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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7954-0.txt b/7954-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6af6ff7 --- /dev/null +++ b/7954-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6368 @@ +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: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1849 John W. Parker edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + TWENTY-FIVE + VILLAGE SERMONS. + + + * * * * * + + BY + CHARLES KINGSLEY, JUN., + + RECTOR OF EVERSLEY, HANTS, AND CANON OF MIDDLEHAM, YORKSHIRE. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + JOHN W. PARKER, WEST STRAND. + + * * * * * + + MDCCCXLIX. + + * * * * * + + LONDON: + Printed by G. BARCLAY, Castle St Leicester Sq. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + Page + SERMON I. + + GOD’S WORLD. + + PSALM civ. 24. +O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou 1 +made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches + SERMON II. + + RELIGION NOT GODLINESS. + + PSALM civ. 13–15. +He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is 13 +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 + SERMON III. + + LIFE AND DEATH. + + PSALM civ. 24, 28–30. +O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou 25 +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 + SERMON IV. + + THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT. + + JAMES, i. 16, 17. +Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good gift and every 35 +perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father +of lights + SERMON V. + + FAITH. + + HABAKKUK, ii. 4. +The just shall live by faith 47 + SERMON VI. + + THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH. + + GALATIANS, v. 16. +I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the 60 +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 + SERMON VII. + + RETRIBUTION. + + NUMBERS, xxxii. 23. +Be sure your sin will find you out 72 + SERMON VIII. + + SELF-DESTRUCTION. + + 1 KINGS, xxii. 23. +The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these 82 +thy prophets + SERMON IX. + + HELL ON EARTH. + + MATTHEW, viii. 29. +And behold the evil spirits cried out, saying, What have we 91 +to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? Art Thou come +hither to torment us before the time? + SERMON X. + + NOAH’S JUSTICE. + + GENESIS, vi. 9. +Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and 104 +Noah walked with God + SERMON XI. + + THE NOACHIC COVENANT. + + GEN. ix. 8, 9. +And God spake unto Noah, and his sons with him, saying, And 116 +I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your +seed after you + SERMON XII. + + ABRAHAM’S FAITH. + + HEBREWS, xi. 9, 10. +By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise as in a 125 +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 + SERMON XIII. + + ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE. + + HEBREWS, xi. 17–19. +By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and 141 +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 + SERMON XIV. + + OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. + + 1 JOHN, ii. 13. +I write unto you, little children, because ye have known 149 +the Father + SERMON XV. + + THE TRANSFIGURATION. + + MARK, ix. 2. +Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them 160 +up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before +them + SERMON XVI. + + THE CRUCIFIXION. + + ISAIAH, liii. 7. +He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter 173 + SERMON XVII. + + THE RESURRECTION. + + LUKE, xxiv. 6. +He is not here—He is risen 179 + SERMON XVIII. + + IMPROVEMENT. + + PSALM xcii. 12. +The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall 191 +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 + SERMON XIX. + + MAN’S WORKING DAY. + + JOHN, xi. 9, 10. +Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If 200 +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 + SERMON XX. + + ASSOCIATION. + + GALATIANS, vi. 2. +Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of 210 +Christ + SERMON XXI. + + HEAVEN ON EARTH. + + 1 COR. x. 31. +Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to 219 +the glory of God + SERMON XXII. + + NATIONAL PRIVILEGES. + + LUKE, x. 23. +Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see: for 228 +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 + SERMON XXIII. + + LENTEN THOUGHTS. + + HAGGAI, i. 5. +Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your 239 +ways + SERMON XXIV. + + ON BOOKS. + + JOHN, i. 1. +In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 248 +and the Word was God + SERMON XXV. + + THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR. + + JOHN, xi. 7, 8. +Then after that saith He to His disciples, Let us go into 259 +Judea again. His disciples say to Him, Master, the Jews of +late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? + + + + +SERMON I. +GOD’S WORLD. + + + PSALM civ. 24. + + “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them + all: the earth is full of Thy riches.” + +WHEN 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. + +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 _about_ God in this psalm, as I am now in my +sermon, but he is doing more; he is speaking _to_ God—a much more solemn +thing if you will think of it. He says, “O Lord my God, _Thou_ 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 _to_ any one we love +and honour than merely speak _about_ 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! + +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 _Thy_ 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 _up_-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 _He_ opens His hand, they are filled with good. It is when +_He_ takes away their breath, they die, and turn again to their dust. +_He_ 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. + + The old order changes, giving place to the new, + And God fulfils Himself in many ways. + +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! + +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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON II. +RELIGION NOT GODLINESS. + + + PSALM civ. 13–15. + + “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.” + +DID 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _you_ 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. + +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!’ + +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 +_that_? 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 _that_ 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. + +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 _cannot_ 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!” + +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. + +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 +_giver_, 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. + +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 _work_, and therefore we _must_ 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.’ + +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. + + + + +SERMON III. +LIFE AND DEATH. + + + PSALM civ. 24, 28–30. + + “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.” + +I HAD 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 _seem_, yet death has not conquered life, but life has conquered and +_will_ conquer death, and conquer it most completely at the very moment +that we die, and our bodies return to their dust. + +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 _soil_—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 _died_—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. + +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 _men_, to be +_women_, 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 _die_, 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 _bad_ 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. + +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 _sin_ came death—by man’s becoming +unfit for the Spirit of God. + +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! + +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 _men_; 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.” + +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 _do_ God’s will at all, +but only _suffer_ 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.” + + + + +SERMON IV. +THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT. + + + JAMES, i. 16, 17. + + “Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good gift and every perfect + gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” + +THIS 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. + +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. + +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 _out_ 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 +_graces_—they are not _spiritual_ 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?’ + +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. + +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 _yours_ 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 _yours_ or +mine, though they may come into our heads. They are part of the evil +which besets us—which is _not_ 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 _God_ must? These, too, +are His gifts?’ + +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 _thinking_ whether it is a noble thing or +not—without _thinking_ 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. + +But he _ought_ to know it, for it is _willing_, _reasonable_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +Or honesty, again, and justice,—whose image are they but God’s? Is He +not THE 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, _His_ 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?” + +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, _are_ God’s Spirit—they are +the spirit of _man_, but that they are _like_ God’s Spirit, and therefore +they must be given us _by_ 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 _from_ 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 _matter_ 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. + +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. + +You must believe this much about yourselves before you can believe more. +You must fairly and really believe that _God_ 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. + +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? _He_ 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, _He_ alone has made it easier to you; and +if you have done wrong,—if you have fallen short of your duty, as _all_ +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. + +And you, young men and women—consider;—if God has given you manly courage +and high spirits, and strength and beauty—think—_God_, 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 _all_ 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? + + + + +SERMON V. +FAITH. + + + HABAKKUK, ii. 4. + + “The just shall live by faith.” + +THIS 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. + +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 +_do_ 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 _live_, +except by faith in Him, by trusting to Him utterly. + +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 _can_ we do without God? _In_ Him we live, and +move, and have our being. He made us, He gave us our bodies, gave us our +life; what we do _He_ 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 _are_ 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 _has_ 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. + +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? + +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.” + +These things are true, and always were true. All that men ever did well, +or nobly, or lovingly, in this world, _was done by faith_—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. + +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 _your_ 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, _then_ 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, _his_ 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 THEN,” he adds, “God +turned my heaviness into joy, and girded me with gladness,” (Psalm xxx.) +And again, he says, “_Before_ I was troubled I went wrong, but _now_ 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. + +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 _does_, does not +come of _God_. 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 _unmanliness_, in being unlike a man, in becoming +like an evil spirit or a beast. Holiness consists in becoming a _true +man_, 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 _can_ live by faith; and it is the greatest glory and honour to us, I +say again, that we _can_ 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—_we_, 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. + + + + +SERMON VI. +THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH. + + + GALATIANS, v. 16. + + “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.” + +THE 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. + +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 _are_ 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. + +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 _animal_ part of man, just what a man has in +common with the beasts who perish. + +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 _afraid_ 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—_there_ is their hell! _There_ is the hell in +which the soul of every wicked man is,—ay, is now while he is in _this_ +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.e._ 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 _this_ world, tempting us to ease, +and pleasure, and vanity; and in the middle, betwixt the two, stands up +the third part of man—his _soul_ and _will_, 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 _then_ +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 _is_ harm and folly. That is not +_its_ fault. Whose fault is it, then? _Our_ 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON VII. +RETRIBUTION. + + + NUMBERS, xxxii. 23. + + “Be sure your sin will find you out.” + +THE 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. + +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. + +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 _do_ know, they are quite certain that its good things +are pleasant and its bad things unpleasant, and they are thoroughly +afraid of losing _them_. 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 _not_ 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 _pay_ them +_here_, at all events; and as for hereafter, they shall get off +somehow,—they neither know nor care much how. + +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 _from the witness_ of men’s own +hearts. + +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. + +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.” + +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 _always_ 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 _evil_”—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? + +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. + +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 _may_ +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 _know_ 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 _duty_ 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. + +Think, again, of your past lives, and answer in God’s sight, how many +wrong things have you ever done which have _succeeded_, 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 _outwardly_; 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 _found him +out_?—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? + +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! + +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! + +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:—_then_ 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! + +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.” + +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. + + + + +SERMON VIII. +SELF-DESTRUCTION. + + + 1 KINGS, xxii. 23. + + “The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy + prophets.” + +THE 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.” + +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.” + +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 _we_ 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. _That_ +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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON IX. +HELL ON EARTH. + + + MATTHEW, viii. 29. + + “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?” + +THIS 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. {92} + +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.’ + +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. + +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 _we_ to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God? +Art Thou come hither to torment _us_ before the time?” And again, “If +Thou cast _us_ 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 _he_ 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 “_Legion_,” that is an army, a multitude, “for we are many,” +he says. Again, one gospel tells us that he says, “What have _I_ to do +with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?” While in another Gospel we are told +that he said, “What have _we_ 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. + +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 +_we_ 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.’ + +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. + +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.” + +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, _himself_, 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 _might_, and +perhaps _would_, happen to any one of us, were it not for God’s mercy. + +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 _one_—of +_the_ 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 _know_, 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.” + +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. + +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 _can_ 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. + +But next, and I wish you to pay special attention to this point: We have +no right to believe,—we have every right _not_ 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. + +So Satan, the prince of the evil spirits, tempted our Lord. And as the +prince of the devils tempted Christ, so do _his_ servants tempt _us_, +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 +_complete possession_; 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 _his_ +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, _their_ 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, _then_, 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, _Thou_ must shew me where +they are wrong. Thou didst answer the devil Thyself out of God’s Word, +put into _my_ 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 _do_ know are right. +I’ll go and do _them_, and let this wait awhile.’ + +Believe me, my friends, you _can_ 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 _not_ lead us _into_ temptation, but +_through_ it safe. Tempted we _must_ 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. + +Again, I say, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Resist the +devil, and he will flee from you. + + + + +SERMON X. +NOAH’S JUSTICE. + + + GENESIS, vi. 9. + + “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked + with God.” + +I INTEND, 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. + +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 _nature_, 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 +_duty_ 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. + +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 _believing_ 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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.” + +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 _Noah_ 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 +_we_ 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? + +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; _that_ 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. + +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 _love_ 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. + +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! + + + + +SERMON XI. +THE NOACHIC COVENANT. + + + GEN. ix. 8, 9. + + “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.” + +IN 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. + +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. + +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 _we_ 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. + +“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.” + +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.’ + +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 _stronger_ 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.’ + +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 _wrong_; 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! + +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?’ + +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. + +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 _He_ 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 +_person_, 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. + +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 _make_ 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! + +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 _He_ will require the blood of the +murdered man _at his brother’s hand_; 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 _brothers’ keepers_, 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. + + + + +SERMON XII. +ABRAHAM’S FAITH. + + + HEBREWS, xi. 9, 10. + + “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.” + +IN 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 _fruit_, 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. + +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. + +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, _or for us_. 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 _its_ builder and maker must be, not the +selfishness or the ambition of men, but the will, and the wisdom, and +providence of God. + +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_ 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 _safer_, 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 _all_ 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. + +He the Saviour of a few individual souls only? God forbid! To Him _all +power_ 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 +_consist_ and hold together. Every thing or institution on earth which +has systematic and organic life in it—by _Him_ 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. _That_ 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. + +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. + +But again; God said to Abraham, when He had led him into this far +country, “Unto thy seed will _I give this land_.” 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, + + “A mighty hunter, and his game was man.” + +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. + +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.’ + +Here, you see, was another hint to Abraham of what it was and who it was +that made a great nation. + +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?’ + +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. + +And, surely, men are doing so in these days; men are forgetting that +other foundation can no man lay save that which _is_ 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 _have_ “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 _He_ 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! + +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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON XIII. +ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE. + + + HEBREWS, xi. 17–19. + + “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.” + +IN 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. + +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.” + +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 will do it_. 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 _not_ 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.’ + +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.” + +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.” + +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 _work_, 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. + +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. + +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.” + +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. + +And so it will be with us, my friends, we must not expect to _buy_ 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 _have_ a share +in His promises—He bids us believe _that_, 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 _has_ +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. + + + + +SERMON XIV. +OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. + + + 1 JOHN, ii. 13. + + “I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the + Father.” + +I PREACHED some time ago a sermon on the whole of these most deep and +blessed verses of St. John. + +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! + +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. + +No! By little children, St. John means here children in age,—of course +_Christian_ 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. + +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! + +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.’ + +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 _sound_ strange, but they _are not_ 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,— + + “Heaven lies about us in our infancy, + Not in complete forgetfulness, + Nor yet in utter nakedness, + But trailing clouds of glory do we come, + From God who is our home!” + +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?’ + +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.’ + +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 _always_ 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. + +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 _trouble_? 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 _sense_—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 _see_ 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 _really_ 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? + + + + +SERMON XV. +THE TRANSFIGURATION. + + + MARK, ix. 2. + + “Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a + high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them.” + +THE 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 _His_ +Father and _our_ 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 _them_, 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. + +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,—_that_ 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. + +That the apostles _had_ 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 _that_ 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_ have no need of fine linen, and purple, and embroidery, the +work of men’s hands; _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 _mine_. _I_ made it—_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_ 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 _like Him_, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John, +iii. 3.) + +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.” + +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. + +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 _not_ understand Christ in like manner. They did not yet _feel_ +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 _their_ spirit and +_their_ 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: ‘_This—this_ is my +beloved Son—hear ye _Him_, 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 +_them_ a spirit and a depth which _they_ never had before. Therefore let +no man tempt you to despise learning, for it is holy to the Lord. + +There is one more lesson which we may learn from our Lord’s +transfiguration; when St. Peter said, “_Lord_! it is good for us to be +here,” he spoke a truth. It _was_ good for him to be there; +nevertheless, Christ did not listen to his prayer. He and his two +companions were not allowed to _stay_ 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 +_feel_ his heart overpowered with the glorious majesty of God, and to +_feel_ 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 _so have we_; 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 _fruits_ of +faith, whereby alone the tree shall be known whether it be good or evil. + + + + +SERMON XVI. +THE CRUCIFIXION. + + + ISAIAH, liii. 7. + + “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.” + +ON 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!” + +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?” + +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 _your_ temper there, +and then you may get some slight notion of the boundless love and the +boundless endurance of the Saviour whom _we_ love so little, for whose +sake most of us will not endure the trouble of giving up a single sin. + +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. + +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!” + + + + +SERMON XVII. +THE RESURRECTION. + + + LUKE, xxiv. 6. + + “He is not here—He is risen.” + +WE 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. + +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. + +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.” + +What must they have thought, poor, faithful souls, who came, lonely and +broken-hearted, to see the place where _He_, 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. + +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.” + +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!” + +So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, rose from the dead! + +Now come the questions, _Why_ did Christ rise from the dead?—and _how_ +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 _His_ +Spirit. He is the Prince of Life; and the Spirit which gives life is His +Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son. _Therefore_ the gates of +hell could not prevail against Him—_therefore_ the heavy grave-stone +could not hold Him down—_therefore_ 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 _He_ 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—_life_, 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. + +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. + +But here was a Man who rose of Himself. He was raised by God, and +therefore He raised Himself, for He was God. + +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 _the_ Spirit—God’s Spirit, the Lord and +Giver of life. The Lord could not _help_ 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. + +And does not this shew us _why_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, {187} how + + “Mother earth, she gathers all + Into her bosom, great and small: + Oh could we look into her face, + We should not shrink from her embrace.” + +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. + +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. + +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 _spring up_ to the +resurrection of eternal life. + +Now, consider again that parable of the wheat-plant. After it has sprung +up, what does it next, but _tiller_?—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. + +And what can you learn from this? Learn this, that in Christ you are +safe, out of Christ you are lost. But _really_ 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 _in Christ_ 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. + + + + +SERMON XVIII. +IMPROVEMENT. + + + PSALM xcii. 12. + + “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.” + +THE Bible is always telling Christian people to _go forwards_—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 _filled_ 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.” + +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.” + +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 _grow_ 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! + +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 _spirit_ +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. + +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 _all_ 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 _are_ 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 _will_ 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. + + + + +SERMON XIX. +MAN’S WORKING DAY. + + + JOHN, xi. 9, 10. + + “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.” + +THIS 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.” + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +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 _must_ 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. + +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!” + +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 _forget_ 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 _master_ 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!” + +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. + +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. + +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 +_not ourselves_, namely the sun, so there is a light for us in the +spirit-world, which is _not ourselves_. 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 _in_ 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. + +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. + +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.” + +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.” + +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.” + + “Work ye manful while ye may, + Work for God in this your day; + Night must stop you, rich or poor, + Godly deeds alone endure.” + +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.” + + + + +SERMON XX. +ASSOCIATION. + + + GALATIANS, vi. 2. + + “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” + +IF 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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 +_spirit_, to have the spirit—_the will_, of a Christian in him; that is, +to do all these things for _God’s_ 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. + +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. + +And why should it not be just the same in a benefit club? There the good +member is _not_ 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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON XXI. +HEAVEN ON EARTH. + + + 1 COR. x. 31. + + “Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory + of God.” + +THIS 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _do +God justice_, 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. + +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. + +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 +_words_ 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 _you_ 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 _you_ from +_your_ 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. + +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 _place_, 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. + +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:— + + “Thou hast seen hell and heaven? Why not? since heaven and hell + Within the struggling soul of every mortal dwell.” + +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 _trying_ only to do every +thing to God’s glory, but actually succeeding in _doing_ 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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON XXII. +NATIONAL PRIVILEGES. + + + LUKE, x. 23. + + “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.” + +THIS 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. + +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!” + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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. + + + + +SERMON XXIII. +LENTEN THOUGHTS. + + + HAGGAI, i. 5. + + “Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your ways.” + +NEXT 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 _believe_ 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? + +This is all true enough; but there is a sound and true answer to it. It +is not so much more _time_ which you are asked to give up to your souls +in Lent, as it is more _heart_. What do I talk of? _Giving up_ 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 _that you are your soul_. 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 _giving up_ 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! + +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 +_not_ 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 _looks_ for time! + +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. + +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? + +What says it? That though we were wise, charitable, eloquent—all that +the greatest of men can be, and yet had not charity—_love_, 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. + +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 +_not_ 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 _as soon as we find it out_? 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. + + + + +SERMON XXIV. +ON BOOKS. + + + JOHN, i. 1. + + “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the + Word was God.” + +I DO 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 +_the_ 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 _do_ to be saved?’ + +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 _the +man_, the head and pattern of all men who are what men ought to be? And +did He not tell men that He is _the_ 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? + +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 _words_, 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! + +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 _every man_ who comes into the world. +Difficult to understand at first sight, yet most true, and simple too, at +bottom. + +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!” + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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 +_books_, 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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + + + + +SERMON XXV. +THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR. + + + JOHN, xi. 7, 8. + + “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?” + +WE 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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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 _was_ 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 _honestly_ to himself, when that glorious heavenly +thought, ‘_It is my duty_,’ 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 _thy_ 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.” + +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 _endured_ 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 _He would not_. He had to save the world, and +He was determined to do it, whatever agony or fear it cost Him. St. +Peter was a _brave_ 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 _bear_ 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! + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{92} “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.” + +{187} Von Stolberg. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS*** + + +******* This file should be named 7954-0.txt or 7954-0.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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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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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Twenty-Five Village Sermons + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7954] +[This file was first posted on June 4, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS *** + + + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS + + + + +SERMON I. GOD'S WORLD + + + +PSALM civ. 24. + +"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them +all: the earth is full of Thy riches." + +When 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. + +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 ABOUT God +in this psalm, as I am now in my sermon, but he is doing more; he is +speaking TO God--a much more solemn thing if you will think of it. +He says, "O Lord my God, THOU 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 TO any one we love and honour +than merely speak ABOUT 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! + +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 THY 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 UP-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 HE +opens His hand, they are filled with good. It is when HE takes away +their breath, they die, and turn again to their dust. HE 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. + + +The old order changes, giving place to the new, +And God fulfils Himself in many ways. + + +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! + +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. + +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. + + + +SERMON II. RELIGION NOT GODLINESS + + + +PSALM civ. 13-15. + +"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." + +Did 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 YOU 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. + +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!' + +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 THAT? 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 THAT 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. + +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 CANNOT 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!" + +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. + +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 GIVER, 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. + +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 WORK, and therefore we MUST 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.' + +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. + + + +SERMON III. LIFE AND DEATH + + + +PSALM civ. 24, 28-30. + +"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." + +I had 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 SEEM, yet death has +not conquered life, but life has conquered and WILL conquer death, +and conquer it most completely at the very moment that we die, and +our bodies return to their dust. + +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 SOIL--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 DIED--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. + +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 MEN, to be WOMEN, 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 DIE, 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 BAD 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. + +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 SIN came death--by +man's becoming unfit for the Spirit of God. + +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! + +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 MEN; 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." + +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 DO God's will at all, but only SUFFER +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." + + + +SERMON IV. THE WORK OF GOD'S SPIRIT + + + +JAMES, i. 16, 17. + +"Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good gift and every perfect +gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." + +This 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. + +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. + +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 OUT 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 GRACES--they are not SPIRITUAL +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?' + +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. + +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 YOURS 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 YOURS or mine, though they may come into our heads. They are +part of the evil which besets us--which is NOT 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 GOD must? These, too, are +His gifts?' + +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 THINKING whether it is a noble +thing or not--without THINKING 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. + +But he OUGHT to know it, for it is WILLING, REASONABLE 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +Or honesty, again, and justice,--whose image are they but God's? Is +He not THE 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, HIS 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?" + +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, ARE God's Spirit--they are the spirit of MAN, but +that they are LIKE God's Spirit, and therefore they must be given us +BY 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 FROM 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 MATTER 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. + +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. + +You must believe this much about yourselves before you can believe +more. You must fairly and really believe that GOD 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. + +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? HE 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, +HE alone has made it easier to you; and if you have done wrong,--if +you have fallen short of your duty, as ALL 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. + +And you, young men and women--consider;--if God has given you manly +courage and high spirits, and strength and beauty--think--GOD, 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 ALL 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? + + + +SERMON V. FAITH + + + +HABAKKUK, ii. 4. + +"The just shall live by faith." + +This 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. + +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 DO 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 LIVE, except by faith in Him, by +trusting to Him utterly. + +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 CAN we do +without God? IN Him we live, and move, and have our being. He made +us, He gave us our bodies, gave us our life; what we do HE 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 ARE 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 HAS 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. + +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? + +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." + +These things are true, and always were true. All that men ever did +well, or nobly, or lovingly, in this world, WAS DONE BY FAITH--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. + +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 YOUR 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, THEN 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, HIS 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 THEN," he +adds, "God turned my heaviness into joy, and girded me with +gladness," (Psalm xxx.) And again, he says, "BEFORE I was troubled +I went wrong, but NOW 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. + +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 DOES, does not come of GOD. 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 +UNMANLINESS, in being unlike a man, in becoming like an evil spirit +or a beast. Holiness consists in becoming a TRUE MAN, 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 CAN live by faith; and it is the +greatest glory and honour to us, I say again, that we CAN 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--WE, 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. + + + +SERMON VI. THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH + + + +GALATIANS, v. 16. + +"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." + +The 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. + +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 ARE 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. + +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 ANIMAL part of man, just what a man has in common with the +beasts who perish. + +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 AFRAID 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--THERE is their hell! THERE is the hell in which the +soul of every wicked man is,--ay, is now while he is in THIS 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.E. 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 THIS world, tempting us to ease, and pleasure, and vanity; +and in the middle, betwixt the two, stands up the third part of man-- +his SOUL and WILL, 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 THEN 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 IS harm and folly. That is not ITS +fault. Whose fault is it, then? OUR 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. + +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. + +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. + + + +SERMON VII. RETRIBUTION + + + +NUMBERS, xxxii. 23. + +"Be sure your sin will find you out." + +The 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. + +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. + +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 DO know, they are quite certain that its good things are +pleasant and its bad things unpleasant, and they are thoroughly +afraid of losing THEM. 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 NOT 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 PAY them HERE, at all events; and +as for hereafter, they shall get off somehow,--they neither know nor +care much how. + +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 FROM THE +WITNESS of men's own hearts. + +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. + +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." + +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 ALWAYS +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 EVIL"--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? + +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. + +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 MAY 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 KNOW 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 DUTY 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. + +Think, again, of your past lives, and answer in God's sight, how +many wrong things have you ever done which have SUCCEEDED, 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 +OUTWARDLY; 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 FOUND HIM OUT?-- +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? + +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! + +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! + +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:--THEN 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! + +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." + +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. + + + +SERMON VIII. SELF-DESTRUCTION + + + +1 KINGS, xxii. 23. + +"The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy +prophets." + +The 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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 WE 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. THAT 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. + +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. + + + +SERMON IX. HELL ON EARTH + + + +MATTHEW, viii. 29. + +"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?" + +This 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. {1} + +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.' + +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. + +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 WE to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou +Son of God? Art Thou come hither to torment US before the time?" +And again, "If Thou cast US 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 HE 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 +"LEGION," that is an army, a multitude, "for we are many," he says. +Again, one gospel tells us that he says, "What have _I_ to do with +Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?" While in another Gospel we are told +that he said, "What have WE 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. + +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 WE 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.' + +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. + +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." + +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, HIMSELF, 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 MIGHT, and perhaps WOULD, happen to any one of us, +were it not for God's mercy. + +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 ONE--of THE 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 KNOW, 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." + +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. + +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 CAN 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. + +But next, and I wish you to pay special attention to this point: We +have no right to believe,--we have every right NOT 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. + +So Satan, the prince of the evil spirits, tempted our Lord. And as +the prince of the devils tempted Christ, so do HIS servants tempt +US, 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 COMPLETE POSSESSION; +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 HIS 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, THEIR 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, THEN, 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, THOU must shew me where +they are wrong. Thou didst answer the devil Thyself out of God's +Word, put into MY 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 DO know are right. I'll go and do THEM, and let this +wait awhile.' + +Believe me, my friends, you CAN 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 NOT lead us INTO +temptation, but THROUGH it safe. Tempted we MUST 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. + +Again, I say, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. +Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. + + + +SERMON X. NOAH'S JUSTICE + + + +GENESIS, vi. 9. + +"Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked +with God." + +I intend, 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. + +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 NATURE, 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 DUTY 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. + +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 +BELIEVING 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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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 NOAH 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 WE 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? + +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; THAT 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. + +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 LOVE 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. + +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! + + + +SERMON XI. THE NOACHIC COVENANT + + + +GEN, ix. 8, 9. + +"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." + +In 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. + +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. + +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 WE 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. + +"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." + +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.' + +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 STRONGER 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.' + +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 WRONG; 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! + +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?' + +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. + +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 HE 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 PERSON, 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. + +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 +MAKE 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! + +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 HE will require the blood of the murdered man +AT HIS BROTHER'S HAND; 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 BROTHERS' KEEPERS, 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. + + + +SERMON XII. ABRAHAM'S FAITH + + + +HEBREWS, xi. 9, 10. + +"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." + +In 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 FRUIT, 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. + +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. + +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, OR +FOR US. 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 ITS builder and maker must be, not the +selfishness or the ambition of men, but the will, and the wisdom, +and providence of God. + +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_ 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 SAFER, 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 ALL 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. + +He the Saviour of a few individual souls only? God forbid! To Him +ALL POWER 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 CONSIST and hold together. Every +thing or institution on earth which has systematic and organic life +in it--by HIM 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. THAT 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. + +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. + +But again; God said to Abraham, when He had led him into this far +country, "Unto thy seed will I GIVE THIS LAND." 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, + + +"A mighty hunter, and his game was man." + + +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. + +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.' + +Here, you see, was another hint to Abraham of what it was and who it +was that made a great nation. + +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?' + +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. + +And, surely, men are doing so in these days; men are forgetting that +other foundation can no man lay save that which IS 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 +HAVE "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 HE 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! + +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. + +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. + + + +SERMON XIII. ABRAHAM'S OBEDIENCE + + + +HEBREWS, xi. 17-19. + +"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." + +In 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. + +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." + +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 WILL DO IT. 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 NOT 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.' + +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." + +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." + +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 WORK, +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +And so it will be with us, my friends, we must not expect to BUY +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 HAVE a share in His promises--He bids us believe THAT, +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 HAS 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. + + + +SERMON XIV. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN + + + +1 JOHN, ii. 13. + +"I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the +Father." + +I preached some time ago a sermon on the whole of these most deep +and blessed verses of St. John. + +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! + +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. + +No! By little children, St. John means here children in age,--of +course CHRISTIAN 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. + +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! + +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.' + +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 SOUND strange, but they ARE NOT 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,-- + + +"Heaven lies about us in our infancy, +Not in complete forgetfulness, +Nor yet in utter nakedness, +But trailing clouds of glory do we come, +From God who is our home!" + + +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?' + +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.' + +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 ALWAYS 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. + +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 TROUBLE? 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 +SENSE--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 SEE 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 REALLY +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? + + + +SERMON XV. THE TRANSFIGURATION + + + +MARK, ix. 2. + +"Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into a +high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them." + +The 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 HIS +Father and OUR 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 THEM, 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. + +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,--THAT 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. + +That the apostles HAD 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 THAT 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_ have no need of +fine linen, and purple, and embroidery, the work of men's hands; _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 MINE. _I_ made it--_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_ 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 LIKE +HIM, for we shall see Him as He is." (1 John, iii. 3.) + +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." + +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. + +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 NOT understand Christ in like manner. They did not yet FEEL +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 THEIR spirit and THEIR 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: 'THIS--THIS is +my beloved Son--hear ye HIM, 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 THEM a spirit +and a depth which THEY never had before. Therefore let no man tempt +you to despise learning, for it is holy to the Lord. + +There is one more lesson which we may learn from our Lord's +transfiguration; when St. Peter said, "LORD! it is good for us to be +here," he spoke a truth. It WAS good for him to be there; +nevertheless, Christ did not listen to his prayer. He and his two +companions were not allowed to STAY 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 FEEL his heart overpowered with the +glorious majesty of God, and to FEEL 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 SO HAVE WE; +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 FRUITS of +faith, whereby alone the tree shall be known whether it be good or +evil. + + + +SERMON XVI. THE CRUCIFIXION + + + +ISAIAH, liii. 7. + +"He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter." + +On 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!" + +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?" + +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 YOUR temper there, and then you may get some +slight notion of the boundless love and the boundless endurance of +the Saviour whom WE love so little, for whose sake most of us will +not endure the trouble of giving up a single sin. + +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. + +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!" + + + +SERMON XVII. THE RESURRECTION + + + +LUKE, xxiv. 6. + +"He is not here--He is risen" + +We 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. + +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. + +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." + +What must they have thought, poor, faithful souls, who came, lonely +and broken-hearted, to see the place where HE, 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. + +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." + +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!" + +So Jesus Christ, the Son of God, rose from the dead! + +Now come the questions, WHY did Christ rise from the dead?--and HOW +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 HIS Spirit. He is the +Prince of Life; and the Spirit which gives life is His Spirit, +proceeding from the Father and the Son. THEREFORE the gates of hell +could not prevail against Him--THEREFORE the heavy grave-stone could +not hold Him down--THEREFORE 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 HE 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-- +LIFE, 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. + +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. + +But here was a Man who rose of Himself. He was raised by God, and +therefore He raised Himself, for He was God. + +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 THE Spirit--God's Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life. +The Lord could not HELP 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. + +And does not this shew us WHY 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. + +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. + +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. + +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, {2} how + + + "Mother earth, she gathers all +Into her bosom, great and small: +Oh could we look into her face, +We should not shrink from her embrace." + + +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. + +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. + +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 SPRING UP to the resurrection of eternal life. + +Now, consider again that parable of the wheat-plant. After it has +sprung up, what does it next, but TILLER?--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. + +And what can you learn from this? Learn this, that in Christ you +are safe, out of Christ you are lost. But REALLY 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 IN CHRIST 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. + + + +SERMON XVIII. IMPROVEMENT + + + +PSALM xcii. 12. + +"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." + +The Bible is always telling Christian people to GO FORWARDS--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 FILLED 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." + +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." + +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 GROW 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! + +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 SPIRIT 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. + +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 ALL 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 ARE 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 WILL 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. + + + +SERMON XIX. MAN'S WORKING DAY + + + +JOHN, xi. 9, 10. + +"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." + +This 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." + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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 MUST 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. + +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!" + +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 FORGET 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 MASTER 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!" + +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. + +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. + +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 NOT OURSELVES, namely the sun, so +there is a light for us in the spirit-world, which is NOT OURSELVES. +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 IN 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. + +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. + +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." + +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." + +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." + + +"Work ye manful while ye may, +Work for God in this your day; +Night must stop you, rich or poor, +Godly deeds alone endure." + + +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." + + + +SERMON XX. ASSOCIATION + + + +GALATIANS, vi. 2. + +"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." + +If 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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 SPIRIT, to +have the spirit--THE WILL, of a Christian in him; that is, to do all +these things for GOD'S 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. + +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. + +And why should it not be just the same in a benefit club? There the +good member is NOT 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. + +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. + + + +SERMON XXI. HEAVEN ON EARTH + + + +1 COR. x. 31. + +"Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory +of God." + +This 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +DO GOD JUSTICE, 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. + +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. + +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 WORDS 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 YOU 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 YOU from +YOUR 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. + +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 PLACE, 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. + +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:-- + + +"Thou hast seen hell and heaven? Why not? since heaven and hell +Within the struggling soul of every mortal dwell." + + +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 TRYING only to do every thing to God's glory, but actually +succeeding in DOING 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. + +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. + + + +SERMON XXII. NATIONAL PRIVILEGES + + + +LUKE, x. 23. + +"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." + +This 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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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? + +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. + + + +SERMON XXIII. LENTEN THOUGHTS + + + +HAGGAI, i. 5. + +"Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your ways." + +Next 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 BELIEVE 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? + +This is all true enough; but there is a sound and true answer to it. +It is not so much more TIME which you are asked to give up to your +souls in Lent, as it is more HEART. What do I talk of? GIVING UP +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 THAT YOU ARE YOUR SOUL. 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 GIVING UP 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! + +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 NOT 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 LOOKS for time! + +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. + +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? + +What says it? That though we were wise, charitable, eloquent--all +that the greatest of men can be, and yet had not charity--LOVE, 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. + +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 NOT 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 +AS SOON AS WE FIND IT OUT? 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. + + + +SERMON XXIV. ON BOOKS + + + +JOHN, i. 1. + +"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the +Word was God." + +I do 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 THE 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 DO to be saved?' + +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 THE MAN, the head and pattern of all men who are what +men ought to be? And did He not tell men that He is THE 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? + +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 WORDS, 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! + +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 EVERY MAN who comes into the world. Difficult to understand +at first sight, yet most true, and simple too, at bottom. + +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!" + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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 BOOKS, 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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + + + +SERMON XXV. THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR + + + +JOHN, xi. 7, 8. + +"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?" + +We 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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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 WAS 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 HONESTLY to himself, when +that glorious heavenly thought, 'IT IS MY DUTY,' 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 THY 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." + +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 ENDURED 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 HE WOULD NOT. He had to +save the world, and He was determined to do it, whatever agony or +fear it cost Him. St. Peter was a BRAVE 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 BEAR 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! + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} "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." + +{2} Von Stolberg. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS *** + +This file should be named vsrm10.txt or vsrm10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, vsrm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, vsrm10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/vsrm10.zip b/old/vsrm10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e738f89 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vsrm10.zip diff --git a/old/vsrm10h.htm b/old/vsrm10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a372672 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vsrm10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6026 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Twenty-Five Village Sermons</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Twenty-Five Village Sermons, by Charles Kingsley</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty-Five Village Sermons, by Charles Kingsley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Twenty-Five Village Sermons + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7954] +[This file was first posted on June 4, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h1>TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS</h1> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON I. GOD’S WORLD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>PSALM civ. 24.</p> +<p>“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made +them all: the earth is full of Thy riches.”</p> +<p>When 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The old order changes, giving place to the new,<br />And God fulfils +Himself in many ways.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON II. RELIGION NOT GODLINESS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>PSALM 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> +<p>Did 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON III. LIFE AND DEATH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>PSALM 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> +<p>I had 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON IV. THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>JAMES, 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> +<p>This 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 THE 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON V. FAITH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>HABAKKUK, ii. 4.</p> +<p>“The just shall live by faith.”</p> +<p>This 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 THEN,” 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON VI. THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>GALATIANS, 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> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON VII. RETRIBUTION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>NUMBERS, xxxii. 23.</p> +<p>“Be sure your sin will find you out.”</p> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON VIII. SELF-DESTRUCTION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>1 KINGS, xxii. 23.</p> +<p>“The Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these +thy prophets.”</p> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON IX. HELL ON EARTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>MATTHEW, 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> +<p>This 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="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1">{1}</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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON X. NOAH’S JUSTICE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>GENESIS, vi. 9.</p> +<p>“Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah +walked with God.”</p> +<p>I intend, 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XI. THE NOACHIC COVENANT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>GEN, 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> +<p>In 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XII. ABRAHAM’S FAITH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>HEBREWS, 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> +<p>In 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“A mighty hunter, and his game was man.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XIII. ABRAHAM’S OBEDIENCE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>HEBREWS, 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> +<p>In 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XIV. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>1 JOHN, ii. 13.</p> +<p>“I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the +Father.”</p> +<p>I preached 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;”<i>—</i>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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XV. THE TRANSFIGURATION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>MARK, 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> +<p>The 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> 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XVI. THE CRUCIFIXION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>ISAIAH, liii. 7.</p> +<p>“He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.”</p> +<p>On 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XVII. THE RESURRECTION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>LUKE, xxiv. 6.</p> +<p>“He is not here—He is risen”</p> +<p>We 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="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2">{2}</a> +how</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XVIII. IMPROVEMENT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>PSALM 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> +<p>The 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XIX. MAN’S WORKING DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>JOHN, 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> +<p>This 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XX. ASSOCIATION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>GALATIANS, vi. 2.</p> +<p>“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law +of Christ.”</p> +<p>If 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XXI. HEAVEN ON EARTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>1 COR. x. 31.</p> +<p>“Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the +glory of God.”</p> +<p>This 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>“Thou hast seen hell and heaven? Why not? since heaven +and hell<br />Within the struggling soul of every mortal dwell.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XXII. NATIONAL PRIVILEGES</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>LUKE, 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> +<p>This 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XXIII. LENTEN THOUGHTS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>HAGGAI, i. 5.</p> +<p>“Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord of Hosts, consider your +ways.”</p> +<p>Next 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XXIV. ON BOOKS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>JOHN, i. 1.</p> +<p>“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, +and the Word was God.”</p> +<p>I do 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XXV. THE COURAGE OF THE SAVIOUR</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>JOHN, 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> +<p>We 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> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1">{1}</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="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2">{2}</a> Von Stolberg.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TWENTY-FIVE VILLAGE SERMONS ***</p> +<pre> + +******This file should be named vsrm10h.htm or vsrm10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, vsrm11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, vsrm10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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