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diff --git a/7954-h/7954-h.htm b/7954-h/7954-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6fba5b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/7954-h/7954-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7358 @@ +<!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>Twenty-Five Village Sermons, 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, Twenty-Five Village Sermons, 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: Twenty-Five Village Sermons + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: October 24, 2014 [eBook #7954] +[This file was first posted on June 4, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1849 John W. Parker edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1><span class="GutSmall">TWENTY-FIVE</span><br /> +VILLAGE SERMONS.</h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +CHARLES KINGSLEY, <span class="smcap">Jun</span>.,</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">RECTOR OF +EVERSLEY, HANTS, AND CANON OF MIDDLEHAM, YORKSHIRE.</span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> +JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND.</p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">MDCCCXLIX.</span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON:<br /> +Printed by G. <span class="smcap">Barclay</span>, Castle St +Leicester Sq.</p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">Page</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON I.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">GOD’S WORLD.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm</span> +civ. 24.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou +made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches</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> +<p style="text-align: center">RELIGION NOT GODLINESS.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm</span> +civ. 13–15.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is +satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass +to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he +may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad +the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread +which strengtheneth man’s heart</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page13">13</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON III.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">LIFE AND DEATH.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm</span> +civ. 24, 28–30.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou +made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. That Thou +givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled +with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou +takest away their breath, they die, and return to their +dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created: and +Thou renewest the face of the earth</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page25">25</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON IV.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">James</span>, +i. 16, 17.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good gift and every +perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of +lights</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page35">35</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON V.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">FAITH.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Habakkuk</span>, ii. 4.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The just shall live by faith</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page47">47</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON VI.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Galatians</span>, v. 16.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil +the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the +Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary +the one to the other</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page60">60</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON VII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">RETRIBUTION.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Numbers</span>, +xxxii. 23.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Be sure your sin will find you out</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page72">72</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON VIII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">SELF-DESTRUCTION.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">1 <span class="smcap">Kings</span>, +xxii. 23.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these +thy prophets</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page82">82</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON IX.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">HELL ON EARTH.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Matthew</span>, +viii. 29.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>And behold the evil spirits cried out, saying, What have +we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come +hither to torment us before the time?</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page91">91</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON X.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">NOAH’S JUSTICE.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Genesis</span>, +vi. 9.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and +Noah walked with God</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page104">104</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XI.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE NOACHIC COVENANT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Gen</span>. ix. +8, 9.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, +And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your +seed after you</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page116">116</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">ABRAHAM’S FAITH.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Hebrews</span>, +xi. 9, 10.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a +strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, +the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a +city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page125">125</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XIII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Hebrews</span>, +xi. 17–19.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and +he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten +son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: +accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; +from whence also he received him in a figure</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page141">141</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XIV.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">1 <span class="smcap">John</span>, +ii. 13.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>I write unto you, little children, because ye have known +the Father</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page149">149</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XV.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE TRANSFIGURATION.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Mark</span>, +ix. 2.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them +up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before +them</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page160">160</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XVI.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE CRUCIFIXION.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Isaiah</span>, +liii. 7.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page173">173</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XVII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE RESURRECTION.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Luke</span>, +xxiv. 6.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>He is not here—He is risen</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page179">179</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XVIII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">IMPROVEMENT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Psalm</span> +xcii. 12.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall +grow like the cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in +the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our +God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they +shall be fat and flourishing</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page191">191</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XIX.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">MAN’S WORKING DAY.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">John</span>, +xi. 9, 10.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the +day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because +he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the +night he stumbleth, because there is no light in him</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page200">200</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XX.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">ASSOCIATION.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Galatians</span>, vi. 2.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law +of Christ</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page210">210</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XXI.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">HEAVEN ON EARTH.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">1 <span class="smcap">Cor</span>. +x. 31.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to +the glory of God</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page219">219</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XXII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">NATIONAL PRIVILEGES.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Luke</span>, x. +23.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see: +for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see +those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear +those things which ye hear, and have not heard them</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page228">228</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XXIII.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">LENTEN THOUGHTS.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Haggai</span>, +i. 5.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider +your ways</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page239">239</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XXIV.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">ON BOOKS.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">John</span>, i. +1.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, +and the Word was God</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page248">248</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">SERMON XXV.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">John</span>, +xi. 7, 8.</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into +Judea again. His disciples say to Him, Master, the Jews of +late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again?</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page259">259</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span>SERMON +I.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">GOD’S WORLD.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> civ. 24.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“O Lord, how manifold are Thy +works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of +Thy riches.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">When</span> we read such psalms as the one +from which this verse is taken, we cannot help, if we consider, +feeling at once a great difference between them and any hymns or +religious poetry which is commonly written or read in these +days. The hymns which are most liked now, and the psalms +which people most willingly choose out of the Bible, are those +which speak, or seem to speak, about God’s dealings with +people’s own souls, while such psalms as this are +overlooked. People do not care really about psalms of this +kind when they find them in the Bible, and they do not expect or +wish nowadays any one to write poetry like them. For these +psalms of which I speak praise and honour God, not for what He +has done to our souls, but for what He has done and is doing in +the world around us. This very 104th psalm, for instance, +speaks entirely about things which we hardly care or even think +proper to mention in church now. It speaks of this earth +entirely, and the things on it. Of the light, the clouds, +and wind—of hills and valleys, and the springs on the +hill-sides—of wild beasts and birds—of grass and +corn, and wine and oil—of the sun and moon, night and +day—the great sea, the ships, and the fishes, and all the +wonderful and nameless creatures which people the +waters—the very birds’ nests in the high trees, and +the rabbits burrowing among the rocks,—nothing on the earth +but this psalm thinks it worth mentioning. And all this, +which one would expect to find only in a book of natural history, +is in the Bible, in one of the psalms, written to be sung in the +temple at Jerusalem, before the throne of the living God and His +glory which used to be seen in that temple,—inspired, as we +all believe, by God’s Spirit,—God’s own word, +in short: that is worth thinking of. Surely the man who +wrote this must have thought very differently about this world, +with its fields and woods, and beasts and birds, from what we +think. Suppose, now, that we had been old Jews in the +temple, standing before the holy house, and that we believed, as +the Jews believed, that there was only one thin wall and one +curtain of linen between us and the glory of the living God, that +unspeakable brightness and majesty which no one could look at for +fear of instant death, except the high-priest in fear and +trembling once a-year—that inside that small holy house, +He, God Almighty, appeared visibly—God who made heaven and +earth. Suppose we had been there in the temple, and known +all this, should we have liked to be singing about beasts and +birds, with God Himself close to us? We should not have +liked it—we should have been terrified, thinking perhaps +about our own sinfulness, perhaps about that wonderful majesty +which dwelt inside. We should have wished to say or sing +something spiritual, as we call it; at all events, something very +different from the 104th psalm about woods, and rivers, and dumb +beasts. We do not like the thought of such a thing: it +seems almost irreverent, almost impertinent to God to be talking +of such things in His presence. Now does this shew us that +we think about this earth, and the things in it, in a very +different way from those old Jews? They thought it a fit +and proper thing to talk about corn and wine and oil, and cattle +and fishes, in the presence of Almighty God, and we do not think +it fit and proper. We read this psalm when it comes in the +Church-service as a matter of course, mainly because we do not +believe that God is here among us. We should not be so +ready to read it if we thought that Almighty God was so near +us.</p> +<p>That is a great difference between us and the old Jews. +Whether it shews that we are better or not than they were in the +main, I cannot tell; perhaps some of them had such thoughts too, +and said, ‘It is not respectful to God to talk about such +commonplace earthly things in His presence;’ perhaps some +of them thought themselves spiritual and pure-minded for looking +down on this psalm, and on David for writing it. Very +likely, for men have had such thoughts in all ages, and will have +them. But the man who wrote this psalm had no such +thoughts. He said himself, in this same psalm, that his +words would please God. Nay, he is not speaking and +preaching <i>about</i> God in this psalm, as I am now in my +sermon, but he is doing more; he is speaking <i>to</i> +God—a much more solemn thing if you will think of it. +He says, “O Lord my God, <i>Thou</i> art become exceeding +glorious. Thou deckest Thyself with light as with a +garment. All the beasts wait on Thee; when Thou givest them +meat they gather it. Thou renewest the face of the +earth.” When he turns and speaks of God as +“He,” saying, “He appointed the moon,” +and so on, he cannot help going back to God, and pouring out his +wonder, and delight, and awe, to God Himself, as we would sooner +speak <i>to</i> any one we love and honour than merely speak +<i>about</i> them. He cannot take his mind off God. +And just at the last, when he does turn and speak to himself, it +is to say, “Praise thou the Lord, O my soul, praise the +Lord,” as if rebuking and stirring up himself for being too +cold-hearted and slow, for not admiring and honouring enough the +infinite wisdom, and power, and love, and glorious majesty of +God, which to him shines out in every hedge-side bird and every +blade of grass. Truly I said that man had a very different +way of looking at God’s earth from what we have!</p> +<p>Now, in what did that difference lie? What was it? +We need not look far to see. It was this,—David +looked on the earth as God’s earth; we look on it as +man’s earth, or nobody’s earth. We know that we +are here, with trees and grass, and beasts and birds, round +us. And we know that we did not put them here; and that, +after we are dead and gone, they will go on just as they went on +before we were born,—each tree, and flower, and animal, +after its kind, but we know nothing more. The earth is +here, and we on it; but who put it there, and why it is there, +and why we are on it, instead of being anywhere else, few ever +think. But to David the earth looked very different; it had +quite another meaning; it spoke to him of God who made it. +By seeing what this earth is like, he saw what God who made it is +like: and we see no such thing. The earth?—we can eat +the corn and cattle on it, we can earn money by farming it, and +ploughing and digging it; and that is all most men know about +it. But David knew something more—something which +made him feel himself very weak, and yet very safe; very ignorant +and stupid, and yet honoured with glorious knowledge from +God,—something which made him feel that he belonged to this +world, and must not forget it or neglect it, that this earth was +his lesson-book—this earth was his work-field; and yet +those same thoughts which shewed him how he was made for the land +round him, and the land round him was made for him, shewed him +also that he belonged to another world—a spirit-world; +shewed him that when this world passed away, he should live for +ever; shewed him that while he had a mortal body, he had an +immortal soul too; shewed him that though his home and business +were here on earth, yet that, for that very reason, his home and +business were in heaven, with God who made the earth, with that +blessed One of whom he said, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning +hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the +work of thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt +endure; they all shall fade as a garment, and like a vesture +shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art +the same, and <i>Thy</i> years shall not fail. The children +of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall stand fast +in Thy sight.” “As a garment shalt Thou change +them,”—ay, there was David’s secret! He +saw that this earth and skies are God’s garment—the +garment by which we see God; and that is what our forefathers saw +too, and just what we have forgotten; but David had not forgotten +it. Look at this very 104th psalm again, how he refers +every thing to God. We say, ‘The light shines:’ +David says something more; he says, “Thou, O God, adornest +Thyself with light as with a curtain.” Light is a +picture of God. “God,” says St. John, “is +light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” We say, +‘The clouds fly and the wind blows,’ as if they went +of themselves; David says, “God makes the clouds His +chariot, and walks upon the wings of the wind.” We +talk of the rich airs of spring, of the flashing lightning of +summer, as dead things; and men who call themselves wise say, +that lightning is only matter,—‘We can grind the like +of it out of glass and silk, and make lightning for ourselves in +a small way;’ and so they can in a small way, and in a very +small one: David does not deny that, but he puts us in mind of +something in that lightning and those breezes which we cannot +make. He says, God makes the winds His angels, and flaming +fire his ministers; and St. Paul takes the same text, and turns +it round to suit his purpose, when he is talking of the blessed +angels, saying, ‘That text in the 104th Psalm means +something more; it means that God makes His angels spirits, (that +is winds) and His ministers a flaming fire.’ So +shewing us that in those breezes there are living spirits, that +God’s angels guide those thunder-clouds; that the roaring +thunderclap is a shock in the air truly, but that it is something +more—that it is the voice of God, which shakes the +cedar-trees of Lebanon, and tears down the thick bushes, and +makes the wild deer slip their young. So we read in the +psalms in church; that is David’s account of the +thunder. I take it for a true account; you may or not as +you like. See again. Those springs in the hill-sides, +how do they come there? ‘Rain-water soaking and +flowing out,’ we say. True, but David says something +more; he says, God sends the springs, and He sends them into the +rivers too. You may say, ‘Why, water must run +down-hill, what need of God?’ But suppose God had +chosen that water should run <i>up</i>-hill and not down, how +would it have been then?—Very different, I think. No; +He sends them; He sends all things. Wherever there is any +thing useful, His Spirit has settled it. The help that is +done on earth He doeth it all Himself.—Loving and +merciful,—caring for the poor dumb beasts!—He sends +the springs, and David says, “All the beasts of the field +drink thereof.” The wild animals in the night, He +cares for them too,—He, the Almighty God. We hear the +foxes bark by night, and we think the fox is hungry, and there it +ends with us; but not with David: he says, “The lions +roaring after their prey do seek their meat from +God,”—God, who feedeth the young ravens who call upon +Him. He is a God! “He did not make the +world,” says a wise man, “and then let it spin round +His finger,” as we wind up a watch, and then leave it to go +of itself. No; “His mercy is over all His +works.” Loving and merciful, the God of nature is the +God of grace. The same love which chose us and our +forefathers for His people while we were yet dead in trespasses +and sins; the same only-begotten Son, who came down on earth to +die for us poor wretches on the cross,—that same love, that +same power, that same Word of God, who made heaven and earth, +looks after the poor gnats in the winter time, that they may have +a chance of coming out of the ground when the day stirs the +little life in them, and dance in the sunbeam for a short hour of +gay life, before they return to the dust whence they were made, +to feed creatures nobler and more precious than themselves. +That is all God’s doing, all the doing of Christ, the King +of the earth. “They wait on Him,” says +David. The beasts, and birds, and insects, the strange +fish, and shells, and the nameless corals too, in the deep, deep +sea, who build and build below the water for years and thousands +of years, every little, tiny creature bringing his atom of lime +to add to the great heap, till their heap stands out of the water +and becomes dry land; and seeds float thither over the wide waste +sea, and trees grow up, and birds are driven thither by storms; +and men come by accident in stray ships, and build, and sow, and +multiply, and raise churches, and worship the God of heaven, and +Christ, the blessed One,—on that new land which the little +coral worms have built up from the deep. Consider +that. Who sent them there? Who contrived that those +particular men should light on that new island at that especial +time? Who guided thither those seeds—those +birds? Who gave those insects that strange longing and +power to build and build on continually?—Christ, by whom +all things are made, to whom all power is given in heaven and +earth; He and His Spirit, and none else. It is when +<i>He</i> opens His hand, they are filled with good. It is +when <i>He</i> takes away their breath, they die, and turn again +to their dust. <i>He</i> lets His breath, His spirit, go +forth, and out of that dead dust grow plants and herbs afresh for +man and beast, and He renews the face of the earth. For, +says the wise man, “all things are God’s +garment”—outward and visible signs of His unseen and +unapproachable glory; and when they are worn out, He changes +them, says the Psalmist, as a garment, and they shall be +changed.</p> +<p class="poetry">The old order changes, giving place to the +new,<br /> +And God fulfils Himself in many ways.</p> +<p>But He is the same. He is there all the time. All +things are His work. In all things we may see Him, if our +souls have eyes. All things, be they what they may, which +live and grow on this earth, or happen on land or in the sky, +will tell us a tale of God,—shew forth some one feature, at +least, of our blessed Saviour’s countenance and +character,—either His foresight, or His wisdom, or His +order, or His power, or His love, or His condescension, or His +long-suffering, or His slow, sure vengeance on those who break +His laws. It is all written there outside in the great +green book, which God has given to labouring men, and which +neither taxes nor tyrants can take from them. The man who +is no scholar in letters may read of God as he follows the +plough, for the earth he ploughs is his Father’s: there is +God’s mark and seal on it,—His name, which though it +is written on the dust, yet neither man nor fiend can wipe it +out!</p> +<p>The poor, solitary, untaught boy, who keeps the sheep, or +minds the birds, long lonely days, far from his mother and his +playmates, may keep alive in him all purifying thoughts, if he +will but open his eyes and look at the green earth around +him.</p> +<p>Think now, my boys, when you are at your work, how all things +may put you in mind of God, if you do but choose. The trees +which shelter you from the wind, God planted them there for your +sakes, in His love.—There is a lesson about God. The +birds which you drive off the corn, who gave them the sense to +keep together and profit by each other’s wit and keen +eyesight? Who but God, who feeds the young birds when they +call on Him?—There is another lesson about God. The +sheep whom you follow, who ordered the warm wool to grow on them, +from which your clothes are made? Who but the Spirit of God +above, who clothes the grass of the field, the silly sheep, and +who clothes you, too, and thinks of you when you don’t +think of yourselves?—There is another lesson about +God. The feeble lambs in spring, they ought to remind you +surely of your blessed Saviour, the Lamb of God, who died for you +upon the cruel cross, who was led as a lamb to the slaughter; and +like a sheep that lies dumb and patient under the shearer’s +hand, so he opened not his mouth. Are not these lambs, +then, a lesson from God? And these are but one or two +examples out of thousands and thousands. Oh, that I could +make you, young and old, all feel these things! Oh, that I +could make you see God in every thing, and every thing in +God! Oh, that I could make you look on this earth, not as a +mere dull, dreary prison, and workhouse for your mortal bodies, +but as a living book, to speak to you at every time of the living +God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Sure I am that that would +be a heavenly life for you,—sure I am that it would keep +you from many a sin, and stir you up to many a holy thought and +deed, if you could learn to find in every thing around you, +however small or mean, the work of God’s hand, the likeness +of God’s countenance, the shadow of God’s glory.</p> +<h2><a name="page13"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 13</span>SERMON +II.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">RELIGION NOT GODLINESS.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> civ. 13–15.</p> +<p>“He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is +satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He causeth the grass +to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he +may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad +the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread +which strengtheneth man’s heart.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Did</span> you ever remark, my friends, +that the Bible says hardly any thing about religion—that it +never praises religious people? This is very curious. +Would to God we would all remember it! The Bible speaks of +a religious man only once, and of religion only twice, except +where it speaks of the Jews’ religion to condemn it, and +shews what an empty, blind, useless thing it was.</p> +<p>What does this Bible talk of, then? It talks of God; not +of religion, but of God. It tells us not to be religious, +but to be godly. You may think there is no difference, or +that it is but a difference of words. I tell you that a +difference in words is a very awful, important difference. +A difference in words is a difference in things. Words are +very awful and wonderful things, for they come from the most +awful and wonderful of all beings, Jesus Christ, the Word. +He puts words into men’s minds—He made all things, +and He makes all words to express those things with. And +woe to those who use the wrong words about things!—For if a +man calls any thing by its wrong name, it is a sure sign that he +understands that thing wrongly, or feels about it wrongly; and +therefore a man’s words are oftener honester than he +thinks; for as a man’s words are, so is a man’s +heart; out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths speak; and, +therefore, by right words, by the right names which we call +things, we shall be justified, and by our words, by the wrong +names we call things, we shall be condemned.</p> +<p>Therefore a difference in words is a difference in the things +which those words mean, and there is a difference between +religion and godliness; and we shew it by our words. Now +these are religious times, but they are very ungodly times; and +we shew that also by our words. Because we think that +people ought to be religious, we talk a great deal about +religion; because we hardly think at all that a man ought to be +godly, we talk very little about God, and that good old Bible +word “godliness” does not pass our lips once +a-month. For a man may be very religious, my friends, and +yet very ungodly. The heathens were very religious at the +very time that, as St. Paul tells us, they would not keep God in +their knowledge. The Jews were the most religious people on +the earth, they hardly talked or thought about anything but +religion, at the very time that they knew so little of God that +they crucified Him when He came down among them. St. Paul +says that he was living after the strictest sect of the +Jews’ religion, at the very time that he was fighting +against God, persecuting God’s people and God’s Son, +and dead in trespasses and sins. These are ugly facts, my +friends, but they are true, and well worth our laying to heart in +these religious, ungodly days. I am afraid if Jesus Christ +came down into England this day as a carpenter’s son, He +would get—a better hearing, perhaps, than the Jews gave +him, but still a very bad hearing—one dare hardly think of +it.</p> +<p>And yet I believe we ought to think of it, and, by God’s +help, I will one day preach you a sermon, asking you all round +this fair question:—If Jesus Christ came to you in the +shape of a poor man, whom nobody knew, should <i>you</i> know +him? should you admire him, fall at his feet and give yourself up +to him body and soul? I am afraid that I, for one, should +not—I am afraid that too many of us here would not. +That comes of thinking more of religion than we do of +godliness—in plain words, more of our own souls than we do +of Jesus Christ. But you will want to know what is, after +all, the difference between religion and godliness? Just +the difference, my friends, that there is between always thinking +of self and always forgetting self—between the terror of a +slave and the affection of a child—between the fear of hell +and the love of God. For, tell me, what you mean by being +religious? Do you not mean thinking a great deal about your +own souls, and praying and reading about your own souls, and +trying by all possible means to get your own souls saved? +Is not that the meaning of religion? And yet I have never +mentioned God’s name in describing it! This sort of +religion must have very little to do with God. You may be +surprised at my words, and say in your hearts almost angrily, +‘Why who saves our souls but God? therefore religion must +have to do with God.’ But, my friends, for your +souls’ sake, and for God’s sake, ask yourselves this +question on your knees this day:—If you could get your +souls saved without God’s help, would it make much +difference to you? Suppose an angel from heaven, as they +say, was to come down and prove to you clearly that there was no +God, no blessed Jesus in heaven, that the world made itself, and +went on of itself, and that the Bible was all a mistake, but that +you need not mind, for your gardens and crops would grow just as +well, and your souls be saved just as well when you died.</p> +<p>To how many of you would it make any difference? To some +of you, thank God, I believe it would make a difference. +Here are some here, I believe, who would feel that news the worst +news they ever heard,—worse than if they were told that +their souls were lost for ever; there are some here, I do +believe, who, at that news, would cry aloud in agony, like little +children who had lost their father, and say, ‘No Father in +heaven to love? No blessed Jesus in heaven to work for, and +die for, and glory and delight in? No God to rule and +manage this poor, miserable, quarrelsome world, bringing good out +of evil, blessing and guiding all things and people on +earth? What do I care what becomes of my soul if there is +no God for my soul to glory in? What is heaven worth +without God? God is Heaven!’</p> +<p>Yes, indeed, what would heaven be worth without God? But +how many people feel that the curse of this day is, that most +people have forgotten <i>that</i>? They are selfishly +anxious enough about their own souls, but they have forgotten +God. They are religious, for fear of hell; but they are not +godly, for they do not love God, or see God’s hand in every +thing. They forget that they have a Father in heaven; that +He sends rain, and sunshine, and fruitful seasons; that He gives +them all things richly to enjoy in spite of all their sins. +His mercies are far above, out of their sight, and therefore His +judgments are far away out of their sight too; and so they talk +of the “Visitation of God,” as if it was something +that was very extraordinary, and happened very seldom; and when +it came, only brought evil, harm, and sorrow. If a man +lives on in health, they say he lives by the strength of his own +constitution; if he drops down dead, they say he died by +“the visitation of God.” If the corn-crops go +on all right and safe, they think <i>that</i> quite +natural—the effect of the soil, and the weather, and their +own skill in farming and gardening. But if there comes a +hailstorm or a blight, and spoils it all, and brings on a famine, +they call it at once “a visitation of God.” My +friends! do you think God “visits” the earth or you +only to harm you? I tell you that every blade of grass +grows by “the visitation of God.” I tell you +that every healthy breath you ever drew, every cheerful hour you +ever spent, every good crop you ever housed safely, came to you +by “the visitation of God.” I tell you that +every sensible thought or plan that ever came into your +heads,—every loving, honest, manly, womanly feeling that +ever rose in your hearts, God “visited” you to put it +there. If God’s Spirit had not given it you, you +would never have got it of yourselves.</p> +<p>But people forget this, and therefore they have so little real +love to God—so little real, loyal, childlike trust in +God. They do not think much about God, because they find no +pleasure in thinking about Him; they look on God as a +task-master, gathering where He has not strewed, reaping where He +has not sown,—a task-master who has put them, very +miserable, sinful creatures, to struggle on in a very miserable, +sinful world, and, though He tells them in His Bible that they +<i>cannot</i> keep His commandments, expects them to keep them +just the same, and will at the last send them all into +everlasting fire, unless they take a great deal of care, and give +up a great many natural and pleasant things, and beseech and +entreat Him very hard to excuse them, after all. This is +the thought which most people have of God, even religious people; +they look on God as a stern tyrant, who, when man sinned and +fell, could not satisfy His own justice—His own vengeance +in plain words, without killing some one, and who would have +certainly killed all mankind, if Jesus Christ had not interfered, +and said, “If Thou must slay some one, slay me, though I am +innocent!”</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, does not this all sound horrible and +irreverent? And yet if you will but look into your own +hearts, will you not find some such thoughts there? I am +sure you will. I believe every man finds such thoughts in +his heart now and then. I find them in my own heart: I know +that they must be in the hearts of others, because I see them +producing their natural fruits in people’s actions—a +selfish, slavish view of religion, with little or no real love to +God, or real trust in Him; but a great deal of uneasy dread of +Him: for this is just the dark, false view of God, and of the +good news of salvation and the kingdom of heaven, which the devil +is always trying to make men take. The Evil One tries to +make us forget that God is love; he tries to make us forget that +God gives us all things richly to enjoy; he tries to make us +forget that God gives at all, and to make us think that we take, +not that He gives; to make us look at God as a task-master, not +as a father; in one word, to make us mistake the devil for God, +and God for the devil.</p> +<p>And, therefore, it is that we ought to bless God for such +Scriptures as this 104th Psalm, which He seems to have preserved +in the Bible just to contradict these dark, slavish +notions,—just to testify that God is a <i>giver</i>, and +knows our necessities before we ask and gives us all things, even +as He gave us His Blessed Son—freely, long before we wanted +them,—from the foundation of all things, before ever the +earth and the world was made—from all eternity, perpetual +love, perpetual bounty.</p> +<p>What does this text teach us? To look at God as Him who +gives to all freely and upbraideth not. It says to +us,—Do not suppose that your crops grow of +themselves. God waters the hills from above. He +causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and the green herb for +the service of man. Do not suppose that He cares nothing +about seeing you comfortable and happy. It is He, He only +who sends all which strengthens man’s body, and makes glad +his heart, and makes him of a cheerful countenance. His +will is that you should be cheerful. Ah, my friends, if we +would but believe all this!—we are too apt to say to +ourselves, ‘Our earthly comforts here have nothing to do +with godliness or God, God must save our souls, but our bodies we +must save ourselves. God gives us spiritual blessings, but +earthly blessings, the good things of this life, for them we must +scramble and drudge ourselves, and get as much of them as we can +without offending God;’—as if God grudged us our +comforts! as if godliness had not the promise of this life as +well as the life to come! If we would but believe that God +knows our necessities before we ask—that He gives us daily +more than we can ever get by working for it!—if we would +but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all +other things would be added to us; and we should find that he who +loses his life should save it. And this way of looking at +God’s earth would not make us idle; it would not tempt us +to sit with folded hands for God’s blessings to drop into +our mouths. No! I believe it would make men far more +industrious than ever mere self-interest can make them; they +would say, ‘God is our Father, He gave us His own Son, He +gives us all things freely, we owe Him not slavish service, but a +boundless debt of cheerful gratitude. Therefore we must do +His will, and we are sure His will must be our happiness and +comfort—therefore we must do His will, and His will is that +we should <i>work</i>, and therefore we <i>must</i> work. +He has bidden us labour on this earth—He has bidden us +dress it and keep it, conquer it and fill it for Him. We +are His stewards here on earth, and therefore it is a glory and +an honour to be allowed to work here in God’s own +land—in our loving Father’s own garden. We do +not know why He wishes us to labour and till the ground, for He +could have fed us with manna from heaven if He liked, as He fed +the Jews of old, without our working at all. But His will +is that we should work; and work we will, not for our own sakes +merely, but for His sake, because we know He likes it, and for +the sake of our brothers, our countrymen, for whom Christ +died.’</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, why is it that so many till the ground +industriously, and yet grow poorer and poorer for all their +drudging and working? It is their own fault. They +till the ground for their own sakes, and not for God’s sake +and for their countrymen’s sake; and so, as the Prophet +says, they sow much and bring in little, and he who earns wages +earns them to put in a bag full of holes. Suppose you try +the opposite plan. Suppose you say to yourself, ‘I +will work henceforward because God wishes me to work. I +will work henceforward for my country’s sake, because I +feel that God has given me a noble and a holy calling when He set +me to grow food for His children, the people of England. As +for my wages and my profit, God will take care of them if they +are just; and if they are unjust, He will take care of them +too. He, at all events, makes the garden and the field +grow, and not I. My land is filled, not with the fruit of +my work, but with the fruit of His work. He will see that I +lose nothing by my labour. If I till the soil for God and +for God’s children, I may trust God to pay me my +wages.’ Oh, my friends, He who feeds the young birds +when they call upon Him; and far, far more, He who gave you His +only-begotten Son, will He not with Him freely give you all +things? For, after all done, He must give to you, or you +will not get. You may fret and stint, and scrape and +puzzle; one man may sow, and another man may water; but, after +all, who can give the increase but God? Can you make a load +of hay, unless He has first grown it for you, and then dried it +for you? If you would but think a little more about Him, if +you would believe that your crops were His gifts, and in your +hearts offer them up to Him as thank-offerings, see if He would +not help you to sell your crops as well as to house them. +He would put you in the way of an honest profit for your labour, +just as surely as He only put you in the way of labouring at +all. “Trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell in +the land, and verily thou shalt be fed;” for “without +me,” says our Lord, “you can do nothing.” +No: these are His own words—nothing. To Him all power +is given in heaven and earth; He knows every root and every leaf, +and feeds it. Will He not much more feed you, oh ye of +little faith? Do you think that He has made His world so +ill that a man cannot get on in it unless he is a rogue? +No. Cast all your care on Him, and see if you do not find +out ere long that He cares for you, and has cared for you from +all eternity.</p> +<h2><a name="page25"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 25</span>SERMON +III.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">LIFE AND DEATH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> civ. 24, 28–30.</p> +<p>“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou +made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. That Thou +givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled +with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou +takest away their breath, they die, and return to their +dust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created: and +Thou renewest the face of the earth.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">had</span> intended to go through this +psalm with you in regular order; but things have happened this +parish, awful and sad, during the last week, which I was bound +not to let slip without trying to bring them home to your hearts, +if by any means I could persuade the thoughtless ones among you +to be wise and consider your latter end:—I mean the sad +deaths of various of our acquaintances. The death-bell has +been tolled in this parish three times, I believe, in one +day—a thing which has seldom happened before, and which God +grant may never happen again. Within two miles of this +church there are now five lying dead. Five human beings, +young as well as old, to whom the awful words of the text have +been fulfilled: “Thou takest away their breath, they die, +and return to their dust.” And the very day on which +three of these deaths happened was Ascension-day—the day on +which Jesus, the Lord of life, the Conqueror of death, ascended +upon high, having led captivity captive, and became the +first-fruits of the grave, to send down from the heaven of +eternal life the Spirit who is the Giver of life. That was +a strange mixture, death seemingly triumphant over Christ’s +people on the very day on which life triumphed in Jesus Christ +Himself. Let us see, though, whether death has not +something to do with Ascension-day. Let us see whether a +sermon about death is not a fit sermon for the Sunday after +Ascension-day. Let us see whether the text has not a +message about life and death too—a message which may make +us feel that in the midst of life we are in death, and that yet +in the midst of death we are in life; that however things may +<i>seem</i>, yet death has not conquered life, but life has +conquered and <i>will</i> conquer death, and conquer it most +completely at the very moment that we die, and our bodies return +to their dust.</p> +<p>Do I speak riddles? I think the text will explain my +riddles, for it tells us how life comes, how death comes. +Life comes from God: He sends forth His spirit, and things are +made, and He renews the face of the earth. We read in the +very two verses of the book of Genesis how the Spirit of God +moved upon the face of the waters the creation, and woke all +things into life. Therefore the Creed well calls the Holy +Ghost, the Spirit of God, that is—the Lord and Giver of +life. And the text tells us that He gives life, not only to +us who have immortal souls, but to every thing on the face of the +earth; for the psalm has been talking all through, not only of +men, but of beasts, fishes, trees, and rivers, and rocks, sun and +moon. Now, all these things have a life in them. Not +a life like ours; but still you speak rightly and wisely when you +say, ‘That tree is alive, and, That tree is dead. +That running water is live water—it is sweet and fresh, but +if it is kept standing it begins to putrefy, its life is gone +from it, and a sort of death comes over it, and makes it foul, +and unwholesome, and unfit to drink.’ This is a deep +matter, this, how there is a sort of life in every thing, even to +the stones under our feet. I do not mean, of course, that +stones can think as our life makes us do, or feel as the +beasts’ life makes them do, or even grow as the +trees’ life makes them do; but I mean that their life keeps +them as they are, without changing or decaying. You hear +miners and quarrymen talk very truly of the live rock. That +stone, they say, was cut out of the live rock, meaning the rock +as it is under ground, sound and hard—as it would be, for +aught we know, to the end of time, unless it was taken out of the +ground, out of the place where God’s Spirit meant it to be, +and brought up to the open air and the rain, in which it is not +its nature to be. And then you will see that the life of +the stone begins to pass from it bit by bit, that it crumbles and +peels away, and, in short, decays and is turned again to its +dust. Its organisation, as it is called, or life, ends, and +then—what? does the stone lie for ever useless? +No! And there is the great blessed mystery of how +God’s Spirit is always bringing life out of death. +When the stone is decayed and crumbled down to dust and clay, it +makes <i>soil</i>—this very soil here, which you plough, is +the decayed ruins of ancient hills; the clay which you dig up in +the fields was once part of some slate or granite mountains, +which were worn away by weather and water, that they might become +fruitful earth. Wonderful! but any one who has studied +these things can tell you they are true. Any one who has +ever lived in mountainous countries ought to have seen the thing +happen, ought to know that the land in the mountain valleys is +made at first, and kept rich year by year, by the washings from +the hills above; and this is the reason why land left dry by +rivers and by the sea is generally so rich. Then what +becomes of the soil? It begins a new life. The roots +of the plants take it up; the salts which they find in +it—the staple, as we call them—go to make leaves and +seed; the very sand has its use, it feeds the stalks of corn and +grass, and makes them stiff. The corn-stalks would never +stand upright if they could not get sand from the soil. So +what a thousand years ago made part of a mountain, now makes part +of a wheat-plant; and in a year more the wheat grain will have +been eaten, and the wheat straw perhaps eaten too, and they will +have <i>died</i>—decayed in the bodies of the animals who +have eaten them, and then they will begin a third new +life—they will be turned into parts of the animal’s +body—of a man’s body. So that what is now your +bone and flesh, may have been once a rock on some hillside a +hundred miles away.</p> +<p>Strange, but true! all learned men know that it is true. +You, if you think over my words, may see that they are at least +reasonable. But still most wonderful! This world +works right well, surely. It obeys God’s +Spirit. Oh, my friends, if we fulfilled our life and our +duty as well as the clay which we tread on does,—if we +obeyed God’s Spirit as surely as the flint does, we should +have many a heartache spared us, and many a headache too! +To be what God wants us!—to be <i>men</i>, to be +<i>women</i>, and therefore to live as children of God, members +of Christ, fulfilling our duty in that state to which God has +called us, that would be our bliss and glory. Nothing can +live in a state in which God did not intend it to live. +Suppose a tree could move itself about like an animal, and chose +to do so, the tree would wither and die; it would be trying to +act contrary to the law which God has given it. Suppose the +ox chose to eat meat like the lion, it would fall sick and die; +for it would be acting contrary to the law which God’s +Spirit had made for it—going out of the calling to which +God’s Word has called it, to eat grass and not flesh, and +live thereby. And so with us: if we will do wickedly, when +the will of God, as the Scripture tells us, is our +sanctification, our holiness; if we will speak lies, when +God’s law for us is that we should speak truth; if we will +bear hatred and ill-will, when God’s law for us is, Love as +brothers,—you all sprang from one father, Adam,—you +were all redeemed by one brother, Jesus Christ; if we will try to +live as if there was no God, when God’s law for us is, that +a man can live like a man only by faith and trust in +God;—then we shall <i>die</i>, if we break God’s laws +according to which he intended man to live. Thus it was +with Adam; God intended him to obey God, to learn every thing +from God. He chose to disobey God, to try and know +something of himself, by getting the knowledge of good and evil; +and so death passed on him. He became an unnatural man, a +<i>bad</i> man, more or less, and so he became a dead man; and +death came into the world, that time at least, by sin, by +breaking the law by which man was meant to be a man. As the +beasts will die if you give them unnatural food, or in any way +prevent their following the laws which God has made for them, so +man dies, of necessity. All the world cannot help his +dying, because he breaks the laws which God has made for him.</p> +<p>And how does he die? The text tells us, God takes away +his breath, and turns His face from him. In His presence, +it is written, is life. The moment He withdraws his Spirit, +the Spirit of life, from any thing, body or soul, then it +dies. It was by <i>sin</i> came death—by man’s +becoming unfit for the Spirit of God.</p> +<p>Therefore the body is dead because of sin, says St. Paul, +doomed to die, carrying about in it the seeds of death from the +very moment it is born. Death has truly passed upon all +men!</p> +<p>Most sad; and yet there is hope, and more than hope, there is +certain assurance, for us, that though we die, yet shall we +live! I have shewn you, in the beginning of my sermon, how +nothing that dies perishes to nothing, but begins a new and a +higher life. How the stone becomes a plant,—something +better and more useful than it was before; the plant passes into +an animal—a step higher still. And, therefore, we may +be sure that the same rule will hold good about us men and women, +that when we die, we shall begin a new and a nobler life, that +is, if we have been true <i>men</i>; if we have lived fulfilling +the law of our kind. St. Paul tells us so positively. +He says that nothing comes to life except it first die, then God +gives it a new body. He says that even so is the +resurrection of the dead,—that we gain a step by dying; +that we are sown in corruption, and are raised in incorruption; +we are sown in dishonour, and are raised in glory; we are sown in +weakness, and are raised in power; we are sown a natural body, +and are raised a spiritual body; that as we now are of the earth +earthy, after death and the resurrection our new and nobler body +will be of the heavens heavenly; so that “when this +corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall +have put on immortality, then death shall be swallowed up in +victory.” Therefore, I say, Sorrow not for those who +sleep as if you had no hope for the dead; for “Christ is +risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that +slept. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all +be made alive.”</p> +<p>And I say that this has to do with the text—it has to do +with Ascension-day. For if we claim our share in +Christ,—if we claim our share of our heavenly +Father’s promise, “to give the Holy Spirit to those +who ask Him;” then we may certainly hope for our share in +Christ’s resurrection, our share in Christ’s +ascension. For, says St. Paul (Rom. viii. 10, 11), +“if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but +the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the +Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He +that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your +mortal bodies, by His Spirit that dwelleth in you!” +There is a blessed promise! that in that, as in every thing, we +shall be made like Christ our Master, the new Adam, who is a +life-giving Spirit, that as He was brought to life again by the +Spirit of God, so we shall be. And so will be fulfilled in +us the glorious rule which the text lays down, “Thou, O +God, sendest forth Thy Spirit, and they are created, and Thou +dost renew the face of the earth.” +Fulfilled?—yes, but far more gloriously than ever the old +Psalmist expected. Read the Revelations of St. John, +chapters xxi. and xxii. for the glory of the renewed earth read +the first Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, chap. iv. +16–18, for the glorious resurrection and ascension of those +who have died trusting in the blessed Lord, who died for them; +and then see what a glorious future lies before us—see how +death is but the gate of life—see how what holds true of +every thing on this earth, down to the flint beneath our feet, +holds true ten thousand times of men that to die and to decay is +only to pass into a nobler state of life. But remember, +that just as we are better than the stone, we may be also worse +than the stone. It cannot disobey God’s laws, +therefore it can enjoy no reward, any more than suffer any +punishment. We can disobey—we can fall from our +calling—we can cast God’s law behind us—we can +refuse to do His will, to work out our own salvation; and just +because our reward in the life to come will be so glorious, if we +fulfil our life and law, the life of faith and the law of love, +therefore will our punishment be so horrible, if we neglect the +life of faith and trample under foot the law of love. Oh, +my friends, choose! Death is before you all. Shall it +be the gate of everlasting life and glory, or the gate of +everlasting death and misery? Will you claim your glorious +inheritance, and be for ever equal to the angels, doing +God’s will on earth as they in heaven; or will you fall +lower than the stones, who, at all events, must do their duty as +stones, and not <i>do</i> God’s will at all, but only +<i>suffer</i> it in eternal woe? You must do one or the +other. You cannot be like the stones, without +feeling—without joy or sorrow, just because you are +immortal spirits, every one of you. You must be either +happy or miserable, blessed or disgraced, for ever. I know +of no middle path;—do you? Choose before the night +comes, in which no man can work. Our life is but a vapour +which appears for a little time, then vanishes away. +“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou +made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches. That Thou +givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled +with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou +takest away their breath, they die, and return to their +dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and +Thou renewest the face of the earth.”</p> +<h2><a name="page35"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 35</span>SERMON +IV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE WORK OF GOD’S +SPIRIT.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">James</span>, i. 16, 17.</p> +<p>“Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good gift and +every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father +of lights.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> text, I believe more and more +every day, is one of the most important ones in the whole Bible; +and just at this time it is more important for us than ever, +because people have forgotten it more than ever.</p> +<p>And, according as you firmly believe this text, according as +you firmly believe that every good gift you have in body and soul +comes down from above, from God the Father of +lights—according, I say, as you believe this, and live upon +that belief, just so far will you be able to do your duty to God +and man, worthily of your blessed Saviour’s calling and +redemption, and of the high honour which He has given you of +being free and christened men, redeemed by His most precious +blood, and led by His most noble Spirit.</p> +<p>Now, just because this text is so important, the devil is +particularly busy in trying to make people forget it. For +what is his plan? Is it not to make us forget God, to put +God <i>out</i> of all our thoughts, to make us acknowledge God in +none of our ways, to make us look at ourselves and not at God, +that so we may become first earthly and sensual, and then +devilish, like Satan himself? Therefore he tries to make us +disbelieve this text. He puts into our hearts such thoughts +as these:—‘Ay, all good gifts may come from God; but +that only means all spiritual gifts. All those fine, deep +doctrines and wonderful feelings that some very religious people +talk of, about conversion, and regeneration, and sanctification, +and assurance, and the witness of the indwelling +Spirit,—all those gifts come from God, no doubt, but they +are quite above us. We are straightforward, simple people, +who cannot feel fine fancies; if we can be honest, and +industrious, and good-natured, and sober, and strong, and +healthy, that is enough for us,—and all that has nothing to +do with religion. Those are not gifts which come from +God. A man is strong and healthy by birth, and honest and +good-natured by nature. Those are very good things; but +they are not gifts—they are not <i>graces</i>—they +are not <i>spiritual</i> blessings—they have nothing to do +with the state of a man’s soul. Ungodly people are +honest, and good-tempered, and industrious, and healthy, as well +as your saints and your methodists; so what is the use of praying +for spiritual gifts to God, when we can have all we want by +nature?’</p> +<p>Did such thoughts never come into your head, my friends? +Are they not often in your heads, more or less? Perhaps not +in these very words, but something like them.</p> +<p>I do not say it to blame you, for I believe that every man, +each according to his station, is tempted to such thoughts; I +believe that such thoughts are not <i>yours</i> or any +man’s; I believe they are the devil’s, who tempts all +men, who tempted even the Son of God Himself with thoughts like +these at their root. Such thoughts are not <i>yours</i> or +mine, though they may come into our heads. They are part of +the evil which besets us—which is <i>not</i> us—which +has no right or share in us—which we pray God to drive away +from us when we say, “Deliver us from evil.” +Have you not all had such thoughts? But have you not all +had very different thoughts? have you not, every one of you, at +times, felt in the bottom of your hearts, after all, ‘This +strength and industry, this courage, and honesty, and good-nature +of mine, must come from God; I did not get them myself? If +I was born honest, and strong, and gentle, and brave, some one +must have made me so when I was born, or before? The devil +certainly did not make me so, therefore <i>God</i> must? +These, too, are His gifts?’</p> +<p>Did you ever think such thoughts as these? If you did +not, not much matter, for you have all acted, more or less, in +your better moments as if you had them. There are more +things in a man’s heart, thank God, than ever come into his +head. Many a man does a noble thing by instinct, as we say, +without ever <i>thinking</i> whether it is a noble thing or +not—without <i>thinking</i> about it at all. Many a +man, thank God, is led at times, by God’s Spirit, without +ever knowing whose Spirit it is that leads him.</p> +<p>But he <i>ought</i> to know it, for it is <i>willing</i>, +<i>reasonable</i> service which God wants of us. He does +not care to use us like tools and puppets. And why? +He is not merely our Maker, He is our Father, and He wishes us to +know and feel that we are His children—to know and feel +that we all have come from Him; to acknowledge Him in all our +ways, to thank Him for all, to look up lovingly and confidently +to Him for more, as His reasonable children, day by day, and hour +by hour. Every good gift we have comes from Him; but He +will have us know where they all come from.</p> +<p>Let us go through now a few of these good gifts, which we call +natural, and see what the Bible says of them, and from whom they +come.</p> +<p>First, now, that common gift of strength and courage. +Who gives you that?—who gave it David? For He that +gives it to one is most likely to be He that gives it to +another. David says to God, “Thou teachest my hands +to war, and my fingers to fight; by the help of God I can leap +over a wall: He makes me strong, that my arms can break even a +bow of steel:”—that is plain-spoken enough, I +think. Who gave Samson his strength, again? What says +the Bible? How Samson met a young lion which roared against +him, and he had nothing in his hand, and the Spirit of the Lord +came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion as he would have +torn a kid. And, again, how when traitors had bound him +with two new cords, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon +him, and the cords which were on his arms became as flax that was +burnt with fire, and fell from off his hands. And, for +God’s sake, do not give in to that miserable fancy that +because these stories are what you call miraculous, therefore +they have nothing to do with you—that Samson’s +strength came to him miraculously by God’s Spirit, and yet +yours comes to you a different way. The Bible is written to +tell you how all that happens really happens—what all +things really are; God is working among us always, but we do not +see Him; and the Bible just lifts up, once and for all, the veil +which hides Him from us, and lets us see, in one instance, who it +is that does all the wonderful things which go on round us to +this day, that when we see any thing like it happen we may know +whom to thank for it.</p> +<p>The Great Physician healed the blind and the lame in Judea; +and why?—to shew us who heals the blind and the lame +now—to shew us that the good gift of medicine and surgery, +and the physician’s art, comes down from Him who cured the +paralytic and cleansed the lepers in Judea—to whom all +power is given in heaven and earth.</p> +<p>So, again, with skill in farming and agriculture. From +whom does that come? The very heathens can tell us that, +for it is curious, that among the heathen, in all ages and +countries, those men who have found out great improvements in +tilling the ground have been honoured and often worshipped as +divine men—as gods, thereby shewing that the heathen, among +all their idolatries, had a true and just notion about +man’s practical skill and knowledge—that it could +only come from Heaven, that it was by the inspiration and +guidance of God above that skill in agriculture arose. What +says Isaiah of that to the very same purpose? “Doth +the ploughman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the +clods of his ground? When he hath made plain the face +thereof, doth he not cast abroad the vetches, and cast in the +principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rye in their +place? For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and +doth teach him. This also,” says Isaiah, +“cometh from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in +counsel, and excellent in working.” Would to God you +would all believe it!</p> +<p>Again; wisdom and prudence, and a clear, powerful +mind,—are not they parts of God’s likeness? How +is God’s Spirit described in Scripture? It is called +the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of prudence +and might. Therefore, surely, all wisdom and understanding, +all prudence and strength of mind, are, like that Spirit, part of +God’s image; and where did we get God’s image? +Can we make ourselves like God? If we are like him, He must +have formed that likeness; and He alone. The Spirit of God, +says the Scripture, giveth us understanding.</p> +<p>Or, again; good-nature and affection, love, generosity, +pity,—whose likeness are they? What is God’s +name but love? God is love. Has not He revealed +Himself as the God of mercy, full of long-suffering, compassion, +and free forgiveness; and must not, then, all love and affection, +all compassion and generosity, be His gift? Yes. As +the rays come from the sun, and yet are not the sun, even so our +love and pity, though they are not God, but merely a poor, weak +image and reflection of Him, yet from Him alone they come. +If there is mercy in our hearts, it comes from the fountain of +mercy. If there is the light of love in us, it is a ray +from the full sun of His love.</p> +<p>Or honesty, again, and justice,—whose image are they but +God’s? Is He not <span class="smcap">The</span> Just +One—the righteous God? Is not what is just for man +just for God? Are not the laws of justice and honesty, by +which man deals fairly with man, <i>His</i> laws—the laws +by which God deals with us? Does not every book—I had +almost said every page—in the Bible shew us that all our +justice is but the pattern and copy of God’s +justice,—the working out of those six latter commandments +of His, which are summed up in that one command, “Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?”</p> +<p>Now here, again, I ask: If justice and honesty be God’s +likeness, who made us like God in this—who put into us this +sense of justice which all have, though so few obey it? Can +man make himself like God? Can a worm ape his Maker? +No. From God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Right, came this +inborn feeling of justice, this knowledge of right and wrong, to +us—part of the image of God in which He created +man—part of the breath or spirit of life which He breathed +into Adam. Do not mistake me. I do not say that the +sense, and honesty, and love in us, <i>are</i> God’s +Spirit—they are the spirit of <i>man</i>, but that they are +<i>like</i> God’s Spirit, and therefore they must be given +us <i>by</i> God’s Spirit to be used as God’s Spirit +Himself uses them. How a man shall have his share of +God’s Spirit, and live in and by God’s Spirit, is +another question, and a higher and more blessed one; but we must +master this question first—we must believe that our spirits +come <i>from</i> God, then, perhaps, we shall begin to see that +our spirits never can work well unless they are joined to the +Spirit of God, from whom they came. From whom else, I ask +again, can they come? Can they come from our bodies? +Our bodies? What are they?—Flesh and bones, made up +of air and water and earth,—out of the dead bodies of the +animals, the dead roots and fruits of plants which we eat. +They are earth—matter. Can <i>matter</i> be +courageous? Did you ever hear of a good-natured plant, or +an honest stone? Then this good-nature, and honesty, and +courage of ours, must belong to our souls—our +spirits. Who put them there? Did we? Does a +child make its own character? Does its body make its +character first? Can its father and mother make its +character? No. Our characters must come from some +spirit above us—either from God or from the devil. +And is the devil likely to make us honest, or brave, or +kindly? I leave you to answer that. God—God +alone, my friends, is the author of good—the help that is +done on earth, He doeth it all Himself: every good gift and every +perfect gift cometh from Him.</p> +<p>Now some of you may think this a strange sort of sermon, +because I have said little or nothing about Jesus Christ and His +redemption in it, but I say—No.</p> +<p>You must believe this much about yourselves before you can +believe more. You must fairly and really believe that +<i>God</i> made you one thing before you can believe that you +have made yourselves another thing. You must really believe +that you are not mere machines and animals, but immortal souls, +before you can really believe that you have sinned; for animals +cannot sin—only reasonable souls can sin. We must +really believe that God made us at bottom in His likeness, before +we can begin to find out that there is another likeness in us +besides God’s—a selfish, brutish, too often a +devilish likeness, which must be repented of, and fought against, +and cast out, that God’s likeness in us may get the upper +hand, and we may be what God expects us to be. We must know +our dignity before we can feel our shame. We must see how +high we have a right to stand, that we may see how low, alas! we +have fallen.</p> +<p>Now you—I know many such here, thank God—to whom +God has given clear, powerful heads for business, and honest, +kindly hearts, I do beseech you—consider my words, Who has +given you these but God? They are talents which He has +committed to your charge; and will He not require an account of +them? <i>He</i> only, and His free mercy, has made you to +differ from others; if you are better than the fools and +profligates round you, He, and not yourselves, has made you +better. What have you that you have not received? By +the grace of God alone you are what you are. If good comes +easier to you than to others, <i>He</i> alone has made it easier +to you; and if you have done wrong,—if you have fallen +short of your duty, as <i>all</i> fall short, is not your sin +greater than others? for unto whom much is given of them shall +much be required. Consider that, for God’s sake, and +see if you, too, have not something to be ashamed of, between +yourselves and God. See if you, too, have not need of Jesus +Christ and His precious blood, and God’s free forgiveness, +who have had so much light and power given you, and still have +fallen short of what you might have been, and what, by +God’s grace, you still may be, and, as I hope and earnestly +pray, still will be.</p> +<p>And you, young men and women—consider;—if God has +given you manly courage and high spirits, and strength and +beauty—think—<i>God</i>, your Father, has given them +to you, and of them He will surely require an account; therefore, +“Rejoice, young people,” says Solomon, “in your +youth, and let your hearts cheer you in the days of your youth, +and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your +eyes. But remember,” continues the wisest of +men,—“remember, that for all these things God shall +bring you into judgment.” Now do not misunderstand +that. It does not mean that there is a sin in being +happy. It does not mean, that if God has given to a young +man a bold spirit and powerful limbs, or to a young woman a +handsome face and a merry, loving heart, that He will punish them +for these—God forbid! what He gives He means to be used: +but this it means, that according as you use those blessings so +will you be judged at the last day; that for them, too, you will +be brought to judgment, and tried at the bar of God. As you +have used them for industry, and innocent happiness, and holy +married love, or for riot and quarrelling, and idleness, and +vanity, and filthy lusts, so shall you be judged. And if +any of you have sinned in any of these ways,—God forbid +that you should have sinned in <i>all</i> these ways; but surely, +surely, some of you have been idle—some of you have been +riotous—some of you have been vain—some of you have +been quarrelsome—some of you, alas! have been that which I +shall not name here.—Think, if you have sinned in any one +of these ways, how can you answer it to God? Have you no +need of forgiveness? Have you no need of the blessed +Saviour’s blood to wash you clean? Young +people! God has given you much. As a young man, I +speak to you. Youth is an inestimable blessing or an +inestimable curse, according as you use it; and if you have +abused your spring-time of youth, as all, I am afraid, +have—as I have—as almost all do, alas! in this fallen +world, where can you get forgiveness but from Him that died on +the cross to take away the sins of the world?</p> +<h2><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span>SERMON +V.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">FAITH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Habakkuk</span>, ii. 4.</p> +<p>“The just shall live by faith.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is those texts of which there +are so many in the Bible, which, though they were spoken +originally to one particular man, yet are meant for every +man. These words were spoken to Habakkuk, a Jewish prophet, +to check him for his impatience under God’s hand; but they +are just as true for every man that ever was and ever will be as +they were for him. They are world-wide and world-old; they +are the law by which all goodness, and strength, and safety, +stand either in men or angels, for it always was true, and always +must be true, that if reasonable beings are to live at all, it is +by faith.</p> +<p>And why? Because every thing that is, heaven and earth, +men and angels, are all the work of God—of one God, +infinite, almighty, all-wise, all-loving, unutterably +glorious. My friends, we do not think enough of +this,—not that all the thinking in the world can ever make +us comprehend the majesty of our Heavenly Father; but we do not +remember enough what we <i>do</i> know of God. We think of +God, watching the world and all things in it, and keeping them in +order as a shepherd does his sheep, and so far so good; but we +forget that God does more than this,—we forget that this +earth, sun, and moon, and all the thousand thousand stars which +cover the midnight sky,—many of them suns larger than the +sun we see, and worlds larger than the world on which we stand, +that all these, stretching away millions of millions of miles +into boundless space,—all are lying, like one little grain +of dust, in the hollow of God’s hand, and that if He were +to shut His hand upon them, He could crush them into nothing, and +God would be alone in the universe again, as He was before heaven +and earth were made. Think of that!—that if God was +but to will it, we, and this earth on which we stand, and the +heaven above us, and the sun that shines on us, should vanish +away, and be no-where and no-thing. Think of the infinite +power of God, and then think how is it possible to <i>live</i>, +except by faith in Him, by trusting to Him utterly.</p> +<p>If you accustom yourselves to think in the same way of the +infinite wisdom of God, and the infinite love of God, they will +both teach you the same lesson; they will shew you that if you +were the greatest, the wisest, the holiest man that ever lived, +you would still be such a speck by the side of the Almighty and +Everlasting God that it would be madness to depend upon +yourselves for any thing while you lived in God’s +world. For, after all, what <i>can</i> we do without +God? <i>In</i> Him we live, and move, and have our +being. He made us, He gave us our bodies, gave us our life; +what we do <i>He</i> lets us do, what we say He lets us say; we +all live on sufferance. What is it but God’s infinite +mercy that ever brought us here or keeps us here an +instant? We may pretend to act without God’s leave or +help, but it is impossible for us to do so; the strength we put +forth, the wit we use, are all His gifts. We cannot draw a +breath of air without His leave. And yet men fancy they can +do without God in the world! My friends, these are but few +words, and poor words, about the glorious majesty of God and our +littleness when compared with Him; but I have said quite enough, +at least, to shew you all how absurd it is to depend upon +ourselves for any thing. If we are mere creatures of God, +if God alone has every blessing both of this world and the next, +and the will to give them away, whom <i>are</i> we to go to but +to Him for all we want? It is so in the life of our bodies, +and it is so in the life of our spirits. If we wish for +God’s blessings, from God we must ask them. That is +our duty, even though God in His mercy and long-suffering does +pour down many a blessing upon men who never trust in Him for +them. To us all, indeed, God gives blessings before we are +old enough to trust in Him for them, and to many He continues +those blessings in after-life in spite of their blindness and +want of faith. “He maketh His sun to shine on the +evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the +unjust.” He gives—gives—it is His glory +to give. Yet strange! that men will go on year after year, +using the limbs, and eating the food, which God gives them, +without ever believing so much as that God <i>has</i> given them, +without so much as looking up to heaven once and saying, +“God, I thank Thee!” But we must remember that +those blessings will not last for ever. Unless a man has +lived by faith in God with regard to his earthly comforts, death +will come and put an end to them at once; and then it is only +those who have trusted in God for all good things, and thanked +Him accordingly in this life, who shall have their part in the +new heavens and the new earth, which will so immeasurably surpass +all that this earth can give.</p> +<p>And it is the same with the life of our spirits; in it, too, +we must live by faith. The life of our spirits is a gift +from God the Father of spirits, and He has chosen to declare that +unless we trust to Him for life, and ask Him for life, He will +not bestow it upon us. The life of our bodies He in His +mercy keeps up, although we forget Him; the life of our souls He +will not keep up: therefore, for the sake of our spirits, even +more than of our bodies, we must live by faith. If we wish +to be loving, pure, wise, manly, noble, we must ask those +excellent gifts of God, who is Himself infinite love, and purity, +wisdom and nobleness. If we wish for everlasting life, from +whom can we obtain it but from God, who is the boundless, +eternal, life itself? If we wish for forgiveness for our +faults and failings, where are we to get it but from God, who is +boundless love and pity, and who has revealed to us His boundless +love and pity in the form of a man, Jesus Christ the Saviour of +the world?</p> +<p>And to go a step further; it is by faith in Christ we must +live—in Christ, a man like ourselves, yet God blessed for +ever. For it is a certain truth, that men cannot believe in +God or trust in Him unless they can think of Him as a man. +This was the reason why the poor heathen made themselves idols in +the form of men, that they might have something like themselves +to worship; and those among them who would not worship idols +almost always ended in fancying that God was either a mere +notion, or else a mere part of this world, or else that He sat up +in heaven neither knowing nor caring what happened upon +earth. But we, to whom God has given the glorious news of +His Gospel, have the very Person to worship whom all the heathen +were searching after and could not find,—one who is +“very God,” infinite in love, wisdom, and strength, +and yet “very man,” made in all points like +ourselves, but without sin; so that we have not a High Priest who +cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one +who is able to help those who are tempted, because He was tempted +Himself like us, and overcame by the strength of His own perfect +will, of His own perfect faith. By trusting in Him, and +acknowledging Him in every thought and action of our lives, we +shall be safe, for it is written, “The just shall live by +faith.”</p> +<p>These things are true, and always were true. All that +men ever did well, or nobly, or lovingly, in this world, <i>was +done by faith</i>—by faith in God of some sort or other; +even in the man who thinks least about religion, it is so. +Every time a man means to do, and really does, a just or generous +action, he does it because he believes, more or less clearly, +that there is a just and loving God above him, and that justice +and love are the right thing for a man—the law by which God +intended him to walk: so that this small, dim faith still shews +itself in practice; and the more faith a man has in God and in +God’s laws, the more it will shew itself in every action of +his daily life; and the more this faith works in his life and +conduct, the better man he is;—the more he is like +God’s image, in which man was originally made;—and +the more he is like Christ, the new pattern of God’s image, +whom all men must copy.</p> +<p>So that the sum of the matter is this, without Christ we can +do nothing, by trusting in Christ we can do every thing. +See, then, how true the verse before my text must be, that he +whose soul is lifted up in him is not upright; for if a man +fancies that his body and soul are his own, to do what he pleases +with them, when all the time they are God’s gift;—if +a man fancies that he can take perfect care of himself, while all +the time it is God that is keeping him out of a thousand sins and +dangers;—if a man fancies that he can do right of himself, +when all the time the little good that he does is the work of +God’s Spirit, which has not yet left him;—if a man +fancies, in short, that he can do without God, when all the time +it is in God that he lives, and moves, and has his being, how can +such a man be called upright? Upright! he is utterly +wrong;—he is believing a lie, and walking accordingly; and, +therefore, instead of keeping upright, he is going where all lies +lead; into all kinds of low and crooked ways, mistakes, +absurdities, and at last to ruin of body and soul. Nothing +but truth can keep a man upright and straight, can keep a man +where God has put him, and where he ought to be; and the man +whose heart is puffed up by pride and self-conceit, who is +looking at himself and not at God, that man has begun upon a +falsehood, and will soon get out of tune with heaven and +earth. For consider, my friends: suppose some rich and +mighty prince went out and collected a number of children, and of +sick and infirm people, and said to them, “You cannot work +now, but I will give you food, medicine, every thing that you +require, and then you must help me to work; and I, though you +have no right to expect it of me, will pay you for the little +work you can do on the strength of my food and +medicine.”—Is it not plain that all those persons +could only live by faith in their prince, by trusting in him for +food and medicine, and by acknowledging that that food and +medicine came from him, and thanking him accordingly? If +they wished to be true men, if they wished him to continue his +bounty, they would confess that all the health and strength they +had belonged to him of right, because his generosity had given it +to them. Just in this position we stand with Christ the +Lord. When the whole world lay in wickedness, He came and +chose us, of His free grace and mercy, to be one of His peculiar +nations, to work for Him and with Him; and from the time He came, +all that we and our forefathers have done well has been done by +the strength and wisdom which Christ has given us. Now +suppose, again, that one of the persons of whom I spoke was +seized with a fit of pride—suppose he said to himself, +“My health and strength does not come from the food and +medicine which the prince gave me, it comes from the goodness of +my own constitution; the wages which I am paid are my just due, I +am a free man, and may choose what master I like.” +Suppose any one of <i>your</i> servants treated you so, would you +not be inclined to answer, “You are a faithless, ungrateful +fellow; go your ways, then, and see how little you can do without +my bounty?” But the blessed King in heaven, though He +is provoked every day, is more long-suffering than man. All +He does is to withdraw His bounty for a moment, to take this +world’s blessings from a man, and let him find out how +impossible it is for him to keep himself out of +affliction—to take away His Holy Spirit for a moment from a +man, and let him see how straight he rushes astray, and every way +but the right; and then, if the man is humbled by his fall or his +affliction, and comes back to his Lord, confessing how weak he is +and promising to trust in Christ and thank Christ only for the +future, <i>then</i> our Lord will restore His blessings to him, +and there will be joy among the angels of God over one sinner +that repents. This was the way in which God treated Job +when, in spite of all his excellence, <i>his</i> heart was lifted +up. And then, when he saw his own folly, and abhorred +himself, and repented in dust and ashes, God restored to him +sevenfold what He had taken from him—honour, wisdom, +riches, home, and children. This is the way, too, in which +God treated David. “In my prosperity,” he tells +us, “I said, I shall never be moved; thou, Lord, of Thy +goodness hast made my hill so strong”—forgetting that +he must be kept safe every moment of his life, as well as made +safe once for all. “Thou didst turn Thy face from me, +and I was troubled. Then cried I unto Thee, O Lord, and gat +me to my Lord right humbly. And <span +class="GutSmall">THEN</span>,” he adds, “God turned +my heaviness into joy, and girded me with gladness,” (Psalm +xxx.) And again, he says, “<i>Before</i> I was +troubled I went wrong, but <i>now</i> I have kept Thy +word,” (Psalm cxix.) And this is the way in which +Christ the Lord treated St. Peter and St. Paul, and treats, in +His great mercy, every Christian man when He sees him puffed up, +to bring him to his senses, and make him live by faith in +God. If he takes the warning, well; if he does not, he +remains in a lie, and must go where all lies lead. So +perfectly does it hold throughout a man’s whole life, that +he whose soul is lifted up within him is not upright; but that +the just must live by faith.</p> +<p>Now there is one objection apt to rise in men’s minds +when they hear such words as these, which is, that they take such +a “low view of human nature;” it is so galling to our +pride to be told that we can do nothing for ourselves: but if we +think of the matter more closely, and, above all, if we try to +put it into practice and live by faith, we shall find that there +is no real reason for thus objecting. This is not a +doctrine which ought to make us despise men; any doctrine that +<i>does</i>, does not come of <i>God</i>. Men are not +contemptible creatures—they are glorious +creatures—they were created in the image of God; God has +put such honour upon them that He has given them dominion over +the whole earth, and made them partakers of His eternal reason; +and His Spirit gives them understanding to enable them to conquer +this earth, and make the beasts, ay, and the very winds and seas, +and fire and steam, their obedient servants; and human nature, +too, when it is what God made it, and what it ought to be, is not +a contemptible thing: it was noble enough for the Son of God to +take it upon Himself—to become man, without sinning or +defiling Himself; and what was good enough for Him is surely good +enough for us. Wickedness consists in <i>unmanliness</i>, +in being unlike a man, in becoming like an evil spirit or a +beast. Holiness consists in becoming a <i>true man</i>, in +becoming more and more like the likeness of Jesus Christ. +And when the Bible tells us that we can do nothing of ourselves, +but can live only by faith, the Bible puts the highest honour +upon us which any created thing can have. What are the +things which cannot live by faith? The trees and plants, +the beasts and birds, which, though they live and grow by +God’s providence, yet do not know it, do not thank Him, +cannot ask Him for more strength and life as we can, are mere +dead tools in God’s hands, instead of living, reasonable +beings as we are. It is only reasonable beings, like men +and angels, with immortal spirits in them, who <i>can</i> live by +faith; and it is the greatest glory and honour to us, I say +again, that we <i>can</i> do so—that the glorious, infinite +God, Maker of heaven and earth, should condescend to ask us to be +loyal to Him, to love Him, should encourage us to pray to Him +boldly, and then should condescend to hear our +prayers—<i>we</i>, who in comparison of Him are smaller +than the gnats in the sunbeam in comparison of men! And +then, when we remember that He has sent His only Son into the +world to take our nature upon Him, and join us all together into +one great and everlasting family, the body of Christ the Lord, +and that He has actually given us a share in His own Almighty +Holy Spirit that we may be able to love Him, and to serve Him, +and to be joined to Him, the Almighty Father, do we not see that +all this is infinitely more honourable to us than if we were each +to go on his own way here without God—without knowing +anything of the everlasting world of spirits to which we now +belong? My friends, instead of being ashamed of being able +to do nothing for ourselves, we ought to rejoice at having God +for our Father and our Friend, to enable us to “do all +things through Him who strengthens us”—to do whatever +is noble, and loving, and worthy of true men. Instead, +then, of dreaming conceitedly that God will accept us for our own +sakes, let us just be content to be accepted for the sake of +Jesus Christ our King. Instead of trying to walk through +this world without God’s help, let us ask God to help and +guide us in every action of our lives, and then go manfully +forward, doing with all our might whatsoever our hands or our +hearts see right to do, trusting to God to put us in the right +path, and to fill our heads with right thoughts and our hearts +with right feeling; and so our faith will shew itself in our +works, and we shall be justified at the last day, as all good men +have ever been, by trusting to our Heavenly Father and to the +Lord Jesus Christ, and the guidance of His Holy Spirit.</p> +<h2><a name="page60"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 60</span>SERMON +VI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Galatians</span>, v. 16.</p> +<p>“I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil +the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the +Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary +the one to the other.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> more we think seriously, my +friends, the more we shall see what wonderful and awful things +words are, how they mean much more than we fancy,—how we do +not make words, but words are given to us by one higher than +ourselves. Wise men say that you can tell the character of +any nation by its language, by watching the words they use, the +names they give to things, for out of the abundance of the heart +the mouth speaks, and by our words, our Lord tells us, we shall +be justified and condemned.</p> +<p>It is God, and Christ, the Word of God, who gives words to +men, who puts it into the hearts of men to call certain things by +certain names; and, according to a nation’s godliness, and +wisdom, and purity of heart, will be its power of using words +discreetly and reverently. That miracle of the gift of +tongues, of which we read in the New Testament, would have been +still most precious and full of meaning if it had had no other +use than this—to teach men from whom words come. When +men found themselves all of a sudden inspired to talk in foreign +languages which they had never learnt, to utter words of which +they themselves did not know the meaning, do you not see how it +must have made them feel that all language is God’s making +and God’s giving? Do you not see how it must have +made them feel what awful, mysterious things words were, like +those cloven tongues of fire which fell on the apostles? +The tongues of fire signified the difficult foreign languages +which they suddenly began to speak as the Spirit gave them +utterance. And where did the tongues of fire come +from? Not out of themselves, not out of the earth beneath, +but down from the heaven above, to signify that it is not from +man, from man’s flesh or brain, or the earthly part of him, +that words are bred, but that they come down from Christ the Word +of God, and are breathed into the minds of men by the Spirit of +God. Why do I speak of all this? To make you feel +what awful, wonderful things words are; how, when you want to +understand the meaning of a word, you must set to work with +reverence and godly fear—not in self-conceit and prejudice, +taking the word to mean just what suits your own notions of +things, but trying humbly to find out what the word really does +mean of itself, what God meant it to mean when He put it into the +hearts of wise men to use that word and bring it into our English +language. A man ought to read a newspaper or a story-book +in that spirit; how much more, when he takes up the Bible! +How reverently he ought to examine every word in the New +Testament—this very text, for instance. We ought to +be sure that St. Paul, just because he was an inspired apostle, +used the very best possible words to express what he meant on so +important a matter; and what <i>are</i> the best words? The +clearest and the simplest words are the best words; else how is +the Bible to be the poor man’s book? How, unless the +wayfaring man, though simple, shall not err therein? +Therefore we may be sure the words in Scripture are certain to be +used in their simplest, most natural, most everyday meaning, such +as the simplest man can understand. And, therefore, we may +be sure, that these two words, “flesh” and +“spirit,” in my text, are used in their very +simplest, straightforward sense; and that St. Paul meant by them +what working-men mean by them in the affairs of daily life. +No doubt St. Peter says that there are many things in St. +Paul’s writings difficult to be understood, which those who +are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction; and, +most true it is, so they do daily. But what does +“wresting” a thing mean? It means twisting it, +bending it, turning it out of its original straightforward, +natural meaning, into some new crooked meaning of their +own. This is the way we are all of us too apt, I am afraid, +to come to St. Paul’s Epistles. We find him difficult +because we won’t take him at his word, because we tear a +text out of its right place in the chapter—the place where +St. Paul put it, and make it stand by itself, instead of letting +the rest of the chapter explain its meaning. And then, +again, people use the words in the text as unfairly and +unreasonably as they use the text itself, they won’t let +the words have their common-sense English meaning—they must +stick a new meaning on them of their own. ‘Oh,’ +they say, ‘that text must not be taken literally, that word +has a spiritual signification here. Flesh does not mean +flesh, it means men’s corrupt nature;’ little +thinking all the while that perhaps they understand those words, +spiritual, and corrupt, and nature, just as ill as they do the +rest of the text.</p> +<p>How much better, my friends, to let the Bible tell its own +story; not to be so exceeding wise above what is written, just to +believe that St. Paul knew better how to use words than we are +likely to do,—just to believe that when he says flesh he +means flesh. Everybody agrees that when he says spirit he +means spirit, why, in the name of common sense, when he says +flesh should he not mean flesh? For my own part I believe +that when St. Paul talks of man’s flesh, he means by it +man’s body, man’s heart and brain, and all his bodily +appetites and powers—what we call a man’s +constitution; in a word, the <i>animal</i> part of man, just what +a man has in common with the beasts who perish.</p> +<p>To understand what I mean, consider any animal—a dog, +for instance—how much every animal has in it what men +have,—a body, and brain, and heart; it hungers and thirsts +as we do, it can feel pleasure and pain, anger and loneliness, +and fear and madness; it likes freedom, company, and exercise, +praise and petting, play and ease; it uses a great deal of +cunning, and thought, and courage, to get itself food and +shelter, just as human beings do: in short, it has a fleshly +nature, just as we have, and yet, after all, it is but an animal, +and so, in one sense, we are all animals, only more delicately +made than the other animals; but we are something more, we have a +spirit as well as a flesh, an immortal soul. If any one +asks, what is a man? the true answer is, an animal with an +immortal spirit in it; and this spirit can feel more than +pleasure and pain, which are mere carnal, that is, fleshly +things; it can feel trust, and hope, and peace, and love, and +purity, and nobleness, and independence, and, above all, it can +feel right and wrong. There is the infinite difference +between an animal and a man, between our flesh and our spirit; an +animal has no sense of right and wrong; a dog who has done wrong +is often terrified, but not because he feels it wrong and wicked, +but because he knows from experience that he will be punished for +doing it: just so with a man’s fleshly nature;—a +carnal, fleshly man, a man whose spirit is dead within him, whose +spiritual sense of right and wrong, and honour and purity, is +gone, when he has done a wrong thing is often enough afraid; but +why? Not for any spiritual reason, not because he feels it +a wicked and abominable thing, a sin, but because he is afraid of +being punished for it, because he is afraid that his body, his +flesh will be punished by the laws of the land, or by public +opinion, or because he has some dim belief that this same body +and flesh of his will be burnt in hell-fire; and fire, he knows +by experience, is a painful thing—and so he is +<i>afraid</i> of it; there is nothing spiritual in all +that,—that is all fleshly, carnal; the heathens in all ages +have been afraid of hell-fire; but a man’s spirit, on the +other hand, if it be in hell, is in a very different hell from +mere fire,—a spiritual hell, such as torments the evil +spirits, at this very moment, although they are going to and fro +on this very earth. This earth is hell to them; they carry +about hell in them,—they are their own hell. +Everlasting shame, discontent, doubt, despair, rage, disgust at +themselves, feeling that they are out of favour with God, out of +tune with heaven and earth, loving nothing, believing nothing, +ever hating, hating each other, hating themselves most of +all—<i>there</i> is their hell! <i>There</i> is the +hell in which the soul of every wicked man is,—ay, is now +while he is in <i>this</i> life, though he will only awake to the +perfect misery of it after death, when his body and fleshly +nature have mouldered away in the grave, and can no longer pamper +and stupify him and make him forget his own misery. Ay, +there has been many a man in this life who had every fleshly +enjoyment which this world can give, riches and pleasure, +banquets and palaces, every sense and every appetite +pampered,—his pride and his vanity flattered; who never +knew what want, or trouble, or contradiction, was on the smallest +point; a man, I say, who had every carnal enjoyment which this +earth can give to a man’s selfish flesh, and yet whose +spirit was in hell all the while, and who knew it; hating and +despising himself for a mean selfish villain, while all the world +round was bowing down to him and envying him as the luckiest of +men. I am trying to make you understand the infinite +difference between a man’s flesh and his spirit; how a +man’s flesh can take no pleasure in spiritual things, while +man’s spirit of itself can take no pleasure in fleshly +things. Now, the spirit and the flesh, body and soul, in +every man, are at war with each other,—they have +quarrelled; that is the corruption of our nature, the fruit of +Adam’s fall. And as the Article says, and as every +man who has ever tried to live godly well knows, from experience, +“that infection of nature does remain to the last, even in +those who are regenerate.” So that as St. Paul says, +the spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the +spirit; and it continually happens that a man cannot do the +things which he would; he cannot do what he knows to be right; +thus, as St. Paul says again, a man may delight in the law of God +in his inward man, that is, in his spirit, and yet all the while +he shall find another law in his members, <i>i.e.</i> in his +body, in his flesh, in his brain which thinks, and his heart +which feels, and his senses which are fond of pleasure; and this +law of the flesh, these appetites and passions which he has, like +other animals, fight against the law of his mind, and when he +wishes to do good, make him do evil. Now how is this? +The flesh is not evil; a man’s body can be no more wicked +than a dumb beast can be wicked. St. Paul calls man’s +flesh sinful flesh; not because our flesh can sin of itself, but +because our sinful souls make our flesh do sinful things; for, he +says, Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and yet in him +was no sin. The pure and spotless Saviour could not have +taken man’s flesh upon him if there was any sinfulness in +it. The body knows nothing of right and wrong; it is not +subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be, says St. +Paul. And why? Because God’s law is spiritual; +deals with right and wrong. Wickedness, like righteousness, +is a spiritual thing. If a man sins, his body is not in +fault; it is his spirit; his weak, perverse will, which will +sooner listen to what his flesh tells him is pleasant than to +what God tells him is right; for this, my friends, is the secret +of the battle of life. We stand between heaven and +earth. Above is God’s Spirit striving with our +spirits, speaking to them in the depths of our soul, shewing us +what is right, putting into our hearts good desires, making us +long to be honest and just, pure and manful, loving and +charitable; for who is there who has not at times longed after +these things, and felt that it would be a blessed thing for him +if he were such a man as Jesus Christ was and is?—Above us, +I say, is God’s Spirit speaking to our spirits, below us is +this world speaking to our flesh, as it spoke to Eve’s, +saying to us, “This thing is pleasant to the +eyes—this thing is good for food—that thing is to be +desired to make you wise, and to flatter your vanity and +self-conceit.” Below us, I say, is <i>this</i> world, +tempting us to ease, and pleasure, and vanity; and in the middle, +betwixt the two, stands up the third part of man—his +<i>soul</i> and <i>will</i>, set to choose between the voice of +God’s Spirit and the temptations of this world—to +choose between what is right and what is pleasant—to choose +whether he will obey the desires of the spirit, or obey the +desires of the flesh. He must choose. If he lets his +flesh conquer his spirit, he falls; if he lets his spirit conquer +his flesh, he rises; if he lets his flesh conquer his spirit, he +becomes what he was not meant to be—a slave to fleshly +lust; and <i>then</i> he will find his flesh set up for itself, +and work for itself. And where man’s flesh gets the +upper hand, and takes possession of him, it can do nothing but +evil—not that it is evil in itself, but that it has no +rule, no law to go by; it does not know right from wrong; and +therefore it does simply what it likes, as a dumb beast or an +idiot might; and therefore the works of the flesh +are—adulteries, drunkenness, murders, fornications, +envyings, backbitings, strife. When a man’s body, +which God intended to be the servant of his spirit, has become +the tyrant of his spirit, it is like an idiot on a king’s +throne, doing all manner of harm and folly without knowing that +it <i>is</i> harm and folly. That is not <i>its</i> +fault. Whose fault is it, then? <i>Our</i> +fault—the fault of our wills and our souls. Our souls +were intended to be the masters of our flesh, to conquer all the +weaknesses, defilements of our constitution—our tempers, +our cowardice, our laziness, our hastiness, our nervousness, our +vanity, our love of pleasure—to listen to our spirits, +because our spirits learn from God’s Spirit what is right +and noble. But if we let our flesh master us, and obey its +own blind lusts, we sin against God; and we sin against God +doubly; for we not only sin against God’s commandments, but +we sin against ourselves, who are the image and glory of God.</p> +<p>Believe this, my friends; believe that, because you are all +fallen human creatures, there must go on in you this sore +life-long battle between your spirit and your flesh—your +spirit trying to be master and guide, as it ought to be, and your +flesh rebelling, and trying to conquer your spirit and make you a +mere animal, like a fox in cunning, a peacock in vanity, or a hog +in greedy sloth. But believe, too, that it is your sin and +your shame if your spirit does not conquer your flesh—for +God has promised to help your spirits. Ask Him, and His +Spirit will teach them—fill them with pure, noble hopes, +with calm, clear thoughts, and with deep, unselfish love to God +and man. He will strengthen your wills, that they may be +able to refuse the evil and choose the good. Ask Him, and +He will join them to His own Spirit—to the Spirit of +Christ, your Master; for he that is joined unto the Lord is one +spirit with Him. Ask him, and He will give you the mind of +Christ—teach you to see and feel all matters as Christ sees +and feels them. Ask Him, and He will give you wisdom to +listen to His Spirit when it teaches your spirit, and then you +will be able to walk after the spirit, and not obey the lusts of +the flesh; and you will be able to crucify the flesh with its +passions and lusts, that is, to make it, what it ought to be, a +dead thing—a dead tool for your spirit to work with +manfully and godly, and not a live tyrant to lead you into +brutishness and folly; and then you will find that the fruit of +the spirit, of your spirit led by God’s Spirit, is really, +as St. Paul says, “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, +gentleness, honesty”—“whatsoever things are +true, whatsoever things are honourable and of good report;” +and instead of being the miserable slaves of your own passions, +and of the opinions of your neighbours, you will find that where +the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, true freedom, not +only from your neighbours’ sins, but, what is far better, +freedom from your own.</p> +<p>These are large words, my friends, and promise mighty +things. But I dare speak them to you, for God has spoken to +you. These promises God made you at your baptism; these +promises I, on the warrant of your baptism, dare make to you +again. At your baptism, God gave you the right to call Him +your loving Father, to call His Son your Saviour, His Spirit your +Sanctifier. And He is not a man, that He should lie; nor +the son of man, that He should repent! Try Him, and see +whether He will not fulfil His word. Claim His promise, and +though you have fallen lower than the brutes, He will make men +and women of you. He will be faithful and just to forgive +you your sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.</p> +<h2><a name="page72"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 72</span>SERMON +VII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">RETRIBUTION.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Numbers</span>, xxxii. 23.</p> +<p>“Be sure your sin will find you out.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> full meaning of this text is, +that every sin which a man commits is certain, sooner or later, +to come home to him with fearful interest.</p> +<p>Moses gave this warning to two tribes of the +Israelites,—to the Reubenites and Gadites, who had promised +to go over Jordan, and help their countrymen in war against the +heathen, on condition of being allowed to return and settle on +the east bank of Jordan, where they then were; but if they broke +their promise, and returned before the end of the war, they were +to be certain that their sin would find them out; that God would +avenge their falsehood on them in some way in their lifetime: in +their lifetime, I say, for there is no mention made in this +chapter, or in any part of the story, of heaven or hell, or any +world to come. And the text has been always taken as a fair +warning to all generations of men, that their sin also, even in +their lifetimes, will be visited upon them.</p> +<p>Now, it is strange, at first sight, that these texts, which +warn men that their sins will be punished in this life, are just +the most unpleasant texts in the whole Bible; that men shrink +from them more, and shut their eyes to them more than they do to +those texts which threaten them with hell-fire and everlasting +death. Strange!—that men should be more afraid of +being punished in this life for a few years than in the life to +come for ever and ever;—and yet not strange if we consider; +for to worldly and sinful souls, that life after death and the +flames of hell seem quite distant and dim—things of which +they know little and believe less, while this world they +<i>do</i> know, they are quite certain that its good things are +pleasant and its bad things unpleasant, and they are thoroughly +afraid of losing <i>them</i>. Their hearts are where their +treasure is, in this world; and a punishment which deprives them +of this world’s good things hits them home: but their +treasure is <i>not</i> in heaven, and, therefore, about losing +heaven they are by no means so much concerned. And thus +they can face the dreadful news that “the wicked shall be +turned into hell, and all the people that forget God;” +while, as for the news that the wicked shall be recompensed on +the earth, that their sins will surely find them out in this +life, they cannot face that—they shut their ears to +it,—they try to persuade themselves that sin will +<i>pay</i> them <i>here</i>, at all events; and as for hereafter, +they shall get off somehow,—they neither know nor care much +how.</p> +<p>Yet God’s truth remains, and God’s truth must be +heard; and those who love this world so well must be told, +whether they like or not, that every sin which they commit, every +mean, every selfish, every foul deed, loses them so much +enjoyment in this very present world of which they are so mighty +fond. That is God’s truth; and I will prove it true +from common sense, from Holy Scripture, and <i>from the +witness</i> of men’s own hearts.</p> +<p>Take common sense. Does not common sense tell us that if +God made this world, and governs it by righteous and God-like +laws, this must be a world in which evil-doing cannot +thrive? God made the world better than that, surely! +He would be a bad law-giver who made such laws, that it was as +well to break them as to keep them. You would call them bad +laws, surely! No, God made the world, and not the devil; +and the world works by God’s laws, and not the +devil’s; and it inclines towards good, and not towards +evil; and he who sins, even in the least, breaks God’s +laws, acts contrary to the rule and constitution of the world, +and will surely find that God’s laws will go on in spite of +him, and grind him to powder, if he by sinning gets in the way of +them. God has no need to go out of His way to punish our +evil deeds. Let them alone, and they will punish +themselves. Is it not so in every thing? If a +tradesman trades badly, or a farmer farms badly, there is no need +of lawyers to punish him; he will punish himself. Every +mistake he makes will take money out of his pocket; every time he +offends against the established rules of trade or agriculture, +which are God’s laws, he injures himself; and so, be sure, +it is in the world at large,—in the world in which men and +the souls of men live, and move, and have their being.</p> +<p>Next, to speak of Scripture. I might quote texts +innumerable to prove that what I say Scripture says also. +Consider but this one thing,—that there is a whole book in +the Bible written to prove this one thing,—that our good +and bad deeds are repaid us with interest in this life—the +Proverbs of Solomon I mean—in which there is little or no +mention of heaven or hell, or any world to come. It is all +one noble, and awful, and yet cheering sermon on that one text, +“The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more +the wicked and the sinner,”—put in a thousand +different lights; brought home to us a thousand different roads, +comes the same everlasting doom,—“Vain man, who +thinkest that thou canst live in God’s world and yet +despise His will, know that, in every smiling, comfortable sin, +thou art hatching an adder to sting thee in the days of old age, +to poison thy cup of sinful joy, even when it is at thy lips; to +haunt thy restless thoughts, and dog thee day and night; to rise +up before thee, in the silent, sleepless hours of night, like an +angry ghost! An awful foretaste of the doom that is to +come; and yet a merciful foretaste, if thou wilt be but taught by +the disappointment, the unsatisfied craving, the gnawing shame of +a guilty conscience, to see the heinousness of sin, and would +turn before it be too late.”</p> +<p>What, my friends,—what will you make of such texts as +this, “That he who soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh +reap corruption?” Do you not see that comes true far +too often? Can it help <i>always</i> coming true, seeing +that God’s apostle spoke it? What will you make of +this, too, “That the wicked is snared by the working of his +own hands;”—“That <i>evil</i>”—the +evil which we do of its own self—“shall slay the +wicked?” What says the whole noble 37th Psalm of +David, but that same awful truth of God, that sin is its own +punishment?</p> +<p>Why should I go on quoting texts? Look for yourselves, +you who fancy that it is only on the other side of the grave that +God will trouble Himself about you and your meanness, your +profligacy, your falsehood. Look for yourselves in the book +of God, and see if there be any writer there,—lawgiver, +prophet, psalmist, apostle, up to Christ the Lord +Himself,—who does not warn men again and again, that here, +on earth, their sins will find them out. Our Saviour, +indeed, when on earth, said less about this subject than any of +the prophets before Him, or the apostles after Him, and for the +best of reasons. The Jews had got rooted in their minds a +superstitious notion, that all disease, all sorrow, was the +punishment in each case of some particular sin; and thus, instead +of looking with pity and loving awe upon the sick and the +afflicted, they were accustomed, too often, to turn from them as +sinners, smitten of God, bearing in their distress the token of +His anger. The blessed One,—He who came to heal the +sick and save the lost,—reproved that error more than +once. When the disciples fancied a certain poor man’s +blindness to be a judgment from God, “Neither did he +sin,” said the Lord, “nor his parents, but that the +glory of God might be made manifest in him.” And yet, +on the other hand, when He healed a certain man of an old +infirmity at the pool of Bethesda, what were His words to +him? “Go thy way, sin no more, lest a worse thing +come unto thee;”—a clear and weighty warning that all +his long misery of eight-and-thirty years had been the punishment +of some sin of his, and that the sin repeated would bring on him +a still severer judgment.</p> +<p>What, again, does the apostle mean, in the Epistle to the +Hebrews, when he tells us how God scourges every son whom he +receives, and talks of His chastisements, whereof all are +partakers. Why do we need chastising if we have nothing +which needs mending? And though the innocent <i>may</i> +sometimes be afflicted to make them strong as well as innocent, +and the holy chastened to make them humble as well as holy, yet +if the good cannot escape their share of affliction, how will the +bad get off? “If the righteous scarcely be saved, +where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” But +what use in arguing when you know that my words are true? +You <i>know</i> that your sins will find you out. Look +boldly and honestly into your own hearts. Look through the +history of your past lives, and confess to God, at least, that +the far greater number of your sorrows have been your own fault; +that there is hardly a day’s misery which you ever endured +in your life of which you might not say, ‘If I had listened +to the voice of God in my conscience—if I had earnestly +considered what my <i>duty</i> was—if I had prayed to God +to determine my judgment right, I should have been spared this +sorrow now?’ Am I not right? Those who know +most of God and their own souls will agree most with me; those +who know little about God and their own souls will agree but +hardly with me, for they provoke God’s chastisements, and +writhe under them for the time, and then go and do the same wrong +again, as the wild beast will turn and bite the stone thrown at +him without having the sense to see why it was thrown.</p> +<p>Think, again, of your past lives, and answer in God’s +sight, how many wrong things have you ever done which have +<i>succeeded</i>, that is, how many sins which you would not be +right glad were undone if you could but put back the wheels of +Time? They may have succeeded <i>outwardly</i>; meanness +will succeed +so—lies—oppression—theft—adultery—drunkenness—godlessness—they +are all pleasant enough while they last, I suppose; and a man may +reap what he calls substantial benefits from them in money, and +suchlike, and keep that safe enough; but has his sin +succeeded? Has it not <i>found him out</i>?—found him +out never to lose him again? Is he the happier for +it? Does he feel freer for it? Does he respect +himself the more for it?—No! And even though he may +prosper now, yet does there not run though all his selfish +pleasure a certain fearful looking forward to a fiery judgment to +which he would gladly shut his eyes, but cannot?</p> +<p>Cunning, fair-spoken oppressor of the poor, has not thy sin +found thee out? Then be sure it will. In the shame of +thine own heart it will find thee out;—in the curses of the +poor it will find thee out;—in a friendless, restless, +hopeless death-bed, thy covetousness and thy cruelty will glare +before thee in their true colours, and thy sin will find thee +out!</p> +<p>Profligate woman, who art now casting away thy honest name, +thy self-respect, thy womanhood, thy baptism-vows, that thou +mayest enjoy the foul pleasures of sin for a season, has not thy +sin found thee out? Then be sure it will hereafter, when +thou hast become disgusted at thyself and thine own +infamy,—and youth, and health, and friends, are gone, and a +shameful and despised old age creeps over thee, and death stalks +nearer and nearer, and God vanishes further and further off, then +thy sin will find thee out!</p> +<p>Foolish, improvident young man, who art wasting the noble +strength of youth, and manly spirits which God has given thee on +sin and folly, throwing away thine honest earnings in cards and +drunkenness, instead of laying them by against a time of +need—has not thy sin found thee out? Then be sure it +will some day, when thou hast to bring home thy bride to a +cheerless, unfurnished house, and there to live from hand to +mouth,—without money to provide for her +sickness,—without money to give her the means of keeping +things neat and comfortable when she is well,—without a +farthing laid by against distress, and illness, and old +age:—<i>then</i> your sin will find you out: then, perhaps, +my text,—my words—may come across you as you sigh in +vain in your comfortless home, in your impoverished old age, for +the money which you wasted in your youth! My friends, my +friends, for your own sakes consider, and mend ere that day come, +as else it surely will!</p> +<p>And, lastly, you who, without running into any especial sins, +as those which the world calls sins, still live careless about +religion, without loyalty to Christ the Lord, without any honest +attempt, or even wish, to serve the God above you, or to rejoice +in remembering that you are His children, working for Him and +under Him,—be sure your sin will find you out. When +affliction, or sickness, or disappointment come, as come they +will, if God has not cast you off;—when the dark day dawns, +and your fool’s paradise of worldly prosperity is cut away +from under your feet, then you will find out your folly—you +will find that you have insulted the only Friend who can bring +you out of affliction—cast off the only comfort which can +strengthen you to bear affliction—forgotten the only +knowledge which will enable you to be the wiser for +affliction. Then, I say, the sin of your godlessness will +find you out; if you do not intend to fall, soured and sickened +merely by God’s chastisements, either into stupid despair +or peevish discontent, you will have to go back, to go back to +God and cry, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and +before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy +son.”</p> +<p>Go back at once before it be too late. Find out your +sins and mend them—before they find you out, and break your +hearts.</p> +<h2><a name="page82"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 82</span>SERMON +VIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">SELF-DESTRUCTION.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">1 <span +class="smcap">Kings</span>, xxii. 23.</p> +<p>“The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all +these thy prophets.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> chapter from which my text is +taken, which is the first lesson for this evening’s +service, is a very awful chapter, for it gives us an insight into +the meaning of that most awful and terrible +word—temptation. And yet it is a most comforting +chapter, for it shews us how God is long-suffering and merciful, +even to the most hardened sinner; how to the last He puts before +him good and evil, to choose between them, and warns him to the +last of his path, and the ruin to which it leads.</p> +<p>We read of Ahab in the first lesson this morning as a +thoroughly wicked man,—mean and weak, cruel and ungodly, +governed by his wife Jezebel, a heathen woman, in marrying whom +he had broken God’s law,—a woman so famous for +cruelty and fierceness, vanity and wickedness, that her name is a +by-word even here in England now—“as bad as +Jezebel,” we say to this day. We heard of Ahab in +this morning’s lesson letting Jezebel murder the righteous +Naboth, by perjury and slander, to get possession of his +vineyard; and then, instead of shrinking with abhorrence from his +wife’s iniquity, going down and taking possession of the +land which he had gained by her sin. We read of God’s +curse on him, and yet of God’s long-suffering and pardon to +him on his repentance. Yet, neither God’s curse nor +God’s mercy seem to have moved him. But he had been +always the same. “He did evil,” the Bible tells +us, “in the sight of the Lord above all that were before +him.” He deserted the true God for his wife’s +idols and false gods; and in spite of Elijah’s miracle at +Carmel—of which you heard last Sunday—by which he +proved by fire which was the true God, and in spite of the +wonderful victory which God had given him, by means of one of +God’s prophets, over the Syrians, he still remained an +idolater. He would not be taught, nor understand; neither +God’s threats nor mercies could move him; he went on +sinning against light and knowledge; and now his cup was +full—his days were numbered, and God’s vengeance was +ready at the door.</p> +<p>He consulted all his false prophets as to whether or not he +should go to attack the Syrians at Ramoth-Gilead. They knew +what to say—they knew that their business was to prophesy +what would pay them—what would be pleasant to him. +They did not care whether what they said was true or +not—they lied for the sake of gain, for the Lord had put a +lying spirit into their mouths. They were rogues and +villains from the first. They had turned prophets, not to +speak God’s truth, but to make money, to flatter King Ahab, +to get themselves a reputation. We do not hear that they +were all heathens. Many of them may have believed in the +true God. But they were cheats and liars, and so they had +given place to the devil, the father of lies: and now he had +taken possession of them in spite of themselves, and they lied to +Ahab, and told him that he would prosper in the battle at +Ramoth-Gilead. It was a dangerous thing for them to say; +for if he had been defeated, and returned disappointed, his rage +would have most probably fallen on them for deceiving them. +And as in those Eastern countries kings do whatever they like +without laws or parliaments, Ahab would have most likely put them +all to a miserable death on the spot. But however dangerous +it might be for them to lie, they could not help lying. A +spirit of lies had seized them, and they who began by lying, +because it paid them, now could not help doing so whether it paid +them or not.</p> +<p>But the good king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, had no faith in these +flattering villains. He asked whether there was not another +prophet of the Lord to inquire of? Ahab told him that there +was one, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but that he hated him, because +he only prophesied evil of him. What a thorough picture of +a hardened sinner—a man who has become a slave to his own +lusts, till he cares nothing for a thing being true, provided +only it is pleasant! Thus the wilful sinner, like Ahab, +becomes both fool and coward, afraid to look at things as they +are; and when God’s judgments stare him in the face, the +wretched man shuts his eyes tight, and swears that the evil is +not there, just because he does not choose to see it.</p> +<p>But the evil was there, ready for Ahab, and it found +him. When he forced Micaiah to speak, Micaiah told him the +whole truth. He told him a vision, or dream, which he had +seen. “Hear thou therefore the word of the Lord: I +saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven +standing by Him. And the Lord said, Who shall persuade +Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead? And +there came forth a spirit, and said, I will go forth, and be a +lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord +said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do +so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit +in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken +evil concerning thee.”</p> +<p>What warning could be more awful, and yet more plain? +Ahab was told that he was listening to a lie. He had free +choice to follow that lie or not, and he did follow it. +After having put Micaiah into prison for speaking the truth to +him, he went up to Ramoth-Gilead; and yet he felt he was not +safe. He had his doubts and his fears. He would not +go openly into the battle, but disguised himself, hoping that by +this means he should keep himself safe from evil. +Fool! God’s vengeance could not be stopped by his +paltry cunning. In spite of all his disguises, a chance +shot struck him down between the joints of his armour. His +chariot-driver carried him out of the battle, and “he was +stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: +and the blood ran out of his wound into the midst of the +chariot. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; +and the dogs licked up his blood there,” according to the +word of the Lord, which He spoke by the mouth of His prophet +Elijah, saying, “In the place where dogs licked the blood +of Naboth, whom thou slewest, shall dogs lick thy blood, even +thine.”</p> +<p>And do not fancy, my friends, that because this is a +miraculous story of ancient times, it has nothing to do with +us. All these things were written for our example. +This chapter tells us not merely how Ahab was tempted, but it +tells us how <i>we</i> are tempted, every one of us, here in +England, in these very days. As it was with Ahab, so it is +with us. Every wilful sin that we commit we give room to +the devil. Every wrong step that we take knowingly, we give +a handle to some evil spirit to lead us seven steps further +wrong. And yet in every temptation God gives us a fair +chance. He is no cruel tyrant who will deliver us over to +the devil, to be led helpless and blindfold to our ruin. He +did not give Ahab over to him so. He sent a lying spirit to +deceive Ahab’s prophets, that Ahab might go up and fall at +Ramoth-Gilead; but at the very same time, see, he sends a holy +and a true man, a man whom Ahab could trust, and did trust at the +bottom of his heart, to tell him that the lie was a lie, to warn +him of his ruin, so that he might have no excuse for listening to +those false prophets—no excuse for following his own pride, +his own ambition, to his destruction. So you see, +“Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, +for God tempteth no man, but every one is tempted when he is led +away by his own lust and enticed.” Ahab was led away +by his own lust; his cowardly love of hearing what was pleasant +and flattering to him, rather than what was true—rather +than what he knew he deserved; that was what enticed him to +listen to Zedekiah and the false prophets, rather than to Micaiah +the son of Imlah. <i>That</i> is what entices us to +sin—the lust of believing what is pleasant to us, what +suits our own self-will—what is pleasant to our +bodies—pleasant to our purses—pleasant to our pride +and self-conceit. Then, when the lying spirit comes and +whispers to us, by bad thoughts, by bad books, by bad men, that +we shall prosper in our wickedness, does God leave us alone to +listen to those evil voices without warning? No! He +sends His prophets to us, as He sent Micaiah to Ahab, to tell us +that the wages of sin is death—to tell us that those who +sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind—to set before us at +every turn good or evil, that we may choose between them, and +live or die according to our choice. For do not fancy that +there are no prophets in our days, unless the gift of the Holy +Spirit, which is promised to all who believe, be a dream and a +lie. There are prophets nowadays,—yea, I say unto +you, and more than prophets. Is not the Bible a +prophet? Is not every page in it a prophecy to us, +foretelling God’s mercies and God’s punishments +towards men. Is not every holy and wise book, every holy +and wise preacher and writer, a prophet, expounding to us +God’s laws, foretelling to us God’s opinions of our +deeds, both good and evil? Ay, is not every man a prophet +to himself? That “still small voice” in a +man’s heart, which warns him of what is evil—that +feeling which makes him cheerful and free when he has done right, +sad and ashamed when he has done wrong—is not that a +prophecy in a man’s own heart? Truly it is. It +is the voice of God within us—it is the Spirit of God +striving with our spirits, whether we will hear, or whether we +will forbear—setting before us what is righteous, and +noble, and pure, and what is manly and God-like—to see +whether we will obey that voice, or whether we will obey our own +selfish lusts, which tempt us to please ourselves—to pamper +ourselves, our greediness, covetousness, ambition, or +self-conceit. And again, I say, we have our prophets. +Every preacher of righteousness is a prophet. Every good +tract is a prophet. That Prayer-book, those Psalms, those +Creeds, those Collects, which you take into your mouths every +Sunday, what are they but written prophecies, crying unto us with +the words of holy men of old, greater than Micaiah, or David, or +Elijah, “Hear thou the word of the Lord?” The +spirits of those who wrote that Prayer-book—the spirits of +just men made perfect, filled with the Spirit of the +Lord—they call to us to learn the wisdom which they knew, +to avoid the temptations which they conquered, that we may share +in the glory in which they shared round the throne of Christ for +evermore.</p> +<p>And if you ask me how to try the spirits, how to know whether +your own thoughts, whether the sermons which you hear, the books +which you read, are speaking to you God’s truth, or some +lying spirit’s falsehood, I can only answer you, “To +the law and to the testimony”—to the Bible; if they +speak not according to that word, there is no truth in +them. But how to understand the Bible? for the fleshly man +understands not the things of God. The fleshly man, he who +cares only about pleasing himself, he who goes to the Bible full +of self-conceit and selfishness, wanting the Bible to tell him +only just what he likes to hear, will only find it a sealed book +to him, and will very likely wrest the Scriptures to his own +destruction. Take up your Bible humbly, praying to God to +shew you its meaning, whether it be pleasant to you or not, and +then you will find that God will shew you a blessed meaning in +it; He will open your eyes, that you may understand the wondrous +things of His law; He will shew you how to try the spirit of all +you are taught, and to find out whether it comes from God.</p> +<h2><a name="page91"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 91</span>SERMON +IX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">HELL ON EARTH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Matthew</span>, viii. 29.</p> +<p>“And behold the evil spirits cried out, saying, What +have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou +come hither to torment us before the time?”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> account of the man possessed +with devils, and of his language to our Lord, of our Lord’s +casting the devils out of the poor sufferer, and His allowing +them to enter into a herd of swine, is one that is well worth +serious thought; and I think a few words on it will follow fitly +after my last Sunday’s sermon on Ahab and his temptations +by evil spirits. In that sermon I shewed you what temper of +mind it was which laid a man open to the cunning of evil spirits; +I wish now to shew you something of what those evil spirits +are. It is very little that we can know about them. +We were intended to know very little, just as much as would +enable us to guard against them, and no more. The accounts +of them in the Scriptures are for our use, not to satisfy our +curiosity. But we may find out a great deal about them from +this very chapter, from this very story, which is repeated almost +word for word in three different Gospels, as if to make us more +certain of so curious and important a matter, by having three +distinct and independent writers to witness for its truth. +I advise all those who have Bibles to look for this story in the +8th chapter of St. Matthew, and follow me as I explain it. <a +name="citation92"></a><a href="#footnote92" +class="citation">[92]</a></p> +<p>Now, first, we may learn from this account, that evil spirits +are real persons. There is a notion got abroad that it is +only a figure of speech to talk of evil spirits, that all the +Bible means by them are certain bad habits, or bad qualities, or +diseases. There are many who will say when they read this +story, ‘This poor man was only a madman. It was the +fashion of the old Jews when a man was mad to say that he was +possessed by evil spirits. All they meant was that the +man’s own spirit was in an evil diseased state, or that his +brain and mind were out of order.’</p> +<p>When I hear such language—and it is very common—I +cannot help thinking how pleased the devil must be to hear people +talk in such a way. How can people help him better than by +saying that there is no devil? A thief would be very glad +to hear you say, ‘There are no such things as thieves; it +is all an old superstition, so I may leave my house open at night +without danger;’ and I believe, my friends, from the very +bottom of my heart, that this new-fangled disbelief in evil +spirits is put into men’s hearts by the evil spirits +themselves. As it was once said, ‘The devil has tried +every plan to catch men’s souls, and now, as the last and +most cunning trick of all, he is shamming dead.’ +These may seem homely words, but the homeliest words are very +often the deepest. I advise you all to think seriously on +them.</p> +<p>But it is impossible surely to read this story without seeing +that the Bible considers evil spirits as distinct persons, just +as much as each one of us is a person, and that our Lord spoke to +them and treated them as persons. “What have +<i>we</i> to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou +come hither to torment <i>us</i> before the time?” +And again, “If Thou cast <i>us</i> out, suffer us to go +into the herd of swine.” What can shew more plainly +that there were some persons in that poor man, besides himself, +his own spirit, his own person? and that <i>he</i> knew it, and +Jesus knew it too? and that He spoke to these spirits, these +persons, who possessed that man, and not to the man +himself? No doubt there was a terrible confusion in the +poor madman’s mind about these evil spirits, who were +tormenting him, making him miserable, foul, and savage, in mind +and body—a terrible confusion! We find, when Jesus +asked him his name, he answers “<i>Legion</i>,” that +is an army, a multitude, “for we are many,” he +says. Again, one gospel tells us that he says, “What +have <i>I</i> to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of +God?” While in another Gospel we are told that he +said, “What have <i>we</i> to do with Thee?” He +seems not to have been able to distinguish between his own +spirit, and these spirits who possessed him. They put the +furious and despairing thoughts into his heart; they spoke +through his mouth; they made a slave and a puppet of him. +But though he could not distinguish between his own soul and the +devils who were in it, Christ could and Christ did.</p> +<p>The man says to Him, or rather the devils make the man say to +Him, “If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd of +swine, and drive us not out into the deep.” What did +Christ answer him? Christ did not answer him as our +so-called wise men in these days would, ‘My good man, this +is all a delusion and a fancy of your own, about your having evil +spirits in you—more persons than one in you—for you +are wrong in saying <i>we</i> of yourself. You ought to say +“I,” as every one else does; and as for spirits going +out of you, or going into a herd of swine, or anything else, that +is all a superstition and a fancy. There is nothing to come +out of you, there is nothing in you except yourself. All +the evil in you is your own, the disease of your own brain, and +the violent passions of your own heart. Your brain must be +cured by medicine, and your violent passions tamed down by care +and kindness, and then you will get rid of this foolish notion +that you have evil spirits in you, and calling yourself a +multitude, as if you had other persons in you besides +yourself.’</p> +<p>Any one who spoke in this manner nowadays would be thought +very reasonable and very kind. Why did not our Lord speak +so to this man, for there was no outward difference between this +man’s conduct and that of many violent mad people whom we +see continually in England? We read, that this man +possessed with devils would wear no clothes; that he had +extraordinary strength; that he would not keep company with other +men, but abode day and night in the tombs, exceeding fierce, +crying and cutting himself with stones, trying in blind rage, +which he could not explain to himself, to hurt himself and all +who came near him. And, above all, he had this notion, that +evil spirits had got possession of him. Now every one of +these habits and fancies you may see in many raging maniacs at +this day.</p> +<p>But did our Lord treat this man as we treat such maniacs in +these days? He took the man at his word, and more; the man +could not distinguish clearly between himself and the evil +spirits, but our Lord did. When the devils besought Him, +saying, “If thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd +of swine,” our Lord answers “Go;” and +“when they were cast out, they went into the herd of swine; +and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep +place into the sea, and perished in the waters.”</p> +<p>It was as if our Lord had meant to say to the +bystanders,—ay and to us, and to all people in all times +and in all countries, ‘This poor possessed maniac’s +notion was a true one. There were other persons in him +besides himself, tormenting him, body and soul: and, behold, I +can drive these out of him and send them into something else, and +leave the man uninjured, <i>himself</i>, and only himself, again +in an instant, without any need of long education to cure him of +his bad habits.’ It will be but reasonable, then, for +us to take this story of the man possessed by devils, as written +for our example, as an instance of what <i>might</i>, and perhaps +<i>would</i>, happen to any one of us, were it not for +God’s mercy.</p> +<p>St. Peter tells us to be sober and watchful, because +“the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he +may devour;” and when we look at the world around, we may +surely see that that stands as true now as it did in St. +Peter’s time. Why, again, did St. James tells us to +resist the devil if the devil be not near us to resist? Why +did St. Paul take for granted, as he did, that Christian men +were, of course, not ignorant of Satan’s devices, if it be +quite a proof of enlightenment and superior knowledge to be +ignorant of his devices,—if any dread, any thought even, +about evil spirits, be beneath the attention of reasonable +men? My friends, I say fairly, once for all, that that +common notion, that there are no men now possessed by evil +spirits, and that all those stories of the devil’s power +over men are only old, worn-out superstitions has come from this, +that men do not like to retain God in their knowledge, and +therefore, as a necessary consequence, do not like to retain the +devil in their knowledge; because they would be very glad to +believe in nothing but what they can see, and taste, and handle; +and, therefore, the thought of unseen evil spirits, or good +spirits either, is a painful thing to them. First, they do +not really believe in angels—ministering spirits sent out +to minister to the heirs of salvation; then they begin not to +believe in evil spirits. The Bible plainly describes their +vast numbers; but these people are wiser than the Bible, and only +talk of <i>one</i>—of <i>the</i> devil, as if there were +not, as the text tells us, legions and armies of devils. +Then they get rid of that one devil in their real desire to +believe in as few spirits as possible. I am afraid many of +them have gone on to the next step, and got rid of the one God +out of their thoughts and their belief. I said I am afraid, +I ought to have said I <i>know</i>, that they have done so, and +that thousands in this day who began by saying evil spirits only +mean certain diseases and bad habits in men, have ended by +saying, “God only means certain good habits in man. +God is no more a person than the evil spirits are +persons.”</p> +<p>I warn you of all this, my friends, because if you go to live +in large towns, as many of you will, you will hear talk enough of +this sort before your hairs are grey, put cleverly and eloquently +enough; for, as a wise man said, “The devil does not send +fools on his errands.” I pray God, that if you ever +do hear doctrines of that kind, some of my words may rise in your +mind and help to shew to you the evil path down which they +lead.</p> +<p>We may believe, then, from the plain words of Scriptures, that +there are vast numbers of evil spirits continually tempting men, +each of them to some particular sin; to worldliness, for +instance, for we read of the spirit of the evil world; to +filthiness, for we read of unclean spirits; to falsehood, for we +read of lying spirits and a spirit of lies; to pride, for we read +of a spirit of pride;—in short, to all sins which a man +<i>can</i> commit, to all evil passions to which a man can give +way. We have a right to believe, from the plain words of +Scripture, that these spirits are continually wandering up and +down tempting men to sin. That wonderful story of +Job’s temptation, which you may all read for yourselves in +the first chapter of the book of Job, is, I think, proof enough +for any one.</p> +<p>But next, and I wish you to pay special attention to this +point: We have no right to believe,—we have every right +<i>not</i> to believe, that these evil spirits can make us sin in +the smallest matter against our own wills. The devil cannot +put a single sin into us; he can only flatter the sinfulness +which is already in us. For, see; this pride, lust, +covetousness, falsehood, and so on, to which the Bible tells us +they tempt us, have roots already in our nature. Our fallen +nature of itself is inclined to pride, to worldliness, and so +on. These devils tempt us by putting in our way the +occasion to sin, by suggesting to us tempting thoughts and +arguments which lead to sin; so the serpent tempted Eve, not by +making her ambitious and self-willed, but by using arguments to +her which stirred up the ambition and self-will in her: “Ye +shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,” the devil said to +her.</p> +<p>So Satan, the prince of the evil spirits, tempted our +Lord. And as the prince of the devils tempted Christ, so do +<i>his</i> servants tempt <i>us</i>, Christ’s +servants. Our tempers, our longings, our fancies, are not +evil spirits; they are, as old divines well describe them, like +greedy and foolish fish, who rise at the baits which evil spirits +hold out to us. If we resist those baits—if we put +ourselves under God’s protection—if we claim strength +from Him who conquered the devil and all His temptations, then we +shall be able to turn our wills away from those tempting baits, +and to resign our wills into our Father’s hand, and He will +take care of them, and strengthen them with His will; and we +shall find out that if we resist the devil, he will flee from +us. But if we yield to temptations whenever they come in +our way, we shall find ourselves less and less able to resist +them, for we shall learn to hate the evil spirits less and less; +I mean we shall shrink less from the evil thoughts they hold out +to us. We shall give place to the devil, as the Scripture +tells us we shall; for instance, by indulging in habitual +passionate tempers, or rooted spite and malice, letting the sun +go down upon our wrath: and so a man may become more and more the +slave of his own nature, of his own lusts and passions, and +therefore of the devils, who are continually pampering and +maddening those lusts and passions, till a man may end in +<i>complete possession</i>; not in common madness, which may be +mere disease, but as a savage and a raging maniac, such as, thank +God, are rare in Christian countries, though they were common +among our own forefathers before they were converted to +Christianity,—men like the demoniac of whom the text +speaks, tormented by devils, given up to blind rage and malice +against himself and all around, to lust and blasphemy, to +confusion of mind and misery of body, God’s image gone, and +the image of the devil, the destroyer and the corrupter, arisen +in its place. Few men can arrive at this pitch of +wretchedness in a civilised country. It would not answer +the evil spirit’s purpose to let them do so. It suits +<i>his</i> spirits best in such a land as this to walk about +dressed up as angels of light. Few men in England would be +fools enough to indulge the gross and fierce part of their nature +till they became mere savages, like the demoniac whom Christ +cured; so it is to respectable vices that the devil mostly tempts +us,—to covetousness, to party spirit, to a hard heart and a +narrow mind; to cruelty, that shall clothe itself under the name +of law; to filthiness, which excuses itself by saying, “It +is a man’s nature, he cannot help it;” to idleness, +which excuses itself on the score of wealth; to meanness and +unfairness in trade, and in political and religious +disputes—these are the devils which haunt us +Englishmen—sleek, prim, respectable fiends enough; and, +truly, <i>their</i> name is Legion! And the man who gives +himself up to them, though he may not become a raving savage, is +just as truly possessed by devils, to his own misery and ruin, +that he may sow the wind and reap the whirlwind; that though men +may speak well of him, and posterity praise his saying, and speak +good of the covetous whom God abhorreth, yet he may go for ever +unto his own, to the evil spirits to whom his own wicked will +gave him up for a prey. I beseech you, my friends, consider +my words; they are not mine, but the Bible’s. Think +of them with fear;—and yet with confidence, for we are +baptised into the name of Him who conquered all devils; you may +claim a share in that Spirit which is opposite to all evil +spirits,—whose presence makes the agony and misery of evil +spirits, and drives them out as water drives out fire. If +He is on your side, why should you be afraid of any spirit? +Greater is He that is in you than he that is against you; and He, +Christ Himself, is with every man, every child, who struggles, +however blindly and weakly, against temptation. When +temptation comes, when evil looks pleasant, and arguments rise up +in your mind, that seem to make it look right and reasonable, as +well as pleasant, <i>then</i>, out of the very depths of your +hearts, cry after Him who died for you. Say to yourselves, +‘How can I do this thing, and offend against Him who bought +me with His blood?’ Say to Him, ‘I am weak, I +am confused; I do not see right from wrong; I cannot find my way; +I cannot answer the devil; I cannot conquer these cunning +thoughts; I know in the bottom of my heart that they are wrong, +mere temptations, and yet they look so reasonable. Blessed +Saviour, <i>Thou</i> must shew me where they are wrong. +Thou didst answer the devil Thyself out of God’s Word, put +into <i>my</i> mind some answer out of God’s Word to these +temptations; or, at least, give me spirit to toss them +off—strength of will to thrust the whole temptation out of +my head, and say, I will parley no longer with the devil; I will +put the whole matter out of my head for a time. I +don’t know whether it is right or wrong for me to do this +particular thing, but there are twenty other things which I +<i>do</i> know are right. I’ll go and do <i>them</i>, +and let this wait awhile.’</p> +<p>Believe me, my friends, you <i>can</i> do this—you can +resist these evil spirits which tempt us all; else why did our +Lord bid us pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver +us from evil?” Why? Because our Father in +heaven, if we ask Him, will <i>not</i> lead us <i>into</i> +temptation, but <i>through</i> it safe. Tempted we +<i>must</i> be, else we should not be men; but here is our +comfort and our strength—that we have a King in heaven, who +has fought out and conquered all temptations, and a Father in +heaven, who has promised that He will not suffer us to be tempted +above that we are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way +to escape, that we may be able to bear it.</p> +<p>Again, I say, draw near to God, and He will draw near to +you. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.</p> +<h2><a name="page104"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +104</span>SERMON X.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">NOAH’S JUSTICE.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Genesis</span>, vi. 9.</p> +<p>“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and +Noah walked with God.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">intend</span>, my friends, according as +God shall help me, to preach to you, between this time and +Christmas, a few sermons on some of the saints and worthies of +the Old Testament; and I will begin this day with Noah.</p> +<p>Now you must bear in mind that the histories of these ancient +men were, as St. Paul says, written for our example. If +these men in old times had been different from us, they would not +be examples to us; but they were like us—men of like +passions, says St. James, as ourselves; they had each of them in +them a corrupt <i>nature</i>, which was continually ready to drag +them down, and make beasts of them, and make them slaves to their +own lusts—slaves to eating and drinking, and covetousness, +and cowardice, and laziness, and love for the things which they +could see and handle—just such a nature, in short, as we +have. And they had also a spirit in each of them which was +longing to be free, and strong, and holy, and wise—such a +spirit as we have. And to them, just as to us, God was +revealing himself; God was saying to their consciences, as He +does to ours, ‘This is right, that is wrong; do this, and +be free and clear-hearted; do that, and be dark and discontented, +and afraid of thy own thoughts.’ And they too, like +us, had to live by faith, by continual belief that they owed a +<i>duty</i> to the great God whom they could not see, by +continual belief that He loved them, and was guiding and leading +them through every thing which happened, good or ill.</p> +<p>This is faith in God, by which alone we, or any man, can live +worthily,—by which these old heroes lived. We read, +in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, that it was by faith these +elders obtained a good report; and the whole history of the +Old-Testament saints is the history of God speaking to the hearts +of one man after another, teaching them each more and more about +Himself, and the history also of these men listening to the voice +of God in their hearts, and <i>believing</i> that voice, and +acting faithfully upon it, into whatever strange circumstances or +deeds it might lead them. “By faith,” we read +in this same chapter,—“by faith Noah, being warned of +God, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, and became heir +of the righteousness which is by faith.”</p> +<p>Now, to understand this last sentence, you must remember that +Noah was not under the law of Moses. St. Paul has a whole +chapter (the third chapter of Galatians) to shew that these old +saints had nothing to do with Moses’ law any more than we +have, that it was given to the Jews many hundred years +afterwards. So these histories of the Old-Testament saints +are, in fact, histories of men who conquered by +faith—histories of the power which faith in God has to +conquer temptation, and doubt, and false appearances, and fear, +and danger, and all which besets us and keeps us down from being +free and holy, and children of the day, walking cheerfully +forward on our heavenward road in the light of our Father’s +loving smile.</p> +<p>Noah, we read, “was a just man, and perfect in his +generations;” and why? Because he was a faithful +man—faithful to God, as it is written, “The just +shall live by his faith;” not by trusting in what he does +himself, in his own works or deservings, but trusting in God who +made him, believing that God is perfectly righteous, perfectly +wise, perfectly loving; and that, because He is perfectly loving, +He will accept and save sinful man when He sees in sinful man the +earnest wish to be His faithful, obedient servant, and to give +himself up to the rule and guidance of God. This, then, was +Noah’s justice in God’s sight, as it was +Abraham’s. They believed God, and so became heirs of +the righteousness which is by faith; not their own righteousness, +not growing out of their own character, but given them by God, +who puts His righteous Spirit into those who trust in Him.</p> +<p>But, moreover, we read that Noah “was perfect in his +generations;” that is, he was perfect in all the relations +and duties of life,—a good son, a good husband, a good +father: these were the fruits of his faith. He believed +that the unseen God had given him these ties, had given him his +parents, his children, and that to love them was to love God, to +do his duty to them was to do his duty to God. This was +part of his walking with God, continually under his great +Taskmaster’s eye,—walking about his daily business +with the belief that a great loving Father was above him, +whatever he did; ready to strengthen, and guide, and bless him if +he did well, ready to avenge Himself on him if he did ill. +These were the fruits of Noah’s faith.</p> +<p>But you may think this nothing very wonderful. Many a +man in England does this every day, and yet no one ever hears of +him; he attends to all his family ties, doing justly, loving +mercy, and walking humbly with God, like one who knows he is +redeemed by Christ’s blood; he lives, he dies, he is +buried, and out of his own parish his name is never known; while +Noah has earned for himself a worldwide fame; for four thousand +years his name has been spreading over the whole earth as one of +the greatest men who ever lived. Mighty nations have +worshipped Noah as a God; many heathen nations worship him under +strange and confused names and traditions to this day; and the +wisest and holiest men among Christians now reverence Noah, write +of him, preach on him, thank God for him, look up to him as, next +to Abraham, their greatest example in the Old Testament.</p> +<p>Well, my friends, to understand what made Noah so great, we +must understand in what times Noah lived. “The +wickedness of men was great in the earth in those days, and every +imagination of the thoughts of their heart was only evil +continually, and the earth was filled with violence through +them.” And we must remember that the wickedness of +men before the flood was not outwardly like wickedness now; it +was not petty, mean, contemptible wickedness of silly and stupid +men, such as could be despised and laughed down; it was like the +wickedness of fallen angels. Men were then strong and +beautiful, cunning and active, to a degree of which we can form +no conception. Their enormous length of life (six, seven, +and eight hundred years commonly) must have given them an +experience and daring far beyond any man in these days. +Their bodily size and strength were in many cases enormous. +We read that “there were giants in the earth in those days; +and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the +daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became +mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” Their +powers of invention seem to have been proportionably great. +We read, in the fourth chapter of Genesis, how, within a few +years after Adam was driven out of Paradise, they had learned to +build cities, to tame the wild beasts, and live upon their milk +and flesh; that they had invented all sorts of music and musical +instruments; that they had discovered the art of working in +metals. We read among them of Tubal-Cain, an instructor of +every workman in brass and iron; and the old traditions in the +East, where these men dwelt, are full of strange and awful tales +of their power.</p> +<p>Again, we must remember that there was no law in Noah’s +days before the flood, no Bible to guide them, no constitutions +and acts of parliament to bind men in the beaten track by the +awful majesty of law, whether they will or no, as we have.</p> +<p>This is the picture which the Bible gives us of the old world +before the flood—a world of men mighty in body and mind, +fierce and busy, conquering the world round them, in continual +war and turmoil; with all the wild passions of youth, and yet all +the cunning and experience of enormous old age; with the strength +and the courage of young men to carry out the iniquity of old +ones; every one guided only by self-will, having cast off God and +conscience, and doing every man that which was right in the sight +of his own eyes. And amidst all this, while men, as wise, +as old, as strong, as great as himself, whirled away round him in +this raging sea of sin, Noah was stedfast; he, at least, knew his +way,—“he walked with God, a just man, and perfect in +his generations.”</p> +<p>To Noah, living in such a world as this, among temptation, and +violence, and insult, no doubt, there came this command from God: +“The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is +filled with violence through them, and I will destroy them with +the earth. And behold I, even I, do bring a flood of waters +upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of +life; but with thee will I establish my covenant, and thou shalt +make thee an ark of wood after the fashion which I tell thee; and +thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy family, and of every +living thing, two of every sort, male and female, shalt thou +bring into the ark, and keep them alive with thee; and take thou +of all food that is eaten into the ark, for thee and for +them.” What a message, my friends! If we wish +to see a little of the greatness of Noah’s faith, conceive +such a message coming from God to one of us! Should we +believe it—much less act upon it? But <i>Noah</i> +believed God, says the Scripture; and “according as God +commanded him, so did he.” Now, in whatever way this +command came from God to Noah, it is equally wonderful. +Some of you, perhaps, will say in your hearts, ‘No! when +God spoke to him, how could he help obeying Him?’ +But, my friends, ask yourselves seriously,—for, believe me, +it is a most important question for the soul and inner life of +you and me, and every man—how did Noah know that it was God +who spoke to him? It is easy to say God appeared to him; +but no man hath seen God at any time. It is easy, again, to +say that an angel appeared to him, or that God appeared to him in +the form of a man; but still the same question is left to be +answered, how did he know that this appearance came from God, and +that its words were true? Why should not Noah have said, +‘This was an evil spirit which appeared to me, trying to +frighten and ruin me, and stir up all my neighbours to mock me, +perhaps to murder me?’ Or, again; suppose that you or +I saw some glorious apparition this day, which told us on such +and such a day such and such a town will be destroyed, what +should <i>we</i> think of it? Should we not say, I must +have been dreaming—I must have been ill, and so my brain +and eyes must have been disordered, and treat the whole thing as +a mere fancy of ill-health; now why did not Noah do the same?</p> +<p>Why do I say this? To shew you, my friends, that it is +not apparitions and visions which can make a man believe. +As it is written, “If they believe not Moses and the +prophets, neither will they believe though one rose from the +dead.” No; a man must have faith in his heart +already. A man must first be accustomed to discern right +from wrong—to listen to and to obey the voice of God within +him; <i>that</i> word of God of which it is said, “the word +is nigh thee, in thy heart, and in thy mind,” before he can +hear God’s word from without; else he will only explain +away miracles, and call visions and apparitions sick men’s +dreams.</p> +<p>But there was something yet more wonderful and divine in +Noah’s faith,—I mean his patience. He knew that +a flood was to come—he set to work in faith to build his +ark—and that ark was in building for one hundred and twenty +years,—one hundred and twenty years! It seems at +first past all belief. For all that time he built; and all +the while the world went on just as usual; and, before he had +finished, old men had died, and children grown into years; and +great cities had sprung up perhaps where there was not a cottage +before; and trees which were but a yard high when that ark was +begun had grown into mighty forest-timber; and men had multiplied +and spread, and yet Noah built and built on stedfastly, believing +that what God had said would surely one day or other come to +pass. For one hundred and twenty years he saw the world go +on as usual, and yet he never forgot that it was a doomed +world. He endured the laughter and mockery of all his +neighbours, and every fresh child who was born grew up to laugh +at the foolish old man who had been toiling for a hundred years +past on his mad scheme, as they thought it; and yet Noah never +lost faith, and he never lost <i>love</i> either—for all +those years, we read, he preached righteousness to the very men +who mocked him, and preached in vain—one hundred and twenty +years he warned those sinners of God’s wrath, of +righteousness and judgment to come, and no man listened to +him! That, I believe, must have been, after all, the +hardest of all his trials.</p> +<p>And, doubtless, Noah had his inward temptation many a time; no +doubt he was ready now and then to believe God’s message +all a dream—to laugh at himself for his fears of a flood +which seemed never coming, but in his heart was “the still +small voice” of God, warning him that God was not a man +that he should lie, or repent, or deceive those who walked +faithfully with him; and around him he saw men growing and +growing in iniquity, filling up the cup of their own damnation; +and he said to himself, ‘Verily there is a God who judgeth +the earth—for all this a reckoning day will surely +come;’ and he worked stedfastly on, and the ark was +finished. And then at last there came a second call from +God, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee +have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Yet +seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth, and every +living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the +earth.” And Noah entered into the ark, and seven days +he waited; and louder than ever laughed the scoffers round him, +at the old man and his family shut into his ark safe on dry land, +while day and night went on as quietly as ever, and the world ran +its usual round; for seven days more their mad game +lasted—they ate, they drank, they married, they gave in +marriage, they planted, they builded; and on the seventh day it +came—the rain fell day after day, and week after +week—and the windows of heaven were opened, and the +fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the flood arose, +and swept them all away!</p> +<h2><a name="page116"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +116</span>SERMON XI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE NOACHIC COVENANT.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Gen</span>. ix. 8, 9.</p> +<p>“And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, +And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your +seed after you.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> my last sermon on Noah I spoke +of the flood and of Noah’s faith before the flood; I now go +on to speak of the covenant which God made with Noah after the +flood. Now, Noah stood on that newly-dried earth as the +head of mankind; he and his family, in all eight souls, saved by +God’s mercy from the general ruin, were the only human +beings left alive, and had laid on them the wonderful and +glorious duty of renewing the race of man, and replenishing the +vast world around them. From that little knot of human +beings were to spring all the nations of the earth.</p> +<p>And because this calling and destiny of theirs was a great and +all-important one—because so much of the happiness or +misery of the new race of mankind depended on the teaching which +they would get from their forefathers, the sons of Noah, +therefore God thought fit to make with Noah and his sons a solemn +covenant, as soon as they came out of the ark.</p> +<p>Let us solemnly consider this covenant, for it stands good now +as much as ever. God made it “with Noah, and his seed +after him,” for perpetual generations. And <i>we</i> +are the seed of Noah; every man, woman, and child of us here were +in the loins of Noah when the great absolute God gave him that +pledge and promise. We must earnestly consider that +covenant, for in it lies the very ground and meaning of +man’s life and business on this earth.</p> +<p>“And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, +Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; and the fear +of you and the dread of you shall be upon every living +creature. Into your hand they are delivered. Every +moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you, even as the green +herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life +thereof, which is the blood thereof shall ye not eat. And +surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of +every beast will I require it, and at the hand of men; at the +hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of +man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his +blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.”</p> +<p>Now, to understand this covenant, consider what thoughts would +have been likely to grow up in the mind of Noah’s children +after the flood. Would they not have been something of this +kind: ‘God does not love men; He has drowned all but us, +and we are men of like passions with the world who perished, may +we not expect the like ruin at any moment? Then what use to +plough and sow, and build and plant, and work for those who shall +come after us?’ ‘Let us eat and drink, for +to-morrow we die.’</p> +<p>And again, they would have been ready to say, ‘This God, +whom our forefather Noah said sent floods, we cannot see Him; but +the floods themselves we can see. All these clouds and +tempests, lightning, sun, and stars, are we <i>stronger</i> than +them? No! They may crush us, drown us, strike us dead +at any moment. They seem, too, to go by certain wonderful +rules and laws; perhaps they have a will and understanding in +them. Instead of praying to a God whom we never saw, why +not pray to the thunderclouds not to strike us dead, and to the +seas and rivers not to sweep us away? For this great, +wonderful, awful world in which we are, however beautiful may be +its flowers, and its fruits, and its sunshine, there is no +trusting it; we are sitting upon a painted sepulchre, a beautiful +monster, a gulf of flood and fire, which may burst up any moment, +and sweep us away, as it did our forefathers.’</p> +<p>Again, Noah’s children would have begun to say, +‘These beasts here round us, they are so many of them +larger than us, stronger than us, able to tear us to atoms, eat +us up as they would eat a lamb. They are self-sufficient, +too; they want no clothes, nor houses, nor fire, like us poor, +weak, naked, soft human creatures. They can run faster than +we, see farther than we; their scent, too, what a wonderful, +mysterious power that is, like a miracle to us! And, +besides all their cunning ways of getting food and building +nests, they never do <i>wrong</i>; they never do horrible things +contrary to their nature; they all abide as God has made them, +obeying the law of their kind. Are not these beasts, then, +much wiser and better than we? We will honour them, and +pray to them not to devour us—to make us cunning and +powerful as they are themselves. And if they are no better +than us, surely they are no worse than us. After all, what +difference is there between a man and a beast? The flood +which drowned the beasts drowned the men too. A beast is +flesh and blood, what more is a man? If you kill him, he +dies, just as a beast dies; and why should not a man’s +carcase be just as good to eat as a beast’s, and +better?’ And so there would have been a free opening +at once into all the horrors of cannibalism!</p> +<p>Again, Noah’s descendants would have said, ‘Our +forefathers offered sacrifices to the unseen God, as a sign that +all they had belonged to Him, and that they had forfeited their +own souls by sin, and were therefore ready to give up the most +precious things they had—their cattle, as a sign that they +owed all to that very God whom they had offended. But are +not human creatures much more precious than cattle? Will it +not be a much greater sign of repentance and willingness to give +up all to God if we offer Him the best things which we +have—human creatures? If we kill and sacrifice to Him +our most beautiful and innocent things—little +children—noble young men—beautiful young +girls?’</p> +<p>My friends, these are very strange and shocking thoughts, but +they have been in the hearts and minds of all nations. The +heathens do such things now. Our own forefathers used to do +such things once; they were tempted to worship the sun and the +moon, and the rivers, and the thunder, and to look with +superstitious terror at the bears, and the wolves, and the +snakes, round them, and to kill their young children and maidens, +and offer them up as sacrifices to the dark powers of this world, +which they thought were ready to swallow them up. And God +is my witness, my friends, when one goes through some parts of +England now, and sees the mine-children and factory-children, and +all the sin and misery, and the people wearying themselves in the +fire for very vanity, we seem not to be so very far from the same +dark superstition now, though we may call it by a different +name. England has been sacrificing her sons and her +daughters to the devil of covetousness of late years, just as +much as our forefathers offered theirs to the devil of selfish +and cowardly superstition.</p> +<p>But see, now, how this covenant which God made with Noah was +intended just to remedy every one of those temptations which I +just mentioned, into which Noah’s children’s children +would have been certain to fall, and into which so many of them +did fall. They might have become reckless, I said, from +fear of a flood at any moment. God promises them—and +confirms it with the sign of the rainbow—never again to +destroy the earth by water. They would have been likely to +take to praying to the rain and the thunder, the sun and the +stars; God declares in this covenant that it is <i>He</i> alone +who sends the rain and thunder, that He brings the clouds over +the earth, that He rules the great, awful world; that men are to +look up and believe in God as a loving and thinking +<i>person</i>, who has a will of His own, and that a faithful, +and true, and loving, and merciful will; that their lives and +safety depend not on blind chance, or the stern necessity of +certain laws of nature, but on the covenant of an almighty and +all-loving person.</p> +<p>Again, I said, that Noah’s sons would have been ready to +fear, and, at last, to worship the dumb beasts; God’s +covenant says, “No; these beasts are not your +equals—they are your slaves—you may freely kill them +for your food; the fear of you shall be upon them. The huge +elephant and the swift horse shall become your obedient servants; +the lion and the tiger shall tremble and flee before you. +Only claim your rights as men; believe that the invisible God who +made the earth is your strength and your protector, and that He +to whom the earth belongs has made you lords of the earth and all +that therein is. But,” said God’s covenant to +Noah’s sons, “you did not <i>make</i> these +beasts—you did not give them life, therefore I forbid you +to eat their blood wherein their life lies; that you may never +forget that all the power you have over these beasts was given +you by God, who made and preserves that wonderful, mysterious, +holy thing called life, which you can never imitate.” +Again, I said, that Noah’s children, having been accustomed +to the violence and bloodshed on the earth before the flood, +might hold man’s life cheap; that, having seen in the flood +men perish just like the beasts around them, they might have +begun to think that man’s life was not more precious than +the beasts’. They might have all gone on at last, as +some of them did, to those horrors of cannibalism and human +sacrifice of which I just now spoke. Now, here, again comes +in God’s covenant, “Surely the blood of your lives +will I require. At the hand of every beast will I require +it, and at the hand of every man’s brother will I require +it. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood by man shall his blood +be shed, for in the image of God made He man.” This, +then, is the covenant which God made with Noah for perpetual +generations, and therefore with us, the children of Noah. +In this covenant you see certain truths come out into light; +some, of which you read nothing before in the Bible, and other +truths which, though they were given to Adam, yet had been +utterly lost sight of before the flood. This has been +God’s method, we find from the Bible, ever since the +creation,—to lead man step by step up into more and more +light, up to this very day, and to make each sin and each madness +of men an occasion for revealing to Him more and more of truth +and of the living God. And so each and every chapter in the +Bible is built upon all that has gone before it; and he that +neglects to understand what has gone before will never come to +the understanding of what follows after. Why do I say +this? Because men are continually picking out those scraps +of the Bible which suit their own fancy, and pinning their whole +faith on them, and trying to make them serve to explain every +thing in heaven and earth; whereas no man can understand the +Epistles unless he first understand the Gospels. No man +will understand the New Testament unless he first understands the +pith and marrow of the Old. No man will understand the +Psalms and the Prophets unless he first understands the first ten +chapters of Genesis; and, lastly, no one will ever understand any +thing about the Bible at all, who, instead of taking it simply as +it is written, is always trying to twist it into proofs of his +own favourite doctrines, and make Abraham a high Calvinist, or +Noah a member of the Church of England. Why do I say +this? To make you all think seriously that this covenant on +which I have been preaching is your covenant; that as sure as the +rainbow stands in heaven, as sure as you and I are sprung out of +the loins of Noah, so surely this covenant which binds us is part +of our Christian covenant, and woe to us if we break it!</p> +<p>This covenant tells us that we are made in God’s +likeness, and, therefore, that all sin is unworthy of us and +unnatural to us. It tells us that God means us bravely and +industriously to subdue the earth and the living things upon it; +that we are to be the masters of the pleasant things about us, +and not their slaves, as sots and idlers are; that we are +stewards and tenants of this world for the great God who made it, +to whom we are to look up in confidence for help and +protection. It tells us that our family relationships, the +blessed duties of a husband and a father, are sacred things; that +God has created them, that the great God of heaven Himself +respects them, that the covenant which He makes with the father +He makes with the children; that He commands marriage, and that +He blesses it with fruitfulness; that it is He who has told us +“Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth;” +that the tie of brotherhood is His making also; that <i>He</i> +will require the blood of the murdered man <i>at his +brother’s hand</i>; that a man’s brothers, his +nearest relations, are bound to protect and right him if he is +injured; so that we all are to be, in the deepest sense of the +word, what Cain refused to be, our <i>brothers’ +keepers</i>, and each member of a family is more or less +answerable for the welfare and safety of all his relations. +Herein lies the ground of all religion and of all +society—in the covenant which God made with Noah; and just +as it is in vain for a man to pretend to be a scholar when he +does not even know his letters, so it is mockery for a man to +pretend to be a converted Christian man who knows not even so +much as was commanded to Noah and his sons. He who has not +learnt to love, honour, and succour his own family—he who +has not learnt to work in honest and manful industry—he who +has not learnt to look beyond this earth, and its chance, and its +customs, and its glittering outside, and see and trust in a +great, wise, loving God, by whose will every tree grows and every +shower falls, what is Christianity to him? He has to learn +the first principles which were delivered to Noah, and which not +even the heathen and the savage have utterly forgotten.</p> +<h2><a name="page125"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +125</span>SERMON XII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">ABRAHAM’S FAITH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Hebrews</span>, xi. 9, 10.</p> +<p>“By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in +a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, +the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a +city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is +God.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the last sermon which I preached +in this church, I said that the Bible is the history of +God’s ways with mankind, how He has schooled and brought +them up until the coming of Christ; that if we read the Bible +histories, one after another, in the same order in which God has +put them in the Bible, we shall see that they are all regular +steps in a line, that each fresh story depends on the story which +went before it; and yet, in each fresh history, we shall find God +telling men something new—something which they did not know +before. And that so the whole Bible, from beginning to end, +is one glorious, methodic, and organic tree of life, every part +growing out of the others and depending on the others, from the +root—that foundation, other than which no man can lay, +which is Christ, revealing Himself, though not by name, in that +wonderful first chapter of Genesis,—up to the <i>fruit</i>, +which is the kingdom of Christ, and Gospel of Christ, and the +salvation in which we here now stand. I told you that the +lesson which God has been teaching men in all ages is faith in +God—that the saints of old were just the men who learnt +this lesson of faith. Now this, as we all know, was the +secret of Abraham’s greatness, that he had faith in God to +leave his own country at God’s bidding, and become a +stranger and a pilgrim on the earth, wandering on in full trust +that God would give him another country instead of that which he +had left—“a city which hath foundations, whose +builder and maker is God.” This was what Abraham +looked for. Something of what it means we shall see +presently.</p> +<p>You remember the story of the tower of Babel? How +certain of Noah’s family forgot the covenant which God had +made with Noah, forgot that God had commanded them to go forth in +every direction and fill the earth with human beings, solemnly +promising to protect and bless them, and took on themselves to do +the very opposite—set up a kingdom of their own fashion, +and herded together for selfish safety, instead of going forth to +all the quarters of the world in a natural way, according to +their families, in their tribes, after their nations, as the +eleventh chapter of Genesis says they ought to have done. +“Let us build us a city and a tower, and make us a name, +lest,” they said, “we be scattered abroad over the +face of the whole world.” Here was one act of +disobedience to God’s order. But besides this they +had fallen into a slavish dread of the powers of +nature—they were afraid of another flood. They set to +to build a tower, on which they might worship the sun and stars, +and the host of heaven, and pray to them to send no more floods +and tempests. They thus fell into a slavish fear of the +powers of nature, as well as into a selfish and artificial +civilisation. In short, they utterly broke the covenant +which God had made with Noah. But by miraculously +confounding their language, God drove them forth over the face of +the whole earth, and so forced them to do that which they ought +to have done willingly at first.</p> +<p>Now, we must remember that all this happened in the very +country in which Abraham lived. He must have heard of it +all—for aught we know he had seen the tower of Babel. +So that, for good or for evil, the whole Babel event must have +produced a strong effect on the mind of a thoughtful man like +Abraham, and raised many strange questionings in his heart, which +God alone could answer for him, <i>or for us</i>. Now, what +did God mean to teach Abraham by calling him out of his country, +and telling him, “I will make of thee a great +nation?” I think He meant to shew him, for one thing, +that that Babel plan of society was utterly absurd and accursed, +certain to come to naught, and so to lead him on to hope for a +city which had foundations, and to see that <i>its</i> builder +and maker must be, not the selfishness or the ambition of men, +but the will, and the wisdom, and providence of God.</p> +<p>Let us see how God led Abraham on to understand this—to +look for a city which had foundations; in short, to understand +what a State and a nation means and ought to be. First, God +taught him that he was not to cling coward-like to the place +where he was born, but to go out boldly to colonise and subdue +the earth, for the great God of heaven would protect and guide +him. “Get thee out of thy country and from thy +father’s house unto a land which I will shew thee. +And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse +thee.” Again; God taught him what a nation was: +“<i>I</i> will make of thee a great nation.” As +much as to say, ‘Never fancy, as those fools at Babel did, +that a nation only means a great crowd of people—never +fancy that men can make themselves into a nation just by feeding +altogether, and breeding altogether, and fighting altogether, as +the herds of wild cattle and sheep do, while there is no real +union between them.’ For what brought those Babel men +together? Just what keeps a herd of cattle +together—selfishness and fear. Each man thought he +would be <i>safer</i>, forsooth, in company. Each man +thought that if he was in company, he could use his +neighbours’ wits as well as his own, and have the benefit +of his neighbours’ strength as well as his own. And +that is all true enough; but that does not make a nation. +Selfishness can join nothing; it may join a set of men for a +time, each for his own ends, just as a joint-stock company is +made up; but it will soon split them up again. Each man, in +a merely selfish community, will begin, after a time, to play on +his own account as well as work on his own account—to +oppress and overreach for his own ends as well as to be honest +and benevolent for his own ends, for he will find ill-doing far +easier, and more natural, in one sense, and a plan that brings in +quicker profits, than well-doing; and so this godless, loveless, +every-man-for-himself nation, or sham nation rather, this +joint-stock company, in which fools expect that universal +selfishness will do the work of universal benevolence, will +quarrel and break up, crumble to dust again, as Babel did. +“But,” says God to Abraham, “I will make of +thee a great nation. I make nations, and not they +themselves.” So it is, my friends: this is the lesson +which God taught Abraham, the lesson which we English must learn +nowadays over again, or smart for it bitterly—that God +makes nations. He is King of kings; “by Him kings +reign and princes decree judgment.” He judges all +nations: He nurtureth the nations. This is throughout the +teaching of the Psalms. “It is He that hath made us, +and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His +pasture;” for this I take to be the true bearing of that +glorious national hymn the 100th Psalm, and not merely the old +truism that men did not create themselves, when it exhorts +<i>all</i> nations to praise God because it is He that hath made +them nations, and not they themselves. The Psalms set forth +the Son of God as the King of all nations. In Him, my +friends,—in Him all the nations of the earth are truly +blessed.</p> +<p>He the Saviour of a few individual souls only? God +forbid! To Him <i>all power</i> is given in heaven and +earth; by Him were all things created, whether in heaven or +earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or +dominions, or principalities or powers;—all national life, +all forms of government, whether hero-despotisms, republics, or +monarchies, aristocracies of birth, or of wealth, or of +talent,—all were created by Him and for Him, and He is +before all things, and by Him all things <i>consist</i> and hold +together. Every thing or institution on earth which has +systematic and organic life in it—by <i>Him</i> it +consists—by Him, the Life and the Light who lighteneth +every man that cometh into the world. From Him come law, +and order, and spiritual energy, and loving fellow-feeling, and +patriotism, the spirit of wisdom, and understanding, and +prudence—all, in short, by which a nation consists and +holds together. It is not constitutions, and acts of +parliament, and social contracts, and rights of the people, and +rights of kings, and so on, which make us a nation. These +are but the effects, and not the consequences, of the national +life. <i>That</i> is the one spirit which is shed abroad +upon a country, whose builder and maker is God, and which comes +down from above—comes down from Christ the King of kings, +who has given each nation its peculiar work on this earth, its +peculiar circumstances and history to mould and educate it for +its work, and its peculiar spirit and national character, +wherewith to fulfil the destiny which Christ has appointed for +it.</p> +<p>Believe me, my friends, it takes long years, too, and much +training from God and from Christ, the King of kings, to make a +nation. Everything which is most precious and great is also +most slow in growing, and so is a nation. The Scripture +compares it everywhere to a tree; and as the tree grows, a people +must grow, from small beginnings, perhaps from a single family, +increasing on, according to the fixed laws of God’s world, +for years and hundreds of years, till it becomes a mighty nation, +with one Lord, one faith, one work, one Spirit.</p> +<p>But again; God said to Abraham, when He had led him into this +far country, “Unto thy seed will <i>I give this +land</i>.” This was a great and a new lesson for +Abraham, that the earth belonged to that same great invisible God +who had promised to guide and protect him, and make him into a +nation—that this same God gave the earth to whomsoever He +would, and allotted to each people their proper portion of +it. “He (said St. Paul on the Areopagus) hath +determined the times before appointed for all nations, and the +bounds of their habitation, that they may seek after the Lord and +find Him.” Ah! this must have been a strange and a +new feeling to Abraham; but, stranger still, though God had given +him this land, he was not to take possession of a single foot of +it; the land was already in the hands of a different nation, the +people of Canaan; and Abraham was to go wandering about a +sojourner, as the text says, in this very land of promise which +God had given him, without ever taking possession of his own, +simply because it belonged to others already. How this must +have taught Abraham that the rights of property were sacred +things—things appointed by God; that it was an awful and a +heinous sin to make wanton war on other people, to drive them out +and take possession of their land; that it was not mere force or +mere fancy which gave men a right to a country, but the +providence of Almighty God! Now Abraham needed this +warning, for the men of Babel seem from the first to have gone on +the plan of driving out and conquering the tribes round +them. They seem to have set up their city partly from +ambition. “Let us make us a name,” they said, +meaning, ‘Let us make ourselves famous and terrible to all +the people around us, that we may subdue them.’ And +we read of Nimrod, who was their first king and the founder of +Babel, that he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, that is, as +most learned men explain it, a mighty conqueror and tyrant in +defiance of God and His laws, as the poet says of him,</p> +<blockquote><p>“A mighty hunter, and his game was +man.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The Jews, indeed, have an old tradition that Nimrod cast +Abraham into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship the host of +heaven with him. The story is very likely untrue, but still +it is of use in shewing what sort of reputation Nimrod left +behind him in his own part of the world. We may thus see +that Abraham would need warning against these habits of violence, +tyranny, and plunder, into which the men of Babel and other +tribes were falling. And this was what God meant to teach +him by keeping him a stranger and a pilgrim in the very land +which God had promised to him for his own. Thus Abraham +learnt respect for the rights and properties of his neighbours; +thus he learnt to look up in faith to God, not only as his patron +and protector, but as the lord and absolute owner of the soil on +which he stood.</p> +<p>Now in the 14th chapter of Genesis there is an account of +Abraham’s being called on to put in practice what he had +learnt, and, by doing so, learning a fresh lesson. We read +of four kings making war against five kings, against +Chedorlaomer, king of Elam or Persia, who had been following the +ways of Nimrod and the men of Babel, and conquering these foreign +kings and making them serve him. We read of Chedorlaomer +and four other kings coming down and wantonly ravaging and +destroying other countries, besides the five kings who had +rebelled against them, and at last carrying off captive the +people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Lot, Abraham’s +nephew. We read then how Abraham armed his trained +servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen men, +and pursued after these tyrants and plunderers, and with his +small force completely overthrew that great army. Now that +was a sign and a lesson to Abraham, as much as to say, ‘See +the fruits of having the great God of heaven and earth for your +protector and your guide,—see the fruits of having men +round you, not hirelings, keeping in your company just to see +what they can get by it, but born in your own house, who love and +trust you, whom you can love and trust,—see how the favour +of God, and reverence for those family ties and duties which He +has appointed, make you and your little band of faithful men +superior to these great mobs of selfish, godless, unjust +robbers,—see how hundreds of these slaves ran away before +one man, who feels that he is a member of a family, and has a +just cause for fighting, and that God and his brethren are with +him.’</p> +<p>Here, you see, was another hint to Abraham of what it was and +who it was that made a great nation.</p> +<p>And now some of you may say, ‘This is a strange +sermon. You have as yet said nothing of Christ, nothing of +the Holy Spirit, nothing of grace, redemption, +sanctification. What kind of sermon is this?’</p> +<p>My friends, do not be too sure that I have not been preaching +Christ to you, and Christ’s Spirit to you, and +Christ’s redemption too, most truly in this sermon, +although I have mentioned none of them by name. There are +times for ornamenting the house, there are times for repairing +the wall, there are times, too, for thoroughly examining the +foundation, because, if that be not sound, it is little matter +what fine work is built up upon it; and there are times when, as +David says, the foundations of the earth are out of course, when +men have forgotten sadly the very first principles of society and +religion.</p> +<p>And, surely, men are doing so in these days; men are +forgetting that other foundation can no man lay save that which +<i>is</i> laid, which is Christ; they laugh at the thought of a +city, that is, a state and form of government, “not made +with hands, eternal in the heavens;” they have forgotten +that St. Paul tells them in the Hebrews that we <i>have</i> +“a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is +God,” a kingdom which cannot be moved. Yes, men who +call themselves learned and worldly wise, and good men too, alas! +who fancy that they are preaching God’s gospel, go about +and tell men, ‘The men of Babel were right after all. +What have nations to do with God and religion? Nations are +merely earthly, carnal things, that were only invented by sinful +men themselves, to preserve their bodies and goods, and make +trading easy. Religion has only to do with a man’s +private opinions, his single soul; the government has nothing to +do with the Church: a Christian has nothing to do with +politics.’ And so these men most unwittingly open a +door to all sorts of covetousness and meanness in the nation, and +all sorts of trickery and cowardice in the government. Tell +a man that his business has nothing to do with God, and you +cannot wonder if he acts without thinking of God. If you +tell a nation that it is selfishness which makes it prosperous, +of course you must expect it to be selfish. If you tell us +Englishmen that the duties of a citizen are not duties to God, +but only duties to the constable and the tax-gatherer, what +wonder if men believe you and become undutiful to God in their +citizenship? No, my friends, once for all, as sure as God +made Abraham a great nation, so if we English are a great nation, +God has made us so—as sure as God gave Abraham the land of +Canaan for his possession, so did <i>He</i> give us this land of +England, when He brought our Saxon forefathers out of the wild +barren north, and drove out before them nations greater and +mightier than they, and gave them great and goodly cities which +they builded not, and wells digged which they digged not, farms +and gardens which they planted not, that we too might fear the +Lord our God, and serve Him, and swear by His name;—as sure +as He commanded Abraham to respect the property of his +neighbours, so has He commanded us;—as sure as God taught +Abraham that the nation which was to grow from him owed a duty to +God, and could be only strong by faith in God, so it is with us: +we, English people, owe a duty to God, and are to deal among +ourselves, and with foreign countries, by faith in God, and in +the fear of God, “seeking first the kingdom of God and His +righteousness,” sure that then all other +things—victory, health, commerce, art, and +science—will be added to us, as the first Lesson +says. For this is your wisdom and understanding in the +sight of the nations, which shall say, Surely this great nation +is a wise and understanding people! For what nation is +grown so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as +these laws, this gospel, which God sets before us day by +day?—us, Englishmen!</p> +<p>And I say that these are proper thoughts for this place. +This is not a mere preaching-house, where you may learn every man +to save his own soul; this is a far nobler place; this building +belongs to the National Church of England, and we worship here, +not merely as men, but as men of England, citizens of a Christian +country, come here to learn not merely how to save ourselves, but +how to help towards the saving of our families, our parish, and +our nation; and therefore we must know what a country and a +nation mean, and what is the meaning of that glorious and divine +word, “a citizen;” that by learning what it is to be +a citizen of England, we may go on to learn fully what it is to +be a citizen of the kingdom of God.</p> +<p>For this is part of the whole counsel of God, which He reveals +in His Holy Bible; and this also we must not, and dare not, shun +declaring in these days.</p> +<h2><a name="page141"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +141</span>SERMON XIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Hebrews</span>, xi. 17–19.</p> +<p>“By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; +and he that had received the promises offered up his +only-begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy +seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, +even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a +figure.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> this chapter we come to the +crowning point of Abraham’s history, the highest step and +perfection of his faith; beyond which it seems as if man’s +trust in God could no further go.</p> +<p>You know, most of you, doubtless, that Isaac, Abraham’s +son, was come to him out of the common course of +nature—when he and his wife, Sarah, were of an age which +seemed to make all chance of a family utterly hopeless. You +remember how God promised Abraham that this boy should be born to +him at a certain time, when He appeared to him on the plains of +Mamre, in that most solemn and deep-meaning vision of which I +spoke to you last Sunday. You remember, too, no doubt, most +of you, how God had promised Abraham again and again, that in his +seed, his children, all the nations of the earth should be +blessed; so that all Abraham’s hopes were wrapped up in +this boy Isaac; he was his only son, whom he loved; he was the +child of his old age, his glory and his joy; he was the child of +God’s promises. Every time Abraham looked at him he +felt that Isaac was a wonderful child: that God had a great work +for him to do; that from that single boy a great nation was to +spring, as many in multitude as the stars in the sky, or the sand +on the sea-shore, for the great Almighty God had said it. +And he knew, too, that from that boy, who was growing up by him +in his tent, all the nations in the earth should be blessed: so +that Isaac, his son, was to Abraham a daily sacrament, as I may +say, a sign and a pledge that God was with him, and would be true +to him; that as surely as God had wonderfully and beyond all hope +given him that son, so wonderfully and beyond all hope He would +fulfil all His other promises. Conceive, then, if you can, +what Abraham’s astonishment, and doubt, and terror, and +misery, must have been at such a message as this from the very +God who had given Isaac to him: “And it came to pass after +these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, +Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take +now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee +into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering +upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”</p> +<p>What a storm of doubt it must have raised in Abraham’s +mind! How unable he must have been to say whether that +message came from a good or bad spirit, or commanded him to do a +good action or a bad one; that the same God who had said, +“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood +be shed;” who had forbidden murder as the very highest of +crimes, should command him to shed the blood of his own son; that +the same God who had promised him that in Isaac all the nations +of the earth should be blessed, should command him to put to +death that very son upon whom all his hopes depended! +Fearful, indeed, must have been the struggle in Abraham’s +mind, but the good and the right thought conquered at last. +His feeling was, no doubt, ‘This God who has blessed me so +long, who has guided me so long, whom I have obeyed so long, +shall I not trust Him a little further yet? how can I believe +that He will do wrong? how can I believe that He will lead me +wrong? If it is really wrong that I should kill my son, He +will not let me do it: if it really is His will that I should +kill my son, <i>I will do it</i>. Whatever He says must be +right; it is agony and misery to me, but what of that? Do I +not owe Him a thousand daily and hourly blessings? Has He +not led me hither, preserved me, guided me, taught me the +knowledge of Himself,—chosen me to be the father of a great +nation? Do I not owe Him everything? and shall I not bear +this sharp sorrow for His sake? I know, too, that if Isaac +dies, all my hope, all my joy, will die with him; that I shall +have nothing left to look for, nothing left to work for in this +world. Nothing! shall I not have God left to me? When +Isaac is dead will the Lord die? will the Lord change? will He +grow weak?—Never! Years ago did He declare to me that +He was the Almighty God; I will believe that He will be always +Almighty; I will believe that though I kill my son, my son will +be still in God’s hands, and I shall be still in +God’s hands, and that God is able to raise him again, even +from the dead. God can give him back to me, and if He will +<i>not</i> give him back to me, He can fulfil His promises in a +thousand other ways. Ay, and He will fulfil His promises, +for in Him is neither deceit, nor fickleness, nor weakness, nor +unrighteousness of any kind; and, come what will, I will believe +His promise and I will obey His will.’</p> +<p>Some such thoughts as these, I suppose, passed through +Abraham’s mind. He could not have had a man’s +heart in him indeed, if not only those thoughts, but ten thousand +more, sadder, and stranger, and more pitiful than my weak brain +can imagine, did not sweep like a storm through his soul at that +last and terrible temptation, but the Bible tells us nothing of +them: why should the Bible tell us anything of them? the Bible +sets forth Abraham as the faithful man, and therefore it simply +tells us of his faith, without telling us of his doubts and +struggles before he settled down into faith. It tells us, +as it were, not how often the wind shifted and twisted about +during the tempest, but in what quarter the wind settled when the +tempest was over, and it began to blow steadily, and fixedly, and +gently, and all was bright, and mild, and still in +Abraham’s bosom again, just as a man’s mind will be +bright, and gentle, and calm, even at the moment he is going to +certain death or fearful misery, if he does but know that his +suffering is his duty, and that his trial is his heavenly +Father’s will: and so all we read in the Old-Testament +account is simply, “And Abraham rose up early in the +morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with +him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the +burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God +had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his +eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his +young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go +yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took +the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son: +and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both +of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, +and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son. And he +said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a +burnt-offering? and Abraham said, My son, God will provide +Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering. So they went both of +them together. And they came to the place which God had +told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood +in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon +the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took +the knife to slay his son.”</p> +<p>Really if one is to consider the whole circumstances of +Abraham’s trials, they seem to have been infinite, more +than mortal man could bear; more than he could have borne, no +doubt, if the same God who tried had not rewarded his strength of +mind by strengthening him still more, and rewarded his faith by +increasing his faith; when we consider the struggle he must have +had to keep the dreadful secret from the young man’s +mother, the tremendous effort of controlling himself, the long +and frightful journey, the necessity, and yet the difficulty he +seems to have felt of keeping the truth from his son, and yet of +telling him the truth, which he did in those wonderful words, +“God shall provide Himself a lamb for a +burnt-offering” (on which I shall have occasion to speak +presently); and, last and worst of all, the perfect obedience and +submission of his son; for Isaac was not a child then, he was a +young man of nearly thirty years of age; strong and able enough, +no doubt, to have resisted his aged father, if he had +chosen. But the very excellence of Isaac seems to have +been, that he did not resist, that he shewed the same perfect +trust and obedience to Abraham that Abraham did towards God; for +he was led “as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep +before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth,” +for we read, “Abraham bound Isaac his son and laid him on +the wood.” Surely that was the bitterest pang of all, +to see the excellence of his son shine forth just when it was too +late for him to enjoy him—to find out what a perfect child +he had, in simple trust and utter obedience, just at the very +moment when he was going to lose him: “And Abraham +stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his +son.”</p> +<p>At that point Abraham’s trial finished. He had +shewn the completeness of his faith by the completeness of his +works, that is, by the completeness of his obedience. He +had utterly given up all for God. He had submitted his will +completely to God’s will. He had said in heart, as +our Blessed Lord said, “Father, if it be possible, let this +woe pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou +wilt;” and thus I say, he was justified by his works, by +his actions; that is, by this faithful action he proved the +faithfulness of his heart, as the Angel said to him, “Now I +know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy +son, thine only son from me:” for as St. James says, +“Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had +offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou,” +says he, “how his faith wrought with his works;” how +his works were the tool or instrument which his faith used; and +by his works his faith was brought to perfection, as a tree is +brought to perfection when it bears fruit. “And +so,” St. James continues, “the scripture was +fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed +to him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of +God. Ye see then,” he says, “how that by works +a man is justified,” or shewn to be righteous and faithful, +“and not by faith only;” that is, not by the mere +feeling of faith, for, as he says, “as the body without the +spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” +For what is the sign of a being dead? It is its not being +able to do anything, not being able to work; because there is no +living and moving spirit in it. And what is the sign of a +man’s faith being dead? his faith not being able to +<i>work</i>, because there is no living spirit in it, but it is a +mere dead, empty shell and form of words,—a mere notion and +thought about believing in a man’s head, but not a living +trust and loyalty to God in his heart. Therefore, says St. +James, “shew me thy faith without thy works,” if thou +canst, “and I will shew thee my faith by my works,” +as Abraham did by offering up Isaac his son.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, when people are talking about faith and works, +and trying to reconcile St. Paul and St. James, as they call it, +because St. Paul says Abraham was justified by faith, and St. +James says Abraham was justified by works, if they would but pray +for the simple, childlike heart, and the head of common sense, +and look at their own children, who, every time they go on a +message for them, settle, without knowing it, this mighty +difference of man’s making between faith and works. +You tell a little child daily to do many things the meaning and +use of which it cannot understand; and the child has faith in +what you tell it; and, therefore, it does what you tell it, and +so it shews its faith in you by obedience in working for you.</p> +<p>But to go on with the verses: “And the angel of the Lord +called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By +myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done +this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that +in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply +thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is +upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his +enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be +blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”</p> +<p>Now, here remark two things; first, that it was +Abraham’s obedience in giving up all to God, which called +forth from God this confirmation of God’s promises to him; +and next, that God here promised him nothing new; God did not say +to him, ‘Because thou hast obeyed me in this great matter, +I will give thee some great reward over and above what I promised +thee.’ No; God merely promises him over again, but +more solemnly than ever, what He had promised him many years +before.</p> +<p>And so it will be with us, my friends, we must not expect to +<i>buy</i> God’s favour by obeying Him,—we must not +expect that the more we do for God, the more God will be bound to +do for us, as the Papists do. No; God has done for us all +that He will do. He has promised us all that He will +promise. He has provided us, as He provided Abraham, a lamb +for the burnt-offering, the Lamb without blemish and without +spot, which taketh away the sins of the world. We are His +redeemed people—we <i>have</i> a share in His +promises—He bids us believe <i>that</i>, and shew that we +believe it by living as redeemed men, not our own, but bought +with a price, and created anew in Christ Jesus to do good works; +not that we may buy forgiveness by them, but that we may shew by +them that we believe that God <i>has</i> forgiven us already, and +that when we have done all that is commanded us, we are still +unprofitable servants; for though we should give up at +God’s bidding our children, our wives, and our own limbs +and lives, and shew as utter faith in God, and complete obedience +to God, as Abraham did, we should only have done just what it was +already our duty to do.</p> +<h2><a name="page149"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +149</span>SERMON XIV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">1 <span +class="smcap">John</span>, ii. 13.</p> +<p>“I write unto you, little children, because ye have +known the Father.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">preached</span> some time ago a sermon +on the whole of these most deep and blessed verses of St. +John.</p> +<p>I now wish to speak to those who are of age to be confirmed +three separate sermons on three separate parts of these +verses. First to those whom St. John calls little children; +next, to those whom He calls grown men. To the first I will +speak to-day; to the latter, by God’s help, next +Sunday. And may the Blessed One bring home my weak words to +all your hearts!</p> +<p>Now for the meaning of “little children.” +There are those who will tell you that those words mean merely +“weak believers,” “babes in grace,” and +so on. They mean that, no doubt; but they mean much +more. They mean, first of all, be sure, what they +say. St. John would not have said “little +children,” if he had not meant little children. +Surely God’s apostle did not throw about his words at +random, so as to leave them open to mistakes, and want some one +to step in and tell us that they do not mean their plain, +common-sense meaning, but something else. Holy Scripture is +too wisely written, and too awful a matter, to be trifled with in +that way, and cut and squared to suit our own fancies, and +explained away, till its blessed promises are made to mean +anything or nothing.</p> +<p>No! By little children, St. John means here children in +age,—of course <i>Christian</i> children and young people, +for he was writing only to Christians. He speaks to those +who have been christened, and brought up, more or less, as +christened children should be. But, no doubt, when he says +little children, he means also all Christian people, whether they +be young or old, whose souls are still young, and weak, and +unlearned. All, however old they may be, who have not been +confirmed—I do not merely mean confirmed by the bishop, but +confirmed by God’s grace,—all those who have not yet +come to a full knowledge of their own sins,—all who have +not yet been converted, and turned to God with their whole hearts +and wills, who have not yet made their full choice between God +and sin,—all who have not yet fought for themselves the +battle which no man or angel can fight for them—I mean the +battle between their selfishness and their duty—the battle +between their love of pleasure and their fear of sin—the +battle, in short, between the devil and his temptations to +darkness and shame, and God and His promises of light, and +strength, and glory,—all who have not been converted to +God, to them St. John speaks as little children—people who +are not yet strong enough to stand alone, and do their duty on +God’s side against sin, the world, and the devil. And +all of you here who have not yet made up your minds, who have not +yet been confirmed in soul,—whether you were confirmed by +the bishop or not,—to you I speak this day.</p> +<p>Now, first of all, consider this,—that though St. John +calls you “little children,” because you are still +weak, and your souls have not grown to manhood, yet he does not +speak to you as if you were heathens and knew nothing about God; +he says, “I have written unto you, little children, because +ye have known the Father.” Consider that; that was +his reason for all that he had written to them before; that they +had known the Father, the God who made heaven and earth—the +Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—the Father of little +children—my Father and your Father, my friends, little as +we may behave like what we are, sons of the Almighty God. +That was St. John’s reason for speaking to little children, +because they had already known the Father. So he does not +speak to them as if they were heathens; and I dare not speak to +you, young people, as if you were heathens, however foolish and +sinful some of you may be; I dare not do it, whatever many +preachers may do nowadays; not because I should be unfair and +hard upon you merely, but because I should lie, and deny the +great grace and mercy which God has shewn you, and count the +blood of the covenant, with which you were sprinkled at baptism, +an unholy thing; and do despite to the spirit of grace which has +been struggling in your hearts, trying to lead you out of sin +into good, out of light into darkness, ever since you were +born. Therefore, as St. John said, I say, I preach this day +to you, young people, because you have known your Father in +heaven!</p> +<p>But some of you may say to me, ‘You put a great honour +on us; but we do not see that we have any right to it. You +tell us that we have a very noble and awful knowledge—that +we know the Father. We are afraid that we do not know Him; +we do not even rightly understand of whom or what you +preach.’</p> +<p>Well, my young friends, these are very awful words of St. +John; such blessed and wonderful words, that if we did not find +them in the Bible, it would be madness and insolence to God of us +to say such a thing, not merely of little children, but even of +the greatest, and wisest, and holiest man who ever lived; but +there they are in the Bible—the blessed Lord Himself has +told us all, “When ye pray, say, Our Father in +heaven;”—and I dare not keep them back because they +sound strange. They may <i>sound</i> strange, but they +<i>are not</i> strange. Any one who has ever watched a +young child’s heart, and seen how naturally and at once the +little innocent takes in the thought of his Father which is in +heaven, knows that it is not a strange thought—that it +comes to a little child almost by instinct—that his Father +in heaven seems often to be just the thought which fills his +heart most completely, has most power over him,—the thought +which has been lying ready in his heart all the time, only +waiting for some one to awaken it, and put it into words for him; +that he will do right when you put him in mind of his Father +above the skies sooner than he will for a hundred +punishments. For truly says the poet,—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Heaven lies about us in our infancy,<br /> +Not in complete forgetfulness,<br /> +Nor yet in utter nakedness,<br /> +But trailing clouds of glory do we come,<br /> +From God who is our home!”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And yet more truly said the Blessed One Himself, “That +children’s angels always behold the face of our Father +which is in heaven;” and that “of such is the kingdom +of heaven.” Yet you say, some of you, perhaps, +‘Whatever knowledge of our Father in heaven we had, or +ought to have had, when we were young, we have lost it now. +We have forgotten what we learnt at school. We have been +what you would call sinful; at all events, we have been thinking +all our time about a great many things beside religion, and they +have quite put out of our head the thought that God is our +Father. So how have we known our Father in +heaven?’</p> +<p>Well, then, to answer that,—consider the case of your +earthly fathers, the men who begot you and brought you up. +Now there might be one of you who had never seen his father since +he was born, but all he knows of him is, that his name is so and +so, and that he is such and such a sort of man, as the case might +be; and that he lives in such and such a place, far away, and +that now and then he hears talk of his father, or receives +letters or presents from him. Suppose I asked that young +man, Do you know your father? would he not answer—would he +not have a right to answer, ‘Yes, I know him. I never +saw him, or was acquainted with him, but I know him well enough; +I know who he is, and where to find him, and what sort of a man +he is.’ That young man might not know his +father’s face, or love him, or care for him at all. +He might have been disobedient to his father; he might have +forgotten for years that he had a father at all, and might have +lived on his own way, just as if he had no father. But when +he was put in mind of it all, would he not say at once, +‘Yes, I know my father well enough; his name is so and so, +and he lives at such and such a place. I know my +father.’</p> +<p>Well, my young friends, and if this would be true of your +fathers on earth, it is just as true of your Father in +heaven. You have never seen Him—you may have +forgotten Him—you may have disobeyed Him—you may have +lived on your own way, as if you had no Father in heaven; still +you know that you have a Father in heaven. You pray, +surely, sometimes. What do you say? “Our Father +which art in heaven.” So you have a Father in heaven, +else what right have you to use those words,—what right +have you to say to God, “Our Father in heaven,” if +you believe that you have no Father there? That would be +only blasphemy and mockery. I can well understand that you +have often said those words without thinking of +them—without thinking what a blessed, glorious, soul-saving +meaning there was in them; but I will not believe that you never +once in your whole lives said, “Our Father which art in +heaven,” without believing them to be true words. +What I want is, for you <i>always</i> to believe them to be +true. Oh young men and young women, boys and +girls—believe those words, believe that when you say, +“Our Father which art in heaven,” you speak +God’s truth about yourselves; that the evil devil rages +when he hears you speak those words, because they are the words +which prove that you do not belong to him and to hell, but to God +and the kingdom of heaven. Oh, believe those +words—behave as if you believed those words, and you shall +see what will come of them, through all eternity for ever.</p> +<p>Well, but you will ask, What has all this to do with +confirmation? It has all to do with confirmation. +Because you are God’s children, and know that you are +God’s children, you are to go and confirm before the bishop +your right to be called God’s children. You are to go +and claim your share in God’s kingdom. If you were +heir to an estate, you would go and claim your estate from those +who held it. You are heirs to an estate—you are heirs +to the kingdom of heaven; go to confirmation, and claim that +kingdom, say, ‘I am a citizen of God’s kingdom. +Before the bishop and the congregation, here I proclaim the +honour which God has put upon me.’ If you have a +father, you will surely not be ashamed to own him! How much +more when the Almighty God of heaven is your Father! You +will not be ashamed to own Him? Then go to confirmation; +for by doing so you own God for your Father. If you have an +earthly father, you will not be ashamed to say, ‘I know I +ought to honour him and obey him;’ how much more when your +father is the Almighty God of heaven, who sent His own Son into +the world to die for you, who is daily heaping you with blessings +body and soul! You will not be ashamed to confess that you +ought to honour and obey Him? Then go to confirmation, and +say, ‘I here take upon myself the vow and promise made for +me at my baptism. I am God’s child, and therefore I +will honour, love, and obey Him. It is my duty; and it +shall be my delight henceforward to work for God, to do all the +good I can to my life’s end, because my Father in heaven +loves the good, and has commanded me, poor, weak countryman +though I be, to work for Him in well-doing.’ So I +say, If God is your Father, go and own Him at confirmation. +If God is your Father, go and promise to love and obey Him at +confirmation; and see if He does not, like a strong and loving +Father as He is, confirm you in return,—see if He does not +give you strength of heart, and peace of mind, and clear, quiet, +pure thoughts, such as a man or woman ought to have who considers +that the great God, who made the sky and stars above their heads, +is their Father. But, perhaps, there are some of you, young +people, who do not wish to be confirmed. And why? +Now, look honestly into your own hearts and see the reason. +Is it not, after all, because you don’t like the +<i>trouble</i>? Because you are afraid that being confirmed +will force you to think seriously and be religious; and you had +rather not take all that trouble yet? Is it not because you +do not like to look your ownselves in the face, and see how +foolishly you have been living, and how many bad habits you will +have to give up, and what a thorough conversion and change you +must make, if you are to be confirmed in earnest? Is not +this why you do not wish to be confirmed? And what does +that all come to? That though you know you are God’s +children, you do not like to tell people publicly that you are +God’s children, lest they should expect you to behave like +God’s children—that is it. Now, young men and +young women, think seriously once for all—if you have any +common <i>sense</i>—I do not say grace, left in +you—think! Are you not playing a fearful game? +You would not dare to deny your fathers on earth—to refuse +to obey them, because you know well enough that they would punish +you—that if you were too old for punishment, your +neighbours, at least, would despise you for mean, ungrateful, and +rebellious children! But because you cannot <i>see</i> God +your Father, because you have not some sign or wonder hanging in +the sky to frighten you into good behaviour, therefore you are +not afraid to turn your backs on him. My friends, it is ill +mocking the living God. Mark my words! If a man will +not turn He will whet His sword, and make us feel it. You +who can be confirmed, and know in your hearts that you ought to +be confirmed, and ought to be <i>really</i> converted and +confirmed in soul, and make no mockery of it,—mark my +words! If you will not be converted and confirmed of your +own good will, God, if He has any love left for you, will convert +and confirm you against your will. He will let you go your +own ways till you find out your own folly. He will bring +you low with affliction perhaps, with sickness, with ill-luck, +with shame. Some way or other, He will chastise you, again +and again, till you are forced to come back to Him, and take His +service on you. If He loves you, He will drive you home to +your Father’s house. You may laugh at my words now, +see if you laugh at them when your hairs are grey. Oh, +young people, if you wish in after-life to save yourselves shame +and sorrow, and perhaps, in the world to come eternal death, come +to confirmation, acknowledge God for your Father, promise to come +and serve Him faithfully, make those blessed words of the +Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father in heaven,” your +glory and your honour, your guide and guard through life, your +title-deeds to heaven. You who know that the Great God is +your Father, will you be ashamed to own yourselves His sons?</p> +<h2><a name="page160"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +160</span>SERMON XV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE TRANSFIGURATION.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Mark</span>, ix. 2.</p> +<p>“Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth +them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before +them.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> second lesson for this morning +service brings us to one of the most wonderful passages in our +blessed Saviour’s whole stay on earth, namely, His +transfiguration. The story, as told by the different +Evangelists, is this,—That our Lord took Peter, and John, +and James his brother, and led them up into a high mountain +apart, which mountain may be seen to this very day. It is a +high peaked hill, standing apart from all the hills around it, +with a small smooth space of ground upon the top, very fit, from +its height and its loneliness, for a transaction like the +transfiguration, which our Lord wished no one but these three to +behold. There the apostles fell asleep; while our blessed +Lord, who had deeper thoughts in His heart than they had, knelt +down and prayed to <i>His</i> Father and <i>our</i> Father, which +is in heaven. And as He prayed, the form of His countenance +was changed, and His raiment became shining, white as the light; +and there appeared Moses and Elijah talking with Him. They +talked of matters which the angels desire to look into, of the +greatest matters that ever happened in this earth since it was +made; of the redemption of the world, and of the death which +Christ was to undergo at Jerusalem. And as they were +talking, the apostles awoke, and found into what glorious company +they had fallen while they slept. What they felt no mortal +man can tell—that moment was worth to them all the years +they had lived before. When they had gone up with Jesus +into the mount, He was but the poor carpenter’s son, +wonderful enough to <i>them</i>, no doubt, with His wise, +searching words, and His gentle, loving looks, that drew to Him +all men who had hearts left in them, and wonderful enough, too, +from all the mighty miracles which they had seen Him do, but +still He was merely a man like themselves, poor, and young, and +homeless, who felt the heat, and the cold, and the rough roads, +as much as they did. They could feel that He spake as never +man spake—they could see that God’s spirit and power +was on Him as it had never been on any man in their time. +God had even enlightened their reason by His Spirit, to know that +He was the Christ, the Son of the living God. But still it +does seem they did not fully understand who and what He was; they +could not understand how the Son of God should come in the form +of a despised and humble man; they did not understand that His +glory was to be a spiritual glory. They expected His +kingdom to be a kingdom of this world—they expected His +glory to consist in palaces, and armies, and riches, and jewels, +and all the magnificence with which Solomon and the old Jewish +kings were adorned; they thought that He was to conquer back +again from the Roman emperor all the inestimable treasures of +which the Romans had robbed the Jews, and that He was to make the +Jewish nation, like the Roman, the conquerors and masters of all +the nations of the earth. So that it was a puzzling thing +to their minds why He should be King of the Jews at the very time +that He was but a poor tradesman’s son, living on +charity. It was to shew them that His kingdom was the +kingdom of heaven that He was transfigured before them.</p> +<p>They saw His glory—the glory as of the only-begotten of +the Father, full of grace and truth. The form of His +countenance was changed; all the majesty, and courage, and +wisdom, and love, and resignation, and pity, that lay in His +noble heart, shone out through His face, while He spoke of His +death which He should accomplish at Jerusalem—the Holy +Ghost that was upon Him, the spirit of wisdom, and love, and +beauty—the spirit which produces every thing that is lovely +in heaven and earth: in soul and body, blazed out through His +eyes, and all His glorious countenance, and made Him look like +what He was—a God. My friends, what a sight! +Would it not be worth while to journey thousands of +miles—to go through all difficulties, dangers, that man +ever heard of, for one sight of that glorious face, that we might +fall down upon our knees before it, and, if it were but for a +moment, give way to the delight of finding something that we +could utterly love and utterly adore? I say, the delight of +finding something to worship; for if there is a noble, if there +is a holy, if there is a spiritual feeling in man, it is the +feeling which bows him down before those who are greater, and +wiser, and holier than himself. I say, that feeling of +respect for what is noble is a heavenly feeling. The man +who has lost it—the man who feels no respect for those who +are above him in age, above him in knowledge, above him in +wisdom, above him in goodness,—<i>that</i> man shall in no +wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. It is only the man +who is like a little child, and feels the delight of having some +one to look up to, who will ever feel delight in looking up to +Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of lords and King of kings. +It was the want of respect, it was the dislike of feeling any one +superior to himself, which made the devil rebel against God, and +fall from heaven. It will be the feeling of complete +respect—the feeling of kneeling at the feet of one who is +immeasurably superior to ourselves in every thing, that will make +up the greatest happiness of heaven. This is a hard saying, +and no man can understand it, save he to whom it is given by the +Spirit of God.</p> +<p>That the apostles <i>had</i> this feeling of immeasurable +respect for Christ there is no doubt, else they would never have +been apostles. But they felt more than this. There +were other wonders in that glorious vision besides the +countenance of our Lord. His raiment, too, was changed, and +became all brilliant, white as the light itself. Was not +<i>that</i> a lesson to them? Was it not as if our Lord had +said to them, ‘I am a king, and have put on glorious +apparel, but whence does the glory of my raiment come? +<i>I</i> have no need of fine linen, and purple, and embroidery, +the work of men’s hands; <i>I</i> have no need to send my +subjects to mines and caves to dig gold and jewels to adorn my +crown: the earth is mine and the fulness thereof. All this +glorious earth, with its trees and its flowers, its sunbeams and +its storms, is <i>mine</i>. <i>I</i> made it—<i>I</i> +can do what I will with it. All the mysterious laws by +which the light and the heat flow out for ever from God’s +throne, to lighten the sun, and the moon, and the stars of +heaven—they are mine. <i>I</i> am the light of the +world—the light of men’s bodies as well of their +souls; and here is my proof of it. Look at Me. I am +He that “decketh Himself with light as it were with a +garment, who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, and +walketh upon the wings of the wind.” This was the +message which Christ’s glory brought the apostles—a +message which they could never forget. The spiritual glory +of His countenance had shewn them that He was a spiritual +king—that His strength lay in the spirit of power, and +wisdom, and beauty, and love, which God had given Him without +measure; and it shewed them, too, that there was such a thing as +a spiritual body, such a body as each of us some day shall have +if we be found in Christ at the resurrection of the just—a +body which shall not hide a man’s spirit, when it becomes +subject to the wear and tear of life, and disease, and decay; but +a spiritual body—a body which shall be filled with our +spirits, which shall be perfectly obedient to our spirits—a +body through which the glory of our spirits shall shine out, as +the glory of Christ’s spirit shone out through His body at +the transfiguration. “Brethren, we know not yet what +we shall be, but this we do know, that when He shall appear, we +shall be <i>like Him</i>, for we shall see Him as He is.” +(1 John, iii. 3.)</p> +<p>Thus our Lord taught them by His appearance that there is such +a thing as a spiritual body, while, by the glory of His raiment, +in addition to His other miracles, He taught them that He had +power over the laws of nature, and could, in His own good time, +“change the bodies of their humiliation, that they might be +made like unto His glorious body, according to the mighty working +by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself.”</p> +<p>But there was yet another lesson which the apostles learnt +from the transfiguration of our Lord. They beheld Moses and +Elijah talking with Him:—Moses the great lawgiver of their +nation, Elijah the chief of all the Jewish prophets. We +must consider this a little to find out the whole depth of its +meaning. You remember how Christ had spoken of Himself as +having come, not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to +fulfil them. You remember, too, how He had always said that +He was the person of whom the Law and the Prophets had +spoken.</p> +<p>Here was an actual sign and witness that His words were +true—here was Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elijah, the +chief of the Prophets, talking with Him, bearing witness to Him +in their own persons, and shewing, too, that it was His death and +His perfect sacrifice that they had been shadowing forth in the +sacrifices of the law and in the dark speeches of prophecy. +For they talked with Him of His death, which He was to accomplish +at Jerusalem. What more perfect testimony could the +apostles have had to shew them that Jesus of Nazareth, their +Master, was He of whom the Law and the Prophets spoke—that +He was indeed the Christ for whom Moses and Elijah, and all the +saints of old, had looked; and that He was come not to destroy +the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them? We can hardly +understand the awe and the delight with which the disciples must +have beheld those blessed Three—Moses, and Elias, and Jesus +Christ, their Lord, talking together before their very +eyes. For of all men in the world, Moses and Elias were to +them the greatest. All true-hearted Israelites, who knew +the history of their nation, and understood the promises of God, +must have felt that Moses and Elias were the two greatest heroes +and saviours of their nation, whom God had ever yet raised +up. And the joy and the honour of thus seeing them face to +face, the very men whom they had loved and reverenced in their +thoughts, whom they had heard and read of from their childhood, +as the greatest ornaments and glories of their nation—the +joy and the honour, I say, of that unexpected sight, added to the +wonderful majesty which was suddenly revealed to their +transfigured Lord, seemed to have been too much for +them—they knew not what to say. Such company seemed +to them for the moment heaven enough; and St. Peter first finding +words exclaimed, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. +If thou wilt let us build three tabernacles, one for Thee, and +one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Not, I fancy, that +they intended to worship Moses and Elias, but that they felt that +Moses and Elias, as well as Christ, had each a divine message, +which must be listened to; and therefore, they wished that each +of them might have his own tabernacle, and dwell among men, and +each teach his own particular doctrine and wisdom in his own +school. It may seem strange that they should put Moses and +Elias so on an equality with Christ, but the truth was, that as +yet they understood Moses and Elias better than they did +Christ. They had heard and read of Moses and Elijah all +their lives—they were acquainted with all their actions and +words—they knew thoroughly what great and noble men the +Spirit of God had made them, but they did <i>not</i> understand +Christ in like manner. They did not yet <i>feel</i> that +God had given Him the Spirit without measure—they did not +understand that He was not only to be a lawgiver and a prophet, +but a sacrifice for sin, the conqueror of death and hell, who was +to lead captivity captive, and receive inestimable gifts for +men. Much less did they think that Moses and Elijah were +but His servants—that all <i>their</i> spirit and +<i>their</i> power had been given by Him. But this also +they were taught a moment afterwards; for a bright cloud +overshadowed them, hiding from them the glory of God the Father, +whom no man hath seen or can see, who dwells in the light which +no man can approach unto; and out of that cloud, a voice saying, +“This is my beloved Son; hear ye Him;” and then, +hiding their faces in fear and wonder, they fell to the ground; +and when they looked up, the vision and the voice had alike +passed away, and they saw no man but Christ alone. Was not +that enough for them? Must not the meaning of the vision +have been plain to them? They surely understood from it +that Moses and Elijah were, as they had ever believed them to be, +great and good, true messengers of the living God; but that their +message and their work was done—that Christ, whom they had +looked for, was come—that all the types of the law were +realised, and all the prophecies fulfilled, and that henceforward +Christ, and Christ alone, was to be their Prophet and their +Lawgiver. Was not this plainly the meaning of the Divine +voice? For when they wished to build three tabernacles, and +to honour Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, as separate +from Christ—that moment the heavenly voice warned them: +‘<i>This—this</i> is my beloved Son—hear ye +<i>Him</i>, and Him only, henceforward.’ And Moses +and Elijah, their work being done, forthwith vanished away, +leaving Christ alone to fulfil the Law and the prophets, and all +other wisdom and righteousness that ever was or shall be. +This is another lesson which Christ’s transfiguration was +meant to teach and us, that Christ alone is to be henceforward +our guide; that no philosophies or doctrines of any sort which +are not founded on a true faith in Jesus Christ, and His life and +death, are worth listening to; that God has manifested forth His +beloved Son, and that Him, and Him only, we are to hear. I +do not mean to say that Christ came into the world to put down +human learning. I do not mean that we are to despise human +learning, as so many are apt to do nowadays; for Christ came into +the world not to destroy human learning, but to fulfil +it—to sanctify it—to make human learning true, and +strong, and useful, by giving it a sure foundation to stand upon, +which is the belief and knowledge of His blessed self. Just +as Christ came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to +fulfil them—to give them a spirit and a depth in +men’s eyes which they never had before—just so, He +came to fulfil all true philosophies, all the deep thoughts which +men had ever thought about this wonderful world and their own +souls, by giving <i>them</i> a spirit and a depth which +<i>they</i> never had before. Therefore let no man tempt +you to despise learning, for it is holy to the Lord.</p> +<p>There is one more lesson which we may learn from our +Lord’s transfiguration; when St. Peter said, +“<i>Lord</i>! it is good for us to be here,” he spoke +a truth. It <i>was</i> good for him to be there; +nevertheless, Christ did not listen to his prayer. He and +his two companions were not allowed to <i>stay</i> in that +glorious company. And why? Because they had a work to +do. They had glad tidings of great joy to proclaim to every +creature, and it was, after all, but a selfish prayer, to wish to +be allowed to stay in ease and glory on the mount while the whole +world was struggling in sin and wickedness below them: for there +is no meaning in a man’s calling himself a Christian, or +saying that he loves God, unless he is ready to hate what God +hates, and to fight against that which Christ fought against, +that is, sin. No one has any right to call himself a +servant of God, who is not trying to do away with some of the +evil in the world around him. And, therefore, Christ was +merciful, when, instead of listening to St. Peter’s prayer, +He led the apostles down again from the mount, and sent them +forth, as He did afterwards, to preach the Gospel of the kingdom +to all nations. For Christ put a higher honour on St. Peter +by that than if He had let him stay on the mount all his life, to +behold His glory, and worship and adore. And He made St. +Peter more like Himself by doing so. For what was +Christ’s life? Not one of deep speculations, quiet +thoughts, and bright visions, such as St. Peter wished to lead; +but a life of fighting against evil; earnest, awful prayers and +struggles within, continual labour of body and mind without, +insult and danger, and confusion, and violent exertion, and +bitter sorrow. This was Christ’s life—this is +the life of almost every good man I ever heard of;—this was +St. Peter, and St. James, and St. John’s life +afterwards. This was Christ’s cup, which they were to +drink of as well as He;—this was the baptism of fire with +which they were to be baptised of as well as He;—this was +to be their fight of faith;—this was the tribulation +through which they, like all other great saints, were to enter +into the kingdom of heaven; for it is certain that the harder a +man fights against evil, the harder evil will fight against him +in return: but it is certain, too, that the harder a man fights +against evil, the more he is like his Saviour Christ, and the +more glorious will be his reward in heaven. It is certain, +too, that what was good for St. Peter is good for us. It is +good for a man to have holy and quiet thoughts, and at moments to +see into the very deepest meaning of God’s word and +God’s earth, and to have, as it were, heaven opened before +his eyes; and it is good for a man sometimes actually to +<i>feel</i> his heart overpowered with the glorious majesty of +God, and to <i>feel</i> it gushing out with love to his blessed +Saviour: but it is not good for him to stop there, any more than +it was for the apostles; they had to leave that glorious vision +and come down from the mount, and do Christ’s work; and +<i>so have we</i>; for, believe me, one word of warning spoken to +keep a little child out of sin,—one crust of bread given to +a beggar-man, because he is your brother, for whom Christ +died,—one angry word checked, when it is on your lips, for +the sake of Him who was meek and lowly in heart; in short, any, +the smallest endeavour of this kind to lessen the quantity of +evil, which is in yourselves, and in those around you, is worth +all the speculations, and raptures, and visions, and frames, and +feelings in the world; for those are the good <i>fruits</i> of +faith, whereby alone the tree shall be known whether it be good +or evil.</p> +<h2><a name="page173"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +173</span>SERMON XVI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE CRUCIFIXION.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Isaiah</span>, liii. 7.</p> +<p>“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> this day, my friends, was +offered up upon the cross the Lamb of God,—slain in +eternity and heaven before the foundation of the world, but slain +in time and space upon this day. All the old sacrifices, +the lambs which were daily offered up to God in the Jewish +Temple, the lambs which Abel, and after him the patriarchs +offered up, the Paschal Lamb slain at the Passover, our +Eastertide, all these were but figures of Christ—tokens of +the awful and yet loving law of God, that without shedding of +blood there is no remission of sin. But the blood of dumb +animals could not take away sin. All mankind had sinned, +and it was, therefore, necessary that all mankind should +suffer. Therefore He suffered, the new Adam, the Man of all +men, in whom all mankind were, as it were, collected into one and +put on a new footing with God; that henceforward to be a man +might mean to be a holy being, a forgiven being, a being joined +to God, wearing the likeness of the Son of God—the human +soul and body in which He offered up all human souls and bodies +on the cross. For man was originally made in Christ’s +likeness; He was the Word of God who walked in the garden of +Eden, who spoke to Adam with a human voice; He was the Lord who +appeared to the patriarchs in a man’s figure, and ate and +drank in Abraham’s tent, and spoke to him with a human +voice; He was the God of Israel, whom the Jewish elders saw with +their bodily eyes upon Mount Sinai, and under His feet a pavement +as of a sapphire stone. From Him all man’s powers +came—man’s speech, man’s understanding. +All that is truly noble in man was a dim pattern of Him in whose +likeness man was originally made. And when man had fallen +and sinned, and Christ’s image was fading more and more out +of him, and the likeness of the brutes growing more and more in +him year by year, then came Christ, the head and the original +pattern of all men, to claim them for His own again, to do in +their name what they could never do for themselves, to offer +Himself up a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world: so that +He is the real sacrifice, the real lamb; as St. John said when he +pointed Him out to his disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God, +which taketh away the sin of the world!”</p> +<p>Oh, think of that strong and patient Lamb, who on this day +shewed Himself perfect in fortitude and nobleness, perfect in +meekness and resignation. Think of Him who, in His utter +love to us, endured the cross, despising the shame. And +what a cross! Truly said the prophet, “His visage was +marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of +men:” in hunger and thirst, in tears and sighs, bruised and +bleeding, His forehead crowned with thorns, His sides torn with +scourges, His hands and feet gored with nails, His limbs +stretched from their sockets, naked upon the shameful cross, the +Son of God hung, lingering slowly towards the last gasp, in the +death of the felon and the slave! The most shameful sight +that this earth ever saw, and yet the most glorious sight. +The most shameful sight, at which the sun in heaven veiled his +face, as if ashamed, and the skies grew black, as if to hide +those bleeding limbs from the foul eyes of men; and yet the +noblest sight, for in that death upon the cross shone out the +utter fullness of all holiness, the utter fullness of all +fortitude, the utter fullness of that self-sacrificing love, +which had said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save +that which was lost;” the utter fullness of obedient +patience, which could say, “Father, not My will but Thine +be done;” the utter fullness of generous forgiveness, which +could pray, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what +they do;” the utter fullness of noble fortitude and +endurance, which could say at the very moment when a fearful +death stared Him in the face, “Thinkest thou that I cannot +now pray to the Father, and He will send me at once more than +twelve armies of angels? But how then would the Scriptures +be fulfilled that thus it must be?”</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, look to Him, the author and perfecter of all +faith, all trust, all loyal daring for the sake of duty and of +God! Look at His patience. See how He endured the +cross, despising the shame. See how He endured—how +patience had her perfect work in Him—how in all things He +was more than conqueror. What gentleness, what calmness, +what silence, what infinite depths of Divine love within +Him! A heart which neither shame, nor torture, nor insult, +could stir from its Godlike resolution. When looking down +from that cross He beheld none almost but enemies, heard no word +but mockery; when those who passed by reviled Him, wagging their +heads and saying, “He saved others, Himself He cannot +save;” His only answer was a prayer for forgiveness for +that besotted mob who were yelling beneath Him like hounds about +their game. Consider Him, and then consider ourselves, +ruffled and put out of temper by the slightest cross accident, +the slightest harsh word, too often by the slightest +pain—not to mention insults, for we pride ourselves in not +bearing them. Try, my friends, if you can, even in the +dimmest way, fancy yourselves for one instant in His place this +day 1815 years. Fancy yourselves hanging on that +cross—fancy that mocking mob below—fancy—but I +dare not go on with the picture. Only think—think +what would have been <i>your</i> temper there, and then you may +get some slight notion of the boundless love and the boundless +endurance of the Saviour whom <i>we</i> love so little, for whose +sake most of us will not endure the trouble of giving up a single +sin.</p> +<p>And then consider that it was all of His own free will; that +at any moment, even while He was hanging upon the cross, He might +have called to earth and sun, to heaven and to hell, “Stop! +thus far, but no further,” and they would have obeyed Him; +and all that cross, and agony, and the fierce faces of those +furious Jews, would have vanished away like a hideous dream when +one awakes. For they lied in their mockery. Any +moment He might have been free, triumphant, again in His eternal +bliss, but He would not. He Himself kept Himself on that +cross till His Father’s will was fulfilled, and the +sacrifice was finished, and we were saved. And then at +last, when there was no more human nobleness, no more agony left +for Him to fulfil, no gem in the crown of holiness which He had +not won as His own, no drop in the cup of misery which He had not +drained as His own; when at last He was made perfect through +suffering, and His strength had been made perfect in weakness, +then He bowed that bleeding, thorn-crowned head, and said, +“It is finished. Father, into Thy hands I commend my +spirit.” And so He died.</p> +<p>How can our poor words, our poor deeds, thank Him? How +mean and paltry our deepest gratitude, our highest loyalty, when +compared with Him to whom it is due—that adorable victim, +that perfect sin-offering, who this day offered up Himself upon +the altar of the cross, in the fire of His own boundless zeal for +the kingdom of God, His Father, and of His boundless love for us, +His sinful brothers! “Oh, thou blessed Jesus! +Saviour, agonising for us! God Almighty, who did make +Thyself weak for the love of us! oh, write that love upon our +hearts so deeply that neither pleasure nor sorrow, life nor +death, may wipe it away! Thou hast sacrificed Thyself for +us, oh, give us the hearts to sacrifice ourselves for Thee! +Thou art the Vine, we are the branches. Let Thy priceless +blood shed for us on this day flow like life-giving sap through +all our hearts and minds, and fill us with Thy righteousness, +that we may be sacrifices fit for Thee. Stir us up to offer +to Thee, O Lord, our bodies, our souls, our spirits, in all we +love and all we learn, in all we plan and all we do, to offer our +labours, our pleasures, our sorrows, to Thee; to work for Thy +kingdom through them, to live as those who are not their own, but +bought with Thy blood, fed with Thy body; and enable us now, in +Thy most holy Sacrament, to offer to Thee our repentance, our +faith, our prayers, our praises, living, reasonable, and +spiritual sacrifices,—Thine from our birth-hour, Thine now, +and Thine for ever!”</p> +<h2><a name="page179"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +179</span>SERMON XVII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE RESURRECTION.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Luke</span>, xxiv. 6.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“He is not here—He is +risen.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> are assembled here to-day, my +friends, to celebrate the joyful memory of our blessed +Saviour’s Resurrection. All Friday night, Saturday, +and Saturday night, His body lay in the grave; His soul +was—where we cannot tell. St. Peter tells us that He +went and preached to the spirits in prison—the sinners of +the old world, who are kept in the place of departed +souls—most likely in the depths of the earth, in the great +fire-kingdom, which boils and flames miles below our feet, and +breaks out here and there through the earth’s solid crust +in burning mountains and streams of fire. There some +say—and the Bible seems to say—sinful souls are kept +in chains until the judgment-day; and thither they say Christ +went to preach—no doubt to save some of those sinful souls +who had never heard of Him. However this may be, for those +two nights and day there was no sign, no stir in the grave where +Christ was laid. His body seemed dead—the stone lay +still over the mouth of the tomb where Joseph and Nicodemus laid +him; the seal which Pilate had put on it was unbroken; the +soldiers watched and watched, but no one stirred; the priests and +Pharisees were keeping their sham Passover, thinking, no doubt, +that they were well rid of Christ and of His rebukes for +ever.</p> +<p>But early on the Sunday morn—this day, as it might +be—in the grey dawn of morning there came a change—a +wondrous change. There was a great earthquake; the solid +ground and rocks were stirred—the angel of the Lord came +down from heaven, and rolled back the stone from the door, and +sat upon it, waiting for the King of glory to arise from His +slumber, and go forth the conqueror of Death.</p> +<p>His countenance was like lightning, and His raiment white as +snow; and for fear of Him those fierce, hard soldiers, who feared +neither God nor man, shook, and became as dead men. And +Christ arose and went forth. How he rose—how he +looked when he arose, no man can tell, for no man saw. Only +before the sun was risen came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, +and found the stone rolled away, and saw the angels sitting, +clothed in white, who said, “Fear not, for I know that ye +seek Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for He is +risen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”</p> +<p>What must they have thought, poor, faithful souls, who came, +lonely and broken-hearted, to see the place where <i>He</i>, +their only hope, was, as they thought, shut up and lost for ever, +to hear that He was risen and gone? Half terrified, half +delighted, they went back with other women who had come on the +same errand, with spices to anoint the blessed body, and told the +apostles. Peter and John ran to the sepulchre, and saw the +linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his blessed +head, wrapped together by itself. They then believed. +Then first broke on them the meaning of His old saying, that He +must rise from the dead; and so, wondering and doubting what to +do, they went back home.</p> +<p>But Mary—faithful, humble Mary—stood without, by +the sepulchre, weeping. The angels called to her, +“Woman, why weepest thou?” “They have +taken away my Lord,” said she; “and I know not where +they have laid him.”</p> +<p>Then, in a moment, out of the air, He appeared behind +her. His body had been changed; it was now a glorified, +spiritual body, which could appear and disappear when and how he +liked. She turned back, and saw Him standing, but she knew +Him not. A wondrous change had come over Him since last she +saw Him hanging, bleeding, pale, and dying, on the cross of +shame. “Woman,” said He, “why weepest +thou?” She, fancying it was the gardener, said to +Him, “Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou +hast laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said +to her, “Mary.” At the sound of that beloved +voice—His own voice—calling by her name, her +recollection came back to her. She knew Him—knew Him +for her risen Lord; and, falling at His feet, cried out, +“My Master!”</p> +<p>So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, rose from the dead!</p> +<p>Now come the questions, <i>Why</i> did Christ rise from the +dead?—and <i>how</i> did he rise? And, first, I will +say a few words about how he rose from the dead. And this +the Bible will answer for us, as it will every thing else about +the spirit-world. Christ, says the Bible, was put to death +in the flesh; but quickened, that is, brought to life, by the +Spirit. Now what is the Spirit but the Lord and Giver of +Life,—life of all sorts—life to the soul—life +to the body—life to the trees and plants around us? +With that Spirit Christ is filled infinitely without measure; it +is <i>His</i> Spirit. He is the Prince of Life; and the +Spirit which gives life is His Spirit, proceeding from the Father +and the Son. <i>Therefore</i> the gates of hell could not +prevail against Him—<i>therefore</i> the heavy grave-stone +could not hold Him down—<i>therefore</i> His flesh could +not see corruption and decay as other bodies do; not because His +body was different from other bodies in its substance, but +because <i>He</i> was filled, body and soul, with the great +Spirit of Life. For this is the great business of the +Spirit of God, in all nature, to bring life out of +death—new generations out of old. What says +David? “When Thou, O God, turnest away Thy face, +things die and return again to the dust; when Thou lettest Thy +breath (which is the same as Thy spirit) go forth, they are made, +and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” This is the +way that seeds, instead of rotting and perishing, spring up and +become new plants—God breathes His spirit on them. +The seeds must have heat, and damp, and darkness, and +electricity, before they can sprout; but the heat, and damp, and +darkness, do not make them sprout; they want something more to do +that. A philosopher can find out exactly what a seed is +made of, and he might make a seed of the proper materials, and +put it in the ground, and electrify it—but would it +grow? Not it. To grow it must have life—life +from the fountain of life—from God’s Spirit. +All the philosophers in the world have never yet been able, among +all the things which they have made, to make a single living +thing—and say they never shall; because, put together all +they will, still one thing is wanting—<i>life</i>, which +God alone can give. Why do I say this? To shew you +what God’s Spirit is; to put you in mind that it is near +you, above you, and beneath you, about your path in your daily +walk. And also, to explain to you how Christ rose by that +Spirit,—how your bodies, if you claim your share in +Christ’s Spirit, may rise by it too.</p> +<p>You can see now, how Christ, being filled with God’s +Spirit, rose of Himself. People had risen from the dead +before Christ’s time, but they had been either raised in +answer to the prayers of holy men who had God’s Spirit, or +at some peculiar time when heaven was opened, and God chose to +alter His laws (as we call it) for a moment.</p> +<p>But here was a Man who rose of Himself. He was raised by +God, and therefore He raised Himself, for He was God.</p> +<p>You all know what life and power a man’s own spirit will +often give him. You may have heard of +“spirited” men in great danger, or +“spirited” soldiers in battle; when faint, wounded, +having suffered enough, apparently, to kill them twice over, +still struggling or fighting on, and doing the most desperate +deeds to the last, from the strength and courage of their spirits +conquering pain and weakness, and keeping off, for a time, death +itself. We all know how madmen, diseased in their spirits, +will, when the fit is on them, have, for a few minutes, ten +men’s strength. Well, just think, if a man’s +own spirit, when it is powerful, can give his body such life and +force, what must it have been with Christ, who was filled full of +<i>the</i> Spirit—God’s Spirit, the Lord and Giver of +life. The Lord could not <i>help</i> rising. All the +disease, and poison, and rottenness in the world, could not have +made His body decay; mountains on mountains could not have kept +it down. His body!—the Prince of Life!—He that +was the life itself! It was impossible that death could +hold Him.</p> +<p>And does not this shew us <i>why</i> He rose, that we might +rise with Him? What did He say about His own death? +“Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it +abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much +fruit.” He was the grain which fell into the ground +and died, and from His dead body sprung up another body—His +glorified body; and we His Church, His people, fed with that +body—His members, however strange it may sound—St. +Paul said it, and therefore I dare to say it, little as I know +what it means—members of His flesh and of His bones.</p> +<p>But think! Remember what St. Paul tells you about this +very matter in that glorious chapter which is read in the +burial-service, “how when thou sowest seed, thou sowest not +that body which it will have, but bare grain; but God gives it a +body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed its own +body.” For the wheat-plant is in reality the same +thing as the wheat-seed, and its life the same life, different as +the outside of it may look. Dig it up just at this time of +year, and you will find the seed-corn all gone, sucked dry; the +life of the wheat-seed has formed it into a wheat-plant—yet +it is the same individual thing. The substance of the seed +has gone into the root and the young blade; but it is the same +individual substance. You know it is, and though you cannot +tell why, yet you say “What a fine plant that seed has +grown into,” because you feel it is so, that the seed is +the very same thing as the plant which springs up from it, though +its shape is changed, and its size, and its colour, and the very +stuff of which it was made is changed, since it was a mere +seed. And yet it is at bottom the same individual thing as +the seed was, with a new body and shape.</p> +<p>So with Christ’s body. It was changed after He +rose. It had gone through pain, and weakness, and death, +gone down to the lowest depth of them, and conquered them, and +passed triumphant through them and far beyond their power. +His body was now a nobler, a more beautiful, a glorified body, a +spiritual body, one which could do whatever His Spirit chose to +make it do, one which could never die again, one which could come +through closed doors, appear and vanish as He liked, instead of +being bound to walk the earth, and stand cold and heat, sickness +and weariness.</p> +<p>Yet it was the very same body, just as the wheat-plant is the +same as the wheat-seed—the very same body. Every one +knew His face again after His resurrection. There was the +very print of the nails to be seen in His hands and feet, the +spear-wound in His blessed side. So shall it be with us, my +friends. We shall rise again, and we shall be the same as +we are now, and yet not the same; our bodies shall be the same +bodies, and yet nobler, purer, spiritual bodies, which can know +neither death, nor pain, nor weariness. Then, never care, +my friends, if we drop like ripe grain into the bosom of mother +earth,—if we are to spring up again as seedling plants, +after death’s long winter, on the resurrection morn. +Truly says the poet, <a name="citation187"></a><a +href="#footnote187" class="citation">[187]</a> how</p> +<blockquote><p> “Mother earth, she gathers +all<br /> +Into her bosom, great and small:<br /> +Oh could we look into her face,<br /> +We should not shrink from her embrace.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>No, indeed! for if we look steadily with the wise, searching +eye of faith into the face of mother earth, we shall see how +death is but the gate of life, and this narrow churchyard, with +its corpses close-packed underneath the sod, would not seem to us +a frightful charnel-house of corruption. No! it would seem +like what it is—a blessed, quiet, seed-filled God’s +garden, in which our forefathers, after their long-life labour, +lay sown by God’s friendly hand, waiting peaceful, one and +all, to spring up into leaf, and flower, and everlasting +paradise-fruit, beneath the breath of God’s Spirit at the +last great day, when the Sun of Righteousness arises in glory, +and the summer begins which shall never end.</p> +<p>One and all, did I say? Alas! would God it were +so! We cannot hope as for all, but they are dead and gone, +and we are not here to judge the dead. They have another +Judge, and all shall be as He wills.</p> +<p>But we—we in whose limbs the breath of life still +boils—we who can still work, let us never forget all grain +ripens not. There is some falls out of the ear unripe, and +perishes; some is picked out by birds; some withers and decays in +the ear, and yet gets into the barn with it, and is sown too with +the wheat, of which I never heard that any sprang up +again—ploughed up again it may be—a withered, dead +husk of chaff as it died, ploughed up to the resurrection of +damnation to burn as chaff in unquenchable fire; but the good +seed alone, ripe, and safe with the wheat-plant till it is ripe, +that only will <i>spring up</i> to the resurrection of eternal +life.</p> +<p>Now, consider again that parable of the wheat-plant. +After it has sprung up, what does it next, but +<i>tiller</i>?—and every new shoot that tillers out bears +its own ear, ripens its own grain, twenty, thirty, or forty +stems, and yet they are all the same plant, living with the life +of that one original seed. So with Christ’s +Church—His body the Church. As soon as he rose, that +new plant began to tiller. He did not keep His Spirit to +Himself, but poured it out on the apostles, and from them it +spread and spread—Each generation of Christians ripening, +and bearing fruit, and dying, a fresh generation of fruit +springing up from them, and so on, as we are now at this +day. And yet all these plants, these millions and millions +of Christian men and women, who have lived since Christ’s +blessed resurrection, all are parts of that one original seed, +the body of Christ, whose members they are, and all owe their +life to that one spirit of Christ, which is in them all and +through them all, as the life of the original grain is in the +whole crop which springs from it.</p> +<p>And what can you learn from this? Learn this, that in +Christ you are safe, out of Christ you are lost. But +<i>really</i> in Christ, I mean—not like the dead and dying +grains, mildewed and worm-eaten, which you find here and there on +the finest wheat-plant. Their end is to be burned, and so +will ours be, for all our springing out of Christ’s root, +if the angel reapers find us not good wheat, but chaff and +mildew. Every branch in Christ which beareth not fruit, His +heavenly Father taketh away. Therefore, never pride +yourself on having been baptised into Christ, never pride +yourself on shewing some signs of God’s Spirit, on being +really good, right in this and right in that,—the question +is, not so much, Are you <i>in Christ</i> at all, are you part of +His tree, a member of His body? but, Are you ripening +there? If you are not ripening, you are decaying, and your +end will be as God has said. And do you wish to know +whether you are in Christ, safe, ripening? see whether you are +like Him. If the young grain does not shew like the seed +grain, you may be sure it is making no progress; and as surely as +a wheat-plant never brought forth rye, or a grape-tree thistles, +so surely, if you are not like Christ in your character, in +patience, in meekness, in courage, truth, purity, piety, and +love, you may be of His planting, but you are none of His +ripening, and you will not be raised with Him at the last day, to +flower anew in the gardens of Paradise, world without end.</p> +<h2><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +191</span>SERMON XVIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">IMPROVEMENT.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> xcii. 12.</p> +<p>“The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he +shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted +in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our +God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they +shall be fat and flourishing.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Bible is always telling +Christian people to <i>go forwards</i>—to grow—to +become wiser and stronger, better and better day by day; that +they ought to become better, and better, because they can, if +they choose, improve. This text tells us so; it says that +we shall bring forth more fruit in our old age. Another +text tells us that “those who wait on the Lord shall renew +their strength;” another tells us that we “shall go +from strength to strength.” Not one of St. +Paul’s Epistles but talks of growing in grace and in the +knowledge of God, of being <i>filled</i> with God’s Spirit, +of having our eyes more and more open to understand God’s +truth. Not one of St. Paul’s Epistles but contains +prayers of St. Paul that the men to whom he writes may become +holier and wiser. And St. Paul says that he himself needed +to go forward—that he wanted fresh strength—that he +had to forget what was past, and consider all he had done and +felt as nothing, and press forward to the prize of his high +calling; that he needed to be daily conquering himself more and +more, keeping down his bad feelings, hunting out one bad habit +after another, lest, by any means, when he had preached to +others, he himself should become a castaway. Therefore, I +said rightly, that the Bible is always bidding us go +forwards. You cannot read your Bibles without seeing +this. What else was the use of St. Paul’s +Epistles? They were written to Christian men, redeemed men, +converted men, most of them better I fear than ever we shall be; +and for what? to tell them not be content to remain as they were, +to tell them to go forwards, to improve, to be sure that they +were only just inside the gate of God’s kingdom, and that +if they would go on to perfection, they would find strength, and +holiness, and blessing, and honour, and happiness, which they as +yet did not dream of. “Be ye perfect, even as your +Father which is in heaven is perfect,” said our blessed +Lord to all men. “Be ye perfect,” says St. Paul +to the Corinthians, and the Ephesians, and all to whom he wrote; +and so say I to you now in God’s name, for Christ’s +sake, as citizens of God’s kingdom, as heirs of everlasting +glory, “Be you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is +perfect.”</p> +<p>Now I ask you, my friends, is not this reasonable? It is +reasonable, for the Bible always speaks of our souls as living +things. It compares them to limbs of a body, to branches of +a tree, often to separate plants—as in our Lord’s +parable of the tares and the wheat. Again, St. Paul tells +us that we have been planted in baptism in the likeness of +Christ’s death; and again, in the first Psalm, which says +that the good man shall be like a tree planted by the waterside; +and again, in the text of my sermon, which says “that those +who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the +courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in +old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.”</p> +<p>Now what does all this mean? It means that the life of +our souls is in some respects like the life of a plant; and, +therefore, that as plants grow, so our souls are to grow. +Why do you plant anything, but in order that it may <i>grow</i> +and become larger, stronger, bear flower and fruit? Be sure +God has planted us in His garden, Christ’s Church, for no +other reason. Consider, again—What is life but a +continual growing, or a continual decaying? If a tree does +not get larger and stronger, year by year, is not that a sure +sign that it is unhealthy, and that decay has begun in it, that +it is unsound at heart? And what happens then? It +begins to become weaker and smaller, and cankered and choked with +scurf and moss till it dies. If a tree is not growing, it +is sure in the long run to be dying; and so are our souls. +If they are not growing they are dying; if they are not getting +better they are getting worse. This is why the Bible +compares our souls to trees—not out of a mere pretty fancy +of poetry, but for a great, awful, deep, world-wide lesson, that +every tree in the fields may be a pattern, a warning, to us +thoughtless men, that as that tree is meant to grow, so our souls +are meant to grow. As that tree dies unless it grows, so +our souls must die unless they grow. Consider that!</p> +<p>But how does a tree grow? How are our souls to +grow? Now here, again, we shall understand heavenly things +best by taking and considering the pattern from among earthly +things which the Bible gives us—the tree, I mean. A +tree grows in two ways. Its roots take up food from the +ground, its leaves take up food from the air. Its roots are +its mouth, we may say, and its leaves are its lungs. Thus +the tree draws nourishment from the earth beneath and from the +heaven above; and so must our souls, my friends, if they are to +live and grow, they must have food both from earth and from +heaven. And this is what I mean—Why has God given us +senses, eyes, and ears, and understanding? That by them we +may feed our souls with things which we see and hear, things +which are going on in the world round us. We must read, and +we must listen, and we must watch people and their sayings and +doings, and what becomes of them, and we must try and act, and +practise what is right for ourselves; and so we shall, by using +our eyes and ears and our bodies, get practice, and experience, +and knowledge, from the world round us—such as Solomon +gives us in his Proverbs—and so our eyes, and ears, and +understandings, are to be to us like roots, by which we may feed +our souls with earthly learning and experience. But is this +enough? No, surely. Consider, again, God’s +example which He has given us—a tree. If you keep +stripping all the leaves off a tree, as fast as they grow, what +becomes of it? It dies, because without leaves it cannot +get nourishment from the air, and the rain, and the +sunlight. Again, if you shut up a tree where it can get +neither rain, air, nor light, what happens? the tree certainly +dies, though it may be planted in the very richest soil, and have +the very strongest roots; and why? because it can get no food +from the sky above. So with our souls, my friends. If +we get no food from above, our souls will die, though we have all +the wit, and learning, and experience, in the world. We +must be fed, and strengthened, and satisfied, with the grace of +God from above—with the Spirit of God. Consider how +the Bible speaks of God’s Spirit as the breath of God; for +the very word <i>spirit</i> means, originally, breath, or air, or +gas, or a breeze of wind, shewing us that as without the airs of +heaven the tree would become stunted and cankered, so our souls +will without the fresh, purifying breath of God’s +Spirit. Again, God’s Spirit is often spoken of in +Scripture as dew and rain. His grace or favour, we read, is +as dew on the grass; and again, that God shall come unto us as +the rain, as the first and latter rain upon the earth; and again, +speaking of the outpourings of God’s Spirit on His Church, +the Psalmist says that “He shall come down as the rain upon +the mown grass, as showers that water the earth;” and to +shew us that as the tree puts forth buds, and leaves, and tender +wood, when it drinks in the dew and rains, so our hearts will +become tender, and bud out into good thoughts and wise resolves, +when God’s Spirit fills them with His grace.</p> +<p>But again; the Scripture tells us again and again that our +souls want light from above; and we all know by experience that +the trees and plants which grow on earth want the light of the +sun to make them grow. So, doubtless, here again the +Scripture example of a tree will hold good. Now what does +the sunlight do for the tree? It does every thing, for +without light, the soil, and air, and rain, are all +useless. It stirs up the sap, it hardens the wood, it +brings out the blossom, it colours the leaves and the flowers, it +ripens the fruit. The light is the life of the +tree;—and is there not one, my friends, of whom these words +are written—that He is the Life, and that He is the +Light—that He is the Sun of Righteousness and the bright +and morning Star—that He is the light which lighteth every +man that cometh into the world—that in Him was life, and +the life was the light of men? Do you not know of whom I +speak? Even of Him that was born at Bethlehem and died on +the cross, who now sits at God’s right hand, praying for +us, offering to us His body and His blood;—Jesus the Son of +God, He is the Light and the Life. From Him alone our light +must come, from Him alone our life must come, now and for +ever. Oh, think seriously of this—and think, too, how +a short time before He died on earth He spoke of Himself as the +Bread of life—the living Bread which comes down from +heaven; how He declared to men, that unless they eat His flesh +and drink His blood, they have no life in them. And, +lastly, consider this, how the same night that He was betrayed, +He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and +said, “Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you; +this do in remembrance of me.” And how, likewise, He +took the cup, and when He had blessed it, He gave it to them, +saying, “Drink ye all of this, for this is the new covenant +in my blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the +forgiveness of sins; this do, as oft as ye drink it, in +remembrance of me.” Oh, consider these words, my +friends—to you all and every one they were spoken. +“Drink ye <i>all</i> of this,” said the Blessed One; +and will you refuse to drink it? He offers you the bread of +life, the sign and the pledge of His body, which shall feed your +souls with everlasting strength and life; and will you refuse +what the Son of God offers you, what He bought for you with His +death? God forbid, my friends! This is your blessed +right and privilege—the right and the privilege of every +one of you—to come freely and boldly to that holy table, +and there to remember your Saviour. At that table to +confess your Saviour before men—at that table to shew that +you really believe that Jesus Christ died for you—at that +table to claim your share in the strength of His body, in the +pardon of His blood, which cleanses from all sin—and at +that table to receive what you claim, to receive at that table +the wine, as a sign from Christ Himself, that His blood has +washed away your sins; and the bread, as a sign that His body and +His spirit are really feeding your spirits, that your souls are +strengthened and refreshed by the body and blood of Christ, as +your bodies are with the bread and wine. I have shewn you +that your souls must be fed from heaven,—that the +Lord’s Supper is a sign to you that they <i>are</i> fed +from heaven. You pray to God, I hope, many of you, that He +would give you His Holy Spirit, that He would change, and renew, +and strengthen your souls—you pray God to do this, I +hope—Well, then, there is the answer to your prayers. +There your souls <i>will</i> be renewed and +strengthened—there you will claim your share in Christ, who +alone can renew and strengthen them. The bread which is +there broken is the communion, the sharing, of the body of +Christ; the cup which is there blessed is the communion of the +blood of Christ: to that heavenly treat, to that spiritual food +of your souls, Jesus Himself invites you, He who is the life of +men. Do not let it be said at the last day of any one of +you, that when the Son of God Himself invites you, you would not +come to Him that you might have life.</p> +<h2><a name="page200"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +200</span>SERMON XIX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">MAN’S WORKING DAY.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">John</span>, xi. 9, 10.</p> +<p>“Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the +day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because +he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the +night he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> was our blessed Lord’s +answer to His disciples when they said to Him, “Master, the +Jews of late tried to stone Thee, and goest Thou among them +again?” And “Jesus answered, Are there not +twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day he +stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. +But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth, because there is no +light in him.”</p> +<p>Now, at first sight, one does not see what this has to do with +the disciples’ question—it seems no answer at all to +it. But we must remember who it was who gave that +answer. The Son of God, from whom all words come, who came +to do good, and only good, every minute of His life. And, +therefore, we may be sure that He never threw away a single +word. And we must remember, too, to whom He spoke—to +His disciples, whom He was training to be apostles to the whole +world, teaching them in every thing some deep lesson, to fit them +for their glorious calling, as preachers of the good news of His +coming. So we may be sure that He would never put off any +question of theirs; we may be certain, that whatever they asked +Him, He would give them the best possible answer; not, perhaps, +just the answer for which they wished, but the answer which would +teach them most. Therefore I say, we must believe that +there is some deep, wonderful lesson in this text—that it +is the very best and fullest answer which our Lord could have +made to His disciples when they asked Him why He was going again +to Judea, where He stood in danger of His life.</p> +<p>Let us think a little about this text in faith, that is, sure +that there is a deep, blessed meaning in it, if we can but find +it out. Let us take it piece by piece; we shall never get +to the bottom of it, of course, but we may get deep enough into +it to set us thinking a little between now and next Sunday.</p> +<p>“Are there not twelve hours in the day?” said our +Lord. We know there are, and we know, too, that if any man +walks in the day, and keeps his eyes open, he does not stumble, +because he has the light of this world to guide him. Twelve +hours for business, and twelve for food, and sleep, and rest, is +our rule for working men, or, indeed, not our rule, but +God’s. He has set the sun for the light of this +world, to rule the day, to settle for us how long we are to +work. In this country days vary. In summer they are +more than twelve hours, and then men work early and late; but +that is made up to us by winter, when the days are less than +twelve hours, and men work short time. In the very cold +countries again, far away in the frozen north, the sun never sets +all the summer, and never rises all the winter, and there is six +months day and six months night. Wonderful! But even +there God has fitted the land and men’s lives to that +strange climate, and they can gather in enough meat in the summer +to keep them all the winter, that they may be able to spend the +long six months’ night of winter warm in their houses, +sleeping and resting, with plenty of food. So that even to +them there are twelve hours in the day, though their hours are +each a fortnight long,—I mean a certain fixed time in which +to walk, and do the business which they have to do before the +long frozen night comes, wherein no man can work, because the +sun, the light of this world, is hid from them below the ice for +six whole months. So that our Lord’s words hold true +of all men, even of those people in the icy north. But in +by far the most parts of the world, and especially in the hot +countries, where our Lord lived, there are twelve common hours in +every day, wherein men may and ought to work.</p> +<p>Now what did our Lord mean by reminding His disciples of this, +which they all knew already? He meant this,—that God +His Father had appointed Him a certain work to do, and a certain +time to do it in; that though His day was short, only +thirty-three years in all, while we have, many of us, seventy +years given us, yet that there were twelve hours in His day in +which He must work—that God would take care that He lived +out His appointed time, provided He was ready and earnest in +doing God’s work in it—and that He <i>must</i> work +in that time which God had given Him, whatever came of it, and do +His appointed work before the night of death came in which no man +can work.</p> +<p>There was a heathen king once, named Philip of Macedon, and a +very wise king he was, though he was a heathen, and one of the +wisest of his plans was this:—he had a slave, whom he +ordered to come in to him every morning of his life, whatever he +was doing, and say to him in a loud voice, “Philip, +remember that thou must die!”</p> +<p>He was a heathen, but a great many who call themselves +Christians are not half so wise as he, for they take all possible +care, not to remember that they must die, but to <i>forget</i> +that they must die; and yet every living man has a servant who, +like King Philip’s, puts him in mind, whether he likes it +or not, that his day will run out at last, and his twelve hours +of life be over, and then die he must. And who is that +servant? A man’s own body. Lucky if his body is +his servant, though—not his <i>master</i> and his +tyrant. But still, be that as it may, every finger-ache +that one’s body has, every cough and cold one’s body +catches, ought to be to us a warning like King Philip’s +servant, “Remember that thou must die.” Every +little pain and illness is a warning, a kindly hint from our +Father in heaven, that we are doomed to death; that we have but +twelve hours in this short day of life, and that the twelve must +end; and that we must get our work done and our accounts settled, +and be ready for our long journey, to meet our Father and our +King, before the night comes wherein no man can work, but only +takes his wages; for them who have done good the wages of life +eternal, and for them who have done evil—God help them! we +know what is written—“the wages of sin is +death!”</p> +<p>Now, observe next, that those who walk in the day do not +stumble, because they see the light of this world, and those who +walk in the night stumble—they have no light in them. +If they are to see, it must be by the help of some light outside +themselves, which is not part of themselves, or belonging to +themselves at all. We only see by the light which God has +made; when that is gone, our eyes are useless.</p> +<p>So it is with our souls. Our wits, however clever they +may be, only understand things by the light which God throws on +those things. He must explain and enlighten all things to +us. Without His light—His Spirit, all the wit in the +world is as useless as a pair of eyes in a dark night.</p> +<p>Now this earthly world which we do see is an exact picture and +pattern of the spiritual, heavenly world which we do not see, as +Solomon says in the Proverbs, “The things which are seen +are the doubles of the things which are not seen.” +And as there is a light for us in this earth, which is <i>not +ourselves</i>, namely the sun, so there is a light for us in the +spirit-world, which is <i>not ourselves</i>. And who is +that? The blessed Lord shall answer for Himself. He +says, “I am the light of the world;” and St. John +bears witness to Him, “In Him was life, and the life was +the light of men.” And does not St. Paul say the same +thing, when he blessed God so often for having called him and his +congregations out of darkness into that marvellous light? +If you read his Epistles you will find what he meant by the +darkness, what he meant by the light. The darkness was +heathendom, knowing nothing of Christ. The light was +Christianity, knowing Christ the light; and, more, being +<i>in</i> the light, belonging to Christ—being joined to +Him, as the leaves are to the tree,—living by trust in +Christ, being taught and made true men and true women of, by the +Noble and Holy Spirit of Christ—seeing their way through +this world by trust in Christ and His promises,—That was +light.</p> +<p>And there is no other light. If a man does not work +trusting in Christ, whom God has set for the light of the world, +he works in the night, where God never set or meant him to work; +and stumble he will, and make a fool of himself, sooner or later, +because he is walking in the night, and sees nothing plainly or +in a right view. For as our Lord says truly, “There +is no light in him.” No light in him? In one +sense there is no light in any one, be he the wisest or holiest +man who ever lived. But this is just what three people out +of four will not believe. They will not believe that the +Spirit of God gives man understanding. They fancy that they +have light in themselves. They try, conceitedly and +godlessly, to walk by the light of their own eyes—to make +their own way plain before their face for themselves. They +will not believe old David, a man who worked, and fought, and +thought, and saw, far more than any one of us will ever do, when +he tells them again and again in his Psalms, that the Lord is his +light, that the Lord must guide a man, and inform him with His +eye, and teach him in the way in which he should go. And, +therefore, they will not pray to God for light—therefore +they will not look for light in God’s Word, and in the +writings of godly men; and they are like a man in the broad +sunshine, who should choose to shut his eyes close, and say, +‘I have light enough in my own head to do without the +sun;’ and therefore they walk on still in darkness, and all +the foundations of the earth are out of course, because men +forget the first universal ground rules of common sense, and +reason, and love, which God’s Spirit teaches. I tell +you, all the mistakes that you ever made—that ever were +made since Adam fell, came from this, that men will not ask God +for light and wisdom; they love darkness rather than light, and +therefore, though God’s light is ready for every man, +shining in the darkness to shew every man his way, yet the +darkness will not comprehend it—will not take it in, and +let God change its blindness into day.</p> +<p>Now, then, to gather all together, what better answer could +our Lord have given to His disciples’ question than this, +“Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walk +in the day he does not stumble, because he seeth the light of +this world; but if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because +there is no light in him.”</p> +<p>It was as if He had said, “However short my day of life +may be, there are twelve hours in it, of my Father’s +numbering and measuring, not of mine. My times are in His +hand, as long as He pleases I shall live. He has given me a +work to do, and He will see that I live long enough to do +it. Into His hands I commend my spirit, for, living or +dying, He is with me. Though I walk through the valley of +the shadow of death, He will be with me. He will keep me +secretly in His tabernacle from the strife of tongues, and will +turn the furiousness of my enemies to His glory; and as my day my +strength will be. And I have no fear of running into danger +needlessly. I have prayed to Him daily and nightly for +light, for His Spirit—the spirit of wisdom and +understanding, of prudence and courage; and His word is pledged +to keep me in all my ways, so that I dash not my foot against a +stone. Know ye not that I must be about my Father’s +business? While I am about that I am safe. It is only +if I go about my own business—my own pleasure; if I forget +to ask Him for His light and guidance, that I shall put myself +into the night, and stumble and fall.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, what is there in all this, which we may not +say as well as our Lord? In this, as in all things, Christ +set Himself up as our pattern. Oh, believe +it!—believe that your time—your measure of life, is +in God’s hand. Believe that He is your light, that He +will teach and guide you into all truth, and that all your +mistakes come from not asking counsel of Him in prayer, and +thought, and reading of His Holy Bible. Believe His blessed +promise that He will give His Holy Spirit to those who ask +Him. Believe, too, that He has given you a work to +do—prepared good works all ready for you to walk in. +Be you labourer or gentleman, maid, wife, or widow, God has given +you a work to do; there is good to be done lying all round you, +ready for you. And the blessed Jesus who bought you, body +and soul, with His own blood, commands you to work for Him: +“Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all your +might.”</p> +<blockquote><p>“Work ye manful while ye may,<br /> +Work for God in this your day;<br /> +Night must stop you, rich or poor,<br /> +Godly deeds alone endure.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And then, whether you live or die, your Father’s smile +will be on you, and His everlasting arms beneath you, and at your +last hour you shall find that “Blessed are the dead that +die in the Lord, for they rest from their labour, and their works +do follow them.”</p> +<h2><a name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +210</span>SERMON XX.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">ASSOCIATION.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Galatians</span>, vi. 2.</p> +<p>“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the +law of Christ.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">If</span> I were to ask you, my friends, +why you were met together here to-day, you would tell me, I +suppose, that you were come to church as members of a benefit +club; and quite right you are in coming here as such, and God +grant that we may meet together here on this same errand many +more Whit-mondays. But this would be no answer to my +question; I wish to know why you come to church to-day sooner +than to any other place? what has the church to do with the +benefit club? Now this is a question which I do not think +all of you could answer very readily, and therefore I wish to +make you, especially the younger members of the club, think a +little seriously about the meaning of your coming here +to-day. You will be none the less cheerful this evening for +having had some deep and godly thoughts in your heads this +morning.</p> +<p>Now these benefit clubs are also called provident societies, +and a very good name for them. You become members of them, +because you are prudent, or provident, that is, because you are +careful, and look forward to a rainy day. But why does not +each of you lay up his savings for himself, instead of putting +them into a common purse, and so forming a club? Because +you have found out, what every one else in the world, but madmen, +ought to have found out, that two are better than one; that if a +great many men join together in any matter, they are a great deal +stronger when working together, than if they each worked just as +hard, but each by himself; that the way to be safe is not to +stand each of you alone, but to help each other; in short, that +there is no getting on without bearing one another’s +burdens.</p> +<p>Now this plan of bearing one another’s burdens is not +only good in benefit clubs—it is good in families, in +parishes, in nations, in the church of God, which is the elect of +all mankind. Unless men hold together, and help each other, +there is no safety for them.</p> +<p>Let us consider what there is bearing on this matter of +prudence, that makes one of the greatest differences between a +man and a brute beast. It is not that the man is prudent, +and the beast is not. Many beasts have forethought enough; +the very sleepmouse hoards up acorns against the winter; a fox +will hide the game he cannot eat. No, the great difference +between man and beast is, that the beast has forethought only for +himself, but the man has forethought for others also; beasts have +not reason enough to bear each others’ burdens, as men +have. And what is it that makes us call the ant and the bee +the wisest of animals, except that they do, in some degree, +behave like men, in helping one another, and having some sort of +family feeling, and society, and government among them, by which +they can help bear each other’s burdens? So that we +all confess, by calling them wise, how wise it is to help each +other. Consider a family, again. In order that a +family may be happy and prosperous, all the members of it must +bear each other’s burdens. If the father only thought +of himself, and the mother of herself, and each of the children +did nothing but take care of themselves, would not that family +come to misery and ruin? But if they all helped each +other—all thought of each other more than of +themselves—all were ready to give up their own comfort to +make each other comfortable, that family would be peaceful and +prosperous, and would be doing a great deal towards fulfilling +the law of Christ.</p> +<p>It is just the same in a parish. If the rich help and +defend the poor, and the poor respect and love the rich, and are +ready to serve them as far as they can,—in short, if all +ranks bear each other’s burdens, that parish is a happy +one, and if they do not, it is a miserable one.</p> +<p>Just the same with a nation. If the king only cares +about making himself strong, and the noblemen and gentlemen about +their rank and riches, and the poor people, again, only care for +themselves, and are trying to pull down the rich, and so get what +they can for themselves,—if a country is in this state, +what can be more wretched? Neither a house, nor a country, +divided against itself, can ever stand. But if the king and +the nobles give their whole minds to making good laws, and seeing +justice done to all, and workmen fairly paid, and if the poor, in +their turns, are loyal, and ready to fight and work for their +king and their nobles, then will not that country be a happy and +a great country? Surely it will, because its people, +instead of caring every man for himself only, help each other and +bear one another’s burdens.</p> +<p>And just in the same way with Christ’s Church, with the +company of true Christian men. If the clergymen thought +only of themselves, and neglected the people, and forgot to +labour among them, and pray for them, and preach to them; and if +the people each cared for himself, and never prayed to God to +give them a spirit of love and charity, and never helped their +neighbours, or did unto others as they wished to be done by; and +above all, if Christ, our Head, left His Church, and cared no +more about us, what would become of Christ’s Church? +What would happen to the whole race of sinful man, but misery in +this world, and ruin in the next? But if the people love +and help each other, and obey their ministers, and pray for them; +and if the ministers labour earnestly after the souls and bodies +of their people; and Christ in heaven helps both minister and +people with His Spirit, and His providence and protection; in +short, if all in the whole Church bear each other’s +burdens, then Christ’s Church will stand, and the gates of +hell will not prevail against it.</p> +<p>Thus you see that this text of bearing one another’s +burdens is no new or strange commandment, but the very state in +which every man is meant to live, both in his family, his parish, +his country, and his Church—all his life helping others, +and being helped by them in turn. And because families and +nations, and the Church of Christ above all, are good, and holy, +and beautiful, therefore any society which is formed upon the +same plan—I mean of helping each other—must be good +also. And, therefore, benefit societies are right and +reasonable things, and among all the good which they do they do +this one great good, that they teach men to remember that there +is no use trying to stand alone, but that the way to be safe and +happy is to bear each other’s burdens.</p> +<p>Thus benefit societies are patterns of Christ’s +Church. But now, my friends, there is another point for +each of you to consider, which is this—the benefit club is +a good thing, but are you a good member of the club? Do you +do your duty, each of you, in the club as Christian men +should?</p> +<p>I do not ask whether you pay your subscriptions regularly or +not—that is quite right and necessary, but there is +something more than that wanted to make a club go on +rightly. Mere paying and receiving money will never keep +men together any more than any other outward business. A +man may pay his club-money regularly and yet not be a really good +member. And how is this? You remember that I tried to +shew you that a family, and a nation, and a church, all were kept +together by the same principle of bearing one another’s +burdens, just as a benefit club is. Now, what makes a man a +good member of Christ’s Church,—a good Christian, in +short? A man may pay his tithes to the rector, and his +church-rates to repair God’s house, and his poor-rates to +maintain God’s poor, all very regularly, and yet be a very +bad member of Christ’s Church. These payments are all +right and good; but they are but the outside, the letter of what +God requires of him. What is wanted is, to serve God in the +<i>spirit</i>, to have the spirit—<i>the will</i>, of a +Christian in him; that is, to do all these things for +<i>God’s</i> sake—not of constraint, but +willingly—“not grudgingly, for God loveth a cheerful +giver.” No! If a man is a really good member of +Christ’s Church, he lives a life of faith in Jesus Christ, +and of thankfulness to Him for His infinite love and mercy in +coming down to die for us, and thus the love of God and man is +shed abroad in his heart by God’s Spirit, which is given to +him. Therefore, that man thinks it an honour to pay +church-rates, and so help towards keeping God’s house in +repair and neatness. He pays his tithes cheerfully, because +he loves God’s ministers, and feels their use and worth to +him. He pays his poor-rates with a willing mind, for the +sake of that God who has said, “that he who gives to the +poor lends to the Lord.” And so he obeys not only the +letter but the spirit of the law.</p> +<p>But the man does more than this. Besides obeying not +only the letter but the spirit of the law, he helps his brethren +in a thousand other ways. He shews, in short, by every +action that he believes in God and loves his neighbour.</p> +<p>And why should it not be just the same in a benefit +club? There the good member is <i>not</i> the man who pays +his money merely to have a claim for relief when he himself is +sick, and yet grudges every farthing that goes to help other +members. That man is not a good member. He has come +into the club merely to take care of himself, and not to bear +others’ burdens. He may obey the letter of the +club-rules by paying in his subscriptions and by granting relief +to sick members, but he does not obey the spirit of them. +If he did, he would be glad to bear his sick neighbour’s +burden with so little trouble to himself. He would, +therefore, grant club relief willingly and cheerfully when it was +wanted,—ay, he would thank God that he had an opportunity +of helping his neighbours. He would feel that all the +members of the society were his brothers in a double sense; +first, because they had joined with him to help and support each +other in the society; and, next, that they were his brothers in +Christ, who had been baptised into the same Church of God with +himself. And he would, therefore, delight in supporting +them in their sickness, and honouring them when they died, and in +helping their widows and orphans in their affliction; in short, +in bearing his neighbour’s burdens, and so fulfilling the +law of Christ. And do you not see, that if any of you +subscribe to this benefit society in such a spirit as this, that +they are the men to give an answer to the question I asked at +first, “Why are you all here at church to-day?” +They come here for the same reason that you all ought to come, to +thank God for having kept them well, and out of the want of +relief for the past year, and to thank Him, too, for having +enabled them to bear their sick neighbours’ burdens. +And they come, also, to pray to God to keep them well and strong +for the year to come, and to raise up those members who are in +sickness and distress, that they may all worship God here +together another year, as a company of faithful friends, helping +each other on through this life, and all on the way to the same +heavenly home, where there will be no more poverty, nor sorrow, +nor sickness, nor death, and God shall wipe away tears from all +widows and orphans’ eyes.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, I have tried to put some new and true +thoughts into your head about your club and your business in this +church to-day. And I pray, God grant that you may remember +them, and think of this whole matter as a much more solemn and +holy one than you ever did before.</p> +<h2><a name="page219"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +219</span>SERMON XXI.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">HEAVEN ON EARTH.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">1 <span +class="smcap">Cor</span>. x. 31.</p> +<p>“Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all +to the glory of God.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is a command from God, my +friends, which well worth a few minutes’ consideration this +day;—well worth considering, because, though it was spoken +eighteen hundred years ago, yet God has not changed since that +time;—He is just as glorious as ever; and Christian +men’s relation to God has not changed since that time; they +still live, and move, and have their being in God; they are still +His children—His beloved; Christ, who died for us, is still +our King; God’s Spirit is still with us, God’s mercy +still saves us: we owe God as much as any people ever did. +If it was ever any one’s duty to shew forth God’s +glory, surely it is our duty too.</p> +<p>Worth considering, indeed, is this command, for though it is +in the Bible, and has been there for eighteen hundred years, it +is seldom read, seldomer understood, and still more seldom put +into practice. Men eat and drink, and do all manner of +things, with all their might and main; but how many of them do +they do to the glory of God? No; this is the +fault—the especial curse of our day, that religion does not +mean any longer, as it used, the service of God—the being +like God, and shewing forth God’s glory. No; religion +means, nowadays, the art of getting to heaven when we die, and +saving our own miserable, worthless souls, and getting +God’s wages without doing God’s work—as if that +was godliness,—as if that was any thing but selfishness; as +if selfishness was any the better for being everlasting +selfishness! If selfishness is evil, my friends, the sooner +we get rid of it the better, instead of mixing it up as we do +with all our thoughts of heaven, and making our own enjoyment and +our own safety the vile root of our hopes for all eternity. +And therefore it is that people have forgotten what God’s +glory is. They seem to think, that God’s highest +glory is saving them from hell-fire. And they talk not of +God and of the wondrous majesty of God, but only of the wonder of +God’s having saved them—looking at themselves all the +time, and not at God. We must get rid of this sort of +religion, my friends, at all risks, in order to get rid of all +sorts of irreligion, for one is the father of the other.</p> +<p>It is a wonder, indeed, that we are saved from hell, much more +raised to heaven, such peevish, cowardly, pitiful creatures as +the best of us are: and yet the more we think of it, the less +wonder we shall find it. The more we think of the wonder of +all wonders,—God Himself, His majesty, His power, His +wisdom, His love, His pity, His infinite condescension, the less +reason we shall have to be surprised that He has stooped to save +us. Yes, do not be startled—for it is true, that He +has done for sinful men nothing contrary to Himself, but just +what was to be expected from such unutterable condescension, and +pity, and generosity, as God’s is. And so +recollecting this, we shall begin to forget ourselves, and look +at God; and in thinking of Him we shall get beyond mere wondering +at Him, and rise to something higher—to worshipping +Him.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is what we must try at if we would be +really godly—to find out what God is—to find out His +likeness, His character, as He is: and has He not shewn us what +He is? He who has earnestly read Christ’s +story—he who has understood, and admired, and loved +Christ’s character, and its nobleness and beauty—he +who can believe that Jesus Christ is now, at this minute, raising +up his heart to good, guiding his thoughts to good, he has seen +God; for he has seen the Son, who is the exact likeness of the +Father’s glory, in whom dwells all the fulness of the +Godhead in a bodily shape. Remember, he who knows Christ +knows God,—and that knowledge will help us up a noble step +farther—it will help us to shew forth God’s +glory. For when we once know what God’s glory is, we +shall see how to make others know it too. We shall know how +to <i>do God justice</i>, to set men right as to their notions of +God, to give them, at all events, in our own lives and +characters, a pattern of Christ, who is the Pattern of God; and +whatsoever we do we shall be able to do all to God’s +glory.</p> +<p>For what is doing every thing to the glory of God? It is +this;—we have seen what God’s glory is: He is His own +glory. As you say of any very excellent man, you have but +to know him to honour him; or of any very beautiful woman, you +have but to see her to love her; so I say of God, men have but to +see and know Him to love and honour Him.</p> +<p>Well, then, my friends, if we call ourselves Christian men, if +we believe that God is our Father, and delight, as on the grounds +of common feeling we ought, to honour our Father, we should try +to make every one honour Him as He deserves. In short, +whatever we do we should make it tend to His glory—make it +a lesson to our neighbours, our friends, and our families. +We should preach God’s glory to them day by day, not by +<i>words</i> only, often not by words at all, but by our +conduct. Ay, there is the secret.—If you wish other +men to believe a thing, just behave as if you believed it +yourself. Nothing is so infectious as example. If you +wish your neighbours to see what Jesus Christ is like, let them +see what He can make <i>you</i> like. If you wish them to +know how God’s love is ready to save them from their sins, +let them see His love save <i>you</i> from <i>your</i> +sins. If you wish them to see God’s tender care in +every blessing and every sorrow they have, why let them see you +thanking God for every sorrow and every blessing you have. +I tell you, friends, example is every thing. One good +man,—one man who does not put his religion on once a-week +with his Sunday coat, but wears it for his working dress, and +lets the thought of God grow into him, and through and through +him, till every thing he says and does becomes religious, that +man is worth a ton of sermons—he is a living +Gospel—he comes in the spirit and power of Elias—he +is the image of God. And men see his good works, and admire +them in spite of themselves, and see that they are Godlike, and +that God’s grace is no dream, but that the Holy Spirit is +still among men, and that all nobleness and manliness is His +gift, His stamp, His picture; and so they get a glimpse of God +again in His saints and heroes, and glorify their Father who is +in heaven.</p> +<p>Would not such a life be a heavenly life? Ay, it would +be more, it would be heaven—heaven on earth: not in +versemongering cant, but really. We should then be sitting, +as St. Paul tells us, in heavenly places with Jesus Christ, and +having our conversation in heaven. All the while we were +doing our daily work, following our business, or serving our +country, or sitting at our own firesides with wife and child, we +should be all that time in heaven. Why not? we are in +heaven now—if we had but faith to see it. Oh, get rid +of those carnal, heathen notions about heaven, which tempt men to +fancy that, after having misused this place—God’s +earth—for a whole life, they are to fly away when they die, +like swallows in autumn, to another place—they know not +where—where they are to be very happy—they know not +why or how, nor do I know either. Heaven is not a mere +<i>place</i>, my friends. All places are heaven, if you +will be heavenly in them. Heaven is where God is and Christ +is. And hell is where God is not and Christ is not. +The Bible says, no doubt, there is a place now—somewhere +beyond the skies—where Christ especially shews forth His +glory—a heaven of heavens: and for reasons which I cannot +explain, there must be such a place. But, at all events, +here is heaven; for Christ is here and God is here, if we will +open our eyes and see them. And how?—How? Did +not Christ Himself say, ‘If a man will love Me, My Father +will love him; and we, My Father and I, will come to him, and +make our abode with him, and we will shew ourselves to +him?’ Do those words mean nothing or something? +If they have any meaning, do they not mean this, that in this +life, we can see God—in this life we can have God and +Christ abiding with us? And is not that heaven? Yes, +heaven is where God is. You are in heaven if God is with +you, you are in hell if God is not with you; for where God is +not, darkness and a devil are sure to be.</p> +<p>There was a great poet once—Dante by name—who +described most truly and wonderfully, in his own way, heaven and +hell, for, indeed, he had been in both. He had known sin +and shame, and doubt and darkness and despair, which is +hell. And after long years of misery, he had got to know +love and hope, and holiness and nobleness, and the love of Christ +and the peace of God, which is heaven. And so well did he +speak of them, that the ignorant people used to point after him +with awe in the streets, and whisper, There is the man who has +been in hell. Whereon some one made these lines on +him:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Thou hast seen hell and heaven? Why +not? since heaven and hell<br /> +Within the struggling soul of every mortal dwell.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Think of that!—thou—and thou—and +thou!—for in thee, at this moment, is either heaven or +hell: and which of them? Ask thyself—ask thyself, +friend. If thou art not in heaven in this life, thou wilt +never be in heaven in the life to come. At death, says the +wise man, each thing returns into its own element, into the +ground of its life; the light into the light, and the darkness +into the darkness. As the tree falls so it lies. My +friends, who call yourselves enlightened Christian folk, do you +suppose that you can lead a mean, worldly, covetous, spiteful +life here, and then the moment your soul leaves the body that you +are to be changed into the very opposite character, into angels +and saints, as fairy tales tell of beasts changed into men? +If a beast can be changed into a man, then death can change the +sinner into a saint,—but not else. If a beast would +enjoy being a man, then a sinner would enjoy being in heaven, but +not else. A sinful, worldly man enjoy being in +heaven? Does a fish enjoy being on dry land? The +sinner would long to be back in this world again. Why, what +is the employment of spirits in heaven, according to the Bible +(for that is the point to which I have been trying to lead you +round again)? What but glorifying God? Not +<i>trying</i> only to do every thing to God’s glory, but +actually succeeding in <i>doing</i> it—basking in the +sunshine of His smile, delighting to feel themselves as nothing +before His glorious majesty, meditating on the beauty of His +love, filling themselves with the sight of His power, searching +out the treasures of His wisdom, and finding God in all and all +in God—their whole eternity one act of worship, one hymn of +praise. Are there not some among us who will have had but +little practice at that work? Those who have done nothing +for God’s glory here, how do they expect to be able to do +every thing for God’s glory hereafter? (Those who +will not take the trouble of merely standing up at the psalms, +like the rest of their neighbours, even if they cannot sing with +their voices God’s praises in this church, how will they +like singing God’s praises through eternity?) No; be +sure that the only people who will be fit for heaven, who will +like heaven even, are those who have been in heaven in this +life,—the only people who will be able to do every thing to +God’s glory in the new heavens and new earth, are those who +have been trying honestly to do all to His glory in this heaven +and this earth.</p> +<p>Think over, in the meantime, what I have said this day; +consider it, and you will have enough to think of, and pray over +too, till we meet here again.</p> +<h2><a name="page228"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +228</span>SERMON XXII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">NATIONAL PRIVILEGES.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Luke</span>, x. 23.</p> +<p>“Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see: +for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see +those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear +those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is a noble text, my +friends—and yet an awful one, for if it does not increase +our religion, it will certainly increase our condemnation. +It tells us that we, even the meanest among us, are more favoured +by God than the kings, and judges, and conquerors of the old +world, of whom we read this afternoon in the first lesson; that +we have more light and knowledge of God than even the prophets +David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, to whom God’s glory +appeared in visible shape. It tells us that we see things +which they longed to see, and could not; that words are spoken to +us for which their ears longed in vain; that they, though they +died in hope, yet received not the promises, God having provided +some better things for us, that they without us should not be +made perfect.</p> +<p>Now, what was this which they longed for, and had not, and yet +we have? It was this,—a Saviour and a Saviour’s +kingdom. All wise and holy hearts for ages—as well +heathens as Jews—had had this longing. They wanted a +Saviour,—one who should free them from sin and conquer +evil,—one who should explain to them all the doubt and +contradiction and misery of the world, and give them some means +of being freed from it,—one who should set them the perfect +pattern of what a man should be, and join earth and heaven, and +make godliness part of man’s daily life. They longed +for a Saviour, and for a heavenly kingdom also. They saw +that all the laws in the world could never make men good; that +one half of men broke them, and the other half only obeyed them +unwillingly through slavish fear, loving the sin they dared not +do. That men got worse and worse as time rolled on. +That kings, instead of being shepherds of their people, were only +wolves and tyrants to keep them in ignorance and misery. +That priests only taught the people lies, and fattened themselves +at their expense. That, in short, as David said, men would +not learn, or understand, and all the foundations of the earth, +the grounds and principles of society, politics and religion, +were out of course, and the devil very truly the king of this +lower world; so they longed for a heavenly kingdom—a +kingdom of God, one in which men should obey God for love, and +not for fear, and man for God’s sake; a spiritual +kingdom—a kingdom whose laws should be written in +men’s hearts and spirits, and be their delight and glory, +not their dread. They longed for a King of kings, who +should teach all kings and magistrates to rule in love and +wisdom. They longed for a High-priest, who should teach all +priests to explain the wonder and the glory that there is in +every living man, and in heaven and earth, and all that therein +lies, and lead men’s hearts into love, and purity, and +noble thoughts and deeds. They longed, in short, for a +kingdom of God, a golden age, a regeneration of the world, as +they called it, and rightly. Of course, the Jewish prophets +saw most clearly how this would be brought about, and how utterly +necessary a Saviour and His kingdom was to save mankind from +utter ruin. They, I say, saw this best. But still all +the wise and pious heathens, each according to his measure of +light, saw the same necessity, or else were restless and +miserable, because they could not see it. So that in all +ages of the world, in a thousand different shapes, there was +rising up to heaven a mournful, earnest prayer,—“Thy +kingdom come!”</p> +<p>And now this kingdom is come, and the King of it, the Saviour +of men, is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Long men prayed, +and long men waited, and at last, in the fulness of God’s +good time, just when the night seemed darkest, and under the +abominations of the Roman Empire, religion, honesty, and common +decency, seemed to have died out, the Sun of Righteousness rose +on the dead and rotten world, to bring life and immortality to +light. God sent forth His Son made of a woman, not to +condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be +saved. He sent Him to be our Saviour, to die on the cross +for our sins and our children’s, that all our guilt might +be washed away, and we might come boldly to the throne of grace, +with our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies +washed in the waters of baptism. He sent Him to be our +Teacher in the perfect law of love, our pattern in every thing +which a man should be, and is not. He sent Him to conquer +death by rising from the dead, that He might have power to raise +us also to life and immortality. He sent Him to fill men +with His Spirit, the Spirit of reason and truth, the Spirit of +love and courage, that he might know the will of God, and do it +as our Saviour did before us. He sent Him to found a +Church, to join all men into one brotherhood, one kingdom of God, +whose rulers are kings and parliaments, whose ministers are the +clergy, whose prophets are all poets and philosophers, authors +and preachers, who are true to their own calling; whose signs and +tokens are the sacraments; a kingdom which should never be moved, +but should go on for ever, drawing into all honest and true +hearts, and preserving them ever for Christ their Lord.</p> +<p>And that we might not doubt that we, too, belonged to this +kingdom, He has placed in this land His ministers and teachers, +Christ’s sacraments, Christ’s churches in every +parish in the land, Christ’s Bible, or the means of +attaining the Bible, in every house and every cottage; that from +our cradle to our grave we might see that we belonged, as sworn +servants and faithful children, to the great Father in heaven and +Jesus Christ, the King of the earth.</p> +<p>Thus, my friends, all that all men have longed for we possess; +we want no more, and we shall have no more. If, under the +present state of things, we cannot be holy, we shall never be +holy. If we cannot use our right in this kingdom of Christ, +how can we become citizens of God’s everlasting kingdom, +when Christ shall have delivered up the dominion to His Father, +and God shall be all in all? God has done all for us that +God will do. He has given us His Son for a Saviour, and a +Church in which and by which to worship that Saviour; and what +more would we have? Alas! my friends, have we yet used +fairly what God has given us? and if not, how terrible will be +our guilt! “How shall we escape if we neglect so +great salvation?” And yet how many do +neglect—how few live as if they were citizens of +Christ’s kingdom! It seems as if God had been too +good to us, and heaped us so heavily with blessings, that we were +tired of them, and despised them as common things. Common +things? They are the very things, as I said, which the +great and the wise in all ages have longed for and prayed for, +and yet never found! Surely, surely, God may well say to +us, “What could have been done unto my vineyard which has +not been done to it?” What, indeed? I wish I +could take some of you into a heathen country for a single week, +that you might see what it is not to know of a Saviour—not +to be members of His Church, as we are. Why, we here in +England are in the very garden of the Lord. We have but to +stretch out our hand to the tree of life, and eat and live for +ever. From our cradle to our grave, Christ the King is +ready to guide, to teach, to comfort, to deliver us. When +we are born, we are christened in His name, made members of +Christ, children of God, and inheritors by hope of the kingdom of +heaven. Is that nothing? It is, alas! nothing in the +eyes of most parents! As we grow older, are we not taught +who we are—taught call God our Father—taught about +Jesus Christ, who He is, and what He is? Is that, too, +nothing? Alas! that knowledge is generally a mere +meaningless school-lesson, cared for neither by child nor by +man. At confirmation, again, we solemnly declare that we +belong to Christ’s kingdom, and that we will live as His +subjects, and His alone. And we are brought to His bishops, +to be received as free, reasonable, Christian people, to claim +our citizenship in the kingdom of God. Is that +nothing? Yet that, too, is nothing with three-fourths of +us. Nothing? Hear me, young people—as I have +often told you—you are ready enough to excuse yourselves +from your confirmation vows, by saying you were not taught to +understand them—were not taught how to put them into +practice. That may be true, or it may not; your sin is just +the same. No one with any common honesty or common sense +could answer as you have to the bishop’s questions at +confirmation, without knowing that you did make a promise, and +knowing well enough what you promised—and you who carried +to confirmation a careless heart and a lying tongue, have only +yourselves to blame for it!—But to proceed. Is not +Christ present, or ready to be present, with us? Sunday +after Sunday, for years, have not the churches been opened all +around us, inviting us to enter and worship Christ, knowing that +where two or three are gathered together, there is Christ in the +midst of them. Is that nothing? This +Creed—these Lessons—these prayers, which Sunday after +Sunday you have used;—are they nothing? Are they not +all proofs that the kingdom of God is come to you, and means +whereby you can behave like children of the kingdom? And +not on Sundays alone. Have we not been taught daily, in our +own houses, in our own hearts, in all danger, and trouble, and +temptation, to pray to Jesus Christ, our King, knowing that He +will hear and save all them that put their trust in Him?</p> +<p>Is that nothing? On our happy marriage morn, too, was it +not in God’s house, before Christ’s minister, in +Christ’s name, that we were married? Surely the +kingdom of God is come to us, when our wedlock, as well as our +souls and bodies, is holy to the Lord. Is that +nothing? How few think of their marriage-joys as holy +things—an ordinance of Christ’s kingdom, which He +delights in and blesses with His presence and His special smile, +seeing that it is the noblest and the purest of all things on +earth—the picture of the great mystery which shall be the +bridal of all bridals, the marriage of Christ and His +Church! People do not, nowadays, believe in marriage as a +part of their religion; and so, according to their want of faith +it happens to them; their marriage is not holy, and the love and +joy of their youth wither into a peevish, careless, lonely old +age;—and yet over their heads these words were said, +“They are man and wife together, in the Name of the Father, +and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost!” comes of not +believing in Christ’s presence and Christ’s favour; +of not believing, in short, in what the Creed truly calls the +Holy Catholic Church. Neither after that does Christ leave +us. Every time a woman is churched, is not that meant to be +a sign of thankfulness to Christ, the great Physician, to whom +she owes her life and health once more? Then, season after +season, is the sacrament of Christ’s body and blood offered +you. Is that no sign that Christ is here among us? +Ah! blessed are the eyes which see that—blessed are the +ears which hear those words, “Take, eat; this is My body +which is given for you.” Truly, if that +honour—that blessing—is so vast, the love and the +condescension of Christ, the Lamb of God, so unutterable, that +prophets and kings, whatever they believed, never could have +desired, never could have imagined, that the Son of God should +offer to the sons of men, year after year, in their little parish +churches, His most precious body, His most precious blood. +And another thing, too, those prophets and kings would never have +imagined,—that when Christ, in those churches, offers His +body and His blood, nine-tenths of the congregation, calling +themselves Christians, should quietly walk out, and go home, and +leave the sacraments of Christ’s body and Christ’s +blood behind as a useless and unnecessary matter! That, +indeed, the old prophets and kings never saw, and never expected +to see—but so it is. Christ is among us, and our eyes +are holden, and we know Him not.</p> +<p>And then at last, after all these blessed privileges, these +tokens of God’s kingdom have been neglected through a long +life, does Christ neglect us in the hour of death? Ah, +no! He is at the grave, as He was at the font, at the +marriage-bed, at His own holy table in God’s house; and the +body is laid in the ground by Christ’s minister, in the +certain hope of a joyful resurrection. But what—a +sure and certain hope for each and all? The resurrection is +a joyful hope—but is it so for all? Only, too often, +a faint, dim longing that clings to the last chance, and dares +not confess to itself how hopeless must be the death of that man +or woman whose life was spent in the kingdom of God, in the midst +of blessings which kings said prophets desired in vain to see, +and yet who neglected them all, never entered into the spirit of +them—never loved them—never lived according to them, +but despised and trampled under foot the kingdom of God from +their childhood to their grave, as three-fourths of us do. +Christ came to judge no man, and therefore Christ’s +ministers judge no man, and read the Christian funeral service +over all, and pray Christ to be there, and to remember His +blessed promise of raising up the body and soul to everlasting +life. But how can they help fearing that Christ will not +hear them—that after all His offers and gifts in this life +have been despised, He will give nothing after death but death; +and that it were better for the sinful, worldly sham Christian, +when lying in his coffin, if he had never been born? How +can those escape who neglect such great salvation?</p> +<p>Ah, my friends—my friends, take this to heart! +Blessed, indeed, are the eyes which see what you see, and hear +what you hear; prophets and kings have desired to see and hear +them, and have not seen or heard! But if you, cradled among +all these despised honours and means of grace, bring forth no +fruit in your lives—shut out from yourselves the thought of +your high calling in Jesus Christ; what shall be your end but +ruin? He that despises Christ, Christ will despise him; and +say not to yourselves, as many do, We are church-goers—we +are all safe. I say to you, God is able, from among the +Negro and the wild Irishman—ay, God is able of these stones +to raise up children to the Church of England, while those of +you, the children of the kingdom, who lived in the Church of your +fathers, and never used or loved her, or Christ, her King, shall +be cast into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and +gnashing of teeth.</p> +<h2><a name="page239"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +239</span>SERMON XXIII.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">LENTEN THOUGHTS.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">Haggai</span>, i. 5.</p> +<p>“Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider +your ways.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Next</span> Wednesday is Ash-Wednesday, +the first day of Lent, the season which our forefathers have +appointed for us to consider and mend our ways, and return, year +by year, heart and soul to that Lord and Heavenly Father from +whom we are daily wandering. Now, we all know that we ought +to have repented long ago; we all know that, sinning in many +things daily, as we do, we ought all to repent daily. But +that is not enough; we do want, unless we are wonderfully better +than the holy men of old,—we do want, I say, a particular +time in which we may sit down deliberately and look our own souls +steadily in the face, and cast up our accounts with God, and be +thoroughly ashamed and terrified at those accounts when we find, +as we shall, that we cannot answer God one thing in a +thousand. It is all very well to say, I confess and repent +of my sins daily, why should I do it especially in Lent? +Very true—Let us see, then, by your altered life and +conduct that you have repented during this Lent, and then it will +be time to talk of repenting every day after Lent. But, in +fact, a man might just as well argue, I say my prayers every day, +and God hears them, why should I say them more on Sundays than +any other day? Why? not only because your forefathers, and +the Church of your forefathers, have advised you, which, though +not an imperative reason, is still a strong one, surely, but +because the thing is good, and reasonable, and right in +itself. Because, as they found in their own case, and as +you may find in yours, if you will but think, the hurry and +bustle of business is daily putting repentance and +self-examination out of our heads. A man may think much, +and pray much, thank God, in the very midst of his busiest work, +but he is apt to be hurried; he has not set his thoughts +especially on the matters of his soul, and so the soul’s +work is not thoroughly done. Much for which he ought to +pray he forgets to pray for. Many sins and feelings of +which he ought to repent slip past him out of sight in the hurry +of life. Much good that might be done is put off and laid +by, often till it is too late. But now here is a regular +season in which we may look back and say to ourselves, ‘How +have I been getting on for this twelvemonth, not in pocket, but +in character? not in the appearance of character in my +neighbour’s eyes, but in real character—in the eyes +of God? Am I more manly, or more womanly—more godly, +more true, more humble, above all, more loving, than I was this +time last year? What bad habits have I conquered? +What good habits have grown upon me? What chances of doing +good have I let slip? What foolish, unkind things have I +done? My duty to God and my neighbours is so and so, how +have I done it? Above all, this Saviour and King in heaven, +in whom I profess to believe, to whom I have sworn to be loyal +and true, and to help His good cause, the cause of godliness, +manliness, and happiness among my neighbours, in my family, in my +own heart,—how have I felt towards Him? Have I +thought about Him more this year than I did last? Do I feel +any more loyalty, respect, love, gratitude to Him than I +did? Ay, more, do I think about Him at all as a living man, +much less as my King and Saviour; or, is all really know about +Him the sound of the words Jesus Christ, and the story about Him +in the Apostles’ Creed? Do I really <i>believe</i> +and trust in “Jesus Christ,” or do I not? These +are sharp, searching questions, my friends,—good Lenten +food for any man’s soul,—questions which it is much +more easy to ask soberly and answer fairly now when you look +quietly back on the past year, than it is, alas! to answer them +day by day amid all the bustle your business and your +families. But you will answer, ‘This bustle will go +on just as much in Lent as ever. Our time and thoughts will +be just as much occupied. We have our livings to get. +We are not fine gentlemen and ladies who can lie by for forty +days and do nothing but read and pray, while their tradesmen and +servants are working for them from morning to night. How +then can we give up more time to religion now than at other +times?</p> +<p>This is all true enough; but there is a sound and true answer +to it. It is not so much more <i>time</i> which you are +asked to give up to your souls in Lent, as it is more +<i>heart</i>. What do I talk of? <i>Giving up</i> +more time to your souls? And yet this is the way we all +talk, as if our time belonged to our bodies, and so we had to rob +them of it, to give it up to our souls,—as if our bodies +were ourselves, and our souls were troublesome burdens, or +peevish children hanging at our backs, which would keep prating +and fretting about heaven and hell, and had to be quieted, and +their mouths stopped as quickly and easily as possible, that we +might be rid of them, and get about our true business, our real +duty,—this mighty work of eating and drinking, and amusing +ourselves, and making money. I am afraid—afraid there +are too many, who, if they spoke out their whole hearts, would be +quite as content to have no souls, and no necessity to waste +their precious time (as they think) upon religion. But, my +friends, my friends, the day will come when you will see +yourselves in a true light; when your soul will not seem a mere +hanger-on to your body, but you will find out <i>that you are +your soul</i>. Then there will be no more forgetting that +you have souls, and thrusting them into the background, to be fed +at odd minutes, or left to starve,—no more talk of +<i>giving up</i> time to the care of your souls; your souls will +take the time for themselves then—and the eternity, too; +they will be all in all to you then, perhaps when it is too +late!</p> +<p>Well, I want you, just for forty days, to let your souls be +all in all to you now; to make them your first object—your +first thought in the morning, the last thing at night,—your +thought at every odd moment in the day. You need not +neglect your business; only for one short forty days do not make +your business your God. We are all too apt to try the +heathen plan, of seeking first every thing else in the world, and +letting the kingdom of God and His righteousness be added to us +over and above—or <i>not</i> as it may happen. Try +for once the plan the Lord of heaven and earth advises, and seek +first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and see whether +every thing else will not be added to you. Again, you need +not be idle a moment more in Lent than at any other time. +But I dare say, that none of you are so full of business that you +have not a free ten minutes in the morning, and ten minutes at +night, of which the best of uses may be made. What do I +say? Why, of all men in the world, farmers and labourers +have most time, I think, to themselves; working, as they do, the +greater part of their day in silence and alone; what +opportunities for them to have their souls busy in heaven, while +they are pacing over the fields, ploughing and hoeing! I +have read of many, many labouring men who had found out their +opportunities in this way, and used them so well as to become +holy, great, and learned men. One of the most learned +scholars in England at this day was once a village carpenter, who +used, when young, to keep a book open before him on his bench +while he worked, and thus contrived to teach himself, one after +the other, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. So much time may a man +find who <i>looks</i> for time!</p> +<p>But after all, and above all, believe this—that if your +business or your work does actually give you no time to think +about God and your own souls,—if in the midst of it all you +cannot find leisure enough night and morning to pray earnestly, +to read your Bible carefully,—if it so swallows up your +whole thoughts during the day, that you have no opportunity to +recollect yourself, to remember that you are an immortal being, +and that you have a Saviour in heaven, whom you are serving +faithfully, or unfaithfully,—if this work or business of +yours will not give you time enough for that, then it is not +God’s business, and ought not to be yours either.</p> +<p>But you have time,—you have all time. When there +is a will there is a way. Make up your minds that there +shall be a will, and pray earnestly to God to give it you, if it +is but for forty days: and in them think seriously, slowly, +solemnly, over your past lives. Examine yourselves and your +doings. Ask yourselves fairly,—‘Am I going +forward or back? Am I living like a child of God, or like a +mere machine for making food and wages? Is my conduct such +as the Holy Scripture tells me that it should be? You will +not need to go far for a set of questions, my friends, or rules +by which to examine yourselves. You can hardly open a page +of God’s blessed Book without finding something which +stares you in the face with the question, ‘Do I do +thus?’ or, ‘Do I not do thus?’ Take, for +example, the Epistle of this very day. What better test can +we have for trying and weighing our own souls?</p> +<p>What says it? That though we were wise, charitable, +eloquent—all that the greatest of men can be, and yet had +not charity—<i>love</i>, we are +nothing!—nothing! And how does it describe this +necessary, indispensable, heavenly love? Let us spend the +last few minutes of this sermon in seeing how. And if that +description does not prick all our hearts on more points than +one, they are harder than I take them for—far harder, +certainly, than they should be.</p> +<p>This charity, or love, we hear, which each of us ought to have +and must have—“suffers long, and is +kind.” What shall we say to that? How many +hasty, revengeful thoughts and feelings have risen in the hearts +of most of us in the last year?—Here is one thought for +Lent. “Charity envies not.”—Have we +envied any their riches, their happiness, their good name, +health, and youth?—Another thought for Lent. +“Charity boasts not herself.” Alas! alas! my +friends, are not the best of us apt to make much of the little +good we do,—to pride ourselves on the petty kindnesses we +shew,—to be puffed up with easy self-satisfaction, just as +charity is <i>not</i> puffed up?—Another Lenten +thought. “Charity does not behave herself +unseemly;” is never proud, noisy, conceited; gives every +man’s opinion a fair, kindly hearing; making allowances for +all mistakes. Have we done so?—Then there is another +thought for Lent. “Charity seeks not her own;” +does not stand fiercely and stiffly on her own rights, on the +gratitude due to her. While we—are we not too apt, +when we have done a kindness, to fret and fume, and think +ourselves deeply injured, if we do not get repaid at once with +all the humble gratitude we expected? Of this also we must +think. “Charity thinks no evil,” sets down no +bad motives for any one’s conduct, but takes for granted +that he means well, whatever appearances may be; while we (I +speak of myself just as much as of any one), are we not +continually apt to be suspicious, jealous, to take for granted +that people mean harm; and even when we find ourselves mistaken, +and that we have cried out before we are hurt, not to consider it +as any sin against our neighbour, whom in reality we have been +silently slandering to ourselves? “Charity rejoices +not in iniquity,” but in the truth, whatever it may be; is +never glad to see a high professor prove a hypocrite, and fall +into sin, and shew himself in his true foul colours; which we, +alas! are too apt to think a very pleasant sight.—Are not +these wholesome meditations for Lent? “Charity hopes +all things” of every one, “believes all +things,” all good that is told of every one, “endures +all things,” instead of flying off and giving up a person +at the first fault. Are not all these points, which our own +hearts, consciences, common sense, or whatever you like to call +it (I shall call it God’s spirit), tell us are right, true, +necessary? And is there one of us who can say that he has +not offended in many, if not in all these points; and is not that +unrighteousness—going out of the right, straightforward, +childlike, loving way of looking at all people? And is not +all unrighteousness sin? And must not all sin be repented +of, and that <i>as soon as we find it out</i>? And can we +not all find time this Lent to throw over these sins of +ours?—to confess them with shame and sorrow?—to try +like men to shake them off? Oh, my friends! you who are too +busy for forty short days to make your immortal souls your first +business, take care—take care, lest the day shall come when +sickness, and pain, and the terror of death, shall keep you too +busy to prepare those unrepenting, unforgiven, sin-besotted souls +of yours for the kingdom of God.</p> +<h2><a name="page248"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +248</span>SERMON XXIV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">ON BOOKS.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">John</span>, i. 1.</p> +<p>“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with +God, and the Word was God.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">do</span> not pretend to be able to +explain this text to you, for no man can comprehend it but He of +whom it speaks, Jesus Christ, the Word of God. But I can, +by God’s grace, put before you some of the awful and +glorious truths of which it gives us a sight, and may Christ +direct you, who is <i>the</i> Word, and grant me words to bring +the matter home to you, so as to make some of you, at least, ask +yourselves the golden question, ‘If this is true, what must +we <i>do</i> to be saved?’</p> +<p>The text says that the Word was from the beginning with +God,—ay, God Himself: who the Word is, there is no doubt +from the rest of the chapter, which you heard read this +morning. But why is Christ called the Word of all +words—the Word of God? Let us look at this. Is +not Christ <i>the man</i>, the head and pattern of all men who +are what men ought to be? And did He not tell men that He +is <i>the</i> Life? That all life is given by Him and out +of Him? And does not St. John tell us that Christ the Life +is the light of men,—the true light which lighteth every +man who cometh into the world?</p> +<p>Remember this, and then think again,—what is it which +makes men different from all other living things we know +of? Is it not speech—the power of words? The +beasts may make each other understand many things, but they have +no speech. These glorious things—words—are +man’s right alone, part of the image of the Son of +God—the Word of God, in which man was created. If men +would but think what a noble thing it is merely to be able to +speak in words, to think in words, to write in words! +Without words, we should know no more of each other’s +hearts and thoughts than the dog knows of his fellow +dog;—without words to think in; for if you will consider, +you always think to yourself in <i>words</i>, though you do not +speak them aloud; and without them all our thoughts would be mere +blind longings, feelings which we could not understand our own +selves. Without words to write in, we could not know what +our forefathers did;—we could not let our children after us +know what to do. But, now, books—the written word of +man—are precious heirlooms from one generation to another, +training us, encouraging us, teaching us, by the words and +thoughts of men, whose bodies are crumbled into dust ages ago, +but whose words—the power of uttering themselves, which +they got from the Son of God—still live, and bear fruit in +our hearts, and in the hearts of our children after us, till the +last day!</p> +<p>But where did these words—this power of uttering our +thoughts, come from? Do you fancy that men first, began +like brute beasts or babies, with strange cries and mutterings, +and so gradually found out words for themselves? Not they; +the beasts have been on the earth as long as man; and yet they +can no more speak than they could when God created Adam: but +Adam, we find, could speak at once. God spoke to Adam the +moment he was made, and Adam understood Him; so he knew the power +and the meaning of words. Who gave him that power? +Who but Jehovah—Jesus—the Word of God, who imparted +to him the word of speech and the light of reason? Without +them what use would there have been in saying to him, “Thou +shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge?” Without them +what would there have been in God’s bringing to him all the +animals to see what he would call them, unless He had first given +Adam the power of understanding words, and thinking of words, and +speaking words? This was the glorious gift of +Christ—the Voice or Word of the Lord God, as we read in the +second chapter of Genesis, whom Adam heard another time with fear +and terror,—“The voice of the Lord walking in the +garden in the cool of the day.”—A text and a story +strange enough, till we find in the first chapter of St. John the +explanation of it, telling us that the Word was in the beginning +with God—very God, and that He was the light which lighteth +every man who cometh into the world. So Christ is the light +which lighteth every man who cometh into the world. How are +we to understand that, when there are so many who live and die +heathens or reprobates,—some who never hear of +Christ,—some, alas! in Christian lands, who are dead to +every doctrine or motive of Christianity? yet the Bible says that +Christ lights <i>every man</i> who comes into the world. +Difficult to understand at first sight, yet most true, and simple +too, at bottom.</p> +<p>For how is every one, whether heathen or Christian, child or +man, enlightened or taught, to live and behave? Is it not +by the words of those round him, by the words he reads in books, +by the thoughts which he thinks out and puts into shape for +himself? All this is the light which every human being has +his share of. And has not every man, too, the light of +reason and good feeling, more or less, to tell him whether each +thing is right or wrong, noble or mean, ugly or beautiful? +This is another way by which the light which lighteth every man +works. And St. John tells us in the text, that he who works +in this way,—he who gives us the power of understanding, +and thinking, and judging, and speaking, is the very same Word of +God who was made flesh, and dwelt among men, and died on the +Cross for us; “the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of +the world!”</p> +<p>He is the Word of God—by Him God has spoken to man in +all ages. He taught Adam,—He spoke to Abraham as a +man speaketh with his friend. It was He Jehovah, whom we +call Jesus, whom Moses and the seventy elders saw—saw with +their bodily eyes on Mount Sinai, who spoke to them with human +voice from amid the lightning and the rainbow. It must have +been only He, the Word, by whom God the Father utters Himself to +man, for no man hath seen God at any time; only the Word, the +only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath +declared Him. And who put into the mouth of David those +glorious Psalms—the songs in which all true men for three +thousand years have found the very things they longed to speak +themselves and could not? Who but Christ the Word of God, +the Lord, as David calls Him, put a new song into the mouth of +His holy poet,—the sweet singer of Israel? Who spake +by the prophets, again? What do they say +themselves?—“The Word of the Lord came to me, +saying.” And then, when the Spirit of God stirred +them up, the Word of God gave them speech, and they said the +sayings which shall never pass away till all be fulfilled. +And who was it who, when He was upon earth, spake as never man +spake,—whose words were the simplest, and yet the +deepest,—the tenderest, and yet the most awful, which ever +broke the blessed silence upon this earth,—whose words, now +to this day, come home to men’s hearts, stirring them up to +the very roots, piercing through the marrow of men’s +souls,—whose but Christ’s, the Word, who was made +flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth? And who +since then, do you think, has it been who has given to all wise +and holy poets, philosophers, and preachers, the power to speak +and write the wonderful truths which, by God’s grace, they +thought out for themselves and for all mankind,—who gave +them utterance?—who but Christ, the Lord of men’s +spirits, the Word of God, who promised to give to all His true +disciples a mouth and wisdom, which their enemies should not be +able to gainsay or resist?</p> +<p>Well, my friends, ought not the knowledge of this to make us +better and wiser? Ought it not to make us esteem, and +reverence, and use many things of which we are apt to think too +lightly? How it should make us reverence the Bible, the +written word of God’s saints and prophets, of God’s +apostles, of Christ, the Word Himself? Oh, that men would +use that treasure of the Bible as it deserves;—oh, that +they would believe from their hearts, that whatever is said there +is truly said, that whatever is said there is said to them, that +whatever names things are called there are called by their right +names. Then men would no longer call the vile person +beautiful, or call pride and vanity honour, or covetousness +respectability, or call sin worldly wisdom; but they would call +things as Christ calls them—they would try to copy +Christ’s thoughts and Christ’s teaching; and instead +of looking for instruction and comfort to lying opinions and +false worldly cunning, they would find their only advice in the +blessed teaching, and their only comfort in the gracious +promises, of the word of the Book of Life.</p> +<p>Again, how these thoughts ought to make us reverence all +books. Consider! except a living man, there is nothing more +wonderful than a book!—a message to us from the +dead—from human souls whom we never saw, who lived, +perhaps, thousands of miles away; and yet these, in those little +sheets of paper, speak to us, amuse us, terrify us, teach us, +comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers.</p> +<p>Why is it that neither angels, nor saints, nor evil spirits, +appear to men now to speak to them as they did of old? Why, +but because we have <i>books</i>, by which Christ’s +messengers, and the devil’s messengers too, can tell what +they will to thousands of human beings at the same moment, year +after year, all the world over! I say, we ought to +reverence books, to look at them as awful and mighty +things. If they are good and true, whether they are about +religion or politics, farming, trade, or medicine, they are the +message of Christ, the Maker of all things, the Teacher of all +truth, which He has put into the heart of some man to speak, that +he may tell us what is good for our spirits, for our bodies, and +for our country.</p> +<p>And at the last day, be sure of it, we shall have to render an +account—a strict account, of the books which we have read, +and of the way in which we have obeyed what we read, just as if +we had had so many prophets or angels sent to us.</p> +<p>If, on the other hand, books are false and wicked, we ought to +fear them as evil spirits loose among us, as messages from the +father of lies, who deceives the hearts of evil men, that they +may spread abroad the poison of his false and foul messages, +putting good for evil, and evil for good, sweet for bitter, and +bitter for sweet, saying to all men, ‘I, too, have a tree +of knowledge, and you may eat of the fruit thereof, and not +die.’ But believe him not. When you see a +wicked book, when you find in a book any thing which contradicts +God’s book, cast it away, trample it under foot, believe +that it is the devil tempting you by his cunning, alluring words, +as he tempted Eve, your mother. Would to God all here would +make that rule,—never to look into an evil book, a filthy +ballad, a nonsensical, frivolous story! Can a man take a +snake into his bosom and not be bitten?—can we play with +fire and not be burnt?—can we open our ears and eyes to the +devil’s message, whether of covetousness, or filth, or +folly, and not be haunted afterwards by its wicked words, rising +up in our thoughts like evil spirits, between us and our pure and +noble duty—our baptism-vows?</p> +<p>I might say much more about these things, and, by God’s +help, in another sermon I will go on, and speak to you of the +awful importance of spoken words, of the sermons and the +conversation to which you listen, the awful importance of every +word which comes out of your own mouth. But I have spoken +only of books this morning, for this is the age of books, the +time, one would think, of which Daniel prophesied that many +should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased. A +flood of books, newspapers, writings of all sorts, good and bad, +is spreading over the whole land, and young and old will read +them. We cannot stop that—we ought not: it is +God’s ordinance. It is more: it is God’s grace +and mercy, that we have a free press in England—liberty for +every man, that if he have any of God’s truth to tell he +may tell it out boldly, in books or otherwise. A blessing +from God! one which we should reverence, for God knows it was +dearly bought. Before our forefathers could buy it for us, +many an honoured man left house and home to die in the +battle-field or on the scaffold, fighting and witnessing for the +right of every man to whom God’s Word comes, to speak +God’s Word openly to his countrymen. A blessing, and +an awful one! for the same gate which lets in good lets in +evil. The law dare not silence bad books. It dare not +root up the tares lest it root up the wheat also. The men +who died to buy us liberty knew that it was better to let in a +thousand bad books than shut out one good one; for a grain of +God’s truth will ever outweigh a ton of the devil’s +lies. We cannot then silence evil books, but we can turn +away our eyes from them—we can take care that what we read, +and what we let others read, shall be good and wholesome. +Now, if ever, are we bound to remember that books are words, and +that words come either from Christ or the devil,—now, if +ever, we are bound to try all books by the Word of +God,—now, if ever, are we bound to put holy and wise books, +both religious and worldly, into the hands of all around us, that +if, poor souls! they must need eat of the fruit of the tree of +knowledge, they may also eat of the tree of life,—and now, +if ever, are we bound to pray to Christ the Word of God, that He +will raise up among us wise and holy writers, and give them words +and utterance, to speak to the hearts of all Englishmen the +message of God’s covenant, and that he may confound the +devil and his lies, and all that swarm of vile writers who are +filling England with trash, filth, blasphemy, and covetousness, +with books which teach men that our wise forefathers, who built +our churches and founded our constitution, and made England the +queen of nations, were but ignorant knaves and fanatics, and that +selfish money-making and godless licentiousness are the only true +wisdom; and so turn the divine power of words, and the +inestimable blessing of a free press, into the devil’s +engine, and not Christ’s the Word of God. But their +words shall be brought to nought.</p> +<p>May God preserve us and all our friends from that defilement, +and may He give you all grace, in these strange times, to take +care what you read and how you read, and to hold fast by the Book +of all books, and Christ the Word of God. Try by them all +books and men; for if they speak not according to God’s law +and testimony, it is because there is no truth in them.</p> +<h2><a name="page259"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +259</span>SERMON XXV.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR.</span></h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">John</span>, xi. 7, 8.</p> +<p>“Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go +into Judea again. His disciples say to Him, Master, the +Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither +again?”</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> all admire a brave man. +And we are right. To be brave is God’s gift. To +be brave is to be like Jesus Christ. Cowardice is only the +devil’s likeness. But we must take care what we mean +by being brave. Now, there are two sorts of +bravery—courage and fortitude. And they are very +different: courage is of the flesh,—fortitude is of the +spirit. Courage is good, but dumb animals have it just as +much as we. A dog, a tiger, and a horse, have courage, but +they have no fortitude,—because fortitude is a spiritual +thing, and beasts have no spirits like ours.</p> +<p>What is fortitude? It is the courage which will make us +not only fight in a good cause, but suffer in a good cause. +Courage will help us only to give others pain; fortitude will +help us to bear pain ourselves. And more, fortitude will +make a fearful person brave, and very often the more brave the +more fearful they are. And thus it is that women are so +often braver than men. We, men, are made of coarser stuff; +we do not feel pain as keenly as women; and if we do feel, we are +rightly ashamed to shew it. But a tender woman, who feels +pain and sorrow infinitely more than we do, who need not be +ashamed of being frightened, who perhaps is terrified at every +mouse and spider,—to see her bearing patiently pain, and +sorrow, and shame, in spite of all her fearfulness, because she +knows it is her duty—that is Christ’s +likeness—that is true fortitude—that is a sight +nobler than all the “bull-dog courage” in the +world. For what is the courage of the bull-dog after all, +or of the strong quarrelsome man? He is confident in his +own strength, he is rough and hard, and does not care for pain; +and when he thrusts his head into a fight, like a surly dog, he +does it not because it is his duty, but because he likes it, +because he is angry, and then every blow and every wound makes +him more angry, and he fights on, forgetting his pain from blind +rage.</p> +<p>That is not altogether bad; men ought to be courageous. +But, oh! my friends, is there not a more excellent way to be +brave? and which is nobler, to suffer bravely for God’s +sake, or to beat men made in God’s image bravely for +one’s own sake? Think of any fight you ever saw, and +then compare with that the stories of those old martyrs who died +rather than speak a word against their Saviour. If you want +to see true fortitude, think of what has happened thousands of +times when the heathen used to persecute the +Christians.—How delicate women, who would not venture to +set the sole of their foot to the ground for tenderness, would +submit, rather than give up their religion and deny the Lord who +died for them, to be torn from husband and family, and endure +nakedness, and insult, and tortures which make one’s blood +run cold to read of, till they were torn slowly piecemeal, or +roasted in burning flames, without a murmur or an angry +word,—knowing that Christ, who had borne all things for +them, would give them strength to bear all things for Him, +trusting that if they were faithful unto death, He would give +them a crown of life. There was true fortitude—there +was true faith—there was God’s strength made perfect +in woman’s weakness! Do you not see, my friends, that +such a death was truly brave? How does bull-dog courage +shew beside that courage—the courage which conquers grief +and pain for duty’s-sake, instead of merely forgetting them +in rage and obstinacy?</p> +<p>And do you not see how this bears on my text? How it +bears on our Lord’s whole life? Was he not indeed the +perfectly brave man—the man who endured more than all +living men put together, at the very time that he had the most +intense fear of what he was going to suffer? And stranger +still, endured it all of His own will, while He had it in His +power to shake it all off any instant, and free Himself utterly +from pain and suffering.</p> +<p>Now, this speech of our Lord’s in the text is just a +case of true fortitude. He was beyond Jordan. He had +been forced to escape thither to save His life from the mad, +blinded Jews. He had no foolhardiness; He knew that He had +no more right than we have to put His life in danger when there +was no good to be done by it. But now there <i>was</i> good +to be done by it. Lazarus was dead, and He wanted to raise +him to life. Therefore He said to His disciples, “Let +us go into Judea again.” They knew the danger; they +said, “Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and +goest Thou thither again?” But He would go; He had a +work to do, and He dared bear anything to do His work. Ay, +here is the secret, this is the feeling which gives a man true +courage—the feeling that he has a work to do at all costs, +the sense of duty. Oh! my friends, let men, women, or +children, once feel that they have a duty to perform, let them +once say to themselves, ‘I am bound to do this +thing—it is right for me to do this thing; I owe it as a +duty to my family, I owe it as a duty to my country, I owe it as +a duty to God, who called me into this station of life; I owe it +as a duty to Jesus Christ, who bought me with His blood, that I +might do His will and not my own pleasure.’—When a +man has once said that <i>honestly</i> to himself, when that +glorious heavenly thought, ‘<i>It is my duty</i>,’ +has risen upon his soul, like the sun upon the earth, warming his +heart and enlightening it and making it bring forth all good and +noble fruits, then that man will feel a strength come to him, and +a courage from God above, which will conquer all his fears and +his selfish love of ease and pleasure, and enable him to bear +insults, and pain, and poverty, and death itself, provided he can +but do what is right, and be found by God, whatever happens to +him, working God’s will where God has put him. This +is fortitude—this is true courage—this is +Christ’s likeness—this is the courage which weak +women on sick beds may have as well as strong men on the +battle-field. Even when they shrink most from suffering, +God’s Spirit will whisper to them, ‘It is <i>thy</i> +duty, it is thy Father’s will,’ and then they will +find His strength made perfect in their weakness, and when their +human weakness fails most God will give them heavenly fortitude, +and they will be able, like St. Paul, to say, “When I am +weak, then I am strong, for I can do all things through Christ, +who strengtheneth me.”</p> +<p>And now, remember that there was no pride, no want of feeling +to keep up our Lord’s courage. He has tasted sorrow +for every man, woman, and child, and therefore He has tasted fear +also; tempted in all things, like as we are, that in all things +He might be touched with the feeling of our +infirmities,—that there might be no poor soul terrified at +the thought of pain or sorrow, but could comfort themselves with +the thought, Well, the Son of God knows what fear is. He +who said that His soul was troubled—He who at the thought +of death was in such agony of terror, that His sweat ran down to +the ground like great drops of blood,—He who cried in His +agony, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from +me,”—He understands my pain,—He tells me not to +be ashamed of crying in my pain like Him, “Father, if it be +possible let this cup pass from me”—for He will give +me the strength to finish that prayer of His, and in the midst of +my trouble say, “Nevertheless, Father, not as I will, but +as Thou wilt.” Remember, again, that our Lord was not +like the martyrs of old, forced to undergo His sufferings whether +He liked them or not. We are too apt to forget that, and +therefore we misunderstand our Lord’s example; and +therefore we misunderstand what true fortitude is. Jesus +Christ was the Son of God; He had made the very men who were +tormenting Him; He had made the very wood of the cross on which +He hung, the iron which pierced His blessed hands; and, for aught +we know, one wish of His, and they would all have crumbled into +dust, and He have been safe in a moment. But He would not; +He <i>endured</i> the cross. He was the only man who ever +really endured anything at all, because He alone of all men had +perfect power to save Himself, even when He was nailed to the +tree, fainting, bleeding, dying. It was never too late for +Him to stop. As He said to Peter when he wanted to fight +for Christ, “Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father, +and He will send me instantly more than twelve legions of +angels?” But <i>He would not</i>. He had to +save the world, and He was determined to do it, whatever agony or +fear it cost Him. St. Peter was a <i>brave</i> man. +He drew his sword in the garden, and attacked, single-handed, +that great body of armed soldiers; cutting down a servant of the +high-priest’s. But he was only brave, our Lord was +more. The blessed Jesus had true fortitude; He could +<i>bear</i> patiently, while Peter could only rage and fight +uselessly. And see how Christ’s fortitude lasted Him, +while Peter’s mere courage failed him. While our Lord +was witnessing that glorious confession of His before Pilate, +bearing on through, without shrinking, even to the cross itself, +where was Peter? He had denied his Master, and ran +shamefully away. He had a long lesson to learn before he +was perfect, had Peter. He had to learn not how to fight, +but how to suffer—and he learnt it; and in his old age that +strong, fierce St. Peter had true fortitude to give himself up to +be crucified, like his Lord, without a murmur, and preach +Christ’s gospel as he hung for three whole days upon the +torturing cross. There was fortitude; that violence of his +in the garden was only courage as of a brute +animal,—courage of the flesh, not the true courage of the +spirit. Oh, my friends, that we could all learn this +lesson, that it is better to suffer than to revenge, better to be +killed than to kill. There are times when a man must +fight—for his country, for just laws, for his family, but +for himself it is very seldom that he must fight. He who +returns good for evil,—he who when he is cursed, blesses +those who curse him,—he, who takes joyfully the spoiling of +his goods, who submits to be cheated in little matters, and +sometimes in great ones, sooner than ruin the poor sinful wretch +who has ill-used him; that man has really put on Christ’s +likeness, that man is really going on to perfection, and +fulfilling the law of love; and for everything he gives up for +the sake of peace and mercy, which is for God’s sake, God +will reward him sevenfold into his bosom. There are times +when a man is bound to go to law, bound to expose and punish +evil-doers, lest they should, being unpunished, become confident +and go on from bad to worse, and hurt others as well as +him. A man sometimes is bound by his duty to his neighbours +and to society to defend himself, to go to law with those who +injure him,—sometimes; but never bound to revenge himself, +never bound to say, ‘He has hurt me, and I will pay him off +for it at law;’ that is abusing law, which is God’s +ordinance, for mere selfish revenge. You may say, it is +difficult to know which is which, when to defend oneself, and +when not. It is difficult; without the light of God’s +Spirit, I think no man will know. But let a man live by +God’s Spirit, let him pray for kindliness, mercifulness, +manliness, and patience, for true fortitude to bear and to +forbear, and God will surely open his eyes to see when he is +called on to avenge an injury, and when he is called on to suffer +patiently. God will shew him—if a man wishes to be +like Christ, and to work like Christ, at doing good, God will +teach him and guide him in all puzzling matters like this. +And do not be afraid of being called cowards and milksops for +bearing injuries patiently—those who call you so will be +likely to be the greatest cowards themselves. Patience is +the truest sign of courage. Ask old soldiers, who have seen +real war, and they will tell you that the bravest men, the men +who endured best, not in mere fighting, but in standing still for +hours to be mowed down by cannon-shot; who were most cheerful and +patient in shipwreck, and starvation and defeat,—all things +ten times worse than fighting,—ask old soldiers, I say, and +they will tell you that the men who shewed best in such miseries, +were generally the stillest and meekest men in the whole +regiment: that is true fortitude; that is Christ’s +image—the meekest of men, and the bravest too. And so +books say, and seem to prove it, by many strange stories, that +the lion, while he is the strongest and bravest of beasts of +prey, is also the most patient and merciful. He knows his +own strength and courage, and therefore he does not care to be +shewing it off. He can afford to endure an affront. +It is only the cowardly cur who flies out and barks at every +passer-by. And so with our blessed Lord. The Bible +calls Him the Lion of Judah; but it also calls Him the Lamb dumb +before the shearers. Ah, my friends, we must come back to +Him, for all the little that is great and noble in man or woman, +or dumb beast even, is perfected in Him; He only is perfectly +great, perfectly noble, brave, meek. He who to save us +sinful men, endured the cross, despising the shame, till He sat +down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, perfectly brave He +is, and perfectly gentle, and will be so for ever; for even at +His second coming, when He shall appear the Conqueror of hell, +with tens of thousands of angels, to take vengeance on those who +know not God, and destroy the wicked with the breath of His +mouth, even then in His fiercest anger, the Scripture tells us, +His anger shall be “the anger of the Lamb.” +Almighty vengeance and just anger, and yet perfect gentleness and +love all the while.—Mystery of mysteries!—The wrath +of the Lamb! May God give us all to feel in that day, not +the wrath, but the love of the Lamb who was slain for us!</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> +<p><a name="footnote92"></a><a href="#citation92" +class="footnote">[92]</a> “And when He was come to +the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him +two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding +fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, +they cried out, saying, What have we do with Thee, Jesus, Thou +Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the +time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of +many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If +Thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of +swine. And He said unto them, Go. And when they were +come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the +whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the +sea, and perished in the waters.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote187"></a><a href="#citation187" +class="footnote">[187]</a> Von Stolberg.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 7954-h.htm or 7954-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/7/9/5/7954 + + +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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