diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/vsrm10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/vsrm10.txt | 6455 |
1 files changed, 6455 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/vsrm10.txt b/old/vsrm10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd81153 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/vsrm10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6455 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Twenty-Five Village Sermons, by Charles Kingsley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. 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. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext05 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext05 + +Or /etext04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, +91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + + PROJECT GUTENBERG LITERARY ARCHIVE FOUNDATION + 809 North 1500 West + Salt Lake City, UT 84116 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + |