushes him from mere caprice. More terrible still does Science +make Nature look, when she tells us that it crushes, not by caprice, +but by brute necessity; not by ill-will, but by inevitable law. +Science frees us in many ways (and all thanks to her) from the bodily +terror which the savage feels. But she replaces that, in the minds +of many, by a moral terror which is far more overwhelming. Am +I - a man is driven to ask - am I, and all I love, the victims of an +organised tyranny, from which there can be no escape - for there is +not even a tyrant from whom I may perhaps beg mercy? Are we only +helpless particles, at best separate parts of the wheels of a vast machine, +which will use us till it has worn us away, and ground us to powder? +Are our bodies - and if so, why not our souls? - the puppets, yea, the +creatures of necessary circumstances, and all our strivings and sorrows +only vain beatings against the wires of our cage, cries of ‘Why +hast thou made me, then?’ which are addressed to nothing? +Tell us not that the world is governed by universal law; the news is +not comfortable, but simply horrible, unless you can tell us, or allow +others to tell us, that there is a loving giver, and a just administrator +of that law.<br> +<br> +Horrible, I say, and increasingly horrible, not merely to the sentimentalist, +but to the man of sound reason and of sound conscience, must the scientific +aspect of nature become, if a mere abstraction called law is to be the +sole ruler of the universe; if - to quote the famous words of the German +sage - ‘If, instead of the Divine Eye, there must glare on us +an empty, black, bottomless eye-socket;’ and the stars and galaxies +of heaven, in spite of all their present seeming regularity, are but +an ‘everlasting storm which no man guides.’<br> +<br> +It was but a few days ago that we, and this little planet on which we +live, caught a strange and startling glimpse of that everlasting storm +which - shall I say it? - no one guides.<br> +<br> +We were swept helpless, astronomers tell us, through a cloud of fiery +stones, to which all the cunning bolts which man invents to slay his +fellow-man, are but slow and weak engines of destruction.<br> +<br> +We were free from the superstitious terror with which that meteor-shower +would have been regarded in old times. We could comfort ourselves, +too, with the fact that heaven’s artillery was not known as yet +to have killed any one; and with the scientific explanation of that +fact, namely, that most of the bolts were small enough to be melted +and dissipated by their rush through our atmosphere.<br> +<br> +But did the thought occur to none of us, how morally ghastly, in spite +of all its physical beauty, was that grand sight, unless we were sure +that behind it all, there was a living God? Unless we believed +that not one of those bolts fell, or did not fall to the ground without +our Father? That He had appointed the path, and the time, and +the destiny, and the use of every atom of that matter, of which science +could only tell us that it was rushing without a purpose, for ever through +the homeless void?<br> +<br> +We may believe that, mind, without denying scientific laws, or their +permanence in any way. It is not a question, this, of a living +God, whether He interferes with His own laws now and then, but whether +interference is not the law of all laws itself. It is not a question +of special providences here and there, in favour of this person or that; +but whether the whole universe and its history is not one perpetual +and innumerable series of special providences. Whether the God +who ordained the laws is not so administering them, so making them interfere +with, balance, and modify each other, as to cause them to work together +perpetually for good; so that every minutest event (excepting always +the sin and folly of rational beings) happens in the place, time, and +manner, where it is specially needed. In one word, the question +is not whether there be a God, but whether there be a living God, who +is in any true and practical sense Master of the universe over which +He presides; a King who is actually ruling His kingdom, or an Epicurean +deity who lets his kingdom rule itself.<br> +<br> +Is there a living God in the universe, or is there none? That +is the greatest of all questions. Has our Lord Jesus Christ answered +it, or has He not? Easy, well-to-do people, who find this world +pleasant, and whose chief concern is to live till they die, care little +about that question. This world suits them well enough, whether +there be a living God or not; and as for the next world, they will be +sure to find some preacher or confessor who will set their minds easy +about it.<br> +<br> +Fanatics and bigots, of all denominations, care little about that question. +For they say in their hearts - ‘God is our Father, whosesoever +Father He is not. We are His people, and God performs acts of +providence for us. But as for the people outside, who know not +the law, nor the Gospel, either, they are accursed. It is not +our concern to discuss whether God performs acts of providence for them.’<br> +<br> +But here and there, among rich and poor, there are those whose heart +and flesh - whose conscience and whose intellect - cry out for the living +God, and will know no peace till they have found Him.<br> +<br> +A living God; a true God; a real God; a God worthy of the name; a God +who is working for ever, everywhere, and in all; who hates nothing that +He has made, forgets nothing, neglects nothing; a God who satisfies +not only their heads, but their hearts; not only their logical intellects, +but their higher reason - that pure reason, which is one with the conscience +and moral sense. For Him they cry out; Him they seek: and if they +cannot find Him they know no rest. For then they can find no explanation +of the three great human questions - Where am I? Whither am I +going? What must I do?<br> +<br> +Men come to them and say, ‘Of course there is a God. - He created +the world long ago, and set it spinning ever since by unchangeable laws.’ +But they answer, ‘That may be true; but I want more. I want +the living God.’<br> +<br> +Other men come to them and say, ‘Of course there is a God; and +when the universe is destroyed, He will save a certain number of the +elect, or orthodox. Do you take care that you are among that number, +and leave the rest to Him.’ But they answer, ‘That +may be true; but I want more. I want the living God.’<br> +<br> +They will say so very confusedly. They will often not be able +to make men understand their meaning. Nay, they will say and do +- driven by despair - very unwise things. They will even fall +down and worship the Holy Bread in the Sacrament of the Lord’s +Supper, and say, ‘The living God is in that. You have forbidden +us, with your theories, to find the living God either in heaven or earth. +But somewhere He must be. And in despair, we will fall back upon +the old belief that He is in the wafer on the altar, and find there +Him whom our souls must find, or be for ever without a home.’ +Strange and sad, that that should be the last outcome of the century +of mechanical philosophy. But before we blame the doctrine as +materialistic, - which, I fear, it too truly is, - we should remember +that, for the last fifty years, the young have been taught more and +more to be materialists; that they have been taught more and more to +believe in a God who rules over Sundays, but not over week-day business; +over the next world, but not over this; a God, in short, in whom men +do not live, and move, and have their being. They have been brought +up, I say, unconsciously, but surely, as practical materialists, who +make their senses the ground of all their knowledge; and therefore, +when a revulsion happens to them, they are awakened to look for the +living God - they look for him instinctively in visible matter.<br> +<br> +But for the living God thoughtful men will look more and more. +Physical science is forcing on them the question, Do we live, and move, +and have our being in God? Is there a real and perpetual communication +between the visible and the invisible world, or is there not? +Are all the beliefs of man, from the earliest ages, that such there +was, dreams and nothing more? Is any religion whatsoever to be +impossible henceforth? And to find an answer, men will go, either +backward to superstition, or forward into pantheism; for in atheism, +whether practical or theoretical, they cannot abide.<br> +<br> +The Bible says that those old beliefs, however partial or childish, +were no dreams, but instincts of an eternal truth; that there is such +a communication between the universe and the living God. Prophets, +Psalmists, Apostles, speak - like our Nicene Creed - of a Spirit of +God, the Lord and Giver of Life, in words which are not pantheism, but +are the very deliverance from pantheism, because they tell us that that +Spirit proceeds, not merely from a Deity, not merely from a Creator, +but from a Father in heaven, and from a Son who is His likeness and +His Word.<br> +<br> +And from this ground Natural Theology must start, if it is ever to revive +again, instead of remaining, as now, an extinct science. It must +begin from the keyword of the text, ‘Your Father.’ +As long as Natural Theology begins from nature, and not from God Himself, +it will inevitably drift into pantheism, as Pope drifted, in spite of +himself, when he tried to look from nature up to nature’s God. +As long as men speculate on the dealings of a Deity or of a Creator, +they will find out nothing, because they are searching under the wrong +name, and therefore, as logicians will tell you, for the wrong thing.<br> +<br> +But when they begin to seek under the right name - the name which our +Lord revealed to the debased multitudes of Judæa, when He told +them that not a sparrow fell to the ground without - not the Deity, +not the Creator, but their Father; then, in God’s good time, all +may come clear once more.<br> +<br> +This at least will come clear, - a doubt which often presents itself +to the mind of scientific men.<br> +<br> +This earth - we know now that it is not the centre, not the chief body, +of the universe, but a tiny planet, a speck, an atom among millions +of bodies far vaster than itself.<br> +<br> +It was credible enough in old times, when the earth was held to be all +but the whole universe, that God should descend on earth, and take on +Him human nature, to save human beings. Is it credible now? +This little corner of the systems and the galaxies? This paltry +race which we call man? Are they worthy of the interposition, +of the death, of Incarnate God - of the Maker of such a universe as +Science has discovered?<br> +<br> +Yes. If we will keep in mind that one word ‘Father.’ +Then we dare say Yes, in full assurance of Faith. For then we +have taken the question off the mere material ground of size and of +power; to put it once and for ever on that spiritual ground of justice +and love, which is implied in the one word - ‘Father.’<br> +<br> +If God be a perfect Father, then there must be a perpetual intercourse +of some kind between Him and His children; between Him and that planet, +however small, on which He has set His children, that they may be educated +into His likeness. If God be perfect justice, the wrong, and consequent +misery of the universe, how ever small, must be intolerable to Him. +If God be perfect love, there is no sacrifice - remember that great +word - which He may not condescend to make, in order to right that wrong, +and alleviate that misery. If God be the Father of our spirits, +the spiritual welfare of His children may be more important to Him than +the fate of the whole brute matter of the universe. Think not +to frighten us with the idols of size and height. God is a Spirit, +before whom all material things are equally great, and equally small. +Let us think of Him as such, and not merely as a Being of physical power +and inventive craft. Let us believe in our Father in heaven. +For then that higher intellect, - that pure reason, which dwells not +in the heads, but in the hearts of men, will tell them that if they +have a Father in heaven, He must be exercising a special providence +over the minutest affairs of their lives, by which He is striving to +educate them into His likeness; a special providence over the fate of +every atom in the universe, by which His laws shall work together for +the moral improvement of every creature capable thereof; that not a +sparrow can fall to the ground without his knowledge; and that not a +hair of their head can be touched, unless suffering is needed for the +education of their souls.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XVII. CHOLERA, 1866<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +LUKE vii. 16.<br> +<br> +There came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great +prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.<br> +<br> +<br> +You recollect to what the text refers? How the Lord visited His +people? By raising to life a widow’s son at Nain. +That was the result of our Lord’s visit to the little town of +Nain. It is worth our while to think of that text, and of that +word, ‘visit,’ just now. For we are praying to God +to remove the cholera from this land. We are calling it a visitation +of God; and saying that God is visiting our sins on us thereby. +And we are saying the exact truth. We are using the right and +scriptural word.<br> +<br> +We know that this cholera comes by no miracle, but by natural causes. +We can more or less foretell where it will break out. We know +how to prevent its breaking out at all, save in a scattered case here +and there. Of this there is no doubt whatsoever in the mind of +any well-informed person.<br> +<br> +But that does not prevent its being a visitation of God; yea, in most +awful and literal earnest, a house-to-house visitation. God uses +the powers of nature to do His work: of Him it is written, ‘He +maketh the winds His angels, and flames of fire His ministers.’ +And so this minute and invisible cholera-seed is the minister of God, +by which He is visiting from house to house, searching out and punishing +certain persons who have been guilty, knowingly or not, of the offence +of dirt; of filthy and careless habits of living; and especially, as +has long been known by well-informed men, of drinking poisoned water. +Their sickness, their deaths, are God’s judgment on that act of +theirs, whereby God says to men, - You shall not drink water unfit for +even dumb animals; and if you do, you shall die.<br> +<br> +To this view there are two objections. First, the poor people +themselves are not in fault, but those who supply poisoned water, and +foul dwellings.<br> +<br> +True: but only half true. If people demanded good water and good +houses, there would soon be a supply of them. But there is not +a sufficient supply; because too many of the labouring classes in towns, +though they are earning very high wages, are contented to live in a +condition unfit for civilized men; and of course, if they are contented +so to do, there will be plenty of covetous or careless landlords who +will supply the bad article with which they are satisfied; and they +will be punished by disease for not having taken care of themselves.<br> +<br> +But as for the owners of filthy houses, and the suppliers of poisoned +water, be sure that, in His own way and His own time, God will visit +them; that when He maketh inquisition for blood, He will assuredly requite +upon the guilty persons, whoever they are, the blood of those five or +six thousand of her Majesty’s subjects who have been foully done +to death by cholera in the last two months, as He requited the blood +of Naboth, or of any other innocent victim of whom we read in Holy Writ. +This outbreak of cholera in London, considering what we now know about +it, and have known for twenty years past, is a national shame, scandal, +and sin, which, if man cannot and will not punish, God can and will.<br> +<br> +But there is another objection, which is far more important and difficult +to answer. This cholera has not slain merely fathers and mothers +of families, who were more or less responsible for the bad state of +their dwellings; but little children, aged widows, and many other persons +who cannot be blamed in the least.<br> +<br> +True. And we must therefore believe that to them - indeed to all +- this has been a visitation not of anger but of love. We must +believe that they are taken away from some evil to come; that God permits +the destruction of their bodies, to the saving of their souls. +His laws are inexorable; and yet He hateth nothing that He hath made.<br> +<br> +And we must believe that this cholera is an instance of the great law, +which fulfils itself again and again, and will to the end of the world, +- ‘It is expedient that one die for the people, and that the whole +nation perish not.’<br> +<br> +For the same dirt which produces cholera now and then, is producing +always, and all day long, stunted and diseased bodies, drunkenness, +recklessness, misery, and sin of all kinds; and the cholera will be +a blessing, a cheap price to have paid, for the abolition of the evil +spirit of dirt.<br> +<br> +And thus much for this very painful subject - of which some of you may +say - ‘What is it to us? We cannot prevent cholera; and, +blessed as we are with abundance of the purest water, there is little +or no fear of cholera ever coming into our parish.’<br> +<br> +That last is true, my friends, and you may thank God for it. Meanwhile, +take this lesson at least home with you, and teach it your children +day by day - that filthy, careless, and unwholesome habits of living +are in the sight of Almighty God so terrible an offence, that He sometimes +finds it necessary to visit them with a severity with which He visits +hardly any sin; namely, by inflicting capital punishment on thousands +of His beloved creatures.<br> +<br> +But though we have not had the cholera among us, has God therefore not +visited us? That would surely be evil news for us, according to +Holy Scripture. For if God do not visit us, then He must be far +from us. But the Psalmist cries, ‘Go not far from me, O +Lord.’ His fear is, again and again, not that God should +visit him, but that God should desert him. And more, the word +which is translated ‘to visit,’ in Scripture has the sense +of seeing to a man, overseeing him, being his bishop. If God do +not see to, oversee us, and be our bishop, then He must turn His face +from us, which is what the Psalmist beseeches Him again and again not +to do; praying, ‘Hide not Thy face from me, O Lord,’ and +crying out of the depths of anxiety and trouble, ‘Put thy trust +in God, for I shall yet give Him thanks for the light of His countenance;’ +and again, ‘In Thy presence is’ - not death, but - ‘life; +at Thy right hand is fulness of days for evermore.’ And +again, the Psalmist prays to God to visit him, and visit his thoughts, +- ‘Search me, O Lord, and try the ground of my heart. Search +me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any wickedness +in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ Shall we pray +that prayer, my friends? Shall we, with the Psalmist, pray God +to visit, and, if need be, chasten and correct what He sees wrong in +us? Or shall we, with the superstitious, pray to God not to visit +us? to keep away from us? to leave its alone? to forget us? If +He did answer that foolish prayer, there would be an end of us and all +created things; for in God they live and move and have their being - +as it is written, ‘When Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; +when Thou takest away their breath, they die, and are turned again to +their dust.’ But, happily for us, God will not answer that +foolish prayer. For it is written, ‘If I go up to heaven, +Thou art there; if I go down to hell, Thou art there also.’ +Nowhither can we go from God’s presence: nowhither can we flee +from His Spirit.<br> +<br> +This is the Scripture language. Is ours like it? Have we +not got to think of a visitation of God as a simple calamity? +If a man die suddenly and strangely, he has died by the visitation of +God. But if he be saved from death strangely and suddenly, it +does not occur to us to call that a visitation, and to say with Scripture, +‘The Lord has visited the man with His salvation.’ +If the cholera comes, or the crops fail, we say, - God is visiting us. +If we have an especially healthy year, or a glorious harvest, we never +say with Scripture, ‘The Lord has visited His people in giving +them bread.’ Yet Scripture, if it says, ‘I will visit +their transgressions,’ says also that the Lord visited the children +of Israel to deliver them out of Egypt. If it talks of death as +the visitation of all men, it speaks of God visiting Sarah and Hannah +to give them children. If it says, ‘I will visit the blood +shed in Jezreel,’ it says also, ‘Thy visitation hath preserved +my spirit.’ If it says, ‘At the time they are visited +they shall be cast down,’ it says also, ‘The Lord shall +visit them, and turn away their captivity.’<br> +<br> +If we look through Scripture, we find that the words ‘visit’ +and ‘visitation’ are used about ninety times: that in about +fifty of them the meaning of the words is chastisement of some kind +or other: in about forty it is mercy and blessing: and that in the New +Testament the words never mean anything but mercy and blessing, though +we have begun of late years to use them only in the sense of punishment +and a curse.<br> +<br> +Now, how is this, my friends? How is it that we, who are not under +the terrors of the Law, but under the Gospel of grace, have quite lost +the Gospel meaning of this word ‘visitation,’ and take a +darker view of it than did even the old Jews under the Law? Have +we, whom God hath visited, indeed, in the person of His only-begotten +Son Jesus Christ, any right or reason to think worse of a visitation +of God than had the Jews of old? God forbid. And yet we +do so, I fear; and show daily that we do so by our use of the word: +for out of the abundance of the heart man’s mouth speaketh. +By his words he is justified, and by his words he is condemned; and +there is no surer sign of what a man’s real belief is, than the +sense in which lie naturally, as it were by instinct, uses certain words.<br> +<br> +And what is the cause?<br> +<br> +Shall I say it? If I do, I blame not you more than I blame myself, +more than I blame this generation. But it seems to me that there +is a little - or not a little - atheism among us now-a-days; that we +are growing to be ‘without God in the world.’ We are +ready enough to believe that God has to do with the next world: but +we are not ready to believe that He has to do with this world. +We, in this generation, do not believe that in God we live, and move, +and have our being. Nay, some object to capital punishment, because +(so they say) ‘it hurries men into the presence of their Maker;’ +as if a human being could be in any better or safer place than the presence +of his Maker; and as if his being there depended on us, or on any man, +and not on God Almighty alone, who is surely not so much less powerful +than an earthly monarch, that He cannot keep out of His presence or +in it whomsoever He chooses. When we talk of being ‘ushered +into the presence of God,’ we mean dying; as if we were not all +in the presence of God at this moment, and all day long. When +we say, ‘Prepare to meet thy God,’ we mean ‘Prepare +to die;’ as if we did not meet our God every time we had the choice +between doing a right thing and doing a wrong one - between yielding +to our own lusts and tempers, and yielding to the Holy Spirit of God. +For if the Holy Spirit of God be, as the Christian faith tells us, God +indeed, do we not meet God every time a right, and true, and gracious +thought arises in our hearts? But we have all forgotten this, +and much more connected with this; and our notion of this world is not +that of Holy Scripture - of that grand 104th Psalm, for instance, which +sets forth the Spirit of God as the Lord and Giver of life to all creation: +but our notion is this - that this world is a machine, which would go +on very well by itself, if God would but leave it alone; that if the +course of nature, as we atheistically call it, is not interfered with, +then suns shine, crops grow, trade flourishes, and all is well, because +God does not visit the earth. Ah! blind that we are; blind to +the power and glory of God which is around us, giving life and breath +to all things, - God, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, +- God, who visiteth the earth, and maketh it very plenteous, - God, +who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not, - God, whose ever-creating +and ever-sustaining Spirit is the source, not only of all goodness, +virtue, knowledge, but of all life, health, order, fertility. +We see not God’s witness in His sending rain and fruitful seasons, +filling our hearts with food and gladness. And then comes the +punishment. Because we will not keep up a wholesome and trustful +belief in God in prosperity, we are awakened out of our dream of unbelief, +to an unwholesome and mistrustful belief in Him in adversity. +Because we will not believe in a God of love and order, we grow to believe +in a God of anger and disorder. Because we will not fear a God +who sends fruitful seasons, we are grown to dread a God who sends famine +and pestilence. Because we will not believe in the Father in heaven, +we grow to believe in a destroyer who visits from heaven. But +we believe in Him only as the destroyer. We have forgotten that +He is the Giver, the Creator, the Redeemer. We look on His visitations +as something dark and ugly, instead of rejoicing in the thought of God’s +presence, as we should, if we had remembered that He was about our path +and about our bed, and spying out all our ways, whether for joy or for +sorrow. We shrink at the thought of His presence. We look +on His visitations as things not to be understood; not to be searched +out in childlike humility - and yet in childlike confidence - that we +may understand why they are sent, and what useful lesson our Father +means us to learn from them: but we look on them as things to be merely +prayed against, if by any means God will, as soon as possible, cease +to visit us, and leave us to ourselves, for we can earn our own bread +comfortably enough, if it were not for His interference and visitations. +We are too like the Gadarenes of old, to whom it mattered little that +the Lord had restored the madman to health and reason, if He caused +their swine to perish in the lake. They were uneasy and terrified +at such visitations of God incarnate. He seemed to them a terrible +and dangerous Being, and they besought Him to depart out of their coasts.<br> +<br> +It would have been wiser, surely, in those Gadarenes, and better for +them, had they cried - ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have us to do? +We see that Thou art a Being of infinite power, for mercy, and for punishment +likewise. And Thou art the very Being whom we want, to teach us +our duty, and to make us do it. Tell us what we ought to do, and +help us, and, if need be, compel us to do it, and so to prosper indeed.’ +And so should we pray in the case of this cholera. We may ask +God to take it away: but we are bound to ask God also, why He has sent +it. Till then we have no reason to suppose that He will take it +away; we have no reason to suppose that it will be merciful in Him to +take it away, till He has taught us why it was sent. This question +of cholera has come now to a crisis, in which we must either learn why +cholera comes, or incur, I hold, lasting disgrace and guilt. And +- if I may dare to hint at the counsels of God - it seems as if the +Almighty Lord had no mind to relieve us of that disgrace and guilt.<br> +<br> +For months past we have been praying that this cholera should not enter +England, and our prayers have not been heard. In spite of them +the cholera has come; and has slain thousands, and seems likely to slay +thousands more. What plainer proof can there be to those who believe +in the providence of God, and the rule of Jesus Christ our Lord, than +that we are meant to learn some wholesome lesson from it, which we have +not learnt yet? It cannot be that God means us to learn the physical +cause of cholera, for that we have known these twenty years. Foul +lodging, foul food, and, above all, natural and physical, foul water; +there is no doubt of the cause. But why cannot we save English +people from the curse and destruction which all this foulness brings? +That is the question. That is our national scandal, shame, and +sin at this moment. Perhaps the Lord wills that we should learn +that; learn what is the moral and spiritual cause of our own miserable +weakness, negligence, hardness of heart, which, sinning against light +and knowledge, has caused the death of thousands of innocent souls. +God grant that we may learn that lesson. God grant that He may +put into the hearts and minds of some man or men, the wisdom and courage +to deliver us from such scandals for the future.<br> +<br> +But I have little hope that that will happen, till we get rid of our +secret atheism; till we give up the notion that God only visits now +and then, to disorder and destroy His own handiwork, and take back the +old scriptural notion, that God is visiting all day long for ever, to +give order and life to His own work, to set it right whenever it goes +wrong, and re-create it whenever it decays. Till then we can expect +only explanations of cholera and of God’s other visitations of +affliction, which are so superstitious, so irrational, so little connected +with the matter in hand, that they would be ridiculous, were they not +somewhat blasphemous. But when men arise in this land who believe +truly in an ever-present God of order, revealed in His Son Jesus Christ; +when men shall arise in this land, who will believe that faith with +their whole hearts, and will live and die for it and by it; acting as +if they really believed that in God we live, and move, and have our +being; as if they really believed that they were in the kingdom and +rule of Christ, - a rule of awful severity, and yet of perfect love, +- a rule, meanwhile, which men can understand, and are meant to understand, +that they may not only obey the laws of God, but know the mind of God, +and copy the dealings of God, and do the will of God; and when men arise +in this land, who have that holy faith in their hearts, and courage +to act upon it, then cholera will vanish away, and the physical and +moral causes of a hundred other evils which torment poor human beings +through no anger of God, but simply through their own folly, and greediness, +and ignorance.<br> +<br> +All these shall vanish away, in the day when the knowledge of the Lord +shall cover the land, and men shall say, in spirit and in truth, as +Christ their Lord has said before, - ‘Sacrifice and burnt-offering +thou wouldest not. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume +of the book it is written of Me, that I should do the will of God.’ +And in those days shall be fulfilled once more, the text which says, +- ‘That the people glorified God, saying, A great Prophet, even +Christ the Lord Himself, hath risen up among us, and God hath visited +His people.’<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XVIII. THE WICKED SERVANT<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ST. MATTHEW xviii. 23.<br> +<br> +The kingdom of heaven is likened to a certain king, which would take +account of his servants.<br> +<br> +<br> +This parable, which you heard in the Gospel for this day, you all know. +And I doubt not that all you who know it, understand it well enough. +It is so human and so humane; it is told with such simplicity, and yet +with such force and brilliancy that - if one dare praise our Lord’s +words as we praise the words of men - all must see its meaning at once, +though it speaks of a state of society different from anything which +we have ever seen, or, thank God, ever shall see.<br> +<br> +The Eastern despotic king who has no law but his own will; who puts +his servant - literally his slave - into a post of such trust and honour, +that the slave can misappropriate and make away with the enormous sum +of ten thousand talents; who commands, not only him, but his wife and +children to be sold to pay the debt; who then forgives him all out of +a sudden burst of pity, and again, when the wretched man has shown himself +base and cruel, unworthy of that pity, revokes his pardon, and delivers +him to the tormentors till he shall pay all - all this is a state of +things impossible in a free country, though it is possible enough still +in many countries of the East, which are governed in this very despotic +fashion; and justice, and very often injustice likewise, is done in +this rough, uncertain way, by the will of the king alone.<br> +<br> +But, however different the circumstances, yet there is a lesson in this +story which is universal and eternal, true for all men, and true for +ever. The same human nature, for good and for evil, is in us, +as was in that Eastern king and his slave. The same kingdom of +heaven is over us as was over them, its laws punishing sinners by their +own sins; the same Spirit of God which strove with their hearts is striving +with ours. If it was not so, the parable would mean nothing to +us. It would be a story of men who belonged to another moral world, +and were under another moral law, not to be judged by our rules of right +and wrong; and therefore a story of men whom we need not copy.<br> +<br> +But it is not so. If the parable be - as I take for granted it +is - a true story; then it was Christ, the Light who lights every man +who cometh into the world, who put into that king’s heart the +divine feeling of mercy, and inspired him to forgive, freely and utterly, +the wretched slave who worshipped him, kneeling with his forehead to +the ground, and promising, in his terror, what he probably knew he could +not perform - ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee +all.’<br> +<br> +And it was Christ, the Light of men, who inspired that king with the +feeling, not of mere revenge, but of just retribution; who taught him +that, when the slave was unworthy of his mercy, he had a right, in a +noble and divine indignation, to withdraw his mercy; and not to waste +his favours on a bad man, who would only turn them to fresh bad account, +but to keep them for those who had justice and honour enough in their +hearts to forgive others, when their Lord had forgiven them.<br> +<br> +We must bear in mind, that the king must have been right, and acting +(whether he knew it or not) by the Spirit of God; else his conduct would +never have been likened to the kingdom of heaven: that is, to the laws +by which God governs both this world and the world to come.<br> +<br> +The kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God - Would that men would +believe in them a little more! It seems, at times, as if all belief +in them was dying out; as if men, throughout all civilized and Christian +countries, had made up their minds to say - There is no kingdom of God +or of heaven. There will be one hereafter, in the next world. +This world is the kingdom of men, and of what they can do for themselves +without God’s help, and without God’s laws.<br> +<br> +My friends, the Jewish rulers of old said so, and cried, ‘We have +no king but Cæsar.’ And they remain an example to +all time, of what happens to those who deny the kingdom of God. +Christ came to tell them that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and +the kingdom of God was among them. But they would have none of +it. And what said our Lord of them and their notion? ‘The +prince of this world,’ said He, ‘cometh, and hath nothing +in me. This is your hour and the power of darkness.’ +Yes; the hour in which men had determined to manage the world in their +way, and not in Christ’s, was also the hour of the power of darkness. +That was what they had gained by having their own way; by saying - The +kingdom is ours, and not God’s. They had fallen under the +power of darkness, not of light. The very light within them was +darkness. They utterly mistook their road on earth. At the +very moment that they were trying to make peace with the Roman governor, +by denying that Christ was their King, and demanding that He should +be crucified, - at that very moment the things which belonged to their +peace were hid from their eyes. Never men made so fatal a mistake, +when they thought themselves most politic and prudent. They said +among themselves - ‘Unless we put down this man, the Romans will +come and take away our place,’ <i>i.e</i>. our privileges, and +power, and our nation. And what followed? That the Romans +did come and take away their place and nation, with horrible massacre +and ruin: and so they lost both the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom +of God likewise. Never, I say, did men make a more fatal mistake +in the things of this world than those Jews to whom the kingdom of God +came, and they rejected it.<br> +<br> +And so shall we, my friends, if we forget that, whether we like it or +not, the kingdom of God is within us, and we within it likewise.<br> +<br> +1. The kingdom of God is within us. Every gracious motive, +every noble, just, and merciful instinct within us, is a sign to us +that the kingdom of God is come to us; that we are not as the brutes +which perish; not as the heathen who are too often past feeling, being +alienated from the life of God by reason of the ignorance which is in +them: but, that we are God’s children, inheritors of the kingdom +of heaven; and that God’s Spirit is teaching us the laws of that +kingdom; so that in every child who is baptized, educated, and civilized, +is fulfilled the promise, ‘I will write my laws upon their hearts, +and I will be to them a Father.’<br> +<br> +God’s Spirit is teaching our hearts as He taught the heart of +that old Eastern king. It may be, it ought to be, that He is teaching +us far deeper lessons than He ever taught that king.<br> +<br> +2. We are in the kingdom of God. It is worth our while to +remember that steadfastly just now. Many people are ready to agree +that the kingdom of God is within them. They will readily confess +that religion is a spiritual matter, and a matter of the heart: but +their fancy is that therefore religion, and all just and noble and beautiful +instincts and aspirations, are very good things for those who have them: +but that, if any one has them not, it does not much matter.<br> +<br> +They do not see that there are not only such things as feelings about +God; but that there are also such things as laws of God; and that God +can enforce those laws, and does enforce them, sometimes in a very terrible +manner. They do not believe enough in a living God, an acting +God, a God who will not merely write His laws in our hearts, if we will +let Him, but may also destroy us off the face of the earth, if we would +not let Him. They fancy that God either cannot, or will not, enforce +His own laws, but leaves a man free to accept them, or reject as he +will. There is no greater mistake. Be not deceived; God +is not mocked. As a man sows, so shall he reap. God says +to us, to all men, - Copy Me. Do as I do, and be My children, +and be blest. But if we will not; if, after all God’s care +and love, the tree brings forth no fruit, then, soon or late, the sentence +goes forth against it in God’s kingdom, ‘Cut it down; why +cumbereth it the ground?’<br> +<br> +There is a saying now-a-days, that nations and tribes who will not live +reasonable lives, and behave as men should to their fellow-men, must +be civilized off the face of the earth. The words are false, if +they mean that we, or any other men, have a right to exterminate their +fellow-creatures. But they are true, and more true than the people +who use them fancy, if they are spoken not of man, but of God. +For if men will not obey the laws of God’s kingdom, God does actually +civilize them off the face of the earth. Great nations, learned +churches, powerful aristocracies, ancient institutions, has God civilized +off the face of the earth before now. Because they would not acknowledge +God for their King, and obey the laws of His kingdom, in which alone +are life, and wealth, and health, God has taken His kingdom away from +them, and given it to others who would bring forth the fruits thereof. +The Jews are the most awful and famous example of that terrible judgment +of God, but they are not the only ones. It has happened again +and again. It may happen to you or me, as well as to this whole +nation of England, if we forget that we are in God’s kingdom, +and that only by living according to God’s laws can we keep our +place therein.<br> +<br> +And this is what the parable teaches us. The king tries to teach +the servant one of the laws of his kingdom - that he rules according +to boundless mercy and generosity. God wishes to teach us the +same. The king does so, not by word, but by deed, by actually +forgiving the man his debt. So does God forgive us freely in Jesus +Christ our Lord.<br> +<br> +But more than this, he wishes the servant to understand that he is to +copy his king; that if his king has behaved to him like a father to +his child, he must behave as a brother to his fellow-servants. +So does God wish to teach us.<br> +<br> +But he does not tell the man so, in so many words. He does not +say to him, I command thee to forgive thy debtors as I have forgiven +thee. He leaves the man to his own sense of honour and good feeling. +It is a question not of the law, but of the heart. So does God +with us. He educates us, not as children or slaves, but as free +men, as moral agents. He leaves us to our own reason and conscience, +to reap the fruit which we ourselves have sown. Therefore, about +a thousand matters in life He lays on us no special command. He +leaves us to act according to our good feeling, to our own sense of +honour. It is a matter, I say, of the heart. If God’s +law be written in our hearts, our hearts will lead us to do the right +thing. If God’s law be not in our hearts, then mere outward +commands will not make us do right, for what we do will not be really +right and good, because it will not be done heartily and of our own +will.<br> +<br> +But the servant does not follow his lord’s example.<br> +<br> +Fresh from his lord’s presence, he takes his fellow-servant by +the throat, saying - Pay me that thou owest. His heart has not +been touched. His lord’s example has not softened him. +He does not see how beautiful, how noble, how divine, generosity and +mercy are. He is a hard-hearted, worldly man. The heavenly +kingdom, which is justice and love, is not within him. Then, if +the kingdom of heaven is not in him, he shall find out that he is in +it; and that in a very terrible way:- ‘Thou wicked servant, unworthy +of my pity, because there is no goodness in thine own heart. Thou +wilt not take into thy heart my law, which tells thee, Be merciful as +I am merciful. Then thou shalt feel another and an equally universal +law of mine. As thou doest so shalt thou be done by. If +thou art merciful, thou shalt find mercy. If thou wilt have nothing +but retribution, then nothing but retribution thou shalt have. +If thou must needs do justice thyself, I will do justice likewise. +Because I am merciful, dost thou think me careless? Because I +sit still, that I am patient? Dost thou think me such a one as +thyself?’ And his lord delivered him to the tormentors till +he should pay all that was due unto him.<br> +<br> +My dear friends, this is an awful story. Let us lay it to heart. +And to do that, let us pray God to lay it to our hearts; to write His +laws in our hearts, that we may not only fear them, but love them; not +only see their profitableness, but their fitness; that we may obey them, +not grudgingly or of necessity, but obey them because they look to us +just, and true, and beautiful, and as they are - Godlike. Let +us pray, I say, that God would make us love what He commands, lest we +should neglect and despise what He commands, and find it some day unexpectedly +alive and terrible after all. Let us pray to God to keep alive +His kingdom of grace within us, lest His kingdom of retribution outside +us should fall upon us, and grind us to powder.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XIX. CIVILIZED BARBARISM<br> +(<i>Preached for the Bishop of London’s Fund, at St. John’s +Church, Notting Hill, June</i> 1866.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +ST. MATTHEW ix. 12.<br> +<br> +They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.<br> +<br> +<br> +I have been honoured by an invitation to preach on behalf of the Bishop +of London’s Fund for providing for the spiritual wants of this +metropolis. By the bishop, and a large number of landowners, employers +of labour, and others who were aware of the increasing heathendom of +the richest and happiest city of the world, it was agreed that, if possible, +a million sterling should be raised during the next ten years, to do +what money could do in wiping out this national disgrace. It is +a noble plan; and it has been as yet - and I doubt not will be to the +end - nobly responded to by the rich laity of this metropolis.<br> +<br> +More than 100,000<i>l</i>. was contributed during the first six months; +nearly 60,000<i>l</i>. in the ensuing year; beside subscriptions which +are promised for the whole, or part of the ten years. The money, +therefore, does not flow in as rapidly as was desired: but there is +as yet no falling off. And I believe that there will be, on the +contrary, a gradual increase in the subscriptions as the objects of +this fund are better understood, and as its benefits are practically +felt.<br> +<br> +Now, it is unnecessary - it would be almost an impertinence - to enlarge +on a spiritual destitution of which you are already well aware. +There are, we shall all agree, many thousands in London who are palpably +sick of spiritual disease, and need the physician. But I have +special reasons for not pressing this point. If I attempted to +draw subscriptions from you by painting tragical and revolting pictures +of the vice, heathendom, and misery of this metropolis, I might make +you fancy that it was an altogether vicious, heathen, and miserable +spot: than which there can be no greater mistake. These evils +are not the rule, but the exceptions. Were they not the exceptions, +then not merely the society of London, and the industry of London, and +the wealth of London, but the very buildings of London, the brick and +the mortar, would crumble to the ground by natural and inevitable decay. +The unprecedentedly rapid increase of London is, I firmly believe, a +sure sign that things in it are done on the whole not ill, but well; +that God’s blessing is on the place; that, because it is on the +whole obeying the eternal laws of God, therefore it is increasing, and +multiplying, and replenishing the earth, and subduing it. And +I do not hesitate to say, that I have read of no spot of like size upon +this earth, on which there have ever been congregated so many human +beings, who are getting their bread so peaceably, happily, loyally, +and virtuously; and doing their duty - ill enough, no doubt, as we all +do it - but still doing it more or less, by man and God.<br> +<br> +I am well aware that many will differ from me; that many men and many +women - holy, devoted, spending their lives in noble and unselfish labours +- persons whose shoes’ latchet I am not worthy to unloose - take +a far darker view of the state of this metropolis. But the fact +is, that they are naturally brought in contact chiefly with its darker +side. Their first duty is to seek out cases of misery: and even +if they do not, the miserable will, of their own accord, come to them. +It is their first duty too - if they be clergymen - to rebuke, and if +possible, to cure, open vice, open heathendom, as well as to relieve +present want and wretchedness: and may God’s blessing be on all +who do that work. But in doing it they are dealing daily - and +ought to deal, and must deal - with the exceptional, and not with the +normal; with cases of palpable and shocking disease, and not with cases +of at least seeming health. They see that, into London, as into +a vast sewer, gravitates yearly all manner of vice, ignorance, weakness, +poverty: but they are apt to forget, at times - and God knows I do not +blame them for it in the least - that there gravitates into London, +not as into a sewer, but as into a wholesome and fruitful garden, a +far greater amount of health, strength, intellect, honesty, industry, +virtue, which makes London; which composes, I verily believe, four-fifths +of the population of London. For if it did not, as I have said +already, London would decay and die, and not grow and live.<br> +<br> +Am I denying the spiritual destitution of this metropolis? Am +I arguing against the necessity of the Bishop of London’s Fund? +Am I trying to cool your generosity towards it? Am I raising against +it the text - ‘They that be whole need not a physician, but they +that are sick?’ Am I trying to prove that the sick are fewer +than was fancied, the healthy more numerous; and, therefore, the physician +less needed? Would to heaven that I dare so do. Would to +heaven that I could prove this fund unnecessary and superfluous. +But instead thereof, I fear that I must say - that the average of that +health, strength, intellect, honesty, industry, virtue, which makes +London - that the average of all that, I verily believe, is to be counted +(though it knows it not) among the sick, and not among the sound. +It is sick, over and above those personal sins which are common to all +classes; it is sick of a great social disease; of a disease which is +very dangerous for the nation to which we belong; which will increase +more and more, and become more and more dangerous, unless it is stopped +wholesale, by some such wholesale measure as this. That disease +is (paradoxical as it may seem) Want of Civilization; Barbarism, which +is the child of ungodliness. And that can, I verily believe again, +be cured only (as far as we in the nineteenth century have discovered) +by an extension of the parochial system.<br> +<br> +And yet - let us beware of that expression - Parochial System. +It seems to imply that the parish is a mere system; an artificial arrangement +of man’s invention. Now that is just what the parish is +not. It is founded on local ties; and they are not a system, but +a fact. You do not assemble men into parishes: you find them already +assembled by fact, which is the will of God. You take your stand +upon the merest physical ground of their living next door to each other; +their being likely to witness each other’s sayings and doings; +to help each other and like each other, or to debauch each other and +hate each other; upon the fact that their children play in the same +street, and teach each other harm or good, thereby influencing generations +yet unborn; upon the fact that if one takes cholera or fever, the man +who lives next door is liable to take it too - in short, on the broad +fact that they are members of each other, for good or evil. You +take your stand on this physical ground of mere neighbourhood; and say +- This bond of neighbourhood is, after all, one of the most human - +yea, of the most Divine - of all bonds. Every man you meet is +your brother, and must be, for good or evil: you cannot live without +him; you must help, or you must injure, each other. And, therefore, +you must choose whether you will be a horde of isolated barbarians - +your living in brick and mortar, instead of huts and tents, being a +mere accident - barbarians, I say, at continual war with each other: +or whether you will go on to become civilized men; that is, fellow-citizens, +members of the same body, confessing and exercising duties to each other +which are not self-chosen, not self-invented, but real; which encompass +you whether you know them or not; laid on you by Almighty God, by the +mere fact of your being men and women living in contact with each other.<br> +<br> +Out of this great and true law arises the idea of a parish, a local +self-government for many civil purposes, as well as ecclesiastical ones, +under a priest who - if he is to be considered as a little constitutional +monarch - has his powers limited carefully both by the supreme law, +by his assessors the church-wardens, and by the democratic constitution +of the parish - influences which he is bound, both by law and by Christianity, +to obey.<br> +<br> +Arising, in the first place, from the fact that our forefathers colonized +England in small separate families, each with its own jurisdiction and +worship; our country parish churches being, to this day, often the sites +of old heathen tribe-temples, and this very place, Notting-hill, being +possibly a little colony of the Nottingas - the same tribe which gave +their name to the great city of Nottingham; arising from this fact, +and from the very ancient institution of frank-pledge between local +neighbours, this parochial system, above all other English institutions, +has helped to teach us how to govern, and therefore how to civilize, +ourselves. It was overlaid, all but extinguished, by the monastic +system, during the latter part of the Middle Ages. It re-asserted +itself, in fuller vigour than ever, at the Reformation. But with +its benefits, its defects were restored likewise. The tendency +of the mediæval Church had been to become merely a church for +paupers. The tendency of the Church of England during the sixteenth, +seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, was to become merely a church +for burghers. It has been, of late, to become merely a church +for paupers again. The causes of this reaction are simple enough. +Population increased so rapidly that the old parish bounds were broken +up; the old parish staff became too small for working purposes. +The Church had (and, alas! has still) to be again a missionary church, +as she became in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when feudal violence +had destroyed the self-government of the parishes - often the parishes +themselves - and filled the land with pauperism and barbarism. +But that is but a transitional state. Her duty is now becoming +more and more (and those who wish her well must help her to fulfil her +duty) to reorganize the ancient parochial system on a deeper and sounder +footing than ever; on a footing which will ensure her being a church, +not merely for pauper, nor merely for burgher, but for pauper and for +burgher equally and alike.<br> +<br> +But some will say that parochial civilization is only a peculiar form +of civilization, because its centre is a church. Peculiar? +That is the last word which any one would apply to such a civilization, +if he knows history. Will any one mention any civilization, past +or present, whose centre has not been (as long as it has been living +and progressive) a church? All past civilizations - whether heathen +or Mussulman, Jew or Christian - have each and every one of them, as +a fact, held that the common and local worship of a God was a sign to +them of their common and local unity; a sign to them of their religion, +that is, the duties which bound them to each other, whether they liked +or not. To all races and nations, as yet, their sacred grove, +church, temple, or other place of worship, has been a sign to them that +their unity and duties were not invented by themselves, but were the +will and command of an unseen Being, who would reward or punish them +according as they did those duties or left them undone. So it +has been in the civilizations of the past. So it will be in the +civilization of the future. If the Christian religion were swept +away - as it never will be, for it is eternal - and a civilization founded +on what is called Nature put in its place, then we should see a worship +of something called Nature, and a temple thereof, set up as the symbol +of that Natural civilization. So the Jacobins of France - when +they tried to civilize France on the mere ground of what they called +Reason - had, whether they liked it or not, to instal a worship of Reason, +and a goddess of Reason, for as long as they could contrive to last.<br> +<br> +To the world’s end, a church of some kind or other will be the +centre and symbol of every civilization which is worthy of the name; +of every civilization which signifies, not merely that men live in somewhat +better houses, travel rather faster by railway, and read a few more +books (which is the popular meaning of civilization), but which means +- as it meant among the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the Christians, +among those who discovered the idea and the very words which express +it - that each and every truly civilized man is a civis, a citizen, +the conscious and obedient member of a corporate body which he did not +make, but which (in as far as he is not a savage) has made him.<br> +<br> +How far from this idea are the great masses of our really wealthy and +well-to-do Londoners? How much is it needed, that wise men should +try to re-awaken in them the sense of corporate life, and literally +civilize them once more!<br> +<br> +Consider the case, not of the average wretched, but of the average comfortable +man. The small shopkeeper, the workman, skilled or unskilled - +how small a consciousness has he of citizenship. What few incentives +to regard civism as a solemn duty. For consider, of what is he +a member?<br> +<br> +He is a member of a family; and, in general, he fulfils his family duties +well.<br> +<br> +Yes, thank God, the family life of Englishmen is sound. The hearts +of the children do not need to be turned to their fathers, or the hearts +of the fathers to the children, as they did in Judea of old. Family +life, which is the foundation of all national life - nay, of all Christian +and church life - is, on the whole, sound. And having that foundation +we can build on it safely and well, if we be wise.<br> +<br> +But of what else is the average Londoner a member? Of a benefit-club, +of a trades’ union, of a volunteer corps. Each will be a +valuable element of education, for it will teach him that self-government, +which is the school of all freedom, of all loyalty, of all true civilization.<br> +<br> +Or he may be a member of some Nonconformist sect. That, too, will +be a valuable element, for it will teach him the solemn fact of his +own personality; his direct responsibility to God for his own soul.<br> +<br> +And I cannot pass this point of my sermon without expressing my sense +of the great work which the Dissenting sects have done, and are doing, +for this land (with which the Bishop of London’s plan will in +no wise interfere), in teaching this one thing, which the Church of +England, while trying to carry out her far deeper and higher conception +of organization, has often forgotten; that, after all, and before all, +and throughout all, each man stands alone, face to face with Almighty +God. This idea has helped to give the middle classes of England +an independence, a strong, vigorous, sharp-cut personality, which is +an invaluable wealth to the nation. God forbid that we should +try to weaken it, even for reasons which may seem to some devout and +orthodox.<br> +<br> +But all these memberships, after all, are only voluntary ones, not involuntary. +They are assumed by man himself - the worldly associations on the ground +of mutual interest; the spiritual associations on that of identity of +opinions. They are not instituted by God, and nature, and fact, +whether the man knows of them or not, likes them or not. They +are of the nature of clubs, not of citizenship. They are not founded +on that human ground which is, by virtue of the Incarnation, the most +divine ground of all. And for the many they do not exist. +The majority of small shopkeepers, and the majority of labourers too, +are members, as far as they are aware, of nothing, unless it be a club +at some neighbouring public-house. The old feudal and burgher +bonds of the Middle Age, for good or for evil, have perished by natural +and necessary decay; and nothing has taken their place. Each man +is growing up more and more isolated; tempted to selfishness, to brutal +independence; tempted to regard his fellow-men as rivals in the struggle +for existence; tempted, in short, to incivism, to a loss of the very +soul and marrow of civilization, while the outward results of it remain; +and therefore tempted to a loss of patriotism, of the belief that he +possesses here something far more precious than his private fortune, +or even his family; even a country for which he must sacrifice, if need +be, himself. And if that grow to be the general temper of England, +or of London, in some great day of the Lord, some crisis of perplexity, +want, or danger, - then may the Lord have mercy upon this land; for +it will have no mercy on itself: but divided, suspicious, heartless, +cynical, unpatriotic, each class, even each family, even each individual +man, will run each his own way, minding his own interest or safety; +content, like the debased Jews, if he can find the life of his hand; +and:-<br> +<br> +<br> +‘Too happy if, in that dread day,<br> +His life he given him for a prey.’<br> +<br> +<br> +Our fathers saw that happen throughout half Europe, at a crisis when, +while the outward crust of civilization was still kept up, the life +of it, all patriotism, corporate feeling, duty to a common God, and +faith in a common Saviour, had rotted out unperceived. At one +blow the gay idol fell, and broke; and behold, inside was not a soul, +but dust. God grant that we may never see here the same catastrophe, +the same disgrace.<br> +<br> +Now, one remedy - I do not say the only remedy - there are no such things +as panaceas; all spiritual and social diseases are complicated, and +their remedies must be complicated likewise - but one remedy, palpable, +easy, and useful, whenever and wherever it has been tried, is this - +to go to these great masses of brave, honest, industrious, but isolated +and uncivilized men, after the method of the Bishop of this diocese, +and his fund; and to say to them, - ‘Of whatever body you are, +or are not members, you are members of that human family for which our +Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and to suffer death +upon the Cross; over which He now liveth and reigneth, with the Father +and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. You are children +of God the Father of spirits, who wills that all should be saved, and +come to the knowledge of the truth. You are inheritors - that +is, members not by your own will, or the will of any man, but by the +will of God who has chosen you to be born in a Christian land of Christian +parents - inheritors, I say, of the kingdom of heaven, from your cradles +to your graves, and after that, if you will, for ever and ever. +Behave as such. Claim your rights; for they are yours already: +and not only claim your rights, but confess your duties. Remember +that every man, woman, and child in your street is, primâ facie, +just as much a member of Christ as you are. Treat them as such; +associate yourselves with them as such. Accept the simple physical +fact that they live next door to you, as God’s will toward you +both, and as God’s sign to you that you and they are members of +the same human and divine family. Enter with them, in that plain +form, into the free corporate self-government of a Christian parish. +Fear no priestly tyranny; from that danger you are guaranteed by the +fact, that the great majority of the promoters of this fund are laymen, +of all shades of opinion. You are guaranteed, still further, by +the fact, that in the parochial system there can be no tyranny. +It is one of the very institutions by which Englishmen have learnt those +habits of self-government, which are the admiration of Europe.<br> +<br> +‘Do, then, the duty which lies nearest you; your duty to the man +who lives next door, and to the man who lives in the next street. +Do your duty to your parish; that you may learn to do your duty by your +country and to all mankind, and prove yourselves thereby civilized men.<br> +<br> +‘And confess your sins in this matter, if not to us, at least +to God. Confess that while you, in your sturdy, comfortable independence, +have been fancying yourselves whole and sound, you have been very sick, +and need the physician to cure you of the deadly and growing disease +of selfish barbarism. Confess that, while you have been priding +yourselves on English self-help and independence, you have not deigned +to use them for those purposes of common organization, common worship, +for which the very savages and heathens have, for ages past, used such +freedom as they have had. Confess that, while you have been talking +loudly about the rights of humanity, you have neglected too often its +duties, and lived as if the people in the same street had no more to +do with you than the beasts which perish.<br> +<br> +‘Confess your sins. We monied men confess ours. We +ought to have foreseen the rapid growth of this city. We ought +to have planned and laboured more earnestly for its better organization. +And we freely offer our money, as a sign of our repentance, to build +and establish for you institutions which you cannot afford to establish +for yourselves. We excuse you, moreover, in very great part. +You have been gathered together so suddenly into these vast new districts, +or rather chaos of houses, and you have meanwhile shifted your dwellings +so rapidly, and under the pressure of such continual labour, that you +have not had time enough to organize yourselves. But we, too, +have our excuse. We have actually been trying, at vast expense +and labour to ourselves, for the last forty years, to meet your new +needs. But you have outgrown all our efforts. Your increase +has taken us by surprise. Your prosperity has outrun our goodwill. +It shall do so no more. We are ready to do our part in the good +work of repentance. We ask you to do yours. You are more +able to do it than you ever were: richer, better educated, more acquainted +with the blessings of association. We do not come to you as to +paupers, merely to help you. We come to you as to free and independent +citizens, to teach you to help yourselves, and show yourselves citizens +indeed.’<br> +<br> +I hope, ay, I believe, that such an appeal as this, made in an honest +and liberal spirit, which proves its honesty and liberality by great +and generous gifts out of such private wealth as no nation ever had +before, will be met by the masses of London, in the same spirit as that +in which it has been made.<br> +<br> +I am certain of it, if only the ecclesiastical staff employed by this +Fund will keep steadfastly in mind what they have to do. True +it is, and happily true, that they can do nothing but good. If +they confine themselves to the celebration of public worship, to teaching +children, to giving the consolations of religion to those with whom +want and wretchedness bring them in contact - all that will be gain, +clear gain, vast gain. But that, valuable, necessary as it is, +will not be sufficient to evoke a full response from the people of London.<br> +<br> +But if they will, not leaving the other undone, do yet more; if they +will attempt the more difficult, but the equally necessary and more +permanent labour - that of attacking the disease of barbarism, not merely +in its symptoms, but in its very roots and its causes; if they will +recognise the fact, that with the disease there coexists a great deal +of sturdy and useful health; if they will have courage and address to +face, not merely the non-working, non-earning, and generally non-thinking +hundreds, but the working, earning, thinking thousands of each parish; +in fact, the men and women who make London what it is; if they will +approach them with charity, confidence, and respect; if they will remember +that they are justly jealous of that personal independence, that civil +and religious liberty, which is theirs by law and right; if they will +conduct themselves, not as lords over God’s heritage, but as examples +to the flock; if they will treat that flock, not as their subjects, +but as their friends, their fellow-workers, their fellow-counsellors +- often their advisers; if they will remember that ‘Give and take, +live and let live,’ are no mere worldly maxims, but necessary, +though difficult Christian duties; then, I believe, they will after +awhile receive an answer to their call such as they dare not as yet +expect; such an answer as our forefathers gave to the clergy of the +early Middle Age, when they showed them that the kingdom of God was +the messenger of civilization, of humanity, of justice and peace, of +strength and well-being in this world, as well as in the next. +The clergy would find in the men and women of London not merely disciples, +but helpers. They would meet, not with fanatical excitement, not +even with enthusiasm, not even with much outward devotion; but with +co-operation, hearty and practical though slow and quiet - co-operation +all the more valuable, in every possible sense, because it will be free +and voluntary; and the Bishop of London’s Fund would receive more +and more assistance, not merely of heads and hands, but of money when +money was needed, from the inhabitants of the very poorest and most +heathen districts, as they began to feel that they were giving their +money towards a common blessing, and became proud to pay their share +towards an organization which would belong to them, and to their children +after them.<br> +<br> +So runs my dream. This may be done: God grant that it may! +For now, it may be, is our best chance of doing it. Now is the +accepted time; now is the day of salvation. If these masses increase +in numbers and in power for another generation, in their present state +of anarchy, they may be lost for ever to Christianity, to order, to +civilization. But if we can civilize, in that sense which is both +classical and Christian, the masses of London, and of England, by that +parochial method which has been (according to history) the only method +yet discovered, then we shall have helped, not only to save innumerable +souls from sin, and from that misery which is the inevitable and everlasting +consequence of sin, but we shall have helped to save them from a specious +and tawdry barbarism, such as corrupted and enervated the seemingly +civilized masses of the later Roman empire; and to save our country, +within the next century, from some such catastrophe as overtook the +Jewish monarchy in spite of all its outward religiosity; the catastrophe +which has overtaken every nation which has fancied itself sound and +whole, while it was really broken, sick, weak, ripe for ruin. +For such, every nation or empire becomes, though the minority above +be never so well organized, civilized, powerful, educated, even virtuous, +if the majority below are not a people of citizens, but masses of incoherent +atoms, ready to fall to pieces before every storm.<br> +<br> +From that, and from all adversities, may God deliver us, and our children +after us, by graciously beholding this His Family, for which our Lord +Jesus Christ was content to suffer death upon the Cross; and by pouring +out His Spirit upon all estates of men in His holy Church, that every +member of the same, in his calling and ministry, may freely and godly +serve Him; till we have no longer the shame and sorrow of praying for +English men and women, as we do for Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, +that God would take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and +contempt of His Word, and fetch them home to that flock of His, to which +they all belong!<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +SERMON XX. THE GOD OF NATURE<br> +(<i>Preached during a wet harvest</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +PSALM cxlvii. 7-9.<br> +<br> +Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto +our God: who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for +the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth +to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.<br> +<br> +<br> +There is no reason why those who wrote this Psalm, and the one which +follows it, should have looked more cheerfully on the world about them +than we have a right to do. The country and climate of Judea is +not much superior to ours. If we suffer at times from excess of +rain and wind, Judea suffers from excess of drought and sunshine. +It suffers, too, at times, from that most terrible of earthly calamities, +from which we are free - namely, from earthquakes. The sea, moreover, +instead of being loved, as it is by us, as the highway of our commerce, +and the producer of vast stores of food - the sea, I say, was almost +feared by the old Jews, who were no sailors. They looked on it +as a dangerous waste; and were thankful to God that, though the waves +roared, He had set them a bound which they could not pass.<br> +<br> +So that there is no reason why the old Jews should think and speak more +cheerfully about the world than we here in England ought. They +had, too, the same human afflictions, sicknesses, dangers, disappointments, +losses and chastisements as we have. They had their full share +of all the ills to which flesh is heir. Yet look, I beg you, at +the cheerfulness of these two Psalms, the 147th and 148th. In +truth, it is more than cheerfulness; it is joy, rejoicing which can +only express itself in a song.<br> +<br> +These Psalms are songs, to be sung to music, and even in our translation +they are songs still, sounding like poetry, and not like prose.<br> +<br> +And why is this? Because the men who wrote these Psalms had faith +in God.<br> +<br> +They trusted God. They saw that He was worthy of their trust. +They saw that He was to be honoured, not merely for His boundless wisdom +and His boundless power: for a being might have them, and yet make a +bad use of them. But He was to be trusted, because He was a good +God. He was to be honoured, not for anything which men might get +out of Him (as the heathen fancied) by flattering Him, and begging of +Him: but He was to be honoured for His own sake, for what He was in +Himself - a just, merciful, kind, generous, magnanimous, and utterly +noble and perfect, moral Being, worthy of all admiration, praise, honour, +and glory.<br> +<br> +The Psalmist saw that God was good, and worthy to be praised. +But he saw, too, that he and his forefathers would never have found +out that for themselves. It was too great a discovery for man +to make. God must have showed it to them. God had showed +His word to Jacob, His statutes and ordinances to Israel.<br> +<br> +He had not done so to any other nation, neither had the heathen knowledge +of His laws. And, therefore, they did not trust God; they did +not consider Him a good God, and so they worshipped Baalim, the sun +and moon and stars, with silly and foul ceremonies, to procure from +them good harvests; and burnt their children in the fire to Moloch, +the fire-king, to keep off the earthquakes and the floods. God +had not taught them what He had taught Israel - to trust in Him, and +in His word which ran very swiftly, and in His laws, which could not +be broken: a faith which, my friends, we must do our best to keep up +in ourselves, and in our children after us. For it is very easy +to lose it, this faith in God. We are tempted to lose it, all +our lives long.<br> +<br> +Our forefathers, in the days of Popery, lost it; and because they did +not trust in God as a good God, who took good care of the world which +He had made, they fell to believing that the devil, and witches, the +servants of the devil, could raise storms, blight crops, strike cattle +and human beings with disease. And they began, too, to pray, not +to God, but to certain saints in heaven, to protect them against bodily +ills.<br> +<br> +One saint could cure one disease, and one another; one saint protected +the cattle, another kept off thunder, and so forth - I will not tell +you more, lest I should tempt you to smile in this holy place; and tempt +you, too, to look down on your forefathers, who (though they made these +mistakes) were just as honest and virtuous men as we.<br> +<br> +And even lately, up to this very time, there are those who have not +full faith in God; though they be good and pious persons, and good Protestants +too, who would shrink with horror from worshipping saints, or any being +save God alone. But they are apt to shut their eyes to the beauty +and order of God’s world, and to the glory of God set forth therein, +and to excuse themselves by quoting unfairly texts of Scripture. +They say that this world is all out of joint; corrupt, and cursed for +Adam’s sin: yet, where it is out of joint, and where it is corrupt, +they cannot show. And, as for its being cursed for Adam’s +sin, that is a dream which is contradicted by Holy Scripture itself. +For see. We read in Genesis iii. 17, ‘Cursed is the ground +for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; +thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.’<br> +<br> +Now, that the ground does not now bring forth thorns and thistles to +us, we know. For it brings forth whatsoever fair flower, or useful +herb, we plant therein, according to the laws of nature, which are the +laws of God. Neither do men eat thereof in sorrow; but, as Solomon +says, ‘eat their bread in joyfulness of heart.’ And +so did they in the Psalmist’s days; who never speak of the tillage +of the land without some expression of faith and confidence, and thankfulness +to that God who crowns the year with His goodness, and His clouds drop +fatness; while the hills rejoice on every side, and the valleys stand +so thick with corn, that they laugh and sing - of faith, I say, and +gratitude toward that God who brings forth the grass for the cattle, +and green herb for the service of men; who brings food out of the earth, +and wine to make glad the heart of man, and oil to give him a cheerful +countenance, and bread to strengthen man’s heart. Those +well-known words are in the 104th Psalm; and I ask any reasonable person +to read that Psalm through - the Psalm which contains the Jewish natural +theology, the Jew’s view of this world, and of God’s will +and dealings with it - and then say, could a man have written it who +thought that there was any curse upon this earth on account of man’s +sin?<br> +<br> +But more. The Book of Genesis says that there is none; for, after +it has said in the third chapter, ‘Cursed is the ground for thy +sake,’ it says again, in the eighth chapter, verse 21, ‘And +the Lord said in His heart, I will not again curse the ground for man’s +sake. While the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, cold and +heat, summer and winter, shall not cease.’<br> +<br> +Can any words be plainer? Whatever the curse in Adam’s days +may have been, does not the Book of Genesis represent it as being formally +abrogated and taken away in the days of Noah, that the regular course +of nature, fruitful and beneficent, might endure thenceforth?<br> +<br> +Accordingly, we hear no more in the Bible anywhere of this same curse. +We hear instead the very opposite; for one says, in the 119th Psalm, +speaking indeed of God, ‘O Lord, Thy word endureth for ever in +heaven. Thy truth also remaineth from one generation to another. +Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth, and it abideth. They +continue this day according to Thine ordinance: for all things serve +Thee.’ And so in the 148th Psalm, another speaks by the +Spirit of God; ‘Let all things praise the name of the Lord: for +He commanded, and they were created. He hath also established +them for ever and ever: He hath given them a law which shall not be +broken.’<br> +<br> +Yes, my friends, God’s law shall not be broken, and it is not +broken. And that faith, that the laws which govern the whole material +universe, cannot be broken, will be to us faith full of hope, and joy, +and confidence, if we will remember, with the Psalmist, that they are +the laws of the living God, and of the good God.<br> +<br> +They are the laws of the living God: not the laws of nature, or fate, +or necessity - all three words which mean little or nothing - but of +a living God in whom we live, and move, and have our being; whose word +- the creating, organizing, inspiring word - runneth very swiftly, making +all things to obey God, and not themselves.<br> +<br> +And they are the laws of a good God; of a moral God; of a generous, +loving, just, and merciful God, who, as the Psalmist reminds us (and +that is the reason of his confidence and his joy), while He telleth +the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names, condescends +at the same time to heal those who are broken in heart; of a God who, +while He giveth fodder to the cattle, and feedeth the young ravens who +call on Him, at the same time careth for those who fear Him, and put +their trust in His mercy; of a God who, while His power is great and +His wisdom infinite, at the same time sets up the meek, and brings the +ungodly down to the ground; of a Father in heaven who is perfect in +this - that He sends His sun and rain alike on the just and the unjust, +and is good to the unthankful and the evil; of a Father, lastly, who +so loved the world, that He spared not His only-begotten Son, but freely +gave Him for us, and has committed to that Son all power in heaven and +earth; - all power over the material world, which we call nature, as +well as over the moral world, which is the hearts and spirits of men +- to that Word of God who runneth very swiftly, who is sharper than +a two-edged sword, and yet more tender than the love of woman; even +Jesus Christ the Saviour, the Word of God, who was in the beginning +with God, and was God; by whom all things were made; who is the true +Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world, if by any +means he will receive the light of God, and see thereby the true and +wise laws of Nature and of Spirit.<br> +<br> +This is our God. This is He who sends food and wealth, rain and +sunshine. Shall we not trust Him? If we thank Him for plenty, +and fine weather, which we see to be blessings without doubt, shall +we not trust Him for scarcity and bad weather, which do not seem to +us to be blessings, and yet may be blessings nevertheless? Shall +we not believe that His very chastisements are mercies? Shall +we not accept them in faith, as the child takes from its parent’s +hand bitter medicine, the use of which it cannot see; but takes it in +faith that its parent knows best, and that its parent’s purpose +is only love and benevolence? Shall we not say with Job - Though +He slay me, yet will I trust in Him? He cannot mean my harm; He +must mean my good, and the good of all mankind. He must - even +by such seeming calamities as great rains, or failure of crops - even +by them He must be benefiting mankind. Recollect, as a single +instance, that the great rains of 1860, which terrified so many, are +proved now to have saved some thousands of lives in England from fever +and similar diseases. Take courage; and have, as the old Psalmist +had, faith in God. Believe that nothing goes wrong in this world, +save through the sin, and folly, and ignorance of man; that God is always +right, always wise, always benevolent: and be sure that you, each and +all, are -<br> +<br> +<br> +‘Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,<br> +Or in the natal, or the mortal hour,<br> +All nature is but art, unknown to thee;<br> +All chance, discretion which thou can it not see.<br> +All discord, harmony not understood;<br> +All partial evil, universal good;<br> +And spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,<br> +One truth is clear - whatever is, is right.’<br> +<br> +<br> +And pray to God that He may fill you with His Spirit, the spirit of +wisdom and understanding, of knowledge and grace of the Lord, and show +to you, as He showed to the Jews of old, His laws and judgments, and +so teach you how to see that the only thing on earth which is not right, +is - the sin of man.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE WATER OF LIFE ETC. ***<br> +<pre> + +******This file should be named wtlf10h.htm or wtlf10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, wtlf11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wtlf10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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