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diff --git a/5687-h/5687-h.htm b/5687-h/5687-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7dd1593 --- /dev/null +++ b/5687-h/5687-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6405 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Water of Life, by Charles Kingsley</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +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: 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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