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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8202-0.txt b/8202-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bebef5 --- /dev/null +++ b/8202-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13674 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Sermons on National Subjects, by Charles +Kingsley + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Sermons on National Subjects + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: October 25, 2014 [eBook #8202] +[This file was first posted on July 1, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS*** + + +Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + + SERMONS ON NATIONAL + SUBJECTS. + + + * * * * * + + BY + CHARLES KINGSLEY. + + * * * * * + + London: + MACMILLAN AND CO. + AND NEW YORK + 1890 + + * * * * * + + _First Edition_, 1880. + _Reprinted_, 1886, 1890. + + * * * * * + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + SERMON I. THE KING OF THE EARTH 1 + II. HOLY SCRIPTURE 9 + III. THE KINGDOM OF GOD 17 + IV. A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS 31 + V. CHRISTMAS DAY 40 + VI. TRUE ABSTINENCE 47 + VII. GOOD FRIDAY 59 + VIII. EASTER DAY 67 + IX. THE COMFORTER 76 + X. WHIT SUNDAY 85 + XI. ASCENSION DAY 99 + XII. THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE 109 + XIII. FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA 134 + XIV. SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA 144 + XV. THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA 153 + XVI. ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING 164 + XVII. THE COVENANT 175 + XVIII. NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS 184 + XIX. THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM 191 + XX. PROFESSION AND PRACTICE 199 + XXI. THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT 210 + XXII. THE WAY TO WEALTH 221 + XXIII. THE LOVE OF CHRIST 230 + XXIV. DAVID’S VICTORY 242 + XXV. DAVID’S EDUCATION 254 + XXVI. THE VALUE OF LAW 265 + XXVII. THE SOURCE OF LAW 275 + XXVIII. THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN 287 + XXIX. JEREMIAH’S CALLING 298 + XXX. THE PERFECT KING 306 + XXXI. GOD’S WARNINGS 316 + XXXII. PHARAOH’S HEART 325 + XXXIII. THE RED SEA TRIUMPH 337 + XXXIV. CHRISTMAS DAY 346 + XXXV. NEW YEAR’S DAY 354 + XXXVI. THE DELUGE 362 + XXXVII. THE KINGDOM OF GOD 373 + XXXVIII. THE LIGHT 384 + XXXIX. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 395 + XL. THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE 403 + XLI. THE FALL 412 + XLII. GOD’S COVENANTS 423 + XLIII. THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS 433 + XLIV. THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT 445 + XLV. THE GOSPEL 453 + XLVI. GOD’S WAY WITH MAN 463 + XLVII. THE MARRIAGE AT CANA 474 + XLVIII. PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE 482 + + + + +I. +THE KING OF THE EARTH. + + + FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + + [_Preached in_ 1849.] + + Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.—MATTHEW xxi. 4. + +THIS Sunday is the first of the four Sundays in Advent. During those +four Sundays, our forefathers have advised us to think seriously of the +coming of our Lord Jesus Christ—not that we should neglect to think of it +at all times. As some of you know, I have preached to you about it often +lately. Perhaps before the end of Advent you will all of you, more or +less, understand what all that I have said about the cholera, and public +distress, and the sins of this nation, and the sins of the labouring +people has to do with the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend, +especially in my next four sermons, to speak my whole mind to you about +this matter as far as God has shown it to me; taking the Collect, +Epistle, and Gospels, for each Sunday in Advent, and explaining them. I +am sure I cannot do better; for the more I see of those Collects, +Epistles, and Gospels, and the way in which they are arranged, the more I +am astonished and delighted at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the +wise order in which they follow each other, and fit into each other. It +is very fit, too, that we should think of our Lord’s coming at this +season of the year above all others; because it is the hardest season—the +season of most want, and misery, and discontent, when wages are low, and +work is scarce, and fuel is dear, and frosts are bitter, and farmers and +tradesmen, and gentlemen, too, are at their wits’ end to square their +accounts, and pay their way. Then is the time that the evils of society +come home to us—that our sins, and our sorrows, which, after all, are the +punishment of our sins, stare us in the face. Then is the time, if ever, +for men’s hearts to cry out for a Saviour, who will deliver them out of +their miseries and their sins; for a Heavenly King who will rule them in +righteousness, and do justice and judgment on the earth, and see that +those who are in need and necessity have right; for a Heavenly Counsellor +who will guide them into all truth—who will teach them what they are, and +whither they are going, and what the Lord requires of them. I say the +hard days of winter are a fit time to turn men’s hearts to Christ their +King—the fittest of all times for a clergyman to get up in his pulpit, as +I do now, and tell his people, as I tell you, that Jesus Christ your King +has not forgotten you—that He is coming speedily to judge the world, and +execute justice and judgment for the meek of the earth. + +Now do not be in a hurry, and fancy from what I have just said, that I am +one of those who think the end of the world is at hand. It may be, for +aught I know. “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, not even the +angels of God, nor the Son, but the Father only.” If you wish for my own +opinion, I believe that what people commonly call the end of the world, +that is, the end of the earth and of mankind on it, is not at hand at +all. As far as I can judge from Scripture, and from the history of all +nations, the earth is yet young, and mankind in its infancy. Five +thousand years hence, our descendants may be looking back on us as +foolish barbarians, in comparison with what they know: just as we look +back upon the ignorance of people a thousand years ago. And yet I +believe that the end of this world, in the real Scripture sense of the +word “world,” is coming very quickly and very truly—The end of this +system of society, of these present ways in religion, and money-making, +and conducting ourselves in all the affairs of life, which we English +people have got into nowadays. The end of it is coming. It cannot last +much longer; for it is destroying itself. It will not last much longer; +for Christ and not the devil is the King of the earth. As St. Paul said +to his people, so say I to you, “The night is far spent, the day is at +hand.” + +These may seem strange words, but almost every one is saying them, in his +own way. One large party among religious people in these days is +complaining that Christ has left His Church, and that the cause of +Christianity will be ruined and lost, unless some great change takes +place. Another large party of religious people say, that the prophecies +are on the point of being all fulfilled that the 1260 days, spoken of by +the prophet Daniel, are just coining to an end; and that Christ is coming +with His saints, to reign openly upon earth for a thousand years. The +wisest philosophers and historians of late years have been all +foretelling a great and tremendous change in England, and throughout all +Europe; and in the meantime, manufacturers and landlords, tradesmen and +farmers, artisans and labourers, all say, that there _must_ be a change +and will be a change. I believe they are all right, every one of them. +They put it in their words; I think it better to put it in the Scripture +words, and say boldly, “Jesus Christ, the King of the earth, is coming.” + +But you will ask, “What right have you to stand up and say anything so +surprising?” My friends, the world is full of surprising things, and +this age above all ages. It was not sixty years ago, that a nobleman was +laughed at in the House of Lords for saying that he believed that we +should one day see ships go by steam; and now there are steamers on every +sea and ocean in the world. Who expected twenty years ago to see the +whole face of England covered with these wonderful railroads? Who +expected on the 22nd of February last year, that, within a single month, +half the nations of Europe, which looked so quiet and secure, would be +shaken from top to bottom with revolution and bloodshed—kings and princes +vanishing one after the other like a dream—poor men sitting for a day as +rulers of kingdoms, and then hurled down again to make room for other +rulers as unexpected as themselves? Can anyone consider the last fifty +years?—can anyone consider that one last year, 1848, and then not feel +that we do live in a most strange and awful time? a time for which +nothing is too surprising—a time in which we all ought to be prepared, +from the least to the greatest, to see the greatest horrors and the +greatest blessings come suddenly upon us, like a thief in the night? So +much for Christ’s coming being too wonderful a thing to happen just now. +Still you are right to ask: “What do you mean by Christ’s being our King? +what do you mean by His coming to us? What reason have you for supposing +that He is coming _now_, rather than at any other time? And if He be +coming, what are we to do? What is there we ought to repent of? what is +there we ought to amend?” + +Well, my friends—it is just these very questions which I hope and trust +God will help me to answer to you, in my next few sermons—I am perfectly +convinced that we must get them answered and act upon them speedily. I +am perfectly convinced that if we go on as most of us are going in +England now, the Lord of us all will come in an hour when we are not +aware, and cut us asunder in the deepest and most real sense, as He came +and cut asunder France, Germany, and Austria only last year, and appoint +us our portion with the unbelievers. And I believe that our punishment +will be seven times as severe as that of either France, Germany, or +Austria, because we have had seven times their privileges and blessings, +seven times their Gospel light and Christian knowledge, seven times their +freedom and justice in laws and constitution; seven times their wealth, +and prosperity, and means of employing our population. Much has been +given to England, and of her much will be required. And if you could +only see the state of mankind over the greatest part of the globe, how +infinitely fewer opportunities they have of knowing God’s will than you +have, you would feel that to you, poor and struggling as some of you +are—to you much has been given, and of you much will be required. + +Now first, what do I mean by Christ being our king? I daresay there are +some among you who are inclined to think that, when we talk of Christ +being a king, that the word king means something very different from its +common meaning—and, God knows, that that is true enough. Our blessed +Lord took care to make people understand that—how He was not like one of +the kings of the nations, how His kingdom was not of this world. But yet +the Bible tells us again and again that all good kings, all real kings, +are patterns of Christ; and, therefore, that when we talk of Christ being +a king, we mean that He is a king in everything that a king ought to be; +that He fulfils perfectly all the duties of a king; that He is the +pattern which all kings ought to copy. Kings have been in all ages too +apt to forget that, and, indeed, so have the people too. We English have +forgotten most thoroughly in these days, that Christ is our king, or even +a king at all. We talk of Christ being a “spiritual” king, and then we +say that that merely means that He is king of Christians’ hearts. And +when anyone asks what that means, it comes out, that all we mean is, that +Christ has a very great influence over the hearts of believing +Christians—when He can obtain it; or else that it means that He is king +of a very small number of people called the elect, whom He has chosen +out, but that He has absolutely nothing to do with the whole rest of the +world. And then, when anyone stands up with the Bible in his hand, and +says, in the plain words of Scripture: “Christ is not only the king of +believers, He is the king of the whole earth; the king of the clouds and +the thunder, the king of the land and the cattle, and the trees, and the +corn, and to whomsoever He will He giveth them. Christ is not only the +king of believers—He is the king of all—the king of the wicked, of the +heathen, of those who do not believe Him, who never heard of Him. Christ +is not only the king of a few individual persons, one here and one there +in every parish, but He is the king of every nation. He is the king of +England, by the grace of God, just as much as Queen Victoria is, and ten +thousand times more.” If any man talks in this way, people stare—think +him an enthusiast—ask him what new doctrine this is, and call his words +unscriptural, just because they come out of Scripture and not out of +men’s perversions and twistings of Scripture. Nevertheless Christ is +King; really and truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will make +men know it. What He was, that He is and ever will be; there is no +change in Him; His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion +endureth throughout all ages, and woe unto those, small or great, who +rebel against Him! + +But what sort of a king is He? He is a king of law, and order, and +justice. He is not selfish, fanciful, self-willed. He said himself that +He came not to do His own will, but His Father’s. He is a king of +gentleness and meekness too: but do not mistake that. There is no weak +indulgence in Him. A man may be very meek, and yet stern enough and +strong enough. Moses was the meekest of men, we read, and yet He made +those who rebelled against him feel that he was not to be trifled with. +Korah, Dathan, and Abiram found that to their cost. He would not even +spare his own brother Aaron, his own sister Miriam, when they rebelled. +And he was right. He showed his love by it; indulgence is not love. It +is no sign of meekness, but only of cowardice and carelessness, to be +afraid to rebuke sin. Moses knew that he was doing God’s work, that he +was appointed to make a great nation of those slavish besotted Jews, his +countrymen; that he was sent by God with boundless blessings to them; and +woe to whoever hindered him from that. Because he loved the Jews, +therefore he dared punish those who tempted them to forget the promised +land of Canaan, or break God’s covenant, in which lay all their hope. + +And such a one is our King, my friends; Jesus Christ the Son of God. +Like Moses, says St. Paul, He is faithful in all His office. Therefore +He is severe as well as gentle. He was so when on earth. With the poor, +the outcast, the neglected, those on whom men trampled, who was gentler +than the Lord Jesus? To the proud Pharisee, the canting Scribe, the +cunning Herodian, who was sterner than the Lord Jesus? Read that awful +23rd chapter of St. Matthew, and then see how the Saviour, the lamb dumb +before His shearers, He of whom it was said “He shall not strive nor cry, +nor shall His voice be heard in the streets”—how He could speak when He +had occasion. . . . “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” +“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?” + +My friends, those were the words of our King; of Him in whom was neither +passion nor selfishness; who loved us even to the death, and endured for +us the scourge, the cross, the grave. And believe me, such are His words +now; though we do not hear Him, the heaven and the earth hear Him and +obey Him. His message is pardon, mercy, deliverance to the sorrowful, +and the oppressed, and the neglected; and to the proud, the tyrannical, +the self-righteous, the hypocritical, tribulation and anguish, shame and +woe. + +Because He is the Saviour, therefore He is a consuming fire to all those +who try to hinder Him from saving men. Because He is the Son of God, He +will sweep out of His Father’s kingdom all who offend, and whosoever +maketh and loveth a lie. Because He is boundless mercy and love, +therefore He will show no mercy to those who try to stop His purposes of +love. Because He is the King of men, the enemies of mankind are His +enemies; and He will reign till He has put them all under His feet. + + + + +II. +HOLY SCRIPTURE. + + + SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + + Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our + example, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, + might have hope.—ROMANS xv. 4. + +“WHATSOEVER was written aforetime.” There is no doubt, I think, that by +these words St. Paul means the Bible; that is, the Old Testament, which +was the only part of the Bible already written in his time. For it is of +the Psalms which he is speaking. He mentions a verse out of the 69th +Psalm, “The reproaches of Him that reproached thee fell on me;” which, he +says, applies to Christ just as much as it did to David, who wrote it. +Christ, he says, pleased not Himself any more than David, but suffered +willingly and joyfully for God’s sake, because He knew that He was doing +God’s work. And we, he goes on to say, must do the same; do as Christ +did; we must not please ourselves, but every one of us please our brother +for his good and edification; that is, in order to build him up, +strengthen him, make him wiser, better, more comfortable. For, he says, +Christ pleased not Himself, but like David, lived only to help others; +and therefore this verse out of David’s Psalms, “The reproaches of them +that reproached thee fell on me,” is a lesson to us; a pattern of what we +ought to feel, and do, and suffer. “For whatsoever was written +aforetime,” all these ancient psalms and prophets, and histories of men +and nations who trusted in God, “were written for our example, that we, +through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.” + +Yes, my friends, this is true; and the longer you live a life of faith +and godliness, the longer you read and study that precious Book of books +which God has put so freely into your hands in these days, the more true +you will find it. And if it was true of the Old Testament, written +before the Lord came down and dwelt among men, how much more must it be +true of the New Testament, which was written after His coming by apostles +and evangelists, who had far fuller light and knowledge of the Lord than +ever David or the old prophets, even in their happiest moments, had. Ah, +what a treasure you have, every one of you, in those Bibles of yours, +which too many of you read so little! From the first chapter of Genesis +to the last of Revelations, it is all written for our example, all +profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished +for all good works. Ah! friends, friends, is not this the reason why so +many of you do not read your Bibles, that you do not wish to be furnished +for good works?—do not wish to be men of God, godly and godlike men, but +only to be men of the world, caring only for money and pleasure?—some of +you, alas! not wishing to be men and women at all, but only a sort of +brute beasts with clothes on, given up to filth and folly, like the +animals that perish, or rather worse than the animals, for they could be +no better if they tried, but you might be. Oh! what might you not be, +what are you not already, if you but knew it! Members of Christ, +children of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, heirs of a hope undying, +pure, that will never fade away, having a right given you by the promise +and oath of Almighty God himself, to hope for yourselves, for your +neighbours, for this poor distracted world, for ever and ever; a right to +believe that there is an everlasting day of justice, and peace, and +happiness in store for the whole world, and that you, if you will, may +have your share in that glorious sunrise which shall never set again. +You may have your share in it, each and every one of you; and if you ask +why, go to the Scriptures, and there read the promises of God, the +grounds of your just hope, for all heaven and earth. + +First, of hope for yourselves.—I say first for yourselves, not because a +man is right in being selfish, and caring only for his own soul, but +because a man must care for his own soul first, if he ever intends to +care for others; a man must have hope for himself first, if he is to have +hope for others. He may stop there, and turn his religion into a selfish +superstition, and spend his life in asking all day long, “Shall I be +saved, shall I be damned?” or worse still, in chuckling over his own good +fortune, and saying to himself, “I shall be saved, whoever else is +damned;” but whether he ends there or not, he must begin there; begin by +trying to get himself saved. For if he does not know what is right and +good for himself, how can he tell what is right and good for others? If +he wishes to bring his neighbours out of their sins, he must surely first +have been brought out of his own sins, and so know what forgiveness and +sanctification means. If he wishes to make others at peace with God, he +must first be at peace with God himself, to know what God’s peace is. If +he wants to teach others their duty, he must first know his own duty, for +all men’s duty is one and the same. If he wishes to have hope for the +world, he must first have hope for himself, for he is in the world, a +part of it, and he must learn what blessings God intends for him, and +they will teach him what blessings God has in store for the earth. Faith +and hope, like charity, must begin at home. By learning the corruption +of our own hearts, we learn the corruption of human nature. By learning +what is the only medicine which can cure our own sick hearts, we learn +what is the only medicine which can cure human nature. We learn by our +own experience, that God is all-forgiving love; that His peace shines +bright upon the soul which casts itself utterly on Jesus Christ the Lord +for pardon, strength, and safety; that God’s Spirit is ready and able to +raise us out of all our sin, and sottishness, and weakness, and +wilfulness, and selfishness, and renew us into quite new men, different +characters from what we used to be; and so, by having hope for ourselves, +we learn step by step and year by year to have hope for our friends, for +our neighbours, and for the whole world. + +For that is another great lesson which the Bible teaches us—hope for the +world. Men say to us, “This world has always gone on ill, and will +always go on so. Tyrants and knaves and hypocrites have always had the +power in it; idlers have always had the enjoyment of it; while the +humble, and industrious, and godly, who would not foul their hands with +the wicked ways of the world, have been always laughed at, neglected, +oppressed, persecuted. The world,” they say, “is very bad, and we cannot +live in it without giving way a little to its badness, and going the old +road.” + +But he who, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, has hope, can +answer “Yes—and yet no.” “Yes—we agree that the world has gone on badly +enough: perhaps we think the world worse than it thinks itself; for God’s +Spirit has taught us to see sin, and shame, and ruin, in many a thing +which the world thinks right and reasonable. And yet,” says the true +Christian man, “although we think the world worse than anyone else thinks +it, and are more unhappy than anyone else about all the sin, and +injustice, and misery we see in it, we have the very strongest faith—we +are perfectly certain—we are as sure as if we saw it coming to pass here +before us, that the world will come right at last. For the Bible tells +us that the Son of God is the king of the world; that He has been the +master and ruler of it from the beginning. He, the Bible tells us, +condescended to come down on earth and be born in the likeness of a poor +man, and die on the cross for this poor world of His, that He might take +away the sins of it.” “Behold the Lamb of God,” said John the Baptist, +“who takes away the sin of the world.” How dare we, who call ourselves +Christians, we who have been baptized into His name, we who have tasted +of His mercy, we who know the might of His love, the converting and +renewing power of His Spirit—how dare we doubt but that He _will_ take +away the sins of the world? Ay; step by step, nation by nation, year by +year, the Lord shall conquer; love, and justice, and wisdom shall spread +and grow; for He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. +He has promised to take away the sins of the world, and He is God, and +cannot lie. There is the Christian’s hope: let him leave infidels to say +“The world always was bad, and it must remain so to the end;” the +Christian ought to be able to answer, “The world was bad, and is bad; but +for that very reason it will _not_ remain so to the end: for the Lord and +king of the earth is boundless love, justice, goodness itself, and He +will thoroughly purge His floor, and cast out of His kingdom all things +that offend, and make in His good time the kingdoms of this world, the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ.” + +“Ah but,” someone may say, “that, if it ever happens at all, will not +happen till we are dead, and what part or lot shall _we_ have in it? we +who die in the midst of all this sin, and injustice, and distress?” +There again the Bible gives us hope: “I believe,” says the Creed, “in the +resurrection of the flesh.” The Bible teaches us to believe, that we, +each of us, as human beings, men and women, shall have a share in that +glorious day; not merely as ghosts, and disembodied spirits—of which the +Bible, thanks be to God, says little or nothing, but as real live human +beings, with new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new heaven. +“Therefore,” says David, “my flesh shall rest in hope;” not merely my +soul, my ghost, but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died, but rose +again with His body, shall raise our bodies, according to the mighty +working by which He subdues all things to Himself; and then the whole +manhood of each of us, body, soul, and spirit, shall have one perfect +consummation and bliss, in His eternal and everlasting glory.—That is our +hope. If that is not a gospel, and good news from heaven to poor +distressed creatures in hovels, and on sick beds, to people racked with +life-long pain and disease, to people in crowded cities, who never from +week’s end to week’s end look on the green fields and bright sky—if that +is not good news, and a dayspring of boundless hope from on high for +them, what news can be? + +But how are we to get this hope? The text tells us; through comfort of +the Scriptures; through the strengthening and comforting promises, and +examples, and rules of God’s gracious dealings which we find therein. +Through comfort of the Scriptures, but also through patience. Ah, my +friends, of that too we must think; we must, as St. James says, “let +patience have her perfect work,” or else we shall not be perfect +ourselves. If we are hasty, self-conceited, covetous, ready to help +ourselves by the first means that come to hand; if we are full of hard +judgments about our neighbours, and doubts about God’s good purpose +toward the world; in short, if we are not _patient_, the Bible will teach +us little or nothing. It may make us superstitious, bigoted, fanatical, +conceited, pharisaical, but like Jesus Christ the Lord it will not make +us, unless we have patience. + +And where are we to get patience? God knows it is hard in such a world +as this for poor creatures to be patient always. But faith can breed +patience, though patience cannot breed itself;—and faith in whom? Faith +in our Father in heaven, even in the Almighty God Himself. He calls +Himself “the God of Patience and Consolation.” Pray for His Holy Spirit, +and He will make you patient; pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will +console and comfort you. He has promised That Spirit of His, The Spirit +of love, trust, and patience—The Comforter—to as many as ask Him. Ask +Him now, this day—come to His holy table this day, and ask Him to make +you patient; ask Him to take all the hastiness, and pride, and +ill-temper, and self-will, and greediness out of you, and to change your +wills into the likeness of His will. Then your eyes will be opened to +understand His law. Then you will see in the Scriptures a sure promise +of hope and glory and redemption for yourself and all the world. Then +you will see in the blessed sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood, a +sure sign and warrant, handed down from land to land, and age to age, +from year to year, and from father to son, that these promises shall come +true; that hope shall become fact; that not one of the Lord’s words shall +fail, or pass away, till all be fulfilled. + + + + +III. +THE KINGDOM OF GOD. + + + THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + + The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to + preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the + broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening + of the prison to them that are bound.—ISAIAH lxi. 1. + +MY friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good from +this sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not that I have +to complain of you in general for not attending to me. I thank God, and +thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this pulpit. But there +are many people who have a bad trick of minding the preacher carefully +enough for a minute or two, and then letting their wits wander, and think +about something else; and then if any word in the sermon strikes them, +waking up suddenly, and thinking again for a little, and then letting +their thoughts run wild again; and so on. Whereby it happens that they +only recollect a few scraps of the sermon, a word here, and a sentence +there, and get into their heads all sorts of mistakes and false notions +about the preacher’s meaning. + +That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that is +only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and women should +listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, will they be +able to judge of the message which the preacher brings them. Listen to +me, therefore, all through this sermon, and may God give you grace to +understand it and lay it to heart, for it is the good news of the kingdom +of God. + +You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord Jesus +Christ’s words would never pass away; that His prophecies are continually +coming true, and being fulfilled over and over again. Now this text is +not one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy about Him; one which He +fulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling again and again. He is +fulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever, now in these very days. + +If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this +prophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first, that +Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, “That the Spirit of the Lord +was upon _him_”—Isaiah—“because the Lord had appointed _him_ to preach +good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, and deliverance +to the captives, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Isaiah must +have spoken truly about himself. He could not have meant to tell a +falsehood, to say a thing was true of himself which was only true of +Jesus, who did not come till 800 years afterwards. And he did speak the +truth: you cannot read his prophecies without seeing that the Spirit of +the Lord was indeed upon him; that the words which he spoke must have +comforted all those who were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the +nation in their time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came +true; that the Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of +Judæa to Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah +prophesied, and the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and +prosperity, and happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800 +years afterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and +said, that _He_ fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish +synagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the +congregation, “This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” And +again, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the Baptist sent +to ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of another prophecy +of Isaiah, and told John’s disciples that He _was_ the Christ, because He +was fulfilling that prophecy; because He _was_ making the deaf hear, and +the blind see, and preaching the gospel to the poor. Now, how is that? +Could Isaiah be right in applying those words to himself, and yet Christ +be right in applying them to Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice +over? + +No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No prophecy of +Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. That is, it does +not apply to any one private, particular thing that is to happen. Every +prophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself more and more, as time +rolls on and the world grows older. St. Peter tells us the reason why. +No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation; because it does +not come from the will of man, from any invention or discovery of poor +short-sighted human beings, who can only judge by what they see around +them in their own times: but holy men of old spoke as they were moved by +the Holy Spirit. And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the +everlasting Spirit; the Spirit who cannot change, for He _is_ God. The +Spirit who searcheth the deep things of God, and teaches them to men. +And what are the deep things of God? They are eternal as God is. +Eternal laws; everlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the meaning +of it all. The Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches men the laws of +God; the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which He governs all heaven +and earth, and men, and nations; the laws which come into force, not once +only, but always; the laws of God which are working round us now, just as +much as they were eighteen hundred years ago, just as much as they were +in Isaiah’s time. Therefore it is, that I said that these old Jewish +prophecies, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, are coming true now, +and will keep on coming true, time after time, in their proper place and +order, and whensoever the times are fit for them, even to the end of the +world. + +But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of Christ, +and shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ? They must be +eternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is unchangeable—Jesus +Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is over all, God +blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in heaven and earth. He +reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is less a Saviour now, than +He was when He spoke those things to John’s disciples? Do you think He +is less able to hear and to help than He was in John’s time? Do you +think He used to care about people’s bodies then, but that He only cares +about their souls now? Do you think that He is less compassionate, and +less merciful, as well as less powerful, than He was when He made the +blind see, and the lame walk, and the deaf hear, in Judæa of old? + +Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected that Christ +was _more_ powerful, _more_ compassionate, if that were possible. At +least one would expect that His power and compassion would show itself +more and more, and make itself felt more and more, year by year, and age +by age; more and more healing disease; more and more comforting sorrow; +more and still more casting out cunning and evil spirits, till He had put +all under His feet. He Himself said it should be so. He always spoke of +His own kingdom as a thing which was to grow and increase by laws of its +own, men knew not how, but He knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His +kingdom was, He said, at first the smallest of all seeds; but it was to +grow, and take root, and spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the +very birds in the air lodged in the branches of it; and David’s words +should be fulfilled, “Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast.” And +does not St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom +which should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies under +His feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the earth on +which we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. Paul says, the +whole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to be raised into a +higher state. And it shall be raised. The whole creation shall be set +free into the glorious liberty of the children of God. + +What does that mean? How can I tell you? + +This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was merciful +enough to heal people’s bodies at first, but that He has given up doing +it now, and will never do it again. “Well, but,” some would say, “what +does all this come to? You are merely telling us what we knew +before—that if any of us are cured from disease, or raised up from a sick +bed, it is all the Lord’s doing.” If you do believe that, really, my +friends, happy are you! Many of you, I think, do believe it. The poor +are more inclined to believe it, I think, than the rich. But even in the +mouths of the poor one often hears words which make one suspect that they +do _not_ believe it. I am very much afraid that a great many have got +into the trick of saying that it was God’s mercy that they were cured, +and that it pleased the Lord to raise them up from a sick bed, very much +as a piece of cant. They say the words by rote, because they have been +accustomed to hear them said by others, without thinking of the meaning +of them; just as, on the other hand, a great many people curse and swear +without thinking of the awful oaths they use. Ay, and often enough the +very same persons will say that it was the Lord’s mercy they were cured +of their sickness; and then, if they get into a passion, pray the very +same Lord to do that to the bodies and souls of their neighbours which it +is a shame to speak of here. Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and +cursings: showing that whether or not they are in earnest in cursing, +they are not earnest in blessing. + +Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who +cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got well, +more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. They would show +forth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but in their lives. +You who believe—you who say—that Christ has cured your sicknesses, show +your faith by your works. Live like those who are alive again from the +dead; who are not your own, but bought with a price, and bound to work +for God with your bodies and your spirits, which are His—then, and then +only, can either God or man believe you. + +Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people do not +mean what they say about this matter. I think too many say, “It has +pleased God,” merely as an empty form of words, when all they mean is, +“What must be, must, and it cannot be helped.” Else, why do they say, +“It has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?” What is the use of +saying, “It has pleased the Lord to cure me,” when you say in the same +breath, “It has pleased the Lord to make me ill?” I know you will say +that, “Of course, whatever happens must be the Lord’s will; if it did not +please Him it would not happen.” I do not care for such words; I will +have nothing to do with them. I will neither entangle you nor myself in +those endless disputings and questions about freewill and necessity, +which never yet have come to any conclusion, and never will, because they +are too deep for poor short-sighted human beings like us. “To the law +and to the testimony,” say I. I will hold to the words of the Bible; +what it says, I will say; what it does not say I will not say, to please +any man’s system of doctrines. And I say from the Bible that we have no +more right to say, “It has pleased the Lord to make me sick,” than, “It +has pleased the Lord to make me a sinner.” Scripture everywhere speaks +of sickness as a real evil and a curse—a breaking of the health, and +order, and strength, and harmony of God’s creation. It speaks of madmen +as possessed with evil spirits; did _that_ please God? The woman who was +bowed with a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift herself up—did our +Lord say that it had pleased God to make her a wretched cripple? No; he +spoke of her as this daughter of Israel, whom Satan had bound, and not +God, this eighteen years; and that was His reason for healing her, even +on the sabbath-day, because her disease was not the work of God, but of +the cruel, disordering, destroying evil spirit which is at enmity with +God. That was why Christ cured her. And _that_—for this is the point I +have been coming to, step by step—that was the reason why, when John the +Baptist sent to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: “Go and +show John again those things which ye do see and hear: the blind receive +their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf +hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to +them.” + +Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant merely: +“Tell John what wonderful miracles I am working.” If He had meant that +why would He have put in as the last proof that He was the Christ, that +He was preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful miracle was +there in _that_? No: it was as if He had said: “Go and tell John that I +am the Christ, because I am the great physician, the healer and deliverer +of body and soul: one who will and can cure the loathsome diseases, the +uselessness, the misery, the ignorance of the poorest and meanest.” He +has proved Himself the Christ by showing not only His boundless power, +but His boundless love and mercy; and _that_, not only to men’s souls, +but to their bodies also. To prove Himself the Christ by wonderful and +astonishing miracles was exactly what He would not do. He refused, when +the Scribes and Pharisees came and asked of Him a sign from heaven to +prove that He was Christ—wanting Him, I suppose, to bring some +apparition, or fiery comet, or great voice out of the sky, to astonish +them with His power; He told them peremptorily that He would give them no +such thing: and yet He said that His mighty works did prove Him to be +Christ; He pronounced woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not +believing Him on account of His mighty works: He told the Scribes and +Pharisees that they ought to believe on Him merely for His works’ sake. +And why would they not believe on Him? Just because they could not see +that God’s power was shown more in healing and delivering sufferers, than +in astonishing and destroying. They could not see that God’s perfect +likeness shone out in Christ—that He was the express image of the Father, +just because He went about doing good, and healing all manner of +sicknesses and all manner of infirmities among the people. But so it is, +my friends! Jesus is the Saviour, the deliverer, the great physician, +the healer of soul and body. Not a pang is felt or a tear shed on earth, +but He sorrows over it. Not a human being on earth dies young, but He, +as I believe, sorrows over it. What it is which prevents Him healing +every sickness, soothing every sorrow, wiping away every tear _now_, we +cannot tell. But this we can tell, that it is His will that none should +perish. This we _can_ tell; that He is willing as ever to heal the sick, +to cleanse the leper, to cast out devils, to teach the ignorant, to bind +up the broken-hearted. This we _can_ tell; that He will go on doing so +more and more, year by year, and age by age. This we _can_ tell, from +Scripture, that Christ is stronger than the devil. This we can tell; +that Christ, and all good men, the spirits of just men made perfect, the +wise and the great in God’s sight, who have left us their books, their +sayings, their writings, as precious health-giving heirlooms—have been +fighting, and are fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil, +and sin, and oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which +spoils and darkens the face of God’s good earth. And this we _can_ tell; +that they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger than the +devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than darkness; God’s +Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is stronger than all +the evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness, and cruelty, and +superstition, which makes miserable the lives and, as far as we can see, +destroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say, Christ’s kingdom is a +kingdom of health and deliverance for body and soul; and it will conquer, +and it will spread, and it will grow, till the nations of the world have +become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. Christ reigns, and Christ +will reign till He has put all His enemies under His feet; and the last +of His enemies which shall be destroyed is _Death_. Death is His enemy. +He has conquered death by rising from the dead. And the day will come +when death will be no more—when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and +God shall wipe away tears from all eyes. I say it again—never forget +it—Christ is King, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, and life, and +deliverance from all evil. It always has been so, from the first time +our Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be so to the end of the +world. And, therefore—to come back to the very place from which I +started at the beginning of my sermon—therefore, whenever one of the days +of the Lord is at hand, whenever God’s kingdom makes a great step +forward, this same prophecy in our text is fulfilled in some striking and +wonderful way. And I say it is fulfilled now in these days more than it +ever has been. Christ is healing the sick, cleansing the leper, giving +sight to the blind, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the +poor, seven times more in these days in which we live than He did when He +walked upon earth in Judæa. + +Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure of all +diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, how many more +diseases are cured now than were formerly. One may say that the +knowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old. Nothing, my friends, +makes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and blessed time we live in, +and how Christ is showing forth mighty works among us, than this same +sudden miraculous improvement in the art of healing, which has taken +place within the memory of man. Any country doctor now knows more, thank +God, or ought to know, than the greatest London physicians did two +generations ago. New cures for deafness, blindness, lameness, every +disease that flesh is heir to, are being discovered year by year. Oh, my +friends! you little know what Christ is doing among you, for your bodies +as well as for your souls. There is not a parish in England now in which +the poorest as well as the richest are not cured yearly of diseases, +which, if they had lived a hundred years ago, would have killed them +without hope or help. And then, when one looks at these great and +blessed plans for what is called sanitary reform, at the sickness and the +misery which has been done away with already by attending to them, even +though they have only just begun to be put in practice—our hearts must be +hard indeed if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of +healing far more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first +apostles. + +But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days. Oh, my +friends! which shows Christ’s mercy most, to raise those who are already +dead, or to save those alive who are about to die? Those in this church +who have read history know as well as I, how in our forefathers’ time +people died in England by thousands of diseases which are scarcely ever +deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now actually vanished out of the +land, before the new light of medicine and of civilisation which Christ +has revealed to us in these days. For one child who lived and grew up in +old times, two live and grow up now. In London alone there are not half +as many deaths in proportion to the number of people as there were a +hundred years ago. And is not that a mightier work of Christ’s power and +love than if He had raised a few dead persons to life? + +And now for the last part of our Lord’s witness about Himself. To the +poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not _that_ coming true +in our days as it never came true before? Look back only fifty years, +and consider the difference between the doctrines which were preached to +the poor and the doctrines which are preached to them now. Look round +you and see how everywhere earnest and godly ministers have sprung up, of +all sects and opinions, as well as of the Church of England, not only to +preach the gospel in the pulpit, but to carry it to the sick bedside of +the lonely cottage, to the prison, and to those fearful sties, worse than +prisons, where in our great cities the heathen poor live crowded +together. Look at the teaching which the poor man can get now, compared +to what he used to—the sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the lending +libraries, the schools—just consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds +which are subscribed every year to educate the children of the poor, and +then say whether Christ is not working a mighty work among us in these +days. I know that not half as much is done as ought to be done in that +way; not half as much as will be done; and what is done will have to be +done better than it has been done yet; but still, can anyone in this +church who is fifty years old deny that there is a most enormous and +blessed improvement which is growing and spreading every year? Can +anyone deny that the gospel is preached to the poor now in a way that it +never was before within the memory of man? + +Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon—a sermon which proclaims to +you that Christ is _come_; yes, He is come—come never to leave mankind +again! Christ reigns over the earth, and will reign for ever. At +certain great and important times in the world’s history, like this +present time, times which He Himself calls “days of the Lord,” He shows +forth His power, and the mightiness and mercy of His kingdom, more than +at others. But still He is always with us; we have no need to run up and +down to look for Christ: to say, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring +Him down? Who shall descend into the deep to bring Him up? For the +kingdom of God, as He told us Himself, is among us, and within us. Yes, +within us. All these wonderful improvements and discoveries, all things +beneficial to men which are found out year by year, though they seem to +be of men’s invention, are really of Christ’s revealing, the fruits of +the kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who is teaching men, +though they too often will not believe it; though they disclaim God’s +Spirit and take all the glory to themselves. Truly Christ is among us; +and our eyes are held, and we see Him not. That is our English sin—the +sin of unbelief, the root of every other sin. Christ works among us, and +we will not own Him. Truly, Jesus Christ may well say of us English at +this day, There were ten cleansed, but where are the nine? How few are +there, who return to give glory to God! Oh, consider what I say; the +kingdom of God is among us now; its blessings are growing richer, fuller +among us every day. Beware, lest if we refuse to acknowledge that +kingdom and Christ the King of it, it be taken away from us, and given to +some other nation, who will bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and +brotherly kindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit +of God. + + + + +IV. +A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS. + + + FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + + Rejoice in the Lord always.—PHILIPPIANS iv. 4. + +THIS is the beginning of the Epistle for to-day, the Sunday before +Christmas. We will try to find out why it was chosen for to-day, and +what lesson we may learn from it. + +Now Christmas-time was always a time of rejoicing among many heathen +nations, and long before the Lord Jesus Christ came. That was natural +and reasonable enough, if you will consider it. For now the shortest day +is past. The sun is just beginning to climb higher and higher in the sky +each day, and bring back with him longer sunshine, and shorter darkness, +and spring flowers, and summer crops, and a whole new year, with new +hopes, new work, new lessons, new blessings. The old year, with all its +labours and all its pleasures, and all its sorrows and all its sins, is +dying, all but gone. It lies behind us, never to return. The tears +which we shed, we never can shed again. The mistakes we made, we have a +chance of mending in the year to come. And so the heathens felt, and +rejoiced that another year was dying, another year going to be born. + +And Christmas was a time of rejoicing too, because the farming work was +done. The last year’s crop was housed; the next year’s wheat was sown; +the cattle were safe in yard and stall; and men had time to rest, and +draw round the fire in the long winter nights, and make merry over the +earnings of the past year, and the hopes and plans of the year to come. +And so over all this northern half of the world Christmas was a merry +time. + +But the poor heathens did not know the Lord. They did not know who to +thank for all their Christmas blessings. And so some used to thank the +earth for the crops, and the sun for coming back again to lengthen the +days, as if the earth and sun moved of themselves. And some used to +thank false gods and ancient heroes, who, perhaps, never really lived at +all. And some, perhaps the greater number, thanked nothing and no one, +but just enjoyed themselves, and took no thought, as too many do now at +Christmas-time. So the world went on, Christmas after Christmas; and the +times of that ignorance, as St. Paul says, God winked at. But when the +fulness of time was come, He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to be +the judge and ruler of the world; and commanded all men everywhere to +repent, and turn from all their vanities to serve the living God, who had +made heaven and earth, and all things in them. + +He did not wish them to give up their Christmas mirth. No: all along He +had been trying to teach them by it about His love to them. As St. Paul +told them once, God had not left Himself without witness, in that He gave +them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with joy and +gladness. + +God did not wish them, or us, to give up Christmas mirth. The apostles +did not wish it. The great men, true followers of the apostles, who +shaped our Prayer-book for us, and sealed it with their life-blood, did +not wish it. They did not wish farmers, labourers, servants, masters, to +give up one of the old Christmas customs; but to remember who made +Christmas, and its blessings; in short, to rejoice in The Lord. Our +forefathers had been thanking the wrong persons for Christmas. +Henceforward we were to thank the right person, The Lord, and rejoice in +Him. Our forefathers had been rejoicing in the sun, and moon, and earth; +in wise and valiant kings who had lived ages before; in their own +strength, and industry, and cunning. Now they were to rejoice in Him who +made sun, and moon, and earth; in Him who sent wise and valiant kings and +leaders; in Him who gives all strength, and industry, and cunning; by +whose inspiration comes all knowledge of agriculture, and manufacture, +and all the arts which raise men above the beasts that perish. So their +Christmas joys were to go on, year by year while the world lasted: but +they were to go on rightly, and not wrongly. Men were to rejoice in The +Lord, and then His blessing would be on them, and the thanks and praise +which they offered Him, He would return with interest, in fresh blessings +for the coming year. + +Therefore, I think, this Epistle was chosen for to-day, the Sunday before +Christmas, to show us in whom we are to rejoice; and, therefore, to show +us how we are to rejoice. For we must not take the first verse of the +Epistle and forget the rest. That would neither be wise nor reverent +toward St. Paul, who wrote the whole, and meant the whole to stand +together as one discourse; or to the blessed and holy men who chose it +for our lesson on this day. Let us go on, then, with the Epistle, line +by line, throughout. + +“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” As much as to +say, you cannot rejoice too much, you cannot overdo your happiness, +thankfulness, merriment. You do not know half—no, not the thousandth +part of God’s love and mercy to you, and you never will know. So do not +be afraid of being too happy, or think that you honour God by wearing a +sour face, when He is heaping blessings on you, and calling on you to +smile and sing. But “let your moderation be known unto all men.” There +is a right and a wrong way of being merry. There is a mirth, which is no +mirth; whereof it is written, in the midst of that laughter there is a +heaviness, and the end thereof is death. Drunkenness, gluttony, indecent +words and jests and actions, these are out of place on Christmas-day, and +in the merriment to which the pure and holy Lord Jesus calls you all. +They are rejoicing in the flesh and the devil, and not in the Lord at +all; and whosoever indulges in them, and fancies them merriment, is +keeping the devil’s Christmas, and not Jesus Christ’s. So let your +moderation be known to all men. Be _merry and wise_. The fool lets his +mirth master him, and carry him away, till he forgets himself, and says +and does things of which he is ashamed when he gets up next morning, sick +and sad at heart. The wise man remembers that, let the occasion be as +joyful a one as it may, “the Lord is at hand.” Christ’s eye is on him, +while he is eating, and drinking, and laughing. He is not afraid of +Christ’s eye, because, though it is Divine it is a human, loving, smiling +eye; rejoicing in the happiness of His poor, hard-worked brothers here +below. But he remembers that it is a holy eye, too; an eye which looks +with sadness and horror on anything which is wrong; on all drunkenness, +quarrelling, indecency; and so on in all his merriment, he is still +master of himself. He remembers that his soul is nobler than his body; +that his will must be stronger than his appetite; and so he keeps himself +in check; he keeps his tongue from evil, and his stomach from +sottishness, and though he may be, and ought to be, the merriest of the +whole party, yet he takes care to let his moderation, his sobriety, be +known and plain to everyone, remembering that the Lord is at hand. + +And that man—I will stand surety for him—will be the one who will rise +from his bed next morning, best able to carry out the next verse of the +Epistle, and “be careful for nothing.” + +Now that is no easy matter here in England; to rich and poor, Christmas +is the time for settling accounts and paying debts. And therefore in +England, where living is dear, and everyone, more or less, struggling to +pay his way, Christmas is often a very anxious, disturbing time of year. +Many a family, for all their economy, cannot clear themselves at the +year’s end; and though they are able to forget that now and then, thank +God, through great part of the year, yet they cannot forget it at +Christmas. But, as I said, the man who at Christmas-time will be most +able to be careful for nothing, will be the man whose moderation has been +known to everyone; for he will, if he has lived the year through in the +same temper in which he has spent Christmas, have been moderate in his +expenses; he will have kept himself from empty show, and pretending to be +richer than he is. He will have kept himself from throwing away his +money in drink, and kept his daughters from throwing away money in dress, +which is just what too many, in their foolish, godless, indecent hurry to +get rid of their own children off their hands do not do. + +And he will be the man who will be in the best humour, and have the +clearest brain, to kneel down when he gets up to his daily work, and “in +everything, by prayer and supplication, make his requests known to God.” +And then, whether he can make both ends meet or not, whether he can begin +next year free from debt or not, still “the peace of God will keep his +heart.” He may be unable to clear himself, but still he will know that +he has a loving and merciful Father in heaven, who has allowed distress +and difficulty to come on him only as a lesson and an education. That +this distress came because God chose, and that when God chooses it will +go away—and that till then—considering that the Lord God sent it—it had +better _not_ go away. He will believe that God’s gracious promises stand +true—that the Lord will never let those who trust in Him be confounded +and brought to shame—that He will let none of us be tempted beyond what +we are able, but will always with the temptation make a way for us to +escape, that we may be able to bear it. And so the peace of God which +passes understanding, will keep that man’s mind. And in whom? “In Jesus +Christ.” Now what did St. Paul mean by putting in the Lord Jesus +Christ’s name there? what is the meaning of “in Jesus Christ”? This is +what it means; it means what Christmas-day means. A man may say, “Your +sermon promises fine things, but I am miserable and poor; it promises a +holy and noble rejoicing to everyone, but I am unholy and mean. It +promises peace from God, and I am sure I am not at peace: I am always +fretting and quarrelling; I quarrel with my wife, my children, and my +neighbours, and they quarrel with me; and worst of all,” says the poor +man, “I quarrel with myself. I am full of discontented, angry, sulky, +anxious, unhappy thoughts; my heart is dark and sad and restless within +me—would God I were peaceful, but I am not: look in my face and see!” + +True, my friend, but on Christmas-day the Son of God was born into the +world, a man like you. + +“Well,” says the poor man, “but what has that to do with my anxiety and +my ill-temper?” + +It would take the whole year through, my friend, to show you all that it +has to do with you and your unhappiness. All the Lessons, Epistles, and +Gospels of the year are set out to show you what it has to do with you. +But in the meanwhile, before Christmas-day comes, consider this one +thing: Why are you anxious? Because you do not know what is to happen to +you? Then Christmas-day is a witness to you, that whatsoever happens to +you, happens to you by the will and rule of Jesus Christ, The perfect +man; think of that. _The perfect man_—who understands men’s hearts and +wants, and all that is good for them, and has all the wisdom and power to +give us what is good, which we want ourselves. And what makes you +unhappy, my friends? Is it not at heart just this one thing—you are +unhappy because you are not pleased with yourselves? And you are not +pleased with yourselves because you know you ought not to be pleased with +yourselves; and you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves, +because you know, in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased +with you? What cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we find?—This. + +The child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew up in +poverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through all shame and +sorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the poor child of Bethlehem, is +Lord and King of heaven and earth. He will feel for us; He will +understand our temptations; He has been poor himself, that He might feel +for the poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He might feel for those +whose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the sins and felt the miseries +of the whole world, that He might feel for us when we are wearied with +the burden of life, and confounded by the remembrance of our own sins. + +Oh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on +Christmas-day; and that thought alone will be enough to fill you with +rejoicing and hope for yourselves and all the world, and with the peace +of God which passes understanding, the peace which the angels proclaimed +to the shepherds on the first Christmas night—“On earth peace, and good +will toward men”—and if God wills us good, my friend; what matter who +wishes us evil? + + + + +V. +CHRISTMAS-DAY. + + + He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a + slave.—PHILIPPIANS ii. 7. + +ON Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, if we had been at Rome, the great +capital city, and mistress of the whole world, we should have seen a +strange sight—strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts of law were +shut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no criminals punished. +The sorrow and the strife of that great city had stopped, in great part, +for three days, and all people were giving themselves up to merriment and +good cheer—making up quarrels, and giving and receiving presents from +house to house. And we should have seen, too, a pleasanter sight than +that. For those three days of Christmas-time were days of safety and +merriment for the poor slaves—tens of thousands of whom—men, women, and +children—the Romans had brought out of all the countries in the +world—many of our forefathers and mothers among them—and kept them there +in cruel bondage and shame, worked and fed, bought and sold, like beasts, +and not like human beings, not able to call their lives or their bodies +their own, forced to endure any shame or sin which their tyrants required +of them, and liable any moment to be beaten, tortured, or crucified at +the mercy of cruel and foul masters and mistresses. But on that +Christmas-day, according to an old custom, they were allowed for once in +the whole year to play at being free, to dress in their masters’ and +mistresses’ clothes, to say what they thought of them boldly, without +fear of punishment, and to eat and drink at their masters’ tables, while +their masters and mistresses waited on them. It was an old custom, that, +among the heathen Romans, which their forefathers, who were wiser and +better than they, had handed down to them. They had forgotten, perhaps, +what it meant: but still we may see what it must have meant: That the old +forefathers of the Romans had intended to remind their children every +year by that custom, that their poor hard-worked slaves were, after all, +men and women as much as their masters; that they had hearts and +consciences, and sense in them, and a right to speak what they thought, +as much as their masters; that they, as much as their masters, could +enjoy the good things of God’s earth, from which man’s tyranny had shut +them out; and to remind those cruel masters, by making them once every +year wait on their own slaves at table, that they were, after all, equal +in the sight of God, and that it was more noble for those who were rich, +and called themselves gentlemen, to help others, than to make others +slave for them. + +I do not mean, of course, that those old heathens understood all this +clearly. You will see, by the latter part of my sermon, why they could +not understand it clearly. But there must have been some sort of dim, +confused suspicion in their minds that it was wrong and cruel to treat +human beings like brute beasts, which made them set up that strange old +custom of letting their slaves play at being free once every +Christmas-tide. + +But if on this same day, 1851 years ago, instead of being in the great +city of Rome, we had been in the little village of Bethlehem in Judæa, we +might have seen a sight stranger still; a sight which we could not have +fancied had anything to do with that merrymaking of the slaves at Rome, +and yet which had everything to do with it. + +We should have seen, in a mean stable, among the oxen and the asses, a +poor maiden, with her newborn baby laid in the manger, for want of any +better cradle, and by her her husband, a poor carpenter, whom all men +thought to be the father of her child. . . . There, in the stable, amid +the straw, through the cold winter days and nights, in want of many a +comfort which the poorest woman, and the poorest woman’s child would +need, they stayed there, that young maiden and her newborn babe. That +young maiden was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that poor baby was the Son +of God. The Son of God, in whose likeness all men were made at the +beginning; the Son of God, who had been ruling the whole world all along; +who brought the Jews out of slavery, a thousand years before, and +destroyed their cruel tyrants in the Red Sea; the Son of God, who had +been all along punishing cruel tyrants and oppressors, and helping the +poor out of misery, whenever they called on Him. The Light which +lightens every man who comes into the world, was that poor babe. It was +He who gives men reason, and conscience, and a tender heart, and delight +in what is good, and shame and uneasiness of mind when they do wrong. It +was He who had been stirring up, year by year, in those cruel Romans’ +hearts, the feeling that there was something wrong in grinding down their +slaves, and put into their minds the notion of giving them their +Christmas rest and freedom. He had been keeping up that good old custom +for a witness and a warning that all men were equal in His sight; that +all men had a right to liberty of speech and conscience; a right to some +fair share in the good things of the earth, which God had given to all +men freely to enjoy. But those old Romans would not take the warning. +They kept up the custom, but they shut their eyes to the lesson of it. +They went on conquering and oppressing all the nations of the earth, and +making them their slaves. And now He was come—He Himself, the true Lord +of the earth, the true pattern of men. He was come to show men to whom +this world belonged: He was come to show men in what true power, true +nobleness consisted—not in making others minister to us, but in +ministering to them: He was come to set a pattern of what a man should +be; He was the Son of Man—THE MAN of all men—and therefore He had come +with good news to all poor slaves, and neglected, hard-worked creatures: +He had come to tell them that He cared for them; that He could and would +deliver them; that they were God’s children, and His brothers, just as +much as their Roman masters; and that He was going to bring a terrible +time upon the earth—“days of the Son of Man,” when He would judge all +men, and show who were true men and who were not—such a time as had never +been before, or would be again; when that great Roman empire, in spite of +all its armies, and its cunning, and its riches, plundered from every +nation under heaven, would crumble away and perish shamefully and +miserably off the face of the earth, before tribes of poor, untaught, +savage men, the brothers and countrymen of those very slaves whom the +Romans fancied were so much below them, that they had a right to treat +them like the beasts which perish. + +That was the message which that little child lying in the manger there at +Bethlehem, had been sent out from God to preach. Do you not see now what +it had to do with that strange merrymaking of the poor slaves in Rome, +which I showed you at the beginning of my sermon? + +If you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke says, the +shepherds in Judæa heard the angels sing, on this night 1851 years ago. +That song tells us the meaning of that babe’s coming. That song tells us +what that babe’s coming had to do with the poor slaves of Rome, and with +all poor creatures who have suffered and sorrowed on this earth, before +or since. + +“Glory to God in the highest,” they sang, “and on earth peace, good will +to men.” + +Glory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in the manger among +the cattle, was showing what was the very highest glory of the great God +who had made heaven and earth. Not to show His power and His majesty, +but to show His condescension and His love. To stoop, to condescend, to +have mercy, to forgive, that is the highest glory of God. That is the +noblest, the most Godlike thing for God or man. And God showed that when +He sent down His only-begotten Son—not to strike the world to atoms with +a touch, not to hurl sinners into everlasting flame, but to be born of a +village maiden, to take on Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow, +to which man is heir, even to death itself; to make Himself of no +reputation, and take on Himself the form of a slave, and forgive sinners, +and heal the sick, and comfort the outcast and despised, that He might +show what God was like—show forth to men, as a poor maiden’s son, the +brightness of God’s glory, and the express likeness of His person. + +“And on earth peace” they sang. Men had been quarrelling and fighting +then, and men are quarrelling and fighting now. That little babe in the +manger was come to show them how and why they were all to be at peace +with each other. For what causes all the war and quarrelling in the +world, but selfishness? Selfishness breeds pride, passion, spite, +revenge, covetousness, oppression. The strong care for themselves, and +try to help themselves at the expense of the weak, by force and tyranny; +the weak care for themselves in their turn, and try to help themselves at +the expense of the strong, by cunning and cheating. No one will +condescend, give way, sacrifice his own interest for his neighbour’s, and +hence come wars between nations, quarrels in families, spite and grudges +between neighbours. But in the example of that little child of +Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord, God was saying to men, “Acquaint +yourselves with Me, and be at peace.” God is not selfish; it is our +selfishness which has made us unlike God. God so loved the sinful world, +that He gave His only-begotten Son for it. Is that an action like ours? +The Son of God so obeyed His Father, and so loved this world, that He +made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the likeness of a slave, +and became obedient to death, even to the most fearful and shameful of +all deaths, the death of the cross; not for Himself, but for those who +did not know Him, hated Him, killed Him. In short, He sacrificed Himself +for us. That is God’s likeness. Self-sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the babe +of Bethlehem, proved Himself the Son of God, and the express likeness of +the Father, by sacrificing Himself for us. Sacrifice yourselves then for +each other! Give up your own pride, your own selfishness, your own +interest for each other, and you will be all at peace at once. + +But the angels sang, “Good will toward men.” Without that their song +would not have been complete. For we are all ready to say, at such words +as I have been speaking, “Ah! pleasant enough, and pretty enough, if they +were but possible; but they are not possible. It is in the nature of man +to be selfish. Men have gone on warring, grudging, struggling, +competing, oppressing, cheating from the beginning, and they will do so +to the end.” + +Yes, it is not in the _nature_ of man to do otherwise. In as far as man +yields to his nature, and is like the selfish brute beasts, it is not +possible for him to do anything but go on quarrelling, and competing, and +cheating to the last. But what man’s nature cannot do, God’s grace can. +God’s good will is toward you. He loves you, He wills—and if He wills, +what is too hard for Him?—He wills to raise you out of this selfish, +quarrelsome life of sin, into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of +righteousness. His spirit, the spirit of love by which He made and +guides all heaven and earth, the spirit of love in which He gave His only +Son for you, the spirit of love in which His Son Jesus Christ sacrificed +Himself for you, and took on Himself a meaner state than any of you can +ever have—the likeness of a slave—that spirit is promised to you, and +ready for you. That little baby in the manger at Bethlehem—God +sacrificing Himself for you in the spirit of love—is a sign that that +spirit of love is the spirit of God, and therefore the only right spirit +for you and me, who are men and women made in the image of God. That +babe in the manger at Bethlehem is a sign to you and me, that God will +freely give us that spirit of love if we ask for it. For He would not +have set us that example, if He had not meant us to follow it, and He +would not ask us to follow it, if He did not intend to give us the means +of following it. Therefore, my friends, it is written, Ask and ye shall +receive. If your heavenly Father spared not His own Son, but freely gave +Him for you, will He not with Him likewise freely give you all things? +Oh! ask and you shall receive. However poor, ignorant, sinful you may +be, God’s promises are ready for you, signed and sealed by the bread and +wine on that table, the memorial of Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem. Ask, +and you shall receive! Comfort from sorrow, peaceful assurance of God’s +good will toward you, deliverance from your sins, and a share in the +likeness of Him who on this day made Himself of no reputation, and took +on Him the form of a slave. + + + + +VI. +TRUE ABSTINENCE. + + + FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. + + I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.—1 COR. ix. 27. + +IN the Collect for this day we have just been praying to God, to give us +grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to our spirit, +we may follow His godly motions. + +Now we ought to have meant something when we said these words. What did +we mean by them? Perhaps some of us did not understand them. They could +not be expected to mean anything by them. But it is a sad thing, a very +sad thing, that people will come to church Sunday after Sunday, and +repeat by rote words which they do not understand, words by which they +therefore mean nothing, and yet never care or try to understand them. + +What are the words there for, except to be understood? All of you call +people foolish, who submit to have prayers read in their churches in a +foreign language, which none, at least of the poor, can understand. But +what right have you to call them foolish, if you, whose Prayer-books are +written in English, take no trouble to find out the meaning of them? +Would to Heaven that you would try to find out the meaning of the +Prayer-book! Would to Heaven that the day would come, when anyone in +this parish who was puzzled by any doctrine of religion, or by any text +in the Bible, or word in the Prayer-book, would come confidently to me, +and ask me to explain it to him! God knows, I should think it an honour +and a pleasure, as well as a duty. I should think no time better spent +than in answering your questions. I do beseech you to ask me, every one +of you, when and where you like, any questions about religion which come +into your minds. Why am I put in this parish, except to teach you? and +how can I teach you better, than by answering your questions? As it is, +I am disheartened, and all but hopeless, at times, about the state of +this parish, and the work I am trying to do here; because, though you +will come and hear me, thank God, willingly enough, you do not seem yet +to have gained confidence enough in me, or to have learnt to care +sufficiently about the best things, to ask questions of me about them. +My dear friends, if you wanted to get information about anything you +really cared for, you would ask questions enough. If you wanted to know +some way to a place on earth you would ask it; why not ask your way to +things better than this earth can give? But whether or not you will +question me I must go on preaching to you, though whether or not you care +to listen is more, alas! than I can tell. + +But listen to me, now, I beseech you, while I try to explain to you the +meaning of the words which you have been just using in this Collect. You +have asked God to give you grace to use abstinence. Now what is the +meaning of abstinence? Abstinence means abstaining, refraining, keeping +back of your own will from doing something which you might do. Take an +example. When a man for his health’s sake, or his purse’s sake, or any +other good reason, drinks less liquor than he might if he chose, he +abstains from liquor. He uses abstinence about liquor. There are other +things in which a man may abstain. Indeed, he may abstain from doing +anything he likes. He may abstain from eating too much; from lying in +bed too long; from reading too much; from taking too much pleasure; from +making money; from spending money; from right things; from wrong things; +from things which are neither right nor wrong; on all these he may use +abstinence. He may abstain for many reasons; for good ones, or for bad +ones. A miser will abstain from all sorts of comforts to hoard up money. +A superstitious man may abstain from comforts, because he thinks God +grudges them to him, or because he thinks God is pleased by the +unhappiness of His creatures, or because he has been taught, poor wretch, +that if he makes himself uncomfortable in this life, he shall have more +comfort, more honour, more reason for pride and self-glorification, in +the life to come. Or a man may abstain from one pleasure, just to be +able to enjoy another all the more; as some great gamblers drink nothing +but water, in order to keep their heads clear for cheating. All these +are poor reasons; some of them base, some of them wicked reasons for +abstaining from anything. Therefore, abstinence is not a good thing in +itself; for if a thing is good in itself, it can never be wrong. Love is +good in itself, and, therefore, you cannot love anyone for a bad reason. +Justice is good in itself, pity is good in itself, and, therefore, you +can never be wrong in being just or pitiful. + +But abstinence is not a good thing in itself. If it were, we should all +be bound to abstain always from everything pleasant, and make ourselves +as miserable and uncomfortable as possible, as some superstitious persons +used to do in old times. Abstinence is only good when it is used for a +good reason. If a man abstains from pleasure himself, to save up for his +children; if he abstains from over eating and over drinking, to keep his +mind clear and quiet; if he abstains from sleep and ease, in order to +have time to see his business properly done; if he abstains from spending +money on himself, in order to spend it for others; if he abstains from +any habit, however harmless or pleasant, because he finds it lead him +towards what is wrong, and put him into temptation; then he does right; +then he is doing God’s work; then he may expect God’s blessing; then he +is trying to do what we all prayed God to help us to do, when we said, +“Give us grace to use such abstinence;” then he is doing, more or less, +what St. Paul says he did, “Keeping his body under, and bringing it into +subjection.” + +For, see, the Collect does not say, “Give us grace to use abstinence,” as +if abstinence were a good thing in itself, but “to use such abstinence, +that”—to use a certain kind of abstinence, and that for a certain +purpose, and that purpose a good one; such abstinence that our flesh may +be subdued to our spirit; that our flesh, the animal, bodily nature which +is in us, loving ease and pleasure, may not be our master, but our +servant; so that we may not follow blindly our own appetites, and do just +what we like, as brute beasts which have no understanding. And our flesh +is to be subdued to our spirit for a certain purpose; not because our +flesh is bad, and our spirit good; not in order that we may puff +ourselves up and admire ourselves, and say, as the philosophers among the +heathen used, “What a strong-minded, sober, self-restraining man I am! +How fine it is to be able to look down on my neighbours, who cannot help +being fond of enjoying themselves, and cannot help caring for this +world’s good things. I am above all that. I want nothing, and I feel +nothing, and nothing can make me glad or sorry. I am master of my own +mind, and own no law but my own will.” The Collect gives us the true and +only reason, for which it is right to subdue our appetites; which is, +that we may keep our minds clear and strong enough to listen to the voice +of God within our hearts and reasons; to obey the motions of God’s Spirit +in us; not to make our bodies our masters, but to live as God’s servants. + +This is St. Paul’s meaning, when he speaks of keeping under his body, and +bringing it into subjection. The exact word which he uses, however, is a +much stronger one than merely “keeping under;” it means simply, to beat a +man’s face black and blue; and his reason for using such a strong word +about the matter is, to show us that he thought no labour too hard, no +training too sharp, which teaches us how to restrain ourselves, and keep +our appetites and passions in manful and godly control. + +Now, a few verses before my text, St. Paul takes an example from +foot-racers. “These foot-racers,” he says, “heathens though they are, +and only trying to win a worthless prize, the petty honour of a crown of +leaves, see what trouble they take; how they exercise their limbs; how +careful and temperate they are in eating and drinking, how much pain and +fatigue they go through to get themselves into perfect training for a +race. How much more trouble ought we to take to make ourselves fit to do +God’s work? For these foot-racers do all this only to gain a garland +which will wither in a week; but we, to gain a garland which will never +fade away; a garland of holiness, and righteousness, and purity, and the +likeness of Jesus Christ.” + +The next example of abstinence which St. Paul takes, is from the +prize-fighters, who were very numerous and very famous, in the country in +which the Corinthians lived. “I fight,” he says, “not like one who beats +the air;” that is, not like a man who is only brandishing his hands and +sparring in jest, but like a man who knows that he has a fight to fight +in hard earnest; a terrible lifelong fight against sin, the world, and +the devil; “and, therefore,” he says, “I do as these fighters do.” They, +poor savage and brutal heathens as they are, go through a long and +painful training. Their very practice is not play; it is grim earnest. +They stand up to strike, and be struck, and are bruised and disfigured as +a matter of course, in order that they may learn not to flinch from pain, +or lose their tempers, or turn cowards, when they have to fight. “And so +do I,” says St. Paul; “they, poor men, submit to painful and disagreeable +things to make them brave in their paltry battles. I submit to painful +and disagreeable things, to make me brave in the great battle which I +have to fight against sin, and ignorance, and heathendom.” “Therefore,” +he says, in another place, “I take pleasure in afflictions, in +persecutions, in necessities, in distresses;” and that not because those +things were pleasant, they were just as unpleasant to him as to anyone +else; but because they taught him to bear, taught him to be brave; taught +him, in short, to become a perfect man of God. + +This is St. Paul’s account of his own training: in the Epistle for to-day +we have another account of it; a description of the life which he led, +and which he was content to lead—“in much suffering, in stripes, in +imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watching, in fastings”—and an +account, too, of the temper which he had learnt to show amid such a life +of vexation, and suffering, and shame, and danger—“approving himself in +all things the minister of God, by pureness, by wisdom, by longsuffering, +by kindness, by the spirit of holiness, by love unfeigned;” “as dying, +and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet +always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet +possessing all things.”—In all things proving himself a true messenger +from God, by being able to dare and to endure for God’s sake, what no man +ever would have dared and endured for his own sake. + +“But”—someone may say—“St. Paul was an apostle; he had a great work to do +in the world; he had to turn the heathen to God; and it is likely enough +that he required to train himself, and keep strict watch over all his +habits, and ways of thinking and behaving, lest he should grow selfish, +lazy, cowardly, covetous, fond of ease and amusement. He had, of course, +to lead a life of strange suffering and danger; and he had therefore to +train himself for it. But what need have we to do as St. Paul did?” + +Just as much need, my good friends, if you could see it. + +Which of us has not to lead a life of suffering? We shall each and all +of us, have our full share of trouble before we die, doubt it not. + +And which of us has not to lead a life of danger? I do not mean bodily +danger; of that, there is little enough—perhaps too little—in England +now; but of danger to our hearts, minds, characters? Oh, my friends, I +pity those who do not think themselves in danger every day of their +lives, for the less danger they see around them, the more danger there +is. There is not only the common danger of temptation, but over and +above it, the worse danger of not knowing temptation when it comes. Who +will be most likely to walk into pits and mires upon the moor—the man who +knows that they are there around him, or the man who goes on careless and +light of heart, fancying that it is all smooth ground? Woe to you, young +people, if you fancy that you are to have no woe! Danger to you, young +people, if you fancy yourselves in no danger! + +“This is sad and dreary news”—some of you may say. Ay, my friends, it +would be sad and dreary news indeed; and this earth would be a very sad +and dreary place; and life with all its troubles and temptations, would +not be worth having, if it were not for the blessed news which the Gospel +for this day brings us. That makes up for all the sadness of the +Epistle; that gives us hope; that tells us of one who has been through +life, and through death too, yet without sin. That tells us of one who +has endured a thousand times more temptation than we ever shall, a +thousand times more trouble than we ever shall, and yet has conquered it +all; and that He who has thus been through all our temptations, borne all +our weaknesses, is our King, our Saviour, who loves us, who teaches us, +who has promised us His Holy Spirit, to make us like Himself, strong, +brave, and patient, to endure all that man or devil, or our own low +animal tempers and lusts, can do to hurt us. The Gospel for this day +tells us how He went and was alone in the wilderness with the wild +beasts, and yet trusted in God, His Father and ours, to keep Him safe. +How He went without food forty days and nights, and yet in His extreme +hunger, refused to do the least self-willed or selfish thing to get +Himself food. Is that no lesson, no message of hope for the poor man who +is tempted by hunger to steal, or tempted by need to do a mean and +selfish thing, to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore need and +hunger far worse than his, understands all his temptations, and feels for +him, and pities him, and has promised him God’s Spirit to make him +strong, as He himself was? + +Is it no comfort to young people who are tempted to vanity, and display, +and self-willed conceited longings, tempted to despise the advice of +their parents and elders, and set up for themselves, and choose their own +way—Is it no good news, I say, for them to hear that their Lord and +Saviour was tempted to it also, and conquered it?—That He will teach them +to answer the temptation as He did, when He refused even to let angels +hold Him over the temple, up between earth and heaven, for a sign and a +wonder to all the Jews, because God His Father had not bidden Him to do +it, and therefore He would not tempt the Lord His God? + +Is it no good news, again, to those who are tempted to do perhaps one +little outward wrong thing, to yield on some small point to the ways of +the world, in order to help themselves on in life, to hear that their +Lord and Saviour conquered that temptation too?—That he refused all the +kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, when the devil offered +them, because he knew that the devil could not give them to Him; that all +wealth, and power, and glory belonged to God, and was to be got only by +serving Him? + +Oh do you all, young people especially, think of this. As you grow up +and go out into life, you will be tempted in a hundred different ways, by +things which are pleasant—everyone knows that they are pleasant +enough—but wrong. One will be tempted to be vain of dress; another to be +self-conceited; another to be lazy and idle; another to be extravagant +and roving; another to be over fond of amusement; another to be over fond +of money; another to be over fond of liquor; another to go wrong, as too +many young men and young women do, and bring themselves, and those with +whom they keep company, and whom they ought, if they really love them, to +respect and honour, down into sin and shame. You will all be tempted, +and you will all be troubled; one by poverty, one by sickness, one by the +burden of a family, one by being laughed at for trying to do right. But +remember, oh remember, whenever a temptation comes upon you, that the +blessed Jesus has been through it all, and conquered all, and that His +will is, that you shall be holy and pure like Him, and that, therefore, +if you but ask Him, He will give you strength to keep pure. When you are +tempted, pray to Him: the struggle in your own minds will, no doubt, be +very great; it will be very hard work for you—sin looks so pleasant on +the outside! Poor souls, it is a sad struggle for you! Many a poor +young fellow, who goes wrong, deserves rather to be pitied than to be +punished. Well then, if no man else will pity him, Jesus, the Man of all +men, will. Pray to Him! Cry aloud to Him! Ask Him to make you +stout-hearted, patient, really manful, to fight against temptation. Ask +Him to give you strength of mind to fight against all bad habits. Ask +Him to open your eyes to see when you are in danger. Ask Him to help you +to keep out of the way of temptation. Ask Him, in short, to give you +grace to use such abstinence that your flesh may be subdued to your +spirit. And then you will not follow, as the beasts do, just what seems +pleasant to your flesh; no, you will be able to obey Christ’s godly +motions, that is, to do, as well as to love, the good desires which He +puts into your hearts. You will do not merely what is pleasant, but what +is right; you will not be your own slaves, you will be your own masters, +and God’s loyal and obedient sons; you will not be, as too many are, mere +animals going about in the shape of men, but truly men at heart, who are +not afraid of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or death itself, when they +are in the right path, about the work to which God has called them. + +But if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you must believe +that He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him to help you, you must +believe that He will and does help you—you must believe that it is He +Himself who has put into your hearts the very desire of being holy and +strong at all; and therefore you must believe that you can help +yourselves. Help yourselves, and He will help you. If you ask for His +help, He will give it. But what is the use of His giving it, if you do +not use it? To him who has shall be given, and he shall have more; but +from him who has not shall be taken away even what he seems to have. +Therefore do not merely pray, but struggle and try _yourselves_. Train +yourselves as St. Paul did; train yourselves to keep your temper; train +yourselves to bear unpleasant things for the sake of your duty; train +yourselves to keep out of temptation; train yourselves to be forgiving, +gentle, thrifty, industrious, sober, temperate, cleanly, as modest as +little children in your words, and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when +He sees you trying to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be +hard to educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at best—you will +find it a thousand times harder, though, if you are slaves to your own +fleshly sins. But the more you struggle against sin, the less hard you +will find it to fight; the more you resist the devil, the more he will +flee from you; the more you try to conquer your own bad passions, the +more God will help you to conquer them; it may be a hard battle, but it +is a sure one. No fear but that everyone can, if he will, work out his +own salvation, for it is God Himself who works in us to will and to do of +His good pleasure. All you have to do is to give yourselves up to Him, +to study His laws, to labour as well as long to keep them, and He will +enable you to keep them; He will teach you in a thousand unexpected ways; +He will daily renew and strengthen your hearts by the working of His +Spirit, that you may more and more know, and love, and do, what is right; +and you will go on from strength to strength, to the height of perfect +men, to the likeness of Jesus Christ the Lord, who conquered all human +temptations for your sake, that He might be a high-priest who can be +touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because He was tempted in +all points like as we are, yet without sin. + + + + +VII. +GOOD FRIDAY. + + + In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His + presence saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; + and He bare them and carried them all the days of old.—ISAIAH lxiii. + 9. + +ON this very day, at this very hour, 1817 years ago, hung one nailed to a +cross; bruised and bleeding, pierced and naked, dying a felon’s death +between two thieves; in perfect misery, in utter shame, mocked and +insulted by all the great, the rich, the learned of His nation; one who +had grown up as a man of low birth, believed by all to be a carpenter’s +son; without scholarship, money, respectability; even without a home +wherein to lay His head—and here was the end of His life! True, He had +preached noble words, He had done noble deeds: but what had they helped +Him? They had not made the rich, the learned, the respectable, the +religious believe on Him; they had not saved Him from persecution, and +insult, and death. The only mourners who stood by to weep over His dying +agonies were His mother, a poor countrywoman; a young fisherman; and one +who had been a harlot and a sinner. There was an end! + +Do you know who that Man was? He was your King; the King of rich and +poor; and He was your King, not in spite of His suffering all that shame +and misery, but just because He suffered it; because He chose to be poor, +and miserable, and despised; because He endured the cross, despising the +shame; because He took upon Himself to fulfil His Father’s will, all ills +which flesh is heir to—therefore He is now your King, the Saviour of the +world, the poor man’s friend, the Lord of heaven and earth. Is He such a +King as _you_ wish for? + +Is He the sort of King you want, my friends? Does He fulfil your notions +of what the poor man’s friend should be? Do you, in your hearts, wish He +had been somewhat richer, more glorious, more successful in the world’s +eyes—a wealthy and prosperous man, like Solomon of old? Are any of you +ready to say, as the money-blinded Jews said, when they demanded their +true King to be crucified, “We have no king but Cæsar?—Provided the +law-makers and the authorities take care of our interests, and protect +our property, and do not make us pay too many rates and taxes, that is +enough for us.” Will you have no king but Cæsar? Alas! those who say +that, find that the law is but a weak deliverer, too weak to protect them +from selfishness, and covetousness, and decent cruelty; and so Cæsar and +the law have to give place to Mammon, the god of money. Do we not see it +in these very days? And Mammon is weak, too. This world is not a shop, +men are not merely money-makers and wages-earners. There are more things +in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in that sort of philosophy. +Self-interest and covetousness cannot keep society orderly and peaceful, +let sham philosophers say what they will. And then comes tyranny, +lawlessness, rich and poor staining their hands in each other’s blood, as +we saw happen in France two years ago; and so, after all, Mammon has to +give place to Moloch, the fiend of murder and cruelty; and woe to rich +and poor when he reigns over them! Ay, woe—woe to rich and poor when +they choose anyone for their king but their real and rightful Lord and +Master, Jesus, the poor man, afflicted in all their afflictions, the Man +of sorrows, crucified on this day. + +Is He the kind of King you like? Make up your minds, my friends—make up +your minds! For whether you like Him or not, your King He was, your King +He is, your King He will be, blessed be God, for ever. Blessed be God, +indeed! If He were not our King; if anyone in heaven or earth was Lord +of us, except the Man of sorrows, the Prince of sufferers, what hope, +what comfort would there be? What a horrible, black, fathomless riddle +this sad, diseased, moaning world would be! No king would suit us but +the Prince of sufferers—Jesus, who has borne all this world’s griefs, and +carried all its sorrows—Jesus, who has Himself smarted under pain and +hunger, oppression and insult, treachery and desertion, who knows them +all, feels for them all, and will right them all, in His own good time. + +Believing in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish after +another, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the labourer who +tills the land worse housed than the horse he drives, worse clothed than +the sheep he shears, worse nourished than the hog he feeds—and yet not +despair: for the Prince of sufferers is the labourer’s Saviour; He has +tasted hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, oppression, and +neglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the moorside is His +brother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world has shared, when the +foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, while the Son of God +had not where to lay His head. He is the King of the poor, firstborn +among many brethren; His tenderness is Almighty, and for the poor He has +prepared deliverance, perhaps in this world, surely in the world to +come—boundless deliverance, out of the treasures of His boundless love. + +Believing in Jesus, we can pass by mines, and factories, and by dungeons +darker and fouler still, in the lanes and alleys of our great towns and +cities, where thousands and tens of thousands of starving men, and wan +women, and children grown old before their youth, sit toiling and pining +in Mammon’s prison-house, in worse than Egyptian bondage, to earn such +pay as just keeps the broken heart within the worn-out body;—ay, we can +go through our great cities, even now, and see the women, whom God +intended to be Christian wives and mothers, the slaves of the rich man’s +greed by day, the playthings of his lust by night—and yet not despair; +for we can cry, No! thou proud Mammon, money-making fiend! These are not +thine, but Christ’s; they belong to Him who died on the cross; and though +thou heedest not their sighs, He marks them all, for He has sighed like +them; though there be no pity in thee, there is in Him the pity of a man, +ay, and the indignation of a God! He treasures up their tears; He +understands their sorrows; His judgment of their guilt is not like thine, +thou Pharisee! He is their Lord, who said, that to those to whom little +was given, of them shall little be required. Generation after +generation, they are being made perfect by sufferings, as their Saviour +was before them; and then, woe to thee! For even as He led Israel out of +Egypt with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and signs and wonders, +great and terrible, so shall He lead the poor out of their misery, and +make them households like a flock of sheep; even as He led Israel through +the wilderness, tender, forbearing, knowing whereof they were made, +having mercy on all their brutalities, and idolatries, murmurings, and +backslidings, afflicted in all their afflictions—even while He was +punishing them outwardly, as He is punishing the poor man now—even so +shall He lead this people out in His good time, into a good land and +large, a land of wheat and wine, of milk and honey; a rest which He has +prepared for His poor, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath +it entered into the heart of man to conceive. He can do it; for the +Almighty Deliverer is His name. He will do it; for His name is Love. He +knows how to do it; for He has borne the griefs, and carried the sorrows +of the poor. + +Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! Look to the cross +this day! There hung your king! The King of sorrowing souls, and more, +the King of sorrows. Ay, pain and grief, tyranny and desertion, death +and hell, He has faced them one and all, and tried their strength, and +taught them His, and conquered them right royally! And, since He hung +upon that torturing cross, sorrow is divine, god-like, as joy itself. +All that man’s fallen nature dreads and despises, God honoured on the +cross, and took unto Himself, and blessed, and consecrated for ever. And +now, blessed are the poor, if they are poor in heart, as well as purse; +for Jesus was poor, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the +hungry, if they hunger for righteousness as well as food; for Jesus +hungered, and they shall be filled. Blessed are those who mourn, if they +mourn not only for their afflictions, but for their sins, and for the +sins they see around them; for on this day, Jesus mourned for our sins; +on this day He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; and they shall be +comforted. Blessed are those who are ashamed of themselves, and hate +themselves, and humble themselves before God this day; for on this day +Jesus humbled Himself for us; and they shall be exalted. Blessed are the +forsaken and the despised.—Did not all men forsake Jesus this day, in His +hour of need? and why not thee, too, thou poor deserted one? Shall the +disciple be above his Master? No; everyone that is perfect, must be like +his master. The deeper, the bitterer your loneliness, the more are you +like Him, who cried upon the cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou +forsaken Me?” He knows what that grief, too, is like. He feels for +thee, at least. Though all forsake thee, He is with thee still; and if +He be with thee, what matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, blessed +are those that weep now, for they shall laugh. It is those whom the Lord +loveth that He chasteneth. And because He loves the poor, He brings them +low. All things are blessed now, but sin; for all things, excepting sin, +are redeemed by the life and death of the Son of God. Blessed are wisdom +and courage, joy, and health, and beauty, love and marriage, childhood +and manhood, corn and wine, fruits and flowers, for Christ redeemed them +by His life. And blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed are weakness +and ugliness, blessed are agony and sickness, blessed the sad remembrance +of our sins, and a broken heart, and a repentant spirit. Blessed is +death, and blessed the unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection +day, for Christ redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things, +weak, as well as strong. Blessed are all days, dark, as well as bright, +for all are His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are His, for +ever. + +Therefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own sadness; ache on, +ye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own sorrows. Rejoice that you are +made free of the holy brotherhood of mourners, that you may claim your +place, too, if you will, among the noble army of martyrs. Rejoice that +you are counted worthy of a fellowship in the sufferings of the Son of +God. Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall come joy. Trust on; +for in man’s weakness God’s strength shall be made perfect. Trust on, +for death is the gate of life. Endure on to the end, and possess your +souls in patience for a little while, and that, perhaps, a very little +while. Death comes swiftly; and more swiftly still, perhaps, the day of +the Lord. The deeper the sorrow, the nearer the salvation: + + The night is darkest before the dawn; + When the pain is sorest the child is born; + And the day of the Lord is at hand. + +Ay, if the worst should come; if neither the laws of your country nor the +benevolence of the righteous were strong enough to defend you; if one +charitable plan after another were to fail; if the labour-market were +getting fuller and fuller, and poverty were spreading wider and wider, +and crime and misery were breeding faster and still faster every year +than education and religion; all hope for the poor seemed gone and lost, +and they were ready to believe the men who tell them that the land is +over-peopled—that there are too many of us, too many industrious hands, +too many cunning brains, too many immortal souls, too many of God’s +children upon God’s earth, which God the Father made, and God the Son +redeemed, and God the Holy Spirit teaches: then the Lord, the Prince of +sufferers, He who knows your every grief, and weeps with you tear for +tear, He would come out of His place to smite the haughty ones, and +confound the cunning ones, and silence the loud ones, and empty the full +ones; to judge with righteousness for the meek of the earth, to hearken +to the prayer of the poor, whose heart he has been preparing, and to help +the fatherless and needy to their right, that the man of the world may be +no more exalted against them. + +In that day men will find out a wonder and miracle. They will see many +that are first last, and many that are last first. They will find that +there were poor who were the richest after all; the simple who were +wisest, and gentle who were bravest, and weak who were strongest; that +God’s ways are not as men’s ways, nor God’s thoughts as men’s thoughts. +Alas, who shall stand when God does this? At least He who will do it is +Jesus, who loved us to the death; boundless love and gentleness, +boundless generosity and pity; who was tempted even as we are, who has +felt our every weakness. In that thought is utter comfort, that our +Judge will be He who died and rose again, and is praying for us even now, +to His Father and our Father. Therefore fear not, gentle souls, patient +souls, pure consciences and tender hearts. Fear not, you who are empty +and hungry, who walk in darkness and see no light; for though He fulfil +once more, as He has again and again, the awful prophecy before the text; +though He tread down the people in His anger, and make them drunk in His +fury, and bring their strength to the earth; though kings with their +armies may flee, and the stars which light the earth may fall, and there +be great tribulation, wars, and rumours of wars, and on earth distress of +nations with perplexity—yet it is when the day of His vengeance is at +hand, that the year of His redeemed is come. And when they see all these +things, let them rejoice and lift up their heads, for their redemption +draweth nigh. + +Do you ask how I know this? Do you ask for a sign, for a token that +these my words are true? I know that they are true. But, as for tokens, +I will give you but this one, the sign of that bread and that wine. When +the Lord shall have delivered His people out of all their sorrows, they +shall eat of that bread and drink of that wine, one and all, in the +kingdom of God. + + + + +VIII. +EASTER-DAY. + + + If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, + where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.—COLOSSIANS iii. 1. + +I KNOW no better way of preaching to you the gospel of Easter, the good +news which this day brings to all men, year after year, than by trying to +explain to you the Epistle appointed for this day, which we have just +read. + +It begins, “If ye then be risen with Christ.” Now that does not mean +that St. Paul had any doubt whether the Colossians, to whom he was +speaking, were risen with Christ or not. He does not mean, “I am not +sure whether you are risen or not; but perhaps you are not; but if you +are, you ought to do such and such things.” He does not mean that. He +was quite sure that these Colossians were risen with Christ. He had no +doubt of it whatsoever. If you look at the chapter before, he says so. +He tells them that they were buried with Christ in baptism, in which also +they were risen with Christ, through faith of the operation of God, who +has raised Him from the dead. + +Now what reason had St. Paul to believe that these Colossians were risen +with Jesus Christ? Because they had given up sin and were leading holy +lives? That cannot be. The Epistle for this day says the very opposite. +It does not say, “You are risen, because you have left off sinning.” It +says, “You must leave off sinning, because you are risen.” Was it then +on account of any experiences, or inward feeling of theirs? Not at all. +He says that these Colossians had been baptized, and that they had +believed in God’s work of raising Jesus Christ from the dead, and that +therefore they were risen with Christ. In one word, they had believed +the message of Easter-day, and therefore they shared in the blessings of +Easter-day; as it is written in another place, “If thou shalt confess +with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thy heart that God +has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” + +Now these seem very wide words, too wide to please most people. But +there are wider words still in St. Paul’s epistles. He tells us again +and again that God’s mercy is a free gift; that He has made to us a free +present of His Son Jesus Christ. That He has taken away the effect of +all men’s sin, and more than that, that men are God’s children; that they +have a right to believe that they are so, because they are so. For, He +says, the free gift of Jesus Christ is not like Adam’s offence. It is +not less than it, narrower than it, as some folks say. It is not that by +Adam’s sin all became sinners, and by Jesus Christ’s salvation an elect +few out of them shall be made righteous. If you will think a moment, you +will see that it cannot be so. For Jesus Christ conquered sin and death +and the devil. But if, as some think, sin and death and the devil have +destroyed and sent to hell by far the greater part of mankind, then they +have conquered Christ, and not Christ them. Mankind belonged to Christ +at first. Sin and death and the devil came in and ruined them, and then +Christ came to redeem them; but if all that He has been able to do is to +redeem one out of a thousand, or even nine out of ten, of them, then the +devil has had the best of the battle. He, and not Christ, is the +conqueror. If a thief steals all the sheep on your farm, and all that +you can get back from him is a part of the whole flock, which has had the +best of it, you or the thief? If Christ’s redemption is meant for only a +few, or even a great many elect souls out of all the millions of mankind, +which has had the best of it, Christ, the master of the sheep, or the +devil, the robber and destroyer of them? Be sure, my friends, Christ is +stronger than that; His love is deeper than that; His redemption is wider +than that. How strong, how deep, how wide it is, we never shall know. +St. Paul tells us that we never shall know, for it is boundless; but that +we shall go on knowing more and more of its vastness for ever, finding it +deeper, wider, loftier than our most glorious dreams could ever picture +it. But this, he says, we do know, that we have gained more than Adam +lost. For if by one man’s offence many were made sinners, much more +shall they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of +righteousness reign in life by one even Jesus Christ. For, he says, +where sin abounded, God’s grace and free gift has much more abounded. +Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to +condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon +all men to justification of life. Upon all men, you see. There can be +no doubt about it. Upon you and me, and foreigners, and gipsies, and +heathens, and thieves, and harlots—upon all mankind, let them be as bad +or as good, as young or as old, as they may, the free gift of God has +come to justification of life; they are justified, pardoned, and beloved +in the sight of Almighty God; they have a right and a share to a new +life; a different sort of life from what they are inclined to lead, and +do lead, by nature—to a life which death cannot take away, a life which +may grow, and strengthen, and widen, and blossom, and bear fruit for ever +and ever. They have a share in Christ’s resurrection, in the blessing of +Easter-day. They have a share in Christ, every one of them whether they +claim that share or not. How far they will be punished for not claiming +it, is a very different matter, of which we know nothing whatsoever. And +how far the heathen who have never heard of Christ, or of their share in +Him, will be punished, we know not—we are not meant to know. But we know +that to their own Master they stand or fall, and that their Master is our +Master too, and that He is a just Master, and requires little of him to +whom He gives little; a just and merciful Master, who loved this sinful +world enough to come down and die for it, while mankind were all rebels +and sinners, and has gone on taking care of it, and improving it, in +spite of all its sin and rebellion ever since, and that is enough for us. + +St. Paul knew no more. It was a mystery, he says, a wonderful and +unfathomable matter, which had been hidden since the foundation of the +world, of which he himself says that he saw only through a glass darkly; +and we cannot expect to have clearer eyes than he. But this he seems to +have seen, that the Lord, when He rose again, bought a blessing even for +the dumb beasts and the earth on which we live. For he says, the whole +creation is now groaning in the pangs of labour, being about to bring +forth something; and the whole creation will rise again; how, and when, +and into what new state, we cannot tell. But St. Paul seems to say that +when the Lord shall destroy death, the last of his enemies, then the +whole creation shall be renewed, and bring forth another earth, nobler +and more beautiful than this one, free from death, and sin, and sorrow, +and redeemed into the glorious liberty of the children of God. + +But this, on the other hand, St. Paul did see most clearly, and preached +it to all to whom he spoke, that the ground and reason of this great and +glorious mystery was the thing which happened on the first Easter-day, +namely, the Lord Jesus rising from the dead. About that, at least, there +was no doubt at all in his mind. We may see it by the Easter anthem, +which we read this morning, taken out of the fifteenth chapter of his +first epistle to the Corinthians: + +“Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that +slept. + +“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the +dead. + +“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” + +Now he is not talking here merely of the rising again of our bodies at +the last day. That was in his mind only the end, and outcome, and fruit, +and perfecting, of men’s rising from the dead in this life. For he tells +these same Corinthians, and the Colossians, and others to whom he wrote, +that life, the eternal life which would raise their bodies at the last +day, was even then working in them. + +Neither is he speaking only of a few believers. He says that, owing to +the Lord’s rising on this day, all shall be made alive—not merely all +Christians, but all men. For he does not say, as in Adam all Christians +die, but all men; and so he does not say, all Christians shall be made +alive, but all men. For here, as in the sixth chapter of Romans, he is +trying to make us understand the likeness between Adam and Jesus Christ, +whom he calls the new Adam. The first Adam, he says, was only a living +soul, as the savages and heathens are; but the second Adam, the Lord from +heaven, the true pattern of men, is a quickening, life-giving spirit, to +give eternal life to every human being who will accept His offer, and +claim his share and right as a true man, after the likeness of the new +Adam, Jesus Christ. + +We then, every one of us who is here to-day, have a right to believe that +we have a share in Christ’s eternal life: that our original sin, that is, +the sinfulness which we inherited from our forefathers, is all forgiven +and forgotten, and that mankind is now redeemed, and belongs to the +second Adam, the true and original head and pattern of man, Jesus Christ, +in whom was no sin; and that because mankind belongs to him, God is well +pleased with them, and reconciled to them, and looks on them not as a +guilty, but as a pardoned and beloved race of beings. + +And we have a right to believe also, that because all power is given to +Christ in heaven and earth, there is given to Him the power of making men +what they ought to be—like His own blessed, and glorious, and perfect +self. Ask him, and you shall receive; knock at the gate of His +treasure-house, and it shall be opened. Seek those things that are +above, and you shall find them. You shall find old bad habits die out in +you, new good habits spring up in you; old meannesses become weaker, new +nobleness and manfulness become stronger; the old, selfish, covetous, +savage, cunning, cowardly, brutal Adam dying out, the new, loving, +brotherly, civilised, wise, brave, manful Adam growing up in you, day by +day, to perfection, till you are changed from grace to grace, and glory +to glory into the likeness of the Lord of men. + +“These are great promises,” you may say, “glorious promises; but what +proof have you that they belong to us? They sound too good to be true; +too great for such poor creatures as we are; give us but some proof that +we have a right to them; give us but a pledge from Jesus Christ; give us +but a sign, an assurance from God, and we may believe you then.” + +My friends, I am certain—and the longer I live I am the more certain—that +there is no argument, no pledge, no sign, no assurance, like the bread +and the wine upon that table. Assurances in our own hearts and souls are +good, but we may be mistaken about them; for, after all, they are our own +thoughts, notions in our own souls, these inward experiences and +assurances; delightful and comforting as they are at times, yet we cannot +trust them—we cannot trust our own hearts, they are deceitful above all +things, who can know them? Yes: our own hearts may tell us lies; they +may make us fancy that we are pleasing God, when we are doing the things +most hateful to Him. They have made thousands fancy so already. They +may make us fancy we are right in God’s sight, when we are utterly wrong. +They have made thousands fancy so already. These hearts of ours may make +us fancy that we have spiritual life in us; that we are in a state higher +and nobler than the sinners round us, when all the while our spirits are +dead within us. They made the Pharisees of old fancy that their souls +were alive, and pure, and religious, when they were dead and damned +within them; and they may make us fancy so too. No: we cannot trust our +hearts and inward feelings; but that bread, that wine, we can trust. Our +inward feelings are a sign from man; that bread and wine are a sign from +God. Our inward feelings may tell us what we feel toward God: that +bread, that wine, tell us something ten thousand times more important; +they tell us what God feels towards us. And God must love us before we +can love Him; God must pardon us before we can have mercy on ourselves; +God must come to us, and take hold of us, before we can cling to Him; God +must change us, before we can become right; God must give us eternal life +in our hearts before we can feel and enjoy that new life in us. Then +that bread, that wine, say that God has done all that for us already; +they say: “God does love you; God has pardoned you; God has come to you; +God is ready and willing to change and convert you; God has given you +eternal life; and this love, this mercy, this coming to find you out +while you are wandering in sin, this change, this eternal life, are all +in His Son Jesus Christ; and that bread, that wine, are the signs of it.” +It is for the sake of Jesus’ blood that God has pardoned you, and that +cup is the new covenant in His blood. Come and drink, and claim your +pardon. It is simply because Jesus Christ was man, and you, too, are men +and women, wearing the flesh and blood which Christ wore; eating and +drinking as Christ ate and drank, and not for any works or faith of your +own, that God loves you, and has come to you, and called you into His +family. This is the Gospel, the good news of Christ’s free grace, and +pardon, and salvation; and that bread, that wine, the common food of all +men, not merely of the rich, or the wise, or the pious, but of saints and +penitents, rich and poor. Christians and heathens, alike—that plain, +common, every-day bread and wine—are the signs of it. Come and take the +signs, and claim your share in God’s love, in God’s family. And it is in +Jesus Christ, too, that you have eternal life. It is because you belong +to Jesus Christ, to mankind, of which He is the head and king, that God +will change you, strengthen your soul to rise above your sins, raise you +up daily more and more out of spiritual death, out of brutishness, and +selfishness, and ignorance, and malice, into an eternal life of wisdom, +and love, and courage, and mercifulness, and patience, and obedience; a +life which shall continue through death, and beyond death, and raise you +up again for ever at the last day, because you belong to Christ’s body, +and have been fed with Christ’s eternal life. And that bread, that wine +are the signs of it. “Take, eat,” said Jesus, “this is my body; drink, +this is my blood.” Those are the signs that God has given you eternal +life, and that this life is in His Son. What better sign would you have? +There is no mistaking their message; they can tell you no lies. And they +can, and will, bring your own Gospel-blessings to your mind, as nothing +else can. They will make you feel, as nothing else can, that you are the +beloved children of God, heirs of all that your King and Head has bought +for you, when He died, and rose again upon this day. He gave you the +Lord’s Supper for a sign. Do you think that He did not know best what +the best sign would be? He said: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Do you +think that He did not know better than you, and me, and all men, that if +you did do it, it would put you in remembrance of Him? + +Oh! come to His table, this day of all days in the year; and claim there +your share in His body and His blood, to feed the everlasting life in +you; which, though you see it not now, though you feel it not now, will +surely, if you keep it alive in you by daily faith, and daily repentance, +and daily prayer, and daily obedience, raise you up, body and soul, to +reign with Him for ever at the last day. + + + + +IX. +THE COMFORTER. + + + FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. + + If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I + depart, I will send Him unto you.—JOHN xvi. 7. + +WE are now coming near to two great days, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday, +which our forefathers have appointed, year by year, to put us continually +in mind of two great works, which the Lord worked out for us, His most +unworthy subjects, and still unworthier brothers. + +On Ascension-day He ascended up into Heaven, and received gifts for men, +even for His enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them; and on +Whit-Sunday, He sent down those gifts. The Spirit of God came down to +dwell in the hearts of men, to be the right of everyone who asks for it, +white or black, young or old, rich or poor, and never to leave this earth +as long as there is a human being on it. And because we are coming near +to these two great days, the Prayer-book, in the Collects, Epistles, and +Gospels, tries to put us in mind of those days, and to make us ready to +ask for the blessings of which they are the yearly signs and witnesses. +The Gospel for last Sunday told us how the Lord told His disciples just +before His death, that for a little while they should not see Him; and +again a little while and they should see Him, because he was going to the +Father, and that they should have great sorrow, but that their sorrow +should be turned into joy. And the Gospel for to-day goes further still, +and tells us why He was going away—that He might send to them the +Comforter, His Holy Spirit, and that it was expedient—good for them, that +He should go away; for that if He did not, the Comforter would not come +to them. Now, in these words, I do not doubt He was speaking of +Ascension-day, and of Whit-Sunday; and therefore it is that these Gospels +have been chosen to be read before Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday; and in +proportion as we attend to these Gospels, and take in the meaning of +them, and act accordingly, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be a +blessing and a profit to us; and in proportion as we neglect them, or +forget them, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be witnesses against our +souls at the day of judgment, that the Lord Himself condescended to buy +for us with His own blood, blessings unspeakable, and offer them freely +unto us, in spite of all our sins, and yet we would have none of them, +but preferred our own will to God’s will, and the little which we thought +we could get for ourselves, to the unspeakable treasures which God had +promised to give us, and turned away from the blessings of His kingdom, +to our own foolish pleasure and covetousness, like “the dog to his vomit, +and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” + +I said that God had promised to us an unspeakable treasure: and so He +has; a treasure that will make the poorest and weakest man among us, +richer than if he had all the wealth gathered from all the nations of the +world, which everyone is admiring now in that Great Exhibition in London, +and stronger than if he had all the wisdom which produced that wealth. +Let us see now what it is that God has promised us—and then those to whom +God has given ears to hear, and hearts to understand, will see that large +as my words may sound, they are no larger than the truth. + +Christ said, that if He went away, He would send down the Comforter, the +Holy Spirit of God. The Nicene Creed says, that the Holy Spirit of God +is the Lord and Giver of life; and so He is. He gives life to the earth, +to the trees, to the flowers, to the dumb animals, to the bodies and +minds of men; all life, all growth, all health, all strength, all beauty, +all order, all help and assistance of one thing by another, which you see +in the world around you, comes from Him. He is the Lord and Giver of +life; in Him, the earth, the sun and stars, all live and move and have +their being. He is not them, or a part of them, but He gives life to +them. But to men He is more than that—for we men ourselves are more than +that, and need more. We have immortal spirits in us—a reason, a +conscience, and a will; strange rights and duties, strange hopes and +fears, of which the beasts and the plants know nothing. We have hearts +in us which can love, and feel, and sorrow, and be weak, and sinful, and +mistaken; and therefore we want a Comforter. And the Lord and Giver of +life has promised to be our Comforter; and the Father and the Son, from +both of whom He proceeds, have promised to send Him to us, to strengthen +and comfort us, and give our spirits life and health, and knit us +together to each other, and to God, in one common bond of love and +fellow-feeling even as He the Spirit knits together the Father and the +Son. + +I said that we want a Comforter. If we consider what that word Comforter +means, we shall see that we do want a Comforter, and that the only +Comforter which can satisfy us for ever and ever, must be He, the very +Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver of life. + +Now Comforter means one who gives comfort; so the meaning of it will +depend upon what comfort means. Our word comfort, comes from two old +Latin words, which mean _with_ and _to strengthen_. And, therefore, a +Comforter means anyone who is with us to strengthen us, and do for us +what we could not do for ourselves. You will see that this is the proper +meaning of the word, when you remember what bodily things we call +comforts. You say that a person is comfortable, or lives in comfort, if +he has a comfortable income, a comfortable house, comfortable clothes, +comfortable food, and so on. Now all these things, his money, his house, +his clothes, his food, are not himself. They make him stronger and more +at ease. They make his life more pleasant to him. But they are not +_him_; they are round him, with him, to strengthen him. So with a +person’s mind and feelings; when a man is in sorrow and trouble, he +cannot comfort himself. His friends must come to him and comfort him; +talk to him, advise him, show their kind feeling towards him, and in +short, be with him to strengthen him in his afflictions. And if we +require comfort for our bodies, and for our minds, my friends, how much +more do we for our spirits—our souls, as we call them! How weak, and +ignorant, and self-willed, and perplexed, and sinful they are—surely our +souls require a comforter far more than our bodies or our minds do! And +to comfort our spirits, we require a spirit; for we cannot see our own +spirits, our own souls, as we can our bodies. We cannot even tell by our +feelings what state they are in. We may deceive ourselves, and we do +deceive ourselves, again and again, and fancy that our souls are strong +when they are weak—that they are simple and truthful when they are full +of deceit and falsehood—that they are loving God when they are only +loving themselves—that they are doing God’s will when they are only doing +their own selfish and perverse wills. No man can take care of his own +spirit, much less give his own spirit life; “no man can quicken his own +soul,” says David, that is, no man can give his own soul life. And +therefore we must have someone beyond ourselves to give life to our +spirits. We must have someone to teach us the things that we could never +find out for ourselves, someone who will put into our hearts the good +desires that could never come of themselves. We must have someone who +can change these wills of ours, and make them love what they hate by +nature, and make them hate what they love by nature. For by nature we +are selfish. By nature we are inclined to love ourselves, rather than +anyone else; to take care of ourselves, rather than anyone else. By +nature we are inclined to follow our own will, rather than God’s will, to +do our own pleasure, rather than follow God’s commandments, and therefore +by nature our spirits are dead; for selfishness and self-will are +_spiritual death_. Spiritual life is love, pity, patience, courage, +honesty, truth, justice, humbleness, industry, self-sacrifice, obedience +to God, and therefore to those whom God sends to teach and guide us. +_That_ is spiritual life. That is the life of Jesus Christ; His +character, His conduct, was like that—to love, to help, to pity, all +around—to give up Himself even to death—to do His Father’s will and not +His own. That was His life. Because He was the Son of God He did it. +In proportion as we live like Him, we shall he living like sons of God. +In proportion as we live like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our spirits +will be alive. For he that hath Jesus Christ the Son of God in him, hath +life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, says St. John. +But who can raise us from the death of sin and selfishness, to the life +of righteousness and love? Who can change us into the likeness of Jesus +Christ? Who can even show us what Jesus Christ’s likeness is, and take +the things of Christ and show them to us; so that by seeing what He was, +we may see what we should be? And who, if we have this life in us, will +keep it alive in us, and be with us to strengthen us? Who will give us +strength to force the foul and fierce and false thoughts out of our mind, +and say, “Get thee behind me, Satan?” Who will give our spirits life? +and who will strengthen that life in us? + +Can we do it for ourselves? Oh! my friends, I pity the man who is so +blind and ignorant, who knows so little of himself, upon whom the lessons +which his own mistakes, and sins, and failings should have taught him, +have been so wasted that he fancies that he can teach and guide himself +without any help, and that he can raise his own soul to life, or keep it +alive without assistance. Can his body do without its comforts? Then +how can his spirit? If he left his house, and threw away his clothes, +and refused all help from his fellow-men, and went and lived in the woods +like a wild beast, we should call him a madman, because he refused the +help and comfort to his body which God has made necessary for him. But +just as great a madman is he who refuses the help and the strengthening +which God has made necessary for his spirit—just as great a madman is he +who fancies that his soul is any more able than his body is, to live +without continual help. It is just because man is nobler than the beast +that he requires help. The fox in the wood needs no house, no fire; he +needs no friends; he needs no comforts, and no comforters, because he is +a beast—because he is meant to live and die selfish and alone; therefore +God has provided him in himself with all things necessary to keep the +poor brute’s selfish life in him for a few short years. But just because +man is nobler than that; just because man is not intended to live selfish +and alone; just because his body, and his mind, and his spirit are +beautifully and delicately made, and intended for all sorts of wonderful +purposes, therefore God has appointed that from the moment he is born to +all eternity he cannot live alone; he cannot support himself; he stands +in continual need of the assistance of all around him, for body, and +soul, and spirit; he needs clothes, which other men must make; houses, +which other man must build; food, which other men must produce; he has to +get his livelihood by working for others, while others get their +livelihood in return by working for him. As a child he needs his parents +to be his comforters, to take care of him in body and mind. As he grows +up he needs the care of others; he cannot exist a day without his +fellow-men: he requires school-masters to educate him; books and masters +to teach him his trade; and when he has learnt it, and settled himself in +life, he requires laws made by other men, perhaps by men who died +hundreds of years before he was born, to secure to him his rights and +property, to secure to him comforts, and to make him feel comfortable in +his station; he needs friends and family to comfort him in sorrow and in +joy, to do for him the thousand things which he cannot do for himself. +In proportion as he is alone and friendless he is pitiable and miserable, +let him be as rich as Solomon himself. From the moment, I say, he is +born, he needs continual comforts and comforters for his body, and mind, +and heart. And then he fancies that, though his body and his mind cannot +exist safely, or grow up healthily, without the continual care and +comforting of his fellow-men, that yet his soul, the part of him which is +at once the most important and the most in danger; the part of him of +which he knows least; the part of him which he understands least; the +part of him of which his body and mind cannot take care, because it has +to take care of them, can live, and grow, and prosper without any help +whatsoever! + +And if we cannot strengthen our own souls no man can strengthen them for +us. No man can raise our bodies to life, much less can he raise our +souls. The physician himself cannot cure the sicknesses of our bodies; +he can only give us fit medicines, and leave them to cure us by certain +laws of nature, which he did not make, and which he cannot alter. And +though the physician can, by much learning, understand men’s bodies +somewhat, who can understand men’s souls? We cannot understand our own +souls; we do not know what they are, how they live; whence they come, or +whither they go. We cannot cure them ourselves, much less can anyone +cure them for us. The only one who can cure our souls is He that made +our souls; the only one who can give life to our souls is He who gives +life to everything. The only one who can cure, and strengthen, and +comfort our spirits, is He who understands our spirits, because He +himself is the Spirit of all spirits, the Spirit who searcheth all +things, even the deep things of God; because He is the Spirit of God the +Father, who made all heaven and earth, and of Jesus Christ the Son, who +understands the heart of man, who can be touched with the feelings of our +infirmities, and hath been tempted in all things, just as we are, yet +without sin. + +He is the Comforter which God has promised to our spirits, the only +Comforter who can strengthen our spirits; and if we have Him with us, if +He is strengthening us, if He is leading us, if He is abiding with us, if +He is changing us day by day, more and more into the likeness of Jesus +Christ, are we not, as I said at the beginning of my sermon, richer than +if we possessed all the land of England, stronger than if we had all the +armies of the world at our command? For what is more precious than—God +Himself? What is stronger than—God Himself? The poorest man in whom +God’s Spirit dwells is greater than the greatest king in whom God’s +Spirit does not dwell. And so he will find in the day that he dies. +Then where will riches be, and power? The rich man will take none of +them away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him. +Naked came he into this world, and naked shall he return out of it, to go +as he came, and carry with him none of the comforts which he thought in +this life the only ones worth having. But the Spirit of God remains with +us for ever; that treasure a man shall carry out of this world with him, +and keep to all eternity. That friend will never forsake him, for He is +the Spirit of Love, which abideth for ever. That Comforter will never +grow weak, for He is Himself the very eternal Lord and Giver of Life; and +the soul that is possessed by Him must live, must grow, must become +nobler, purer, freer, stronger, more loving, for ever and ever, as the +eternities roll by. That is what He will give you, my friends; that is +His treasure; that is the Spirit-life, the true and everlasting life, +which flows from Him as the stream flows from the fountain-head. + + + + +X. +WHIT-SUNDAY. + + + The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, + gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—against such there + is no law.—GALATIANS v. 22, 23. + +IN all countries, and in all ages, the world has been full of complaints +of Law and Government. And one hears the same complaints in England now. +You hear complaints that the laws favour one party and one rank more than +another, that they are expensive, and harsh, and unfair, and what +not?—But I think, my friends, that for us, and especially on this +Whit-Sunday, it will be much wiser, instead of complaining of the laws, +to complain of ourselves, for needing those laws. For what is it that +makes laws necessary at all, except man’s sinfulness? Adam required no +laws in the garden of Eden. We should require no laws if we were what we +ought to be—what God has offered to make us. We may see this by looking +at the laws themselves, and considering the purposes for which they were +made. We shall then see, that, like Moses’ Laws of old, the greater part +of them have been added because of transgressions.—In plain English—to +prevent men from doing things which they ought not to do, and which, if +they were in a right state of mind, they would not do. How many laws are +passed, simply to prevent one man, or one class, from oppressing or +ill-using some other man or class? What a vast number of them are passed +simply to protect property, or to protect the weak from the cruel, the +ignorant from the cunning! It is plain that if there was no cruelty, no +cunning, no dishonesty, these laws, at all events, would not be needed. +Again, one of the great complaints against the laws and the government, +is that they are so expensive, that rates and taxes are heavy burdens—and +doubtless they are: but what makes them necessary except men’s sin? If +the poor were more justly and mercifully treated, and if they in their +turn were more thrifty and provident, there would be no need of the +expenses of poor rates. If there was no love of war and plunder, there +would be no need of the expense of an army. If there was no crime, there +would be no need of the expense of police and prisons. The thing is so +simple and self-evident, that it seems almost childish to mention it. +And yet, my friends, we forget it daily. We complain of the laws and +their harshness, of taxes and their expensiveness, and we forget all the +while that it is our own selfishness and sinfulness which brings this +expense upon us, which makes it necessary for the law to interfere and +protect us against others, and others against us. And while we are +complaining of the government for not doing its work somewhat more +cheaply, we are forgetting that if we chose, we might leave government +very little work to do—that every man if he chose, might be his own +law-maker and his own police—that every man if he will, may lead a life +“against which there is no law.” + +I say again, that it is our own fault, the fault of our sinfulness, that +laws are necessary for us. In proportion as we are what Scripture calls +“natural men,” that is, savage, selfish, divided from each other, and +struggling against each other, each for his own interest; as long as we +are not renewed and changed into new men, so long will laws, heavy, +severe, and burdensome, be necessary for us. Without them we should be +torments to ourselves, to our neighbours, to our country. But these laws +are only necessary as long as we are full of selfishness and ungodliness. +The moment we yield ourselves up to God’s law, man’s laws are ready +enough to leave us alone. Take, for instance, a common example; as long +as anyone is a faithful husband and a good father, the law does not +interfere with his conduct towards his wife and children. But it is when +he is unfaithful to them, when he ill-treats them, or deserts them, that +the law interferes with its “Thou shalt not,” and compels him to behave, +against his will, in the way in which he ought to have behaved of his own +will. It was free to the man to have done his duty by his family, +without the law—the moment he neglects his duty, he becomes amenable to +it. + +But the law can only force a man’s actions: it cannot change his heart. +In the instance which I have been just mentioning, the law can say to a +man, “You shall not ill-treat your family; you shall not leave them to +starve.” But the law cannot say to him “You shall love your family.” +The law can only command from a man outward obedience; the obedience of +the heart it cannot enforce. The law may make a man do his duty, it +cannot make a man _love_ his duty. And therefore laws will never set the +world right. They can punish persons after the wrong is done, and that +not certainly nor always: but they cannot certainly prevent the wrongs +being done. The law can punish a man for stealing: and yet, as we see +daily, men steal in the face of punishment. Or even if the law, by its +severity, makes persons afraid to commit certain particular crimes, yet +still as long as the sinful heart is left in them unchanged, the sin +which is checked in one direction is sure to break out in another. Sin, +like every other disease, is sure, when it is driven onwards, to break +out at a fresh point, or fester within some still more deadly, because +more hidden and unsuspected, shape. The man who dare not be an open +sinner for fear of the law, can be a hypocrite in spite of it. The man +who dare not steal for fear of the law, can cheat in spite of it. The +selfish man will find fresh ways of being selfish, the tyrannical man of +being tyrannical, however closely the law may watch him. He will +discover some means of evading it; and thus the law, after all, though it +may keep down crime, multiplies sin; and by the law, as St. Paul says, is +the knowledge of sin. + +What then will do that for this poor world which the law cannot do—which, +as St. Paul tells us, not even the law of God given on Mount Sinai, holy, +just, good as it was, could do, because no law can give life? What will +give men a new heart and a new spirit, which shall love its duty and do +it willingly, and not by compulsion, everywhere and always, and not +merely just as far as it commanded? The text tells us that there is a +Spirit, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, +gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; a character such as no +laws can give to a man, and which no law dare punish in a man. Look at +this character as St. Paul sets it forth—and then think what need would +there be of all these burdensome and expensive laws, if all men were but +full of the fruits of that Spirit which St. Paul describes? + +I know what answer will be ready, in some of your minds at least, to all +this. You will be ready to reply, almost angrily, “Of course if everyone +was perfect, we should need no laws: but people are not perfect, and you +cannot expect them to be.” My friends, whether or not _we_ expect +baptized people, living in a Christian country, to be perfect, God +expects them to be perfect; for He has said, by the mouth of His Son, our +Lord Jesus Christ, “Be ye therefore perfect, as our Father which is in +heaven is perfect.” And He has told us what being perfect is like; you +may read it for yourselves in His sermon on the Mount; and you may see +also that what He commands us to do in that sermon, from the beginning to +the end, is the exact opposite and contrary of the ways and rules of this +world, which, as I have shown, make burdensome laws necessary to prevent +our devouring each other. Now, do you think that God would have told us +to be perfect, if He knew that it was impossible for us? Do you think +that He, the God of truth, would have spoken such a cruel mockery against +poor sinful creatures like us, as to command us a duty without giving us +the means of fulfilling it? Do you think that He did not know ten +thousand times better than I what I have been just telling you, that laws +could not change men’s hearts and wills; that commanding a man to love +and like a thing will not make him love and like it; that a man’s heart +and spirit must be changed in him from within, and not merely laws and +commandments laid on him from without? Then why has He commanded us to +love each other, ay, to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to +pray for those who use us spitefully? Do you think the Lord meant to +make hypocrites of us; to tell us to go about, as some who call +themselves religious do go about, with their lips full of meek, and +humble, and simple, and loving words, while their hearts are full of +pride, and spite, and cunning, and hate, and selfishness, which are all +the more deadly for being kept in and plastered over by a smooth outside? +God forbid! He tells us to love each other, only because He has promised +us the spirit of love. He tells us to be humble, because He can make us +humble-hearted. He tells us to be honest, because He can make us love +and delight in honesty. He tells us to refrain ourselves from foul +thoughts as well as from foul actions, because He can take the foul heart +out of us, and give us instead the spirit of purity and holiness. He +tells us to lead new lives after the new pattern of Himself, because He +can give us new hearts and a new spring of life within us; in short, He +bids us behave as sons of God should behave, because, as He said Himself, +“If we, being evil, know how to give our children what is good for them, +much more will our heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who ask +him.” If you would be perfect, ask your Father in heaven to make you +perfect. If you feel that your heart is wrong, ask Him to give you a new +and a right heart. If you feel yourselves—as you are, whether you feel +it or not—too weak, too ignorant, too selfish, to guide yourselves, ask +Him to send His Spirit to guide you; ask for the Spirit from which comes +all love, all light, all wisdom, all strength of mind. Ask for that +Spirit, and you _shall_ receive it; seek for it, and you shall find it; +knock at the gate of your Father’s treasure-house, and it shall be surely +opened to you. + +But some of you, perhaps, are saying to yourselves, “How will my being +changed and renewed by the Spirit of God, render the laws less +burdensome, while the crime and sin around me remain unchanged? It is +others who want to be improved as much, and perhaps more than I do.” It +may be so, my friends; or, again, it may not; those who fancy that others +need God’s Spirit more than they do, may be the very persons who need it +really the most; those who say they see, may be only proving their +blindness by so saying; those who fancy that their souls are rich, and +are full of all knowledge, and understand the whole Bible, and want no +further teaching, may be, as they were in St. John’s time, just the ones +who are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked in soul, +and do not know it. But at all events, if you think others need to be +changed by God’s Spirit, _pray_ that God’s Spirit may change them. For +believe me, unless you pray for God’s Spirit for each other, ay, for the +whole world, there is no use asking for yourselves. This, I believe, is +one of the reasons, perhaps the chief reason, why the fruits of God’s +Spirit are so little seen among us in these days; why our Christianity is +become more and more dead, and hollow, and barren, while expensive and +intricate laws and taxes are becoming more and more necessary every year; +because our religion has become so selfish, because we have been praying +for God’s Spirit too little for each other. Our prayers have become too +selfish. We have been looking for God’s Spirit not so much as a means to +enable us to do good to others, but as some sort of mysterious charm +which was to keep us ourselves from the punishment of our sins in the +next life, or give us a higher place in heaven; and, therefore, St. +James’s words have been fulfilled to us, even in our very prayers for +God’s Spirit, “Ye ask and have not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it +upon your lusts”—save our selfish souls from the pains of hell; to give +our selfish souls selfish pleasures and selfish glorification in the +world to come: but not to spread God’s kingdom upon earth, not to make us +live on earth such lives as Christ lived; a life of love and +self-sacrifice, and continual labour for the souls of others. Therefore +it is, that God’s Spirit is not poured out upon us in these days; for +God’s Spirit is the spirit of love and brotherhood, which delivers a man +from his selfishness; and if we do not desire to be delivered from our +selfishness, we do not desire the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God +will not be bestowed upon us. And no man desires to be delivered from +his own selfishness, who in his very prayers, when he ought to be +thinking least about himself alone, is thinking about himself most of +all, and forgetting that he is the member of a family—that all mankind +are his brethren—that he can claim nothing for himself to which every +sinner around him has an equal right—that nothing is necessary for him, +which is not equally necessary for everyone around him; that he has all +the world besides himself to pray for, and that his prayers for himself +will be heard only according as he prays for all the world beside. +Baptism teaches us this, when it tells us that our old selfish nature is +to be washed away, and a new character, after the pattern of Christ, is +to live and grow up in us; that from the day we are baptized, to the day +of our death, we should live not for ourselves, but for Jesus, in whom +was no selfishness; when it teaches us that we are not only children of +God, but members of Christ’s Family, and heirs of God’s kingdom, and +therefore bound to make common cause with all other members of that +Family, to live and labour for the common good of all our fellow-citizens +in that kingdom. The Lord’s prayer teaches us this, when He tells us to +pray, not “My Father,” but “Our Father;” not “my soul be saved,” but “Thy +kingdom come;” not “give _me_,” but “give _us_ our daily bread;” not +“forgive _me_,” but “forgive _us_ our trespasses,” and that only as we +forgive others; not “lead _me_ not,” but “lead _us_ not into temptation;” +not “deliver _me_,” but “deliver _us_ from evil.” After _that_ manner +the Lord told us to pray; and, in proportion as we pray in that manner, +asking for nothing for ourselves which we do not ask for everyone else in +the whole world, just so far and no farther will God _hear_ our prayers. +He who asks for God’s Spirit for himself only, and forgets that all the +world need it as much as he, is not asking for God’s Spirit at all, and +does not know even what God’s Spirit is. The mystery of Pentecost, too, +which came to pass on this day 1818 years ago, teaches us the same thing +also. Those cloven tongues of fire, the tokens of God’s Spirit, fell not +upon one man, but upon many; not when they were apart from each other, +but when they were together; and what were the fruits of that Spirit in +the Apostles? Did they remain within that upper room, each priding +himself upon his own gifts, and trying merely to gain heaven for his own +soul? If they had any such fancies, as they very likely had before the +Spirit fell upon them, they had none such afterwards. The Spirit must +have taken all such thoughts from them, and given them a new notion of +what it was to be devout and holy: for instead of staying in that upper +room, they went forth instantly into the public place to preach in +foreign tongues to all the people. Instead of keeping themselves apart +from each other in silence, and fancying, as some have done, and some do +now, that they pleased God by being solitary, and melancholy, and +selfish—what do we read? the fruit of God’s Spirit was in them; that they +and the three thousand souls who were added to them, on the first day of +their preaching, “were all together, and had all things common, and sold +their possessions, and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man +had need, and continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and +breaking bread from house to house, did eat their bread in gladness and +singleness of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people.” +Those were the fruits of God’s Spirit in _them_. Till we see more of +that sort of life and society in England, we shall not be able to pride +ourselves on having much of God’s Spirit among us. + +But above all, if anything will teach us that the strength of God’s +Spirit is not a strength which we must ask for for ourselves alone; that +the blessings of God’s kingdom are blessings which we cannot have in +order to keep them to ourselves, but can only enjoy in as far as we share +them with those around us; if anything, I say, ought to teach us that +lesson, it is the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Just consider a +moment, my friends, what a strange thing it is, if we will think of it, +that the Lord’s Supper, the most solemn and sacred thing with which a man +can have to do upon earth, is just a thing which he cannot transact for +himself, or by himself. Not alone in secret, in his chamber, but, +whether he will or not, in the company of others, not merely in the +company of his own private friends, but in the company of any or +everyone, rich or poor, who chooses to kneel beside him; he goes with +others, rich and poor alike, to the Lord’s Table, and there the same +bread, and the same wine, is shared among all by the same priest. If +that means anything, it means this—that rich and poor alike draw life for +their souls from the same well, not for themselves only, not apart from +each other, but all in common, all together, because they are brothers, +members of one family, as the leaves are members of the same tree; that +as the same bread and the same wine are needed to nourish the bodies of +all, the same spirit of God is needed to nourish the souls of all; and +that we cannot have this spirit, except as members of a body, any more +than a man’s limb can have life when it is cut off and parted from him. +This is the reason, and the only reason, why Protestant clergymen are +forbidden, thank God! to give the Holy Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, to +any one person singly. If a clergyman were to administer the Lord’s +Supper, to himself in private, without any congregation to partake with +him, it would not be the Lord’s Supper, it would be nothing, and worse +than nothing; it would be a sham and a mockery, and, I believe, a sin. I +do not believe that Christ would be present, that God’s Spirit would rest +on that man. For our Lord says, that it is where two or three are +gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst of them. And it +was at a supper, at a feast, where all the Apostles were met together, +that our Lord divided the bread amongst them, and told them to share the +cup amongst themselves, just as a sign that they were all members of one +body—that the welfare of each of them was bound up in the welfare of all +the rest that God’s blessing did not rest upon each singly, but upon all +together. And it is just because we have forgotten this, my +friends—because we have forgotten that we are all brothers and sisters, +children of one family, members of one body—because in short, we have +carried our selfishness into our very religion, and up to the altar of +God, that we neglect the Lord’s Supper as we do. People neglect the +Lord’s Supper because they either do not know or do not like that, of +which the Lord’s Supper is the token and warrant. It is not merely that +they feel themselves unfit for the Lord’s Supper, because they are not in +love and charity with all men. Oh! my dear friends, do not some of your +hearts tell you, that the reason why you stay away from the Lord’s Supper +is because you do not _wish_ to be fit for the Lord’s Supper—because you +do not like to be in love and charity with all men—because you do not +wish to be reminded that you are equals in God’s sight, all equally +sinful, all equally pardoned—and to see people whom you dislike or +despise, kneeling by your side, and partaking of the same bread and wine +with you, as a token that God sees no difference between you and them; +that God looks upon you all as brothers, however little brotherly love or +fellow-feeling there may be, alas! between you? Or, again, do not some +of you stay away from the Lord’s Supper, because you see no good in +going? because it seems to make those who go no better than they were +before? Shall I tell you the reason of that? Shall I tell you why, as +is too true, too many do come to the Lord’s Supper, and so far from being +the better for it, seem only the worse? Because they come to it in +selfishness. We have fallen into the same false and unscriptural way of +looking at the Lord’s Supper, into which the Papists have. People go to +the Lord’s Supper nowadays too much to get some private good for their +own souls, and it would not matter to many of them, I am afraid, if not +another person in the parish received it, provided they can get, as they +fancy, the same blessing from it. Thus they come to it in an utterly +false and wrong temper of mind. Instead of coming as members of Christ’s +body, to get from Him life and strength, to work, in their places, as +members of that body, they come to get something for themselves, as if +there was nobody else’s soul in the world to be saved but their own. +Instead of coming to ask for the Spirit of God to deliver them from their +selfishness, and make them care less about themselves, and more about all +around them, they come to ask for the Spirit of God because they think it +will make themselves higher and happier in heaven. And of course they do +not get what they come for, because they come for the wrong thing. Thus +those who see them, begin to fancy that the Lord’s Supper is not, after +all, so very important for the salvation of their souls; and not finding +in the Bible actually written these words, “Thou shalt perish +everlastingly unless thou take the Lord’s Supper,” they end by staying +away from it, and utterly neglecting it, they and their children after +them; preferring their own selfishness, to God’s Spirit of love, and +saying, like Esau of old, “I am hungry, and I must live. I must get on +in this selfish world by following its selfish ways; what is the use of a +spirit of love and brotherhood to me? If I were to obey the Gospel, and +sacrifice my own interest for those around me, I should starve; what good +will my birthright do me?” + +Oh! my friends, I pray God that some of you, at least, may change your +mind. I pray God that some of you may see at last, that all the misery +and the burdens of this time, spring from one root, which is selfishness; +and that the reason why we are selfish, is because we have not with us +the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of brotherhood and love. Let us +pray God now, and henceforth, to take that selfishness out of all our +hearts. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to pour upon us, and upon +all our countrymen, ay, and upon the whole world, the spirit of +friendship and fellow-feeling, the spirit which when men have among them, +they need no laws to keep them from supplanting, and oppressing, and +devouring each other, because its fruits are love, cheerfulness, peace, +long suffering, gentleness, goodness, honesty, meekness, temperance Then +there will be no need, my friends, for me to call you to the Supper of +the Lord. You will no more think of staying away from it, than the +Apostles did, when the Spirit was poured out on them. For what do we +read that they did after the first Whit-Sunday? That altogether with one +accord, they broke bread daily; that is, partook of the Lord’s Supper +every day, from house to house. They did not need to be told to do it. +They did it, as I may say, by instinct. There was no question or +argument about it in their minds. They had found out that they were all +brothers, with one common cause in joy and sorrow—that they were all +members of one body—that the life of their souls came from one root and +spring, from one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the light and the life of +men, in whom they were all one, members of each other; and therefore, +they delighted in that Lord’s Supper, just because it brought them +together; just because it was a sign and a token to them that they did +belong to each other, that they had one Lord, one faith, one interest, +one common cause for this life, and for all eternity. And therefore the +blessing of that Lord’s Supper did come to them, and in it they did +receive strength to live like children of God and members of Christ, and +brothers to each other and to all mankind. They proved by their actions +what that Communion Feast, that Sacrament of Brotherhood, had done for +them. They proved it by not counting their own lives dear to them, but +going forth in the face of poverty and persecution, and death itself, to +preach to the whole world the good news that Christ was their King. They +proved it by their conduct to each other when they had all things in +common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as +every man had need. They proved it by needing no laws to bind them to +each other from without, because they were bound to each other from +within, by the love which comes down from God, and is the very bond of +peace, and of every virtue which becomes a man. + + + + +XI. +ASCENSION-DAY. + + + And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his + hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, + he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they + worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy; and were + continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.—LUKE xxiv. + 50–53. + +ON this day it is fit and proper for us—if we have understood, and +enjoyed, and profited by the wonder of the Lord’s Ascension into +Heaven—to be in the same state of mind as the Apostles were after His +Ascension: for what was right for them is right for us and for all men; +the same effects which it produced on them it ought to produce on us. +And we may know whether we are in the state in which Christian men ought +to be, by seeing how far we are in the same state of mind as the Apostles +were. Now the text tells us in what state of mind they were; how that, +after the Lord Jesus was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven, +they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy, and were +continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. It seems at first +sight certainly very strange that they should go back with great joy. +They had just lost their Teacher, their Master—One who had been more to +them than all friends and fathers could be; One who had taken them, poor +simple fishermen, and changed the whole course of their lives, and taught +them things which He had taught to no one else, and given them a great +and awful work to do—the work of changing the ways and thoughts and +doings of the whole world. He had sent them out—eleven unlettered +working men—to fight against the sin and the misery of the whole world. +And He had given them open warning of what they were to expect; that by +it they should win neither credit, nor riches, nor ease, nor anything +else that the world thinks worth having. He gave them fair warning that +the world would hate them, and try to crush them. He told them, as the +Gospel for to-day says, that they should be driven out of the churches; +that the religious people, as well as the irreligious, would be against +them; that the time would come when those who killed them would think +that they did God service; that nothing but labour, and want, and +persecution, and slander, and torture, and death was before them—and now +He had gone away and left them. He had vanished up into the empty air. +They were to see His face, and hear His voice no more. They were to have +no more of His advice, no more of His teaching, no more of His tender +comfortings; they were to be alone in the world—eleven poor working men, +with the whole world against them, and so great a business to do that +they would not have time to get their bread by the labour of their hands. +Is it not wonderful that they did not sit down in despair, and say, “What +will become of us?” Is it not wonderful that they did not give +themselves up to grief at losing the Teacher who was worth all the rest +of the world put together? Is it not wonderful that they did not go +back, each one to his old trade, to his fishing and to his daily labour, +saying, “At all events we must eat; at all events we must get our +livelihood;” and end, as they had begun, in being mere labouring men, of +whom the world would never have heard a word? And instead of that we +read that they went back with great joy not to their homes but to +Jerusalem, the capital city of their country, and “were continually in +the temple blessing and praising God.” Well, my friends, and if it is +possible for one man to judge what another man would have done—if it is +possible to guess what we should have done in their case—common-sense +must show us this, that if He was merely their Teacher, they would have +either given themselves up to despair, or gone back, some to their +plough, some to their fishing-nets, and some, like Matthew, to their +counting-houses, and we should never have heard a word of them. But if +you will look in your Bibles, you will find that they thought Him much +more than a teacher—that they thought Him to be the Lord and King of the +whole world; and you will find that the great joy with which the +disciples went back, after He ascended into heaven, came from certain +very strange words that He had been speaking to them just before He +ascended—words about which they could have but two opinions: either they +must have thought that they were utter falsehood, and self-conceit, and +blasphemy; and that Jesus, who had been all along speaking to them such +words of wisdom and holiness as never man spake before, had suddenly +changed His whole character at the last, and become such a sort of person +as it is neither fit for me to speak of, or you to hear me speak of, in +God’s church, and in Jesus Christ’s hearing, even though it be merely for +the sake of argument; or else they must have thought _this_ about His +words, that they were the most joyful and blessed words that ever had +been spoken on the earth; that they were the best of all news; the most +complete of all Gospels for this poor sinful world; that what Jesus had +said about Himself was true; and that as long as it was true, it did not +matter in the least what became of them; it did not matter in the least +what difficulties stood in their way, for they would be certain to +conquer them all; it did not matter in the least how men might persecute +and slander them, for they would be sure to get their reward; it did not +matter in the least how miserable and sinful the world might be just +then, for it was certain to be changed, and converted, and brought to +God, to righteousness, to love, to freedom, to light, at last. + +If you look at the various accounts, in the four gospels, of the Lord’s +last words on earth, you will see, surely, what I mean. Let us take them +one by one. + +St. Matthew tells us that, a few days before the Lord’s ascension, He met +His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where he had appointed them to +await him; and there told them, that all power was given to Him in heaven +and earth. Was not that blessed news—was not that a gospel? That all +the power in heaven and earth belonged to _Him_? To Him, who had all His +life been doing good? To Him, in whom there had never been one single +stain of tyranny or selfishness? To Him, who had been the friend of +publicans and sinners? To Him, who had rebuked the very richest, and +loved the very poorest? To him, who had shown that He had both the power +and the will to heal every kind of sickness and disease? To Him, who had +conquered and driven out, wherever He met them, all the evil spirits +which enslave and torment poor sinful men? To Him, who had shown by +rising from the dead, that He was stronger than even death itself? To +Him, who had declared that He was the Son of God the Father, that the +great God who had made heaven and earth, and all therein, was perfectly +pleased and satisfied with Him, that He was come to do His Father’s will, +and not His own; that He was the ancient Lord of the earth, the I AM who +was before Abraham? And He was now to have all power in heaven and +earth! Everything which was done right in the world henceforth, was to +be His doing. The kingdom and rule over the whole universe, was to be +His. So He said; and His disciples believed Him; and if they believed +Him, how could they but rejoice? How could they but rejoice at the +glorious thought that He, the son of the village maiden, the champion of +the poor and the suffering, was to have the government of the world for +ever? That He, who all the while He had been on earth had showed that He +was perfect justice, perfect love, perfect humanity, was to reign till He +had put all His enemies under His feet? How could the world but prosper +under such a King as that? How could wickedness triumph, while He, the +perfectly righteous one, was King? How could misery triumph, while He, +the perfectly merciful one, was King? How could ignorance triumph, while +He, the perfectly wise one, who had declared that God the Father hid +nothing from Him, was King? Unless the disciples had been more dull and +selfish than the dumb beasts around them, what could they do but rejoice +at that news? What matter to them if Jesus were taken out of their +sight, as long as all power was given to Him in heaven and earth? + +But He had told them more. He had told them that they were not to keep +this glorious secret to themselves. No: they were to go forth and preach +the gospel of it, the good news of it, to every creature—to preach the +gospel of the kingdom of God. The good news that God was the King of +men, after all; that cruel tyrants and oppressors, and conquerors, were +not their kings; that neither the storms over their heads, nor the earth +under their feet, nor the clouds and the rivers whom the heathens used to +worship in the hope of persuading the earth and the weather to be +favourable to them, and bless their harvests, were their kings; that +idols of wood and stone, and evil spirits of lust, and cruelty, and +covetousness, were not their kings; but that God was their King; that He +loved them, He pitied them in spite of all their sins; that He had sent +His only begotten Son into the world to teach them, to live for them—to +die for them—to claim them for His own. And, therefore, they were to go +and baptize all nations, as a sign that they were to repent, and change, +and put away all their old false and evil heathen life, and rise to a new +life, they and their children after them, as God’s children, God’s +family, brothers of the Son of God. And they were to baptize them into a +name; showing that they belonged to those into whose name they were +baptized; into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. +They were to be baptized into the name of the Father, as a sign that God +was their Father, and they His children. They were to be baptized into +the name of the Son, as a sign that the Son, Jesus Christ, was their King +and head; and not merely their King and head, but their Saviour, who had +taken away the sin of the world, and redeemed it for God, with His own +most precious blood; and not merely their Saviour, but their pattern; +that they might know that they were bound to become as far as is possible +for mortal man such sons of God as Jesus himself had been, like Him +obedient, pure, forgiving, brotherly, caring for each other and not for +themselves, doing their heavenly Father’s will and not their own. And +they were to baptize all nations into the name of the Holy Spirit, for a +sign that God’s Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, would be with them, +to give them new life, new holiness, new manfulness; to teach, and guide, +and strengthen them for ever. That was the gospel which they had to +preach. The good news that the Son of God was the King of men. That was +the name into which they were to baptize all nations—the name of children +of God, members of Christ, heirs of a heavenly and spiritual kingdom, +which should go on age after age, for ever, growing and spreading men +knew not how, as the grains of mustard-seed, which at first the least of +all seeds, grows up into a great tree, and the birds of the air come and +lodge in the branches of it—to go on, I say, from age to age, improving, +cleansing, and humanising, and teaching the whole world, till the +kingdoms of the earth became the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. That +was the work which the Apostles had given them to do. Do you not see, +friends, that unless those Apostles had been the most selfish of men, +unless all they cared for was their own gain and comfort, they must have +rejoiced? The whole world was to be set right—what matter what happened +to them? And, therefore, I said at the beginning of my sermon, that a +sure way to know whether our minds were in a right state, was to see +whether we felt about it as the Apostles felt. The Bible tells us to +rejoice always, to praise and give thanks to God always. If we believe +what the Apostles believed, we shall be joyful; if we do not, we shall +not be joyful. If we believe in the words which the Lord spoke before He +ascended on high, we shall be joyful. If we believe that all power in +heaven and earth is His, we shall be joyful. If we believe that the son +of the village maiden has ascended up on high, and received gifts for +men, we shall be joyful. If we believe that, as our baptism told us, God +is our Father, the Son of God our Saviour, the Spirit of God ready to +teach and guide us, we shall be joyful. Do you answer me, “But the world +goes on so ill; there is so much sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty +in it; how can we be joyful?” I answer: There was a hundred times as +much sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty, in the Apostles’ time, and +yet they were joyful, and full of gladness, blessing and praising God. +If you answer, “But we are so slandered, and neglected, and +misunderstood, and hard-worked, and ill-treated; we have no time to enjoy +ourselves, or do the things which we should like best. How can we be +joyful?” I answer: So were the Apostles. They knew that they would be a +hundred times as much slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, as you +can ever be; that they would have far less time to enjoy themselves, far +less opportunity of doing the things which they liked best, than you can +ever have; they knew that misery, and persecution, and a shameful death +were before them, and yet they were joyful and full of gladness, blessing +and praising God. And why should you not be? For what was true for them +is true for you. They had no blessing, no hope, but what you have just +as good a right to as they had. They were joyful, because God was their +Father, and God is your Father. They were joyful because they and all +men belonged to God’s family; and you belong to it. They were joyful, +because God’s Spirit was promised to them, to make them like God; and +God’s Spirit was promised to you. They were joyful, because a poor man +was king of heaven and earth; and that poor man, Jesus Christ, who was +born at Bethlehem, is as much your King now as He was theirs then. They +were joyful, because the whole world was going to improve under His rule +and government; and the whole world is improving, and will go on +improving for ever. They were joyful, because Jesus, whom they had known +as a poor, despised, crucified man on earth, had ascended up to heaven in +glory; and if you believe the same, you will be joyful too. In +proportion as you believe the mystery of Ascension-day; if you believe +the words which the Lord spoke before He ascended, you will have +cheerful, joyful, hopeful thoughts about yourselves, and about the whole +world; if you do not, you will be in continual danger of becoming +suspicious and despairing, fancying the world still worse than it is, +fancying that God has neglected and forgotten it, fancying that the devil +is stronger than God, and man’s sins wider than Christ’s redemption till +you will think it neither worth while to do right yourselves, nor to make +others do right towards you. + + + + +XII. +THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE. + + + (_A Sermon Preached at St. Margaret’s Church_, _Westminster_, _May_ + 4_th_, 1851, _in behalf of the Westminster Hospital_.) + + When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received + gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, that the Lord God might + dwell among them.—PSALM lxviii. 18, and EPHESIANS iv. 8. + +IF, a thousand years ago, a congregation in this place had been addressed +upon the text which I have chosen, they would have had, I think, little +difficulty in applying its meaning to themselves, and in mentioning at +once innumerable instances of those gifts which the King of men had +received for men, innumerable signs that the Lord God was really dwelling +amongst them. But amongst those signs, I think, they would have +mentioned several which we are not now generally accustomed to consider +in such a light. They would have pointed not merely to the building of +churches, the founding of schools, the spread of peace, the decay of +slavery; but to the importation of foreign literature, the extension of +the arts of reading, writing, painting, architecture, the improvement of +agriculture, and the introduction of new and more successful methods of +the cure of diseases. They might have expressed themselves on these +points in a way that we consider now puerile and superstitious. They +might have attributed to the efficacy of prayer, many cures which we now +attribute—shall I say? to no cause whatsoever. They may have quoted as +an instance of St. Cuthbert’s sanctity, rather than of his shrewd +observations, his discovery of a spring of water in the rocky floor of +his cell, and his success in growing barley upon the barren island where +wheat refused to germinate; and we might have smiled at their +superstition, and smiled, too, at their seeing any consequence of +Christianity, any token that the kingdom of God was among them, in Bishop +Wilfred’s rescuing the Hampshire Saxons from the horrors of famine, by +teaching them the use of fishing-nets. But still so they would have +spoken—men of a turn of mind no less keen, shrewd, and practical than we, +their children; and if we had objected to their so-called superstition +that all these improvements in the physical state of England were only +the natural consequences of the introduction of Roman civilisation by +French and Italian missionaries, they would have smiled at us in their +turn, not perhaps without some astonishment at our stupidity, and asked: +“Do you not see, too, that _that_ is in itself a sign of the kingdom of +God—that these nations who have been for ages selfishly isolated from +each other, except for purposes of conquest and desolation, should be now +teaching each other, helping each other, interchanging more and more, +generation by generation, their arts, their laws, their learning becoming +fused down under the influence of a common Creed, and loyalty to one +common King in Heaven, from their state of savage jealousy and warfare, +into one great Christendom, and family of God?” And if, my friends, as I +think, those forefathers of ours could rise from their graves this day, +they would be inclined to see in our hospitals, in our railroads, in the +achievements of our physical Science, confirmation of that old +superstition of theirs, proofs of the kingdom of God, realisations of the +gifts which Christ received for men, vaster than any of which they had +ever dreamed. They might be startled at God’s continuing those gifts to +us, who hold on many points a creed so different from theirs. They might +be still more startled to see in the Great Exhibition of all Nations, +which is our present nine-days’ wonder, that those blessings were not +restricted by God even to nominal Christians, but that His love, His +teaching, with regard to matters of civilisation and physical science, +were extended, though more slowly and partially, to the Mahometan and the +Heathen. And it would be a wholesome lesson to them, to find that God’s +grace was wider than their narrow theories; perhaps they may have learnt +it already in the world of spirits. But of its _being_ God’s grace, +there would be no doubt in their minds. They would claim unhesitatingly, +and at once, that great Exhibition established in a Christian country, as +a point of union and brotherhood for all people, for a sign that God was +indeed claiming all the nations of the world as His own—proving by the +most enormous facts that He had sent down a Pentecost, gifts to men which +would raise them not merely spiritually, but physically and +intellectually, beyond anything which the world had ever seen, and had +poured out a spirit among them which would convert them in the course of +ages, gradually, but most surely and really, from a pandemonium of +conquerors and conquered, devourers and devoured, into a family of +fellow-helping brothers, until the kingdoms of the world became the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ. + +But I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple old Saxon +faith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it makes the preacher +this day, that the time of real brotherhood and peace is still but too +far off; and that the achievements of our physical science, the unity of +this great Exhibition, noble as they are, are still only dim forecastings +and prophecies, as it were, of a higher, nobler reality. And they would +say sadly to us, their children: “Sons, you ought to be so near to God; +He seems to have given you so much and to have worked among you as He +never worked for any nation under heaven. How is it that you give the +glory to yourselves, and not to Him?” + +For do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, in any +real, honest, and practical sense? There may be some official and +perfunctory talk of God’s blessing on our endeavours; but there seems to +be no real belief in us that God, the inspiration of God, is the very +fount and root of the endeavours themselves; that He teaches us these +great discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this wondrous wealth; +that He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. True, we +keep up something of the form and tradition of the old talk about such +things; we join in prayer to God to bless our great Exhibition, but we do +not believe—we do not believe, my friends—that it was God who taught us +to conceive, build, and arrange that Great Exhibition; and our notion of +God’s blessing it, seems to be God’s absence from it; a hope and trust +that God will leave it and us alone, and not “visit” it or us in it, or +“interfere” by any “special providences,” by storms, or lightning, or +sickness, or panic, or conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that we could +manage it all perfectly well without God, but that as He exists, and has +some power over natural phenomena, which is not very exactly defined, we +must notice His existence over and above our work, lest He should become +angry and “visit” us . . . And this in spite of words which were spoken +by one whose office it was to speak them, as the representative of the +highest and most sacred personage in these realms; words which deserve to +be written in letters of gold on the high places of this city; in which +he spoke of this Exhibition as an “approach to a more complete fulfilment +of the great and sacred mission which man has to perform in the world;” +when he told the English people that “man’s reason being created in the +image of God, he has to discover the laws by which Almighty God governs +His creations, and by making these laws the standard of his action, to +conquer nature to his use, himself a divine instrument;” when he spoke of +“thankfulness to Almighty God for what he has already _given_,” as the +first feeling which that Exhibition ought to excite in us; and as the +second, “the deep conviction that those blessings can only be realised in +proportion to”—not, as some would have it, the rivalry and selfish +competition—but “in proportion to the _help_ which we are prepared to +render to each other; and, therefore, by peace, love, and ready +assistance, not only between individuals, but between all nations of the +earth.” We read those great words; but in the hearts of how few, alas! +to judge from our modern creed on such matters, must the really important +and distinctive points of them find an echo! To how few does this whole +Exhibition seem to have been anything but a matter of personal gain or +curiosity, for national aggrandisement, insular self-glorification, and +selfish—I had almost said, treacherous—rivalry with the very foreigners +whom we invited as our guests? + +And so, too, with our cures of diseases. We speak of God’s blessing the +means, and God’s blessing the cure. But all we really mean by blessing +them, is permitting them. Do not our hearts confess that our notion of +His blessing the means, is His leaving the means to themselves and their +own physical laws—leaving, in short, the cure to us and not preventing +our science doing its work, and asserting His own existence by bringing +on some unexpected crisis, or unfortunate relapse—if, indeed, the old +theory that He does bring on such, be true? + +Our old forefathers, on the other hand, used to believe that in medicine, +as in everything else, God taught men all that they knew. They believed +the words of the Wise Man when he said that “the Spirit of God gives man +understanding.” The method by which Solomon believed himself to have +obtained all his physical science and knowledge of trees, from the cedar +of Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the wall, was in their eyes the +only possible method. They believed the words of Isaiah when he said of +the tillage and the rotation of crops in use among the peasants of his +country, that their God instructed them to discretion and taught them; +and that even the various methods of threshing out the various species of +grain came “forth from the Lord of hosts, who is excellent in counsel, +and wonderful in working.” + +Such a method, you say, seems to you now miraculous. It did not seem to +our forefathers miraculous that God should teach man; it seemed to them +most simple, most rational, most natural, an utterly every-day axiom. +They thought it was because so few of the heathen were taught by God that +they were no wiser than they were. They thought that since the Son of +God had come down and taken our nature upon Him, and ascended up on high +and received gifts for men, that it was now the right and privilege of +every human being who was willing to be taught of God, as the prophet +foretold in those very words; and that baptism was the very sign and seal +of that fact—a sign that for every human being, whatever his age, sex, +rank, intellect, or race, a certain measure of the teaching of God and of +the Spirit of God was ready, promised, sure as the oath of Him that made +heaven and the earth, and all things therein. That was Solomon’s belief. +We do not find that it made him a fanatic and an idler, waiting with +folded hands for inspiration to come to him he knew not how nor whence. +His belief that wisdom was the revelation and gift of God did not prevent +him from seeking her as silver, and searching for her as hid treasures, +from applying his heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all +things that are done under heaven; and we do not find that it prevented +our forefathers. Ceadmon’s belief that God inspired him with the poetic +faculty, did not make him the less laborious and careful versifier. +Bishop John’s blessing the dumb boy’s tongue in the name of Him whom he +believed to be Word of God and the Master of that poor dumb boy, did not +prevent his anticipating some of the discoveries of our modern wise men, +in setting about a most practical and scientific cure. Alfred’s +continual prayers for light and inspiration made him no less a laborious +and thoughtful student of war and law, of physics, language, and +geography. These old Teutons, for all these superstitions of theirs, +were perhaps as businesslike and practical in those days as we their +children are in these. But that did not prevent their believing that +unless God showed them a thing, they could not see it, and thanking Him +honestly enough for the comparative little which He did show them. But +we who enjoy the accumulated teaching of ages—we to whose researches He +is revealing year by year, almost week by weeks wonders of which they +never dreamed—we whom He has taught to make the lame to walk, the dumb to +speak, the blind to see, to exterminate the pestilence and defy the +thunderbolt, to multiply millionfold the fruits of learning, to +annihilate time and space, to span the heavens, and to weigh the sun—what +madness is this which has come upon us in these last days, to make us +fancy that we, insects of a day, have found out these things for +ourselves, and talk big about the progress of the species, and the +triumphs of intellect, and the all-conquering powers of the human mind, +and give the glory of all this inspiration and revelation, not to God, +but to ourselves? Let us beware, beware—lest our boundless pride and +self-satisfaction, by some mysterious yet most certain law, avenge +itself—lest like the Assyrian conqueror of old, while we stand and cry, +“Is not this great Babylon which I have built?” our reason, like his, +should reel and fall beneath the narcotic of our own maddening +self-conceit, and while attempting to scale the heavens we overlook some +pitfall at our feet, and fall as learned idiots, suicidal pedants, to be +a degradation, and a hissing, and a shame. + +However strongly you may differ from these opinions of our own +forefathers with regard to the ground and cause of physical science, and +the arts of healing, I am sure that the recollection of the thrice holy +ground upon which we stand, beneath the shadow of venerable piles, +witnesses for the creeds, the laws, the liberties, which those our +ancestors have handed down to us, will preserve you from the temptation +of dismissing with hasty contempt their thoughts upon any subject so +important; will make you inclined to listen to their opinion with +affection, if not with reverence; and save, perhaps, the preacher from a +sneer when he declares that the doctrine of those old Saxon men is, in +his belief, not only the most Scriptural, but the most rational and +scientific explanation of the grounds of all human knowledge. + +At least, I shall be able to quote in support of my own opinion a name +from which there can be no appeal in the minds of a congregation of +educated Englishmen—I mean Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, the spiritual +father of the modern science, and, therefore, of the chemistry and the +medicine of the whole civilised world. If there is one thing which more +than another ought to impress itself on the mind of a careful student of +his works, it is this—that he considered science as the inspiration of +God, and every separate act of induction by which man arrives at a +physical law, as a revelation from the Maker of those laws; and that the +faith which gave him daring to face the mystery of the universe, and +proclaim to men that they could conquer nature by obeying her, was his +deep, living, practical belief that there was One who had ascended up on +high and led captive in the flesh and spirit of a man those very idols of +sense which had been themselves leading men’s minds captive, enslaving +them to the illusions of their own senses, forcing them to bow down in +vague awe and terror before those powers of Nature, which God had +appointed, not to be their tyrants, but their slaves. I will not +special-plead particulars from his works, wherein I may consider that he +asserts this. I will rather say boldly that the idea runs through every +line he ever wrote; that unless seen in the light of that faith, the +grounds of his philosophy ought to be as inexplicable to us, as they +would, without it, have been impossible to himself. As has been well +said of him: “Faith in God as the absolute ground of all human as well as +of all natural laws; the belief that He had actually made Himself known +to His creatures, and that it was possible for them to have a knowledge +of Him, cleared from the phantasies and idols of their own imaginations +and understandings; this was the necessary foundation of all that great +man’s mind and speculations, to whatever point they were tending, and +however at times they might be darkened by too close a familiarity with +the corruptions and meannesses of man, or too passionate an addiction to +the contemplation of Nature. Nor should it ever be forgotten that he +owed all the clearness and distinctness of his mind to his freedom from +that Pantheism which naturally disposes to a vague admiration and +adoration of Nature, to the belief that it is stronger and nobler than +ourselves; that we are servants, and puppets, and portions of it, and not +its lords and rulers. If Bacon had in anywise confounded Nature with +God—if he had not entertained the strongest practical feeling that men +were connected with God through One who had taken upon Him their nature, +it is impossible that he could have discovered that method of dealing +with physics which has made a physical science possible.” + +No really careful student of his works, but must have perceived this, +however glad, alas! he may have felt at times to thrust the thought of it +from him, and try to think that Francis Bacon’s Christianity was +something over and above his philosophy—a religion which he left behind +him at the church-door—or only sprinkled up and down his works so much of +it as should shield him in a bigoted age from the suspicion of +materialism. A strange theory, and yet one which so determined is man to +see nothing, whether it be in the Bible or in the Novum Organum, but what +each wishes to see, has been deliberately put forth again and again by +men who fancy, forsooth, that the greatest of English heroes was even +such an one as themselves. One does not wonder to find among the general +characteristics of those writers who admire Bacon as a materialist, the +most utter incapacity of philosophising on Bacon’s method, the very +restless conceit, the hasty generalisation, the hankering after +cosmogonic theories, which Bacon anathematises in every page. Yes, I +repeat it, we owe our medical and sanitary science to Bacon’s philosophy; +and Bacon owed his philosophy to his Christianity. + +Oh! it is easy for us, amid the marvels of our great hospitals, now grown +commonplace in our eyes from very custom, to talk of the empire of mind +over matter; for us—who reap the harvest whereof Bacon sowed the seed. +But consider, how great the faith of that man must have been, who died in +hope, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off, and +haunted to his dying day with glorious visions of a time when famine and +pestilence should vanish before a scientific obedience—to use his own +expression—to the will of God, revealed in natural facts. Thus we can +understand how he dared to denounce all that had gone before him as blind +and worthless guides, and to proclaim himself to the world as the one +restorer of true physical philosophy. Thus we can understand how he, the +cautious and patient man of the world, dared indulge in those vast dreams +of the scientific triumphs of the future. Thus we can understand how he +dared hint at the expectation that men would some day even conquer death +itself; because he believed that man had conquered death already, in the +person of its King and Lord—in the flesh of Him who ascended up on high, +and led captivity captive, and received gifts for men. The “empire of +mind over matter?” What practical proof had he of it amid the miserable +alternations of empiricism and magic which made up the pseudo-science of +his time; amid the theories and speculations of mankind, which, as he +said, were “but a sort of madness—useless alike for discovery or for +operation.” What right had he, more than any other man who had gone +before him, to believe that man could conquer and mould to his will the +unseen and tremendous powers which work in every cloud and every flower? +that he could dive into the secret mysteries of his own body, and renew +his youth like the eagle’s? This ground he had for that faith—that he +believed, as he says himself, that he must “begin from God; and that the +pursuit of physical science clearly proceeds from Him, the Author of +good, and Father of light.” This gave him faith to say that in this as +in all other Divine works, the smallest beginnings lead assuredly to some +result, and that the “remark in spiritual matters, that the kingdom of +God cometh without observation, is also found to be true in every great +work of Divine Providence; so that everything glides on quietly without +confusion or noise, and the matter is achieved before men either think or +perceive that it is commenced.” This it was which gave him courage to +believe that his own philosophy might be the actual fulfilment of the +prophecy, that in the last days many should run to and fro, and knowledge +should be increased—words which, like hundreds of others in his works, +sound like the outpourings of an almost blasphemous self-conceit, till we +recollect that he looked on science only as the inspiration of God, and +man’s empire over nature only as the consequence of the redemption worked +out for him by Christ, and begin to see in them the expressions of the +deepest and most divine humility. + +I doubt not that many here will be far more able than I am practically to +apply the facts which I have been adducing to the cause of the hospital +for which I am pleading. But there is one consequence of them to which I +must beg leave to draw attention more particularly, especially at the +present era of our nation. If, then, these discoveries of science be +indeed revelations and inspirations from God, does it not follow that all +classes, even the poorest and the most ignorant, the most brutal, have an +equal right to enjoy the fruits of them? Does it not follow that to give +to the poor their share in the blessings which chemical and medical +science are working out for us, is not a matter of charity or +benevolence, but of _duty_, of indefeasible, peremptory, immediate duty? +For consider, my friends; the Son of God descends on earth, and takes on +Him not only the form, but the very nature, affections, trials, and +sorrows of a man. He proclaims Himself as the person who has been all +along ruling, guiding, teaching, improving men; the light who lighteth +every man who cometh into the world. He proclaims Himself by acts of +wondrous power to be the internecine foe and conqueror of every form of +sorrow, slavery, barbarism, weakness, sickness, death itself. He +proclaims Himself as One who is come to give His life for His sheep—One +who is come to restore to men the likeness in which they were originally +created, the likeness of their Father in Heaven, who accepteth the person +of no man—who causeth His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, who +sendeth His rain on the just and on the unjust, in whose sight the +meanest publican, if his only consciousness be that of his own baseness +and worthlessness, is more righteous than the most learned, respectable, +and self-satisfied pharisee. He proclaims Himself the setter-up of a +kingdom into which the publican and the harlot will pass sooner than the +rich, the mighty, and the noble; a kingdom in which all men are to be +brothers, and their bond of union loyalty to One who spared not His own +life for the sheep, who came not to do His own, but the will of the +Father who had sent Him, and who showed by His toil among the poor, the +outcast, the ignorant, and the brutal, what that same will was like. +With His own life-blood He seals this Covenant between God and man. He +offers up His own body as the first-fruits of this great kingdom of +self-sacrifice. He takes poor fishermen and mechanics, and sends them +forth to acquaint all men with the good news that God is their King, and +to baptize them as subjects of that kingdom, bound to rise in baptism to +a new life, a life of love, and brotherhood, and self-sacrifice, like His +own. He commands them to call all nations to that sacred Feast wherein +there is neither rich nor poor, but the same bread and the same wine are +offered to the monarch and to the slave, as signs of their common +humanity, their common redemption, their common interest—signs that they +derive their life, their health, their reason, their every faculty of +body, soul, and spirit, from One who walked the earth as the son of a +poor carpenter, who ate and drank with publicans and sinners. He sends +down His Spirit on them with gifts of language, eloquence, wisdom, and +healing, as mere earnests and first-fruits; so they said, of that +prophecy that He would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, even upon +slaves and handmaids. And these poor fishermen feel themselves impelled +by a divine and irresistible impulse to go forth to the ends of the +world, and face persecution, insult, torture, and death—not in order that +they may make themselves lords over mankind, but that they may tell them +that One is their Master, even Jesus Christ, both God and man—that _He_ +rules the world, and will rule it, and _can_ rule it, that in His sight +there is no distinction of race, or rank, or riches, neither Jew nor +Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. And, as a fact, their message +has prevailed and been believed; and in proportion as it has prevailed, +not merely individual sanctity or piety, but liberty, law, peace, +civilisation, learning, art, science, the gifts which he bought for men +with His blood, have followed in its train: while the nations who have +not received that message that God was their King, or having received it +have forgotten it, or perverted it into a superstition and an hypocrisy, +have in exactly that proportion fallen back into barbarism and bloodshed, +slavery and misery. My friends, if this philosophy of history, this +theory of human progress, or as I should call it, this Gospel of the +Kingdom of God mean anything—does it not mean this? this which our +forefathers believed, dimly and inconsistently perhaps, but still +believed it, else we had not been here this day—that we are not our own, +but the servants of Jesus Christ, and brothers of each other—that the +very constitution and ground-law of this human species which has been +redeemed by Christ, is the self-sacrifice which Christ displayed as the +one perfection of humanity—that all rank, property, learning, science, +are only held by their possessors in trust from that King who has +distributed them to each according as He will, that each might use them +for the good of all, certain—as certain as God’s promise can make +man—that if by giving up our own interest for the interest of others, we +seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness between man and man, +which we call _mercy_, according to which it is constituted, all other +things, health, wealth, peace, and every other blessing which humanity +can desire, shall be added unto us over and above, as the natural and +necessary fruits of a society founded according to the will of God, and +declared in his Son Jesus Christ, and therefore according to those +physical laws, whereof He is at once the Creator, the Director, and the +Revealer? + +This was the faith of our forefathers, both laity and clergy—that the +Lord was King, be the people never so unquiet; that men were His stewards +and His pupils only, and not His vicars; that they were equal in His +sight, and not the slaves and tyrants of each other; and that the help +that was done upon earth, He did it all Himself. Dimly, doubtless, they +saw it, and inconsistently: but they saw it, and to their faith in that +great truth we owe all that has made England really noble among the +nations. Of the fruits of that faith every venerable building around us +should remind us. To that faith in the laity, we owe the abolition of +serfdom, the freedom of our institutions, the laws which provide equal +justice between man and man; to that faith in the clergy, and especially +in the monastic orders, we owe the endowment of our schools and +universities, the improvement of agriculture, the preservation and the +spread of all the liberal arts and sciences, as far as they were then +discovered; so that every one of those abbeys which we now revile so +ignorantly, became a centre of freedom, protection, healing, and +civilisation, a refuge for the oppressed, a well-spring of mercy for the +afflicted, a practical witness to the nation that property and science +were not the private and absolute possession of men, but only held in +trust from God for the benefit of the common weal: and just in proportion +as in the 14th and 15th centuries those institutions fell from their +first estate, and began to fancy that their wealth and wisdom was their +own, acquired by their own cunning, to be used for their own +aggrandizement, they became an imposture and imbecility, an abomination +and a ruin. And it was this faith, too, in a still nobler and clearer +form, which at the Reformation inspired the age which could produce a +Ridley, a Latimer, an Elizabeth, a Shakspeare, a Spenser, a Raleigh, a +Bacon, and a Milton; which knit together, in spite of religious feuds and +social wrongs, the nation of England with a bond which all the powers of +hell endeavoured in vain to break. Doubtless, there too there was +inconsistency enough. Elizabeth may have mixed up ambitious dynastic +dreams with her intense belief that God had given her her wisdom, her +learning, her mighty will, only to be the servant of His servants and +defender of the faith. Men like Drake and Raleigh, while they were +believing that God had sent them forth to smite with the sword of the +Lord the devourers of the earth, the destroyers of religion, freedom, +civilisation, and national life, may have been unfaithful to what they +believed their divine mission, and fancied that they might use their +wisdom and valour that God gave them for their selfish ends, till they +committed (as some say) acts of rapacity and cruelty worthy of the merest +buccaneer. But _that_ was not what made them conquer—that was not what +made the wealth and the might of Spain melt away before their little +bands of heroes; but the same old faith, shining out in all their noblest +acts and words, that “the Lord _was_ King, and that the help that was +done upon earth, He did it all Himself?” So again, Bacon may have +fancied, and did fancy in his old age, that he might use his deep +knowledge of mankind for his own selfish ends—that he might indulge +himself in building himself up a name that might fill all the earth, that +he who had done so much for God and for mankind, might be allowed to do +at last somewhat for himself, and tempted, by a paltry bribe, fall for +awhile, as David did before him, that God, and not he, might have the +glory of all his wisdom. But then he was less than himself; then he had +but lost sight of his lode-star. Then he had forgotten, but only for +awhile, that he owed all to the teaching of that God who had given to the +young and obscure advocate the mission of affecting the destinies of +nations yet unborn. + +And believe me, my friends, even as it has been with our forefathers, so +it will be with us. According to our faith will it be unto us, now as it +was of old. In proportion as we believe that wealth, science, and +civilisation are the work and property of man, in just that proportion we +shall be tempted to keep them selfishly and exclusively to ourselves. +The man of science will be tempted to hide his discoveries, though men +may be perishing for lack of them, till he can sell them to the highest +bidder; the rich man will be tempted to purchase them for himself, in +order that he may increase his own comfort and luxury, and feel +comparatively lazy and careless about their application to the welfare of +the masses; he will be tempted to pay an exorbitant price for anything +that can increase his personal convenience, and yet when the question is +about improving the supply of necessaries to the poor, stand haggling +about considerations of profitable investment, excuse himself from doing +the duty which lies nearest to him by visions of distant profit, of which +a thousand unexpected accidents may deprive him after all, and make his +boasted scientific care for the wealth of the nation an excuse for +leaving tens of thousands worse housed and worse fed than his own beasts +of burden. The poor man will be tempted franctically to oppose his +selfishness and unbelief to the selfishness and unbelief of the rich, and +clutch from him by force the comfort which really belong to neither of +them, in order that he may pride himself in them and misuse them in his +turn; and the clergy will be tempted, as they have too often been tempted +already, to fancy that reason is the enemy, and not the twin sister of +faith; to oppose revelation to science, as if God’s two messages could +contradict each other; to widen the Manichæan distinction between secular +and spiritual matters, so pleasant to the natural atheism of fallen man; +to fancy that they honour God by limiting as much as possible His +teaching, His providence, His wisdom, His love, and His kingdom, and to +pretend that they are defending the creeds of the Catholic Church, by +denying to them any practical or real influence on the economic, +political, and physical welfare of mankind. But in proportion as we hold +to the old faith of our forefathers concerning science and civilisation, +we shall feel it not only a duty, but a glory and a delight, to make all +men sharers in them; to go out into the streets and lanes of the city and +call in the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, that they may sit down +and take their share of the good things which God has provided in His +kingdom for those who obey Him. Every new discovery will be hailed by us +as a fresh boon from God to be bestowed by the rain and the sunshine +freely upon us all. The sight of every sufferer will make us ready to +suspect and to examine ourselves lest we should be in some indirect way +the victim of some neglect or selfishness of our own. Every disease will +be a sign to us that in some respect or other, the physical or moral laws +of human nature have been overlooked or broken. The existence of an +unhealthy locality, the recurrence of an epidemic, will be to us a +subject of public shame and self-reproach. Men of science will no longer +go up and down entreating mankind in vain to make use of their +discoveries; the sanitary reformer will be no longer like Wisdom crying +in the streets and no man regarding her; and in every ill to which flesh +is heir we shall see an enemy of our King and Lord, and an intruder into +His Kingdom, against which we swore at our baptism to fight with an +inspiring and delicious certainty that God will prosper the right; that +His laws cannot change; that nature, and the disturbances and poisons, +and brute powers thereof, were meant to be the slaves, and not the +tyrants of a race whose head has conquered the grave itself. + +This is no speculative dream. The progress of science is daily proving +it to be an actual truth; proving to us that a large proportion of +diseases—how large a proportion, no man yet dare say—are preventible by +science under the direction of that common justice and mercy which man +owes to man. The proper cultivation of the soil, it is now clearly seen, +will exterminate fevers and agues, and all the frightful consequences of +malaria. An attention to those simple decencies and cleanlinesses of +life of which even the wild animals feel the necessity, will prevent the +epidemics of our cities, and all the frightful train of secondary +diseases which follow them, or supply their place. The question which is +generally more and more forcing itself on the minds of scientific men is +not how many diseases are, but how few are not, the consequences of man’s +ignorance, barbarism, and folly. The medical man is felt more and more +to be as necessary in health as he is in sickness, to be the +fellow-workman not merely of the clergyman, but of the social reformer, +the political economist, and the statesman; and the first object of his +science to be prevention, and not cure. But if all this be true, as true +it is, we ought to begin to look on hospitals as many medical men I doubt +not do already, in a sadder though in a no less important light. When we +remember that the majority of cases which fill their wards are cases of +more or less directly preventible diseases, the fruits of our social +neglect, too often of our neglect of the sufferers themselves, too often +also our neglect of their parents and forefathers; when we think how many +a bitter pang is engendered and propagated from generation to generation +in the noisome alleys and courts of this metropolis, by foul food, foul +bedrooms, foul air, foul water, by intemperance, the natural and almost +pardonable consequence of want of water, depressing and degrading +employments, and lives spent in such an atmosphere of filth as our +daintier nostrils could not endure a day: then we should learn to look +upon these hospitals not as acts of charity, supererogatory benevolences +of ours towards those to whom we owe nothing, but as confessions of sin, +and worthy fruits of penitence; as poor and late and partial compensation +for misery which we might have prevented. And when again, taking up +scientific works, we find how vast a proportion of the remaining cases of +disease are produced directly or indirectly by the unhealthiness of +certain occupations, so certainly that the scientific man can almost +prophesy the average shortening of life, and the peculiar form of +disease, incident to any given form of city labour—when we find, to quote +a single instance, that a large proportion—one half, as I am informed—of +the female cases in certain hospitals, are those of women-servants +suffering from diseases produced by overwork in household labour, +especially by carrying heavy weights up the steep stairs of our London +houses—when we consider the large proportion of accident cases which are +the result, if not always of neglect in our social arrangements, still of +danger incurred in labouring for us, we shall begin to feel that our +debts towards the poorer classes, for whom this and other hospitals are +instituted, swells and mounts up to a burden which ought to be and would +be intolerable to us, if we had not some such means as this hospital +affords of testifying our contrition for neglect for which we cannot +atone, and of practically claiming in the hospital our brotherhood with +those masses whom we pass by so carelessly in the workshop and the +street. What matters it that they have undertaken a life of labour from +necessity, and with a full consciousness of the dangers they incur in it? +For whom have they been labouring, but for us? Their handiwork renders +our houses luxurious. We wear the clothes they make. We eat the food +they produce. They sit in darkness and the shadow of death that we may +enjoy light and life and luxury and civilisation. True, they are free +men, in name, not free though from the iron necessity of crushing toil. +Shall we make their liberty a cloak for our licentiousness? and because +they are our brothers and not our slaves, answer with Cain, “Am I my +brother’s keeper?” What if we have paid them the wages which they ask? +We do not feed our beasts of burden only as long as they are in health, +and when they fall sick leave them to cure themselves and starve—and +these are not our beasts of burden; they are members of Christ, children +of God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Prove it to them, then, for +they are in bitter danger of forgetting it in these days. Prove to them, +by helping to cure their maladies, that they are members of Christ, that +they do indeed belong to Him who without fee or payment freely cured the +sick of Judæa in old time. Prove to them that they are children of God +by treating them as such—as children of Him without whom not a sparrow +falls to the ground, children of Him whose love is over all His works, +children of Him who defends the widow and the fatherless, and sees that +those who are in need or necessity have right, and who maketh inquiry for +the blood of the innocent. Prove to them that they are inheritors of the +Kingdom of Heaven, by proving to them first of all that the Kingdom of +Heaven exists, that all, rich and poor alike, are brothers, and One their +Master, He who ascended up on high and led captivity captive, and +received gifts for men, the gifts of healing, the gifts of science, the +gifts of civilisation, the gifts of law, the gifts of order, the gifts of +liberty, the gifts of the spirit of love and brotherhood, of +fellow-feeling and self-sacrifice, of justice and humility, a spirit fit +for a world of redeemed and pardoned men, in which mercy is but justice, +and self-sacrifice the truest self-interest; a world, the King and Master +of which is One who poured out his own life-blood for the sake of those +who hated him, that men should henceforth live not for themselves, but +for Him who died and rose again, and ascended up on high and received +gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell among them. + +And because all general truths can only be verified in particular +instances, verify your general faith in that Christianity which you +profess in this particular instance, by doing the duty which lies nearest +to you, and _giving_, _as it is called_, to this hospital for which I now +plead. + +Thanks to the spirit and the attainments of the average of English +medical men and chaplains, to praise the management of any hospital which +is under their care, is a needless impertinence. Do you find funds, +there will be no fear as to their being well employed; and no fear, alas! +either of their services being in full demand, while the sanitary state +of vast streets of South London, lying close to this hospital, are in a +state in which they are, and in which private cupidity and neglect seem +willing to compel them to remain. It is on account of its contiguity to +these neglected, destitute, and poisonous localities, that this hospital +seems to me especially valuable. But though situated in a part of London +where its presence is especially needed, it has not, from various causes +which have arisen from no fault of its own, attracted as much public +notice as some other more magnificent foundations; while it possesses one +feature, peculiar I believe to it, among our London hospitals, which +seems to me to render it especially deserving of support: I speak of the +ward for incurable patients, in which, instead of ending their days in +the melancholy wards of a workhouse, or amid those pestilential and +crowded dwellings which have perhaps produced their maladies, and which +certainly will aggravate them, they may have their heavy years of +hopeless suffering softened by a continued supply of constant comforts, +and constant medical solicitude, such as the best-conducted workhouse, or +the most laborious staff of parish surgeons, and district visitors, ay, +not even the benevolence and self-sacrifice of friends and relations, can +possibly provide. I beseech you, picture to yourselves the amount of +mere physical comfort, not to mention the higher blessings of spiritual +teaching and consolation, accruing to some poor tortured cripple, in the +wards of this hospital; compare it with the very brightest lot possible +for him in the dwellings of the lower, or even of the middle classes of +the metropolis; then recollect that these hospital luxuries, which would +be unattainable by him elsewhere, are but a tithe of those which you, in +his situation, would consider absolute necessaries, without which a life +of suffering, ay, even of health, were intolerable—and do unto others +this day, as you would that others should do unto you! + +I might have taken some other and more popular method of drawing your +attention to this institution. + +I might have tried to excite your feelings and sympathies by attempts at +pathetic or picturesque descriptions of suffering. But the minister of a +just God is bound to proclaim that God demands not _sentiment_, but +_justice_. The Bible knows nothing of the “religious sentiments and +emotions,” whereof we hear so much talk nowadays. It speaks of _duty_. +“Beloved, if God so loved us, we _ought_ to love one another.” + +I might also have attempted to flatter you into giving, by representing +this as a “_good work_,” a work of charity and piety, well pleasing to +God; a sort of work of Protestant supererogation, fruits of faith which +we may show, if we like, up to a certain not very clearly defined point +of benevolence, but the absence of which probably will not seriously +affect our eternal salvation, still less our right to call ourselves +orthodox, Protestants, churchmen, worthy, kind-hearted, respectable, +blameless. The Bible knows nothing of such a religion; it neither coaxes +nor flatters, it _commands_. It demands mercy, because mercy is justice; +and declares with what measure we mete to others, it shall be surely +measured to us again. If therefore my words shall seem to some here, to +be not so much a humble request as a peremptory demand, I cannot help it. +I have pleaded the cause of this hospital on the only solid ground of +which I am aware, for doing anything but evil to everyone around us who +is not a private friend, or a member of one’s own family. I ask you to +help the poor to their share in the gifts which Christ received for men, +because they are His gifts, and neither ours nor any man’s. Among these +venerable buildings, the signs and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, and +the blessings of that Kingdom which for a thousand years have been +spreading and growing among us—I ask it of you as citizens of that +Kingdom. Prove your brotherhood to the poor by restoring to them a +portion of that wealth which, without their labour, you could never have +possessed. Prove your brotherhood to them in a thousand ways—in every +way—in this way, because at this moment it happens to be the nearest and +the most immediate, and because the necessity for it is nearer, more +immediate, to judge by the signs of the times, and most of all by their +self-satisfied unconsciousness of danger, their loud and shallow +self-glorification, than ever it was before. Work while it is called +to-day, lest the night come wherein no man can work, but only take his +wages. + +Again I say, I may seem to some here to have pleaded the cause of this +hospital in too harsh and peremptory a tone. . . . And yet I have a +ground of hope, in the English love of simple justice, in the noble +instances of benevolence and self-sacrifice among the wealthy and +educated, which are, thank God! increasing in number daily, as the need +of them increases—in these, I say, I have a ground of hope that there are +many here to-day who would sooner hear the language of truth than of +flattery; who will be more strongly moved toward a righteous deed by +being told that it is their duty toward God, their country, and their +fellow-citizens, than by any sentimental baits for personal sympathy, or +for the love of Pharisaic ostentation. + + + + +XIII. +FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA. + + + (_Sunday Morning_, _September_ 27_th_, 1849.) + + God’s judgments are from above, out of the sight of the wicked.—PSALM + x. 5. + +WE have just been praying to God to remove from us the cholera, which we +call a judgment of God, a chastisement; and God knows we have need enough +to do so. But we can hardly expect God to withdraw His chastisement +unless we correct the sins for which He chastised us, and therefore +unless we find out what particular sins have brought the evil on us. For +it is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to tell God, in a general way, +that we believe He is punishing us for our sins, and then to avoid +carefully confessing any particular sin, and to get angry with anyone who +tells us boldly _which_ sin God is punishing us for. But so goes the +world. Everyone is ready to say, “Oh! yes, we are all great sinners, +miserable sinners!” and then if you charge them with any particular sin, +they bridle up and deny _that_ sin fiercely enough, and all sins one by +one, confessing themselves great sinners, and yet saying that they don’t +know what sins they have committed. No man really believes himself a +sinner, no man really confesses his sins, but the man who can honestly +put his finger on _this_ sin or _that_ sin which he has committed, and is +not afraid to confess to God, “_This_ sin and _that_ sin have I +done—_this_ bad habit and _that_ bad habit have I cherished within me.” +Therefore, I say, it is no use for us Englishmen to dream that we can +flatter and persuade the great God of Heaven and earth into taking away +the cholera from us, unless we find out and confess openly what we have +done to bring on the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth fruits +worthy of repentance, by amending our habits on that point, and doing +everything for the future which shall not bring on the cholera, but keep +it off. + +Do not let us believe this time, my friends, in the pitiable, insincere +way in which all England believed when the cholera was here sixteen years +ago. When they saw human beings dying by thousands, they all got +frightened, and proclaimed a Fast and confessed their sins and promised +repentance in a general way. But did they repent of and confess those +sins which had caused the cholera? Did they repent of and confess the +covetousness, the tyranny, the carelessness, which in most great towns, +and in too many villages also, forces the poor to lodge in undrained +stifling hovels, unfit for hogs, amid vapours and smells which send forth +on every breath the seeds of rickets and consumption, typhus and scarlet +fever, and worse and last of all, the cholera? Did they repent of their +sin in that? Not they. Did they repent of the carelessness and laziness +and covetousness which sends meat and fish up to all our large towns in a +half-putrid state; which fills every corner of London and the great +cities with slaughter-houses, over-crowded graveyards, undrained sewers? +Not they. To confess their sins in a general way cost them a few words; +to confess and repent of the real particular sins in themselves, was a +very different matter; to amend them would have touched vested interests, +would have cost money, the Englishman’s god; it would have required +self-sacrifice of pocket, as well as of time. It would have required +manful fighting against the prejudices, the ignorance, the self-conceit, +the laziness, the covetousness of the wicked world. So they could not +afford to repent and amend of all _that_. And when those great and good +men, the Sanitary Commissioners, proved to all England fifteen years ago, +that cholera always appeared where fever had appeared, and that both +fever and cholera always cling exclusively to those places where there +was bad food, bad air, crowded bedrooms, bad drainage and filth—that such +were the laws of God and Nature, and always had been; they took no notice +of it, because it was the poor rather than the rich who suffered from +those causes. So the filth of our great cities was left to ferment in +poisonous cesspools, foul ditches and marshes and muds, such as those now +killing people by hundreds in the neighbourhood of Plymouth; for one +house or sewer that was improved, a hundred more were left just as they +were in the first cholera; as soon as the panic of superstitious fear was +past, carelessness and indolence returned. Men went back, the covetous +man to his covetousness, and the idler to his idleness. And behold! +sixteen years are past, and the cholera is as bad as ever among us. + +But you will say, perhaps, it is presumptuous to say that Englishmen have +brought the cholera on themselves, that it is God’s judgment, and that we +cannot explain His inscrutable Providence. Ah! my friends, that is a +poor excuse and a common one, for leaving a great many sins as they are! +When people do not wish to do God’s will, it is a very pleasant thing to +talk about God’s will as something so very deep and unfathomable, that +poor human beings cannot be expected to find it out. It is an old +excuse, and a great favourite with Satan, I have no doubt. Why cannot +people find out God’s will?—Because they do not _like_ to find it out, +lest it should shame them and condemn them, and cost them pleasure or +money—because their eyes are blinded with covetousness and selfishness, +so that they cannot see God’s will, even when they _do_ look for it, and +then they go and cant about God’s judgments; while those judgments, as +the text says, are far above out of their mammon-blinded and +prejudice-blinded sight. What do they mean by that word? Come now, my +friends! let us face the question like men. What do you mean really when +you call the cholera, or fever, or affliction at all, God’s judgment? Do +you merely mean that God is punishing you, you don’t know for what, and +you can’t find out for what? but that all which He expects of you is to +bear it patiently, and then go and do afterwards just what you did +before? Dare anyone say that who believes that God is a God of justice, +much less a God of love? What would you think of a father who punished +his children, and then left them to find out as they could what they were +punished for? And yet that is the way people talk of pestilence and of +great afflictions, public and private. They are not ashamed to accuse +God of a cruelty and an injustice which they would be ashamed to confess +themselves! How can men, even religious men often, be so blasphemous? +Mainly, I think, because they do not really believe in God at all, they +only believe about Him—they believe that they ought to believe in Him. +They have no living personal faith in God or Christ; they do not know +God; they do not know God’s character, and what to believe of Him, and +what to expect of Him; or what they ought to say of Him; because they do +not know, they have not studied, they have not loved the character of +Christ, who is the express image and likeness of God. Therefore God’s +judgments are far away out of their sight; therefore they make themselves +a God in their own image and after their own likeness, lazy, capricious, +revengeful; therefore they are not afraid or ashamed to say that God +sends pestilence into a country without showing that country why it is +sent. But another great reason, I believe, why God’s judgments in this +and other matters are far above out of our sight, is the careless, +insincere way of using words which we English have got into, even on the +most holy and awful matters. I suppose there never was a nation in the +world so diseased through and through with the spirit of cant, as we +English are now: except perhaps the old Jews, at the time of our Lord’s +coming. You hear men talking as if they thought God did not understand +English, because they cling superstitiously to the letter of the Bible in +proportion as they lose its spirit. You hear men taking words into their +mouths which might make angels weep and devils tremble, with a coolness +and oily, smooth carelessness which shows you that they do not feel the +force of what they are saying. You hear them using the words of +Scripture, which are in themselves stricter and deeper than all the books +of philosophy in the world, in such a loose unscriptural way, that they +make them mean anything or nothing. They use the words like parrots, by +rote, just because their forefathers used them before them. They will +tell you that cholera is a judgment for our sins, “in a sense,” but if +you ask them for what sins, or in what sense, they fly off from that +_home_ question, and begin mumbling commonplaces about the inscrutable +decrees of Providence, and so on. It is most sad, all this; and most +fearful also. + +Therefore, I asked you, my friends, what is the meaning of that word +judgment? In common talk, people use it rightly enough, but when they +begin to talk of God’s judgments, they speak as if it merely meant +punishments. Now judgment and punishment are two things. When a judge +gives judgment, he either acquits or condemns the accused person; he +gives the case for the plaintiff, or for the defendant: the punishment of +the guilty person, if he be guilty, is a separate thing, pronounced and +inflicted afterwards. His judgment, I say, is his _opinion_ about the +person’s guilt, and even so God’s judgments are the expression of His +opinion about our guilt. But there is this difference between man and +God in this matter—a human judge gives his opinion in words, God gives +His in events: therefore there is no harm for a human judge when he has +told a person why he must punish, to punish him in some way that has +nothing to do with his crime—for instance, to send a man to prison +because he steals, though it would be far better if criminals could be +punished in kind, and if the man who stole could be forced either to make +restitution, or work out the price of what he stole in hard labour. For +this is God’s plan—God always pays sinners back in kind, that He may not +merely punish them, but _correct_ them; so that by the kind of their +punishment, they may know the kind of their sin. God punishes us, as I +have often told you, not by His caprice, but by His laws. He does not +_break His laws_ to harm us; the laws themselves harm us, when we break +them and get in their way. It is always so, you will find, with great +national afflictions. I believe, when we know more of God and His laws, +we shall find it true even in our smallest private sorrows. God is +unchangeable; He does not lose His temper, as heathens and superstitious +men fancy, to punish us. He does not change His order to punish us. +_We_ break His order, and the order goes on in spite of us and crushes +us: and so we get God’s judgment, God’s opinion of our breaking His laws. +You will find it so almost always in history. If a nation is laid waste +by war, it is generally their own fault. They have sinned against the +law which God has appointed for nations. They have lost courage and +prudence, and trust in God, and fellow-feeling and unity, and they have +become cowardly and selfish and split up into parties, and so they are +easily conquered by their own fault, as the Bible tells us the Jews were +by the Chaldeans; and their ruin is God’s judgment, God’s opinion plainly +expressed of what He thinks of them for having become cowardly and +selfish, and factious and disinterested. So it is with famine again. +Famines come by a nation’s own fault—they are God’s plainly spoken +opinion of what _He_ thinks of breaking His laws of industry and thrift, +by improvidence and bad farming. So when a nation becomes poor and +bankrupt, it is its own fault; that nation has broken the laws of +political economy which God has appointed for nations, and its ruin is +God’s judgment, God’s plain-spoken opinion again of the sins of +extravagance, idleness, and reckless speculation. + +So with pestilence and cholera. They come only because we break God’s +laws; as the wise poet well says: + + Voices from the depths _of Nature_ borne + Which vengeance on the guilty head proclaim. + +—“Of nature;” of the order and constitution which God has made for this +world we live in, and which if we break them, though God in his mercy so +orders the world that punishment comes but seldom even to our worst +offences, yet surely do bring punishment sooner or later if broken, in +the common course of nature. Yes, my friends, as surely and naturally as +drunkenness punishes itself by a shaking hand and a bloated body, so does +filth avenge itself by pestilence. Fever and cholera, as you would +expect them to be, are the expression of God’s judgment, God’s opinion, +God’s handwriting on the wall against us for our sins of filth and +laziness, foul air, foul food, foul drains, foul bedrooms. Where they +are, there is cholera. Where they are not, there is none, and will be +none, because they who do not break God’s laws, God’s laws will not break +them. Oh! do not think me harsh, my friends; God knows it is no pleasant +thing to have to speak bitter and upbraiding words; but when one travels +about this noble land of England, and sees what a blessed place it might +be, if we would only do God’s will, and what a miserable place it is just +because we will not do God’s will, it is enough to make one’s soul boil +over with sorrow and indignation; and then when one considers that other +men’s faults are one’s own fault too, that one has been adding to the +heap of sins by one’s own laziness, cowardice, ignorance, it is enough to +break one’s heart—to make one cry with St. Paul, “Oh wretched man that I +am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Ay, my friends, +the state of things in England now is enough to drive an earnest man to +despair, if one did not know that all our distresses, and this cholera, +like the rest, are indeed _God’s_ judgments; the judgments and expressed +opinions, not of a capricious tyrant, but of a righteous and loving +Father, who chastens us just because He loves us, and afflicts us only to +teach us His will, which alone is life and happiness. Therefore we may +believe that this very cholera is meant to be a blessing; that if we will +take the lesson it brings, it will be a blessing to England. God grant +that all ranks may take the lesson—that the rich may amend their idleness +and neglect, and the poor amend their dirt and stupid ignorance; then our +children will have cause to thank God for the cholera, if it teaches us +that cleanliness is indeed next to holiness, if it teaches us, rich and +poor, to make the workman’s home what it ought to be. And believe me, my +friends, that day will surely come; and these distresses, sad as they are +for the time, are only helping to hasten it—the day when the words of the +Hebrew prophets shall be fulfilled, where they speak of a state of +comfort and prosperity, and civilisation, such as men had never reached +in their time—how the wilderness shall blossom like the rose, and there +shall be heaps of corn high on the mountain-tops, and the cities shall be +green as grass on the earth, instead of being the smoky, stifling +hot-beds of disease which they are now—and how from the city of God +streams shall flow for the healing of the nations: strange words, those, +and dim; too deep to be explained by any one meaning, or many meanings, +such as our small minds can give them; but full of blessed cheering hope. +For of whatever they speak, they speak at least of this—of a time when +all sorrow and sighing shall be done away, when science and civilisation +shall go hand in hand with godliness—when God shall indeed dwell in the +hearts of men, and His kingdom shall be fulfilled among them, when “His +ways shall be known upon earth at last, and His saving health among all +nations”—of a time when all shall know Him, from the least unto the +greatest, and be indeed His children, doing no sin, because they will +have given up themselves, their selfishness and cruelty and covetousness, +and stupidity and laziness, to be changed and renewed into God’s +likeness. Then all these distresses and pestilences, which, as I have +shown you, come from breaking the will of God, will have passed away like +ugly dreams, and all the earth shall be blessed, because all the earth +shall at last be fulfilling the words of the Lord’s Prayer, and God’s +will shall be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. Oh! my +friends, have hope. Do you think Christ would have bid us pray for what +would never happen? Would He have bid us all to pray that God’s will +might be done unless He had known surely that God’s will would one day be +done by men on earth below even as it is done in heaven? + + + + +XIV. +SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA. + + + Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children.—EXODUS xx. 5. + +IN my sermon last Sunday I said plainly that cholera, fever, and many +more diseases were man’s own fault, and that they were God’s judgments +just because they were man’s own fault, because they were God’s +plainspoken opinion of the sin of filth and of habits of living unfit for +civilised Christian men. + +But there is an objection which may arise in some of your minds, and if +it has not risen in _your_ minds, still it has in other people’s often +enough; and therefore I will state it plainly, and answer it as far as +God shall give me wisdom. For it is well to get to the root of all +matters, and of this matter of Pestilence among others; for if we do +believe this Pestilence to be God’s judgment, then it is a spiritual +matter most proper to be spoken of in a place like this church, where men +come as spiritual beings to hear that which is profitable for their +souls. And it _is_ profitable for their souls to consider this matter; +for it has to do, as I see more and more daily, with the very deepest +truths of the Gospel; and accordingly as we believe the Gospel, and +believe really that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and our King, the New +Adam, the firstborn among many brethren, who has come down to proclaim to +us that we are all brothers in Him—in proportion as we believe _that_, I +say, shall we act upon this very matter of public cleanliness. + +The objection which I mean is this: people say it is very hard and unfair +to talk of cholera or fever being people’s own fault, when you see +persons who are not themselves dirty, and innocent little children, who +if they are dirty are only so because they are brought up so, catch the +infection and die of it. You cannot say it is their fault. Very true. +I did not say it was their fault. I did not say that each particular +person takes the infection by his own fault, though I do say that nine +out of ten do. And as for little children, of course it is not their +fault. But, my friends, it must be someone’s fault. No one will say +that the world is so ill made that these horrible diseases must come in +spite of all man’s care. If it was so, plagues, pestilences, and +infectious fevers would be just as common now in England, and just as +deadly as they were in old times; whereas there is not one infectious +fever now in England for ten that there used to be five hundred years +ago. In ancient times fevers, agues, plague, smallpox, and other +diseases, whose very names we cannot now understand, so completely are +they passed away, swept England from one end to the other every few +years, killing five people where they now kill one. Those diseases, as I +said, have many of them now died out entirely; and those which remain are +becoming less and less dangerous every year. And why? Simply because +people are becoming more cleanly and civilised in their habits of living; +because they are tilling and draining the land every year more and more, +instead of leaving it to breed disease, as all uncultivated land does. +It is not merely that doctors are becoming wiser: we ourselves are +becoming more reasonable in our way of living. For instance, in large +districts both of Scotland and of the English fens, where fever and ague +filled the country and swept off hundreds every spring and fall thirty +years ago, fever and ague are now almost unknown, simply because the +marshes have all been drained in the meantime. So you see that people +can prevent these disorders, and therefore it must be someone’s fault if +they come. Now, whose fault is it? You dare not lay the blame on God. +And yet you do lay the fault on God if you say that it is no _man’s_ +fault that children die of fever. But I know what the answer to that +will be: “We do not accuse God—it is the fault of the fall, Adam’s curse +which brought death and disease into the world.” That is a common +answer, and the very one I want to hear. What? is it just to say, as +many do, that all the diseases which ever tormented poor little innocent +children all over the world, came from Adam’s sinning six thousand years +ago, and yet that it is unfair to say that one little child’s fever came +from his parents’ keeping a filthy house a month ago? That is swallowing +a camel and straining at a gnat—that God should be just in punishing all +mankind for Adam’s sin, and yet unjust in punishing one little child for +its parents’ sin. If the one is just the other must be just too, I +think. If you believe the one, why not believe the other? Why? Because +Adam’s curse and “original” sin, as people call it, is a good and +pleasant excuse for laying our sins and miseries at Adam’s door; but the +same rule is not so pleasant in the case of filth and fever, when it lays +other people’s miseries at our door. + +I believe that all the misery in the world sprung from Adam’s +disobedience and falling from God. “By one man sin entered the world, +and death by sin, and so death passed on all men, even on those who had +not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression.” So says the +Bible, and I believe it says so truly. For this is the law of the earth, +God’s law which He proclaimed in the text. He does visit the sins of the +fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those +who hate Him. It is so. You see it around you daily. No one can deny +it. Just as death and misery entered into the world by one man, so we +see death and misery entering into many a family. A man or woman is a +drunkard, or a rogue, or a swearer: how often their children grow up like +them! We have all seen that, God knows, in this very parish. How much +more in great cities, where boys and girls by thousands—oh, shame that it +should be so in a Christian land!—grow up thieves from the breast, and +harlots from the cradle. And why? Why are there, as they say, and I am +afraid say too truly, in London alone upwards of 10,000 children under +sixteen who live by theft and harlotry? Because the parents of these +children are as bad as themselves—drunkards, thieves, and worse—and they +bring up their children to follow their crimes. If that is not the +fathers’ sins being visited on the children, what is? + +How often, again, when we see a wild young man, we say, and justly: “Poor +fellow! there are great excuses for him, he has been so badly brought +up.” True, but his wildness will ruin him all the same, whether it be +his father’s fault or his own that he became wild. If he drinks he will +ruin his health; if he squanders his money he will grow poor. God’s laws +cannot stop for him; he is breaking them, and they will avenge themselves +on him. You see the same thing everywhere. A man fools away his money, +and his innocent children suffer for it. A man ruins his health by +debauchery, or a woman hers by laziness or vanity or self-indulgence, and +her children grow up weakly and inherit their parents’ unhealthiness. +How often again, do we see passionate parents have passionate children, +stupid parents stupid children, mean and lying parents mean and lying +children; above all, ignorant and dirty parents have ignorant and dirty +children. How can they help being so? They cannot keep themselves clean +by instinct; they cannot learn without being taught: and so they suffer +for their parents’ faults. But what is all this except God’s visiting +the sins of the fathers upon the children? Look again at a whole parish; +how far the neglect or the wickedness of one man may make a whole estate +miserable. There is one parish in this very union, and the curse of the +whole union it is, which will show us that fearfully enough. See, too, +how often when a good and generous young man comes into his estate, he +finds it so crippled with debts and mortgages by his forefathers’ +extravagance, that he cannot do the good he would to his tenants, he +cannot fulfil his duty as landlord where God has placed him, and so he +and the whole estate must suffer for the follies of generations past. If +that is not God visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, what is +it? + +Look again at a whole nation; the rulers of two countries quarrel, or +pretend to quarrel, and go to war—and some here know what war is—just +because there is some old grudge of a hundred years standing between two +countries, or because rulers of whose names the country people, perhaps, +never heard, have chosen to fall out, or because their forefathers by +cowardice, or laziness, or division, or some other sin, have made the +country too weak to defend itself; and for that poor people’s property is +destroyed, and little infants butchered, and innocent women suffer +unspeakable shame. If that is not God visiting the sins of the fathers +on the children, what is it? + +It is very awful, but so it is. It is the law of this earth, the law of +human kind, that the innocent often suffer for other’s faults, just as +you see them doing in cholera, fever, ague, smallpox, and other diseases +which man can prevent if he chooses to take the trouble. There it is. +We cannot alter it. Those who will may call God unjust for it. Let them +first see, whether He is not only most just, but most merciful in making +the world so, and no other way. I do not merely mean that whatever God +does must be right. That is true, but it is a poor way of getting over +the difficulty. God has taught us what is right and wrong, and He will +be judged by His own rules. As Abraham said to Him when Sodom was to be +destroyed: “That be far from Thee, to punish the righteous with the +wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham knew +what was right, and he expected God not to break that law of right. And +we may expect the same of God. And I may be able, I hope, in my sermon +next Sunday, to show you that in this matter God does break the law of +right. Nevertheless, in the meantime, this is His way of dealing with +men. When Sodom was destroyed He brought righteous Lot out of it. But +Sodom was destroyed, and in it many a little infant who had never known +sin. And just so when Lisbon was swallowed up by an earthquake, ninety +years ago, the little children perished as well as the grown people—just +as in the Irish famine fever last year, many a doctor and Roman Catholic +priest, and Protestant clergyman, caught the fever and died while they +were piously attending on the sick. They were acting like righteous men +doing their duty at their posts; but God’s laws could not turn aside for +them. Improvidence, and misrule, which had been working and growing for +hundreds of years, had at last brought the famine fever, and even the +righteous must perish by it. They had their sins, no doubt, as we all +have; but then they were doing God’s work bravely and honestly enough, +yet the fever could not spare them any more than it could spare the +children of the filthy parents, though they had not kept pigsties under +their windows, nor cesspools at their doors. It could not spare them any +more than it can spare the tenants of the negligent or covetous +house-owner, because it is his fault and not theirs that his houses are +undrained, overcrowded, destitute—as whole streets in many large towns +are—of the commonest decencies of life. It may be the landlord’s fault, +but the tenants suffer. God visits the sins of the fathers upon the +children, and landlords ought to be fathers to their tenants, and must +become fathers to them some day, and that soon, unless they intend that +the Lord should visit on them all their sins, and their forefathers’ +also, even unto the third and fourth generation. + +For do not fancy that because the innocent suffer with the guilty that +therefore the guilty escape. Seldom do they escape in this world, and in +the world to come never. The landlord who, as too many do, neglects his +cottages till they become man-sties, to breed pauperism and disease—the +parents whose carelessness and dirt poison their children and neighbours +into typhus and cholera—their brother’s blood will cry against them out +of the ground. It will be required at their hands sooner or later, by +Him who beholds iniquity and wrong, and who will not be satisfied in the +day of His vengeance by Cain’s old answer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” + +We are every one of us our brother’s keeper; and if we do not choose to +confess that, God will prove it to us in a way that we cannot mistake. A +wise man tells a story of a poor Irish widow who came to Liverpool and no +one would take her in or have mercy on her, till, from starvation and bad +lodging, as the doctor said, she caught typhus fever, and not only died +herself, but gave the infection to the whole street, and seventeen +persons died of it. “See,” says the wise man, “the poor Irish widow was +the Liverpool people’s sister after all. She was of the same flesh and +blood as they. The fever that killed her killed them, but they would not +confess that they were her brothers. They shut their doors upon her, and +so there was no way left for her to prove her relationship, but by +killing seventeen of them with fever.” A grim jest that, but a true one, +like Elijah’s jest to the Baal priests on Carmel. A true one, I say, and +one that we have all need to lay to heart. + +And I do earnestly trust in you that you will lay it to heart. We have +had our fair warning here. We have had God’s judgment about our +cleanliness; His plain spoken opinion about the sanitary state of this +parish. We deserve the fever, I am afraid; not a house in which it has +appeared but has had some glaring neglect of common cleanliness about it; +and if we do not take the warning God will surely some day repeat it. It +will repeat itself by the necessary laws of nature; and we shall have the +fever among us again, just as the cholera has reappeared in the very +towns, and the very streets, where it was seventeen years ago, wherever +they have not repented of and amended their filth and negligence. And I +say openly, that those who have escaped this time may not escape next. +God has made examples, and by no means always of the worst cottages. +God’s plan is to take one and leave another by way of warning. “It is +expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole +nation perish not” is a great and a sound law, and we must profit by it. +So let not those who have escaped the fever fancy that they must needs be +without fault. “Think ye that those sixteen on whom the tower of Siloam +fell and slew them, were sinners above all those that dwelt at Jerusalem? +I say unto you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” + +And I say again, as I said last Sunday, that this is a spiritual +question, a Gospel sermon; for by your conduct in this matter will your +faith in the Gospel be proved. If you really believe that Jesus Christ +came down from heaven and sacrificed Himself for you, you will be ready +to sacrifice yourselves in this matter for those for whom He died; to +sacrifice, without stint, your thought, your time, your money, and your +labour. If you really believe that He is the sworn enemy of all misery +and disease, you will show yourselves too the sworn enemies of everything +that causes misery and disease, and work together like men to put all +pestilential filth and damp out of this parish. If you really believe +that you are all brothers, equal in the sight of God and Christ, you will +do all you can to save your brothers from sickness and the miseries which +follow it. If you really believe that your children are God’s children, +that at baptism God declares your little ones to be His, you will be +ready to take any care or trouble, however new or strange it may seem, to +keep your children safe from all foul smells, foul food, foul water, and +foul air, that they may grow up healthy, hearty, and cleanly, fit to +serve God as christened, free, and civilised Englishmen should in this +great and awful time, the most wonderful time that the earth has ever +seen, into which it has pleased God of His great mercy to let us all be +born. + + + + +XV. +THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA. + + + I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the + Fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of + them that hate me.—EXODUS xx. 6. + +MANY of you were perhaps surprised and puzzled by my saying in my last +sermon that God’s visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, and +letting the innocent suffer for the guilty, was a blessing and not a +curse—a sign of man’s honour and redemption, not of his shame and ruin. +But the more I have thought of those words, the more glad I am that I +spoke them boldly, the more true I find them to be. + +I say that there is in them the very deepest and surest ground for hope. +“Yes,” some of you may say, “to be sure when we see the innocent +suffering for the guilty, it is a plain proof that another world must +come some day, in which all that unfairness shall be set right.” Well, +my friends, it does prove that, but I should be very sorry if it did not +prove a great deal more than that—this suffering of the innocent for the +guilty. I have no heart to talk to you about the next life, unless I can +give you some comfort, some reason for trusting in God in this life. I +never saw much good come of it. I never found it do my own soul any +good, to be told: “_This_ life and _this_ world in which you now live are +given up irremediably to misrule and deceit, poverty and pestilence, +death and the devil. You cannot expect to set this world right—you must +look to the next world. Everything will be set right there.” That +sounds fine and resigned; and there seems to be a great deal of trust in +God in it; but, as I think, there is little or none; and I say so from +the fruits I see it bear. If people believe that this world is the +devil’s world, and only the next world God’s, they are easily tempted to +say: “Very well, then, we must serve the devil in this world, and God in +the next. We must, of course, take great care to get our souls saved +when we die, that we may go to heaven and live for ever and ever; but as +to this world and this life, why, we must follow the ways of the world. +It is not our fault that they have nothing to do with God. It is not our +fault that society and the world are all rotten and accursed; we found +them so when we were born, and we must make the best of a bad matter and +sail as the world does, and be covetous and mean and anxious—how can we +help it?—and stand on our own rights, and take care of number one; and +even do what is not quite right now and then—for how can we help it?—or +how else shall we get on in this poor lost, fallen, sinful world!” + +And so it comes, my friends, that you see people professing—ay, and +believing, Gospel doctrines, and struggling and reading, and, as they +fancy, praying, morning, noon, and night, to get their own souls +saved—who yet, if you are to judge by their conduct, are little better +than rogues and heathens; whose only law of life seems to be the fear of +what people will say of them; who, like Balaam the son of Bosor, are +trying daily to serve the devil without God finding it out, worshipping +the evil spirit, as that evil spirit wanted our blessed Lord to do, +because they believed his lie, which Christ denied—that the glory of this +world belongs to the evil one; and then comforting themselves like Balaam +their father, in the hope that they shall die the death of the righteous, +and their last end be like his. + +Now I say my friends that this is a lie, and comes from the father of +lies, who tempts every man, as he tempted our Lord, to believe that the +power and glory of this world are his, that man’s flesh and body, if not +his soul, belongs to him. I say, it is no such thing. The world is +God’s world. Man is God’s creature, made in God’s image, and not in that +of a beast or a devil. The kingdom, the power, and the glory, _are_ +God’s now. You say so every day in the Lord’s Prayer—believe it. St. +James tells you not to curse men, because they are made in the likeness +of God now—not _will_ be made in God’s likeness after they die. Believe +that; do not be afraid of it, strange as it may seem to understand. It +is in the Bible, and you profess to believe that what is in the Bible is +true. And I say that this suffering of the innocent for the guilty is a +proof of that. If man was not made so that the innocent could suffer for +the guilty, he could not have been redeemed at all, for there would have +been no use or meaning in Christ’s dying for us, the just for the unjust. +And more, if the innocent could not suffer for the guilty we should be +like the beasts that perish. + +Now, why? Because just in proportion as any creature is low—I mean in +the scale of life—just in that proportion it does without its +fellow-creatures, it lives by itself and cares for no other of its kind. +A vegetable is a meaner thing than an animal, and one great sign of its +being meaner is, that vegetables cannot do each other any good—cannot +help each other—cannot even hurt each other, except in a mere mechanical +way, by overgrowing each other or robbing each other’s roots; but what +would it matter to a tree if all the other trees in the world were to +die? So with wild animals. What matters it to a bird or a beast, +whether other birds and beasts are ill off or well off, wise or stupid? +Each one takes care of itself—each one shifts for itself. But you will +say “Bees help each other and depend upon each other for life and death.” +True, and for that very reason we look upon bees as being more wise and +more wonderful than almost any animals, just because they are so much +like us human beings in depending on each other. You will say again, +that among dogs, a riotous hound will lead a whole pack wrong—a staunch +and well-broken hound will keep a whole pack right; and that dogs do +depend upon each other in very wonderful ways. Most true, but that only +proves more completely what I want to get at. It is the _tame_ dog, +which man has taken and broken in, and made to partake more or less of +man’s wisdom and cunning, who depends on his fellow-dogs. The wild dogs +in foreign countries, on the other hand, are just as selfish, living +every one for himself, as so many foxes might be. And you find this same +rule holding as you rise. The more a man is like a wild animal, the more +of a _savage_ he is, so much more he depends on himself, and not on +others—in short, the less civilised he is; for civilised means being a +citizen, and learning to live in cities, and to help and depend upon each +other. And our common English word “civil” comes from the same root. A +man is “civil” who feels that he depends upon his neighbours, and his +neighbours on him; that they are his fellow-citizens, and that he owes +them a duty and a friendship. And, therefore, a man is truly and +sincerely civil, just in proportion as he is civilised; in proportion as +he is a good citizen, a good Christian—in one word, a _good man_. + +Ay, that is what I want to come to, my friends—that word _man_, and what +it means. The law of man’s life, the constitution and order on which, +and on no other, God has made man, is _this_—to depend upon his +fellow-men, to be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; for we are +brothers to each other. God made of one blood all nations to dwell on +the face of the earth. The same food will feed us all alike. The same +cholera will kill us all alike. And we can give the cholera to each +other; we can give each other the infection, not merely by our touch and +breath, for diseased beasts can do that, but by housing our families and +our tenants badly, feeding them badly, draining the land around them +badly. This is the secret of the innocent suffering for the guilty, in +pestilences, and famines, and disorders, which are handed down from +father to child, that we are all of the same blood. This is the reason +why Adam’s sin infected our whole race. Adam died, and through him all +his children have received a certain property of sinfulness and of dying, +just as one bee transmits to all his children and future generations the +property of making honey, or a lion transmits to all its future +generations the property of being a beast of prey. For by sinning and +cutting himself off from God Adam gave way to the lower part of him, his +flesh, his animal nature, and therefore he died as other animals do. And +we his children, who all of us give way to our flesh, to our animal +nature, every hour, alas! we die too. And in proportion as we give way +to our animal natures we are liable to die; and the less we give way to +our animal natures, the less we are liable to die. We have all sinned; +we have all become fleshly animal creatures more or less; and therefore +we must all die sooner or later. But in proportion as we become +Christians, in proportion as we become civilised, in short, in proportion +as we become true men, and conquer and keep in order this flesh of ours, +and this earth around us, by the teaching of God’s spirit, as we were +meant to do, just so far will length of life increase and population +increase. For while people are savages, that is, while they give +themselves up utterly to their own fleshly lusts, and become mere animals +like the wild Indians, they cannot increase in number. They are exposed, +by their own lusts and ignorance and laziness, to every sort of disease; +they turn themselves into beasts of prey, and are continually fighting +and destroying each other, so that they, seldom or never increase in +numbers, and by war, drunkenness, smallpox, fevers, and other diseases +too horrible to mention, the fruit of their own lusts, whole tribes of +them are swept utterly off the face of the earth. And why? They are +like the beasts, and like the beasts they perish. Whereas, just in +proportion as any nation lives according to the spirit and not according +to the flesh; in proportion as it conquers its own fleshly appetites +which tempt it to mere laziness, pleasure, and ignorance, and lives +according to the spirit in industry, cleanliness, chaste marriage, and +knowledge, earthly and heavenly, the length of life and the number of the +population begin to increase at once, just as they are doing, thank God! +in England now; because Englishmen are learning more and more that this +earth is God’s earth, and that He works it by righteous and infallible +laws, and has put them on it to till it and subdue it; that civilisation +and industry are the cause of Christ and of God; and that without them +His kingdom will not come, neither will His will be done on earth. + +But now comes a very important question. The beasts are none the worse +for giving way to their flesh and being mere animals. They increase and +multiply and are happy enough; whereas men, if they give way to their +flesh and become animals, become fewer and weaker, and stupider, and +viler, and more miserable, generation after generation. Why? Because +the animals are meant to be animals, and men are not. Men are meant to +be men, and conquer their animal nature by the strength which God gives +to their spirits. And as long as they do not do so; as long as they +remain savage, sottish, ignorant, they are living in a lie, in a diseased +wrong state, just as God did _not_ mean them to live; and therefore they +perish; therefore these fevers, and agues, and choleras, war, starvation, +tyranny, and all the ills which flesh is heir to, crush them down. +Therefore they are at the mercy of the earth beneath their feet, and the +skies above their head; at the mercy of rain and cold; at the mercy of +each other’s selfishness, laziness, stupidity, cruelty; in short, at the +mercy of the brute material earth, and their own fleshly lusts and the +fleshly lusts of others, because they love to walk after the flesh and +not after the spirit—because they like the likeness of the old Adam who +is of the earth earthy, better than that of the new Adam who is the Lord +from heaven—because they like to be animals, when Christ has made them in +his own image, and redeemed them with His own blood, and taught them with +His own example, and made them men. He who will be a man, let him +believe that he is redeemed by Christ, and must be like Christ in +everything he says and does. If he would carry that out, if he would +live perfectly by faith in God, if he would do God’s will utterly and in +all things he would soon find that those glorious old words still stood +true: “Thou shalt not be afraid of the arrow by night, nor of the +pestilence which walketh in the noonday; a thousand shall fall at thy +side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh +thee.” For such a man would know how to defend himself against evil; God +would teach him not only to defend himself, but to defend those around +him. He would be like his Lord and Master, a fountain of wisdom and +healing and safety to all his neighbours. We might any one of us be +that. It is everyone’s fault more or less that he is not. Each of us +who is educated, civilised, converted to the knowledge and love of God, +it is his sin and shame that he is _not_ that. Above all, it is the +clergyman’s sin and shame that he is not. Ay, believe me, when I blame +you, I blame myself ten thousand times more. I believe there is many a +sin and sorrow from which I might have saved you here, if I had dealt +with you more as a man should deal who believes that you and I are +brothers, made in the same image of God, redeemed by the same blood of +Christ. And I believe that I shall be punished for every neglect of you +for which I have been ever guilty. I believe it, and I thank God for it; +for I do not see how a clergyman, or anyone else, can learn his duty, +except by God’s judging him, and punishing him, and setting his sins +before his face. + +Yes, my friends, it is good for us to be afflicted, good for us to suffer +anything that will teach us this great truth, that we are our brother’s +keepers; that we are all one family, and that where one of the members +suffers, all the other members suffer with it; and that if one of the +members has cause to rejoice, all the others will have cause to rejoice +with it. A blessed thing to know, is that—though whether we know it or +not, we shall find it true. If we give way to our animal nature, and try +to live as the beasts do, each one caring for his own selfish +pleasure—still we shall find out that we cannot do it. We shall find +out, as those Liverpool people did with the Irish widow, that our +fellow-men _are_ our brothers—that what hurts them will be sure in some +strange indirect way to hurt us. Our brothers here have had the fever, +and we have escaped; but we have felt the fruits of it, in our purses—in +fear, and anxiety, and distress, and trouble—we have found out that they +could not have the fever without our suffering for it, more or less. You +see we are one family, we men and women; and our relationship will assert +itself in spite of our forgetfulness and our selfishness. How much +better to claim our brotherhood with each other, and to act upon it—to +live as brothers indeed. That would be to make it a blessing, and not a +curse; for as I said before, just because it is in our power to injure +each other, therefore it is in our power to help each other. God has +bound us together for good and for evil, for better for worse. Oh! let +it be henceforward in this parish for better, and not for worse. Oh! +every one of you, whether you be rich or poor, farmer or labourer, man or +woman, do not be ashamed to own yourselves to be brothers and sisters, +members of one family, which as it all fell together in the old Adam, so +it has all risen together in the new Adam, Jesus Christ. There is no +respect of persons with God. We are all equal in His sight. He knows no +difference among men, except the difference which God’s Spirit gives, in +proportion as a man listens to the teaching of that Spirit—rank in +godliness and true manhood. Oh! believe that—believe that because you +owe an infinite debt to Christ and to God—His Father and your +Father—therefore you owe an infinite debt to your neighbours, members of +Christ and children of God just as you are—a debt of love, help, care, +which you _can_, pay, just because you are members of one family; for +because you are members of one family, for that very reason every good +deed you do for a neighbour does not stop with that neighbour, but goes +on breeding and spreading, and growing and growing, for aught we know, +for ever. Just as each selfish act we do, each bitter word we speak, +each foul example we set, may go on spreading from mouth to mouth, from +heart to heart, from parent to child, till we may injure generations yet +unborn; so each noble and self-sacrificing deed we do, each wise and +loving word we speak, each example we set of industry and courage, of +faith in God and care for men, may and will spread on from heart to +heart, and mouth to mouth, and teach others to do and be the like; till +people miles away, who never heard of our names, may have cause to bless +us for ever and ever. This is one and only one of the glorious fruits of +our being one family. This is one and only one of the reasons which make +me say that it was a good thing mankind was so made that the innocent +suffer for the guilty. For just as the innocent are injured by the +guilty in this world, even so are the guilty preserved, and converted, +and brought back again by the innocent. Just as the sins of the fathers +are visited on the children, so is the righteousness of the fathers a +blessing to the children; else, says St. Paul, our children would be +unclean, but now they are holy. For the promises of God are not only to +us, but to our children, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call. +And thus each generation, by growing in virtue and wisdom and the +knowledge of God, will help forward all the generations which follow it +to fuller light and peace and safety; and each parent in trying to live +like a Christian man himself, will make it easier for his children to +live like Christians after him. And this rule applies even in the things +which we are too apt to fancy unimportant—every house kept really clean, +every family brought up in habits of neatness and order, every acre of +foul land drained, every new improvement in agriculture and manufactures +or medicine, is a clear gain to all mankind, a good example set which is +sure sooner or later to find followers, perhaps among generations yet +unborn, and in countries of which we never heard the name. + +Was I not right then in saying that this earth is not the devil’s earth +at all, but a right good earth, of God’s making and ruling, wherein no +good deed will perish fruitless, but every man’s works will follow him—a +right good earth, governed by a righteous Father, who, as the psalm says +“is merciful,” just “because He rewards every man according to his work.” + + + + +XVI. +ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING. + + + (Nov. 15th, 1849.) + + God hath visited his people.—LUKE vii. 16. + +WE are assembled this day to thank God solemnly for the passing away of +the cholera from England; and we must surely not forget to thank Him at +the same time for the passing away of the fever, which has caused so much +expense, sorrow, and death among us. Now I wish to say a very few words +to you on this same matter, to show you not only how to be thankful to +God, but what to be thankful for. You may say: It is easy enough for us +to know what to thank God for in this case. We come to thank Him, as we +have just said in the public prayers, for having withdrawn this heavy +visitation from us. If so, my friends, what we shall thank Him for +depends on what we mean by talking of a visitation from God. + +Now I do not know what people may think in this parish, but I suspect +that very many all over England do _not_ know what to thank God for just +now; and are altogether thanking him for the wrong thing—for a thing +which, very happily for them, He has _not_ done for them, and which, if +He had done it for them, would have been worse for them than all the evil +which ever happened to them from their youth up until now. To be plain +then, many, I am afraid, are thanking God for having gone away and left +them. While the cholera was here, they said that God was visiting them; +and now that the cholera is over, they consider that God’s visit is over +too, and are joyful and light of heart thereat. If God’s visit is over, +my friends, and He is gone away from us; if He is not just as near us now +as He was in the height of the cholera, the best thing we can do is to +turn to Him with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and roll ourselves +in the dust, and instead of thanking our Father for going away, pray to +Him, of his infinite mercy, to condescend to come back again and visit +us, even though, as superstitious and ignorant men believe, God’s +visiting us were sure to bring cholera, or plague, or pestilence, or +famine, or some other misery. For I read, that in His presence is life +and not death—at His right hand is fulness of joy, and not tribulation +and mourning and woe; but if not, it were better to be with God in +everlasting agony, than to be in everlasting happiness without God. + +Here is a strange confusion—people talking one moment like St. Paul +himself, desiring to be with Christ and God for ever, and then in the +same breath talking like the Gadarenes of old, when, after Christ had +visited them, and judged their sins by driving their unlawful herd of +swine into the sea, they answered by beseeching Him to depart out of +their coasts. + +Why is this confusion?—Because people do not take the trouble to read +their Bibles; because they bring their own loose, careless, cant notions +with them when they open their Bibles, and settle beforehand what the +Bible is to tell them, and then pick and twist texts till they make them +mean just what they like and no more. There is no folly, or filth, or +tyranny, or blasphemy, which men have not defended out of the Bible by +twisting it in this way. The Bible is better written than that, my +friends. He that runs may read, if he has sense to read. The wayfaring +man, though simple, shall make no such mistake therein, if he has God’s +Spirit in him—the spirit of faith, which believes that the Bible is God’s +message to men—the humble spirit, which is willing to listen to that +message, however strange or new it may seem to him—the earnest spirit, +which reads the Bible really to know what a man shall do to be saved. +Look at your Bibles thus, my friends, about this matter. Read all the +texts which speak of God’s visiting and God’s visitation, and you will +find all the confusion and strangeness vanish away. For see! The Bible +talks of the Lord visiting people in His wrath—visiting them for their +sins—visiting them with sore plagues and punishments, about forty times. +But the Bible speaks very nearly as often of God’s visiting people to +bring them blessings and not punishments. The Bible says God visited +Sarah and Hannah to give them what they most desired—children. God +visited the people of Israel in Egypt to deliver them out of slavery. In +the book of Ruth we read how the Lord visited His people in giving them +bread. The Psalmist, in the captivity at Babylon, _prays_ God to visit +him with His salvation. The prophet Jeremiah says that it was a sign of +God’s anger against the Jews that He had not visited them; and the +prophets promised again and again to their countrymen, how, after their +seventy years’ captivity in Babylon, the Lord would visit them, and what +for?—To bring them back into their own land with joy, and heap them with +every blessing—peace and wealth, freedom and righteousness. So it is in +the New Testament too. Zacharias praised God: “Blessed be the Lord God +of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people; through the +tender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited +us.” And that was the reason why I chose Luke vii. 16, for my text—only +because it is an example of the same thing. The people, it says, praised +God, saying: “A great Prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited +His people.” And in the 14th of Acts we read how God visited the +Gentiles, not to punish them, but to take out of them a people for His +name, namely, Cornelius and his household. And lastly, St. Peter tells +Christian people to glorify God in the day of visitation, as I tell you +now—whether His visitation comes in the shape of cholera, or fever, or +agricultural distress; or whether it comes in the shape of sanitary +reform, and plenty of work, and activity in commerce; whether it seems to +you good or evil, glorify God for it. Thank Him for it. Bless Him for +it. Whether His visitation brings joy or sorrow, it surely brings a +blessing with it. Whether God visits in wrath or in love, still God +visits. God shows that He lives; God shows us that He has not forgotten +us; God shows us that He is near us. Christ shows us that His words are +true: “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.” + +That is a hard lesson to learn and practise, though not a very difficult +one to understand. I will try now to make you understand it—God alone +can teach you to practise it. I pray and hope, and I believe too, that +He will—that these very hard times are meant to teach people _really_ to +believe in God and Jesus Christ, and that they _will_ teach people. God +knows we need, and thanks be to Him that He _does_ know that we need, to +be taught to believe in Him. Nothing shows it to me more plainly than +the way we talk about God’s visitations, as if God was usually away from +us, and came to us only just now and then—only on extraordinary +occasions. People have gross, heathen, fleshly, materialist notions of +God’s visitations, as if He was some great earthly king who now and then +made a journey about his dominions from place to place, rewarding some +and punishing others. God is not in any place, my friends. God is a +Spirit. The heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain Him if He +wanted a place to be in, as, glory be to His name, He does not. If He is +near us or far from us, it is not that He is near or far from our bodies, +as the Queen might be nearer to us in London than in Scotland, which is +most people’s notion of God’s nearness. He is near, not our bodies, but +our spirits, our souls, our hearts, our thoughts—as it is written, “The +kingdom of God is _within_ you.” Do not fancy that when the cholera was +in India, God was nearer India than He was to England, and that as the +cholera crawled nearer and nearer, God came nearer and nearer too; and +that now the cholera is gone away somewhere or other, God is gone away +somewhere or other too, to leave us to our own inventions. God forbid a +thousand times! As St. Paul says: “He is not far from any one of us.” +“In Him we live and move and have our being,” cholera or none. Do you +think Christ, the King of the earth, is gone away either—that while +things go on rightly, and governments, and clergy, and people do right, +Christ is there then, filling them all with His Spirit and guiding them +all to their duty; but that when evil times come, and rulers are idle, +and clergy dumb dogs, and the rich tyrannous, and the poor profligate, +and men are crying for work and cannot get it, and every man’s hand is +against his fellow, and no one knows what to do or think; and on earth is +distress of nations with perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear, +and for dread of those things which are coming on the earth—do you think +that in such times as those, Christ is the least farther off from us than +He was at the best of times?—The least farther off from us now than He +was from the apostles at the first Whitsuntide? God forbid!—God forbid a +thousand times! He has promised Himself, He that is faithful and true, +He that will never deny Himself, though men deny Him, and say He is not +here, because their eyes are blinded with love of the world, and +covetousness and bigotry, and dread lest He, their Master, should come +and find them beating the men-servants and maid-servants, and eating and +drinking with the drunken in the high places of the earth, and saying: +“Tush! God hath forgotten it”—ay, though men have forgotten Him thus, +and—worse than thus, yet He hath said it—“Lo, I am with you alway, even +unto the end of the world.” Why, evil times are the very times of which +Christ used to speak as the “days of the Lord,” and the “days of the Son +of man.” Times when we hear of wars and rumours of wars, and on earth +distress of nations with perplexity—what does He tell men to do in them? +To go whining about, and say that Christ has left His Church? No! +“Then,” He says, “when all these things come to pass, then rejoice and +lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” + +And yet the Scripture does most certainly speak of the Lord’s coming out +of His place to visit—of the Son of Man coming, and not coming to men—of +His visiting us at one time and not at another. How does that agree with +what I have just said? My dear friends, we shall see that it agrees +perfectly with what I have said, if we will only just remember that we +are not beasts, but men. It may seem a strange thing to have to remind +people of, but it is just what they are always forgetting. My friends, +we are not animals, we are not spiders to do nothing but spin, or birds +only to build nests for ourselves, much less swine to do nothing but dig +after roots and fruits, and get what we can out of the clods of the +ground. We are the children of the Most High God; we have immortal souls +within us; nay, more, we are our souls: our bodies are our husk—our +shell—our clothes—our house—changing day by day, and year by year upon +us, one day to drop off us till the Resurrection. But _we_ are our +_souls_, and when God visits, it is our souls He visits, not merely our +bodies. There is the whole secret. People forget God, and therefore +they are glad to fancy that He has forgotten them, and has nothing to do +with this world of His which they are misusing for their own selfish +ends; and then God in His mercy visits them. He knocks at the door of +their hearts, saying: “See! I was close to you all the while.” He +forces them to see Him and to confess that He is there whether they +choose or not. God is not away from the world. He is away from people’s +hearts, because He has given people free wills, and with free wills the +power of keeping Him out of their hearts or letting Him in. And when God +visits He forces Himself on our attention. He knocks at the door of our +hard hearts so loudly and sharply that He forces all to confess that He +is there—all who are not utterly reprobate and spiritually dead. In +blessings as well as in curses, God knocks at our hearts. By sudden good +fortune, as well as by sudden mishap; by a great deliverance from +enemies, by an abundant harvest, as well as by famine and pestilence. +Therefore this cholera has been a true visitation of God. The poor had +fancied that they might be as dirty, the rich had fancied that they might +be as careless, as they chose; in short, that they might break God’s laws +of cleanliness and brotherly care without His troubling Himself about the +matter. And lo! He has visited us; and shown us that He does care about +the matter by taking it into His own hands with a vengeance. He who +cannot see God’s hand in the cholera must be as blind—as blind as who?—as +blind as he that cannot see God’s hand when there is no cholera; as blind +as he who cannot see God’s hand in every meal he eats, and every breath +he draws; for that man is stone blind—he can be no blinder. The cholera +came; everyone ought to see that it did not come by blind chance, but by +the will of some wise and righteous Person; for in the first place God +gave us fair warning. The cholera came from India at a steady pace. We +knew to a month when it would arrive here. And it came, too, by no blind +necessity, as if it was forced to take people whether it liked or not. +Just as it was in the fever here, so it was in the cholera, “One shall be +taken and another left.” It took one of a street and left another; took +one person in a family and left another: it took the rich man who fancied +he was safe, as well as the poor man who did not care whether he was safe +or not. The respectable man walking home to his comfortable house, +passed by some untrapped drain, and then poisonous gas struck him and he +died. The rich physician who had been curing others, could not save +himself from the poison of the crowded graveyard which had been allowed +to remain at the back of his house. By all sorts of strange and +unfathomable judgments the cholera showed itself to be working, not by a +blind necessity, but at the will of a thinking Person, of a living God, +whose ways are not as our own ways, and His paths are in the great deep. +And yet the cholera showed—and this is what I want to make you feel—that +it was working at the will of the same God in whom we live and move and +have our being, who sends the food we eat, the water in which we wash, +the air we breathe, and who has ordained for all these things natural +laws, according to which they work, and which He never breaks, nor allows +us to break them. For every case of cholera could be traced to some +breaking of these laws—foul air—foul food—foul water, or careless and +dirty contact with infected persons; so that by this God showed that He +and not chance ruled the world, and that he was indeed the living and +willing God. He showed at the same time that He was the wise God of +order and of law; and that gas and earth, wind and vapour, fulfil His +word, without His having to break His laws, or visit us by moving, as +people fancy, out of a Heaven where He was, down to an earth, where He +was not. + +But, lastly, remember what I told you before, that the cholera being a +visitation means that God, by it, has been visiting our hearts, knocking +loudly at them that He may awaken us, and teach us a lesson. And be sure +that in the cholera, and this our own parish fever, there is a lesson for +each and every one of us if we will learn it. To the simple poor man, +first and foremost, God means by the cholera to teach the simple lesson +of cleanliness; to the house-owner He means to teach that each man is his +brother’s keeper, and responsible for his property not being a nest of +disease; to rulers it is intended to teach the lesson that God’s laws +cannot be put off to suit their laziness, cowardice, or party squabbles. +But beside that, to each person, be sure such a visitation as this brings +some private lesson. Perhaps it has taught many a widow that she has a +Friend stronger and more loving than even the husband whom she has lost +by the pestilence—the God of the widow and the fatherless. Perhaps it +has taught many a strong man not to trust in his strength and his youth, +but in the God who gave them to him. Perhaps it has taught many a man, +too, who has expected public authorities to do everything for him, “not +to put his trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no +help in them,” but to hear God’s advice, “Help thyself and God will help +thee.” Perhaps it has stirred up many a benevolent man to find out fresh +means for rooting out the miseries of society. Perhaps it has taught +many a philosopher new deep truths about the laws of God’s world, which +may enable him to enlighten and comfort ages yet unborn. Perhaps it has +awakened many a slumbering heart, and brought many a careless sinner (for +the first time in his life) face to face with God and his own sins. +God’s judgments are manifold; they are meant to work in different ways on +different hearts. But oh! believe and be sure that they are meant to +work upon all hearts—that they are not the punishments of a capricious +tyrant, but the rod of a loving Father, who is trying to drive us home +into His fold, when gentle entreaties and kind deeds have failed to +allure us home. Oh my friends! if you wish really to thank God for +having preserved you from these pestilences, show your thankfulness by +learning the lesson which they bring. God’s love has spoken of each and +every one of us in the cholera. Be sure He has spoken so harshly only +because a gentler tone of voice would have had no effect upon us. Thank +Him for His severity. Thank Him for the cholera, the fever. Thank Him +for anything which will awaken us to hear the Word of the Lord. But till +you have learnt the lessons which these visitations are meant to teach +you, there is no use thanking Him for taking them away. And therefore I +beseech you solemnly, each and all, before you leave this church, now to +pray to God to show you what lesson He means to teach you by this past +awful visitation, and also by sparing you and me who are here present, +not merely from cholera and fever, but from a thousand mishaps and evils, +which we have deserved, and from which only His goodness has kept us. Oh +may God stir up your hearts to ask advice of Him this day! and may He in +His great mercy so teach us all His will on this day of joy, that we may +not need to have it taught us hereafter on some day of sorrow. + + + + +XVII. +THE COVENANT. + + + The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his own + possession. For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is + above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven + and earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places.—PSALM cxxxv. 4, 5, + 6. + +WERE you ever puzzled to find out why the Psalms are read every Sunday in +Church, more read, indeed, than any other part of the Bible? If any of +you say, No, I shall not think you the wiser. It is very easy not to be +puzzled with a deep matter, if one never thinks about it at all. But +when a man sets his mind to work seriously, to try to understand what he +hears and sees around him, then he will be puzzled, and no shame to him; +for he will find things every day of his life which will require years of +thought to understand, ay, things which, though we see and know that they +are true, and can use and profit by them, we can never understand at all, +at least in this life. + +But I do not think that God meant it to be so with these Psalms. He +meant the Bible for a poor man’s book: and therefore the men who wrote +the Bible were almost all of them poor men, at least at one time or other +of their life; and therefore we may expect that they would write as poor +men would write, and such things as poor men may understand, if they are +fairly and simply explained. Therefore I do not think you need be +puzzled long to find out why these Psalms are read every Sunday. For the +men who wrote them had God’s spirit with them; and God’s spirit is the +spirit in which God made and governs this world, and just as God cannot +change, so God’s spirit cannot change; and therefore the rules and laws +according to which the world runs on cannot change; and therefore these +rules about God’s government of the world, which God’s spirit taught the +old Hebrew Psalmists, are the very same rules by which He governs it now; +and therefore all the rules in these Psalms, making allowance for the +difference of circumstances, have just as much to do with France, and +Germany, and England now, as they had with the Jews, and the Canaanites, +and the Babylonians then. + +St. Paul tells us so. He tells us that all that happened to the old Jews +was written as an example to Christians, to the intent that they might +not sin as the Jews did, and so (God’s laws and ways being the same now +as then) be punished as the Jews were. Moreover, St. Paul says, that +Christians now are just as much God’s chosen people as the Jews were. +God told the Jews that they were to be a nation of kings and priests to +Him. And St. John opens the Revelations by saying: “Unto Him that loved +us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings +and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory.” St. Paul tells +the Ephesians, who had not a drop of Jewish blood in their veins, that +through Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles had “access by one Spirit +unto the Father. Now, therefore,” he goes on, “ye are no more strangers +and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household +of God.” In fact, he tells the Christians of every country to which he +writes, that all the promises which God made to the Jews belonged to them +just as much, that there was no more any difference between Jew and +Gentile, that the Lord Jesus Christ was just as really among them, and +with them, ruling and helping each people in their own country, as He was +in Jerusalem when Isaiah saw His glory filling the Temple, and when Zion +was called the place of His inheritance. Indeed, the Lord Jesus said the +same thing Himself, for He said that all power was given to Him in heaven +and earth; that He was with His churches (that is, with all companies of +Christian people, such as England) even to the end of the world; that +wherever two or three were gathered together in His name, He would be in +the midst of them; and if those blessed words and good news be true, we +Englishmen have a right to believe firmly that we belong to Him just as +much as the old Jews did; and when we read these Psalms, to take every +word of their good news—and their warnings also—to ourselves, and to our +own land of England. And when we read in the text, that the Lord chose +Jacob unto Himself and Israel for His own possession, we have a right to +say: “And the Lord has chosen also England unto himself, and this +favoured land of Britain for his own possession.” When we say in the +Psalm: “The Lord did what He pleased in heaven, and earth, and sea,” to +educate and deliver the people of the Jews, we have a right to say just +as boldly: “And so He has done for England, for us, and for our +forefathers.” + +This then is the reason, the chief reason, why these Psalms are appointed +to be read every Sunday in church, and every morning and evening where +there is daily service—to teach us that the Lord takes care not only of +one man’s soul here, and another woman’s soul there, but of the whole +country of England; of its wars and its peace; of its laws and +government, its progress and its afflictions; of all, in short, that +happens to it as a nation, as one body of men, which it is. It must be +so, my good friends, else we should be worse off than the old Jews, and +not better off, as all the New Testament solemnly assures us a thousand +times over that we are. + +For in the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the strange +events, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their nation, not only +the great saints among them were taken care of, but all classes, and all +characters, good and bad, even those who had not wisdom or spiritual life +enough to seek God for themselves, still had their share in the good +laws, in the teaching and guiding, and in the national blessings which He +sent on the whole nation. They had a chance given them of rising, and +improving, and prospering, as the rest of their countrymen rose, and +improved, and prospered. And when the Lord came to visit Judæa in flesh +and blood, we find that He went on the same method. He did not merely go +to such men as Philip and Nathaniel, to the holy and elect ones among the +Jews, but to the whole people; to the _lost_ sheep, as well as to those +who were not lost. He did not part the good from the bad before he +healed their sicknesses, and fed them with the loaves and fishes. It was +enough for Him that they were Jews, citizens of the Jewish nation. God’s +promises belonged not to one Jew or another, but to the Jewish nation; +and even the ignorant and the sinful had a share in the blessings of the +covenant, great or small in proportion as they chose to live as Jews +ought, or to forget and deny that they belonged to God’s people. + +Now, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then. He +cannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, and wild untaught +creatures, in England now, than he cared for them in Judæa of old. And +we see that in fact He does not. For as the wealth of England improves, +and the laws improve, and the knowledge of God improves, the condition of +all sorts of poor creatures improves too, though they had no share in +bringing about the good change. But we are all members of one body, from +the Queen on her throne to the tramper under the hedge; and as St. Paul +says: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one +member rejoices, all the others” sooner or later “rejoice with it.” For +we, too, are one of the Lord’s nations. He has made us one body, with +one common language, common laws, common interest, common religion for +all; and what He does for one of us He does for all. He orders all that +happens to us; whether it be war or peace, prosperity or dearth, He +orders it all; and He orders things so that they shall work for the good, +not merely of a few, but of as many as possible—not merely for His elect, +but for those who know Him not. As He has been from the beginning, when +He heaped blessings on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites—as He +was when He endured the cross for a world lying not in obedience, but in +wickedness; so is He now; the perfect likeness of His father, who is no +respecter of persons, but causes “His sun to shine alike on the evil on +the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.” + +But now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you most +solemnly, and especially in such days as these. You may believe my words +to your own ruin, or to your own salvation. They are “the Gospel,” “the +good news of the Kingdom of God”—that is, the good news that God has +condescended to become our King, to govern and guide us, to order all +things for our good. But as St. Paul says, the Gospel may be a savour of +death unto death, as well as a savour of life unto life. And I will tell +you now; that you have only to do what the Jews just before the coming of +our Lord did, and give way to the same thoughts as they, and then, like +them, it were better for you that you had never heard of God, and been +like the savages, to whom little or no sin is imputed, because they are +all but without law. How is this? + +As I said before—take your covenant privileges as the Pharisees took +theirs, and they will turn you into devils while you are fancying +yourselves God’s especial favourites. Now this was what happened to the +Pharisees: they could not help knowing that God had shown especial favour +to them; and that He had taught them more about God than He had taught +the heathen. But instead of feeling all the more humble and thankful for +this, and of remembering day and night that because much had been given +to them much would be required of them, they thought more about the +honour and glory which God had put on them. They forgot what God had +declared, namely, that it was not for their own goodness that He had +taught them, for that they were in themselves not a whit better than the +heathen around them. They forgot that the reason why He taught them was, +that they were to do His work on earth, by witnessing for His name, and +telling the heathen that God was their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews. +Now David, and the old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this. +Their cry is: “Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King.” +“Worship the Son of God, ye kings of the earth, and make your peace with +Him lest He be angry.” “It was in vain,” he told the heathen kings, “to +try to cast away God’s government from them, and break His bonds from off +them,” for “the Lord was King, let the nations be never so unquiet.” + +But the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, that God +had nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care for them, and +actually hated them; that they, as it were, had the true God all to +themselves for their own private property; and that He had neither love +nor mercy, except for them and their proselytes, that is, the few +heathens whom they could persuade and entice not to worship the true God +after the customs of their own country—that would not have suited the +Jews’ bigotry and pride—but to turn Jews, and forget their own people +among whom they were born, and ape them in everything. And so, as our +Lord told them, after compassing sea and land to make one of these +proselytes, they only made him after all twice as much the child of hell +as themselves. For they could not teach the heathen anything worth +knowing about God, when they had forgotten themselves what God was like. +They could tell them that there was one God, and not two—but what was the +use of that? As St. James says, the devils believe as much as that, and +yet the knowledge does not make them holy, but only increases their fear +and despair. And so with these Pharisees. They had forgotten that God +was love. They had forgotten that God was merciful. They had forgotten +that God was just. And therefore, while they were talking of God and +pretending to worship God, they knew nothing of God, and they did not do +God’s will, and act like God; for (as we find from the Gospels) they were +unjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous themselves; and while they +were looking down on the poor heathens, these very heathens, the Lord +told them, would rise up in judgment against them: for they, knowing +little, acted up to the light which they had, better than the Pharisees +who knew so much. And so it will be with us, my friends, if we fancy +that God’s great favours to us are a reason for our priding ourselves on +them, and despising papists and foreigners instead of remembering that +just because God has given us so much, He will require more of us. It is +true, we do know more of the Gospel than the papists, how, though they +believe in Jesus Christ, worship the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and +idols of wood and stone. But if they, who know so little of God’s will, +yet act faithfully up to what they do know, will they not rise up in +judgment against us, who know so much more, if we act worse than they? +Instead of despising them, we had better despise ourselves. Instead of +fancying that God’s love is not over them, and so sinning against God’s +Holy Spirit by denying and despising the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit in +them, we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting of our own sins. +We had better pray God to open our eyes to our own want of faith, and +want of love, and want of honesty, and want of cleanly and chaste lives; +lest God in His anger should let us go on in our evil path, till we fall +into the deep darkness of mind of the Pharisees of old. For then while +we were boasting of England as the most Christian nation in the world, we +might become the most unchristian, because the most unlike Christ; the +most wanting in love and fellow-feeling, and self-sacrifice, and honour, +and justice, and honesty; wanting, in short, in the fruits of the Spirit. +And without them there is no use crying: “We are God’s chosen people, He +Has put His name among us, we alone hate idols, we alone have the pure +word of God, and the pure sacraments, and the pure doctrine;” for God may +answer us, as he answered the Jews of old: “Think not to say within +yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, God +is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” . . . “The +Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing +forth the fruits thereof.” Oh! my friends, let us pray, one and all, +that God will come and help us, and with great might succour us, “that +whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindered in +running the race set before us, God’s bountiful grace and mercy may +speedily help and deliver us,” and enable us to live faithfully up to the +glorious privileges which He has bestowed on us, in calling us “members +of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven;” in +giving us His Bible, in allowing us to be born into this favoured land of +England, in preserving us to this day, in spite of all that we have +thought, and said, and done, unworthy of the name of Christians and +Englishmen. + +And then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the glorious +promises which we find in another Psalm: “If thy children will keep my +covenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them, this land shall be +my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. I +will bless her victuals with increase, and satisfy her poor with bread. +I will deck her priests with health, and her holy people shall rejoice +and sing.” + + + + +XVIII. +NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. + + + And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye + say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to + serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a + mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, + will I rule over you. . . . And ye shall know that I am the + Lord.—EZEKIEL xx. 32, 33, 38. + +A FATHER has two ways of showing his love to his child—by caressing it +and by punishing it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, and ought +to be. Just because he loves his child, just because the thing he longs +most to see is that his child should grow up good, therefore he must be, +and ought to be, angry with it when it does wrong. Therefore anger +against sin is a part of God’s likeness in us; and he who does not hate +sin is not like God. For if sin is the worst evil—perhaps the only real +evil in the world—and the end of all sin is death and misery, then to +indulge people in sin is to show them the very worst of cruelty. + +To sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, is mere +laziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, does not show his love +to the child by indulging it, all he shows is, that he himself is carnal +and fleshly; that he does not like to take the trouble of punishing it, +or does not like to give himself the pain of punishing it; that, in +short, he had sooner let his child grow up in bad habits, which must lead +to its misery and ruin for years and years, if not for ever, than make +himself uncomfortable by seeing it uncomfortable for a few minutes. That +is not love, but selfishness. True love is as determined to punish the +sin as it is to forgive the sinner. Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that +we can be angry without sinning; that is that there is an anger which +comes from hatred of sin and love to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon +tells us to punish our children when they do wrong, and not to hold our +hands for their crying. It is better for them that they should cry a +little now, than have long years of shame and sorrow hereafter. +Therefore, in all countries which are properly governed, the law punishes +in the name of God those who break the laws of God, and punishes them +even with death, for certain crimes; because it is expedient that one man +die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. + +And this is God’s way of dealing with each and every one of us. This is +God’s way of dealing with Christian nations, just as it was His way of +dealing with the Jews of old. He never allowed the Jews to prosper in +sin. He punished them at once, and sternly, whenever they rebelled +against Him; not because He hated them, but because He loved them. His +love to them showed itself whenever they went well with Him, in triumphs +and blessings; and when they rebelled against Him, and broke His laws, He +showed that very same love to them in plague, and war, and famine, and a +mighty hand, and fury poured out. His love had not changed—they had +changed; and now the best and only way of showing His love to them, was +by making them feel His anger; and the best and only way of being +merciful to them, was to show them no indulgence. + +Now the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in Ezekiel’s time, was +to be like the heathen—like the nations round them. They said to +themselves: “These heathen worship idols, and yet prosper very well. +Their having gods of wood and stone, and their indulging their passions, +and being profligate and filthy, covetous, unjust, and tyrannical, does +not prevent their being just as happy as we are—ay, and a great deal +happier. They have no strict law of Moses, as we have threatening us and +keeping us in awe, and making us uncomfortable, and telling us at every +turn, ‘Thou shalt not do this pleasant thing, and thou shalt not do that +pleasant thing.’ And yet God does not punish them, as Moses’ law says He +will punish us. These Assyrians and Babylonians above all—they are +stronger than we, and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have +horses and chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which we Jews +cannot get. Instead of being like us, in continual trouble from +earthquakes, and drought, and famine, and war, attacked, plundered by all +the nations round us, one after another, they go on conquering, and +spreading, and succeeding in all they lay their hand to. Look at +Babylon,” said these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; “a few +generations ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the greatest, +richest, and strongest nation in the whole world. God has not punished +it for worshipping gods of wood and stone, why should He punish us? +These Babylonians have prospered well enough with their gods, why should +not we? Perhaps it is these very gods of wood and stone who have helped +them to become so great. Why should they not help us? We will worship +them, then, and pray to them. We will not give up worshipping our own +God, of course, lest we should offend Him; but we will worship Him and +the Babylonian idols at the same time; then we shall be sure to be right +if we have Jehovah and the idols both on our side.” So said the Jews to +themselves. But what did Ezekiel answer them? “Not so, my foolish +countrymen,” said he, “God will not have it so. He has taught you that +these Babylonian idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught you +that He can and will help you, that He can and will be everything to you; +He has taught you that He alone is God, who made heaven and earth, who +orders all things therein, who alone gives any people power to get +wealth; and He will not have you go back and fall from that for any +appearances or arguments whatsoever, because it is true. He has chosen +you to witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His name to them, +that they may give up their idols and serve the true God, in whom alone +is strength. He chose you to be these heathens’ teachers, and He will +not let you become their scholars. He meant the heathen to copy you, and +He will not let you copy them. If He does, in His love and mercy, let +these poor heathen prosper in spite of their idols, what is that to you? +It is still the Lord who makes them prosper, and not the idols, whether +they know it or not. They know no better, and He will not impute sin to +them where He has given them no law. But you do know better; by a +thousand mighty signs and wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been +teaching you ever since you came up through the Red Sea, that He is +all-sufficient for you, that all power is His in heaven and earth. He +has promised to you, and sworn to you by Himself, that if you keep His +law and walk in His commandments, you shall want no manner of good thing; +that you shall have no cause to envy these heathen their riches and +prosperity, for the Lord will bless you in house and land, by day and +night, at home and abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire. +Moses’ law tells you this, God’s prophets have been telling you this, +God’s wonderful dealings with you have been telling you this, that the +Lord God is enough for you. And if you, who are meant to be a nation of +kings and priests to God, to teach all nations and serve solely Him, +fancy that you will be allowed to throw away the high honour which God +has put upon you, and lower yourselves to the follies and sins of these +heathen round you, you are mistaken. You were meant to be above such +folly, you can be above it; and you shall not prosper by serving God and +idols at once; you shall not even prosper by serving idols alone. God +will visit you with a mighty hand, and with fury poured out, and you +shall know that He is the Lord.” + +Well, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This it has to do +with us—that if God taught the Jews about Himself, He has taught us still +more. If he has shown signs and wonders of His love, and wrought +mightily for the Jews, He has wrought far more mightily for us; for He +spared not His own Son, but gave Him freely for us. If He promised to +teach the Jews, He has promised still more to teach us; for He has +promised His Holy Spirit freely to young and old, rich and poor, to as +many as ask Him, to guide us into all truth. If he expected the Jews to +set an example to all the nations around, He expects us to do so still +more. And if He punished the Jews, and drove them back again by shame, +and affliction, and disappointment, whenever they went after other gods, +and tried to be like the heathen around, and despised their high calling, +and their high privileges, He will punish us, and drive us back again +still more fiercely, and still more swiftly. God has called us to be a +nation of Christians, and He will not let us be a nation of heathens. We +are longing to do in these days very much as the Jews did of old; we are +all too apt to say to ourselves: “Of course we must love God, or He might +be angry with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls saved? +But the old heathen nations, and a great many nations now, and a great +many rich and comfortable people in England now, too, get on very well +without God, by just worshipping selfishness, and money, and worldly +cunning, and why should not we do the same?—why should we not worship God +and Mammon at once, and serve God on Sundays, and the selfish ways of the +world all the week? Surely then we should be doubly safe; we should have +God and the world on our side both at once.” + +Now, my friends, God will not allow us to succeed on that plan. We are +members of His Church, whose head is Jesus, who gave Himself for sinners; +whose members are all brothers of His Church, which is held together by +self-sacrifice and fellow-help. If we try to be like the heathens, and +fancy that we can succeed by selfishness, and cunning, and covetousness, +God will not let us fall from the honour which He has put on us, and +trample our blessings under foot. He will bring our plans to nought. +Whomsoever he may let prosper in sin, He will not let those who have +heard the message prosper in it. Whatever nation He may let become great +by covetousness, and selfish competing and struggling of man against man, +He will not let England grow great by it. He loves her too well to let +her fall so, and cast away her high honour of being a Christian nation. +By great and sore afflictions, by bringing our cleverest plans to +nothing, He will teach us that we cannot worship God and Mammon at once; +that the sure riches, either for a man or for a nation, are not money, +but righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of selfish +competition which men worship nowadays, and fancy that it is the secret +cause of all plenty, and cheapness, and civilisation, has no place in the +church of Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for those who hated Him, +and came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father; not to +enable men to go to heaven after a life of selfishness here; but by the +power of His Spirit—the spirit of love and fellowship to sweep all +selfishness off the face of God’s good earth. By sore trials and +afflictions will God in His mercy teach this to England, and to every man +in England who is deluded into fancying that he can serve God, and +selfishness at once, till we learn once more, as our forefathers did of +old, that He is the Lord. Because we are His children God will chasten +us; because He receives us, He will scourge us back to Him; because He +has prepared for us things such as eye hath not seen, He will not let us +fill our bellies with the husks which the swine eat, and like the dumb +beasts, snarl and struggle one against the other for a place at His +table, as if it were not wide enough for all His creatures, and for ten +times as many more, forgetting that He is the giver, and fancying that we +are to be the takers, and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry to snatch +it out of our neighbours’ hands. In one word, God will not give us false +prosperity, as the children of the world, the flesh, and the devil, +because he wishes to give us real prosperity as the sons of God, in the +kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us. + + + + +XIX. +THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM. + + + And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in + the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and eighty five thousand: and + when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.—2 + KINGS xix. 35. + +YOU heard read in the first lesson last Sunday afternoon, the threats of +the king of Assyria against Jerusalem, and his defiance of the true Lord +whose temple stood there. In the first lesson for this morning’s +service, you heard of king Hezekiah’s fear and perplexity; of the Lord’s +answer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and wonderful destruction of +the Assyrian army, of which my text tells you. Of course you have a +right to ask: “This which happened in a foreign country more than two +thousand years ago, what has it to do with us?” And, of course, my +preaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, unless I can show you +what it has to do with us; what lesson we English here, in the year 1851, +are to draw, from the help which God sent the Jews. + +But to find out that, we must hear the whole story. Before we can find +out why God drove the Assyrians out of Judæa, we must find out, it seems +to me, why He sent them, or allowed them to come into Judæa; and to find +out that, we must first see how the Jews were behaving in those times, +and what sort of state their country was in; and we must find out, too, +what sort of a man this great king of Assyria was, and what sort of +thoughts were in his heart. + +Now, by the favour of God, we can find out this. You will see, in the +first thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah’s prophecies, a full account of the +ways of the Jews in that time, and the reasons why God allowed so fearful +a danger to come upon them. The whole first thirty-five chapters belong +to each other, and are, so to speak, a spiritual history of the Jews, and +the Assyrians, and all the nations round them, for many years. A +spiritual history—that is, not merely a history of what they did, but of +what they were, what was in their inmost hearts, and thoughts, and +spirits; a spiritual history—that is, not merely of what they thought +they were doing, but of what God saw that they were doing—a history of +God’s mind about them all. Isaiah had God’s spirit on him; and so he saw +what was going on round him in the same light in which God saw it, and +hated it, or praised it, only according as it was good, and according to +the good Spirit of God, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah’s +history of his own nation, and the nations around him, was very unlike +what they would have written for themselves; just as I am afraid he would +write a very different history of England now, from what we should write, +if we were set to do it. Now what Isaiah thought of the doings of his +countrymen, the Jews, I must tell you in another sermon, next Sunday. It +will be enough this morning to speak of the king of Assyria. + +These kings of Assyria thought themselves the greatest and strongest +beings in the world; they thought that their might was right, and that +they might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and oppress every country +round them for thousands of miles, without being punished. They thought +that they could overcome the true God of Judæa, as they had conquered the +empty idols and false gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Iva. But Isaiah saw +that they were wrong. He told his countrymen: “These Assyrian kings are +strong, but there is a stronger King than they, Jehovah the Lord of all +the earth. It is He who sent them to punish nation after nation, +Sennacherib is the rod of Jehovah’s anger; but he is a fool after all; +for all his cunning, for all his armies, he is a fool rushing on his +ruin. He may take Tyre, Damascus, Babylon, Egypt itself, and cast their +gods into the fire, for they are no gods, but the work of men’s hands, +wood and stone; but let him once try his strength against the real living +God; let the axe once begin to boast itself against Him that hews +therewith; and he will find out that there is one stronger than he, one +who has been using him as a ‘tool, and who will crush him like a moth the +moment he rebels. His father destroyed Samaria and her idols, but he +shall not destroy Jerusalem. He may ravage Ephraim, and punish the +gluttony and drunkenness, and oppression of the great landlords of +Bashan; he may bring misery and desolation through the length and breadth +of the land: there is reason, and reason but too good for that: but +Jerusalem, the place where God’s honour dwells, the temple without idols, +which is the sign that Jehovah is a living God, against it he shall not +cast up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.” “I know,” said Isaiah, “what +he is saying of himself, this proud king of Assyria: but this is what God +says of him, that he is only a puppet, a tool in the hand of God, to +punish these wicked nations whom he is conquering one by one, and us Jews +among the rest. He, this proud king of Assyria, thinks that he is the +chosen favourite of the sun, and the moon, and the stars, whom, in his +folly, he worships as gods. He will find out who is the real Lord of the +earth; he will find out that this great world is ruled by that very God +of Israel whom he despises. He will find that there is something in this +earth, of which he fancies himself lord and master, which is too strong +for him, which will obey God, and not him. God rules the earth, and God +rules Tophet, and the great fire-kingdoms which boil and blaze for ever +in the bowels of the earth, and burst up from time to time in earthquakes +and burning mountains; and God has ordained that they shall conquer this +proud king of Assyria, though we Jews are too weak and cowardly, and +split up into parties by our wickedness, to make a stand against him.” . . . + +This great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, which would +destroy the king of Assyria’s army, was to happen, Isaiah says, close to +Jerusalem, nay, it was to shake Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem was to be +brought to great misery by everlasting burnings, as well as by being +besieged by the Assyrians; and yet the very shaking of the earth and +eruption of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be the cause of +its deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot doubt his words +came true. For this may explain to us the way in which the king of +Assyria’s army was destroyed. The text says, that when they encamped +near Jerusalem the messenger of the Lord went out, and slew in one night +one hundred and eighty thousand of them, who were all found dead in the +morning. How they were killed we cannot exactly tell, most likely by a +stream of poisonous vapour, such as often comes forth out of the ground +during earthquakes and eruptions of burning mountains, and kills all men +and animals who breathe it. That this was the way that this great army +was destroyed, I have little doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah +says in his prophecies of God’s “sending a blast” upon the king of +Assyria, but because it was just like the old lesson which God had been +teaching the Jews all along, that the earth and all in it was His +property, and obeyed Him. For what could teach them that more strongly +than to see that the earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on +earth the most awful and most murderous, the very things against which +man has no defence, obeyed God; burst forth when He chose, and did His +work as He willed? For man can conquer almost everything in the world +except these burning mountains and earthquakes. He can sail over the +raging sea in his ships; he can till the most barren soils; he can +provide against famine, rain, and cold, ay, against the thunder itself: +but the earthquakes alone are too strong for him. Against them no +cunning or strength of man is of any use. Without warning, they make the +solid ground under his feet heave, and reel, and sink, hurling down whole +towns in a moment, and burying the inhabitants under the ruins, as an +earthquake did in Italy only a month ago. Or they pour forth streams of +fire, clouds of dust, brimstone, and poisonous vapour, destroying for +miles around the woods and crops, farms and cities, and burying them deep +in ashes, as they have done again and again, both in Italy and Iceland, +and in South America, even during the last few years. How can man stand +against them? What greater warning or lesson to him than they, that God +is stronger than man; that the earth is not man’s property, and will not +obey him, but only the God who made it? Now that was just what God +intended to teach the Jews all along; that the earth and heaven belonged +to Him and obeyed Him; that they were not to worship the sun and stars, +as the Assyrians and Canaanites did, nor the earth and the rivers as the +Egyptians did: but to worship the God who made sun and stars, earth and +rivers, and to put their trust in Him to guide all heaven and earth +aright; and to make all things, sun, earth, and weather, ay, and the very +burning mountains and earthquakes, work together for good for them if +they loved God. Therefore it was that God gave His law to Moses on the +burning mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and lightnings, and +earthquakes, to show them that the lightnings and the mountains obeyed +Him. Therefore it was that the earthquake opened the ground and +swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses. +Therefore it was that God once used an earthquake and eruption to +preserve David from his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And +all through David’s Psalms we find how well he had learnt this great +lesson which God had taught him. Again and again we find verses which +show that he knew well enough who was the Lord of all the earth. + +In Isaiah’s time, it seems, God taught the Jews once more the same thing. +He taught them, and the proud king of Assyria, once and for all, that He +was indeed the Lord—Lord of all nations, and King of kings, and also Lord +of the earth, and all that therein is. He taught it to the poor +oppressed Jews by that miraculous deliverance. He taught it to the cruel +invading king by that miraculous destruction. Just in the height of his +glory, after he had conquered almost every nation in the east, and +overcome the whole of Judæa, except that one small city of Jerusalem, +Sennacherib’s great army was swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in +a single night, and utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his +own land; and even there he found that the God of Israel had followed +him—that the idols whom he worshipped could not save him from the wrath +of that God to whom Assyria, just as much as Jerusalem, belonged. For as +he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons smote +him with the sword, and there was an end of all his pride and conquests. +. . . Now Nisroch was the name of a star—the star which we call the +planet Saturn; and the Assyrians fancied in their folly, that whosoever +worshipped any particular star, that star would protect and help him. . . . +But, alas for the king of Assyria, there was One above who had made +the stars, and from whose vengeance the stars could not save him; and so +even while he was worshipping, and praying to, this favourite star of his +which could not hear him, he fell dead, a murdered man, and found out too +late how true were the great words of Isaiah when he prophesied against +him. + +Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to learn, and +which the king of Assyria had to learn, and which we have to learn also; +and which God will, in His great mercy, teach us over and over again by +bitter trials whensoever we forget it; that The Lord is King; that He is +near us, living for ever, all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving; that those +who really trust in Him shall never be confounded; that those who trust +in themselves are trying their paltry strength against the God who made +heaven and earth, and will surely find out their own weakness, just when +they fancy themselves most successful. So it was in Hezekiah’s time; so +it is now, hard as it may be to us to believe it. The Lord Jehovah, +Jesus Christ, who saved Jerusalem from the Assyrians, He still is King, +let the earth be never so unquiet. And all men, or governments, or +doctrines, or ways of thinking and behaving, which are contrary to His +will, or even pretend that they can do without Him, will as surely come +to nought as that great and terrible king of Assyria. Though man be too +weak to put them down, Christ is not. Though man neglect to put them +down, Christ will not. If man dare not fight on the Lord’s side against +sin and evil, the Lord’s earth will fight for Him. Storm and tempest, +blight and famine, earthquakes and burning mountains, will do His work, +if nothing else will. As He said Himself, if man stops praising Him, the +very stones will cry out, and own Him as their King. Not that the +blessed Lord is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; God forbid! He is +boundless pity, and love, and mercy. But it is just because He is +perfect love and pity that He hates sin, which makes all the misery upon +earth. He hates it, and he fights against it for ever; lovingly at +first, that He may lead sinners to repentance; for He wills the death of +none, but rather that all should come to repentance. But if a man will +not turn, He will whet his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let him be +as great as the king of Assyria, he must down. For the Lord will have +none guide His world but Himself, because none but He will ever guide it +on the right path. Yes—but what a glorious thought, that He will guide +it, and us, on that right path. Oh blessed news for all who are in +sorrow and perplexity! Whatsoever it is that ails you—and who is there, +young or old, rich or poor, who has not their secret ailments at +heart?—whatsoever ails you, whatsoever terrifies you, whatsoever tempts +you, trust in the same Lord who delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians, +and He will deliver you. He will never suffer you to be tempted above +that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way for you +to escape, that you may be able to bear it. This has been His loving way +from the beginning, and this will be His way until the day when He wipes +away tears from all eyes. + + + + +XX. +PROFESSION AND PRACTICE. + + + Though they say, “The Lord liveth,” surely they swear + falsely.—JEREMIAH v. 2. + +I SPOKE last Sunday morning of the wonderful way in which the Lord +delivered the Jews from the Assyrian army, and I promised to try and +explain to you this morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the +Assyrians to come into Judæa, and ravage the whole country except the one +small city of Jerusalem. + +My text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the prophet +Jeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason to us. + +For though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after Isaiah, yet he +had much the same message from God to give, and much the same sins round +him to rebuke. For the Jews were always, as the Bible calls them, “a +backsliding people;” and, as the years ran on, and they began to forget +their great deliverance from the Assyrians, they slid back into the very +same wrong state of mind in which they were in Isaiah’s time, and for +which God punished them by that terrible invasion. + +Now, what was this? + +One very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when the Assyrians +came into Judæa, the Jews were _not_ given up to worshipping false gods. +On the contrary, we find, both from the book of Kings and the book of +Chronicles, that a great reform in religion had taken place among them a +few years before. Their king Hezekiah, in the very first year of his +reign, removed the high places, and cut down the groves (which are said +to have been carved idols meant to represent the stars of heaven), and +even broke in pieces the brazen serpent which Moses had made, because the +Jews had begun to worship it for an idol. He trusted in the Lord God, +and obeyed Him, more than any king of Judah. He restored the worship of +the true God in the temple, according to the law of Moses, with such pomp +and glory as had never been seen since Solomon’s time. And not only did +he turn to the true God, but his people also. From the account which we +find in Chronicles, they seemed to have joined him in the good work. +They offered sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they +have been guilty, in leaving the true God for idols; and all other kinds +of offerings freely and willingly. “And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the +people that God had prepared the people. Moreover, Hezekiah called all +the men in Judæa up to Jerusalem, to keep the passover according to the +law of Moses,” which they had neglected to do for many years, and the +people answered his call and “came, and kept the feast at Jerusalem seven +days, with joy and great gladness, offering peace-offerings, and making +confession to the God of their fathers. So there was great joy in +Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon there was not the like in +Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose, and blessed the +people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to the Lord’s +holy dwelling, even to heaven.” And when it was all finished, the people +went out of their own accord, and destroyed utterly all the idols, and +high places, and altars throughout the land, and returned to their houses +in peace. + +Now does not all this sound very satisfactory and excellent? What better +state of mind could people be in? What a wonderful reform, and spread of +true religion! The only thing like it, that we know, is the wonderful +reform and spread of religion in England in the last sixty years, after +all the ungodliness and wickedness that went on from the year 1660 to the +time of the French war; the building of churches, the founding of +schools, the spread of Bibles, and tracts, and the wonderful increase of +gospel preachers, so that every old man will tell you, that religion is +talked about and written about now, a thousand times more than when he +was a boy. Indeed, unless a man makes a profession of some sort of +religion or other, nowadays, he can hardly hope to rise in the world, so +religious are we English become. + +Now let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful spread of true +religion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may see what he would think +of ours now, if he were alive. His opinion is sure to be the right one. +His rules can never fail, for he was an inspired prophet, and saw things +as they are, as God sees them; and therefore his rules will hold good for +ever. Let us see what they were. + +The first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is called “The vision +of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, +in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.” Now this is one +prophecy by itself, in the shape of a poem; for in the old Hebrew it is +written in regular verses. The second chapter begins with another +heading, and is the beginning of a different poem; so that this first +chapter is, as it were, a summing up of all that he is going to say +afterwards; a short account of the state of the Jews for more than forty +years. And what is more, this first chapter of Isaiah must have been +written in the reign of Hezekiah, in those very religious days of which I +was just speaking; for it says that the country was desolate, and +Jerusalem alone left. And this never happened during Isaiah’s lifetime, +till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, that is, till this great spread of +the true religion had been going on for thirteen years. Now what was +Isaiah’s vision? What did he, being taught by God’s Spirit, _see_ was +God’s opinion of these religious Jews? Listen, my friends, and take it +solemnly to heart! + +“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of +our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your +sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of +rams, and the fat of fed beasts: and I delight not in the blood of +bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, +who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more +vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and +Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, +even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my +soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And +when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; yea, when +ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. +Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before +mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the +oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. . . . How is the +faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness +lodged in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine +mixed with water; thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; +every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the +fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. +Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, +Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.” . . . + +Again, I say, my friends, listen to it, and take it solemnly to heart! +That is God’s opinion of religion, even the truest and soundest in +worship and doctrine, when it is without godliness, without holiness; +when it goes in hand with injustice, and covetousness, and falsehood, and +cheating, and oppression, and neglect of the poor, and keeping company +with the wicked, because it is profitable; in short, when it is like too +much of the religion which we see around us in the world at this day. + +Yes—it was of no use holding to the letter of the law while they forgot +its spirit. God had commanded church-going, and woe to those, then or +now, who neglect it. Yet the Lord asks, “Who hath required this at your +hands, to tread my courts?”. . . He had commanded the Sabbath-day to be +kept holy; and woe to those, then or now, who neglect it. Yet He says, +“Your Sabbaths I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn +meeting.” The Lord had appointed feasts: and yet He says that His soul +hated them; they were a trouble to Him; He was weary to bear them. The +Lord had commanded prayer; and woe to those, then or now, in England, as +in Judæa, who neglect to pray. And yet He says: “When ye spread forth +your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many +prayers, I will not hear.” And why?—He himself condescends to tell them +the reason, which they ought to have known for themselves: “Because,” He +says, “your hands are full of blood.” This was the reason why all their +religiousness, and orthodoxy, and church-going, and praying, was only +disgusting to God; because there was no righteousness with it. Their +faith was only a dead, rotten, sham faith, for it brought forth no fruits +of justice and love; and their religion was only hypocrisy, for it did +not make them holy. No doubt they thought themselves pious and sincere +enough; no doubt they thought that they were pleasing God perfectly, and +giving Him all that He could fairly ask of them; no doubt they were +fiercely offended at Isaiah’s message to them; no doubt they could not +understand what he meant by calling them a hypocritical nation, a second +Sodom and Gomorrah, while they were destroying idols, and keeping the law +of Moses, and worshipping God more earnestly than He had been worshipped +since Solomon’s time. But so it was. That was the message of God to +them; that was the vision of Isaiah concerning them; that there was no +soundness in the whole of the nation, “from the sole of the foot to the +crown of the head, nothing but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying +sores”—that is, that the whole heart and conscience, and ways of +thinking, were utterly rotten, and abominable in the sight of God, even +while they were holding the true doctrines about them, and keeping up the +pure worship of Him. This, says the Lord, is not the way to please me. +“He hath showed thee, oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord +require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly +with thy God?” To do justly, to love mercy, and then to walk humbly, +sure that when you seem to have done all your duty, you have left only +too much of it undone; even as St. Paul felt when he said, that though he +knew nothing against himself; though he could not recollect a single +thing in which he had failed of his duty to the Corinthians, yet that did +not justify him. “For he that judgeth me,” he says, “is the Lord.” He +sees deeper than I can; and He, alas! may take a very different view of +my conduct from what I do; and this life of mine, which looks to me, from +my ignorance, so spotless and perfect, may be, in His eyes, full of sins, +and weakness, and neglects, and shameful follies. “To walk humbly with +God.” Not to believe that because you read the Bible, and have heard the +gospel, and are sharp at finding out false doctrine in preachers, and +belong to the Church of England, that therefore you know all about God, +and can look down upon poor papists, and heathens, and say: “This people, +which knoweth not the law, is accursed: but _we_ are enlightened, we +understand the whole Bible, we know everything about God’s will, and +man’s duty; and whosoever differs from us, or pretends to teach us +anything new about God, must be wrong.” Not to do so, my friends, but to +believe what St. Paul tells us solemnly, “That if any man think that he +knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know”—to believe that +the Great God, and the will of God, and the love of God, and the mystery +of Redemption, and the treasures of wisdom which are in His Bible, are, +as St. Paul told you, boundless, like a living well, which can never be +fathomed, or drawn dry, but fills again with fresh water as fast as you +draw from it. That is walking humbly with God; and those who do not do +so, but like the Pharisees of old, believe that they have all knowledge, +and can understand all the mysteries of the Bible, and go through the +world, despising and cursing all parties but their own—let them beware, +lest the Lord be saying of them, as He said of the church of Sardis, of +old: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of +nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, +and blind, and naked.” + +How is this? What is this strange thing, without which even the true +knowledge of doctrine is of no use; which, if a man, or a nation has not, +he is poor, and blind, and wretched, and naked in soul, in spite of all +his religion? Isaiah will tell us—What did he say to the Jews in his +day? + +“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before +my eyes. Do justice to the fatherless, and relieve the widow!” “Do +that,” says the Lord, “and then your repentance will be sincere. Church +building and church going are well—but they are not repentance—churches +are not souls. I ask you for your hearts, and you give me fine stones +and fine words. I want souls—I want _your_ souls—I want you to turn to +me. And what am I? saith the Lord. I am justice, I am love, I am the +God of the oppressed, the fatherless, the widow.—That is my character. +Turn to justice, turn to love, turn to mercy; long to be made just, and +loving, and merciful; see that your sin has been just this, and nothing +else, that you have been unjust, unloving, unmerciful. Repent for your +neglect and cruelty, and repent in dust and ashes, when you see what +wretched hypocrites you really are. And then, my boundless mercy and +pardon shall be open to you. As you wish to be to me, so will I be to +you; if you wish to become merciful, you shall taste my mercy; if you +wish to become loving to others, you shall find that I love you; if you +wish to become just, you shall find that I am just, just to deal by you +as you deal by others; faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and to +cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then, all shall be forgiven +and forgotten; “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as +snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” + +Surely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; for this is +the sin which most destroys all men and nations—high religious profession +with an ungodly, covetous, and selfish life. It is the worst and most +dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which eats out the heart +and life without giving pain; so that the sick man never suspects that +anything is the matter with him, till he finds himself, to his +astonishment, at the point of death. So it was with the Jews, three +times in their history. In the time of Isaiah, under King Hezekiah; in +the time of Jeremiah, under King Josiah; and last and worst of all, in +the time of Jesus Christ. At each of these three times the Jews were +high religious professors, and yet at each of these three times they were +abominable before God, and on the brink of ruin. In Isaiah’s time their +eyes seemed to have been opened at last to their own sins. Their fearful +danger, and wonderful deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard +last Sunday, seem to have done that for them; as God intended it should. +During the latter part of Hezekiah’s reign they seemed to have turned to +God with their hearts, and not with their lips only; and Isaiah can find +no words to express the delight which the blessed change gives him. +Nevertheless, they soon fell back again into idolatry; and then there was +another outward lip-reformation under the good King Josiah; and Jeremiah +had to give them exactly the same warning which Isaiah had given them +nearly a hundred years before. But that time, alas! they would not take +the warning; and then all the evil which had been prophesied against them +came on them. From hypocritical profession, they fell back again into +their old idolatry; their covetousness, selfishness, party-quarrels, and +profligate lives made them too weak and rotten to stand against +Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when he attacked them; and Jerusalem was +miserably destroyed, the temple burnt, and the Jews carried captives to +Babylon. There they repented in bitter sorrow and slavery; and God +allowed them after seventy years to return to their own land. Then at +first they seemed to be a really converted people, and to be worshipping +God in spirit and in truth. They never again fell back into the idolatry +of the heathen. So far from it, they became the greatest possible haters +of it; they went on keeping the law of God with the utmost possible +strictness, even to the day when the Lord Jesus appeared among them. +Their religious people, the Scribes and Pharisees, were the most strict, +moral, devout people of the whole world. They worshipped the very words +and letters of the Bible; their thoughts seemed filled with nothing but +God and the service of God: and yet the Lord Jesus told them that they +were in a worse state, greater sinners in the sight of God, than they had +ever been; that they, who hated idolatry, were filling up the measure of +their idolatrous forefathers’ iniquity; that the guilt of all the +righteous blood shed on earth was to fall on them; that they were a race +of serpents, a generation of vipers; and that even He did not see how +they could escape the damnation of hell. And they proved how true His +words were, by crucifying the very Lord of whom their much-prized +Scriptures bore witness, whom they pretended to worship day and night +continually; and received the just reward of their deeds in forty years +of sedition, bloodshed, and misery, which ended by the Romans coming and +sweeping the nation of the Jews from off the face of the earth. + +So much for profession without practice. So much for true doctrine with +dishonest and unholy lives. So much for outward respectability with +inward sinfulness. So much for hating idolatry, while all the while +men’s hearts are far from God! + +Oh! my friends, let us all search our hearts carefully in these times of +high profession and low practice; lest we be adding our drop of hypocrisy +to the great flood of it which now stifles this land of England, and so +fall into the same condemnation as the Jews of old, in spite of far +nobler examples, brighter and wider light, and more wonderful and +bounteous blessings. + + + + +XXI. +THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT. + + + But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his + coming; and shall begin to beat the men servants and the maid + servants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken; the lord of that + servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an + hour when he is not aware, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint + him his portion with the unbelievers.—LUKE xii. 45, 46. + +BUT why with the unbelievers? The man had not disbelieved that he had +any Lord at all; he had only believed that his Lord delayed his coming. +And why was he to be put with those who do not believe in him at all? +This is a very fearful question, friends, for us, when we think how it is +the fashion among us now, to believe that our Lord delays His coming.—And +surely most of us do believe that? For is it not our notion that, when +the Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, He went away a great distance off, +perhaps millions of miles beyond the stars; and that He will not come +back again till the last—which, for aught we know, and as we rather +expect, may not happen for hundreds or thousands of years to come? Is +not that most people’s notion, rich as well as poor? And if that is not +believing that our Lord delays His coming, what is? + +But, you may answer, the Creed says plainly, that He ascended into heaven +and sits at the right hand of God. Ah! my friends, those great words of +the Creed which you take into your lips every Sunday, mean the very +opposite to what most people fancy. They do not say, “The Lord Jesus has +left this poor earth to itself and its misery:” but they say, “Lo, He is +with you, even to the end of the world.” True, He is ascended into +heaven. And how far off is heaven?—for so far off is the Lord Jesus, and +no farther. Not so far off, my friends, after all, if you knew where to +find it. Truly said the great and good poet, now gone home to his +reward: + + Heaven lies about us in our infancy. + +And if we lose sight of it as we grow up to be men and women, it is not +because heaven goes farther off, but because we grow less heavenly. Even +now, so close is heaven to us, that any one of us might enter into heaven +this moment, without stirring from his seat. One real cry from the +depths of your heart—“Father, forgive thy sinful child!”—one real feeling +of your own worthlessness, and weakness, and emptiness, and of God’s +righteousness, and love, and mercy, ready for you—and you are in heaven +there and then, as near the feet of the blessed Lord Jesus, as Mary +Magdalen was, when she tried to clasp them in the garden. I am serious, +my friends; I am not given to talk fine figures of poetry; I am talking +sober, straightforward, literal truth. And the Lord sits at God’s right +hand too? you believe that? Then how far off is God?—for as far off as +God is, so far off is the Lord Jesus, and no farther. What says St. +Paul? That “God is not far off from any one of us—for in Him we live, +and move, and have our being” . . . IN Him . . . . How far off is that? +And is not God everywhere, if indeed we can say that He is any where? +Then the Lord Jesus, who is at God’s right hand, is everywhere also—here, +now, with us this day. One would have thought that there was no need to +prove that by argument, considering that His own blessed lips told us: +“Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world;” and again: +“Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in +the midst of them.” And this is the Lord whom people fancy is gone away +far above the stars, till the end of time! Oh, my friends, rather bow +your heads before Him here this moment. For here He is among us now, +listening to every thought of our poor sinful hearts. . . . He is where +God is—God _in_ whom we live, and move, and have our being—and that is +everywhere. Do you wish Him to be any nearer, my friends? Or do you—do +you—take care what your hearts answer, for He is watching them—do you in +the depth of your hearts wish that He were a little farther off? Does +the notion of His being here on this earth, watching and interfering (as +we call it nowadays in our atheism) with us and everything, seem +unpleasant and burdensome? Is it more comfortable to you to think that +He is away far up beyond the stars? Do you feel the lighter and freer +for fancying that He will not visit the earth for many a year to come? +In short, is it in your _hearts_ that you are saying, The Lord delays His +coming? + +That is a very important question. For mind, a pious man might be, as +many a pious man has been in these days, deceived by bad teaching into +the notion that Jesus Christ was gone far away. But if he were a truly +pious man, if he truly loved the Lord, that would be a painful thought—as +I should have fancied, an unbearable thought—to him, when he looked out +upon this poor miserable, confused world. He would be crying night and +day: “Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down!” He would +be in an agony of pity for this poor deserted earth, and of longing for +the Saviour of it to come back and save it. He would never have a +moment’s peace of mind till he had either seen the Lord come back again +in His glory, or till he had found out—what I am sure the blessed Lord +would teach him as a reward for his love—that it was all a dream and a +nightmare, and that the Lord of the earth was in the earth, and close to +him, all along; only that his weak eyes were held so that he did not know +the Lord and the Lord’s works when he saw them. + +But that was not the temper of this servant in the Lord’s parable. I am +afraid it is by no means the temper of many of us nowadays. The servant +said _in his heart_, that his master would be long away. It was his +heart put the thought into his head. He took to the notion _heartily_, +as we say, because he was glad to believe it was true; glad to think that +his master would not come to “interfere” with him; and that in the +meantime he might be lord and master himself, and treat everyone in the +house as if he himself was the owner of it, and tyrannise over his +fellow-servants, and enjoy himself in luxury and good living. So says +David of the fool: “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God;” +his heart puts that thought into his head. He wishes to believe that +there is no God; and when there is a will there is a way; and he soon +finds out reasons and arguments enough to prove what he is so very +anxious to prove. + +Now, my friends, I am afraid that there is not so much difference as +people fancy, between the fool who says in his heart, “There is no God,” +and the fool who says in his heart, “My master delays His coming.”—“God +has left the world to us, and we must shift for ourselves in it.” The +man who likes to be what St. Paul calls “without God in the world,” is he +so very much wiser than the man who likes to have no God at all? St. +James did not think so; for what does he say: “Thou believest that there +is one God? Thou doest well—the devils also believe and tremble.” They +know as much as that; but it does them no good—only increases their fear. +“But wilt thou know, oh! vain man, that faith without works,” believing +without doing, “is dead?” And are not too many, as I said just now, +afraid of the thought of God; so afraid of it that they wish to allow the +Son of God as little share as possible in the management of this world? +Have not too many a belief without works; a mere belief that there is one +God and not two, which hardly, from one year’s end to another, makes them +do one single thing which they would not have done if they had believed +that there was no God at all? Fear of the law, fear of the policeman, +fear of losing their work or their custom; fear of losing their +neighbour’s good word—that is what keeps most people from breaking loose. +There is not much of the fear of God in that, or the love of God either +as far as I can see. They go through life as if they had made a covenant +with God, that He should have his own way in the world to come, if He +would only let them have their way in this world. Oh! my friends, my +friends, do you think God is God of the next world and not of this also? +Do you think the kingdom, and the power, and the glory will be His a +great many hundreds of years hence, in what you call heaven; and will not +see what every page of Scripture tells you, what you yourself say every +time you repeat the Lord’s Prayer, that the Kingdom, and the Power and +the Glory are His now, here in this life, and that He has committed all +things to His Son Jesus Christ and given the power into His hand, that He +may rule this earth in righteousness now, here, in this life, and conquer +back for God one by one, if it be possible, every creature upon earth? +So says the Bible—and people profess nowadays to believe their Bibles. +My friends, too many, nowadays, while they profess very loudly to believe +what the Bible says, only believe what their favourite teachers tell them +that the Bible says. If they really read their Bibles for themselves, +and took God at His word, there would be less tyrannising of one man over +another, less grinding down of men by masters, and of men by each +other—for the poor are often very hard on each other in England, now, my +friends—very envious and spiteful, and slanderous about each other. They +say that dog won’t eat dog—yet how many a poor man grudges and supplants +his neighbour, and tries to get into his place and beat him down in his +wages? And there are those who call themselves learned men, who tell the +poor that that is God’s will, and the way by which God intends them to +prosper. If those men believed their Bibles, they would be repenting in +sackcloth and ashes for having preached such a devil’s sermon to God’s +children. If men really read their Bibles, there would be less eating +and drinking with the drunken; less idleness and luxury among the rich; +less fancying that a man has a right to do what he likes with his own, +because all men would know that they were only the Lord’s stewards, bound +to give an account to him of the good which they had done with what he +has lent them. There would be fewer parents fancying that they can +tyrannise over their children, bringing them up as heathens for the sake +of the few pence they earn; using bad language, and doing shameful things +before them, which they dared not do if they recollected that the Lord +was looking on; beating and scolding them as if they were brutes or +slaves, to save themselves the trouble of teaching them gently what the +poor little creatures cannot know without being taught: and most shameful +of all, robbing the poor children of their little earnings to spend it +themselves in drunkenness. Ah, blessed Lord! if people did but know how +near Thou wert to them, all that would vanish out of England, as the +night clouds vanish away before the sun! + +And He is near, my friends: He is watching; He is governing; He is at +hand: and in this life or in the life to come, forget Him as we choose, +He will make us know plain enough, and without any doubt whatsoever, that +He is the Lord. + +He has fulfilled this awful parable of his about the unfaithful servant +already; many a time, against many a man, many a great king, and prince, +and nation; and he will fulfil it against each and every man, from the +nobleman in his castle to the labourer in his cottage, who says in his +heart, “My Lord delays his coming,” and begins to tyrannise over those +who are weaker than himself, and to enjoy himself as he likes, and forget +that he is not his own, but bought with the price of Christ’s blood, and +bound to work for Christ’s kingdom and glory. + +So he punished the popes of Rome, three hundred years ago. When all the +nations in Europe were listening to them and obeying them, and they had +put into their hands by God a greater power of doing good than He ever +gave to any human being before or since, what did they do? Instead of +using their power for Christ, they used it for themselves. Instead of +preaching to all nations the good news that Christ the Son of God was +their King, they said: “I, the pope, am your king. Christ is gone far +away into heaven, and has committed all power on earth to us; we are +Christ’s vicars; we are in Christ’s place; He has entrusted to our +keeping all the treasures of His merits and His grace, and no one can get +any blessing from Christ, unless we choose to give it him.” So they said +in their hearts just what the foolish servant in the parable said: and +fancying that they were lords and masters, naturally enough went on to +behave as such; to beat the men-servants and maid-servants, that is, to +oppress and tyrannise over the bodies and minds and consciences of men, +and women too, God knows; and to eat and drink with the drunken, to live +in riot and debauchery. But the Lord was not so far off as those foolish +popes fancied. And in an hour when they were not aware, He came and cut +them asunder. He snatched from them one-half of the nations of Europe, +and England among the rest; He punished them by doubt, ignorance, +confusion, and utter blindness, and appointed them their portion among +the unbelievers in such terrible earnest, that to this very day, to judge +by the things which they say and do, it is difficult to persuade +ourselves that the popes really believe in any God at all. + +So He did, only three years ago, to many kings and princes on the +Continent. {217} They professed to be Christians; but they had forgotten +that they were Christ’s stewards, that all their power came from Him, and +that he had given it them only to use for the good of their subjects. +And they too went on saying: “The Lord delays His coming, we are rulers +in this world, and God is ruler in the world to come.” So they, too, +oppressed their subjects, and lived in ease on what they wrung out of the +poor wretches below them. But the Lord was nearer them, too, than they +fancied; and all at once—as they were fancying themselves all safe and +prosperous, and saying, “We are those who ought to speak, who is Lord +over us?”—their fool’s paradise crumbled from under their feet. A few +paltry mobs of foolish starving people, without weapons, without leaders, +without good counsel to guide them, rose against them. And what did they +do? They might have crushed down the rebels most of them, in a week, if +they had had courage. And in the only country where the rebels were +really strong, that is, in Austria, all might have been quiet again at +once, if the king had only had the heart to do common justice, and keep +his own solemn oaths. But no—the terror of the Lord came upon them. He +most truly cut them in sunder. They were every man of a different mind, +and none of them in the same mind a day together; they became utterly +conscience-stricken, terrified, perplexed, at their wit’s end, not having +courage or determination to do anything, or even to do nothing, and fled +shamefully away one after another, to their everlasting disgrace. And +those of them who have got back their power since are showing sadly +enough, by their obstinate folly and wickedness, that the Lord has +appointed them their portion with the unbelievers, and left them to fill +up the measure of their iniquity, and drink deep the cup of wrath which +is in His hand, full and mixed for those who forget God. + +Oh! my friends, let us lay these things solemnly to heart. Do not fancy +that the Lord will punish the wicked great, and forget the wicked small. +In His sight there is neither great nor small; all are small enough for +Him to crush like the moth; and all are too great to be overlooked, or +forgotten by Him, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground. Again +I say, my friends, let us lay His parable to heart. Let us who have +property, and station, and education, never forget who has given it us, +and for whom we must use it. Let us never forget that to whom much is +given, of them will much be required. Let us pray to the Lord daily to +write upon our inmost hearts those solemn words: “Who made thee to differ +from another; and what hast thou which thou didst not receive?” Let us +look on our servants, our labourers, on every human being over whom we +have any influence, as weaker brothers whom God has commanded us to help, +teach, and guide in body, mind, and spirit, not that we may make them our +slaves, but make them free, manful, self-helping, and in due time +independent of us and of everyone except God. + +And you young people, who have no authority over anyone, but over your +own bodies; to whom the Lord has given little or nothing to manage and +take care of except your own health and strength—do not let the devil +tempt you to believe that that health and strength is your own property, +to do what you like with. It belongs to the Lord who died for you, and +He will require an account from you how you have used it. Do not let the +devil tempt you to believe that the Lord delays His coming to you—that +you may do what you like now, in the prime of your years, and that it +will be time enough to think about God and religion when God visits you +with cares, and sickness, and old age. That is the fancy of too many; +but it will surely turn out to be a mistake. Those who misuse their +youth, and health, and strength, in tyrannising over those who are weaker +than themselves, and laughing at those who are not as clever as +themselves, and eating and drinking with the drunken—the Lord will come +to them in an hour when they are not aware, and cut them asunder, in some +way or other, by loss of work, or poverty, or sickness, or doubt and +confusion, and bitter shame and perplexity of mind; till they find out, +poor things, that they have been living like the unbelievers all their +youth, without God in the world, while God’s love and God’s teaching, and +God’s happiness was ready for them; and have to go back again to their +Father and their Lord, and cry: “Father, we have sinned against heaven +and before Thee, and are no more worthy to be called Thy children!” Oh, +you who have been fancying that the Lord was gone far away, and that you +had a right to do what you liked with the powers which He has given you, +go back to Him, now at once, and confess that you, and all belonging to +you, belong to Him, and ask Him to teach you how to use it aright. Ask +Him to teach you how to please Him with it, and not yourselves only. Ask +Him to teach you how to do good to all around you, and not merely to do +what you like. Ask Him to show you how to do your duty to Him, and to +your neighbours, for whom He died on the cross, in that station of life +to which He has called you. Ask Him to show you how to use your +property, your knowledge, your business, your strength, your health, so +that you may be a blessing and a help to those whom He blesses and helps, +and who, He wishes, should bless and help each other. Go back to Him at +once, my friends. You will not have far to go, seeing that He is now +even among us here hearing my clumsy words; and I do hope, and trust, and +pray, bringing them home to some of your hearts with that spirit and +power of His, which is like a two-edged sword, piercing to the very +depths of a man’s heart, and showing him how ugly it is—and how noble the +Lord will make it, if he will but repent and pray to Him who never cast +out any that came to Him. + + + + +XXII. +THE WAY TO WEALTH. + + + Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is + near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his + thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy + upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.—ISAIAH lv. + 6, 7. + +SOME of you, surely, while the first lesson was being read this morning, +must have felt the beauty of it; and if you were thoughtful, perplexed, +weary, sad at heart, perhaps you felt that it was more than +beautiful—that it was full of comfort. And so it should be full of +comfort to you, my friends. God meant it to give you comfort. For +though it was written and spoken by a man of like passions with +ourselves, it was just as truly written and spoken by God, who made +heaven and earth. It is true and everlasting, the message which it +brings, and like all true and everlasting words, it is the voice of God +who cannot change; who makes no difference between Jew and Gentile, +between us in England here, and nations which perished hundreds of years +ago. + +And what is its message? What was God’s word to the old Jews, among all +their sin, and sorrow, and labour? + +Is it the message of a stern judge, saying: “Pay me that thou owest, to +the uttermost farthing; and if you cannot do that, fret and torment +yourselves in shame and terror here on earth, for all your sins, if, +possibly, you may chance to change my mind, and find forgiveness at the +last day?” + +Is it the message of a proud tyrant, saying: “If you are miserable, and +fallen, and sinful, what is that to me? I am perfect, blest, contented +with myself, alone in my glory, far away beyond the sight of men, beyond +the sun and stars—what are you worms of earth to me?” + +Or is it the voice of a loving Father, calling to his self-willed +children who have gone proudly and boldly away from their Father’s house, +and thrown off their Father’s government, and said in their conceit: “We +are men. Do not we know good and evil? Do we not know what is our +interest? Cannot we judge for ourselves, and shift for ourselves, and +take care of ourselves? Why are we to be barred from pleasant things +here, and profitable things there? We will be our own masters.” + +To self-willed children who have said thus, and done thus in their +foolish hearts, and have found all their conceit, and shrewdness, only +lead them into sorrow, and perplexity, and distress.—Who have found that +with all their cleverness they could not get the very good things for +which they left their Father’s house; or if they get them, find no +enjoyment in them, but only discontent, and shame, and danger, and a sad +self-accusing heart—spending their money for that which does not feed +them after all, and labouring hard for things which do not satisfy them; +always longing for something more—always finding the pleasure, or the +profit, or the honour which a little way off looked so fine, looked quite +ugly and worthless, when they come up to it and get hold of it—finding +all things full of labour; the eye never satisfied with seeing, or the +ear with hearing; the same thing coming over and over again. Each young +man starting with gay hopes, as if he were the first man that ever was +born, and he was going to do out of hand such fine things as man never +did before, and make his own fortune, and set the world to right at once; +and then as he grows older, falling into the same weary ruts as his +forefathers went dragging on it, every fresh year bringing its own labour +and its own sorrow; and dying like them, taking nothing away with him of +all he has earned, and crying with his last breath: “That which is +crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be +numbered. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under +the sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?” + +To self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever since they +were born, they and their fathers before them, and found it go round in a +ring and leave them just where they started in heart and soul, and, on +their death-beds, in purse and power also— + +To such struggling, dissatisfied beings—such as nine-tenths of the men +and women on this earth, alas! are still—comes the word of this loving +Father: + +“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! and he that hath no +money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, +and without price.” Why do you fancy that money can give you all you +want? Why this labouring and straining after money, as if it was God, as +if it made heaven and earth, and all therein? Is money a God? or money’s +worth? “I am God,” saith the Lord, “and beside me there is none else. It +is I who give, and not money. It is I who save men, and not money. And +I do save, and I do give freely to all. Come, and try my mercy, and see +if my word be not true.” + +This struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone—what profit comes of +it? are you happier? are you wiser? are you better? are you more at peace +with your neighbours; more at peace with your own hearts and consciences? +If you are, money has not made you so, nor plotting, and scraping, and +struggling, and pushing your neighbour down, that you may rise a few +inches on his shoulders. No. Hear what the voice of your Father says is +the true way to wealth and comfort, after which you all struggle and +labour so hard in vain.—“Hearken diligently unto me, and you shall eat +that which is good, and your soul shall delight itself in fatness. +Incline your ear and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And +I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies,” or +rather “the faithful oath which I sware unto David?” And what is this +faithful oath which God sware to David.—“Of the fruit of thy body, I will +set on thy seat.” A promise of a righteous king who should arise in +David’s family. How far David understood the full meaning of that +glorious promise we cannot tell. He thought most probably, at first, +that Solomon, his son, was to be the king who would fulfil it. But all +through many of his psalms, there are deep and great words about some +nobler and more perfect king than Solomon—about one who, as Isaiah says +here, would perfectly witness to the people that God was their King; one +who would be a perfect leader and commander of the people; a holy one of +Israel, who would sit on God’s right hand; to hear the good news of whom, +the Jews would call nations whom they then did not know of, and for whose +sake nations who did not know them would run to them. And dimly David +did see this, that God would raise up a true Christ, that is, one truly +anointed by God, chosen and sent out by God, to sit on his throne, and be +perfectly what David was only in part; a King made perfect by suffering, +a King of poor men, a King who bore the sins and carried the iniquities +of all His people, from the highest to the lowest. We know who that was. +We know clearly what David only knew dimly, what Isaiah only knew a +little more clearly. We know who was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified +under Pontius Pilate, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right +hand of God, ever praying for us, ruling the world in righteousness, +Jesus the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, to whom all power is given in +heaven and earth. + +But Isaiah, though he knew Him only dimly, still knew Him. He did not +know that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, would take on Himself the +form of a poor man, and be called the son of the carpenter. Such +boundless love and condescension in the Son of God he never could have +fancied for himself, and God had not chosen to reveal it to him; or to +anyone else in those days. But this he did see, that the Lord Jesus, He +whom he calls the Holy One of Israel, was near the Jews in his time; that +He was watching over them, mourning over their sins, arguing with them, +and calling them to return to Him with most human love and tenderness, as +a husband to the woman whom he loves in spite of her unfaithfulness to +him. As he says to his sinful and distressed country in the chapter +before this: “Thy Maker is thy husband: the Lord of Hosts is His name, +and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the Lord of the whole earth +shall He be called. For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken +and grieved in spirit. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with +great mercies will I gather thee. In a little anger I hid my face from +thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on +thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.” + +This, then, Isaiah knew—that the heart of the Holy Lord pitied and +yearned after those poor sinful Jews, as a husband’s after a foolish and +sinful wife. And how much more should we believe the same, how much more +should we believe that His heart pities and yearns for all foolish and +sinful people here in England now! We who know a thousand times more +than Isaiah knew of His love, His pity, His condescension, which led Him +to sacrifice Himself upon the cross for us? Surely, surely, if Isaiah +had a right to say to those Jews, “Seek the Lord while He may be found,” +I have a thousand times as much right to say it to you. If Isaiah had a +right to say to those Jews, “Let the wicked forsake his ways and the +unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He +will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” +then I have a right to say it to you. + +Free mercy, utter pardon, pardon for all, even for the worst. And what +is the argument which Isaiah uses to make his countrymen repent? Is it +“Repent, or you shall be damned: Repent because God’s wrath and curse is +against you. The Lord hates you and despises you, and you must crawl to +His feet like beaten hounds, and entreat Him not to strike you into hell +as He intends”? Not so; it was because God loved the Jews, that they +were to repent. It is because God loves you that you must repent. +“Incline your ear,” saith the Lord, “and come unto me, hear, and your +soul shall live; and you shall eat that which is good, and your soul +shall delight itself in fatness.” Yes, God is love. God’s delight and +glory is to give; in spite of all our sins He gives and gives, sending +rain and fruitful seasons to just and unjust, to fill their hearts with +joy and gladness; and all the while men fancy that it is not God that +gives, but they who take. God has not left Himself, as St. Paul says, +without a witness; every fruitful shower and quickening gleam of sunshine +cries to us—See! God is love: He is the giver. And men will not hear +that voice. They say in their hearts, “The Lord is far away above the +skies; He does not care for us: we must help ourselves, each man to what +he can get off this earth; nay, even, when we are hard put to it for a +living, we must break God’s laws to keep ourselves alive, and so steal +from God’s table the very good things which He offers us freely.” + +But some will say: “He does not give freely; we must work and struggle. +Why do you mock poor hard-worked creatures with such words as these?” + +Ask that question of God, my friends, and not of me. Isaiah said that +those who hearkened to God diligently should eat what is good. The Lord +Jesus Christ Himself said the same—that if we seek first the kingdom of +God and His justice, all other things should be added to them. He did +not mean us to be idle, God forbid! but this He meant, that if we, each +in his business and calling, put steadily before ourselves what is right, +what God would wish us, His subjects, to be in His Kingdom—if instead of +making our first thought in every business we take in hand, “What will +suit my interest best, what will raise most money, what will give me most +pleasure?” we said to ourselves all day long, “What will be most right, +and just, and merciful for us to do; what will be most pleasing to a God +who is love and justice itself? what will do most good to my neighbour as +well as myself?” then all things would go well with us. Then we should +be prosperous and joyful. Then our plans would succeed and our labour +bring forth real profit to us, because they would be according to the +will of God: we should be fellow-workers with Jesus Christ in the great +work of doing good to this poor distracted world, and His help and +blessing would be with us. + +And if you ask me, how can this come to pass, I must answer, as Isaiah +does in this same chapter: “The Lord’s ways are not as our ways, nor His +thoughts as our thoughts, but higher than ours, as the heavens are above +the earth.” But if we do turn to God, and repent each man of us of his +selfishness, his unfaithfulness, his hard-heartedness, his covetousness, +his self-will, his ungodliness—then God’s blessing, as Isaiah says, will +come down on us, and spring up among us, we know not how or whence, like +the rain and snow, which comes down from heaven and waters the earth, and +makes it bud and bring forth to give seed to the sower and bread to the +eater. So shall be the Lord’s word, which goes out of His mouth; it will +not return to Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases, and prosper +in that whereto He sends it. He will teach us and guide us in the right +way. He will put His word into the mouths of true teachers to show us +our duty. He will pour out His spirit upon us, to make us love our duty. +In one way and another, we know not how, we shall be taught what is good +for England, good for each parish, good for each family. And wealth, +peace, and prosperity for rich and poor will be the fruit of obeying the +word of God, and giving up our hearts to be led by His spirit. As it was +to be in Judæa, of old, if they repented, so will it be with us. They +should go forth with joy and do their work in peace. The hills should +break before them into singing, and all the trees of the field should +clap their hands; instead of thorns should come up timber-trees: instead +of briers, garden-shrubs. The whole cultivation of the country was to +improve, and be to the Lord for a name, and a sign for ever that the true +way to wealth and prosperity is the way of God, justice, mercy to each +other, and obedience to the will of Him who made heaven and earth, trees +and fruitful fields, rain and sunshine, and gives the blessings of them +freely to His children of mankind, in proportion as they look up to Him +as a loving Father, and return to him day by day, with childlike +repentance, and full desire to amend their lives according to His holy +word. + + + + +XXIII. +THE LOVE OF CHRIST. + + + For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that + if one died for all, then were all dead. And that He died for all, + that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but + unto Him which died for them, and rose again.—2 COR. v. 14, 15. + +WHAT is the use of sermons?—what is the use of books? Here are hundreds +and thousands of people hearing weekly and daily what is right, and how +many _do_ what is right?—much less _love_ what is right? What can be the +reason of this, that men should know the better and choose the worse? +What motive can one find out?—what reason or argument can one put before +people, to make them do their duty? How can one stir them up to conquer +themselves; to conquer their own love of pleasure, laziness, cowardice, +conceit, above all their own selfishness, and do simply what is right, +morning, noon, and night? That is a question worth asking and +considering, for there ought to be some use in sermons and in books; and +there ought to be some use in every one of us too. Woe to the man who is +of no use! The Lord have mercy on his soul; for he needs it! It is, +indeed, worth his while to take any trouble which will teach him a motive +for being useful; in plain words, stir him up to do his duty, to do his +rights; for a man’s rights are not, as the world thinks, what is right +others should do to him, but what is right he should do to others. Our +duty is our right, the only thing which is right for us. What motive +will constrain us, that is, bind us, and force us to do that? + +Will self-interest? Will a man do right because you tell him it is his +interest, it will pay him to do it? Look round you and see.—The drunkard +knows that drinking will ruin him, and yet he gets drunk. The +spendthrift knows that extravagance will ruin him, and yet he throws away +his money still. The idler knows that he is wasting his only chance for +all eternity, and yet he puts the thought out of his head, and goes on +idling. The cheat knows that he is in danger of being almost certainly +found out sooner or later; he knows too that he is burdening his own +conscience with the curse of inward shame and self-contempt; and yet he +goes on cheating. The hard master knows, or ought to know (for there is +quite enough to prove it to him) that it would pay him better in the long +run to be more merciful, and less covetous; that by grinding those whom +he employs down to the last farthing, he degrades them till they become +burdens on him and curses to him; that what he gains by high prices, he +will lose in the long run by bad debts; that what he saves in low wages, +he will pay in extra poor-rates; and that even if he does make money out +of the flesh and bones of those beneath him, that money ill gotten is +sure to be ill spent, that there is a curse on it, that it brings a curse +in the gnawing of a man’s own conscience, and a curse too in the way it +flows away from his family as fast as it flowed to them. “He that by +usury and unjust gain increases his wealth, shall gather for him that +will pity the poor.” So said Solomon of old. And men who worship Mammon +find it come true daily, and see that, taking all things together, a +man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things which he +possesses, and that those who make such haste to be rich, fall, as the +apostle says, “into temptation and a snare, and pierce themselves through +with many sorrows.” Such a man sees his neighbours making money, and +making themselves more unhappy, anxious, discontented by it; he sees, in +short, that it is not his interest to do nothing but make money and save +money: and yet in spite of that, he thinks of nothing else. +Self-interest cannot keep him from that sin. I do not believe that +self-interest ever kept any man from any _sin_, though it may keep him +from many an imprudence. Self-interest may make many a man respectable, +but whom did it ever make good? You may as well make house-walls of +paper, or take a rush for a walking-stick, as take self-interest to keep +you upright, or even prudent. The first shake—and the rush bends, and +the paper wall breaks, and a man’s selfish prudence is blown to the +winds. Let pleasure tempt him, or ambition, or the lust of making money +by speculation; let him take a spite against anyone; let him get into a +passion; let his pride be hurt; and he will do the maddest things, which +he knows to be entirely contrary to his own interest, just to gratify the +fancy of the moment. Those who call themselves philosophers, and fancy +that men’s self-interest, if they can only feel it strong enough, would +make all men just and merciful to each other, know as little of human +nature as they do of God or the devil. + +What _will_ make a man to do his duty? Will the hope of heaven? That +depends very much upon what you mean by heaven. But what people commonly +mean by going to heaven, is—not going to hell. They believe that they +must go to either one place or the other. They would much sooner of +course stay on earth for ever, because their treasure is here, and their +heart too. But that cannot be, and as they have no wish to go to hell, +they take up with heaven instead, by way of making the best of a bad +matter. + +I ask you solemnly, my friends, each one of you, which would you sooner +do—stay here on earth, or go to heaven? You need not answer _me_. I am +afraid many of you would not dare answer me as you really felt, because +you would be ashamed of not liking to go to heaven. But answer God. +Answer yourselves in the sight of God. When you keep yourselves back +from doing a wrong thing, because you know it is wrong, is it for love of +heaven, or for mere fear of being punished in hell? Some of you will +answer boldly at once: “For neither one nor the other; when we keep from +wrong, it is because we hate and despise what is wrong: when we do right +it is because it is right and we ought to do it. We can’t explain it, +but there is something in us which tells us we ought to do right.” Very +good, my friends, I shall have a word to say to you presently; but in the +meantime there are some others who have been saying to themselves: “Well, +I know we do right because we are afraid of being punished if we do not +do it, but what of that? at all events we get the right thing done, and +leave the wrong thing undone, and what more do you want? Why torment us +with disagreeable questions as to _why_ we do it?” + +Now, my friends, to make the matter simpler, I will take you at your +words, for the sake of argument. Suppose you do avoid sin from the fear +of hell, does that make what you do _right_? Does that make _you_ right? +Does that make your heart right? It is a great blessing to a man’s +neighbours, certainly, if he is kept from doing wrong any how—by the fear +of hell, or fear of jail, or fear of shame, or fear of ghosts if you +like, or any other cowardly and foolish motive—a great blessing to a +man’s neighbours: but no blessing, that I can see, to the man himself. +He is just the same; his heart is not changed; his heart is no more right +in the sight of God, or in the sight of any man of common sense either, +than it would be if he did the wrong thing, which he loves and dare not +do. You feel that yourselves about other people. You will say “That man +has a bad heart, for all his respectable outside. He would be a rogue if +he dared, and therefore he _is_ a rogue.” Just so, I say, my friends, +take care lest God should say of you, “He would be a sinner if he dared, +and therefore he is a sinner.” + +How can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do right? +The right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be loving, and do loving +things; and can fear of hell do that, or hope of heaven either? Can a +man make himself affectionate to his children because he fancies he shall +be punished if he is not so, and rewarded if he is so? Will the hope of +heaven send men out to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, visit the +sick, preach the gospel to the poor?—The Papists say it will. I say it +will not. I believe that even in those who do these things from hope of +heaven and fear of hell, there is some holier, nobler, more spiritual +motive, than such everlasting selfishness, such perfect hypocrisy, as to +do loving works for others, for the sake of one’s own self-love. + +What feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do good, not +once in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, not only to +himself, but to all around him? I know but of one, my friends, and that +is Love. There are many sides to love—admiration, reverence, gratitude, +pity, affection—they are all different shapes of that one great spirit of +love. Surely all of you have felt its power more or less; how +wonderfully it can conquer a man’s whole heart, change his whole conduct. +For love of a woman; for pity to those in distress; for admiration for +anyone who is nobler and wiser than himself; for gratitude to one who has +done him kindness; for loyalty to one to whom he feels he owes a +service—a man will dare to do things, and suffer things, which no +self-interest or fear in the world could have brought him to. Do you not +know it yourselves? Is it not fondness for your wives and children, that +will make you slave and stint yourselves of pleasure more than any hope +of gain could ever do? But there is no one human being, my friends, whom +we can meet among us now, for whom we can feel all these different sorts +of love? Surely not: and yet there must be One Person somewhere for whom +God intends us to feel them all at once; or else He would not have given +all these powers to us, and made them all different branches of one great +root of love. There must be One Person somewhere, who can call out the +whole love in us—all our gratitude; all our pity; all our admiration; all +our loyalty; all our brotherly affection. _And there is One_, my +friends. One who has done for us more than ever husband or father, wife +or brother, can do to call out our gratitude. One who has suffered for +us more than the saddest wretch upon this earth can suffer, to call out +our pity. One who is nobler, purer, more lovely in character than all +others who ever trod this earth, to call out our admiration. One who is +wiser, mightier than all rulers and philosophers, to call out all our +reverence. One who is tenderer, more gentle, more feeling-hearted, than +the kindest woman who ever sat by a sick bed, to call out all our love. +Of whom can I be speaking? Of whom but of Jesus; He who for us stooped +out of the heaven of heavens; for us left His eternal glory in the bosom +of the Father; for us took upon Him the form of a servant, and was born +of a village maiden, and was called the son of a carpenter; for us +wandered this earth for thirty years in sorrow and shame; for us gave His +back to the scourge, and His face to shameful spitting; for us hung upon +the cross and died the death of the felon and the slave. Oh! my friends, +if that story will not call out our love, what will? If we cannot admire +Christ, whom can we admire? If we cannot be grateful to Christ, to whom +can we be grateful? If we cannot pity Christ, whom can we pity? If we +cannot feel bound in honour to live for Christ, to work for Christ, to +delight in talking of Christ, thinking of Christ, to glory in doing +Christ’s commandments to the very smallest point, to feel no sacrifice +too great, no trouble too petty, if we can please Christ by it and help +forward Christ’s kingdom upon earth—if we cannot feel bound in honour to +do that for Christ, what honour is there in us? Again, I say, if we +cannot love Christ, whom can we love? If the remembrance of what He has +worked for us will not stir us up to work for Him, what will stir us up? + +I say it again, we are bound by every tie, by every feeling that can bind +man to man, to devote ourselves to Christ, the Man of all men. I say +this is no dream or fancy, it is an actual fact which thousands and +hundreds of thousands on this earth have felt. Nothing but love to +Christ, nothing but loving Him because He first loved us, can constrain +and force a man as with a mighty feeling which he cannot resist, to +labour day and night for Christ’s sake, and therefore for the sake of God +the Father of Christ. What else do you suppose it was which could have +stirred up the apostles—above all, that wise, learned, high-born, +prosperous man, St. Paul, to leave house and home, and wander in daily +danger of his life? What does St. Paul say himself? “The love of Christ +constraineth us, because we thus judge, and if one died for all then were +all dead, and that He died for all, that they which live should not +henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them.” And +what else could have kept St. Paul through all that labour and sorrow of +his own choosing, of which he speaks in the chapter before?—“We are +troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in +despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; +always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the +life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body; for we which live +are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of +Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” + +We may say that St. Paul was an exceedingly benevolent man, and _that_ +made him do it; or that he had found out certain new truths and opinions +which delighted him very much, and therefore he did it. But St. Paul +gives no such account of himself: and we have no right to take anyone’s +account but his own. He knew his own heart best. He does not say that +he came to preach a scheme of redemption, or opinions about Christ. He +says he came to preach nothing but Christ Himself—Christ crucified—to +tell people about the Lord he loved, about the Lord who loved him, +certain that when they had heard the plain story of Him, their hearts, if +they were simple, and true, and loving, would leap up in answer to his +words, and find out, as by instinct, what Christ had done for them, what +they were to do for Christ. Ay, I believe, my friends—indeed I am +certain—from my own reading, that in every age and country, just in +proportion as men have loved Christ personally as a man would love +another man, just in that proportion have they loved their neighbours, +worked for their neighbours, sacrificed their time, their pleasure, their +money, to do good to all, for the sake of Him who commanded: “If ye love +_ME_, keep my commandments; and my commandment is this, that ye should +love one another as I have loved you.” That is the only sure motive. +All other motives for doing good or being good, will fail in one case or +another case, because they do not take possession of a man’s whole heart, +but only of some part of his heart. Love—love to Christ, can alone sweep +away a man’s whole heart and soul with it, and renew it, and transfigure +it, and make it strong instead of weak, pure instead of foul, gentle +instead of fierce, brave instead of being vain and cowardly, and fearing +what everyone will say of him. Only love for Christ, who loved all men +unto the death, will make us love all men too: not only one here and +there who may agree with us or help us; but those who hate us, those who +misunderstand us, those who thwart us, ay, even those who disobey and +slight not only us, but Jesus Christ Himself. _That_ is the hardest +lesson of all to learn; but thousands have learnt it; everyone ought to +learn it. In proportion as a man loves Christ, he will learn to love +those who do not love Christ. For Christ loves them whether they know it +or not; Christ died for them whether they believe it or not; and we must +love them because our Saviour loves them. + +Oh! my friends, why do so few love Christ? Why do so few live as those +who are not their own, but bought with the price of His precious blood +and bound to devote themselves, body and soul, to His cause? Why do so +many struggle against their sins, while yet they cannot break off those +sins, but go struggling and sinning on, hating their sins and yet unable +to break through their sins, like birds beating themselves to death +against the wires of their cage? Why? Because they do not know Christ. +And how can they know Him, unless they read their Bibles with simple, +childlike hearts, determined to let the Bible tell its own story: +believing that those who walked with Christ on earth, must know best what +He was like? Why? Because they will not ask Christ to come and show +Himself to them, and make them see Him, and love Him, and admire Him, +whether they will or not. Oh! remember, if Christ be the Son of God, the +Lord of heaven and earth, we cannot go to Him, poor, weak, ignorant +creatures as we are. We cannot ascend up into heaven to bring Christ +down. He must come down out of His own great love and condescension, and +dwell in our hearts as He has promised to do, if we do but love Him. He +must come down and show Himself to us. Oh! read your Bibles—read the +story of Christ, and if that does not stir up in you some love for Him, +you must have hearts of stone, not flesh and blood. And then go to Him; +pray to Him, whether you believe in Him altogether or not, upon the mere +chance of His being able to hear you and help you. You would not throw +away a chance on earth; will you throw away such a chance in heaven as +having the Son of God to help you? Oh, cry to Him; say out of the depths +of your heart: “Thou most blessed and glorious Being who ever walked this +earth, who hast gone blameless through all sorrow and temptation that man +can feel; if Thou dost love anyone, if Thou canst hear anyone, hear me! +If thou canst not help me, no one can. I have a hundred puzzling +questions which I cannot answer for myself, a hundred temptations which I +cannot conquer for myself, a hundred bad habits which I cannot shake off +of myself; and they tell me that Thou canst teach me, Thou canst guide +me, Thou canst strengthen me, Thou canst take out of my heart this shame +and gnawing of an evil conscience. If Thou be the Son of God, make me +clean! If it be true that Thou lovest all men, show Thy love to me! If +it be true that Thou canst teach all men, teach me! If it be true that +Thou canst help all men, help my unbelief, for if Thou dost not, there is +no help for me in heaven or earth!” You, who are sinful, distracted, +puzzled, broken-hearted, cry to Christ in that way, if you have no better +way, and see if He does not hear you. He is not one to break the bruised +reed, or quench the smoking flax. He will hear you, for He has heard all +who have ever called on Him. Cry to Him from the bottom of your hearts. +Tell Him that you do _not_ love Him, and that yet you _long_ to love Him. +And see if you do not find it true that those who come to Christ, He will +in no wise cast out. He may not seem to answer you the first time, or +the tenth time, or for years; for Christ has His own deep, loving, wise +ways of teaching each man, and for each man a different way. But try to +learn all you can of Him. Try to know Him. Pray to know, and understand +Him, and love Him. And sooner or later you will find His words come +true, “If a man love me, I and my Father will come to him, and take up +our abode with him.” And then you will feel arise in you a hungering and +a thirsting after righteousness, a spirit of love, and a desire of doing +good, which will carry you up and on, above all that man can say or do +against you—above all the laziness, and wilfulness, and selfishness, and +cowardice which dwells in the heart of everyone. You will be able to +trample it all under foot for the sake of being good and doing good, in +the strength of that one glorious thought, “Christ lived and died for me, +and, so help me God, I will live and die for Christ.” + + + + +XXIV. +DAVID’S VICTORY. + + + Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: + but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of + Israel, whom thou hast defied.—1 SAMUEL xvii. 45. + +WE have been reading to-day the story of David’s victory over the +Philistine giant, Goliath. Now I think the whole history of David may +teach us more about the meaning of the Old Testament, and how it applies +to us, than the history of any other single character. David was the +great hero of the Jews; the greatest, in spite of great sins and follies, +that has ever been among them; in every point the king after God’s own +heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not disdain to be called +especially the Son of David. David was the author, too, of those +wonderful psalms which are now in the mouths and the hearts of Christian +people all over the world; and will last, as I believe, till the world’s +end, giving out fresh depths of meaning and spiritual experience. + +But to understand David’s history, we must go back a little through the +lessons which have been read in church the last few Sundays. We find in +the eighth and in the twelfth chapters of this same book of Samuel, that +the Jews asked Samuel for a king—for a king like the nations round them. +Samuel consulted God, and by God’s command chose Saul to be their king; +at the same time warning them that in asking for a king they had +committed a great and fearful sin, for “the Lord their God was their +king.” And the Lord said unto Samuel, that in asking for a king they had +rejected God from reigning over them. Now what was this sin which the +Jews committed? for the mere having a king cannot be wrong in itself; +else God would not have anointed Saul and David kings, and blessed David +and Solomon; much less would He have allowed the greater number of +Christian nations to remain governed by kings unto this day, if a king +had been a wrong thing in itself. I think if we look carefully at the +words of the story we shall see what this great sin of the Jews was. In +the first place, they asked Samuel to give them a king—not God. This was +a sin, I think; but it was only the fruit of a deeper sin—a wrong way of +looking at the whole question of kings and government. And that deeper +sin was this: they were a free people, and they wanted to become slaves. +God had made them a free people; He had brought them up out of the land +of Egypt, out of slavery to Pharaoh. He had given them a free +constitution. He had given them laws to secure safety, and liberty, and +equal justice to rich and poor, for themselves, their property, their +children; to defend them from oppression, and over-taxation, and all the +miseries of misgovernment. And now they were going to trample under foot +God’s inestimable gift of liberty. They wanted a king like the nations +round them, they said. They did not see that it was just their glory +_not_ to be like the nations round them in that. We who live in a free +country do not see the vast and inestimable difference between the Jews +and the other nations. The Jews were then, perhaps, so far as I can make +out, the only free people on the face of the earth. The nations round +them were like the nations in the East, now governed by tyrants, without +law or parliament, at the mercy of the will, the fancy, the lust, the +ambition, and the cruelty of their despotic kings. In fact, they were as +the Eastern people now are—slaves governed by tyrants. Samuel warned the +Jews that it would be just the same with them; that neither their +property, their families, nor their liberty would be safe under the +despots for whom they wished. And yet, in spite of that warning, they +would have a king. And why? Because they did not like the trouble of +being free. They did not like the responsibility and the labour of +taking care of themselves, and asking counsel of God as to how they were +to govern themselves. So they were ready to sell themselves to a tyrant, +that he might fight for them, and judge for them, and take care of them, +while they just ate and drank, and made money, and lived like slaves, +careless of what happened to them or their country, provided they could +get food, and clothes, and money enough. And as long as they got that, +if you will remark, they were utterly careless as to what sort of king +they had. They said not one word to Samuel about how much power their +king was to have. They made not the slightest inquiry as to whether Saul +was wise or foolish, good or bad. They did not ask God’s counsel, or +trouble themselves about God; so they proved themselves unworthy of being +free. They turned, like a dog to his vomit, and the sow to her wallowing +in the mire, cowardly back again into slavery; and God gave them what +they asked for. He gave them the sort of king they wanted; and bitterly +they found out their mistake during several hundred years of continually +increasing slavery and misery. + +There is a deep lesson for us, my friends, in all this. And that is, +that God’s gifts are not fit for us, unless we are more or less fit for +them. That to him that makes use of what he has, more shall be given; +but from him who does not, will be taken away even what he has. And so +even the inestimable gift of freedom is no use unless men have free +hearts in them. God sets a man free from his sins by faith in Jesus +Christ; but unless that man uses His grace, unless he desires to be free +inwardly as well as outwardly—to be free not only from the punishment of +his sins, but from the sins themselves; unless he is willing to accept +God’s offer of freedom, and go boldly to the throne of grace, and there +plead his cause with his heavenly Father face to face, without looking to +any priest, or saint, or other third person to plead for him; if, in +short, a man has not a free spirit in him, the grace of God will become +of no effect in him, and he will receive the spirit of bondage (of +slavery, that is), again to fear. Perhaps he will fall back more or less +into popery and half-popish superstitions; perhaps, as we see daily round +us, he will fall back again into antinomianism, into the slavery of those +very sins from which God once delivered him. And just the same is it +with a nation. When God has given a nation freedom, then, unless there +be a free heart in the people and true independence, which is dependence +on God and not on man; unless there be a spirit of justice, mercy, truth, +trust of God in them, their freedom will be of no effect; they will only +fall back into slavery, to be oppressed by fresh tyrants. + +So it was with the great Spanish colonies in South America a few years +ago. God gave them freedom from the tyranny of Spain; but what advantage +was it to them? Because there was no righteousness in them; because they +were a cowardly, profligate, false, and cruel people, therefore they only +became the slaves of their own lusts; they turned God’s great grace of +freedom into licentiousness, and have been ever since doing nothing but +cutting each other’s throats; every man’s hand against his own brother; +the slaves of tyrants far more cruel than those from whom they had +escaped. + +Look at the French people, too. Three times in the last sixty years has +God delivered them from evil rulers, and given them a chance of freedom; +and three times have they fallen back into fresh slavery. And why? +Because they will not be righteous; because they will be proud, boastful, +lustful, godless, cruel, making a lie and loving it. God help them! We +are not here to judge them, but to take warning ourselves. Now there is +no use in boasting of our English freedom, unless we have free and +righteous hearts in us; for it is not constitutions, and parliaments, and +charters which make a nation free; they are only the shell, the outside +of freedom. True freedom is of the heart and spirit, and comes down from +above, from the Spirit of God; for where the Spirit of God is, there is +liberty, and there only. Oh, every one of you! high and low, rich and +poor, pray and struggle to get your own hearts free; free from the sins +which beset us Englishmen in these days; free from pride, prejudice, and +envy; free from selfishness and covetousness; free from unchastity and +drunkenness; free from the conceit that England is safe, while all the +rest of the world is shaking. Be sure that the spirit of freedom, like +every other good and perfect gift, is from above, and comes down from +God, the Father of lights; and that to keep that spirit with us, we must +keep ourselves worthy of it, and not expect to remain free if we indulge +ourselves in mean and slavish sins. + +So the Jews got the king they wanted—a king to look at and be proud of. +Saul was, we read, a head taller than all the rest of the people, and +very handsome to look at. And he was brave enough, too, in mere +fighting, when he was awakened and stirred up to act now and then; but +there was no wisdom in him; no real trust in God in him. He took God for +an idol, like the heathens’ false gods, which had to be pleased and kept +in good humour by the smell of burnt sacrifices; and not for a living, +righteous Person, who had to be obeyed. We read of Saul’s misconduct in +these respects, in the thirteenth and fifteenth chapters of the First +Book of Samuel. That was only the beginning of his wickedness. The +worst points in his character, as I shall show in my next sermon, came +out afterwards. But still, his disobedience was enough to make God cast +him off, and leave him to go his own way to ruin. + +But God was not going to cast off His people whom He loved. He deals not +with mankind after their sins, neither rewards them according to their +iniquities; and so he chose out for them a king after His own heart—a +true king of God’s making, not a mere sham one of man’s making. You may +think it strange why God should have given them a second king; why, as +soon as Saul died, He did not let them return back to their old freedom. +But that is not God’s way. He brings good out of evil in His great +mercy. But it is always by strange winding paths. His ways are not as +our ways. First, God gives man what is perfectly proper for him at that +time; sets man in his right place; and then when man falls from that, God +brings him, not back to the place from which he fell, but on forward into +something far higher and better than what he fell from. He put Adam into +Paradise. Adam fell from it, and God made use of the fall to bring him +into a state far better than Paradise—into the kingdom of God—into +everlasting life—into the likeness of Christ, the new Adam, who is a +quickening, life-giving spirit, while the old Adam was, at best, only a +living soul. + +So with the church of Christian men. After the apostles’ time, and even +during the apostles’ time, as we read from the Epistle to the Galatians, +they fell away, step by step, from the liberty of the gospel, till they +sunk entirely into popish superstition. And yet God brought good out of +that evil. He made that very popery a means of bringing them back at the +Reformation into clearer light than any of the first Christians ever had +had. He is going on step by step still, bringing Christians into a +clearer knowledge of the gospel than even the Reformers had. + +And so with the Jews. They fell from their liberty and chose a king. +And yet God made use of those kings of theirs, of David, of Solomon, of +Josiah, and Hezekiah, to teach them more and more about Himself and His +law, and to teach all nations, by their example, what a nation should be, +and how He deals with one. + +But now let us see what this true king, David, was like, whom God chose, +that He might raise, by his means, the Jews higher than they ever yet had +been, even in their days of freedom. Now remark, in the first place, +that David was not the son of any very great man. His father seems to +have been only a yeoman. He was not bred up in courts. We find that +when Samuel was sent to anoint David king, he was out keeping his +father’s sheep in the field. And though, no doubt, he had shown signs of +being a very remarkable youth from the first, yet his father thought so +little of him, that he was going to pass him over, and caused all his +seven elder sons to pass before Samuel for his choice first, though there +seems to have been nothing particular in them, except that some of them +were fine men and brave soldiers. So David seems to have been +overlooked, and thought but little of in his youth—and a very good thing +for him. It is a good thing for a young man to bear the yoke in his +youth, that he may be kept humble and low; that he may learn to trust in +God, and not in his own wit. And even when Samuel anointed David, he +anointed him privately. His brothers did not know what a great honour +was in store for him; for we find, in the lesson which we have just read, +that when David came down to the camp, his elder brother spoke +contemptuously to him, and treated him as a child. “I know thy pride,” +he said, “and the naughtiness of thy heart. Thou art come down to see +the battle.” While David answers humbly enough: “What have I done? is +there not a cause?” feeling that there was more in him than his brother +gave him credit for; though he dare not tell his brother, hardly, +perhaps, dare believe himself, what great things God had prepared for +him. So it is yet—a prophet has no honour in his own country. How many +a noble-hearted man there is, who is looked down upon by those round him! +How many a one is despised for a dreamer, or for a Methodist, by shallow +worldly people, who in God’s sight is of very great price! But God sees +not as man sees. He makes use of the weak people of this world to +confound the strong. He sends about His errands not many noble, not many +mighty; but the poor man, rich in faith, like David. He puts down the +mighty from their seat, and exalts the humble and meek. He takes the +beggar from the dunghill, that He may set him among the princes of His +people. So He has been doing in all ages. So He will do even now, in +some measure, with everyone like David, let him be as low as he will in +the opinion of this foolish world, who yet puts his trust utterly in God, +and goes about all his work, as David did, in the name of the Lord of +hosts. Oh! if a poor man feels that God has given him wit and +wisdom—feels in him the desire to rise and better himself in life, let +him be sure that the only way to rise is David’s plan—to keep humble and +quiet till God shall lift him up, trusting in God’s righteousness and +love to raise him, and deliver him, and put him in that station, be it +high or low, in which he will be best able to do God’s work, or serve +God’s glory. + +And now for the chapter from which the text is taken, which relates to us +David’s first great public triumph—his victory over Goliath the giant. I +will not repeat it to you, because everyone here who has ears to hear or +a heart to feel ought to have been struck with every word in that +glorious story. All I will try to do is, to show you how the working of +God’s Spirit comes out in David in every action of his on that glorious +day. We saw just now David’s humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of +God’s Spirit in him, in his answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look +next at David’s spirit of trust in God, which, indeed, is the key to his +whole life; that is the reason why he was the man after God’s own +heart—not for any virtues of his own, but for his unshaken continual +faith in God. David saw in an instant why the Israelites were so afraid +of the giant; because they had no faith in God. They forgot that they +were the armies of the living God. David did not: “Who is this +uncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies of the living God?” And +therefore, when Saul tried to dissuade him from attacking the Philistine, +his answer is still the same—full of faith in God. He knew well enough +what a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this giant, nearly ten +feet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which perhaps no sword or +spear which he could use could pierce. It was no wonder, humanly +speaking, that all the Jews fled from him—that his being there stopped +the whole battle. In these days, fifty such men would make no difference +in a battle; bullets and cannon-shot would mow down them like other men: +but in those old times, before firearms were invented, when all battles +were hand-to-hand fights, and depended so much on each man’s strength and +courage, that one champion would often decide the victory for a whole +army, the amount of courage which was required in David is past our +understanding; at least we may say, David would not have had it but for +his trust in God, but for his feeling that he was on God’s side, and +Goliath on the devil’s side, unjustly invading his country in +self-conceit, and cruelty, and lawlessness. Therefore he tells Saul of +his victory over the lion and the bear. You see again, here, the Spirit +of God showing in his _modesty_. He does not boast or talk of his +strength and courage in killing the lion and the bear; for he knew that +that strength and courage came from God, not from himself; therefore he +says that the Lord _delivered him_ from them. He knew that he had been +only doing his duty in facing them when they attacked his father’s sheep, +and that it was God’s mercy which had protected him in doing his duty. +He felt now, that if no one else would face this brutal giant, it was +_his_ duty, poor, simple, weak youth as he was, and therefore he trusted +in God to bring him safe through this danger also. But look again how +the Spirit of God shows in his prudence. He would not use Saul’s armour, +good as it might be, because he was not accustomed to it. He would use +his own experience, and fight with the weapons to which he had been +accustomed—a sling and stone. You see he was none of those presumptuous +and fanatical dreamers who tempt God by fancying that He is to go out of +His way to work miracles for them. He used all the proper and prudent +means to kill the giant, and trusted to God to bless them. If he had +been presumptuous, he might have taken the first stone that came to hand, +or taken only one, or taken none at all, and expected the giant to fall +down dead by a miracle. But no; he _chooses five smooth_ stones out of +the brook. He tried to get the best that he could, and have more ready +if his first shot failed. He showed no distrust of God in that; for he +trusted in God to keep him cool, and steady, and courageous in the fight, +and that, he knew, God alone could do. The only place, perhaps, where he +could strike Goliath to hurt him was on the face, because every other +part of him was covered in metal armour. And he knew that, in such +danger as he was, God’s Spirit only could keep his eye clear and his hand +steady for such a desperate chance as hitting that one place. + +So he went; and as he went his courage rose higher and higher; for unto +him that hath shall more be given; and so he began to boast too—but not +of himself, like the giant. He boasted of the living God, who was with +him. He ran boldly up to the Philistine, and at the first throw, struck +on the forehead, and felled him dead. + +So it is; many a time the very blessing which we expect to get only with +great difficulty, God gives us at our first trial, to show that He is the +Giver, to cheer up our poor doubting hearts, and show us that He is able, +and willing too, to give exceeding abundantly more than we can ask or +think. + +So David triumphed: and yet that triumph was only the beginning of his +troubles. Sad and weary years had he to struggle on before he gained the +kingdom which God had promised him. So it is often with God’s elect. He +gives them blessings at first, to show them that He is really with them; +and then He lets them be evil-entreated by tyrants, and suffer +persecution, and wander out of the way in the wilderness, that they may +be made perfect by suffering, and purified, as gold is in the refiner’s +fire, from all selfishness, conceit, ambition, cowardliness, till they +learn to trust God utterly, to know their own weakness, and His strength, +and to work only for Him, careless what becomes of their own poor +worthless selves, provided they can help His kingdom to come, and get His +will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. + +And now, my friends, surely there is a lesson in all this for you. Do +you wish to rise like David? Of course not one in ten thousand can rise +as high, but we may all rise somewhat, if not in rank, yet still, what is +far better, in spirit, in wisdom, in usefulness, in manfulness. Do you +wish to rise so? then follow David’s example. Be truly brave, be truly +modest, and in order to be truly brave and truly modest, that is, be +truly manly, be truly godly. Trust in God; trust in God; that is the key +to all greatness. Courage, modesty, truth, honesty, and gentleness; all +things, which are noble, lovely, and of good report; all things, in +short, which will make you men after God’s own heart, are all only the +different fruits of that one blessed life-giving root—FAITH IN GOD. + + + + +XXV. +DAVID’S EDUCATION. + + + Made perfect through sufferings.—HEBREWS ii. 10. + +THAT is my text; and a very fit one for another sermon about David, the +king after God’s own heart. And a very fit one too, for any sermon +preached to people living in this world now or at any time. “A +melancholy text,” you will say. But what if it be melancholy? That is +not the fault of me, the preacher. The preacher did not make suffering, +did not make disappointment, doubt, ignorance, mistakes, oppression, +poverty, sickness. There they are, whether we like it or not. You have +only to go on to the common here, or any other common or town in England, +to see too much of them—enough to break one’s heart if—, but I will not +hurry on too fast in what I have to say. What I want to make you +recollect is, that misery is here round us, _in_ us. A great deal which +we bring on ourselves; and a great deal more misery which we do not, as +far as we can see, bring on ourselves; but which comes, nevertheless, and +lets us know plainly enough that it is close to us. Every man and woman +of us have their sorrows. There is no use shutting our eyes just when we +ourselves happen to feel tolerably easy, and saying, as too many do, “I +don’t see so very much sorrow; I am happy enough!” Are you, friend, +happy enough? So much the worse for you, perhaps. But at all events +your neighbours are not happy enough; most of them are only too +miserable. It is a sad world. A sad world, and full of tears. It is. +And you must not be angry with the preacher for reminding you of what is. + +True; you would have a right to quarrel with the preacher or anyone else +who made you sorrowful with the thoughts of the sorrow round you, and +then gave you no explanation of it—told you of no use, no blessing in it, +no deliverance from it. That would be enough to break any man’s heart, +if all the preacher could say was: “This wretchedness, and sickness, and +death, must go on as long as the world lasts, and yet it does no good, +for God or man.” That thought would drive any feeling man to despair, +tempt him to lie down and die, tempt him to fancy that God was not God at +all, not the God whose name is Love, not the God who is our Father, but +only a cruel taskmaster, and Lord of a miserable hell on earth, where men +and women, and worst of all, little children, were tortured daily by tens +of thousands without reason, or use, or hope of deliverance, except in a +future world, where not one in ten of them will be saved and happy. That +is many people’s notion of the world—religious people’s even. How they +can believe, in the face of such notions, “that God is love;” how they +can help going mad with pity, if that is all the hope they have for poor +human beings, is more than I can tell. Not that I judge them—to their +own master they stand or fall: but this I do say, that if the preacher +has no better hope to give you about this poor earth, then I cannot tell +what right he has to call himself a preacher of the gospel—that is, a +preacher of good news; then I do not know what Jesus Christ’s dying to +take away the sins of the world means; then I do not know what the +kingdom of God means; then I do not know why the Lord taught us to pray, +“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” if the +only way in which that can be brought about is by His sending ninety-nine +hundredths of mankind to endless torture, over and above all the lesser +misery which they have suffered in this life. What will be the end of +the greater part of mankind we do not know; we were not intended to know. +God is love, and God is justice, and His justice is utterly loving, as +well as His love utterly just; so we may very safely leave the world in +the hands of Him who made the world, and be sure that the Judge of all +the earth will do right, and that what is right is certain never to be +cruel, but rather merciful. But to every one of you who are here now, a +preacher has a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say much more than that. +He is bound to tell you good news, because God has called you into His +church, and sent you here this day, to hear good news. He has a right to +tell you, as I tell you now, that, strange as it may seem, whatsoever +sufferings you endure are sent to make you perfect, even as your Father +in heaven is perfect; even as the blessed Lord, whom may you all love, +and trust, and worship, for ever and ever, was made perfect by +sufferings, even though He was the sinless Son of God. Consider that. +“It behoved Him,” says St. Paul, “the Captain of our salvation, to be +made perfect through sufferings.” And why? “Because,” answers St. Paul, +“it was proper for Him to be made in all things like His brothers”—like +us, the children of God—“that He might be a faithful and merciful high +priest;” for, just “because He has suffered being tempted, He is able to +succour us who are tempted.” A strange text, but one which, I think, +this very history of David’s troubles will help us to understand. For it +was by suffering, long and bitter, that God trained up David to be a true +king, a king over the Jews, “after God’s own heart.” + +You all know, I hope, something at least of David’s psalms. Many of +them, seven of them at least, were written during David’s wanderings in +the mountains, when Saul was persecuting him to kill him, day after day, +month after month, as you may read in the First Book of Samuel, from +chapters xix. to xxviii. Bitter enough these troubles of David would +have been to any man, but what must have made them especially bitter and +confusing to him was, that they all arose out of his righteousness. +Because he had conquered the giant, Saul envied him—broke his promise of +giving David his daughter Merab—put his life into extreme danger from the +Philistines, before he would give him his second daughter Michal; the +more he saw that the Lord was with David, and that the young man won +respect and admiration by behaving himself wisely, the more afraid of him +Saul was; again and again he tried to kill him; as David was sitting +harmless in Saul’s house, soothing the poor madman by the music of his +harp, Saul tries to stab him unawares; and not content with that proceeds +deliberately to hunt him down, from town to town, and wilderness to +wilderness; sends soldiers after him to murder him; at last goes out +after him himself with his guards. Was not all this enough to try +David’s faith? Hardly any man, I suppose, since the world was made, had +found righteousness pay him less; no man was ever more tempted to turn +round and do evil, since doing good only brought him deeper and deeper +into the mire. But no, we know that he did not lose his trust in God; +for we have seven psalms, at least, which he wrote during these very +wanderings of his; the fifty-second, when Doeg had betrayed him to Saul; +the fifty-fourth, when Ziphim betrayed him; the fifty-sixth, when the +Philistines took him in Gath; the fifty-seventh, “when he fled from Saul +in the cave;” the fifty-ninth, “when they watched the house to kill him;” +the sixty-third, “when he was in the wilderness of Judah;” the +thirty-fourth, “when he was driven away by Abimelech;” and several more +which appear to have been written about the same time. + +Now, what strikes us first, or ought to strike us, in these psalms, is +David’s utter faith in God. I do not mean to say that David had not his +sad days, when he gave himself up for lost, and when God seemed to have +forsaken him, and forgotten his promise. He was a man of like passions +with ourselves; and therefore he was, as we should have been, terrified +and faint-hearted at times. But exactly what God was teaching and +training him to be, was not to be fainthearted—not to be terrified. He +began in his youth by trusting God. That made him the man after God’s +own heart, just as it was the want of trust in God which made Saul not +the man after God’s own heart, and lost him his kingdom. In all those +wanderings and dangers of David’s in the wilderness, God was training, +and educating, and strengthening David’s faith according to His great +law: To whomsoever hath shall be given, and he shall have more +abundantly; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that +which he seems to have. And the first great fruit of David’s firm trust +in God was his patience. + +He learned to wait God’s time, and take God’s way, and be sure that the +same God who had promised that he should be king, would make him king +when he saw fit. He knew, as he says himself, that the Strength of +Israel could not lie or repent. He had sworn that He would not fail +David. And he learned that God had sworn by His holiness. He was a +holy, just, righteous God; and David and David’s country now were safe in +His hands. It was his firm trust in God which gave him strength of mind +to use no unfair means to right himself. Twice Saul, his enemy, was in +his power. What a temptation to him to kill Saul, rid himself of his +tormentor, and perhaps get the kingdom at once! But no. He felt: “This +Saul is a wicked, devil-tormented murderer, a cruel tyrant and oppressor; +but the same God who chose me to be king next, chose him to be king now. +He is the Lord’s anointed. God put him where he is, and leaves him there +for some good purpose; and when God has done with him, God will take him +away, and free this poor oppressed people; and in the meantime, I, as a +private man, have no right to touch him. I must not do evil that good +may come. If I am to be a true king, a true man at all hereafter, I must +keep true now; if I am to be a righteous lawgiver hereafter, I must +respect and obey law myself now. The Lord be judge between me and Saul; +for He is Judge, and He will right me better than I can ever right +myself.” And thus did trust in God bring out in David that true respect +for law, without which a king, let him be as kind-hearted as he will, is +but too likely to become at last a tyrant and an oppressor. + +But another thing which strikes any thinking man in David’s psalms, is +his strong feeling for the poor, and the afflicted, and the oppressed. +That is what makes the Psalms, above all, the poor man’s book, the +afflicted man’s book. But how did he get that fellow-feeling for the +fallen? By having fallen himself, and tasted affliction and oppression. +That was how he was educated to be a true king. That was how he became a +picture and pattern—a “type,” as some call it, of Jesus Christ, the man +of sorrows. That is why so many of David’s psalms apply so well to the +Lord; why the Lord fulfilled those psalms when He was on earth. David +was truly a man of sorrows; for he had not only the burden of his own +sorrows to bear, but that of many others. His parents had to escape, and +to be placed in safety at the court of a heathen prince. His friend +Abimelech the priest, because he gave David bread when he was starving, +and Goliath’s sword—which, after all, was David’s own—was murdered by +Saul’s hired ruffians, at Saul’s command, and with him his whole family, +and all the priests of the town, with their wives and children, even to +the baby at the breast. And when David was in the mountains, everyone +who was distressed, and in debt, and discontented, gathered themselves to +him, and he became their captain; so that he had on him all the +responsibility, care, and anxiety of managing all those wild, starving +men, many of them, perhaps, reckless and wicked men, ready every day to +quarrel among themselves, or to break out in open riot and robbery +against the people who had oppressed them; for—(and this, too, we may see +from David’s psalms, was not the smallest part of his anxiety)—the nation +of the Jews seems to have been in a very wretched state in David’s time. +The poor seem in general to have lost their land, and to have become all +but slaves to rich nobles, who were grinding them down, not only by +luxury and covetousness, but often by open robbery and bloodshed. The +sight of the misrule and misery, as well as of the bloody and ruinous +border inroads which were kept up by the Philistines and other +neighbouring tribes, seems for years to have been the uppermost, as well +as the deepest thought in David’s mind, if we may judge from those psalms +of his, of which this is the key-note; and it was not likely to make him +care and feel less about all that misery when he remembered (as we see +from his psalms he remembered daily) that God had set him, the wandering +outlaw, no less a task than to mend it all; to put down all that +oppression, to raise up that degradation, to train all that cowardice +into self-respect and valour, to knit into one united nation, bound +together by fellow-feeling and common faith in God, that mob of fierce, +and greedy, and (hardest task of all, as he himself felt) utterly +deceitful men. No wonder that his psalms begin often enough with +sadness, even though they may end in hope and trust. He had a work +around him and before him which ought to have made his heart sad, which +was a great part of his appointed education, and helped to make him +perfect by sufferings. + +And so, upon the bare hill-side, in woods and caves of the earth, in cold +and hunger, in weariness and dread of death, did David learn to be the +poor man’s king, the poor man’s poet, the singer of those psalms which +shall endure as long as the world endures, and be the comfort and the +utterance of all sad hearts for evermore. Agony it was, deep and bitter, +and for the moment more hopeless than the grave itself, which crushed out +of the very depths of his heart that most awful and yet most blessed +psalm, the twenty-second, which we read in church every Good Friday. The +“Hind of the Morning” is its title; some mournful air to which David sang +it, giving, perhaps, the notion of a timorous deer roused in the morning +by the hunters and the hounds. We read that psalm on Good Friday, and +all say that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled it. What do we mean hereby? + +We mean hereby, that we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all +sorrows which man can taste. He filled the cup of misery to the brim, +and drained it to the dregs. He was afflicted in all David’s +afflictions, in the afflictions of all mankind. He bare all their +sicknesses, and carried all their infirmities; and therefore we read this +psalm upon Good Friday, upon the day in which He tasted death for every +man, and went down into the lowest depths of terror, and shame, and +agony, and death; and, worst of all, into the feeling that God had +forsaken Him, that there was no help or hope for Him in heaven, as well +as earth—no care or love in the great God, whose Son He was—went down, in +a word, into hell; that hell whereof David and Heman, and Hezekiah after +them, had said, “Shall the dust give thanks unto thee? and shall it +declare thy truth?”—“Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt +thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.”—“My life draweth nigh unto +hell. . . I am like one stript among the dead, like the slain that lie +in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from +thy hand. . . . Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? and shall the dead +arise and praise thee? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy +righteousness in the land of destruction?”—“For the grave cannot praise +thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down to the pit cannot +hope for thy truth.” + +Even into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one moment, +that God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to God—even into that Jesus +condescended to go down for us. That worst of all temptations, of which +David only tasted a drop when he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast +thou forsaken me?” Jesus drained to the very dregs for us.—He went down +into hell for us, and conquered hell and death, and the darkness of the +unknown world, and rose again glorious from them, that He might teach us +not to fear death and hell; that He might know how to comfort us in the +hour of death: and in the day of judgment, when on our sick bed, or in +some bitter shame and trouble, the lying devil is telling us that we are +damned and lost, and forsaken by God, and every sin we ever did rises up +and stares us in the face. + +Truly He is a king!—a king for rich and poor, young and old, Englishmen +and negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for them, He has tasted +sorrow for them, far more than David did for those poor, oppressed, +sinful Jews of his. Read those Psalms of David; for they speak not only +of David, now long since dead and gone, but of the blessed Jesus, who +lives and reigns over us now at this very moment. Read them, for they +are inspired; the honest words of a servant of God crying out to the same +God, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we have. And His love has not +changed. His arm is not shortened that He cannot save. Your words need +not change. The words of those psalms in which David prayed, in them you +and I may pray. Right out of the depths of his poor distracted heart +they came. Let them come out of our hearts too. They belong to us more +than even they did to the Jews, for whom David wrote them—more than even +they did to David himself; for Jesus has fulfilled them—filled them +full—given them boundlessly more meaning than ever they had before, and +given us more hope in using them than ever David had: for now that love +and righteousness of God, in which David only trusted beforehand, has +come down and walked on this earth in the shape of a poor man, Jesus +Christ, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem. + +Oh, you who are afflicted, pray to God in those psalms; not merely in the +words of them, but in the spirit of them. And to do that, you must get +from God the spirit in which David wrote them—the Spirit of God. Pray +for that Spirit; for the spirit of patience, which made David wait God’s +good time to right him, instead of trying, as too many do, to right +himself by wrong means; for the spirit of love, which taught David to +return good for evil; for the spirit of fellow-feeling, which taught +David to care for others as well as himself; and in that spirit of love, +do you pray for others while you are praying for yourself. Pray for that +Spirit which taught David to help and comfort those who were weaker than +himself, that you in your time may be able and willing to comfort and +help those who are weaker than yourselves. And above all, pray for the +Spirit of faith, which made David certain that oppression and wrong-doing +could not stand; that the day must surely come when God would judge the +world righteously, and hear the cry of the afflicted, and deliver the +outcast and poor, that the man of the world might be no more exalted +against them. Pray, in short, for the Spirit of Christ; and then be sure +He will hear your prayers, and answer them, and show Himself a better +friend, and a truer King to you, than ever David showed himself to those +poor Jews of old. He will deliver you out of all your troubles—if not in +this life, yet surely in the life to come; and though you walk through +the valley of the shadow of death, yet the peace of God shall keep your +hearts and minds in Him who loved you, and gave Himself for you, that you +might inherit all heaven and earth in Him. + + + + +XXVI. +THE VALUE OF LAW. + + + Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no + power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.—ROMANS + xiii. 1. + +WHAT is the difference between a civilised man and a savage? You will +say: A civilised man can read and write; he has books and education; he +knows how to make numberless things which makes his life comfortable to +him. He can get wealth, and build great towns, sink mines, sail the sea +in ships, spread himself over the face of the earth, or bring home all +its treasures, while the savages remain poor, and naked, and miserable, +and ignorant, fixed to the land in which they chance to have been born. + +True: but we must go a little deeper still. Why does the savage remain +poor and wretched, while the civilised people become richer and more +prosperous? Why, for instance, do the poor savage gipsies never grow +more comfortable or wiser—each generation of them remaining just as low +as their forefathers were, or, indeed, getting lower and fewer? for the +gipsies, like all savages, are becoming fewer and fewer year by year, +while, on the other hand, we English increase in numbers, and in wealth, +and knowledge; and fresh inventions are found out year by year, which +give fresh employment and make life more safe and more pleasant. + +This is the reason: That the English have laws and obey them, and the +gipsies have none. This is the whole secret. This is why savages remain +poor and miserable, that each man does what he likes without law. This +is why civilised nations like England thrive and prosper, because they +have laws and obey them, and every man does not do what he likes, but +what the law likes. Laws are made not for the good of one person here, +or the other person there, but for the good of all; and, therefore, the +very notion of a civilised country is, a country in which people cannot +do what they like with their own, as the savages do. “Not do what he +likes with his own?” Certainly not; no one can or does. If you have +property, you cannot spend it all as you like. You have to pay a part of +it to the government, that is, into the common stock, for the common +good, in the shape of rates and taxes, before you can spend any of it on +yourself. If you take wages, you cannot spend them all upon yourself and +do what you like with them. If you do not support your wife and family +out of them, the law will punish you. You cannot do what you like with +your own gun, for you may not shoot your neighbour’s cattle or game with +it. You cannot do what you like with your own hands, for the law forbids +you to steal with them. You cannot do what you like with your own feet, +for the law will punish you for trespassing on your neighbour’s ground +without his leave. In short, you can only do with your own what will not +hurt your neighbour, in such matters as the law can take care of. And +more, in any great necessity the law may actually hurt you for the good +of the nation at large. The law may compel you to sell your land, to +your own injury, if it is wanted for a railroad. The law may compel you, +as it did fifty years ago, to serve as a soldier in the militia, to your +own injury, if there is a fear of foreign invasion; so that the law is +above each and all of us. Our own wills are not our masters. No man is +his own master. The law is the master of each and all of us, and if we +will not obey it willingly, it can make us obey unwillingly. + +Can make us? Ay, but ought it to make us? Is it right that the law +should over-ride our own free wills, and prevent our doing what we like +with our own? + +It is right—absolutely right. St. Paul tells us what gives law this +authority: “There is no power but of God. The powers that be are +ordained of God.” And he tells us also why this authority is given to +the law. “Rulers,” he says, “are not a terror to good works, but to +evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of those who administer the law? Do +that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from them, for they are +God’s ministers to thee for good.” + +For good, you see. For the good of mankind it was, that God put into +their hearts and reasons, that notion of making laws, and appointing +kings and magistrates to see that those laws are obeyed. For our good. +For without law no man’s life, or family, or property would be safe. +Every man’s private selfishness, and greediness, and anger, would +struggle without check to have its way, and there would be no bar or curb +to keep each and every man from injuring each and every man else; so the +strong would devour the weak, and then tear each other in pieces +afterwards. So it is among the savages. They have little or no +property, for they have no laws to protect property; and therefore every +man expects his neighbour to steal from him, and finds it his shortest +plan to steal from his neighbour, instead of settling down to sow corn +which he will have no chance of eating, or build houses which may be +taken from him at night by some more strong and cunning savage. There is +no law among savages to protect women and children against the men, and +therefore the women are treated worse than beasts, and the children +murdered to save the trouble of rearing them. Every man’s hand is +against his neighbour. No one feels himself safe, and therefore no one +thinks it worth while to lay up for the morrow. No one expects justice +and mercy to be done to him, and therefore no one thinks it worth while +to do justice and mercy to others. And thus they live in continual fear +and quarrelling, feeding like wild animals on game or roots, often, when +they have bad luck in their hunting, on offal which our dogs would +refuse, and dwindle away and become fewer and wretcheder year by year; in +this way do the savages in New South Wales live to this day, for want of +law. + +It is for our good, then, that God has put into the heart of man to make +laws, and to obey them as sacred and divine things. For our good, in +order to save us from sinking down into the same state of poverty and +misery in which the savages are. For our good, because we are fallen +creatures, with selfish and corrupt wills, continually apt to break +loose, and please ourselves at the expense of our neighbours. For our +good, because, however fallen we are, we are still brothers, members of +God’s family, bound to each other by duty and relationship, if not by +love. + +Just as in a family, if parents, brothers, and sisters will not do their +duty to each other lovingly and of their free will, the law interferes, +and the custom of the country interferes, and the opinion of neighbours +interferes, and says: “You may not love your parents: but you have no +right to leave them to starve.” “You may not love your brothers: but if +you try to injure and slander them, you are doing an unnatural and +hateful thing, abhorred by God and man, and you must expect us to treat +you accordingly, as a wild beast who does not feel the common laws of +nature and right and wrong.” So with the law of the land. The law is +meant to remind us more or less that we are brothers, members of one +body; that we owe a duty to each other; that we are all equal in God’s +sight, who is no respecter of persons, or of rank, or of riches, any more +than the law is when it punishes the greatest nobleman as severely as the +poorest labourer. The law is meant to remind us that God is just; that +when we injure each other, we sin against God; that God’s rule and law +is, that each transgression should receive its just reward, and that, +therefore, because man is made in the likeness of God, man is bound, as +far as he can, to visit every offence with due and proportionate +punishment. And the law punishes, as St. Paul says, in God’s name, and +for God’s sake. The magistrate is a witness for God’s righteous +government of the world, the minister of God’s vengeance against +evil-doers, to remind all continually that evil-doing has no place, and +cannot prosper, and must not be allowed, upon this God’s earth whereon we +live. + +But what if the laws are unfair, and punish only some sorts of evil-doers +and not others? What if they are like spiders’ webs, which catch the +little flies, and let the great wasps break through? What if they punish +poor and weak offenders, and let the rich and powerful sinners escape? +“Obey them still,” says St. Paul. In his time and country the laws were +as unfair in that way as laws ever were, and yet he tells Christians to +obey them for conscience’s sake. Thank God that they do punish weak +offenders. Pray God that the time may come when they may be strong +enough to punish great offenders also. But, in the meantime, see that +they have not to punish you. As far as the laws go, they are right and +good. As far as they keep down any sort of wrong-doing whatsoever, they +are God’s ordinances, and you must obey them for God’s sake. + +But what if the laws are not only unfair and partial, but also unjust and +wrong? Are we to obey them then? Obey them still, says St. Paul. Of +course, if they command you to do a clearly wrong thing; if, for +instance, the law commanded you to worship idols, or to commit adultery, +there is no question then; such laws cannot be God’s ordinance. The laws +can only be God’s ordinance as far as they agree with what we know of +God’s will written in our hearts, and written in His holy Bible. Then a +man must resist the law to the death, if need be, as the old martyrs did, +dying as witnesses for God’s righteous and eternal law, against man’s +false and unrighteous law. It is a very difficult thing, no doubt, to +tell where to draw the line in such matters. But we, thank God, here in +England now, have no need to puzzle our heads with such questions. Every +man’s conscience is free here, and he has full liberty to worship God as +he thinks best, provided that by so doing he does not interfere with his +neighbour’s character, or property, or comfort. There is no single law +in England now, that I know of, which a man has any need to refuse to +obey, let his conscience be as tender as it may. And as for laws which +we think hurtful to the country, or hurtful to any particular class in +the country, our thinking them hurtful is no reason that we should not +obey them. As long as they are law, they are God’s ordinance, and we +have no right to break them. They may be useful after all. Or even if +they are hurtful in some way, still God may be bringing good out of them +in some other way, of which we little dream, as He has often done out of +laws and customs which seem at first sight most foolish and hurtful, and +yet which He endured and winked at, for the sake of bringing good out of +evil. At all events, whatsoever laws are here in England, are made by +the men whom we English have chosen, as the men most fit and wise to make +them, and we are bound to abide by them. If Parliament is not wise +enough to make perfectly good laws, that is no one’s fault but our own; +for if we were wise, we should choose wise law-makers, and we must be +filled with the fruit of our own devices. As long as these laws have +been made and passed, by Commons, Lords, and Queen, according to the +ancient forms and constitution which God has taught our forefathers from +time to time for more than a thousand years, and which have had God’s +blessing and favour on them, and made us, from the least of all nations, +the greatest nation on the earth; in short, as long as those laws are +made according to law, so long we are bound to believe them to be God’s +ordinance, and obey them. But understand; that is no reason why we +should not try to get them improved; for when they are changed and done +away according to the same law which made them, that will be a sign that +they are God’s ordinances no longer; that God thinks we have no more need +for them, and does not require us to keep them. But as long as any law +is what St. Paul calls “the powers that be,” obeyed it must be, not only +for wrath, but for conscience’s sake. + +That is a very important part of the matter. Obey the law, St. Paul +says, not only for wrath, that is, not only for fear of punishment, but +for conscience’s sake. Even if you do not expect to be punished; even if +you think no one will ever find out that you have broken the law, +remember it is God’s ordinance. He sees you. Do not hurt your own +conscience, and deaden your own sense of right and wrong, by breaking the +least or the most unjust law in the slightest point. + +For instance: some people think the income-tax is very unfair; and +therefore they think there is no harm in cheating the revenue a little, +by making out their income less than it is. Others, again, think the +laws against smuggling unjust and harsh; and therefore they see no harm +in trying to avoid paying duty on goods which they bring home, whenever +they have an opportunity, or buying cheap goods, which they must know +from their price are smuggled. Others, again, think the game laws are +unfair, and therefore see no harm in going out shooting on their own +lands without a licence; while many see no harm, or say they see no harm, +in poaching on other people’s grounds, and killing game contrary to law +wherever they can. That it is wrong to break the law in these two first +cases, you all know in your own hearts. On the matter of poaching, some +of you, I know, have many very mistaken notions. But, my friends, I ask +you only to look at the sin and misery which poaching causes, if you want +to see that those who break the law do indeed break the ordinance of God, +and that God’s laws avenge themselves. Look at the idleness, the +untidiness, the deceit, the bad company, the drunkenness, the misery and +sin, to man, woman, and child, which that same poaching brings about, and +then see how one little sin brings on many great ones; how a man, by +despising the authority of law, and fancying that he does no harm in +disobeying the laws, from his own fancy about poaching being no harm, +falls into temptation and a snare, and pierces himself through with many +sorrows. My young friends, believe my words. Avoid poaching, even once +in a way. The beginning of sin is like the letting out of water; no one +can tell where it will stop. He who breaks the law in little things will +be tempted to go on and break it in greater and greater things. He who +begins by breaking man’s law, which is the pattern of God’s law, will be +tempted to go on and break God’s law also. Is it not so? There is no +use telling me, “The game is no one’s; there is no harm in taking it.” +Light words of that kind will not do to answer God with. You know there +is harm in taking it; for you know, as well as I do, that you cannot go +after game without neglecting your work to get it; or without going to +the worst of public-houses, among the worst of company, to sell it. You +know, as well as I do, that hand in hand with poaching go lying, and +idling, and sneaking, and fear, and boasting, and swearing, and drinking, +and the company of bad men and bad women. And then you say there is no +harm in poaching. Do you suppose that I do not know, as well as any one +of you here, what goes to the snaring of a hare, and the selling of a +hare, and the spending of the ill-got price of a hare? My dear young +men, I know that poaching, like many other sins, is tempting: but God has +told us to flee from temptation—to resist the devil, and he will flee +from us. If we are to give up ourselves without a struggle to every +pleasant thing which tempts us, we shall soon be at the devil’s door. We +were sent into the world to fight against temptation and to conquer it. +We were sent into the world to do what God likes, not what we like; and +therefore we were sent into the world to obey the laws of the land +wherein we live, be they better or worse; because if we break one law +because we don’t like it, our neighbour may break another because he +don’t like that, and so forth; till there is neither law, nor peace, nor +safety, but every man doing what is right in his own eyes, which is sure +to end by every man’s doing what is right in the devil’s eyes. We were +sent into the world to live as brothers, under laws which make us give up +our own wills and selfish lusts for the common good. And if we find it +difficult to keep the laws, if we are tempted to break the laws, God has +promised His Spirit to those who ask Him. God has promised His Spirit to +us. If we pray for that Spirit night and morning, He will make it easy +for us to keep the laws. He will make us what our Lord was before us, +humble, patient, loving, manful and strong enough to restrain our fancies +and appetites, and to give up our wills for the good of our neighbours, +anxious and careful to avoid all appearance of evil, trusting that +because God is just, and God is King, all laws which are not wicked are +His ordinance, and therefore being obedient to every ordinance of man for +the Lord’s sake, even as Jesus Christ Himself was, who, though He was +Lord of all, paid taxes and tribute money to the Roman government, like +the rest of the Jews, and kept the law of Moses perfectly, and was +baptised with John’s baptism, to show that in all just and reasonable +things we are to obey the laws and customs of our forefathers, in the +country to which it has pleased the Lord that we should belong. + + + + +XXVII. +THE SOURCE OF LAW. + + + Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no + power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.—ROMANS + xiii. 1. + +IN this chapter, which we read for the second lesson for this afternoon’s +service, St. Paul gives good advice to the Romans, and equally good +advice to us. + +Of course what he says must be equally good for us, and for all people, +at all times, in all countries, as long as time shall last; because St. +Paul spoke by the Spirit of God, who is God eternal, and therefore cannot +change His mind, but lays down, by the mouth of His apostles and +prophets, the everlasting laws of right and wrong, which are always +equally good for all. + +But there is something in this lesson which makes it especially useful to +us; because we English are in some very important matters very like the +Romans to whom St. Paul wrote; though in others, thanks to Almighty God, +we are still very unlike them. + +Now, these old Romans, as I have often told you, had risen to be the +greatest and mightiest people in the world, and to conquer many foreign +countries, and set up colonies of Romans in them, very much as the +English have done in India, and North America, and Australia: so that the +little country of Italy, with its one great city of Rome, was mistress of +vast lands far beyond the seas, ten times as large as itself, just as +this little England is. + +But it is not so much this which I have to speak to you about now, as how +this Rome became so great; for it was at first nothing but a poor little +country town, without money, armies, trade, or any of those things which +shallow-minded people fancy are the great strength of a nation. True, +all those things are good; but they are useless and hurtful—and, what is +more, they cannot be got—without something better than them; something +which you cannot see nor handle; something spiritual, which is the life +and heart of a country or nation, and without which it can never become +great. This the old Romans had; and it made them become great. This we +English have had for now fifteen hundred years; even when our forefathers +were heathens, like the Romans, before we came into this good land of +England, while we were poor and simple people, living in the barren moors +of Germany, and the snowy mountains of Norway; even then we had this +wonderful charm, by which nations are sure to become great and powerful +at last; and in proportion as we have remembered and acted upon it, we +English have thriven and spread; and whenever we have forgotten it and +broken it, we have fallen into distress, and poverty, and shame, over the +whole land. + +Now, what is this wonderful charm which made the old Romans and we +English great, which is stronger than money, and armies, and trade, and +all the things which we can see and handle? + +St. Paul tells us in the text: “Let every soul be subject to the higher +powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are +ordained of God.” + +To respect the law; to believe that God wills men to live according to +law; and that He will teach men right and good laws; that magistrates who +enforce the laws are God’s ministers, God’s officers and servants; that +to break the laws is to sin against God;—that is the charm which worked +such wonders, and will work them to the end of time. + +So you see it was a very proper thing for St. Paul, when he wrote to +these Romans after they became Christians, to speak to them as he does in +this chapter. They might have fancied, and many did fancy, that because +they were Jesus Christ’s servants now, they need not obey their heathen +rulers and laws any more. But St. Paul says: “No; Jesus Christ’s being +King of Kings, is only the strongest possible reason for your obeying +these heathen rulers. For if He is King of all the earth, He is King of +Rome also, and of all her colonies; and therefore you may be sure that He +would not leave these Roman rulers, and laws here if He did not think it +right and fitting. If Jesus Christ is Lord of lords He is Lord of these +Roman rulers, and they are His ministers and stewards; and you must obey +them, and pay taxes to them for conscience’s sake, as unto the Lord, and +not unto man.” + +So you see that St. Paul gave these Roman Christians no new commandment +on these matters; nothing different from what their old heathen +forefathers had believed. For the law which he mentions in verse 9, +“Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,” etc., had been for centuries +past part of the old Roman law, as well as of Moses’ law. + +Those old heathen Romans believed, and rightly, that all law and order +came from the great God of gods, whom they called in their tongue +Jupiter, that is, the Heavenly Father. They believed that He would bless +those who kept the laws; who kept their oaths and agreements, and the +laws about government, about marriage, about property, about inheritance; +and that He would surely punish those who broke the laws, who defrauded +their neighbours of their rights, who swore falsely against their +neighbour, or broke their agreements, who were unfaithful to their wives +and husbands, or in any way offended against justice between man and man. +And they believed too, and rightly, that as long as they kept the laws, +and lived justly and orderly by them, the great Heavenly Father would +protect and prosper their town of Rome, and make it grow great and +powerful, because they were living as He would have men live; not doing +each what was right in the sight of his own eyes, but conquering their +own selfish wills and private fancies, for the sake of their neighbour’s +good, and the good of his country, that they might all help and trust +each other, as fellow-citizens of one nation. + +Only St. Paul had told them: Your forefathers were right in fancying that +law and right came from the great God of gods: but they knew hardly +anything, or rather, in time they forgot almost everything, about that +Heavenly Father. In their ignorance they mixed up the belief in the one +great almighty and good God, which dwells in the hearts of all men, with +filthy fables and superstitions till they came to fancy that there were +many gods and not one, and that these many gods were sinful, foul, proud, +and cruel, as fallen men. But you have been brought back to the +knowledge of the one true, and righteous, and loving God, which your +forefathers lost. He has revealed and shown Himself, and what He is +like, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is love, and wisdom, and justice, and +order itself; and, therefore, you must be sure, even more sure than your +old heathen forefathers, that He cares for a nation being at peace and +unity within itself, governed by wise laws, doing justice between man and +man, and keeping order throughout all its business, that every man may do +his work and enjoy his wages without hindrance, or confusion, or fear, or +robbery and oppression from those who are stronger than he. + +And so St. Paul says to them: “You must believe that power and law come +from God, far more firmly and clearly than ever your heathen forefathers +did.” + +Now that St. Paul was right in this we may see from the Old Testament. +In the first lesson for this afternoon’s service, we read how Jeremiah +was sent with the most awful warnings to the king, and the queen, and the +crown prince of his country. And why? Because they had broken the laws; +because, in a word, they had been unfaithful stewards and ministers of +the Lord God, who had given them their power and kingdom, and would +demand a strict account of all which He had committed to their charge. +But in the same book of the prophet Jeremiah we read more than this; we +read exactly what St. Paul says about the heathen Roman governors: for +the Lord God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, sent Jeremiah with a message +to all the heathen kings round about, to tell them that He was their Lord +and Master, that He had given them their power, heathens as they were, +because it seemed fit to Him, and that now, for their sins, He was going +to deliver them over into the hand of another heathen, His servant +Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and that whosoever would not serve +Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord God would punish him with sword, and famine, and +pestilence till he had consumed them. And the first four chapters of the +book of Daniel, noble and wonderful as they are, seem to me to have been +put into the Bible simply to teach us this one thing, that heathen +rulers, as well as Christians, are the Lord’s servants, and that their +power is ordained by God. For these chapters are entirely made up of the +history, how God, by His prophet Daniel, taught the heathen king +Nebuchadnezzar that he was God’s minister and steward. And the latter +part of the book of Daniel is the account of his teaching the same thing +to another heathen, Cyrus the great and good king of Persia. And here +St. Paul teaches the Christian Romans just the same thing about their +heathen governors and heathen laws, that they are the ministers and the +ordinance of God. + +Now, our own English forefathers, as I said before, believed this same +thing; and if I had time, I could show you, I think, plainly enough from +God’s dealings with England, how He has blest and prospered us whensoever +we have acted up to it. But whether we have believed it or not, there is +enough in our English laws, and in our English Prayer Book too, to +witness for it and remind us of it. + +The very title which we give the Queen, “Queen by the grace of God;” the +solemn prayers for her when she is crowned and anointed, not in her own +palace, or in the House of Parliament, but in the Church of God at +Westminster; the prayers which we have just offered up for the Queen, for +the government, and for the magistrates—these are all so many signs and +tokens to us that they are God’s stewards, called to do God’s work, and +that we must pray for God’s grace to help them to fulfil their calling. +And are not those ten commandments which stand in every church, a witness +of the same thing? They are the very root of all law whatsoever. And +more, the solemn oath which a witness takes in the court of justice, what +is it but a sign of the same thing, that our forefathers, who appointed +these forms, believed that law and justice were holy things, and that he +who goes into a court of law goes into the presence of God Himself, and +confesses, when he promises to speak the truth, so help him God, that God +is the protector and the avenger of law and justice? + +But some people, and especially young and light-hearted persons, are +ready to say: “Obey the powers that be, whosoever they may be, good or +bad, and believe that to break their laws is to sin against God? We +might as well be slaves at once. A man has a right to his own opinion; +and if he does not think a law good, how can he be bound to obey it?” + +You will often hear such words as those when you go out into the world, +into great towns, where men meet together much. Let me give you, young +people, a little advice about that beforehand; for, fine as it sounds, it +is hollow and false at root. + +If you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like what is +right; and do that, says St. Paul, and then the law will not interfere +with you: “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. +Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and +thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee +for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth +not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to +execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” And then he sums up what doing +right is, in one short sentence: “Love thy neighbour as thyself; for love +is the fulfilling of the law.” All that the laws want to make you do, is +to behave like men who do love their neighbours as themselves, and +therefore do them no harm—to behave like men who are ready to give up +their own private wills and pleasures, and even their own private +property, if wanted, for the good of their neighbours and their country. +Therefore the law calls on you to pay rates and taxes, which are to be +spent for the good of the nation at large. And if you love your +neighbour as yourself, and have the good of everyone round you at heart, +you will no more grudge paying rates and taxes for their benefit than you +will grudge spending money to support and educate your own children. And +so you will be free, free to do what you like, because you like, from the +fear and love of God, to do those right things which the law is set to +make you do. + +But some may say: “That is not what we mean by being free. We mean +having a share in choosing Members of Parliament, and so in making the +laws and governing the country. When people can do that the country is a +free country.” + +Well, my friends, and it is a strange thing, or rather not a strange +thing, if we will but study our Bibles, that a country cannot be free in +that way, unless the people of it do really believe that the powers that +be are ordained of God. Instead of that faith making the old Romans +slavish, or careless what laws were made, or how they were governed, as +some fancy it would make a people, they were as free a people, and freer +almost than we English now. They chose their own magistrates, and they +made their own laws, and prospered by so doing. And why? Because they +believed that laws came from God; and, therefore, they not only obeyed +the laws when they were made, but they had heart and spirit to help to +make them, because they trusted that The Heavenly Father, who loved +justice, would teach them to be just, and that The God who protected laws +and punished law-breakers, would put into their minds how to make the +laws well; and so they were not afraid to govern themselves, because they +believed that God would enable them to govern themselves well, and +therefore they were free. And so far from their having a slavish spirit +in them, they were the most bold and independent people of the whole +earth. Their soldiers conquered almost every nation against whom they +fought, because they always obeyed their officers dutifully and +faithfully, believing that it was their duty to God to obey, and to die, +if need was, for their country. Old history is full of tales, which will +never be forgotten, I trust, till the world’s end, of the noble deeds of +their men, ay, and even of their women, who counted their own lives +worthless in comparison with the good of their country, and died in +torments rather than break the laws, or do what they knew would injure +the people to whom they belonged. + +And so with us English. For hundreds of years we have been growing more +and more free, and more and more well-governed, simply because we have +been acting on St. Paul’s doctrine—obeying the powers that be, because +they are ordained by God. It is the Englishman’s respect for law, as a +sacred thing, which he dare not break, which has made him, sooner or +later, respected and powerful wherever he goes to settle in foreign +lands; because foreigners can trust us to be just, and to keep our +promises, and to abide by the laws which we have laid down. It is the +English respect for law, as a sacred thing, which has made our armies +among the bravest and the most successful on earth; because they know how +to obey their officers, and are therefore able to fight and to endure as +men should do. And as long as we hold to that belief we shall prosper at +home and abroad, and become more and more free, and more and more strong; +because we shall be united, helping each other, trusting each other, +knowing what to expect of each other, because we all honour and obey the +same laws. + +And, on the other hand, have we not close to us, in France, a fearful +sign and proof from God that without the fear of God no people can be +free? Three times in the last sixty years have the French risen up +against evil rulers, and driven them out. And have they been the better +for it? They are at this very moment in utter slavery to a ruler more +lawless than ever oppressed them before. And why? Because they did not +believe that law came from God, and that the powers that be are ordained +by Him. Therefore, whenever they were oppressed, they did not try to +right themselves by lawful ways, according to the old English God-fearing +custom, but to break down the old law by riot and bloodshed, and then to +set up new laws of their own. But those new laws would never stand. +They made them, but they would not obey them when they were made, and +they could not make others obey them; because they had no real reverence +for law, and did not believe that law came from God, or that His Spirit +would give them understanding to make good laws. They talked loud about +the power and rights of the people, and that whatever the people willed +was right: but they said nothing about the power and rights of the Lord +God; they forgot that it is only what God has willed from everlasting +that is right; and so they made laws in the strength of their own hearts, +according to what was right in the sight of their own eyes, to please +themselves. How could they respect the laws, when the laws were only +copies of their own selfish fancies? So, because they made them to +please themselves, they soon broke them to please themselves. And so +came more lawlessness and riot, and confusion worse confounded, till, of +course, the strongest, and cunningest, and most shameless got the upper +hand; and they were plunged, poor creatures! into the same pit of misery +out of which they had been trying to deliver themselves in their own +strength, for a sign and an example that the Lord is King, and not man at +all, and that the fear of the Lord is the only beginning of wisdom. + +And very much the same sad fate had happened to the Romans a little +before St. Paul’s time. They gave up their ancient respect for law; they +broke the laws, and ran into all kinds of violence, and riot, and filthy +sin; and therefore God took away their freedom from them, because they +were not fit for it, and delivered them over into the hand of one cruel +tyrant after another; and perhaps the cruellest of them all was the man +who was emperor of Rome in St. Paul’s time. Therefore it was that St. +Paul says to them: Love each other, and obey the laws, “knowing the time, +that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” + +As much as to say: “Your souls have fallen asleep; you have been in a +dark night, not seeing that God would avenge you of all these sins of +yours; that God’s eye was on them: you have fallen asleep and forgotten +your forefathers’ belief, that God loves law, and order, and justice, and +will punish those who break through them. But now the Lord Jesus, the +light of the world, is come to awaken you, and to open your eyes to see +the truth about this, and to show you that you are in God’s kingdom, and +that God commands you to repent, and to obey Him, and do justly and +righteously. Therefore awake out of your sleep; give up the works of +darkness, those mean and wicked habits which were contrary to the good +old laws of your forefathers, and which you were at heart ashamed of, and +tried to hide even while you indulged in them. Open your eyes, and see +that God is near you, your Judge, your King, seeing through and through +your souls, keen and sharp to discern the secret thoughts and intents of +the heart, so that all things are naked and open in the sight of Him with +whom we have to do.” + +And so I may say to you, my friends, it is high time for us to awake out +of sleep. The people in England, religious as well as others, have +fallen asleep of late years too much about this matter. They have +forgotten that God is King, that magistrates are God’s ministers. They +talk as if laws were meant to be only the device of man’s will, to serve +men’s private interests and selfishness; and therefore they have lost +very much of their respect for law, and their care to make good laws for +the future. And it is high time for us, while all the nations of Europe +are tottering and crumbling round us, to awake out of sleep on this +matter. We must open our eyes and see where we are. For we are in God’s +kingdom. God’s Bible, God’s churches, God’s commandments, and all the +solemn old law forms of England witness to us that God is King, set in +the throne which judges right; that order and justice, fellow-feeling and +public spirit, are His gifts, His likeness, on which He looks down with +loving care and protection; and that if we forget that, and begin to +fancy that law stands merely by the will of the many, or by the will of +the stronger, or even by the will of the wiser—by any will of man in +short; we shall end by neither being able to make just laws any more, nor +to obey those which we have, by the blessing of God, already. + + + + +XXVIII. +THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN. + + + Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of + heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those + that walk in pride He is able to abase.—DANIEL iv. 37. + +WE read for the first lesson to-day two chapters out of the book of +Daniel. Those who love to study their Bibles, have read often, of +course, not only these two chapters, but the whole book. + +And I would advise all of you who wish to understand God’s dealings with +mankind, to study this book of Daniel, and especially at this present +time. + +I do not wish you to study it merely on account of those prophecies in +it, which many wise and good men think foretell the dates of our Lord’s +first and second comings, and of the end of the world. I am not skilled, +my friends, in that kind of wisdom. I cannot tell you what God will do +hereafter. But I think that the book of Daniel like the other prophets, +tells us what God is always doing on earth, and so gives us certain and +eternal rules by which we may understand strange and terrible events, +wars, distress of nations, the fall of great men, and the suffering of +innocent men, when we see them happen, as we may see any day—perhaps very +soon indeed. + +The great lesson, I think, that this book of Daniel teaches us is, that +God is not the Lord of the Jews only, or of Christians only, but of the +whole earth; that the heathens are under His moral law and government, as +well as we; and that, as St. Peter says, God is no respecter of persons: +but in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is +accepted of him. For the history of Nebuchadnezzar seems to me to be the +history of God’s educating a heathen and an idolater to know Him. And we +must always remember, that as far as we can see, it was because +Nebuchadnezzar was faithful to the light which he had, that God gave him +more. Of course he had his sins; the Bible tells us what they were; just +the sins which one would expect of a man brought up a heathen and an +idolater; of one who was a great conqueror, and had gained many bloody +battles, and learned to hold men’s lives very cheap; of one who was an +absolute emperor, with no law but his own will, furious at any +contradiction; of a man of wonderful power of mind—confident in himself, +his own power, his own cunning. But he seems not to have been a bad man, +considering his advantages. The Bible never speaks harshly of him, +though he carried away the Jews captive to Babylon. In all that fearful +war, Nebuchadnezzar was in the right, and the Jews in the wrong; so at +least Jeremiah the prophet declared. Nebuchadnezzar saved and respected +Jeremiah; and Daniel seems to have regarded the great conqueror with real +respect and affection. When Daniel says to him, “O king, live for ever,” +and tells him that he is the head of gold, and prays that his fearful +dream may come true of his enemies and not of him, I cannot believe that +the prophet was using mere empty phrases of court-flattery. He really +felt, I doubt not, that Nebuchadnezzar was a great and good king, as +kings went then, and his government a gain (as it easily might be) to the +nations whom he had conquered, and that it was good that he should reign +as long as possible. + +And we may well believe Daniel’s interest in this great king, when we +consider how teachable Nebuchadnezzar showed himself under God’s +education of him, so proving that there was in him the honest and good +heart, which, when The Word is sown in it, will bring forth fruit, +thirty-fold or a hundred-fold, according to the talents which God has +bestowed on each man. + +This first lesson we read in the first chapter of Daniel. He dreamt a +dream. He felt that it was a very wonderful one: but he forgot what it +was. None of the magicians of Babylon could tell him. A young Jew, +named Daniel, told him the dream and its meaning, and declared at the +same time that he had found it out by no wisdom of his own, but God had +revealed it to him. Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson, and confessed +Daniel’s God to be a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of +secrets, seeing that Daniel could reveal that secret; and forthwith, like +a wise prince, advanced Daniel and his companions to places of the +highest authority and trust. + +But Nebuchadnezzar required another lesson. He had learned that the God +of the Jews was wiser than all the planets and heavenly lords and gods +whom the Babylonian magicians consulted; he had not learned that that +same God of the Jews was the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. He +had learned that the God of heaven favoured him, and had helped him +toward his power and glory; but he thought that for that very reason the +power and glory were his own—that he had a right over the souls and +consciences of his subjects, and might make them worship what he liked, +and how he liked. + +Three Jews, whom he had set over the affairs of Babylon, refused to +worship the golden image which he had set up, and were cast into a fiery +furnace, and forthwith miraculously delivered, and beheld by +Nebuchadnezzar walking unhurt and loose in the midst of the furnace, and +with them a fourth, whose form was like the form of the Son of God. + +So Nebuchadnezzar was taught that this God of the Jews was the Lord of +men’s souls and consciences; that they were to obey God rather than man. +So he was taught that the God of the Jews was no mere star or heavenly +influence who could help men’s fortunes, or bestow on them a certain +fixed destiny; but a living person, the Lord and Master of the fire, and +of all the powers of the earth, who could change and stop those powers at +His will, to deliver those who trusted in Him and obeyed Him. + +And this lesson, too, Nebuchadnezzar learned. He confessed his mistake +upon the spot, just in the way in which we should have expected a great +Eastern king to do, though not in the most enlightened or merciful way. +He “blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His +angel, and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. Therefore I make a +decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything +amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in +pieces, and their houses be made a dunghill: because there is no other +God that can deliver after this sort.” + +But there was still one deep mistake lying in the great king’s heart +which required to be rooted out. He had learnt that Jehovah, the God of +the Jews, was a revealer of secrets, a master of the fire, a deliverer of +those who trusted in Him, a living personal Lord, wise, just, and +faithful, very different from any of his star gods or idols. But he +looked upon Jehovah only as the God of the Jews, as Daniel’s God. He had +not yet learnt that God was _his_ God as well as Daniel’s; that Jehovah +was very near his heart and mind, and had been near him all his life; +that from Jehovah came all his wisdom, his strength of mind, his success, +and all which made him differ, not only from his fellow-men, but from the +beast; that Jehovah, in a word, was the light and the life of the world, +who fills all things and by whom all things consist, deserted by whose +inward light, even for a moment, man becomes as one of the beasts which +perish. In his own eyes Nebuchadnezzar was still the great +self-dependent, self-sufficing conqueror, wiser and stronger than all the +men around him. He thought, most probably, that on account of his +wisdom, and courage, and royalty of soul, the God of heaven had become +fond of him and favoured him. In short, he was swollen with pride. + +God sent him again a strange dream, which made him troubled and afraid. +He told it to his old counsellor Daniel; and Daniel, at the danger of his +life, interpreted it for him; and a very awful meaning it had. A fearful +and shameful downfall was to come upon the king; no less than the loss of +his reason, and with it, of his throne. But whether this came to pass or +not, depended, like all God’s everlasting promises and threats, on +Nebuchadnezzar’s own behaviour. If he repented, and broke off his sins +by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, there +was good reason to hope that so his tranquillity might be lengthened. + +But the lesson was too hard for the proud conqueror; he did not take the +warning. He could not believe that the Most High ruled in the kingdom of +men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. He still fancied that he, and +such as he, were the lords of the world, and took from others by their +own power and cunning whatsoever they would. He does not seem to have +been angry, however, with Daniel for his plain speaking. Most Eastern +kings like Nebuchadnezzar would have put Daniel to a cruel death on the +spot as the bearer of evil news, speaking blasphemy against the king; and +no one in those times and countries would have considered him wicked and +cruel for so doing; but Nebuchadnezzar seems to have learnt too much +already so to give way to his passion. + +Yet, as I said before, he had not learned enough to take God’s warning. +The lesson that he was nothing, and that God is all in all, was too hard +for him. And, alas! my friends, for whom of us is it not a hard lesson? +And yet it is the golden lesson, the first and the last which man has to +learn on earth, ay, and through all eternity: “I am nothing; God is all +in all.” All in us which is worth calling anything; all in us which is +worth having, or worth being; all in us which is not disobedience and +shortcoming, failure and mistake, ignorance and madness, filthiness and +fierceness, as of the beasts which perish; all strength in us, all +understanding, all prudence, all right-mindedness, all purity, all +justice, all love; all in us which is worth living for, all in us which +is really alive, and not mere death in life, the death of sin and the +darkness of the pit—all is from God the Father of lights, and from Jesus +Christ the life and the light, who lighteth every man who cometh into the +world, shining for ever in the darkness of our spirits, though that +darkness, alas! too often cannot comprehend, and embrace, and confess Him +who is striving to awake it from the dead and give it light. Hardest of +all lessons! Most blessed of all lessons! So blessed, that if we will +not let God teach it us in any other way, it would be good and +advantageous to us for Him to teach it us as He taught it to +Nebuchadnezzar—good for us to become with him for awhile like the beasts +that perish, that we might learn with him to lift up our eyes to heaven, +and so have our understandings return to us, and learn to bless the Most +High, and not our own wit, and cunning, and prudence; and praise and +honour Him that liveth for ever, instead of praising and honouring our +own pitiful paltry selves, who are in death in the midst of life, who +come up and are cut down like the flower, and never continue in one stay. + +“All this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar.” It seems that after he or +his father had destroyed the old Babylon, the downfall of which Isaiah +had prophesied, he built a great city, after the fashion of Eastern +conquerors, near the ruins of the old one; and “at the end of twelve +months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king +spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the +house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my +majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from +heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom +is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy +dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to +eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know +that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to +whomsoever He will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon +Nebuchadnezzar.” + +What a lesson! The great conqueror of all the East now a brutal madman, +hateful and disgusting to all around him—a beast feeding among the +beasts: and yet a cheap price—a cheap price—to pay for this golden +lesson. + +Seven times past over him in his madness. What those seven times were we +do not know. They may have been actual years: or they may have been, as +I am inclined to think, changes in his own soul and state of mind. But, +at the end of the days, the truth dawned on him. He began to see what it +all meant. He saw what he was, and why he was so; and he lifted up his +eyes to heaven; and from that moment his madness past. He lifted up his +eyes to heaven. That is no mere figure of speech: it is an actual truth. +Most madmen, if you watch them, have that down look, or rather that +inward look, as if their eyes were fixed only on their own fancies. They +are thinking only of themselves, poor creatures—of their own selfish and +private suspicions and wrongs—of their own selfish superstitious dreams +about heaven or hell—of their own selfish vanity and ambition—sometimes +of their own frantic self-conceit, or of their selfish lusts and +desires—of themselves, in short. They have lost the one Divine light of +reason, and conscience, and love, which binds men to each other, and are +parted for a while from God and from their kind—alone in their own +darkness. So was Nebuchadnezzar. + +At last he looked up, as men do when they pray; up from himself to One +greater than himself; up from the earth to heaven; up from the natural +things which we do see, which are temporal and born to die, to moral and +spiritual things which we do not see, which are real and eternal in the +heavens; up from his own lonely darkness, looking for the light and the +guidance of God; for now he began to see that all the light which he had +ever had, all his wisdom, and understanding, and strength of will, had +come from God, however he might have misused them for his own selfish +ambition; that it was because God had taken from him His light, who is +the Word of God, that he had become a beast. And then his reason +returned to him, and he became again a man, a rational being, made, +howsoever fallen and sinful, in the likeness of God; then he blessed and +praised God. It was not merely that he confessed that God was strong, +and he weak; righteous, and he sinful; wise, and he foolish; but he +blessed and praised God; he felt and confessed that God had done him a +great benefit, and taught him a great lesson—that God had taught him what +he was in himself and without God, that he might see what he was with God +in its true light, and honour and obey Him from whom his reason and +understanding, as well as his power and glory, came, that so it might be +fulfilled which the prophet says: “Let not the wise man glory in his +wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches: +but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and +knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, +and righteousness _in the earth_; for in these things I delight, saith +the Lord.” + +And so was Nebuchadnezzar’s soul brought to utter, in his own way, the +very same glorious song which, or something like it, is said to have been +sung by the three men whom, years before, he had seen delivered from the +fiery furnace, which calls on all the works of the Lord, angels and +heaven, sun and stars, seas and winds, mountains and hills, fowls and +cattle, priests and laymen, spirits and souls of the righteous, to bless +the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever. + +And so ends Nebuchadnezzar’s history. We read no more of him. He had +learnt the golden lesson. May God grant that we may learn it also! + +But who tells the story of his madness? He himself. The whole account +is in the man’s own words. It seems to be some public letter or +proclamation, which he either sent round his empire, or commanded to be +laid up among his records; having, as it seems, set Daniel to write it +down from his mouth. This one fact, I think, justifies me in all that I +have said about Nebuchadnezzar’s nobleness, and Daniel’s affection for +him. He does not try to smooth things over; to pretend that he has not +been mad; to find excuses for himself; to lay any blame on any human +being. He repents openly, confesses openly. Shameful as it may be to +him, he tells the whole story. He confesses that he had fair warning, +that all was his own fault. He justifies God utterly. My friends, we +may read, thank God, many noble, and brave, and righteous speeches of +kings and great men: but never have I read one so noble, so brave, so +righteous as this of the great king of Babylon. + +And therefore it is; because this letter of his, in the fourth chapter of +the book of Daniel, is indeed full of the eternal Holy Spirit of God; +therefore it is, I say, that it forms part of the Bible, part of holy +scripture to this day,—a greater honour to Nebuchadnezzar than all his +kingdom; for what greater honour than to have been inspired to write one +chapter, yea, one sentence, of the Book of Books? + +My friends, every one of you here is in God’s school-house, under God’s +teaching, far more than Nebuchadnezzar was. You are baptised men, +knowing that blessed name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which +Nebuchadnezzar only saw dimly, and afar off. Jesus Christ, the Word of +God, is striving with your hearts, giving to them whatsoever light and +life they have. You have been taught from childhood to look up to Him as +your King and Deliverer; to His Father as your Father, to His Holy Spirit +as your Inspirer. Take heed how you listen to His voice within your +hearts. Take heed how you learn God’s lessons; for God is surely +educating you, and teaching you far more than He taught the king of +Babylon in old time. As you learn or despise these lessons of God’s, +will be your happiness or your misery now and for ever. Unto the king of +Babylon little was given, and of him was little required. To you and me +much has been given; of you and me will much be required. + + + + +XXIX. +JEREMIAH’S CALLING. + + + Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a + righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall + execute judgment and justice in the earth.—JEREMIAH xxiii. 5. + +AT the time when Jeremiah the prophet spoke those words to the Jews, +nothing seemed more unlikely than that they would ever come true. The +whole Jewish nation was falling to pieces from its own sins. Brutish and +filthy idolatry in high and low—oppression, violence, and luxury among +the court and the nobility—shame, and poverty, and ignorance among the +lower classes—idleness and quackery among the priesthood—and as kings +over all, one fool and profligate after another, set on the throne by a +foreign conqueror, and pulled down again by him at his pleasure. Ten out +of the twelve tribes of Israel had been carried off captive, young and +old, into a distant land. The small portion of country which still +remained inhabited round Jerusalem, had been overrun again and again by +cruel armies of heathens. Without Jerusalem was waste and ruins, +bloodshed and wretchedness; within every kind of iniquity and lies, +division and confusion. If ever there was a miserable and contemptible +people upon the face of the earth, it was the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s +time. Jeremiah makes no secret of it. His prophecies are full of +it—full of lamentation and shame: “Oh that my head were a fountain of +tears, to weep for the sins of my people!” He feels that God has sent +him to rebuke those sins, to warn and prophesy to his fellow-countrymen +the certain ruin into which they are rushing headlong; and he speaks +God’s message boldly. From the poor idol-ridden labourer, offering cakes +to the Queen of Heaven to coax her into sending him a good harvest, to +the tyrant king who had built his palace of cedar and painted it with +vermilion, he had a bitter word for every man. The lying priest tried to +silence him; and Jeremiah answered him, that his wife should be a harlot +in the city, and his children sold for slaves. The king tried to flatter +him into being quiet; and he told him in return, that he should be buried +with the burial of an ass, dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of +Jerusalem. The luxurious queen, who made her nest in the cedars, would +be ashamed and confounded, he said, for her wickedness. The crown prince +was a despised broken idol—a vessel in which was no pleasure; he should +be cast out, he and his children, into slavery in a land which he knew +not. The whole royal family, he said, would perish; none of them should +ever again prosper or sit upon the throne of David. This was his +message; shame and confusion, woe and ruin, to high and low; every human +being he passed in the street was a doomed man. For the day of the Lord +was at hand, and who should be able to escape it? + +A sad calling, truly, to have to work at; and all the more sad because +Jeremiah had no pride, no steadfast opinion of his own excellence to keep +him up. He hates his calling of prophet. At the very moment he is +foretelling woe, he prays God that his prophecy may not come true; he +tries every method to prevent its coming true, by entreating his +countrymen to repent. There runs through all his awful words a vein of +tenderness, and pity, and love unspeakable, which to me is the one great +mark of a true prophet; a sign that Jeremiah spoke by the Spirit of God; +a sign that too many writers nowadays do not speak by the Spirit of God. +If they rebuke the rich and powerful, they do it generally in a very +different spirit from Jeremiah’s—in a spirit of bitterness and insolence, +not very easy to describe, but easy enough to perceive. They seem to +rejoice in evil, to delight in finding fault, to be sorry, and not glad, +when their prophecies of evil turn out false; to try to set one class +against another, one party against another, as if we were not miserably +enough split up already by class interests and party spirit. They are +glad enough to rebuke the wicked great; but not to their face, not to +their own danger and hurt like Jeremiah. Their plan is to accuse the +rich to the poor, on their own platform, or in their own newspaper, where +they are safe; and, moreover, to make a very fair profit thereby; to say +behind the back of authorities that which they dare not say to their +face, and which they soon give up saying when they have worked their own +way into office; and meanwhile take mighty credit to themselves for +seeing that there is wrong and misery in the world; as if the spirits in +hell should fancy themselves righteous, because they hated the devil! +No, my friends, Jeremiah was of a very different spirit from that. If he +ever was tempted to it when he was young, and began to fancy himself a +very grand person, who had a right to look down on his neighbours, +because God had called him and set him apart to be a prophet from his +mother’s womb, and revealed to him the doom of nations, and the secrets +of His providence—if he ever fancied that in his heart, God led him +through such an education as took all the pride out of him, sternly and +bitterly enough. He was commissioned to go and speak terrible words, to +curse kings and nobles in the name of the Lord: but he was taught, too, +that it was not a pleasant calling, or one which was likely to pay him in +this life. His fellow-villagers plotted against his life. His wife +deserted him. The nobles threw him into a dungeon, into a well full of +mire, whence he had to be drawn up again with ropes to save his life. He +was beaten, all but starved, kept for years in prison. He had neither +child nor friend. He had his share of all the miseries of the siege of +Jerusalem, and all the horrors of its storm; and when he was set free by +Nebuchadnezzar, and clung to his ruined home, to see if any good could +still be done to the remnant of his countrymen, he was violently carried +off into a heathen land, and at last stoned to death, by those very +countrymen of his whom he had been trying for years to save. In +everything, and by everything, he was taught that he was still a Jew, a +brother to his sinful brothers; that their sorrows were his sorrows, +their shame his shame, their ruin his ruin. In all their afflictions he +was afflicted, even as his Lord was after him. + +He struggled, we find, again and again against this strange and sad +calling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony that God had deceived +him; had induced him to become a prophet, and then repaid him for +speaking God’s message with nothing but disappointment and misery. And +yet he felt he must speak; God, he said, was stronger than he was, and +forced him to it. He said: “I will speak no more words in His name; but +the Word of the Lord was as fire within his bones, and would not let him +rest;” and so, in spite of himself, he told the truth, and suffered for +it; and hated to have to tell it, and pitied and loved the very country +which he rebuked till he cursed “the day in which he saw the light, and +the hour in which it was said to his father, there is a man-child born.” +You who fancy that it is a fine thing, and a paying profession, to be a +preacher of righteousness and a rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and +judge! For as surely as you or any other man is sent by God to do +Jeremiah’s work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah’s wages. + +Do you think, then, that Jeremiah was a man only to be pitied? Pitiable +he was indeed, and sad. There was One hung on a cross eighteen hundred +years ago, more pitiable still: and yet He is the Lord of heaven and +earth. Yes; Jeremiah had a sad life to live, and a sad task to work out; +and yet, my friends, was not that a cheap price to pay for the honour and +glory of being taught by God’s Spirit, and of speaking God’s words? I do +not mean the mere honour of having his fame and name spread over all +Christ’s kingdom; the honour of having his writings read and respected by +the wisest and the holiest to the end of time; that mere earthly fame is +but a slight matter. I mean the real honour, the real glory, of knowing +what was utterly right and true, and therefore of knowing Him who is +utterly right and true; of knowing God; of knowing what God’s character +is: that he is a living God, and not a dead one; a God who is near and +not absent at all, loving and merciful, just and righteous, strong and +mighty to save. Ay, my friends, this is the lesson which God taught +Jeremiah; to know the Lord of heaven and earth, and to see His hand, His +rule, in all that was happening to his fellow-countrymen, and himself; to +know that from the beginning the Lord, the Saviour-God, Jehovah, the +messenger of the covenant, He who brought up the Jews out of Egypt, was +the wise and just and loving King of the Jews, and of all the nations +upon earth; and that some day or other He must and would conquer all the +sinfulness, and misery, and tyranny, and idolatry in the world, and show +Himself openly to men, and fulfil all the piteous longings after a just +and good king which poor wretches had ever felt, and all the glorious +promises of a just and good king which God had made to the wise men of +old time; and, therefore, in the midst of shame and persecution, despair +and ruin, Jeremiah could rejoice. Jehoiakim, the wicked king, and all +his royal house, might be driven out into slavery; Jerusalem might become +a heap of ruins and corpses; the fair land of Judæa, and the village +where he was bred, might become thorns, and thistles, and heaps of +stones; the vineyard which he loved, the little estate at Anathoth which +had belonged to him, might be trodden down by the stranger, and he +himself die in a foreign land; around him might be nothing but sin and +decay, before him nothing but despair and ruin: yet still there was hope, +joy, everlasting certainty for that poor, childless, captive old man; for +he had found out that the Lord still lived, the Lord still reigned. He +could not lie; he could not forget his people. Could a mother forget her +sucking child? No. When the Jews turned to Him, He would still have +mercy. His punishment of them was a sign that he still cared for them. +If He had forgotten them, He would have let them go on triumphant in +their iniquity. No. All these afflictions were meant to chasten them, +teach them, bring them back to Him. It would be good for them, an actual +blessing to them, to be taken away into captivity in Babylon. It might +be hard to believe, but it must be true. The Lord of Israel, the +Saviour-God, who had been caring for them so long, rising up early and +sending His prophets to them, pleading with them as a father with his +child, He would have mercy; He would teach them, in sorrow and slavery, +the lesson they were too rebellious and hard-hearted to learn in +prosperity and freedom: that the Lord was their righteousness, and that +there was no other name under heaven which could save them from the +plague, and from the famine, from the swords of the Chaldeans, or from +the division, and oppression, and brutishness, and manifold wickedness, +which was their ruin. And then Jeremiah saw and felt—how we cannot +tell—but there his words, the words of this text, stand to this day, to +show that he did see and feel it, that some day or other, in God’s good +time, the Jews would have a true King—a very different king from +Jehoiakim the tyrant—a son of David in a very different sense from what +Jehoiakim was; that He would come, and must come, sooner or later, The +unseen King, who had all along been governing Jews and heathens, and +telling his prophets that Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, the Chaldee and the +Persian, were his servants as well as they, and that all the nations of +the earth could do but what he chose. “Behold the days come, saith the +Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall +reign and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment on the earth.” + +This was the blessed knowledge which God gave Jeremiah in return for all +the misery he had to endure in warning his countrymen of their sins. And +this same blessed knowledge, the knowledge that the earth is the Lord’s, +that to Jesus Christ is given, as He said Himself, all power in heaven +and earth, and that He is reigning, and must reign, and conquer, and +triumph till He has put all His enemies under His feet, God will surely +give to everyone, high or low, who follows Jeremiah’s example, who boldly +and faithfully warns the sinner of his way, who rebukes the wickedness +which he sees around him: only he must do it in the spirit of Jeremiah. +He must not be insolent to the insolent, or proud to the proud. He must +not be puffed up, and fancy that because he sees the evil of sin, and the +certain ruin which is the fruit of it, that he is therefore to keep apart +from his fellow-countrymen, and despise them in Pharisaic pride. No. +The truly Christian man, the man who, like Jeremiah, has the Spirit of +God in him, will feel the most intense pity and tenderness of sinners. +He will not only rebuke the sins of his people, but mourn for them; he +will be afflicted in all their affliction. However harshly he may have +to speak, he will never forget that they are his countrymen, his +brothers, children of the same Father, to be judged by the same Lord. He +will feel with shame and fear that he has in himself the root of the very +same sins which he sees working death around him—that if others are +covetous, he might be so too—if they be profligate, and deceitful, and +hypocritical, without God in the world, he might be so too. And he must +feel not only that he might be as bad as his neighbours, but that he +actually would be, if God withdrew His Spirit from him for a moment, and +allowed him to forget the only faith which saves him from sin, loyalty to +his unseen Saviour, the righteous King of kings. Therefore he will not +only rebuke his sinful neighbours; but he will tell them, as Jeremiah +told his countrymen, that all their sin and misery proceed from this one +thing, that they have forgotten that the Lord is their King. He will +pray daily for them, that the Lord their King may show Himself to their +hearts and thoughts, and teach them all that He has done for them, and is +doing for them; and may convert them to Himself that they may be truly +His people, and His way may be known upon earth, His saving health among +all nations. + + + + +XXX. +THE PERFECT KING. + + + Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek, + and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.—MATTHEW xxi. + 5. + +YOU all know that this Sunday is called the First Sunday in Advent. You +all know, I hope, that Advent means coming, and that these four Sundays +before Christmas, as I have often told you, are called Advent Sundays, +because upon them we are called to consider the coming of our King and +Saviour Jesus Christ. If you will look at the Collects, Epistles, and +Gospels for these next four Sundays, you will see at once that they all +bear upon our Lord’s coming. The Gospels tell us of the prophecies about +Christ which He fulfilled when He came. The Epistles tell us what sort +of men we ought to be, both clergy and people, because He has come and +will come again. The Collects pray that the Spirit of God would make us +fit to live and die in a world into which Christ has come, and in which +He is ruling now, and to which He will come again. The text which I have +taken this morning, you just heard in this Sunday’s Gospel. St. Matthew +tells you that Jesus Christ fulfilled it by riding into Jerusalem in +state upon an ass’s colt; and St. Matthew surely speaks truth. Let us +consider what the prophecy is, and how Jesus Christ fulfilled it. Then +we shall see and believe from the Epistle what effect the knowledge of it +ought to have upon our own souls, and hearts, and daily conduct. + +Now this prophecy, “Behold, thy king cometh unto thee,” etc., you will +find in your Bibles, in the ninth verse of the ninth chapter of the book +of Zechariah. But I do not think that Zechariah wrote it. St. Matthew +does not say he wrote it; he merely calls it that which was spoken by the +prophet, without mentioning his name. Provided it is an inspired word +from God, which it is, it perhaps does not matter to us so much who wrote +it: but I think it was written by the prophet Jeremiah, perhaps in the +beginning of the reign of the good king Josiah; for the chapter in which +this text is, and the two or three chapters which follow, are not at all +like the rest of Zechariah’s writings, but exactly like Jeremiah’s. They +certainly seem to speak of things which did not happen in Zechariah’s +time, but in the time of Jeremiah, nearly ninety years before. And, +above all, St. Matthew himself seems plainly to have thought that some +part, at least, of those chapters was Jeremiah’s writing; for in the +twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and in the ninth verse, +you will find a prophecy about the potter’s field, which St. Matthew says +was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Now, those words are not in the book +of Jeremiah as it stands in our Bibles: but they are in the book of +Zechariah, in the eleventh chapter, twelfth and thirteenth verses, coming +shortly after my text, and making a part of the same prophecy. This has +puzzled Christians very much, because it seemed as if St. Matthew has +made a mistake, and miscalled Zechariah Jeremiah. But I believe firmly +that, as we are bound to expect, St. Matthew made no mistake whatsoever, +and that Jeremiah did write that prophecy as St. Matthew said, and the +two chapters before it, and perhaps the two after it, and that they were +probably kept and preserved by Zechariah during the troublous times of +the Babylonish captivity, and at last copied by Nehemiah into Zechariah’s +book of prophecy, where they stand now; and I think it is a comfort to +know this, and to find that the evangelist St. Matthew has not made a +mistake, but knew the Scriptures better than we do. + +But I think Jeremiah having written this prophecy in my text, which I +believe he did, is also very important, because it will show us what the +prophet meant when he spoke it, and how it was fulfilled in his time; and +the better we understand that, the better we shall understand how our +blessed Lord fulfilled it afterwards. + +Now, when Jeremiah was a young man, the Jews and their king Amon were in +a state of most abominable wickedness. They were worshipping every sort +of idol and false god. And the Bible, the book of God’s law, was utterly +unknown amongst them; so that Josiah the king, who succeeded Amon, had +never seen or heard the book of the law of Moses, which makes part of our +Old Testament, till he had reigned eighteen years, as you will find if +you refer to 2 Kings xxii. 3. But this Josiah was a gentle and just +prince, and finding the book of the law of God, and seeing the abominable +forgetfulness and idolatry into which his people had fallen, utterly +breaking the covenant which God had made with their forefathers when he +brought them up out of Egypt—when he found the book of the law, I say, +and all that he and his people should have done and had not done, and the +awful curses which God threatened in that book against those who broke +His law, “he humbled himself before God, because his heart was tender, +and turned to the Lord, as no king before him had ever turned,” says the +scripture, “with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his +might; so that there was no such king before him, or either after him.” +The history of the great reformation which this great and good king +worked, you may read at length in 2 Kings xxii. xxiii. and 2 Chron. +xxxiv. xxxv. which I advise you all to read. + +And it appears to me that this prophecy in the text first applies to the +gentle and holy king Josiah, the first true and good king the Jews had +had for years, and the best they were ever to have till Christ came +Himself; and that it speaks of Josiah coming to Jerusalem to restore the +worship of God, not with pomp and show, like the wicked kings both before +and after him, but in meekness and humbleness of heart, for all the sins +of his people, as the prophetess said of him in 2 Kings xxii. 19, “that +his heart was tender and humble before the Lord;” neither coming with +chariots and guards, like a king and conqueror, but riding upon an ass’s +colt; for that was, in those countries, the ancient sign of a man’s being +a man of peace, and not of war; a magistrate and lawgiver, and not a +soldier and a conqueror. Various places of holy scripture show us that +this was the meaning of riding upon an ass in Judæa, just as it is in +Eastern countries now. + +But some may say, How then is this a prophecy? It merely tells us what +good king Josiah was, and what every king ought to be. Well, my friends, +that is just what makes it a prophecy. If it tells you what ought to be, +it tells you what will be. Yes, never forget that; whatever ought to be, +surely will be; as surely as this is God’s earth and Christ’s kingdom, +and not the devil’s. + +Now, it does not matter in the least whether the prophet, when he spoke +these words, knew that they would apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. We +have no need whatsoever to suppose that he did: for scripture gives us no +hint or warrant that he did; and if we have any real or honest reverence +for scripture, we shall be careful to let it tell its own story, and +believe that it contains all things necessary for salvation, without our +patching our own notions into it over and above. Wise men are generally +agreed that those old prophets did not, for the most part, comprehend the +full meaning of their own words. Not that they were mere puppets and +mouthpieces, speaking what to them was nonsense—God forbid!—But that just +because they did thoroughly understand what was going on round them, and +see things as God saw them, just because they had God’s Eternal Spirit +with them, therefore they spoke great and eternal words, which will be +true for ever, and will go on for ever fulfilling themselves for more and +more. For in proportion as any man’s words are true, and wide, and deep, +they are truer, and wider, and deeper than that man thinks, and will +apply to a thousand matters of which he never dreamt. And so in all true +and righteous speech, as in the speeches of the prophets of old, the +glory is not man’s who speaks them, but God’s who reveals them, and who +fulfils them again and again. + +It is true, then, that this text describes what every king should +be—gentle and humble, a merciful and righteous lawgiver, not a +self-willed and capricious tyrant. But Josiah could not fulfil that. He +was a good king: but he could not be a perfect one; for he was but a +poor, sinful, weak, and inconsistent man, as we are. But those words +being inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be fulfilled. There ought to be +a perfect king, perfectly gentle and humble, having a perfect salvation, +a perfect lawgiver; and therefore there must be such a king; and +therefore St. Matthew tells us there came at last a perfect king—one who +fulfilled perfectly the prophet’s words—one who was not made king of +Jerusalem, but was her King from the beginning; for that is the full +meaning of “Thy King cometh to thee.” To Jerusalem He came, riding on +the ass’s colt, like the peaceful and fatherly judges of old time, for a +sign to the poor souls round Him, who had no lawgivers but the proud and +fierce Scribes and Pharisees, no king but the cruel and godless Cæsar, +and his oppressive and extortionate officers and troops. Meek and lowly +He came; and for once the people saw that He was the true Son of David—a +man and king, like him, after God’s own heart. For once they felt that +He had come in the name of the Lord the old Deliverer who brought them +out of the land of Egypt, and made them into a nation, and loved and +pitied them still, in spite of all their sins, and remembered His +covenant, which they had forgotten. And before that humble man, the Son +of the village maiden, they cried: “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed +is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest.” + +And do you think He came, the true and perfect King, only to go away +again and leave this world as it was before, without a law, a ruler, a +heavenly kingdom? God forbid! Jesus is the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever. What He was then, when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem, that +is He now to us this day—a king, meek and lowly, and having salvation; +the head and founder of a kingdom which can never be moved, a city which +has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. To that kingdom this +land of England now belongs. Into it we, as Englishmen, have been +christened. And the unchristened, though they know not of it, belong to +it as well. What God’s will, what Christ’s mercies may be to them, we +know not. That He has mercy for them, if their ignorance is not their +own fault, we doubt not; perhaps, even if their ignorance be their own +fault, we need not doubt that He has mercy for them, considering the +mercy which He has shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His +will to us we do know; and His will is this—our holiness. For He came +not only to assert His own power, to redeem his own world, but to set His +people, the children of men, an example, that they should follow in His +steps. Herein, too, He is the perfect king. He leads His subjects, He +sets a perfect example to His subjects, and more, He inspires them with +the power of following that example, as, if you will think, a perfect +ruler ought to be able to do. Josiah set the Jews an example, but he +could not make them follow it. They turned to God at the bidding of +their good king, with their lips, in their outward conduct; but their +hearts were still far from Him. Jeremiah complains bitterly of this in +the beginning of his prophecies. He complains that Josiah’s reformation +was after all empty, hollow, hypocritical, a change on the surface only, +while the wicked root was left. They had healed, he said, the hurt of +the daughter of his people slightly, crying, “Peace, peace, when there +was no peace.” But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of men’s spirits as +well as of their bodies. He can turn the heart, He can renew the soul. +None so ignorant, none so sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits, +but the Lord will and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him, +strengthen him, if he will but claim his share in his King’s mercy, his +citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune again +with himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all therein. + +Keeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our perfect King, +is both the example and the inspirer of our souls and characters, we may +look without fear at the epistle for the day, where it calls on us to be +very different persons from what we are, and declares to us our duty as +subjects of Him who is meek and lowly, just and having salvation. It is +no superstitious, slavish message, saying: “You have lost Christ’s mercy +and Christ’s kingdom; you must buy it back again by sacrifices, and +tears, and hard penances, or great alms-deeds and works of mercy.” No. +It simply says: “You belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to Him +and follow His example. If He is perfect, His is the example to follow; +if he is perfect, His commandments must be perfect, fit for all places, +all times, all employments; if He is the King of heaven and earth, His +commandments must be in tune with heaven and earth, with the laws of +nature, the true laws of society and trade, with the constitution, and +business, and duty, and happiness of all mankind, and for ever obey Him.” + +Owe no man anything save love, for He owed no man anything. He gave up +all, even His own rights, for a time, for His subjects. Will you pretend +to follow Him while you hold back from your brothers and fellow-servants +their just due? One debt you must always owe; one debt will grow the +more you pay it, and become more delightful to owe, the greater and +heavier you feel it to be, and that is love; love to all around you, for +all around you are your brothers and sisters; all around you are the +beloved subjects of your King and Saviour. Love them as you love +yourself, and then you cannot harm them, you cannot tyrannise over them, +you cannot wish to rise by scrambling up on their shoulders, taking the +bread out of their mouths, making your profit out of their weakness and +their need. This, St. Paul says, was the duty of men in his time, +because the night of heathendom was far spent, the day of Christianity +and the Church was at hand. Much more is it our duty now—our duty, who +have been born in the full sunshine of Christianity, christened into His +church as children, we and our fathers before us, for generations, of the +kingdom of God. Ay, my friends, these words, that kingdom, that King, +witness this day against this land of England. Not merely against +popery, the mote which we are trying to take out of the foreigner’s eye, +but against Mammon, the beam which we are overlooking in our own. Owe no +man anything save love. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” +That is the law of your King, who loved not Himself or His own profit, +His own glory, but gave Himself even to death for those who had forgotten +Him and rebelled against Him. That law witnesses against selfishness and +idleness in rich and poor. It witnesses against the employer who grinds +down his workmen; who, as the world tells him he has a right to do, takes +advantage of their numbers, their ignorance, their low and reckless +habits, to rise upon their fall, and grow rich out of their poverty. It +witnesses against the tradesman who tries to draw away his neighbour’s +custom. It witnesses against the working man who spends in the alehouse +the wages which might support and raise his children, and then falls back +recklessly and dishonestly on the parish rates and the alms of the +charitable. Against them all this law witnesses. These things are unfit +for the kingdom of Christ, contrary to the laws and constitution thereof, +hateful to the King thereof; and if a nation will not amend these +abominations, the King will arise out of His place, and with sore +judgments and terrible He will visit His land and purify His temple, +saying: “My Father’s house should be a house of prayer, and ye have made +it a den of thieves.” Ay, woe to any soul, or to any nation, which, +instead of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, copying His example, obeying +His laws, and living worthy of His kingdom, not only in the church, but +in the market, the shop, the senate, or the palace, give themselves up to +covetousness, which is idolatry; and care only to make provision for the +flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Woe to them; for, let them be what +they will, their King cannot change. He is still meek and lowly; He is +still just and having salvation; and He will purge out of His kingdom all +that is not like Himself, the unchaste and the idle, the unjust and the +unmerciful, and the covetous man, who is an idolater, says the scripture, +though he may call himself seven times a Protestant, and rail at the Pope +in public meetings, while he justifies greediness and tyranny by glib +words about the necessities of business and the laws of trade, and by +philosophy falsely so called, which cometh not from above, but is +earthly, sensual, devilish. Such a man loves and makes a lie, and the +Lord of truth will surely send him to his own place. + + + + +XXXI. +GOD’S WARNINGS. + + + It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I + purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil + way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.—JEREMIAH xxxvi. + 3. + +THE first lesson for this evening’s service tells us of the wickedness of +Jehoiakim, king of Judah. How, when Jeremiah’s prophecies against the +sins of Jehoiakim and his people were read before him, he cut the roll +with a penknife, and threw it into the fire. Now, we must not look on +this story as one which, because it happened among the Jews many hundred +years ago, has nothing to do with us; for, as I continually remind you, +the history of the Jews, and the whole Old Testament, is the history of +God’s dealings with man—the account of God’s plan of governing this +world. Now, God cannot change; but is the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever; and therefore His plan of government cannot change: but if men +do as those did of whom we read in the Old Testament, God will surely +deal with them as He dealt with the men of the Old Testament. This St. +Paul tells us most plainly in the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, where +he says that the whole history of the Jews was written for our +example—that is for the example of those Christian Corinthians, who were +not Jews at all, but Gentiles as we are; and therefore for our example +also. + +He tells them, that it was Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who fed +and guided the old Jews in the wilderness, and that the Lord will deal +with us exactly as He dealt with the old Jews. + +Therefore it is a great and fearful mistake, to suppose that because the +Jews were a peculiar people and God’s chosen nation, that therefore the +Lord’s way of governing them is in any wise different from His way of +governing us English at this very day; for that fancy is contrary to the +express words of Holy Scripture, in a hundred different places; it is +contrary to the whole spirit of our Prayer Book, which is written all +through on the belief that the Lord deals with us just as He did with the +Jewish nation, and which will not even make sense if it be understood in +any other way; and besides, it is most dangerous to the souls and +consciences of men. It is most dangerous for us to fancy that God can +change; for if God can change, right and wrong can change; for right is +the will of God, and wrong is what is against His will; and if we once +let into our hearts the notion that God can change His laws of right, our +consciences will become daily dimmer and more confused about right and +wrong, till we fall, as too many do, under the prophet’s curse, “Woe to +them who call good evil, and evil good; who put sweet for bitter, and +bitter for sweet,” and fancy, like Ezekiel’s Jews, that God’s ways are +unequal; that is, unlike each other, changeable, arbitrary, and +capricious, doing one thing at one time, and another at another. No. It +is sinful man who is changeable; it is sinful man who is arbitrary. But +The Lord is not a man, that He should lie or repent; for He is the +only-begotten Son, and therefore the express likeness, of The Everlasting +Father, in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning. + +But some may say, Is not that a gloomy and terrible notion of God, that +He cannot change His purpose? Is not that as much as to say that there +is a dark necessity hanging over each of us; that a man must just be what +God chooses, and do just what He has ordained to do, and go to +everlasting happiness or misery exactly as God has foreordained from all +eternity, so that there is no use trying to do right, or not to do wrong? +If I am to be saved, say such people, I shall be saved whether I try or +not; and if I am to be damned, I shall be damned whether I try or not. I +am in God’s hands like clay in the hands of the potter; and what I am +like is therefore God’s business, and not mine. + +No, my friends, the very texts in the Bible which tell us that God cannot +change or repent, tell us what it is that He cannot change in—in showing +loving-kindness and tender mercy, long-suffering, and repenting of the +evil. Whatsoever else He cannot repent of, He cannot repent of repenting +of the evil. + +It is true, we are in His hand as clay in the hand of the potter. But it +is a sad misreading of scripture to make that mean that we are to sit +with our hands folded, careless about our own way and conduct; still less +that we are to give ourselves up to despair, because we have sinned +against God; for what is the very verse which follows after that? +Listen. “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith +the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are ye in +my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a +kingdom, to pull down and destroy it; if that nation against whom I have +pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which I +thought to do to them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a +nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil +in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good +wherewith I said I would benefit them.” + +So that the lesson which we are to draw from the parable of the potter’s +clay is just the exact opposite which some men draw. Not that God’s +decrees are absolute: but that they are conditional, and depend on our +good or evil conduct. Not that His election or His reprobation are +unalterable, but that they alter “at that instant” at which man alters. +Not that His grace and will are irresistible, as the foolish man against +whom St. Paul argues fancies: but that we can resist God’s will, and that +our destruction comes only by resisting His will; in short, that God’s +will is no brute material necessity and fate, but the will of a living, +loving Father. + +And the very same lesson is taught us in Ezek. xviii., of which I spoke +just now; for if we read that chapter we shall find that the Jews had a +false notion of God that He had changed His character, and had become in +their time unmerciful and unjust. They fancied that God was, if I may so +speak, obstinate—that if His anger had once arisen, there was no turning +it away, but that He would go on without pity, punishing the innocent +children for their father’s sin; and therefore they fancied God’s ways +were unfair, self-willed, and arbitrary, without any care of what sort of +person He afflicted; punishing the righteous as well as the wicked, after +He had promised in His law to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. +They fancied that His way of governing the world had changed, and that He +did not in their days make a difference between the bad and the good. +Therefore Ezekiel says to them: “When the righteous man turneth away from +his righteousness, he shall die.” “When the wicked man turneth away from +his wickedness, he shall live.” “Have I any pleasure at all that the +wicked should die? saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from +his ways, and live?” + +This, then, is the good news, that God is love; love when He punishes, +and love when He forgives; very pitiful, and full of long-suffering and +tender mercy and repenting Him, never of the good, but only of the evil +which He threatens. + +Both Jeremiah, therefore, and Ezekiel, give us the same lesson. God does +not change, and therefore He never changes His mercy and His justice: for +He is merciful because He is just. If we confess our sins, He is +faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That is His everlasting law, +and has been from the beginning: Punishment, sure and certain, for those +who do not repent; and free forgiveness, sure and certain also, for those +who do repent. + +So He spoke to Jeremiah in the time of Jehoiakim: “It may be that the +house of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose to do to them; that +I may forgive them their iniquity and their sin.” The Lord, you see, +wishes to forgive—longs to forgive. His heart yearns over sinful men as +a father’s over his rebellious child. But if they will still rebel, if +they will still turn their wicked wills away from Him, He must punish. +Why we know not; but He knows. Punish He must, unless we repent—unless +we turn our wills toward His will. And woe to the stiff-necked and +stout-hearted man who, like the wicked king Jehoiakim, sets his face like +a flint against God’s warnings. How many, how many behave for years, +Sunday after Sunday, just as king Jehoiakim did! When he heard that God +had threatened him with ruin for his sins, he heard also that God offered +him free pardon if he would repent. Jeremiah gave him free choice to be +saved or to be ruined; but his heart and will were hardened. Hearing +that he was wrong only made him angry. His pride and self-will were hurt +by being told that he must change and alter his ways. He had chosen his +way, and he would keep to it; and he cared nothing for God’s offers of +forgiveness, because he could not be forgiven unless he did what he was +too proud to do, confess himself to be in the wrong, and openly alter his +conduct. And how many, as I first said, are like him! They come to +church; they hear God’s warnings and threats against their evil ways; +they hear God’s offers of free pardon and forgiveness; but being told +that they are in the wrong makes them too angry to care for God’s offers +of pardon. Pride stops their cars. They have chosen their own way, and +they will keep it. They would not object to be forgiven, if they might +be forgiven without repenting. But they do not like to confess +themselves in the wrong. They do not like to face their foolish +companions’ remarks and sneers about their changed ways. They do not +like even good people to say of them: “You see now that you were in the +wrong after all; for you have altered your mind and your doings yourself, +as we told you you would have to do.” No; anything sooner than confess +themselves in the wrong; and so they turn their backs on God’s mercy, for +the sake of their own carnal pride and self-will. + +But, of course, they want an excuse for doing that; and when a man wants +an excuse, the devil will soon fit him with a good one. Then, perhaps, +the foolish sinner behaves as Jehoiakim did. He tries to forget God’s +message in the man who brings it. He grows angry with the preacher, or +goes out and laughs at the preacher when service is over, as if it was +the preacher’s fault that God had declared what he has; as if it was the +preacher’s doing that God has revealed His anger against all sin and +unrighteousness. So he acts like Jehoiakim, who tried to take Jeremiah +the prophet and punish _him_, for what not he but the Lord God had +declared. Nay, they will often peevishly hate the very sight of a good +book, because it reminds them of the sins of which they do not choose to +be reminded, just as the young king Jehoiakim was childish enough to vent +his spite on Jeremiah’s book of prophecies, by cutting the roll on which +it was written with a penknife, and throwing it into the fire. So do +sinners who are angry with the preacher who warns them, or hate the sight +of good books. But let such foolish and wilful sinners, such full-grown +children—for, after all, they are no better—hear the word of the Lord +which came to Jehoiakim: “As it is written, he that despiseth Me shall be +despised, saith the Lord.” And let them not fancy that their shutting +their ears will shut the preacher’s mouth, still less shut up God’s +everlasting laws of punishment for sin. No. God’s word stands true, and +it will happen to them as it did to Jehoiakim. His burning Jeremiah’s +book did not rid him of the book, or save him from the woe and ruin which +was prophesied in it; for we have Jeremiah’s book here in our Bibles to +this day, as a sign and a warning of what happens to men, be they young +or old, be they kings or labouring men, who fight against God. +Jeremiah’s words were not lost after all; they were all re-written, and +there were added to them also many more like words; for Jehoiakim, by +refusing the Lord’s offer of pardon, had added to his sins, and therefore +the Lord added to his punishment. + +Perhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another excuse, and the +man says to himself, as the Jews did in Ezekiel’s time: “The fathers have +eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge. It is not +my own fault that I am living a bad life, but other people’s. My parents +ought to have brought me up better. I have had no chance. My companions +taught me too much harm. I have too much trouble to get my living; or, I +was born with a bad temper; or, I can’t help running after pleasure. Why +did God make me the sort of man I am, and put me where I am? God is hard +upon me; He is unfair to me. His ways are unequal; He expects as much of +me as He does of people who have more opportunities. He threatens to +punish me for other people’s sins.” + +And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and the +devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: “God does not care for me; +God hates me. Luck, and everything else is against me. There seems to +be some curse upon me. Why should I change? Let God change first to me, +and then I will change toward Him. But God will not change; He is +determined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; for everything goes +wrong with me. Then what use in my repenting? I will just go my own +way, and what must be must. There is no resisting God’s will. If I am +to be saved, I shall be; if I am to be damned, I shall be. I will put +all melancholy thoughts out of my head, and go and enjoy myself and +forget all. At all events, it won’t last long: ‘Let me eat and drink, +for to-morrow I die.’” + +Oh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such thoughts? +Then hear the word of the Lord to you: “When—whensoever—whensoever the +wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and +doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.” +“Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth? saith the Lord, and +not rather that he should be converted, and live?” True, most true, that +the Lord is unchangeable: but it is in love and mercy. True, that God’s +will and law cannot alter: but what is God’s will and law? The soul that +sinneth, it shall die? Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from +its sin, it shall live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that +God hates you. Never believe him when he tells you that God has been too +hard on you, and put you into such temptation, or ignorance, or poverty, +or anything else, that you cannot mend. No. That font there will give +the devil the lie. That font says: “Be you poor, tempted, ignorant, +stupid, be you what you will, you are God’s child—your Father’s love is +over you, His mercy is ready for you.” You feel too weak to change; ask +God’s Spirit, and He will give you a strength of mind you never felt +before. You feel too proud to change; ask God’s Spirit, and He will +humble your proud heart, and soften your hard heart; and you will find to +your surprise, that when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed +of yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel not +worthy to look up to God, that then, instead of pride, will come a +nobler, holier, manlier feeling—self-respect, and a clear conscience, and +the thought that, weak and sinful as you are, you are in the right way; +that God, and the angels of God, are smiling on you; that you are in tune +again with all heaven and earth, because you are what God wills you to +be—not His proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying yourself strong +enough to go alone, when in reality you are the slave of your own +passions and appetites, and the plaything of the devil: but His loving, +loyal son, strong in the strength which God gives you, and able to do +what you will, because what you will God wills also. + + + + +XXXII. +PHARAOH’S HEART. + + + And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people + go.—EXODUS ix. 17. + +WHAT lesson, now, can we draw from this story? One, at least, and a very +important one. What effect did all these signs and wonders of God’s +sending, have upon Pharaoh and his servants? Did they make them better +men or worse men? We read that they made them worse men; that they +helped to harden their hearts. We read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s +heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Now, how did +the Lord do that? He did not wish and mean to make Pharaoh more +hard-hearted, more wicked. That is impossible. God, who is all goodness +and love, never can wish to make any human being one atom worse than he +is. He who so loved the world that He came down on earth to die for +sinners, and take away the sins of the world, would never make any human +being a greater sinner than he was before. That is impossible, and +horrible to think of. Therefore, when we read that the Lord hardened +Pharaoh’s heart, we must be certain that that was Pharaoh’s own fault; +and so, we read, it was Pharaoh’s own fault. The Lord did not bring all +these plagues on Egypt without giving Pharaoh fair warning. Before each +plague, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that the plague was coming. The +Lord told Pharaoh that He was his Master, and the Master and Lord of the +whole earth; that the children of Israel belonged to Him, and the +Egyptians too; that the river, light and darkness, the weather, the +crops, and the insects, and the locusts belonged to Him; that all +diseases which afflict man and beast were in His power. And the Lord +proved that His words were true, in a way Pharaoh could not mistake, by +changing the river into blood, and sending darkness, and hailstones, and +plagues of lice and flies, and at last by killing the firstborn of all +the Egyptians. The Lord gave Pharaoh every chance; He condescended to +argue with him as one man would with another, and proved His word to be +true, and proved that He had a right to command Pharaoh. And therefore, +I say, if Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, it was his own fault, for the +Lord was plainly trying to soften it, and to bring him to reason. And +the Bible says distinctly that it was Pharaoh’s own fault. For it says +that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, he and his servants, and therefore +they would not let the children of Israel go. Now how could Pharaoh +harden his own heart, and yet the Lord harden it at the same time? + +Just in the same way, my friends, as too many of us are apt to make the +Lord harden our hearts by hardening them ourselves, and to make, as +Pharaoh did, the very things which the Lord sends to soften us, the +causes of our becoming more stubborn; the very things which the Lord +sends to bring us to reason, the means of our becoming more mad and +foolish. Believe me, my friends, this is no old story with which we have +nothing to do. What happened to Pharaoh’s heart may happen to yours, or +mine, or any man’s. Alas! alas! it does happen to many a man’s and +woman’s heart every day—and may the Lord have mercy on them before it be +too late,—and yet how can the Lord have mercy on those who will not let +Him have mercy on them? + +What do I mean? This is what I mean, my friends; Oh, listen to it, and +take it solemnly to heart, you who are living still in sin; take it to +heart, lest you, like Pharaoh, die in your sins, and your latter end will +be worse than your beginning. + +Suppose a man to be going on in some sinful habit; cheating his +neighbours, grinding his labourers, or getting tipsy, or living with a +woman without being married to her. He comes to church, and there he +hears the word of the Lord, by the Bible, or in sermons, telling him that +God commands him to give up his sin, that God will certainly punish him +if he does not repent and amend. God sends that message to him in love +and mercy, to soften his heart by the terrors of the law, and turn him +from his sin. But what does the man feel? He feels angry and provoked; +angry with the preacher; ay, angry with the Bible itself, with God’s +words. For he hates to hear the words which tell him of his sin; he +wishes they were not in the Bible; he longs to stop the preacher’s mouth; +and, as he cannot do that, he dislikes going to church. He says: “I +cannot, and what is more, I will not, give up my sinful ways, and +therefore I shall not go to church to be told of them.” So he stops away +from church, and goes on in his sins. So that man’s heart is hardened, +just as Pharaoh’s was. Yet the Lord has come and spoken to that sinful +man in loving warnings: though all the effect it has had is that the +Lord’s message has made him worse than he was before, more stubborn, more +godless, more unwilling to hear what is good. But men may fall into a +still worse state of mind. They may determine to set the Lord at naught; +to hear Him speaking to their conscience, and know that He is right and +they wrong, and yet quietly put the good thoughts and feelings out of +their way, and go in the course which they know to be the worst. How +many a man in business or the world says to himself, ay, and in his +better moments will say to his friend: “Ah, yes, if one could but be what +one would wish to be. . . . What one’s mother used to say one might be. +. . . But for such a world as this, the gospel ideal is somewhat too +fine and unpractical. One has one’s business to carry on, or one’s +family to provide for, or one’s party in politics to serve; one must obey +the laws of trade, the usages of society, the interests of one’s class;” +and so forth. And so an excuse is found for every sin, by those who know +in their hearts that they are sinning; for every sin; and among others, +too often, for that sin of Pharaoh’s, of “_not letting the people go_.” + +And how many, my friends, when they come to church, harden their hearts +in the same quiet, almost good-humoured way, not caring enough for God’s +message to be even angry with it, and take the preacher’s warnings as +they would a shower of rain, as something unpleasant which cannot be +helped; and which, therefore, they must sit out patiently, and think +about it as little as possible? And when the sermon is over, they take +their hats and go out into the churchyard, and begin talking about +something else as quickly as possible, to drive the unpleasant thoughts, +if there are a few left, out of their heads. And thus they let the +Lord’s message to them harden their hearts. For it does harden them, my +friends, if it be taken in this temper. Every time anyone sits through +the service or the sermon in this stupid and careless mood, he dulls and +deadens his soul, till at last he is able coolly to sit through the most +awful warnings of God’s judgment, the most tender entreaties of God’s +love, as if he were a brute animal without understanding. Ay, he is able +to make the responses to the commandments, and join in the psalms, and so +with his own mouth, before the whole congregation, confess that God’s +curse is on his doings, with no more sense or care of what the words +mean, and of what a sentence he is pronouncing against himself, than if +he were a parrot taught to speak by rote words which he does not +understand. And so that man, by hardening his own heart, makes the Lord +harden it for him. + +But there is a third way, and a worse way still, in which people’s hearts +are hardened by the Lord’s speaking to them. A man is warned of his sins +by the preacher; and he says to himself: “If the minister thinks that he +is going to frighten me away from church, he is very much mistaken. He +may go his way, and I shall go mine. Let him preach at me as much as he +will; I shall go to church all the more for that, to show him that I am +not afraid.” And so the Lord’s warnings harden his heart, and provoke +him to set his face like a flint, and become all the more proud and +stubborn. + +Now, young people, I speak openly to you as man to man. Will you tell me +that this was not the very way in which some of you took my sermon last +Sunday afternoon, in which I warned you of the misery which your sinful +lives would bring upon you? Was there not more than one of you, who, as +soon as he got outside the church, began laughing and swaggering, and +said to the lad next him: “Well, he gave it us well in his sermon this +afternoon, did he not? But I don’t care; do you?” + +To which the other foolish fellow answered: “Not I. It is his business +to talk like that; he is paid for it, and I suppose he likes it. So if +he does what he likes, we shall do what we like. Come along.” And at +that all the other foolish fellows round burst out laughing, as if the +poor lad had said a very clever thing; and they all went off together, +having their hearts hardened by the Lord’s warning to them, as Pharaoh’s +was. + +And they showed, I am afraid, that very evening that their hearts were +hardened. For out of a sort of spite and stubbornness they took a +delight in doing what was wrong, just because they had been told that it +was wrong, and because they were determined to show that they would not +be frightened or turned from what they chose. + +And all the while they knew that it was wrong, did those poor foolish +lads. If you had asked one of them openly, “Do you not know that God has +forbidden you to do this?” they would have either been forced to say, +“Yes,” or else they would have tried to laugh the matter off, or perhaps +held their tongues and looked silly, or perhaps again answered +insolently; showing by each and all of these ways of taking it, that the +Lord’s message had come home to their consciences, and convinced them of +their sin, though they were determined not to own it or obey it. And the +way they would have put the matter by and excused themselves to +themselves would have been just the way in which Pharaoh did it. They +would have tried to forget that the Lord had warned them, and tried to +make out to themselves that it was all the preacher’s doing, and to make +it a personal quarrel between him and them. Just so Pharaoh did when he +hardened his heart. He made the Lord’s message a ground for hating and +threatening Moses and Aaron, as if it was any fault of theirs. He knew +in his heart that the Lord had sent them; but he tried to forget that, +and drove them out from his presence, and told them that if they dared to +appear before him again they should surely die. And just so, my friends, +people will be angry with the preacher for telling them unpleasant +truths, as if it was any more pleasure to him to speak than for them to +hear. Oh, why will you forget that the words which I speak from this +pulpit are not my words, but God’s? It is not I who warn you of what you +are bringing on yourselves by your sins, it is God Himself. There it is +written in His Bible—judge for yourselves. Read your Bibles for +yourselves, and you will see that I am not speaking my own thoughts and +words. And as for being angry with me for telling you truth, read the +ordination service which is read whenever a clergyman is ordained, and +judge for yourselves. What is a clergyman sent into the world for at +all, but to say to you what I am saying now? What should I be but a +hypocrite and a traitor to the blessed Lord who died for me, and saved me +from my sins, and ordained me to preach to sinners, that they too may be +saved from their sins,—what should I be but a traitor to Him, if I did +not say to you, whenever I see you going wrong: + +“O come, let us worship, and fall down and kneel before the Lord our +Maker. + +“For He is the Lord our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and +the sheep of His hand. + +“To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, + +“Lest He sware in His wrath that you shall not enter into His rest!” + +And now, my friends, I will tell you what will happen to you. You see +that I know something, without having been told of what has been going on +in your hearts. I beseech you, believe me when I tell you what will go +on in them. God will chastise you for your sins. He will; just because +He loves you, and does not hate you; just because you are His children, +and not dumb animals born to perish. Troubles will come upon you as you +grow older. Of what sort they will be I cannot tell; but that they will +come, I can tell full well. And when the Lord sends trouble to you, +shall it harden your hearts or soften them? It depends on you, +altogether on you, whether the Lord hardens your hearts by sending those +sorrows, or whether He softens and turns them and brings them back to the +only right place for them—home to Him. But your trouble may only harden +your heart all the more. The sorrows and sore judgments which the Lord +sent Pharaoh only hardened his heart. It all depends upon the way in +which you take these troubles, my friends. And that not so much when +they come as after they come. Almost all, let their hearts be right with +God or not, seem to take sorrow as they ought, while the sorrow is on +them. Pharaoh did so too. He said to Moses and Aaron: “I have sinned +this time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. +Entreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I +will let you go.” What could be more right or better spoken? Was not +Pharaoh in a proper state of mind then? Was not his heart humbled, and +his will resigned to God? Moses thought not. For while he promised +Pharaoh to pray that the storm might pass over, yet he warned him: “But +as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord +your God.” And so it happened; for, “when Pharaoh saw that the rain, and +hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, +he and his servants. Neither would he let the children of Israel go.” . . . +And so, alas! it happens to many a man and woman nowadays. They +find themselves on a sick-bed. They are in fear of death, in fear of +poverty, in fear of shame and punishment for their misdeeds. And then +they say: “It is God’s judgment. I have been very wicked. I know God is +punishing me. Oh, if God will but raise me up off this sick-bed; if He +will but help me out of this trouble, I will give up all my wicked ways. +I will repent and amend.” So said Pharaoh; and yet, as soon as he was +safe out of his distress, he hardened his heart. And so does many a man +and woman, who, when they get safe through their troubles, never give up +one of their sins, any more than Pharaoh did. They really believe that +God has punished them. They really intend to amend, while they are in +the trouble: but as soon as they are out of it, they try to persuade +themselves that it was not God who sent the sorrow, that it came “by +accident,” or that “people must have trouble in this life,” or that “if +they had taken better care, they might have prevented it.”—All of them +excuses to themselves for forgetting God in the matter, and, therefore, +for forgetting what they promised to God in trouble; and so, after all, +they go on just as they went on before. And yet not as they went on +before. For every such sin hardens their hearts; every such sin makes +them less able to see God’s hand in what happens to them; every such sin +makes them more bold and confident in disobeying God, and saying to +themselves: “After all, why should I be so frightened when I am in +trouble, and make such promises to amend my life? For the trouble goes +away, whether I mend my life or not; and nothing happens to me; God does +not punish me for not keeping my promises to Him. I may as well go on in +my own way, for I seem not the worse off in body or in purse for so +doing.” Thus do people harden their hearts after each trouble, as +Pharaoh did; so that you will see people, by one affliction after +another, one loss after another, all their lives through, warned by God +that sin will not prosper them; and confessing that their sins have +brought God’s punishment on them: and yet going on steadily in the very +sins which have brought on their troubles, and gaining besides, as time +runs on, a heart more and more hardened. And why? + +Because they, like Pharaoh, love to have their own way. They will not +submit to God, and do what He bids them, and believe that what He bids +them must be right—good for them, and for all around them. + +They promised to mend. But they promised as Pharaoh did. “If God will +take away this trouble, then I will mend”—meaning, though they do not +dare to say it: “And if God will not take away this trouble, of course He +cannot expect me to mend.” In plain English—If God will not act toward +them as they like, then they will not act toward Him as He likes. My +friends, God does not need us to bargain with Him. We must obey Him +whether we like it or not; whether it seems to pay us or not; whether He +takes our trouble off us or not; we must obey, for He is the Lord; and if +we will not obey, He will prove His power on us, as He did on Pharaoh, by +showing plainly what is the end of those who resist His will. + +What, then, are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly will +some day bring us, into trouble? + +What we ought to have done at first, my friends. What we ought to have +done in the wild days of youth, and so have saved ourselves many a dark +day, many a sleepless night, many a bitter shame and heartache. To open +our eyes, and see that the only thing for men and women, whom God has +made, is to obey the God who has made them. He is the Lord. He has made +us. He will have us do one thing. How can we hope to prosper by doing +anything else? It is ill fighting against God. Which is the stronger, +my friends, you or God? Make up your minds on that. It surely will not +take you long. + +But someone may say: “I do wish and long to obey God; but I am so weak, +and my sins have so entangled me with bad company, or debts, or—, or—.” +We all know, alas! into what a net everyone who gives way to sin gets his +feet: “And therefore I cannot obey God. I long to do so. I feel, I +know, when I look back, that all my sin, and shame, and unhappiness, come +from being proud and self-willed, and determined to have my own way, and +do what I choose. But I cannot mend.” Do not despair, poor soul! I had +a thousand times sooner hear you say you cannot mend, than that you can. +For those who say they can mend, are apt to say: “I can mend; and +therefore I shall mend when I choose, and no sooner.” But those who +really feel they cannot mend—those who are really weary and worn out with +the burden of their sins—those who are really tired out with their own +wilfulness, and feel ready to lie down and die, like a spent horse, and +say: “God, take me away, no matter to what place; I am not fit to live +here on earth, a shame and a torment to myself day and night”—those who +are in that state of mind, are very near—very near finding out glorious +news. + +Those who cannot mend themselves and know it, God will mend. God will +mend your lives for you. He knows as well as you what you have to +struggle against; ay, a thousand times better. He knows—what does He not +know? Pray to Him, and try what He does not know. Cry to Him to rid you +of your bad companions; He will find a way of doing it. Cry to Him to +bring you out of the temptations you feel too strong for you; He will +find a way for doing it. Cry to Him to teach you what you ought to do, +and He will send someone, and that the right person, doubt it not, to +teach you in His own good time. Above all, cry and pray to Him to +conquer the pride, and self-conceit, and wilfulness in your heart; to +take the hard proud heart of stone out of you, and give you instead a +heart of flesh, loving, and tender, and kindly to every human creature; +and He will do it. Cry to Him to make your will like His own will, that +you may love what He loves, and hate what He hates, and do what He wishes +you to do. And then you will surely find my words come true: “Those who +long to mend, and yet know that they cannot mend themselves, let them but +pray, and God will mend them.” + + + + +XXXIII. +THE RED SEA TRIUMPH. + + + _Preached Easter-day Morning_, 1852. + + This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing the + children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.—EXODUS xii. 42. + +YOU all, my friends, know what is the meaning of Easter-day—that it is +the Day on which The Lord rose again from the dead. You must have seen +that most of the special services for this day, the Collect, Epistle, and +Gospel, and the second lessons, both morning and evening, reminded you of +Christ’s rising again; and so did the proper Psalms for this day, though +it may seem at first sight more difficult to see what they have to do +with the Lord’s rising again. + +Now the first lessons, both for the morning and evening services, were +also meant to remind us of the very same thing, though it may seem even +more difficult still, at first sight, to understand how they do so. + +Let us see what these two first lessons are about. The morning one was +from the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and told us what the Passover was, +and what it meant. The first lesson for this afternoon was the +fourteenth chapter of Exodus. Surely you must remember it. Surely the +most careless of you must have listened to that glorious story, how the +Jews went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, while Pharaoh +and the Egyptian army, trying to follow them, were overwhelmed in the +water. Surely you cannot have heard how the poor Jews looked back from +the farther shore, and hardly believed their own eyes for joy and wonder, +when they saw their proud masters swept away for ever, and themselves +safe and free out of the hateful land where they had been slaves for +hundreds of years. You cannot surely, my friends, have heard that +glorious story, and forgotten it again already. I hope not; for God +knows, that tale of the Jews coming safe through the Red Sea has a deep +and blessed meaning enough for you, if you could but see it. + +But some of you may be saying to yourselves: “No doubt it is a very noble +story; and a man cannot help rejoicing at the poor Jews’ escape, and at +the downfall of those cruel Egyptians. It is a pleasant thought, no +doubt, that if it were but for that once, God interfered to help poor +suffering creatures, and rid them of their tyrants. But what has that to +do with Easter Day and Christ’s rising again?” + +I will try to show you, my friends. The Jews’ Passover is the same as +our Easter-day, as you know already. But they are not merely alike in +being kept on the same day. They are alike because they are both of them +remembrances and tokens of the Lord Jesus Christ’s delivering men out of +misery and slavery. For never forget—though, indeed, in these strange +times, I ought rather to say, I beseech you to read your Bibles and +see—that it was Jesus Christ Himself who brought the Jews out of Egypt. +St. Paul tells us so positively, again and again. In 1 Cor. x. 4 he +tells us that it was Christ who followed them through the wilderness. In +verse 9 of the same chapter, he says that it was Christ Himself whom they +tempted in the wilderness. He was the Angel of the Covenant who went +with them. He was the God of Israel whom the elders of the Jews saw, a +few weeks afterwards, on Mount Sinai, and under His feet a pavement like +a sapphire stone. True, the Lord did not take flesh upon Him till nearly +two thousand years after. But from the very beginning of all things, +while He was in the bosom of the Father, He was the King of men. Man was +made in His image, and therefore in the image of the Father, whose +perfect likeness He is—“the brightness of His glory, and the express +image of His person.” It was He who took care of men, guided and taught +them, and delivered them out of misery, from the very beginning of the +world. St. Paul says the same thing, in many different ways, all through +the epistle to the Hebrews. He says, for instance, that Moses, when he +fled from Pharaoh’s court in Egypt, esteemed the reproach of Christ +greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he endured as seeing Him +who is invisible. The Lord said the same thing of Himself. He said +openly that He was the person who is called, all through the Old +Testament, “The Lord.” He asked the Pharisees: “What think ye of Christ? +whose son is He? They say unto Him, David’s son. Christ answered, How +then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my +Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool?” So +did Christ declare, that He Himself, who was standing there before them, +was the Lord of David, who had died hundreds of years before. He told +them again that their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and saw it +and was glad; and when they answered, in anger and astonishment, “Thou +art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” Jesus said, +“Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” I am. The Jews had +no doubt whom He meant; and we ought to have none either. For that was +the very name by which God had told Moses to call Him, when he was sent +to the Jews: “Thou shalt say unto them, I AM hath sent me to you.” The +Jews, I say, had no doubt who Jesus said that He was; that He meant them +to understand, once and for all, that He whom they called the carpenter’s +son of Nazareth, was the Lord God who brought their forefathers up out of +the land of Egypt, on the night of the first Passover. So they, to show +how reverent and orthodox they were, and how they honoured the name of +God, took up stones to stone Him—as many a man, who fancies himself +orthodox and reverent, would now, if he dared, stone the preachers who +declare that the Lord Jesus Christ is not changed since then; that He is +as able and as willing as ever to deliver the poor from those who grind +them down, and that He will deliver them, whenever they cry to Him, with +a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and that Easter-day is as much a +sign of that to us as the Passover was for the Jews of old. + +But, my friends, if Christ the Lord showed His love and power in behalf +of poor oppressed wretches on that first Passover, surely He showed it a +thousand times more on that first Easter-day. His great love helped the +Jews out of slavery; and that same great love of His at this Easter-tide, +moved Him to die and rise again for the sins of the whole world. In that +first Passover He delivered only one people. On the first Easter He +delivered all mankind. The Jews were under cruel tyrants in the land of +Egypt. So were all mankind over the world, when Jesus came. The Jews in +Egypt were slaves to worse things than the whip of their task-masters; +they had slaves’ hearts, as well as slaves’ bodies. They were kept down +not only by the Egyptians, but by their own ignorance, and idolatry, and +selfish division, and foul sins. They were spiritually dead—without a +noble, pure, manful feeling left in them. Their history makes no secret +of that. The Bible seems to take every care to let us see into what a +miserable and brutal state they had fallen. Christ sent Moses to raise +them out of that death; to take them through the Red Sea, as a sign that +all that was washed away, to be forgiven of God and forgotten by them, +and that from the moment they landed, a free people, on the farther +shore, they were to consider all their old life past and a new one begun. +So they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, as St. Paul +says. And now all was to be new. They had been fancying that they +belonged to the Egyptians. Now they had found out, and had it proved to +them by signs and wonders which they could not mistake, that they +belonged to the Lord. They had been brutal sinners. The Lord began to +teach them that they were to rise above their own appetites and passions. +They had been worshipping only what they could see and handle. The Lord +began to teach them to worship Him—a person whom they could not see, +though He was always near them, and watching over them. They had been +living without independence, fellow-feeling, the sense of duty, or love +of order. The Lord began to teach them to care for each other, to help +each other, to know that they had a duty to perform towards each other, +for which they were accountable to Him. They had owned no master except +the Egyptians, whom they feared and obeyed unwillingly. The Lord began +to teach them to obey Him loyally, from trust, and gratitude, and love. +They had been willing to remain sinners, and brutes, and slaves, provided +they could get enough to eat and drink. The Lord began to teach them +that His favour, His protection, were better than the flesh-pots of +Egypt, and that He was able to feed them where it seemed impossible to +men; to teach them that “man does not live by bread alone—cheap or dear, +my friends—not by bread alone, but by _every_ word that proceeds out of +the mouth of God, does man live.” That was the meaning of their being +baptized in the cloud and in the sea. That was the meaning, and only a +very small part of the meaning, of their Passover. Would you not think, +my friends, that I had been speaking rather of our own Baptism, and of +our own Supper of the Lord, to which you have been all called to-day, and +that I had been telling you the meaning of them? + +For when Jesus, the Lord, and King, and Head of mankind, died and rose +again, He took away the sin of the world. He was the true Passover, the +Lamb without spot, slain, as the scripture tells us, for the sins of the +whole world. In the Jews’ Passover, when the angel saw the lamb’s blood +on the door of the house, he passed by, and spared everyone in it. So +now. The blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, is upon us; and for His sake, +God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from +all unrighteousness. + +But the Lord rose again this day. And when He, the Lord, the King, and +Head of all men, rose, all men rose in Him. “As in Adam all die,” says +St. Paul, “even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” + +Baptism is a sign of that to us, as the going through the Red Sea, and +being baptized to Moses in it, was to the Jews. The passing of the Red +Sea said to the Jews: “You have passed now out of your old miserable +state of slavery into freedom. The sins which you committed there are +blotted out. You are taken into covenant with God. You are now God’s +people, and nothing can lose you this love and care, except your own +sins, your own unfaithfulness to Him, your own wilful falling back into +the slavish and brutal state from which He has delivered you.” + +And just so, baptism says to us: “Your sins are forgiven you. You are +taken into covenant with God. You are God’s people, God’s family. You +must forget and cast away the old Adam, the old slavish and savage +pattern of man, which your Lord died to abolish, the guilt of which He +bore for you on His cross; and you must rise to the new Adam, the new +pattern of man, which is created after God in righteousness and true +holiness, which the Lord showed forth in His life, and death, and rising +again. For now God looks on you not as a guilty and condemned race of +beings, but as a redeemed race, His children, for the sake of Jesus +Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. You have a +right to believe that, as human beings, you are dead with Christ to the +old Adam, the old sinful, brutal pattern of man.” Baptism is the sign of +it to you. Every child, let it or its parents be who they may, is freely +baptized as a sign that all that old pattern of man is washed away, that +they can and must have nothing to do with it hence-forward, that it is +dead and buried, and they must flee from it and forget it, as they would +a corpse. + +And the Lord’s Supper also is a sign to us that, as human beings, we are +risen with Christ, to a new life. A new life is our birthright. We have +a right to live a new life. We have a duty to live a new life. We have +a power, if we will, to live a new life; such a life as we never could +live if we were left to ourselves; a noble, just, godly, manful, +Christlike, Godlike life, bred and nourished in us by the Spirit of +Christ. That is our right; for we belong to Him who lived that life +Himself, and bought us our share in it with His own death and +resurrection. That is our duty; for if we share the Lord’s blessings, it +can only be in order that we may become like the Lord. Do you fancy that +He died to leave us all no better than we are? His death would have had +very little effect if that was all. No, says St. Paul; if you have a +share in Christ, prove that you believe in your own share by becoming +like Christ. You belong to His kingdom, and you must live as His +subjects. He has bought for you a new and eternal life, and you must use +that life. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are +above.” . . . And what are they? Love, peace, gentleness, mercy, pity, +truth, faithfulness, justice, patience, courage, order, industry, duty, +obedience. . . . All, in short, which is like Jesus Christ. For these +are heavenly things. These are above, where Christ sits at God’s right +hand. These are the likeness of God. That is God’s character. Let it +be your character likewise. + +But again; if it is our right and our duty to be like that, it is also in +our power. God would not have commanded us to be, what He had not given +us the power to be. He would not have told us to seek those things which +are above, if He had not intended us to find them. Wherefore it is +written: “Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; for if ye, +being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more +shall your Heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” + +This is the meaning of that text; namely, that God will give us the power +of living this new and risen life, which we are bound to live. This is +one of the gifts for men, which the scripture tells us that Christ +received when He rose from the dead, and ascended up on high. This is +one of the powers of which He spoke, when after His resurrection He said, +“That all power was given to Him in heaven and earth.” The Lord’s Supper +is at once a sign of who will give us that gift, and a sign that He will +indeed give it us. The Lord’s Supper is the pledge and token to us that +we all have a share in the likeness of Christ, the true pattern of man; +and that if we come and claim our share, He will surely bestow it on us. +He will renew, and change, and purify our hearts and characters in us, +day by day, into the likeness of Himself. He who is the eternal life of +men will nourish us, body, soul, and spirit, with that everlasting life +of His, even as our bodies are nourished by that bread and wine. And if +you ask me how? When you can tell me why a wheat grain cannot produce an +oak, or an acorn a wheat plant; when you can tell me why our bodies are, +each of them, the very same bodies which they were ten years ago, though +every atom of flesh, and blood, and bone in them has been changed; when, +in short, you, or any other living man, can tell me the meaning of those +three words, body, life, and growth, then it will be time to ask that +question. In the meantime let us believe that He who does such wonders +in the life and growth of every blade of grass, can and will do far +greater wonders for the life and growth of us, immortal beings, made in +His own likeness, redeemed by His blood, and so believe, and thank, and +obey, and wait till another and a nobler life to understand. And if we +never understand at all—what matter, provided the thing be true? + + + + +XXXIV. +CHRISTMAS-DAY. + + + For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the + government shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called + Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Father of an Everlasting + age, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and + peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his + kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with + justice henceforth even forever.—ISAIAH ix. 6, 7. + +IN the time when the prophet Isaiah wrote this prophecy, everything round +him was exactly opposite to his words. The king of Judæa, the prophet’s +country, was not reigning in righteousness. He was an unrighteous and +wicked governor. The princes and great men were not ruling in judgment. +They were unjust and covetous; they took bribes, and sold justice for +money. They were oppressors, grinding down the poor, and defrauding +those below them. So that the weak, and poor, and needy had no one to +right them, no one to take their part. There was no man to feel for +them, and defend them, and be a hiding-place and a covert for them from +their cruel tyrants; no man to comfort and refresh them as rivers of +water refresh a dry place, or the shadow of a great rock comforts the +sunburnt traveller in the weary deserts. + +Neither were these very poor oppressed people of the Jews in a right +state of mind. They were ignorant and stupid, given to worship false +gods. They had eyes, and yet could not use them to see that, as the +psalm told us this morning, the heavens declared the glory of God, and +the firmament showed His handiwork. They were worshipping the sun, and +moon, and stars, in stead of the Lord God who made them. They were +brutish too, and would not listen to teaching. They had ears, and yet +would not hearken with them to God’s prophets. They were rash, too, +living from hand to mouth, discontented, and violent, as ignorant poor +people will be in evil times. And they were stammerers—not with their +tongue, but with their minds and thoughts. They were miserable; but they +could not tell why. They were full of discontent and longings; but they +could not put them into words. They did not know how to pray, how to +open their hearts to God or to man. They knew of no one who could +understand them and their sorrows; they could not understand them +themselves, much less put them into words. They were altogether confused +and stupefied; just in the same state, in a word, as the poor negro +slaves in America, and the heathens ay, and the Christians too, are in, +in all the countries of the world which do not know the good news of +Christmas-day or have forgotten it and disobeyed it. + +But Isaiah had God’s Spirit with him; the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of +holiness, righteousness, justice. And that Holy Spirit convinced him of +sin, and of righteousness and of judgment, as He convinces every man who +gives himself up humbly to God’s teaching. + +First, the Spirit convinced Isaiah of sin. He made him feel that the +state of his country was wrong. And He made him feel why it was wrong; +namely, because the men in it were wrong; because they were thinking +wrong notions, feeling wrong feelings, doing wrong things; and that wrong +was sin; and that sin was falling short of being what a man was made, and +what every man ought to be, namely, the likeness and glory of God; and +that so his countrymen the Jews, one and all, had sinned and come short +of the glory of God. + +Next, He convinced Isaiah of righteousness. He made Isaiah feel and be +sure that God was righteous; that God was no unjust Lord, like the wicked +king of the Jews; that such evil doings as are going on were hateful to +Him; that all that covetousness, oppression, taking of bribes, +drunkenness, deceit, ignorance, stupid rashness and folly, of which the +land was full, were hateful to God. He must hate them, for He was a +righteous and a good God. They ought not to be there. For man, every +man from the king on his throne to the poor labourer in the field, was +meant to be righteous and good as God is. “But how will it be altered?” +thought Isaiah to himself. “What hope for this poor miserable sinful +world? People are meant to be righteous and good: but who will make them +so? The king and his princes are meant to be righteous and good, but who +will set them a pattern? When will there be a really good king, who will +be an example to all in authority; who will teach men to do right, and +compel and force them not to do wrong?” + +And then the Holy Spirit of God answered that anxious question of +Isaiah’s, and convinced him of judgment. + +Yes, he felt sure; he did not know why he felt so sure: but he did feel +sure; God’s Spirit in his heart made him feel sure, that in some way or +other, some day or other, the Lord God would come to judgment, to judge +the wicked princes and rulers of this world, and cast them out. It must +be so. God was a righteous God. He would not endure these unrighteous +doings for ever. He was not careless about this poor sinful world, and +about all the sinful down-trodden ignorant men, and women, and children +in it. He would take the matter into His own hands. He would show that +He was Lord and Master. If kings would not reign in righteousness, He +would come and reign in righteousness Himself. He would appoint princes +under Him, who would rule in judgment. And He would show men what true +righteousness was; what the pattern of a true ruler was; namely, to be +able to feel for the poor, and the afflicted, and the needy, to +understand the wants, and sorrows, and doubts, and fears of the lowest +and the meanest; in short, to be a man, a true, perfect man, with a man’s +heart, a man’s pity, a man’s fellow-feeling in Him. Yes. The Lord God +would show Himself. He would set His righteous King to govern. And yet +Isaiah did not know how, but he saw plainly that it must be so, that same +righteous King, who was to set the world right, would be a _man_. It +would be a man who was to be a hiding-place from the storm and a covert +from the tempest. A man who would understand man, and teach men their +duty. + +Then the eyes of the blind would see, and the ears of those who heard +should hearken; for they would hear a loving human voice, the voice of +One who knew what was in man, who could tell them just what they wanted +to know, and put His teaching into the shape in which it would sink most +easily and deeply into their hearts. And then the hearts of the rash +would understand knowledge; and the tongue of the stammerers would speak +plainly. There will be no more confused cries from poor ignorant brutish +oppressed people, like the cries of dumb beasts in pain; for He who was +coming would give them words to utter their sorrows in. He would teach +them how to speak to man and God. He would teach them how to pray, and +when they prayed to say, “Our Father which art in heaven.” + +Then the vile person would be no more called bountiful, or the churl +called liberal: flattery and cringing to the evil great would be at an +end. The people would have sense to see the truth about right and wrong, +and courage to speak it. Men would then be held for what they really +were, and honoured and despised according to their true merits. Yes, +said Isaiah, we shall be delivered from our wicked king and princes, from +the heathen Assyrian armies, who fancy that they are going to sweep us +out of our own land with fire and sword; from our own sins, and +ignorance, and infidelity, and rashness. We shall be delivered from them +all, for The righteous King is coming. Nay, He is here already, if we +could but see. His goings-forth have been from everlasting. He is +ruling us now—this wondrous Child, this Son of God. Unto us a Child is +born already, unto us a Son is given already. But one day or other He +will be revealed, and made manifest, and shown to men as a man; and then +all the people shall know who He is; and His name shall be called +Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince +of Peace. + +Ah, my friends, Isaiah saw all this but dimly and afar off. He saw as +through a glass darkly. He perhaps thought at times—indeed we can have +little doubt that he thought—that the good young Prince Hezekiah, “The +might of God,” as his name means, who was growing up in his day to be a +deliverer and a righteous king over the Jews, was to set the world right. +No doubt he had Hezekiah in his mind when he said that a Child was born +to the Jews, and a Son given to them; just as, of course, he meant his +own son, who was born to him by the virgin prophetess, when he called his +name Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us. But he felt that there was +more in both things than that. He felt that his young wife’s conceiving +and bearing a son, was a sign to him that some day or other a more +blessed virgin would conceive and bear a mightier Son. And so he felt +that whether or not Hezekiah delivered the Jews from their sin, and +misery, and ignorance, God Himself would deliver them. He knew, by the +Spirit of God, that his prophecy would come true, and remain true for +ever. And so he died in faith, not having received the promises, God +having prepared some better King for us, and having fulfilled the words +of His prophet in a way of which, as far as we can see, he never dreamed. + +Yes. Hezekiah failed to save the nation of the Jews. Instead of being +the “father of an everlasting age,” and having “no end of his family on +the throne of David,” his great-grandchildren and the whole nation of the +Jews were swept away into captivity by the Babylonians, and no man of his +house, as Jeremiah prophesied, has ever since prospered or sat on the +throne of David. But still Isaiah’s prophecy was true. True for us who +are assembled here this day. + +For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; even the Babe of +Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord. The government shall indeed be upon +His shoulder; for it has been there always. For the Father has committed +all things to the Son, that he may be King of kings and Lord of lords for +ever. His name is indeed Wonderful; for what more wondrous thing was +ever seen in heaven or in earth, than that great love with which He loved +us? He is not merely called “The might of God,” as Hezekiah was,—for a +sign and a prophecy; for He is the mighty God Himself. He is indeed the +Counsellor; for He is the light who lighteth every man who comes into the +world. He is “the Father of an everlasting age.” There were hopes that +Hezekiah would be so; that he would raise the nation of the Jews again to +a reform from which it would never fall away: but these hopes were +disappointed; and the only one who fulfilled the prophecy is He who has +founded His Church for ever on the rock of everlasting ages, and the +gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Hezekiah was to be the +prince of peace for a few short years only. But the Child who is born to +us, the Son who is given to us, is He who gave eternal peace to all who +will accept it; peace which this world can neither give nor take away; +and who will make that peace grow and spread over the whole earth, till +men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into +pruning-hooks, and the nations shall not learn war any more. Of the +increase of His government and of His peace there shall be no end, till +the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the +sea, and the spirit of God be poured out on all flesh, to teach kings to +reign in righteousness, after the pattern of the King of kings, the Babe +of Bethlehem; to make the rich and powerful do justice, to teach the +ignorant, to give the rich wisdom, to free the oppressed, to comfort the +afflicted, to proclaim to all mankind the good news of Christmas Day, the +good news that there was a man born into the world on this day who will +be a hiding-place from the storm, a covert from the tempest, like rivers +of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; +even the man Christ Jesus, who is able and willing to save to the +uttermost those who come to God through Him, seeing that he has been +tempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin. + +Yes, my friends, on that holy table stands the everlasting sign that +Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled to the uttermost. That bread and +that wine declare to us, that to us a Child is born, to us a Son is +given. They declare to us, in a word, that on this blessed day God was +made man, and dwelt among men, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of +the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. + +Oh, come to that table this day, and there claim your share in the most +precious body and blood of the Divine Child of Bethlehem. Come and ask +Him to pour out on you His Spirit, the Spirit which He poured on Hezekiah +of old, “that he might fulfil his own name and live in the might of God.” +So will you live in the might of God. So you will be able to govern +yourselves, and your own appetites, in righteousness and freedom, and +rule your own households, or whatsoever God has set you to do, in +judgment. So you will see things in their true light, as God sees them, +and be ready and willing to hear good advice, and understand your way in +this life, and be able to speak your hearts out in prayer to God, as to a +loving and merciful Father. And in all your afflictions, let them be +what they will, you will have a comfort, and a sure hope, and a +wellspring of peace, and a hiding-place from the tempest, even The Man +Christ Jesus, who said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto +you; let not your heart be troubled, neither be ye afraid.” The Man +Christ Jesus, at whose birth the angels sang: “Glory to God in the +Highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.” + +Now to Him who on this day was born of the blessed virgin, man of the +substance of His mother, yet God the Son of God, be ascribed, with the +Father and the Spirit, all power, glory, majesty, and dominion, both now +and for ever. Amen. + + + + +XXXV. +NEW YEAR’S DAY. + + + (1853.) + + But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that + formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have + called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through + the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall + not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not + be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the + Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for + thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in + my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore + will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.—ISAIAH xliii. + 1–4. + +THE New Year has now begun; and I am bound to wish you all a happy New +Year. But I am sent here to do more than that; to teach you how you may +make your own New Year a happy one; or, if not altogether a happy one—for +sorrows may and must come in their turn—yet still something better than a +happy year, namely, a blessed year; a year on which you will be able to +look back this day twelvemonths, and thank God for it; thank God for the +tears which you have shed in it, as well as for the joy which you have +felt; thank God for the dark days as well as for the light; thank God for +what you have lost, as well as what you have found; and be able to say, +“Well, this last year, if it has not been a happy year for me, at least +it has been a blessed one for me. It has left me a stronger, soberer, +wiser, godlier, better man than it found me.” + +How, then, can you make the New Year a blessed one for yourselves? I +know but one way, my friends. The ancient way. The Bible way. The way +by which Abraham, and Jacob, and David, and all the holy men of old, and +all the saints, and martyrs, and righteous and godly among men, made +their lives blessed among themselves, in spite of sorrow, and misfortune, +and distress, and persecution, and torture, and death itself; the one +only old way of being blessed, which was from the beginning, and will +last for ever and ever, through all worlds and eternities; the way of the +old saints, which St. Paul sets forth in the eleventh chapter of the +Hebrews; and that is, _faith_. Faith, which is the substance of what we +hope for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith, of which it is +written, that the just shall live by his faith. + +But how can faith give you a blessed New Year? In the same way in which +it gave the old saints blessed years all their lives through, and is +giving them a blessed eternity now and for ever before the face of the +Lord Jesus Christ, to which may God in His mercy bring us all likewise. + +They trusted in God. They had faith, not in themselves, like too many; +not in their own good works, like too many; not in their own faith, in +their own frames, and feelings, and assurances, like too many; but they +had faith in God. It was faith in God which made one of them, the great +prophet Isaiah, write the glorious words which I have chosen for my text +this day, to show his countrymen the Jews, even while they were in the +very lowest depths of shame, and poverty, and misfortune, that God had +not forgotten them; that for those who trusted in Him, a blessed time was +surely coming. + +And it was faith in God, too, which put it into the minds of the good men +who choose these Sunday lessons out of the Bible, to appoint such +chapters as these to be read year by year, at the coming in of the new +year, for ever. Faith in God, I say, put that into their minds. For +those good men trusted in God, that He would not change; that hundreds +and thousands of years would make no difference in His love; that the +promises made by His Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet would stand true +for ever and ever. And they trusted in God, too, that what He had spoken +by the mouth of His holy apostles was true; that after the blessed Lord +came down on earth, there was to be no difference between Jews and +Gentiles; that the great and precious promises made by God to the Jews +were made also to all the nations of the earth; that all things written +in the Old Testament, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last of +Malachi, were written not for the Jews only, but for English, French, +Italians, Germans, Russians—for all the nations of the world; that we +English were God’s people now, just as much, ay, far more, than the old +Jews were, and that, therefore, the Old Testament promises, as well as +the New Testament ones, were part of our inheritance as members of +Christ’s Church. And therefore they appointed Old Testament lessons to +be read in church, to show us English what our privileges were, what +God’s covenant and promise to us were. We, as much as the Jews, are +called by the name of the Lord who created us. Were we not baptised into +His name at that font? Has He not loved us? Has He not heaped us +English, for hundreds of years past, with blessings such as He never +bestowed on any nation? Has He not given men for us, and nations for our +life? While all the nations of the world have been at war, slaying and +being slain, has He not kept this fair land of England free and safe from +foreign invaders for more than eight hundred years? Since the world was +made, perhaps, such a thing was never heard of, such a mercy shown to any +nation; that a great and rich country like this should be preserved for +eight hundred years from invasion of foreign armies, and all the horrors +and miseries of war, which have swept, from time to time, every other +nation in the world with the besom of desolation. + +Ay, and but sixty years ago, in the time of the French war, when almost +every other nation in Europe was made desolate with fire, and sword, and +war, did not God preserve this land of England, as He never preserved +country before, from all the miseries which were sweeping over other +nations? Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, that at the very time +that the gospel was dying out all over Europe, it was being lighted again +in England; and that while the knowledge of God was failing elsewhere, it +was increasing here! Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, who has +given to us English, now for one hundred and sixty years and more, those +very equal laws, and freedom, and rights of conscience, for which so many +other nations of Europe are still crying and struggling in vain, amid +slavery, and oppression, and injustice, and heavy burdens, such as we +here in England should not endure a week! Oh, strange and wonderful +mercy of God, who but three years ago, when all the other nations of +Europe were shaken with wars, and riots, and seditions, every man’s hand +against his neighbour, kept this land of England in perfect peace and +quiet by those just laws and government, proving to us the truth of His +own promises, that those who seek peace by righteous dealings, shall find +it, and that, as Isaiah says, the fruit of justice is quietness and +assurance for ever! And last, but not least, my friends, is it not a +sign, a sign not to be mistaken, of God’s good-will and mercy to us, that +now, at this very time of all others, when almost every country in Europe +is going to wrack and ruin through the folly and wickedness of their +kings and rulers, He should have given us here in England a Queen who is +a pattern of goodness and purity, in ruling not only the nation, but her +own household, to every wife and mother, from the highest to the lowest; +and a Prince whose whole heart seems set on doing good, and on helping +the poor, and improving the condition of the labourers? My friends, I +say that we are unthankful and unfaithful. We do not thank God a +hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has given us. We do not +trust Him a hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has in store +for us. If some of us here could but see and feel for a single month how +people are off abroad; if they could change places with a French, an +Italian, a Russian labourer, it would teach them a lesson about God’s +goodness to England which they would not soon forget. May God grant that +we may never have to learn that lesson in that way! God grant that we +may never, to cure us of our unthankfulness and want of faith, and +godless and unmanly grumbling and complaining, be brought, for a single +week, into the same state as some hundred millions of our +fellow-creatures are in foreign parts! Oh, my friends, let us thank God +for the mercies of the past year! Most truly He has fulfilled to England +his promise given by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah: “When thou passest +through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they +shall not overflow thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One, thy +Saviour. Thou hast been precious in my sight, and I have loved thee: +therefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.” + +Away, then, with discontent and anxiety for the coming year. Or rather, +let us be only discontented with ourselves. Let us only be anxious about +our own conduct. God cannot change. If anything goes wrong, it will be +not because He has left us, but because we have left Him. Is it not +written that all things work together for good to those who love God? +Then if things do not work together for good in this coming year, it will +be because we do not love God. Do not let us say, “I am righteous, but +my neighbours are wicked, and therefore I must be miserable;” neither let +us lay the blame of our misfortunes on our rulers; let us lay it on +ourselves. + +What was the word of the Lord to the Jews in a like case: “What means +this proverb which you take up, saying, The fathers have eaten sour +grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? It is not so, O house +of Israel. The son shall not die for the iniquity of his father, nor the +father for the iniquity of the son. The soul that sinneth, it shall die, +saith the Lord.” + +Oh, my friends, take this to heart solemnly, in the year to come. Our +troubles, more of them at least than we fancy, are our own fault, and not +our neighbours’, or the government’s, or anyone’s else. And those which +are not our own fault directly are so in this way, that they are sent as +sharp and wholesome lessons to us; and if we were what we ought to be, we +should not want those lessons. Do not fancy that that is a sad and +doleful thought to begin the new year with. God forbid! It would be +doleful and sad indeed if any one of us, in spite of all his right-doing, +might be plunged into any hopeless misery, through the fault of other +people, over whom he has no control. But thanks be to the Lord, it is +not so. We are His children, and He cares for each and every one of us +separately. Each and every one of us has to answer for himself alone, +face to face with his God, day by day; every man must bear his own +burden; and to every one of us who love God, all things will work +together for good. It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well +knew, far from God to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge of +all the earth will do right. None of us who repents and turns from the +sins he sees round him and in him; none of us who prays for the light and +guiding of God’s Spirit; none of us who struggles day by day to keep +himself unspotted from this evil world, and live as God’s son, without +scandal or ill-name in the midst of a sinful and perverse generation; +none of us who does that, but God’s blessing will rest on him. What +ruins others will only teach and strengthen him; what brings others to +shame, will only bring him to honour, and make his righteousness plain to +be seen by all, that God may be glorified in His people. Let the coming +year be what it may; to the holy, the humble, the upright, the godly, it +will be a blessed year, fulfilling the blessed promises of the Lord, that +those who trust in Him shall never be confounded. + +Oh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty God, who +made all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in Him. And when He bids us, +is it not a sin, an insult to Him, not to trust Him—not to believe His +words to us? “Put thou thy trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell +in the land,” working where He has set thee, “and verily thou shalt be +fed.” “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the +arrow that flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten +thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with +thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because +thou hast made the Lord thy refuge, no plague shall come nigh thy +dwelling. Thou shalt call upon me, I will answer thee. Because thou +hast set thy love on me, I will deliver thee; with long life will I +satisfy thee, and show thee my salvation.” + +My friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. Either they are the +most cruel words that ever were spoken on earth to tempt poor wretches +into vain security and fearful disappointment, or they are—what are +they?—the sure and everlasting promise of our Father in heaven to us His +children. We have only to ask for them, and we shall receive them; to +claim them, and they will be fulfilled to us. “For He who spared not His +own Son, but freely gave Him for us, will He not with Him likewise freely +give us all things,” and make, by His fatherly care, and providence, and +education, all our new years blessed new years, whether or not they are +happy ones? + + + + +XXXVI. +THE DELUGE. + + + My spirit shall not always strive with man.—GENESIS vi. 3. + +LAST Sunday we read in the first lesson of the fall. This Sunday we read +of the flood, the first-fruits of the fall. + +It is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will look at it by +faith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful story—a gospel—a good +news of salvation—like every other word in the Bible, from beginning to +end. Ay, and to my mind, the most hopeful words of all in it, are the +very ones which at first sight look most terrible, the words with which +my text begins: “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive +with man.” + +For is it not good news—the good news of all news—the news which every +poor soul who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, longs to +hear; and when they hear it, feel it to be the good news—the only news +which can give comfort to fallen and sorrowful men, tied and bound with +the chain of their sins, that God’s Spirit does strive at all with man? +That God is looking after men? That God is yearning over sinners, as the +heart of a father yearns over his rebellious child, as the heart of a +faithful and loving husband yearns after an unfaithful wife? That God +does not take a disgust at us for all our unworthiness, but wills that +none should perish, but that all should come to repentance? Oh joyful +news! Man may be, as the text says that he was in the time of Noah, so +low fallen that he is but flesh like the brutes that perish; the +imaginations of his heart may be only evil continually; his spirit may be +dead within him, given up to all low and fleshly appetites and passions, +anger, and greediness, and filth; and yet the pure and holy Spirit of God +condescends to strive and struggle with him, to convince him of sin, and +make him discontented and ashamed at his own brutishness, and shake and +terrify his soul with the wholesome thought: “I am a sinner—I am wrong—I +am living such a life as God never meant me to live—I am not what I ought +to be—I have fallen short of what God intended me to be. Surely some +evil will come to me from this.” Then the Holy Spirit convinces man of +righteousness. He shows man that what he has fallen short of is the +glory of God; that man was meant to be, as St. Paul says, the likeness +and glory of God; to show forth God’s glory, and beauty, and +righteousness, and love in his own daily life; as a looking-glass, though +it is not the sun, still gives an image and likeness of the sun, when the +sun shines on it, and shows forth the glory of the sunbeams which are +reflected on it. + +And then, the Holy Spirit convinces man of judgment. He shows man that +God cannot suffer men, or angels, or any other rational spirits and +immortal souls, to be unlike Himself; that because He is the only and +perfect good, whatsoever is unlike Him must be bad; because He is the +only and perfect love, who wills blessings and good to all, whatsoever is +unlike Him must be unloving, hating, and hateful—a curse and evil to all +around it; because He is the only perfect Maker and Preserver, whatsoever +is unlike Him must be in its very nature hurtful, destroying, deadly—a +disease which injures this good world, and which He will therefore cut +out, burn up, destroy in some way or other, if it will not submit to be +cured. For this, my friends, is the meaning of God’s judgments on +sinners; this is why He sent a flood to drown the world of the ungodly; +this is why He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; this is why He swept away +the nations of Canaan; this is why He destroyed Jerusalem, His own +beloved city, and scattered the Jews over the face of the whole earth +unto this day; this is why He destroyed heathen Rome of old, and why He +has destroyed, from time to time, in every age and country, great nations +and mighty cities by earthquake, and famine, and pestilence, and the +sword; because He knows that sin is ruin and misery to all; that it is a +disease which spreads by infection among fallen men; and that He must cut +off the corrupt nation for the sake of preserving mankind, as the surgeon +cuts off a diseased limb, that his patient’s whole body may not die. But +the surgeon will not cut off the limb as long as there is a chance of +saving it: he will not cut it off till it is mortified and dead, and +certain to infect the whole body with the same death, or till it is so +inflamed that it will inflame the whole body also, and burn up the +patient’s life with fever. Till then he tends it in hope; tries by all +means to cure it. And so does the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the great +Physician, whom His Father has appointed to heal and cure this poor +fallen world. As long as there is hope of curing any man, any nation, +any generation of men, so long will his Spirit strive lovingly and +hopefully with man. For see the blessed words of the text: “My Spirit +shall not always strive with man. This must end. This must end at some +time or other. This battle between my Spirit and the wicked and perverse +wills of these sinners; this battle between the love and the justice and +the purity which I am trying to teach them, and the corruption and the +violence with which they are filling the earth.” But there is no passion +in the Lord, no spite, no sudden rage, like the brute passionate anger of +weak man. Our anger, if we are not under the guiding of God’s Spirit, +conquers our wills, carries us away, makes us say and do on the +moment—God forgive us for it—whatsoever our passion prompts us. The +Lord’s anger does not conquer Him. It does not conquer His patience, His +love, His steadfast will for the good of all. Even when it shows itself +in the flood and the earthquake; even though it break up the fountains of +the great deep, and destroy from off the earth both man and beast, yet it +is, and was, and ever will be, the anger of The Lamb—a patient, a +merciful, and a loving anger. + +Therefore the Lord says: “Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty +years.” One hundred and twenty years more he would endure those corrupt +and violent sinners, in the hope of correcting them. One hundred and +twenty years more would God’s Spirit strive with men. One hundred and +twenty years more the long-suffering of God, as St. Peter says, would +wait, if by any means they would turn and repent. Oh, wonderful love and +condescension of God! God waits for man! The Holy One waits for the +unholy! The Creator waits for the work of His own hands! The wrathful +God, who repents that He has made man upon the earth, waits one hundred +and twenty years for the very creatures whom He repents having made! +Does this seem strange to us—unlike our notions of God? If it is strange +to us, my friends, its being strange is only a proof of how far we have +fallen from the likeness of God, wherein man was originally created. If +we were more like God, then the accounts of God’s long-suffering, and +mercy, and repentance, which we read in the Bible, would not be so +strange to us. We should understand what God declares of Himself, by +seeing the same feelings working in ourselves, which He declares to be +working in Himself. And if we were more righteous and more loving, we +should understand more how God’s will was a loving and a righteous will; +how His justice was His mercy, and His mercy His justice, instead of +dividing His substance, who is one God, by fancying that His mercy and +His justice are two different attributes, which are at times contrary the +one to the other. + +We read nothing here about God’s absolute purposes, and fixed decrees, +whereof men talk so often, making a god in their own fallen image, after +their own fallen likeness. The Lord, the Word of God, of whom the Bible +tells us, does not think it beneath his dignity to say: “It repenteth me +that I have made man.” Different, truly, from that false god which man +makes in his own image. Man is proud, and he fancies that God is proud; +man is self-willed and selfish, and he fancies that God is self-willed +and selfish; man is arbitrary and obstinate, and determined to have his +own way just because it is his own way; and then he fancies that God is +arbitrary and obstinate, and determines to have His own way and will, +just because it is His own way and will. But wilt thou know, oh vain +man, why God will have His own way and will? Because His way is a good +way, and His will a loving will; because the Lord knows that His way is +the only path of life, and joy, and blessing to man and beast, yes, and +to the very hairs of our head, which are all numbered, and to the +sparrows, whereof not one falls to the ground without our Father’s +knowledge; because His will is a loving will, which wills that none +should perish, but that all should come and be saved in body, soul, and +spirit. He will have His own will done, not because it is His own will, +but because it is good, good for men. And if men will change and repent, +then will He change and repent also. If man will resist the striving of +God’s Spirit with him, then will the Lord say: “It repenteth me that I +have made that man.” But if a man will repent him of the evil, then God +will repent Him of the evil also. If a man will let God’s Spirit +convince him, and will open his ears and hear, and open his eyes and see, +and open his heart to take in the loving thoughts and the right thoughts, +and the penitent and humble thoughts, which do come to him—you know they +do come to you all at times—then the Lord will repent also, as he +repents, and repent concerning the evil which He has declared concerning +that man. So said the Lord, who cannot change, the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever, the same now that He was in the days of the flood, +to Jeremiah the prophet, when He moved him to go down to the potter’s +house, and watch him there at his work. + +And the potter made a vessel—something which would be useful and good for +a certain purpose—but the clay was marred in the hand of the potter. He +was good and skilful; but there was a fault in the clay. What did he do? +Throw the clay away as useless? No. He made it again another vessel. +He was determined to make, not anything, but something useful and good. +And if the clay, being faulty, failed him once, he would try again. He +would change his purpose and plan, but not his right will to make good +and useful vessels; them he _would_ make, if not by one way, then by +another. And Jeremiah watched him; and as he watched, the Spirit of the +Lord came on him, and taught him that that poor potter’s way of working +with his clay, was a pattern and likeness of the Lord’s work on earth. +Oh shame, that this great parable should have been twisted by men to make +out that God is an arbitrary tyrant, who works by a brute necessity! It +taught Jeremiah the very opposite. It taught him what it ought to teach +us, that God does change, because man changes, that God’s steadfast will +is the good of men, and therefore because men change their weak +self-willed course, and fall, and seek out many inventions, therefore God +changes to follow them, like a good shepherd, tracking and following the +lost and wandering sheep up and down, right and left, over hill and dale, +if by any means He may find him, and bring him home on His shoulders to +the fold, calling upon the angels of God: “Rejoice with me, for I have +found my sheep which I had lost.” + +This is the likeness of God. The good and loving will of a Father +following his wandering children. The likeness of a loving Father +repenting that He hath brought into the world sinful children, to be a +misery to themselves and all around them, and yet for the same reason +loving those children, striving with their wicked wills to the very last, +giving them one last chance and time for repentance; as the Lord did to +those evil men of the old world, sending to them Noah, a preacher of +righteousness, if by any means they would turn from their sins and be +saved. Ay, not only preaching to their ears by Noah, but to their hearts +by His Spirit; as St. Peter tells us, He Himself, Christ the Lord, went +Himself by His Spirit to those very sinners before the flood, and strove +to bring them to their reason again. By His Spirit; by the very same one +and only Holy Spirit of God, St. Peter says, by which Christ Himself was +raised from the dead, did He try to raise the souls of those sinners +before the flood, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness: but +they would not. They were disobedient. Their wills resisted His will to +the last; and then the flood came, and swept them all away. + +And so the first work of the heavenly Workman was marred in the making by +no fault of His, but by the fault of what He made. He made men persons, +rational beings with wills, that they might be willingly like Him: but +they used those wills to be unlike Him, to rebel against Him, and to fill +the earth with violence and corruption. And so, for the good of all +mankind to come, He had to sweep them all away. But of that same sinful +clay He made another vessel, as it seemed good to Him; even Noah and his +Sons, whom He saved that He might carry on the race of the Sons of God +unto this day. + +And after that again, my friends, in a day more dark and evil still, when +the earth was again corrupt before God, and filled with violence; when +all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth, so that, as St. Paul said +of them, there was none that did good, no not one: then the same Lord, +when He saw that all the world lay in wickedness, and that the clay of +human-kind was marred in the hands of the potter, then did He cast away +that clay as reprobate and useless, and destroy mankind off the face of +the earth? Not so. Then, when there was none to help, His own arm +brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him; He trod the +wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. His own +righteousness sustained Him. His perfectly good and righteous will never +failed Him for a moment; man He would save, and man He saved. If none +else could do it, He would do it Himself. He would bring salvation with +His own arm. He would fulfil His Father’s will, which is that none +should perish; He would be made flesh, and dwell among men, that man +might behold the likeness of God the Father, full of grace and truth, and +see what they were meant to be. Then, in Him, in Jesus who wept over +Jerusalem, was fully revealed and shown the likeness and glory of the +Lord; the Lord in whose image man was made; who walked and spoke with +Adam in the garden; who was not ashamed to say that it repented Him that +He had made man; whom Ezekiel saw upon His throne, and as it were upon +the throne the appearance of the likeness of a man; whom Daniel saw, and +knew him to be the Son of Man. Not a man, then, of flesh and blood; but +the Eternal Word of God, in whose image man was made, who could be loving +and merciful, long-suffering and repenting Him of the evil, but never of +the good. He came, and He swept away, as He had told the Apostles that +He would do, by such afflictions as man had never seen since the +beginning of the world until then, that Roman world with all its devilish +systems and maxims, whereby the nations were kept down in slavery and +sin; and He founded a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwell +righteousness, even this Holy Catholic Church, to which we all belong +this day. + +Yes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there is a God +whose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into His own likeness. +A God who is no dark, obstinate, inexorable Fate, whose arbitrary decrees +must come to pass; but a loving and merciful God, long-suffering, and who +repenteth Him of the evil; who repents Him of the evil which is in man, +and hates it, and has sworn to Himself to fight against it, till He has +put all enemies under His foot, and cast out of His kingdom all things +which offend. Who repents Him of the evil in man: but who will never +again repent Him of having made man, for then He would repent of having +become man; He would repent of having been conceived of the Holy Ghost; +He would repent of having been born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent +of having been crucified, dead, and buried; He would repent of having +risen from the dead, and ascended up into heaven in His man’s body, and +soul, and spirit; He would repent of sitting on the right hand of God; He +would repent of coming to judge the quick and the dead; He would repent +of having done His Father’s will on earth, even as He did it from all +eternity in the bosom of the Father. For He is a man; and even as the +reasonable soul and body are one man, so God and man are one Christ. As +man, He did His Father’s will in Judæa of old; as man, He will judge the +world; as man He rules it now; as man, St. John saw Him fifty years after +He ascended to heaven, and His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His +hair like fine wool, and He was girt under the bosom with a golden +girdle, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; as man, He said: +“Fear not: I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was +dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of +death and hell.” Yes. This is the gospel, the good news for fallen man, +that there is a Man in the midst of the throne of God, to whom all power +is given in heaven and earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is +therein—the fate of suns and stars—the fate of kings and nations—the fate +of every publican and harlot, and heathen and outcast—the fate of all who +are in death and hell, depends alike upon the sacred heart of Jesus; the +heart which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; the heart which +wept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed Magdalene, the +woman who was a sinner: “Go in peace; thy sins are forgiven thee;” the +heart which now yearns after every sinful and wandering soul in His +church, and all over the earth of God, crying to you all: “Why will ye +die? Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord, +and not rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live? Come +unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you +rest.” Oh, my friends, wonderful as my words are—as wonderful to me who +speak them as they can be to you who hear them—yet they are true. True; +for on that table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself said, +standing upon this very earth which He Himself had made: “This is my body +which is given for you; this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which I +will give for the life of the world.” + + + + +XXXVII. +THE KINGDOM OF GOD. + + + The kingdom of God is within you.—LUKE xvii. 21. + +THESE words are in the second lesson for this morning’s service. Let us +think a little about them. + +What they mean must depend on what the kingdom of God means; for that is +the one thing about which they speak. + +Now, the kingdom of God is very often spoken of in the New Testament. +Indeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all others. It was the thing +which our Lord went about preaching. It was the thing of which He spoke +in His parables, likening the kingdom of God first to one thing, then to +another, that He might make men understand what it was like. + +Now, it is worth remarking that we—I mean even religious people—speak +very little about the kingdom of God nowadays. One hears less about it +than about any other words, almost, which stand in the New Testament. +Both in sermons and in religious books, and in the talk of godly people, +one hears the kingdom of God spoken of very seldom. One hears words +about the Church, which are very good and true; but very little, if +anything, about the kingdom of God, though both St. Paul, and St. John, +and the blessed Lord Himself, speak of the two together, as if they could +not be parted; as if one could not think of the one without thinking of +the other. And we hear words about the gospel, too, some of them very +good and true, and others, I am sorry to say, very bad and false: but, +true or false, they are not often joined now in men’s minds, or mouths, +or books, with the kingdom of God. But the New Testament joins them +almost always. It says that gospel must be good news. Therefore the +gospel must be good news about something. But about what? We hear all +manner of answers nowadays; but we hear the right one very seldom. +People talk of the gospel as if it only meant the good news that one man +can be saved here, and another man can be saved there. And that is good +news, certainly. It is good and blessed news to hear that any one poor +sinner can be saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But the holy +scriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel of the +kingdom of God. And I think it best and wisest to call it oftenest, what +the holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to try and understand, first of +all, what that means, what the good news of the kingdom of God is: and to +understand that, we must first understand what the kingdom of God is. + +But some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of salvation. +True, it does, once or twice. But what does that show? Is that a +different gospel from the gospel of the kingdom of God? Are there two +gospels? Surely not. Else why would holy scripture speak so often of +“the gospel”—“the good news,” by itself, without any word after to show +what it was about? It says often simply “the gospel;” because there is +but one gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if any man or angel preach any +other than that one, “Let him be anathema.” + +Therefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the gospel of the +kingdom of God; and, therefore, it seems to me, that salvation and the +kingdom of God must be one and the same thing. + +Now, do you think so? When I say “The kingdom of God is salvation,” do +you think it is? Have you even any clear notion of what I mean when I +say it? Some of you have not, I am afraid; you cannot see at first sight +what salvation and the kingdom of God have to do with each other. And +why? You think salvation means being saved from hell, and going to +heaven, when you die. And so it does: but I trust in God and in God’s +holy scripture, that it means a great deal more; for I think it means +being unfit for hell, and fit for heaven, before we die. At least, so +says the Church Catechism, which teaches every little child to thank his +Heavenly Father for having brought him into such a state of salvation in +this life, even while he is young. Thanks be to The Spirit of God which +taught our fore-fathers to put these precious words into the Church +Catechism, to guard us against falling into the very same mistake as the +Pharisees of old fell into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom of +God was to come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common enough to +fall into the same mistake. + +For what was their mistake? They fancied that the kingdom of God was not +yet come. And do not most of you think the same? They did not deny, of +course, that God was almighty, and could rule and govern all mankind if +He chose so to do. But they did not believe that He was ruling and +governing all mankind then, because they did not know what His rule and +government were like. Now, St. Paul tells us what God’s kingdom is like. +The kingdom of God, he says, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the +Holy Spirit. So wherever there is righteousness, and peace, and joy in +the Holy Spirit, there the kingdom of God is. But His kingdom over what? +Over dumb animals, or over men? Over men, certainly; for dumb animals +cannot have righteousness, or joy in the Holy Spirit. But over what part +of a man? Over his body or over his spirit, as we call it nowadays? +Over his spirit, certainly; for it is only our spirits which can be +righteous, or peaceful, or joyful in God’s Spirit. Therefore God’s +kingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, is a kingdom, a government over the +souls, the spirits of men. Now, are our spirits the inward part of us, +or our bodies? Our spirits, certainly. We all say, and say rightly, +that our bodies are the outward part of us, and that our spirits are +within us. Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly with the blessed +Lord’s saying in the text, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within +you”—that is, in your spirits, because it is righteousness, and peace, +and joy in the Holy Spirit; and these are things which only our souls, +not our bodies at all, can have. + +But these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and hypocritical +men. Was the kingdom of God within them? The blessed Lord said plainly +that it was. He said not, “The kingdom of God is within some people’s +hearts;” or, “The kingdom of God is within the hearts of believers;” or, +“The kingdom of God might be within you if you liked.” But He said that +the kingdom of God was then and there within the hearts of those wicked +and unbelieving Pharisees. + +Now, how could that be? In the same way that some time before that, as +St. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was present to heal those same +Pharisees; and they were for the time amazed, and glorified God, and were +filled with fear at His mighty works; but not healed. Their souls were +not cured of their sin and folly by any means; for we find in the very +next chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied man on the Sabbath-day +they were filled with madness, and consulted together how to kill Him. + +For, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. God’s kingdom is +within every one of us; but it may make us worse, as well as make us +better. It may fill us with righteousness, and peace, and joy in the +Holy Spirit; or it may fill us, as it filled the Pharisees, with madness, +and hatred of religion and of goodness; as it is written, that the gospel +may be a savour of death unto death to us, as well as a savour of life +unto life. And it depends on us which it shall be. + +This is what I mean: God’s kingdom is within each of us. God is the King +of our hearts and souls; our baptism tells us so; and it tells us truly. +And because God is the King of each of our hearts, He comes everlastingly +to take possession of our hearts, and continues claiming our souls for +His own. He speaks in our hearts day and night; whenever we have a good +thought, He speaks in our hearts, and says to us: “I am the King of your +spirit. It must obey me. I put this good thought into your hearts, and +you are bound to follow that good thought, because it is a law of my +kingdom.” Or again, God speaks in our hearts, and says to us: “You have +done this wrong thing. You know that it is wrong. You know that it is +an offence against my law. Why have you rebelled against me?” Or again, +when we see anyone do a good, a loving, or a noble action; or when we +read of the lives of good and noble men and women; above all, when we +read or hear of the character and doings of the blessed Lord Jesus, then +and there God speaks in our hearts, and stirs us up to love and admire +these noble and blessed examples, and says to us: “That is right. That +is beautiful. That is what men should do. That is what you should do. +Why are you not like that man? Why are you not like my saints? Why are +you not like me, the Lord Jesus Christ?” + +You all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not mean that you +hear a voice speaking to your ears, but that thoughts and feelings come +into your heart, without you putting them there: ay, often enough, in +spite of your trying to drive them away. Now, those right thoughts are +the kingdom of God within you. They are the voice of the Lord Jesus +Christ speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, and telling you that +He is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; and that obeying Him +means being righteous and good, as He is righteous and good; and calling +on you to give up your own wills and fancies, and to do His will, and let +Him make you holy, even as He is holy. That, I say, is the kingdom of +God showing itself within you, telling you that God is your King, and +telling you how to obey Him. + +But what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a man rebels proudly +against the good thoughts that rise in his mind, and tries to forget +them, and grows angry with them, angry with the preacher, the Church +Service, the Bible itself, because they _will_ go on reminding him of +what he knows in his heart to be right? What if those good thoughts only +make him the more stubborn and determined to do his own pleasure, and +follow his own interests, and do his own will? + +Do you not see that to that man God’s kingdom over his heart is a savour +of death unto death—that his finding out that God is his Lord only makes +him more rebellious—that God’s Spirit striving with his heart to bring it +right, only stirs up his stubbornness and self-will, and makes him go the +more obstinately wrong? + +Oh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can become worse by +God’s loving desire to make him better! But so it is. So it was with +Pharaoh of old. All God’s pleading with him by the message of Moses and +Aaron, by the mighty plagues which God sent on Egypt, only hardened +Pharaoh’s heart. The Lord God spoke to him, and his message only lashed +Pharaoh’s proud and wicked will into greater fury and rebellion, as a +vicious horse becomes the more unmanageable the more you punish it. +Therefore, it is said plainly in scripture, that _The Lord_ hardened +Pharaoh’s heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord’s will was to make +Pharaoh hard-hearted and wicked. God forbid. The Lord is the fountain +of good only, and not He, but we and the devil, make evil. But the more +the Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to bend his will, the more +self-willed he became. The more the Lord showed Pharaoh that the Lord +was King, the more he hated the kingdom and will of God, the more he +determined to be king himself, and to obey no law but his own wicked +fancies and pleasures, and asked: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey +Him?” + +And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that the kingdom +of God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts and minds, +and was trying to change their feelings and alter their opinions, it only +maddened them. They were determined not to change. They were determined +not to confess that they had been wrong, and had mistaken the meaning of +holy scripture. They were too proud to confess what Jesus told them, +that they were no better than the poor ignorant common people whom they +despised. And yet they knew in their hearts that He was right. When the +Lord told them the parable of the vineyard, they answered, “God forbid!” +they felt at once that the parable had to do with them—that they were the +wicked husbandmen on whom He said their master would take vengeance: but +that only maddened them the more, till they ended by crucifying the Lord +of Glory, upon a pretence which they knew was a false and lying one; and +when Judas Iscariot said, “I have betrayed the innocent blood,” they did +not deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all they answered was, “What +is that to us?” They were determined to have their own way whether He +was innocent or not. They had seen God’s likeness. They had seen what +God was like, by seeing the conduct of His only begotten Son Jesus +Christ. And when they saw God’s likeness they hated it, because it was +not like themselves. And the more God strove with their hearts, and +tried to make them obey Him, the more, in short, they felt His kingdom +within them, the more they hated that kingdom of God within them, because +it reproved them, and convinced them of sin. Oh, my friends, young +people especially, beware; beware lest you fall into the same miserable +state of mind. The kingdom of God is within you. The Holy Spirit, by +which you were regenerate in holy baptism, is stirring and pleading with +your hearts, making you happy when you do right, unhappy when you do +wrong. Oh, listen to those good thoughts and feelings within you! Never +fancy that they are your own thoughts and feelings: else you will fancy +that you can put them away and take them back again when you choose to +change and become religious. Do not let the devil deceive you into that +notion. These good thoughts and feelings are the Spirit of God. They +are the signs that the kingdom of God is within you; that God is King and +Master of your hearts and minds; and that you cannot keep Him out of +them: but that He can enter into them when He likes, and put right +thoughts into them. But though you cannot prevent God and His kingdom +entering into you, you can refuse to enter into it. Alas! alas! how many +of you shut your ears to God’s voice: try to drive God’s Spirit out of +your own hearts; try to forget what is right, because it is unpleasant to +remember it, and say to yourselves, “I will have my own way. I will try +and forget what the clergyman said in his sermon, or what I learnt at +school. I am grown up now, and I will do what I like.” Oh, my friends, +is it a wise or a hopeful battle to fight against the living God? Grieve +not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of +redemption, lest He go away from you and leave you to yourselves, +spiritually dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, whose end is to be +burned. Grieve Him not, lest He depart, and with Him both the Father and +the Son. And then you will not know right from wrong, because God the +Holy Spirit, the Spirit of right, has left you. You will not know what a +man ought to be or do, because the Son of Man, the perfect likeness of +God, and therefore the pattern of man, has left you. You will not know +that God the Father is your Father, but only fancy him a stern +taskmaster, reaping where He has not sown, and requiring of you more than +you are bound to pay, because God the Father has left you. + +You may, indeed, keep out ugly thoughts for a time. You may go on +wantonly in sin, and worldliness, and self-will. And then, by way of +falling deeper still, you may take up with some false sort of religion, +which makes people fancy that they know God, and are one of His elect, +while in works they deny Him, and their sinful heart is unchanged. Then +your mouth indeed may be full of second-hand talk about the gospel. But +what gospel? I call that a devil’s gospel, and not God’s gospel, which +makes men fancy that they may continue in sin that grace may abound. I +call any grace which leaves men in their sins the devil’s grace, and not +God’s grace. Certainly it is not the gospel of the kingdom of God; for +if it was, it would produce in men the fruits of that kingdom, +righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, instead of the +fruits which we see too often, bigotry and self-conceit, bitterness, +evil-speaking, and hard judgments, and joy in a most unholy and damnable +spirit, not to mention covetousness and deceitfulness, or even in some +cases wantonness and lust. And yet such men will often fancy that they +belong especially to God, and doubt whether He will have mercy on any who +do not exactly agree with them; while in reality God and His kingdom have +utterly left their hearts, and they are as blind and dark as the beasts +which perish. May God preserve us from that second death which comes on +sinners, when, after a sinful youth, their terrified souls begin to cry +out in fear at the sight of their sins; and they, instead of casting away +their sins, keep their sins, or change old sins for more respectable and +safe new ones, and drug their souls with false doctrines, as foolish +nurses quiet children’s crying by giving them poisonous medicines. I +know men who have fallen, I really fear at times, into that state of +mind, and are like those Pharisees of whom our Lord said: “Ye serpents, +ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Even +for them it is not too late: but, let them recollect, if the kingdom of +God is within them, if they have any feelings of right and wrong left in +them, that their covetousness, and lying, and slandering, and conceit, is +fighting against God; that these are just what God desires to cast out of +them; and that unless they give up their hearts to God, and let Him cast +out their sins, and be converted, and become like little children, +gentle, humble, teachable, friendly, and kind-hearted, obedient to their +heavenly Father, God will cast them out of His kingdom among the things +which offend, and bring a bad name on religion; among those very +profligate and open sinners whom they are so ready to despise and curse. + + + + +XXXVIII. +THE LIGHT. + + + But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for + whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore He saith, Awake + thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give + thee light.—EPHESIANS v. 13, 14. + +ST. PAUL has been telling the Ephesians who they are; that they are God’s +dear children. To whom they belong; to Christ who has given Himself for +them. What they ought to do; to follow God’s likeness, and live in love. +That they are light in the Lord; and are to walk as children of the +light; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but +rather reprove them. As much as to say: Do not believe those who tell +you that there is no harm in young people going wrong together before +marriage, provided they intend to marry after all. Do not believe those +who tell you that there is no harm in filthy words, provided you do not +do filthy things; and no harm in swearing, provided you do not mean the +curses which you speak. Do not believe those who tell you there is no +harm in poaching another man’s game, provided you do not steal his +poultry, or anything except his game. Do not believe those who tell you +that there is no harm in being covetous, provided you do not actually +cheat your neighbours; and that the sin lies, not in being covetous at +all, but in being more covetous than the law will let you be. + +Do not believe those who say to you that you may keep dark thoughts, +spite, suspicion, envy, cunning, covetousness in your hearts day after +day, year after year, provided you do not openly act on them so as to do +your neighbours any great and notorious injury. + +Plenty of people will tell you so, and try to deceive you with vain +words, and give you arguments, and texts of scripture perhaps, to prove +that sin is not sin, and that the children of light may do the works of +darkness. But do not believe them, says St. Paul. They are deceivers, +and their words are vain. These are the very things which bring down +God’s wrath on His disobedient children. These are the bad ways which +make young people, when they are married, despise, and distrust, and +quarrel with each other, and live miserable lives together, as children +of wrath, peevish, and wrathful, and discontented with each other, +because they feel that God is angry with them, just as Adam in the +garden, when he felt that he had sinned, and that God was wroth with him, +laid the blame on his wife, and accused her, whom he ought to have loved, +and protected, and excused. + +These are the bad ways which make people ashamed when they meet a good +and a respectable person, make them afraid of being overheard, afraid of +being found out, fond of haunting low and out-of-the-way places where +they will not be seen; fond of prowling and lurching out at night after +their own sinful pleasures, because the darkness hides them from their +neighbours, and seems to hide them from themselves, though it cannot hide +them from God. These are the sins which make men silent, cunning, dark, +sour, double-tongued, afraid to look anyone full in the face, unwilling +to make friends, afraid of opening their minds to anyone, because they +have something on their minds which they dare not tell their neighbours, +which they dare not even tell themselves, but think about as little as +they can help. Do you not know what I mean? Do you not often see it in +others? Have you never felt it in yourselves when you have done wrong, +that dark feeling within which shows itself in dark looks? You talk of a +“dark-looking man,” or a “dark sort of person;” and you mean, do you not, +a man whom you cannot make out, who does not wish you to make him out; +who keeps his thoughts and his feelings to himself, and is never frank or +free, except with bad companions, when the world cannot see him; who goes +about hanging down his head, and looking out of the corners of his eyes, +as if he were afraid of the very sunshine—afraid of the light. We know +that such a man has something dark on his mind. We call him a “dark sort +of man.” And we are right. We say of him what St. Paul says of him in +this very epistle, when he says, that sin is darkness, and sinful works +the deeds of darkness; and that goodness, and righteousness, and truth, +are light, the very light of God and the Spirit of God. Our reason, our +common sense, which is given us by God’s Spirit, the Spirit of light, +makes us use the right words, the same words as St. Paul does, and call +sin darkness. + +But rather reprove these dark works, says St. Paul; that is, look at +them, and see that they are utterly worthless and damnable. And how? +“All things that are reproved,” he says, “are made manifest by the light. +For whatsoever makes manifest is light.” Whatsoever makes manifest, that +is, makes plain and clear. Whatsoever makes you see anything or person +in heaven or earth as it really is; whatsoever makes you understand more +about anything; whatsoever shows you more what you are, where you are, +what you ought to do; whatsoever teaches you any single hint about your +duty to God, or man, or the dumb beasts which you tend, or the soil which +you till, or the business and line of life which you ought to follow; +whatsoever shows you the right and the wrong in any matter, the truth and +the falsehood in any matter, the prudent course and the imprudent course +in any matter; in a word, whatsoever makes your mind more clear about any +single thing in heaven or earth, is light. For, mind, St. Paul does not +say, whatsoever is light makes things plain; but whatsoever makes things +plain is light. That is saying a great deal more, thank God; for if he +had said, whatsoever is light makes things clear, we should have been +puzzled to know what was light; we should have been tempted to settle for +ourselves what was light. And, God knows, people in all ages, and people +of all religions, Christians as well as heathens, have been tempted to +say so, and to misread this text, till they said: “Whatsoever agrees with +our doctrine is light, of course, but all other teaching is darkness, and +comes from the devil;” and so they oftentimes blasphemed against God’s +Holy Spirit by calling good actions bad ones, just because they were done +by people who did not agree with them, and fell into the same sin as the +Pharisees of old, who said that the Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the +prince of the devils. + +But St. Paul says, whatsoever makes anything clearer to you, is light. +There is the gospel, and there is the good news of salvation again, +coming out, as it does all through St. Paul’s epistles, at every turn, +just where poor, sinful, dark man least expects it. For, what does St. +Paul say in the very next verse? “Wherefore,” he says, “arise from the +dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” “Christ shall give thee light!” +Oh blessed news! _Christ_ gives us the light, and therefore we need not +be afraid of it, but trust it, and welcome it. And Christ _gives_ us the +light, therefore we have not to hunt and search after it; for He will +give it us. Let us think over these two matters, and see whether there +is not a gospel and good news in them for all wretched, ignorant, sinful, +dark souls, just as much as for those who are learned and wise, or bright +and full of peace. + +Christ gives us the light. This agrees with what St. John says, that “He +is the light who lights every man who comes into the world.” And it +agrees also with what St. James says: “Be not deceived, my beloved +brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and +cometh down from God, the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, +nor shadow of turning.” And it agrees also with what the prophet says, +that it is the Spirit of God which gives man understanding. And it +agrees also with what the Lord Himself promised us when He was on earth, +that He would send down on us the Spirit of God—the Spirit which proceeds +alike from Him and from His Father, to guide us into all truth. Ay, my +friends, if we really believe this, what a solemn and important thing +education would seem to us! If we really believed that all light, all +true understanding of any matter, came from the Lord Jesus Christ: and if +we remember what the Lord Jesus’ character was; how He came to do good to +all; to teach not merely the rich and powerful, but the poor, the +ignorant, the outcast, the sinful: should we not say to ourselves, then: +“If knowledge comes from Christ, who never kept anything to Himself, how +dare we keep knowledge to ourselves? If it comes from Him who gave +Himself freely for all, surely He means that knowledge should be given +freely to all. If He and His Father, and our Father, will that all +should come to the knowledge of the truth, how dare we keep the truth +from anyone?” So we should feel it the will of our heavenly Father, the +solemn command of our blessed Saviour, that our children, and not only +they, but every soul around us, young and old, should be educated in the +best possible way, and in any way whatsoever, rather than in none at all. +The education of the poor would be, in our eyes, the most sacred duty. A +school would be, in our eyes, as necessary and almost as sacred a thing +as a church. And to neglect sending our children to school, or to leave +our servants or work-people in ignorance, would seem to us an awful sin +against the Father of lights; a rebellion against the Lord Jesus, who +lights every man who comes into the world, and against our Father in +heaven, who willeth not that one of these little ones should perish. + +And this is made still more plain and certain by the next word in the +text: “Christ shall _give_ thee light:” not sell thee light, or allow +thee to find light after great struggles, and weary years of study: but, +_give_ thee light. Give it thee of His free grace and generosity. We +might have expected that, merely from remembering to whom the light +belongs. The mere fact that light belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, who +is the express likeness of His Father, might have made us sure that He +would give His light freely to the unthankful and to the evil, just as +His Father makes His sun to shine alike on the evil and on the good. +Therefore this text does not leave us to find out the good news for +ourselves. It declares to us plainly that He will give it us, as freely +as He gives us all things richly to enjoy. + +But, someone will say: You surely cannot mean that we shall have +understanding without study? + +You cannot mean that we are to become wise without careful thought, or +that we are to understand books without learning to read? Of course not, +my friends. The text does not say: “Christ will give thee eyes; Christ +will give thee sense:” but, “Christ will give thee light.” . . . Do you +not see the difference? Of what use would your eyes be without light? +And of what use would light be if your eyes were shut, and you asleep? +In darkness you cannot see. Your eyes are there, as good as ever; the +world is there, as fair as ever: but you cannot see it, because there is +no light. You can only feel it, by groping about with your hands, and +laying hold of whatsoever happens to be nearest you. And do you think +that though your bodily eyes cannot see, unless God puts His light in the +sky, to shine on everything, and show it you, yet your minds and souls +can see without any light from God? Not so, my friends. What the sun is +to this earth, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is to the +spirit—that is, the reason and conscience—of every man who comes into the +world. Now, the good news of holy baptism is, that the light is here; +that God’s Spirit is with us, to teach us the truth about everything, +that we may see it in its true light, as it is, as God sees it; that the +day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in +darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of +peace; and that we are children of the light and of the day. But what if +those who sit in darkness like the darkness; and wilfully shut their eyes +tight that they may not see the day-spring from on high, and the light +which God has sent into the world? Then the light will not profit them, +but they will walk on still in darkness, not knowing whither they are +going. + +But some may say, wicked men are very wise; although they rebel against +God’s Spirit, and do not even believe in God’s Spirit, but say that man’s +mind can find out everything for itself, without God’s help, yet they are +very wise. Are they? The Bible tells us again and again that the wisdom +of such men is folly; that God takes such wise men in their own +craftiness. And the Bible speaks truth. If there is one thing of which +I am more certain than another, my friends, it is that, just in +proportion as a man is bad, just in proportion as he does not believe in +a good Spirit of God who wills to teach him, and gives him light, he is a +fool. If there is one thing more than another which such men’s books +have taught me, it is that they are in darkness, when they fancy they are +in the brightest light; that they make the greatest mistakes when they +intend to say the cleverest things; and when they least fancy it, fall +into nonsense and absurdities, not merely on matters of religion, but on +points which they profess to have studied, and in cases where, by their +own showing, they ought to have known better. But our business is rather +with ourselves. Our business, in this time of Lent, is to see whether we +have been shutting our eyes; whether we have been walking in darkness, +while God’s light is all around us. And how shall we know that? Let St. +John tell us: “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, +is in darkness until now, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because +darkness has blinded his eyes.” Hating our brother. Covetousness, which +is indeed hating our brother, for it teaches us to prefer our good to our +neighbour’s good, to fatten ourselves at our neighbour’s expense, to get +his work, his custom, his money, away from him to ourselves; bigotry, +which makes men hate and despise those who differ from them in religion; +spite and malice against those who have injured us; suspicions and dark +distrust of our neighbours, and of mankind in general; selfishness, which +sets us always standing on our own rights, makes us always ready to take +offence, always ready to think that people mean to insult us or injure +us, and makes us moody, dark, peevish, always thinking about ourselves, +and our plans, or our own pleasures, shut up as it were within +ourselves—all these sins, in proportion as anyone gives way to them, +darken the eyes of a man’s soul. They really and actually make him more +stupid, less able to understand his neighbours’ hearts and minds, less +able to take a reasonable view of any matter or question whatsoever. You +may not believe me. But so it is. I know it by experience to be true. +I warn you that you will find it true one day; that all spite, passion, +prejudice, suspicion, hard judgments, contempt, self-conceit, blind a +man’s reason, and heart, and soul, and make him stumble and fall into +mistakes, even in worldly matters, just as surely as shutting our eyes +makes us stumble in broad daylight. He who gives way to such passions is +asleep, while he fancies himself broad awake. His life is a dream; and +like a dreamer, he sees nothing really, only appearances, fancies, +pictures of things in his own selfish brain. Therefore it is written: +“Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give +thee life.” You may say: Can I awaken myself? Perhaps not, unless +someone calls you. And therefore Christ calls on you to awake. He says +by my mouth: Awake, thou sleeper, and I will give thee light; awake, thou +dreamer, who fanciest that the sinful works of darkness can give thee any +real profit, any real pleasure; awake, thou sleep-walker, who art going +about the world in a dream, groping thy way on from day to day and year +to year, only kept from fall and ruin by God’s guiding and preserving +mercy. Open thine eyes, and let in the great eternal loving light, +wherein God beholds everything which He has made, and behold it is very +good. Open thine eyes, for it is day. The light is here if thou wilt +but use it. “I will guide thee,” saith the Lord, “and inform thee with +mine eye, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go.” Only believe +in the light. Believe that all knowledge comes from God. Expect and +trust that He will give thee knowledge. Pray to Him boldly to give thee +knowledge, because thou art sure that He wishes thee to have knowledge. +He wishes thee to know thy duty. He wishes thee to see everything as He +sees it. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all +liberally and upbraideth not, and he shall receive it.” And when thou +hast prayed for knowledge, expect it to come; as it is written: When thou +prayest for anything, believe that thou wilt receive it, and thou wilt +receive it. If thou dost not believe that thou wilt have it, of course +thou wilt not have it. And why? Because thou wilt pass by it without +seeing it. It will be there ready for thee in thy daily walks; Wisdom +will cry to thee at the head of every street; God will not deny Himself +or break His promise: but thou wilt go past the place where wisdom is, +and miss the lessons which God is strewing in thy path, because thou art +not looking for them. Wisdom is here, my friends, and understanding is +here, and the Spirit of God is here, if our eyes were but open to see +them. Oh my friends, of all the sins of which we have to repent in this +time of Lent, none ought to give us more solemn and bitter thoughts of +shame than the way in which we overlook the teaching of God’s Spirit, and +shut our eyes to His light, times without number, every day of our lives. +My friends, if our hearts were what they ought to be, if we had humble, +loving, trustful hearts, full of faith and hope in God’s promise to lead +us into all truth, I believe that every joy and every sorrow which befell +us, every book which we opened, every walk which we took upon the face of +God’s earth, ay, every human face into which we looked, would teach us +some lesson, whereby we should be wiser, better, more aware of where we +are and what God requires of us as human beings, neighbours, citizens, +subjects, members of His church. All things would be clear to us; for we +should see them in the light of God’s Spirit. All things would look +bright to us, for we should see them in the light of God’s love. All +things would work together for good to us, for we should understand each +thing as it came before us, and know what it was, and what God meant it +for, and how we were to use it. And knowing and seeing what was right, +we should see how beautiful it was, and love it, and take delight in +doing it, and so we should walk in the light. Dark thoughts would pass +away from our minds, dark feelings from our hearts, dark looks from our +faces. We should look our neighbours cheerfully and boldly in the face; +for our consciences would be clear of any ill-will or meanness toward +them. We should look cheerfully and boldly up to God our Father; for we +should know that He was with us, guiding and teaching us, well-pleased +with all our endeavours to see things as He sees them, and to live and +work on earth after His image, and in His likeness. We should look out +cheerfully and boldly on the world around us, trying to get knowledge +from everything we see, expecting the light, and welcoming it, and +trusting it, because we know that it comes from Him who is true and +cannot lie, Him who is love and cannot injure, Him who is righteous and +cannot lead us into temptation: Jesus Christ, the Light who lighteth +every man that cometh into the world. + + + + +XXXIX. +THE UNPARDONABLE SIN. + + + Wherefore I say unto you: All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be + forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall + not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the + Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word + against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this + world, or in the world to come.—MATTHEW xii. 31, 32. + +THESE awful words were the Lord’s answer to the Pharisees, when they said +of Him: “He casts out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils.” + +What was it now which made this speech of the Pharisees so terrible a +sin, past all forgiveness? + +Of course we all feel that they were very sinful; we shrink with horror +from their words as we read them. But why ought they to have done the +same? We know, thank God, who Jesus Christ was. But they did not; at +that time, when He was first beginning to preach, they hardly could have +known. And mind, we must not say: “They ought to have known that He was +the Son of God by His having the _power_ of casting out devils;” for the +Lord Himself says that the sons of these Pharisees used to cast them out +also, or that the Pharisees believed that they did; and only asks them: +“Why do you say of my casting out devils, what you will not say of your +sons’ casting them out?” Pray bear this in mind; for if you do not—if +you keep in your mind the vulgar and unscriptural notion that the +Pharisees’ sin was not being convinced by the great power of Christ’s +miracles, you will never understand this story, and you will be very +likely to get rid of it altogether as speaking of a sin which does not +concern you, and a sin which you cannot commit. Now, if the Pharisees +did not know that Jesus was the Son of God, the Maker and King of the +world, as we do, why were they so awfully wicked in saying that He cast +out devils by the prince of the devils? Was it anything more than a +mistake of theirs? Was it as wicked as crucifying the Lord? Could it be +a worse sin to make that one mistake, than to murder the Lord Himself? +And yet it must have been a worse sin. For the Lord prayed for his +murderers: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And +these Pharisees, they knew not what they did: and yet the Lord, far from +praying for them, told them that even He did not see how such serpents, +such a generation of vipers, could escape the damnation of hell. + +It is worth our while to think over this question, and try and find out +what made the Pharisees’ sin so great. And to do that, it will be wiser +for us, first, to find out what the Pharisees’ sin was; lest we should +sit here this morning, and think them the most wicked wretches who ever +trod the earth; and then go away, and before a week is over, commit +ourselves the very same sin, or one so fearfully like it, that if other +people can see a difference between them, I confess I cannot. And to +commit such a sin, my good friends, is a far easier thing to do than some +people fancy, especially here in England now. + +Now, the worst part of the Pharisees’ sin was not, as we are too apt to +fancy, their insulting the Lord: but their insulting the Holy Spirit. +For what does the Lord Himself say? That all manner of blasphemy as well +as sin should be forgiven; that whosever spoke a word against Him, the +Son of Man, should be forgiven: but that the unpardonable part of their +offence was, that they had blasphemed the Holy Spirit. + +And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of holiness. And what is +holiness? What are the fruits of holiness? For, as the Lord told the +Pharisees on this very occasion, the tree is known by its fruit. What +says St. Paul? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, +long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. Those who do +not show these fruits have not God’s Spirit in them. Those who are hard, +unloving, proud, quarrelsome, peevish, suspicious, ready to impute bad +motives to their neighbours, have not God’s Spirit in them. Those who do +show these fruits; who are gentle, forgiving, kind-hearted, ready to do +good to others, and believe good of others, have God’s Spirit in them. +For these are good fruits, which, as our Lord tells us, can only spring +from a good root. Those who have the fruit must have the root, let their +doctrines be what they may. Those who have not the fruit cannot have the +root, let their doctrines be what they may. + +That is the plain truth; and it is high time for preachers to proclaim it +boldly, and take the consequences from the Scribes and Pharisees of this +generation. That is the plain truth. Let doctrines be what they will, +the tree is known by its fruit. The man who does wrong things is bad, +and the man who does right things is good. It is a simple thing to have +to say, but very few believe it in these days. Most fancy that the men +who can talk most neatly and correctly about certain religious doctrines +are good, and that those who cannot are bad. That is no new notion. +Some people thought so in St. John’s time; and what did he say of them? +“Little children, let no man deceive you; it is he that doeth +righteousness who is righteous, even as God is righteous.” And again: +“He who says, I know God, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and +the truth is not in him.” St. John was the apostle of love. He was +always preaching the love of God to men, and entreating men to love one +another. His own heart was overflowing with love. Yet when it came to +such a question as that; when it came to people’s pretending to be +religious and orthodox, and yet neither obeying God nor loving their +neighbours, he could speak sternly and plainly enough. He does not say: +“My dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ from you, but I am afraid +you are mistaken;” he says: “You are liars, and there is no truth in +you.” + +Now this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They had got to +think, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a man’s having God’s +Spirit in him, was his agreeing with them in doctrine. But if he did not +agree with them; if he would not say the words which they said, and did +not belong to their party, and side with them in despising every one who +differed from them, it was no matter to them, as they proved by their +opinion of Jesus Himself, how good he might be, or how much good he might +do; how loving, gentle, patient, benevolent, helping, and caring for poor +people; in short, how like God he was; all that went for nothing if he +was not of their party. For they had forgotten what God was like. They +forgot that God was love and mercy itself, and that all love and mercy +must come from God; and, that, therefore, no one, let his creed or his +doctrine be what it might, could possibly do a loving or merciful thing, +but by the grace and inspiration of God, the Father of mercies. And yet +their own prophets of the Old Testament had told them so, when they +ascribed the good deeds of heathens to the inspiration of God, just as +much as the good deeds of Jews, and agreed, as they do in many a text, +with what St. James, himself a Jew, said afterwards: “Be not deceived; +every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down +from the Father of lights.” But the Pharisees, like too many nowadays, +did not think so. They thought that good and perfect gifts might some of +them very well come from below, from the father of darkness and cruelty. +They saw the Lord Jesus Christ doing good things; driving out evil, and +delivering men from the power of it; healing the sick, cleansing the +leper, curing the mad, preaching the gospel to the poor: and yet they saw +in that no proof that God’s Spirit was working in Him. Of course, if He +had been one of their own party, and had held the same doctrines as they +held, they would have praised Him loudly enough, and held Him up as a +great saint of their school, and boasted of all His good deeds as proofs +of how good their party was, and how its doctrines came from God. But as +long as He was not one of them, His good works went for nothing. They +could not see God’s likeness in that loving and merciful character. All +His charity and benevolence made them only hate Him the more, because it +made them the more afraid that He would draw the people away from them. +“And of course,” they said to themselves, “whosoever draws people away +from us, must be on the devil’s side. We know all God’s law and will. +No one on earth has anything to teach us. And therefore, as for any one +who differs from us, if he cast out devils, it must be because the devil +is helping him, for his own purposes, to do it.” + +In one word, then, the sin of these Pharisees, the unpardonable sin, +which ruins all who give themselves up to it, was bigotry; calling right +wrong, because it did not suit their party prejudices to call it right. +They were fancying themselves very religious and pious, and all the while +they did not know right when they saw it; and when the Lord came doing +right, they called it wrong, because He did not agree with their +doctrines. They fancied they were the only people on earth who knew how +to worship God perfectly; and yet while they pretended to worship Him, +they did not know what He was like. The Lord Jesus came down, the +perfect likeness of God’s glory, and the express pattern of His +character, helping, and healing, and delivering the souls and bodies of +all poor wretches whom He met; and these Pharisees could not see God’s +Spirit in that; and because it was certainly not their own spirit, called +it the spirit of a devil, and blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, the +Spirit of Right and Love. + +This was bigotry, the flower and crown of all sins into which man can +fall; the worst of all sins, because a man may keep from every other sin +with all his might and main, as the Pharisees did, and yet be led by +bigotry into almost every one of them without knowing it; into harsh and +uncharitable judgment; into anger, clamour, and railing; into +misrepresentation and slander; and fancying that the God of truth needs +the help of their lying; perhaps, as has often happened, alas! already, +into devilish cruelty to the souls and bodies of men. The worst of all +sins; because a man who has given up his heart to bigotry can have no +forgiveness. He cannot; for how can a man be forgiven unless he repent? +and how can a bigot repent? how can he confess himself in the wrong, +while he fancies himself infallibly in the right? As the Lord said to +these very Pharisees: “If ye had been blind, ye had had no sin: but now +ye say We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” + +How can the bigot repent? for repenting is turning to God; and how can a +man turn to God who does not know where to look for God, who does not +know who God is, who mistakes the devil for God, and fancies the +all-loving Father to be a taskmaster, and a tyrant, and an accuser, and a +respecter of persons, without mercy or care for ninety-nine hundredths of +the souls which He has made? How can he find God? He does not know whom +to look for. + +How can the bigot repent? for to repent means to turn from wrong to +right; and he has lost the very notion of right and wrong, in the midst +of all his religion and his fine doctrines. He fancies that right does +not mean love, mercy, goodness, patience, but notions like his own; and +that wrong does not mean hatred, and evil-speaking, and suspicion, and +uncharitableness, and slander, and lying, but notions unlike his own. +What he agrees with he thinks is heavenly, and what he disagrees with is +of hell. He has made his own god for himself out of himself. His own +prejudices are his god, and he worships them right worthily; and if the +Lord were to come down on earth again, and would not say the words which +he is accustomed to say, it would go hard but he would crucify the Lord +again, as the Pharisees did of old. + +My friends, there is too much of this bigotry, this blasphemy against +God’s Spirit, abroad in England now. May God keep us all from it! Pray +to Him night and day, to give you His Spirit, that you may not only be +loving, charitable, full of good works yourselves, but may be ready to +praise and enjoy a good, and loving, and merciful action, whosoever does +it, whether he be of your religion or not; for nothing good is done by +any living man without the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of the +Spirit of God, the Father of lights, from whom comes down every good and +perfect gift. And whosoever tries to escape from that great truth, when +he sees a man whose doctrines are wrong doing a right act, by imputing +bad motives to him, or saying: “His actions must be evil, however good +they may look, because his doctrines are wrong,”—that man is running the +risk of committing the very same sin as the Pharisees, and blaspheming +against the Holy Spirit, by calling good evil. And be sure, my friends, +that whosoever indulges, even in little matters, in hard judgments, and +suspicions, and hasty sneers, and loud railing, against men who differ +from him in religion, or politics, or in anything else, is deadening his +own sense of right and wrong, and sowing the seeds of that same state of +mind, which, as the Lord told the Pharisees, is utterly the worst into +which any human being can fall. + + + + +XL. +THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE. + + + For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye + have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, + Father.—ROMANS viii. 15. + +SOME of you here may not understand this text at all. Some of you, +perhaps, may misunderstand it; for it is not an easy one. Let us, then, +begin, by finding out the meaning of each word in it; and, let us first +see what is the meaning of the spirit of bondage unto fear. Bondage +means slavery; and the spirit of bondage means the spirit which makes men +look up to God as slaves do to their taskmaster. Now, a slave obeys his +master from fear only; not from love or gratitude. He knows that his +master is stronger than he is, and he dreads being beaten and punished by +him; and therefore, he obeys him only by compulsion, not of his own good +will. This is the spirit of bondage; the slavish, superstitious spirit +in religion, into which all men fall, in proportion as they are mean, and +sinful, and carnal, fond of indulging themselves, and bearing no love to +God or right things. They know that God is stronger than they; they are +afraid that God will take away comforts from them if they offend Him; +they have been taught that He will cast them into endless torment if they +offend Him; and, therefore, they are afraid to do wrong. They love what +is wrong, and would like to do it; but they dare not, for fear of God’s +punishment. They do not really fear God; they only fear punishment, +misfortune, death, and hell. That is better, perhaps, than no religion +at all. But it is not the faith which _we_ ought to have. + +In this way the old heathens lived: loving sin and not holiness, and yet +continually tormented with the fear of being punished for the very sins +which they loved; looking up to God as a stern taskmaster; fancying Him +as proud, and selfish, and revengeful as themselves; trying one day to +quiet that wrath of His which they knew they deserved, by all sorts of +flatteries and sacrifices to Him; and the next day trying to fancy that +He was as sinful as themselves, and was well-pleased to see them sinful +too. And yet they could not keep that lie in their hearts; God’s light, +which lights every man who comes into the world, was too bright for them, +and shone into their consciences, and showed them that the wages of sin +was death. The law of God, St. Paul tells us, was written in their +hearts; and how much soever, poor creatures, they might try to blot it +out and forget it, yet it would rise up in judgment against them, day by +day, night by night, convincing them of sin. So they in their terror +sold themselves to false priests, who pretended to know of plans for +helping them to escape from this angry God, and gave themselves up to +superstitions, till they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters +to devils, in some sort of confused hope of buying themselves off from +misery and ruin. + +And in the same way the Jews lived, for the most part, before the Lord +Jesus came in the flesh of man. Not so viciously and wickedly, of +course, because the law of Moses was holy, and just, and good; the law +which the Lord Himself had given them, because it was the best for them +then; because they were too sinful, and slavish, and stupid, for anything +better. But, as St. Paul says, Moses’s law could not give them life, any +more than any other law can. That is, it could not make them righteous +and good; it could not change their hearts and lives; it could only keep +them from outward wrong-doing by threats and promises, saying: “Thou +shalt not.” It could, at best, only show them how sinful their own +hearts were; how little they loved what God commanded; how little they +desired what He promised; and so it made them feel more and more that +they were guilty, unworthy to look up to a holy God, deserving His anger +and punishment, worthy to die for their sins; and thus by the law came +the knowledge of sin, a deeper feeling of guilt, and shame, and slavish +dread of God, as St. Paul sets forth, with wonderful wisdom, in the +seventh chapter of Romans. + +Now, let us consider the latter half of the text. “But ye have received +the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.” + +What is this adoption? St. Paul tells us in the beginning of the fourth +chapter of his epistle to the Galatians. He says: As long as a man’s +heir is a child, and under age, there is no difference in law between him +and a slave. He is his father’s property. He must obey his father, +whether he chooses or not; and he is under tutors and governors, until +the time appointed by his father; that is, until he comes of age, as we +call it. Then he becomes his own master. He can inherit and possess +property of his own after that. And from that time forth the law does +not bind him to obey his father; if he obeys him it is of his own free +will, because he loves, and trusts, and reverences his father. + +Now, St. Paul says, this is the case with us. When we were infants, we +were in bondage under the elements of the world; kept straight, as +children are, by rules which they cannot understand, by the fear of +punishment which they cannot escape, with no more power to resist their +father than slaves have to resist their master. But when the fulness of +time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under a law, +that He might redeem those who were under a law, that we might receive +the adoption of sons. + +As much as to say: You were God’s _children_ all along: but now you are +more; you are God’s sons. You have arrived at man’s estate; you are men +in body and in mind; you are to be men in spirit, men in life. You are +to look up to the great God who made heaven and earth, and know, glorious +thought! that He is as truly your Father as the men whose earthly sons +you call yourselves. And if you do this, He will give you the Spirit of +adoption, and you shall be able to call Him Father with your hearts, as +well as with your lips; you shall know and feel that He is your Father; +that He has been loving, watching, educating, leading you home to Him all +the while that you were wandering in ignorance of Him, in childish +self-will, and greediness after pleasure and amusement. He will give you +His Spirit to make you behave like His sons, to obey Him of your own free +will, from love, and gratitude, and honour, and filial reverence. He +will make you love what He loves, and hate what He hates. He will give +you clear consciences and free hearts, to fear nothing on earth or in +heaven, but the shame and ingratitude of disobeying your Father. + +The Spirit of adoption, by which you look up to God as your Father, is +your right. He has given it to you, and nothing but your own want of +faith, and wilful turning back to cowardly superstition, and to the +wilful sins which go before superstition, and come after it, can take it +from you. So said St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, and so I +have a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say to every man and woman in +this church this day. + +For, my dear friends, if you ask me, what has this to do with us? Has it +not everything to do with us? Whether we are leading good lives, or +middling lives, or utterly bad worthless lives, has it not everything to +do with us? Who is there here who has not at times said to himself: “God +so holy, and pure, and glorious; while I am so unjust, and unclean, and +mean! And God so great and powerful; while I am so small and weak! What +shall I do? Does not God hate and despise me? Will He not take from me +all which I love best? Will He not hurl me into endless torment when I +die? How can I escape from Him? Wretched man that I am, I cannot escape +from Him! How, then, can I turn away His hate? How can I make Him +change His mind? How can I soothe Him and appease Him? What shall I do +to escape hell-fire?” + +Did you ever have such thoughts? But, did you find those thoughts, that +slavish terror of God’s wrath, that dread of hell, made you any _better_ +men? I never did. I never saw them make any human being better. Unless +you go beyond them—as far beyond them as heaven is beyond hell, as far +above them as a free son is above a miserable crouching slave, they will +do you more harm than good. For this is all that I have seen come of +them: That all this spirit of bondage, this slavish terror, instead of +bringing a man nearer to God, only drove him further from God. It did +not make him hate what was wrong; it only made him dread the punishment +of it. And then, when the first burst of fear cooled down, he began to +say to himself: “I can never atone for my sins. I can never win back God +to love me. What is done, is done. If I cannot escape punishment, let +me be at least as happy as I can while it lasts. If it does not come +to-day, it will come to-morrow. Let me alone, thou tormenting +conscience. Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die!” And so back +rushed the poor creature into all his wrong-doing again, and fell most +probably deeper than ever into the mire, because a certain feeling of +desperation and defiance rose up in him, till he began to fancy that his +terror was all a dream—a foolish accidental rising up of old +superstitious words which he learnt from his mother or his nurse; and he +tried to forget it all, and did forget it—God help him!—and his latter +end was worse than his first. + +How then shall a man escape shame and misery, and an evil conscience, and +rise out of these sins of his? For do it he must. The wages of sin is +death—death to body and soul; and from sin he must escape. + +There is but one way, my friends. There never was but one way. Believe +the text, and therefore believe the warrant of your Baptism. Believe the +message of your Confirmation. + +Your baptism says to you, God does _not_ hate you, be you the greatest +sinner on earth. He does not hate you. He loves you; for you are His +child. He hateth nothing that He hath made. He willeth not the death of +a sinner, but that _all_ should come to be saved. And your baptism is +the sign of that to you. But God hates everything that He has not made; +for everything which He has not made is bad; and He has made all things +but sin; and therefore He hates sin, and, loving you, wishes to raise you +out of sin; and baptism is the sign of that also. Man was made +originally in the image and likeness of God, and of Jesus Christ, the Son +of Man, the express image of God the Father; and therefore everything +which is sinful is unmanly, and everything which is truly manful, and +worthy of a man, is like Jesus Christ; and God’s will is, that you should +rise out of all these unmanly sins, to a truly manful life—a life like +the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. And baptism is God’s sign of +this also. That is the meaning of the words in the Baptism Service which +tell you that you were baptised into Jesus Christ, that you might put off +the old man—the sinful, slavish, selfish, unmanly pattern of life, which +we all lead by nature; and put on the new man—the holy and noble, +righteous and loving pattern of life, which is the likeness of the Lord +Jesus. That is the message of your baptism to you; that you are God’s +children, and that God’s will and wish is that you should grow up to +become His _sons_, to serve Him lovingly, trustingly, manfully; and that +He can and will give you power to do so—ay, that He has given you that +power already, if you will but claim it and use it. But you must claim +it and use it, because you are meant not merely to be God’s wilful, +ignorant, selfish children, obeying Him from mere fear of the rod; but to +be His willing, loving, loyal sons. And that is the message which +Confirmation brings you. Baptism says: You are God’s child, whether you +know it or not. Confirmation says: Yes; but now you are to know it, and +to claim your rights as His sons, of full age, reasonable and +self-governing. + +Baptism says: You are regenerated and born from above, by water and the +Holy Spirit. Confirmation answers: True, most true; but there is no use +in a child’s being born, if it never comes to man’s estate, but remains a +stunted idiot. + +Baptism says: You may and ought to become more or less such a man as the +Lord Jesus was. Confirmation says: You can become such; for you are no +longer children; you are grown to man’s estate in body, you can grow to +man’s estate in soul if you will. God’s Spirit is with you, to show you +all things in their true light; to teach you to value them or despise +them as you ought; to teach you to love what He loves, and hate what He +hates. God wishes you no longer to be merely His children, obeying Him +you know not why; still less His slaves, obeying Him from mere brute +coward fear, and then breaking loose the moment that you forget Him, and +fancy that His eye is not on you: but He wishes you to be His sons; to +claim the right and the power which He has given you to trample your sins +under foot; to rise up by the strength which God your Father will surely +give to those who ask Him; and so to be new men, free men, true men, who +do look boldly up to God, knowing that, however wicked they may have +been, and however weak they are still, God’s love belongs to them, God’s +help belongs to them, and that those who trust in Him shall never be +confounded, but shall go on from strength to strength to the measure of +the stature of a perfect man, to the noble likeness of the Lord Jesus +Christ Himself. + +For this is the message of the blessed sacrament of the body and blood of +Christ, to which you have been all called this day. That sacrament tells +you that in spite of all your daily sins and failings, you can still look +up to God as your Father; to the Lord Jesus Christ as your life; to the +Holy Spirit as your guide and your inspirer; that though you be prodigal +sons, your Father’s house is still open to you, your Father’s eternal +love ready to meet you afar off, the moment that you cry from your heart: +“Father, I have sinned;” and that you must be converted and turn back to +God your Father, not merely once for all at Confirmation, or at any other +time, but weekly, daily, hourly, as often as you forget and disobey Him; +and that he will receive you. This is the message of the blessed +sacrament, that though you cannot come there trusting in your own +righteousness, you can come trusting in His manifold and great mercies; +that though you are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under +His table, yet He is the same Lord whose property is ever to have mercy; +that He will, as surely as He has appointed that sign of the bread and +wine, grant you so to eat and drink that spiritual flesh and blood of the +Lord Jesus Christ, which is the life of the world, that your sinful +bodies may be made clean by His body, and your souls washed in His most +precious blood, and that you may dwell in Him, and He in you, for ever. + + + + +XLI. +THE FALL. + + + As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so + death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.—ROMANS v. 12. + +WE have been reading the history of Adam’s fall. With that fall we have +all to do; for we all feel the fruits of it in the sinful corruptions +which we bring into the world with us. And more, every fall which we +have is like Adam’s fall: every time we fall into wilful sin, we do what +Adam did, and act over again, each of us many times in our lives, that +which he first acted in the garden of Paradise. At least, all mankind +suffer for something. Look at the sickness, death, bloodshed, +oppression, spite, and cruelty, with which the world is so full now, of +which it has been full, as we know but too well from history, ever since +Adam’s time. The world is full of misery, there is no denying that. How +did that come? It must have come somehow. There must be some reason for +all this sorrow. The Bible tells us a reason for it. If anyone does not +like the Bible reason, he is bound to find a better reason. But what if +the Bible reason, the story of Adam’s fall, be the only rational and +sensible explanation which ever has been, or ever will be given, of the +way in which death and misery came among men? + +Some people will say: What puzzle is there in it? All animals die, why +should not man? All animals fight and devour each other, why should not +man do so too? But why need we suppose that man is fallen? Why should +he not have been meant by nature to be just what he is? Some scholars +who fancy themselves wise, and think that they know better than the +Bible, will say that now, and pride themselves on having said a very fine +thing; ignorant men, too, often are led into the same mistake, and are +willing enough to say: “What if we are brutish, and savage, and ignorant, +and spiteful, indulging ourselves, hating and quarrelling with each +other? God made us what we are, and we cannot help it.” But there is a +voice in the heart of every man, and just in proportion as a man is a +man, and not a beast and a savage, that voice cries in his heart more +loudly: No; God did not make you what you are. You are not meant to be +what you are, but something better. You are not meant to fight and +devour each other as the animals do; for you are meant to be better than +they. You are not meant to die as the animals do; for you feel something +in you which cannot die, which hates death. You may try to be a mere +savage and a beast, but you cannot be content to be so. And yet you feel +ready to fall lower, and get more and more brutish. What can be the +reason? There must be something wrong about men, something diseased and +corrupt in them, or they would not have this continual discontent with +themselves for being no better than they are; this continual hankering +and longing after some happiness, some knowledge, some good and noble +state which they do not see round them, and never have felt in +themselves. Man must have fallen, fallen from some good and right state +into which he was put at first, and for which he is hankering and craving +now. There must be an original sin in him; that is, a sin belonging to +his origin, his race, his breed, as we say, which has been handed down +from father to son; an original sin as the church calls it. And I +believe firmly that the heart of man, even among savages, bears witness +to the truth of that doctrine, and confesses that we are fallen beings, +let false philosophers try as they will to persuade us that we are not. + +Then, again, there are another set of people, principally easy, +well-to-do, respectable people, who run into another mistake, the same +into which the Pelagians did in old time. They think: “Man is not +fallen. Every man is born into the world quite good enough, if he chose +to remain good. Every man can keep God’s laws if he likes, or at all +events keep them well enough.” As for his having a sinful nature which +he got from Adam, they do not believe that really, though often they +might not like to say so openly. They think: “Adam fell, and he was +punished; and if I fall I shall be punished; but Adam’s sin is nothing to +me, and has not hurt me. I can be just as good and right as Adam was, if +I like.” That is a comfortable doctrine enough for easy-going well-to-do +folks, who have but few trials, and few temptations, and who love little +because little has been forgiven them. But what comfort is there in that +for poor sinners, who feel sinful and base passions dragging them down, +and making them brutish and miserable, and yet feel that they cannot +conquer their sins of themselves, cannot help doing wrong, all the while +they know that it is wrong? They feel that they have something more in +them than a will and power to do what they choose. They feel that they +have a sinful nature which keeps their will and reason in slavery, and +makes sin a hard bondage, a miserable prison-house, from which they +cannot escape. In short, they feel and know that they are fallen. Small +comfort, too, to every thinking man, who looks upon the great nations of +savages, which have lived, and live still, upon God’s earth, and sees +how, so far from being able to do right if they choose, they go on from +father to son, generation after generation, doing wrong, more and more, +whether they like or not; how they become more and more children of +wrath, given up to fierce wars, and cruel revenge, and violent passions, +all their thought, and talk, and study, being to kill and to fight; how +they become more and more children of darkness, forgetting more and more +the laws of right and wrong, becoming stupid and ignorant, until they +lose the very knowledge of how to provide themselves with houses, +clothes, fire, or even to till the ground, and end in feeding on roots +and garbage, like the beasts which perish. And how, too, long before +they fall into that state, death works in them. How, the lower they +fall, and the more they yield to their original sin and their corrupt +nature, they die out. By wars with each other; by murdering their own +children, to avoid the trouble of rearing them; by diseases which they +know not how to cure, and which they too often bring on themselves by +their own brutishness; by bad food, and exposure to the weather, they die +out, and perish off the face of the earth, fulfilling the Lord’s words to +Adam: “Thou shalt surely die.” I do not say that their souls go to hell. +The Bible tells us nothing of where they go to. God’s mercy is +boundless. And the Bible tells us that sin is not imputed where there is +no law, as there is none among them. So we may have hope for them, and +leave them in God’s hand. But what can we hope for them who are utterly +dead in trespasses and sins? Well for them, if, having fallen to the +likeness of the brutes, they perish with the brutes. I fancy if you, as +some may, ever go to Australia, and there see the wretched black people, +who are dying out there, faster and faster, year by year, after having +fallen lower than the brutes, then you will understand what original sin +may bring a man to, what it would have brought us to, had not God in His +mercy raised us and our forefathers up from that fearful down-hill +course, when we were on it fifteen hundred years ago. + +And another thing which shows that these poor savages are not as God +intended them to be, but are falling, generation after generation, by the +working of original sin, is, that they, almost all of them, show signs of +having been better off long ago. Many, like the South Sea Islanders, +have curious arts remaining among them in spite of their brutish +ignorance, which they could only have learned when they were far more +clever and civilised than they are now. And almost all of them have some +sad remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept up in songs and +foolish tales, of having been richer, and more prosperous, and more +numerous, a long while ago. They will confess to you, if you ask them, +that they are worse than their fathers—that they are going down, dying +out—that the gods are angry with them, as they say. The Lord have mercy +upon them! But what is, to my mind, the most awful part of the matter +remains yet to be told—and it is this: That man may actually fall by +original sin too low to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be +recovered again by it. For the negroes of Africa and the West Indies, +though they have fallen very low, have not fallen too low for the gospel. +They have still understanding left to take it in, and conscience, and +sense of right and wrong enough left to embrace it; thousands of them do +embrace it, and are received unto righteousness, and lead such lives as +would shame many a white Englishman, born and bred under the gospel. + +But the black people in Australia, who are exactly of the same race as +the African negroes, cannot take in the gospel. They seem to have become +too stupid to understand it; they seem to have lost the sense of sin and +of righteousness too completely to care about it. All attempts to bring +them to a knowledge of the true God have as yet failed utterly. God’s +grace is all-powerful; He is no respecter of persons; and He may yet, by +some great act of His wisdom, quicken the dead souls of these poor brutes +in human shape. But, as far as we can see, there is no hope for them: +but, like the Canaanites of old, they must perish off the face of the +earth, as brute beasts. + +I have said so much to show you that man is fallen; that there is +original sin, an inclination to sin and fall, sink down lower and lower, +in man. Now comes the question: What is this fall of man? I said that +the Bible tells us rationally enough. And I have also made use several +times of words, which may have hinted to some of you already what Adam’s +fall was. I have spoken of the likeness of the beasts, and of men +becoming like beasts by original sin. And this is why I said it. + +If you want to understand what Adam’s fall was, you must understand what +he fell from, and what he fell to. That is plain. + +Now, the Bible tells us, that he fell from God’s grace to nature. + +What is nature? Nature means what is born, and lives, and dies, and is +parted and broken up, that the parts of it may go into some new shape, +and be born and live, and die again. So the plants, trees, beasts, are a +part of nature. They are born, live, die; and then that which was them +goes into the earth, or into the stomachs of other animals, and becomes +in time part of that animal, or part of the tree or flower, which grows +in the soil into which it has fallen. So the flesh of a dead animal may +become a grain of wheat, and that grain of wheat again may become part of +the body of an animal. You all see this every time you manure a field, +or grow a crop. Nature is, then, that which lives to die, and dies to +live again in some fresh shape. And, in the first chapter of Genesis, +you read of God creating nature—earth, and water, and light, and the +heavens, and the plants and animals each after their kind, born to die +and change, made of dust, and returning to the dust again. But after +that we read very different words; we read that when God created man, He +said: + +“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have +dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over +the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that +creepeth upon the earth.” He was made in God’s likeness; therefore he +could only be right in as far as he was like God. And he could not be +like God if he did not will what God willed, and wish what God wished. +He was to live by faith in God; he was justified by faith in God, and by +that only. + +Never fancy that Adam had any righteousness of his own, any goodness of +which he could say: “This is mine, part of me; I may pride myself on it.” +God forbid. His righteousness consisted, as ours must, in looking up to +God, trusting Him utterly, believing that he was to do God’s will, and +not his own. His spirit, his soul, as we call it, was given to him for +that purpose, and for none other, that it might trust in God and obey +God, as a child does his father. He had a free will; but he was to use +that will as we must use our wills, by giving up our will to God’s will, +by clinging with our whole hearts and souls to God. + +Adam fell. He let himself be tempted by a beast, by the serpent. How, +we cannot tell: but so we read. He took the counsel of a brute animal, +and not of God. He chose between God and the serpent, and he chose +wrong. He wanted to be something in himself; to have a knowledge and +power of his own, to use it as he chose. He was not content to be in +God’s likeness; he wanted to be as a god himself. And so he threw away +his faith in God, and disobeyed Him. And instead of becoming a god, as +he expected, he became an animal; he put on the likeness of the brutes, +who cannot look up to God in trust and love, who do not know God, do not +obey Him, but follow their own lusts and fancies, as they may happen to +take them. Whether the change came on him all at once, the Bible does +not say: but it did come on him; for from him it has been handed down to +all his children even to this day. Then was fulfilled against him the +sentence, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Not +that he died that moment; but death began to work in him. He became like +the branch of a tree cut off from the stem, which may not wither at the +instant it is cut off, but it is yet dead, as we find out by its soon +decaying. He had come down from being a son of God, and he had taken his +place in nature, among the things which grow only to die; and death began +to work in him, and in his children after him. He handed down his nature +to his children as the animals do; his children inherited his faults, his +weaknesses, his diseases, the seed of death which was in him, just as the +animals pass down to their breed, their defects, and diseases, and +certainty of dying after their appointed life is past. + +For this, my friends, is the lesson which Adam’s fall teaches us, that in +God alone is the life of immortal souls, whether of men, or of angels, or +of archangels; and in God alone is righteousness; in God alone is every +good thing, and all good in men or angels comes from Him, and is only His +pattern, His likeness; and that the moment either man or angel sets up +his will against God’s, he falls into sin, a lie, and death. That He has +given us reasonable souls for that one purpose, that with our souls we +may look up to Him, with our souls we may cling to Him, with our souls we +may trust in Him, with our souls we may understand His will, and see that +it is a good, and a right, and a loving will, and delight in it, and obey +it, and find all our delight and glory, even as the Lord Jesus, the Son +of Man, the New Adam, did, in doing not our own will, but the will of our +Father. + +For, as St. Augustine says, man may live in two ways, either according to +himself, or according to God; by self-will or by faith. He may determine +to do his own will or to do God’s will, to be his own master or to let +God be his master, to seek his own glory, and try to be something fine +and grand in himself: or he may seek God’s glory and obey Him, believing +that what God commands is the only good for him, what makes God to be +honoured in the eyes of his neighbours is the only real honour for him. + +But, says St. Augustine, if he tries to live according to himself, he +falls into misery, because he was meant to live according to God. So he +puts himself into a lie, into a false and wrong state; and because he has +cut himself off from God he falls below what a man should be; and puts on +more and more of the likeness of the beast, and is more and more the +slave of his own lusts, and passions, and fancies, as the dumb animals +are. And, as St. Paul says, the animal man, the carnal man, understands +not the things of God. And we need no one to tell us that this is the +state of nature which we bring into the world with us. We feel it; from +our very childhood, from the earliest time we can recollect, have we not +had the longing to do what we liked? to please ourselves, to pride +ourselves on ourselves, to set up our own wills against our parents, +against what we learnt out of the Bible? Ay, has not this wilful will of +ours been so strong, that often we would long after a thing, we would +determine to have it, only because we were forbidden to have it; we might +not care about the thing when we had it, but we would have our own way +just because it was our own way. In short, like Adam, we would be as +gods, knowing good and evil, and choosing for ourselves what we should +call good and what we shall call evil. And, my dear friends, consider: +did not every wrong that we ever did come from this one root of all +sin—determining to have our own way? That root-sin of self-will first +brought death and misery among mankind; that sin of self-will keeps it up +still: that sin of self-will it is which hinders sinners from giving +themselves up to God; and that sin must be broken through, or religion is +a mockery and a dream. + +Oh my friends, say to yourselves once for all, I was made in God’s +likeness; and therefore His will, and not my own, I must do. I have no +wisdom of my own, no strength of mind of my own, no goodness of my own, +no lovingness of my own. God has them all; God, who is wisdom, strength, +goodness, love; and I have none. And then, when the fearful thought +comes over you: “I have no goodness, and I cannot have any. I cannot do +right. There is no use struggling and trying to be better. My passions, +my lusts, my fancies are too strong for me. If I am brutish and low, +brutish and low I must remain. If I have fallen in Adam, I must lie in +the mire till I die—” + +Then, then, my friends, answer yourselves: “No! Not so. Man fell in the +first Adam: but man rose again in the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. +I belong no more to the old Adam, who fell in Paradise. I belong to the +New Adam, who was conceived without sin, and born of a pure virgin, who +lived by perfect faith, in perfect obedience, doing His Father’s will +only, even to the death upon the cross, wherein He took away the sins of +the whole world. And now for His sake my original sin, my fallen, +brutish nature, is forgiven me. God does not hate me for it. He loves +me, because I belong to His Son. My baptism is a witness and a warrant, +a sign and a covenant between me and God, that I belong not to old Adam +of Paradise, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at God’s right hand. +The cross which was signed on my forehead when I was baptised is God’s +sign to me that I am to sacrifice myself and give up my own will to do +God’s will, even as the Lord Jesus did when He gave Himself to die, +because it was His Father’s will. And because I belong to Jesus Christ, +because God has called me to be His child, therefore He will help me. He +will help me to conquer this low, brutish nature of mine. He will put +His Spirit into me, the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ, that I may trust +Him, cry to Him, My Father! that I may love Him; understand His will, and +see how good, and noble, and beautiful, and full of peace and comfort it +is; delight in obeying Him; glory in sacrificing my own fancies and +pleasures for His sake; and find my only honour, my only happiness, in +doing His will on earth as saints and angels do it in heaven.” + + + + +XLII. +GOD’S COVENANTS. + + + I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a + covenant between me and the earth.—GENESIS ix. 13. + +THE text says that God made a covenant with Noah, and with his seed after +him—that is, with all mankind; with us who sit here, and our children +after us, and with all human beings who will ever live upon the face of +the earth. God made a covenant with them. Now, what is a covenant? We +say that two men make a covenant with each other when they make a +bargain, an agreement; in this way: If you will do this thing, then I +will do that; but if you will not do this thing, I will not do that. If +you do not keep to our agreement, I am free of it. If I do not do my +part of the agreement, you are free. Is not that what we call a +covenant—a bargain between two parties, which, if either party breaks it, +becomes null and void, and binds neither? Let us see whether God’s +covenants with man are of this kind. + +Does God say to Noah: “If you and your children are righteous, I will +look upon the rainbow, and remember my covenant: but if you and your +children are unrighteous, I will not look on the rainbow, and I will +break my covenant because you have broken it?” We read no such words; +God made no conditions with Noah and his sons. Whether they forgot the +covenant or not, God would remember it. It was a covenant of free grace, +even as all God’s covenants are. Not a bargain, but a promise. “By +Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that I will not fail David.” By +Himself He sware to Abraham: “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and +multiplying I will multiply thee.” That is the form of God’s covenants. +God swears by Himself—by God who cannot change. If God can change, then +His covenant can change. If God can fail Himself, then can He fail His +covenant to which He has sworn by Himself. If it had been a mere +bargain, like men’s bargains, and not a promise out of His absolute love, +His free grace, His boundless mercy, would He have sworn by Himself? +Nay, rather, He would have sworn by Abraham: “By thy obedience or +disobedience I swear to bless thee or curse thee.” But He swore by +Himself, the absolute, the unchangeable, the Giver whose name is Love. + +Consider now the token of the covenant which God gave to Noah. It was +the rainbow. What is the rainbow? Sunlight turned back to our eye, +through drops of falling rain. What sign could be more simple? And yet +what sign could be more perfect? Noah’s sons would fear that another +flood was coming, perhaps flood after flood. The token of the rainbow +said to them, No. Floods and rain are not to be the custom of this +earth. Sunshine is to be the custom of it. Do not fear the clouds and +storm and rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in the very rain itself. +That is a sign that the sun, though you cannot see it, is shining still. +That up above, beyond the cloud, is still sunlight, and warmth, and +cloudless blue sky. Believe in God’s covenant. Believe that the sun +will conquer the clouds, warmth will conquer cold, calm will conquer +storm, fair will conquer foul, light will conquer darkness, joy will +conquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer destruction and the +devouring floods; because God is light, God is love, God is life, God is +peace and joy eternal and without change, and labours to give life, and +joy, and peace, to man and beast and all created things. This was the +meaning of the rainbow. Not a sudden or strange token, a miracle, as men +call it, like as some voice out of the sky, or fiery comet, might have +been; but a regular, orderly, and natural sign, to witness that God is a +God of order. Whenever there was a rainy day there might be a rainbow. +It came by the same laws by which everything else comes in the world. It +was a witness that God who made the world is the friend and preserver of +man; that His promises are like the everlasting sunshine which is above +the clouds, without spot or fading, without variableness or shadow of +turning. + +And do you fancy, my friends, that the new covenant, the covenant which +God made with all mankind in the blood of His only-begotten Son, is +narrower or weaker than the covenant which He made with Noah, Abraham, +and David? He asked no conditions from them. Do you think He asks them +from us? He called them by free grace. Do you think He calls us by +anything less? He swore by Himself to them. How much more has He sworn +by Himself to us? He who was born, and died, and rose again for us, who +now sits at the right hand of the Father, very Man of the substance of a +human mother, yet very God of very God begotten. + +His covenants of old stood true and faithful, however disobedient and +unfaithful men might be; as it is written: “I have sworn once for all by +my holiness, that I will not fail David.” And those words, the New +Testament declares to us, again and again, are true of the new covenant, +and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose name we are baptized. +Yes; into whose name we are baptized. There is the sign of the new +covenant; of a covenant of free grace. Therefore we can bring our +children to be baptized as we were baptized ourselves, before they have +done either good or evil, for a sign that God’s love is over them, God’s +kingdom is their inheritance, God’s love their everlasting portion. + +But we may fall from grace; and then what good will our baptism be to us? +We shall be lost, just as if we had never been baptized. + +My friends, if, though the sun was shining in the sky, you shut your eyes +close, and kept out the light, what use would the sunlight be to you? +You would stumble, and fall, and come to harm, as certainly as in the +darkest night. But would the sun go out of the sky, my friends, because +you were unwise enough to shut your eyes to it? The sun would still be +there, shining as bright as ever. You would have only to be reasonable +and to open your eyes, and you would see your way again as well as ever. + +So it is with holy baptism. In it we were made members of Christ, +children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. God’s love is +above us and around us, like a warm, bright, life-giving sun. We may +shut our eyes to it, but it is there still. We may disbelieve our +baptism covenant, but it is true still. We are children of God; and +nothing that we can do, no sin, no unfaithfulness of ours, can make us +anything else. We can no more become not God’s children, than a child +can become not his own father’s son. But this we can do by sinning, by +disbelieving that we are God’s children, by behaving as the devil’s +children when we are God’s; we can believe ourselves not God’s children +when we are; we can try to be what we are not; we can enter into a lie, +and into the misery to which all lies lead; we can walk in darkness, and +stumble, and fall, when all the while we are children of the light, and +have only to open our eyes to walk in the light. Ay, we can shut our +eyes to the light so long, that at last we forget that there is any light +at all; and that is the gate of hell. We may wrap ourselves up in our +selfishness, in selfish pleasures, selfish cunning, selfish covetousness, +and selfish pride, till we forget that there is anything better for us +than selfishness, till we forget that God is love, and that we His +children are meant to be loving even as He is loving; and that also is +the gate of hell. And worst and darkest of all, when in that stupid, +sinful, loveless state of mind, God’s loving Spirit still strives and +pleads with us, and tries to awaken us, and terrify us with the sight of +the everlasting misery and ruin into which we have thrown ourselves, we +may turn those pleadings of God’s Spirit, by our own evil wills, into a +darker curse than all which have gone before. We may refuse to believe +that God is love, and fancy Him as hard, and cruel, and proud, and +spiteful, and unloving as we ourselves are. We may refuse, though +Scripture, Prayer-book, sacraments, preachers, assure us of it, that God +is our Father still; and deny His covenant of baptism, and blaspheme His +holy name, by fancying Him our tyrant and taskmaster, who hates us, and +willeth the death of a sinner, and has pleasure in the death of him that +dieth. And then we may behave according to the lie which we ourselves +have invented, and all sorts of inventions of our own to escape God’s +wrath, when, in reality, it is He who is wishing to turn His wrath away +from us; and to win back His favour, when, in reality, it is not we who +are out of favour with Him, but He who is out of favour with us, who +dread Him and shrink from Him; we may try to deliver ourselves from Him, +when all the while it is He, the very God whom we are dreading and flying +from, who alone is able and willing to deliver us; and with all our +fears, and self-tormentings, and faithless terrors, and blasphemings of +God by fancying Him the very opposite to what He has declared Himself, we +shall get no peace of conscience, no deliverance from sins, or from the +fear of punishment, but only a fearful and fiery looking forward to +judgment, which is hell. That is superstition; hell on earth; when men +have so utterly forgotten the likeness of God, which He manifested in His +Son Jesus Christ, that they look on Him as a stern and dreadful +taskmaster, a tyrant, and not a deliverer. Hell on earth, which may and +must lead to hell hereafter; a hell of fear, and doubt, and hatred of Him +who is all lovely; the hell whereof it is written, that its worst torment +is being cast out from the sight of God: unless the hapless sinner opens +his eye and believes the covenant of his baptism, and sees that God +cannot lie, God cannot change, cannot break His covenant, cannot alter +His love; that though he have left his Father’s house, and wandered into +far countries, and wasted his Father’s substance in riotous living, he is +still his Father’s son, his Father’s house is still where it was from the +beginning, his Father’s heart still what it was from the beginning; and +so arises and goes back to his Father’s house, confessing that he is no +more worthy to be called His son, willing to be only as one of His hired +servants; and then—sees not the stern countenance, the cruel punishments +which he dreaded: but—“While he was yet afar off, his Father saw him, and +ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him!” + +And if, in our sins, our only hope of comfort, and peace, and strength, +lies in remembering our baptismal covenant, and being sure and certain +that though we have changed, God has not; that though we are dark, God’s +love shines bright and clear for ever, how much more when the dark day of +affliction comes? Why should I speak of this and that affliction? Each +heart knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each man’s +life has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all his joys seem flown +away by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and the desire of his eyes is +taken from him, and all his hopes and plans, all which he intended to do +or to enjoy, are hid with blinding mist, so that he cannot see his way +before him, and knows not whither to go, and whither to flee for help; +when faith in God seems broken up for the moment, when he feels no +strength, no will, no purpose, and knows not what to determine, what to +do, what to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems reeling +under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken up: then let +him think of God’s covenant, and take heart; let him think of his +baptism, and be at peace. Is the sun’s warmth perished out of the sky, +because the storm is cold with hail and bitter winds? Is God’s love +changed, because we cannot feel it in our trouble? Is the sun’s light +perished out of the sky, because the world is black with cloud and mist? +Has God forgotten to give light to suffering souls, because we cannot see +our way for a few short days of perplexity? + +For this is the gospel, this is the message which we have received from +God, to preach to every sad and desolate heart on earth, that God is +light, and in Him is no darkness at all. That God is love, and in Him +there is no cruelty at all. That God is one, and in Him there is no +change at all. And therefore, we all, the most ignorant of us as well as +the wisest, the most sinful of us as well as the holiest, the saddest and +most wretched of us as well as the happiest, have a right to join in that +Litany which is offered up here thrice every week during the time of +Lent, and to call upon God to deliver us and all mankind, not merely +because we wish to be delivered from evil, but because God wishes to +deliver us from evil. If we pray that Litany in any dark dread of God, +in doubt of His love and goodwill towards us, like terrified slaves +crying out to a hard taskmaster, and entreating him not to torment them, +we do not pray that Litany aright; we do not pray it at all. For it asks +God not to leave us alone, but to come to us; not to stop punishing us, +but actually Himself to deliver us, to defend us, to set us free. +Therefore it begins by calling on God the Father, because He is our +Father; on God the Son, because He has already redeemed and bought us for +His own; on God the Holy Spirit, because He has been striving with our +wilful hearts from our youth up till now, lovingly desiring to teach us, +to change us, to sanctify us. Therefore it calls on the holy, blessed, +and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God, because the Son does not +love us better than the Father does, or than the Holy Spirit does, but in +the life and death of the Man Christ Jesus, whom we call on to deliver us +by His birth, His baptism, His death, His resurrection, by all that His +manhood did and suffered here on earth, in His life and death, I say, +were shown forth bodily the glory, and condescension, and love, and +goodwill of the fulness of the Godhead, of all three Persons of the one +and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Therefore we may +pray boldly to Him to spare us, because we know that we are already His +people, already redeemed with his most precious blood, already declared +by holy baptism to be bound to Him in an everlasting covenant. Therefore +we may pray boldly to Him not to be angry with us for ever, because we +know that He desires to bless us for ever, if we will only let Him; if we +will only let His love have free course, and not shut our hearts to it, +and turn our backs upon it. Therefore we can ask Him to deliver us in +all time of our tribulation and misery; in all time of the still more +dangerous temptations which wealth and prosperity bring with them; in the +hour of death, whether of our own death or the death of those we love; in +the day of judgment, whereof it is written: “It is God who justifieth us, +who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea rather who is +risen again, who even now maketh intercession for us.” To that boundless +love of God which He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that +utter and perfect will to deliver us, which God showed forth in the death +of Christ Jesus, when the Father spared not His only-begotten Son, but +freely gave Him for us; to that boundless love we may trust ourselves, +our fortunes, our families, our bodies, our souls, the souls of those we +love. Trusting in that great love, we may pray in that Litany for +deliverance; to be delivered from distress and accidents, from all sins +which drag us down, and make us miserable, ashamed, confused, terrified, +selfish, hateful, and hating each other. We may pray to be delivered +from evil, because God is righteousness, and hates evil. We may pray to +be delivered from our sins, because God is righteousness, and hates our +sins. We may pray for the Queen, her ministers, her parliament, because +God’s love and care is over them; for all orders and ranks of men, +whether laymen or clergymen, high or low, in God’s holy church; for all +who are afflicted and desolate; for all who are wandering in ignorance, +and mistakes, and sin; ay, for all mankind, for God loves them all, the +Son of God has bought them all with His most precious blood. And however +dark, and sad, and sinful the world may seem around us; however dark, and +sad, and sinful our own hearts may be within us, we may find comfort in +that Litany, and pour out in it our sorrows and our fears, if we begin +only as it begins, with the thought of God who is righteousness, God who +is love, God who is the Deliverer. And then, as the rainbow reflects the +sunbeams for a sign and token that the sun is shining, though we see it +not; so will that blessed Litany, with its sacred name of God, its calls +to Him who was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius +Pilate; its entreaties to God to deliver us, because He is a deliverer; +to hear us, and send us good, because He is a good Lord Himself; its +remembrances of the noble works which God did in our fathers’ days, and +in the old time before them; its noble declaration that God does not +despise the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of a humble +spirit, and that it is the very glory of His name to turn from us those +evils which we most justly have deserved—that Litany, I say, will be like +a rainbow declaring to our dark and stormy hearts that the sun is shining +still above the clouds; that over and above us, and all mankind, and all +the changes and chances of this mortal life, is the still bright +sunshine, the life-giving warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, the +absolute eternal love of our Father who is in heaven, who, as he has +declared by the mouth of His only-begotten Son, is perfect in this, that +He does not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our +iniquities, but is good to the unthankful and the evil, sending His rain +alike upon the just and on the unjust, and making His sun to shine alike +upon the evil and the good. + + + + +XLIII. +THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS. + + + Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, + justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, + believed on in the world, received up into glory.—1 TIMOTHY iii. 16. + +ST. PAUL here sums up in one verse the whole of Christian truth. He +gives us in a few words what he says is the great mystery of godliness. + +Now, men had been inventing for themselves all kinds of mysteries of +godliness; all sorts of mysterious and wonderful notions about God; all +sorts of mysterious and strange ceremonies, and ways of pleasing God, or +turning away His anger. + +And Christian men are apt to do so also, as well as those old heathens. +They feel that they are very mysterious and wonderful beings themselves, +simply because they are men. They say to themselves: “How strange that I +should have a body of flesh and blood, and appetites and passions, like +the animals, and yet that I should have an immortal spirit in me. How +strange this notion of duty which I have, and which the other animals +have not; this notion of its being right to do some things, and wrong to +do others! From whence did that notion come? And again, this strange +notion which I have, and cannot help having, that I ought to be like God: +and yet I do not know what God is like. From whence did that notion +come?” + +Again: “I fancy that God ought to be good. But how do I know that He +really is good? I see the world full of injustice, and misery, and +death. How do I know that this is not God’s doing, God’s fault in some +way?” + +Again, says a man to himself: “I have a fair right to believe that +mankind are not the only persons in the universe—that there are other +beings beside God whom I cannot see. I call them angels. I hardly know +what I mean by that. The really important question about them to me is: +Will they do me harm? Can they do me good? Are they stronger than +I?—Ought I not to fear them, to try to please them, to keep them +favourable to me?” + +Again, he asks: “Does God care whether I know what is right? Does God +care to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that I should do my +duty? For if He does not care about my being good, why should I care +about it?” + +Again, he asks: “But if I knew my duty, might I not find it something too +far-fetched, too difficult, for poor simple folk to do: so that I should +be forced to leave a right life to great scholars, and to rich people, or +to people of a very devout delicate temper of mind, who have a natural +turn that way?” + +And last of all: “Even if I did struggle to do right; even if I gave up +everything for the sake of doing right; how do I know that it will profit +me to do so? I shall die as every man dies, and then what will become of +me? Shall I be a man still, or only—horrible thought!—some sort of empty +ghost, a spirit without body, of which I dream, and shudder while I dream +of it?” + +Men in all ages, heathens and Christians, have been puzzled by such +thoughts as these, as soon as they began to feel that there was a world +which they could not see, as well as a world which they could see; a +spiritual world, wherein God the Spirit, and their own spirits, and +spiritual things, such as right, wrong, duty, reason, love, dwell for +ever; and a strange hidden duty on all men to obey that unseen God, and +the laws of that spiritual world; in short a mystery of godliness. + +Then they have tried to answer these questions for themselves; and have +run thereby into all manner of follies and superstitions, and often, too, +into devilish cruelties, in the hope of pleasing God according to some +mystery of godliness of their own invention. + +But to each of these puzzles St. Paul gives an answer in the text. Let +us take them each in its order, and you will see what I mean. + +The first puzzle was: How is it that while I am like the animals in some +things, and yet feel as if I ought to be, and can be, like God in other +things? How is it that I feel two powers in me; one dragging me downward +to make me lower than the beasts, the other lifting me upwards—I dare not +think whither? It seems to me to be my body, my bodily appetites and +tempers which drag me down. Is my body me, part of me, or a thing I +should be ashamed of, and long to be rid of? I fancy that I can be like +God. But can my body be like God? Must I not crush it, neglect it, get +rid of it before I can follow the good instinct which draws me upward? + +To which St. Paul told Timothy to answer: God was manifest in the flesh. +God sent down His only-begotten Son, co-equal and co-eternal with +Himself, very God of very God, the very same person who had been putting +into men’s minds those two notions of which we spoke, that there is a +right and a wrong, and that men ought to be like God; Him the Father sent +into the world that He might be born, and live, and die, and rise again, +as a man; that so men might see from His example, manifestly and plainly, +what God was like, and what man ought to be like. And so Jesus Christ +was God, manifested in the flesh. + +Now we do know what God is like. We know that He is so like man, that He +can take upon Him man’s flesh and blood without changing, or lowering, or +defiling Himself. That proves that man must have been originally made in +God’s likeness; that man’s being fallen, means man’s falling from the +likeness of God, and taking up instead with the likeness of the brutes +which perish; that the fault cannot be in our bodies, but in our spirits +which have yielded to our bodies, and become their slaves instead of +their masters, as Christ’s Spirit was master of His body. But the Son of +God, by being born and living as a man, showed us that we are not fallen +past hope, not fallen so low that we cannot rise again. He showed that +though mankind are sinful, yet they need not be sinful; for He was a man +as exactly, and perfectly, and entirely as we are, and yet in Him was no +sin. So He showed that brutishness and sinfulness is not our proper +state, but our disease and our fall; and a disease of which we can be +cured, a fall out of which we can rise and be renewed into the true and +real pattern of mankind, the new Adam, Jesus the sinless Son of Man and +Son of God. + +The next question, I said, that rose in men’s mind was: “How do I know +that God is good, as I fancy sometimes that He must be? I see the world +full of sin, and injustice, and misery, and death. Perhaps that is God’s +doing, God’s fault.” That is a common puzzle enough, and a sad and +fearful one. The sin and the misery and the death are here. If God did +not bring it here, yet why did He let it come here? He could have +stopped if He would, and kept out all this wretchedness: why did He not? +Was He just or loving in letting sin into the world? + +To all which St. Paul answers: “God was justified in the Spirit.” + +You do not see what that has to do with it? Then let me show you. + +To be justified means to be shown and proved to be just, righteous. Now +what justified God to man was the Spirit of God, as He showed Himself in +the Lord Jesus Christ. For when God became man and dwelt among men, what +sort of works were His? What was His conduct, His character; of what +sort of spirit did He show Himself to be? He went, we read, doing good, +for God was with Him. Not of His own will, but to do His Father’s will, +and because He was filled without measure by the Spirit of God, He did +good, He healed the sick, He rebuked the proud and self-conceited +hypocrite, He proclaimed pardon and mercy to the broken-hearted sinner, +wearied and worn out by the burden of his sins. Thus, in every action of +His life, He was fighting against evil and misery, and conquering it; and +so showing that God hates evil and misery, and that the evil and the +misery in the world are here against God’s will. Strange as it may seem +to have to say it, so it is. Jesus Christ showed that howsoever sin and +sorrow came into the world, it is God’s will and purpose to root them out +of the world, and that He is righteous, He is loving, He is merciful, He +does and will fight against evil, for those who are crushed by it; and +help poor sufferers always when they call upon Him, and often, often, of +His most undeserved condescension and free grace, when they are +forgetting and disobeying Him. And so by the good, and loving, and just +spirit which Jesus showed, God was justified before men, and showed to be +a God of goodness and justice. + +The next puzzle, I said, was about angels and spirits, whether we need to +pray to them to help us, and not to hurt us. St. Paul answers: God, when +He was manifested in the flesh of a man, was seen by these angels. And +that is enough for us. They saw the Lord God condescend to be born in a +stable, to live as a poor man, to die on the cross. They saw that His +will to man was love. And they do His will. And therefore they love +men, they help men, they minister to men, because they follow the Lord’s +example, and do the will of their Father in Heaven, even as we ought to +do it on earth. Therefore we have no need to fear them, for they love us +already. And, on the other hand, we have no need to pray to them to help +us, for they know already that it is their duty to help us. They know +that the Son of God has put on us a higher honour than He ever put on +them; for He took not on Him the nature of angels, He took on Him the +nature of man; and thus, though man was made a little lower than the +angels, yet by Christ’s taking man’s nature, man is crowned with a glory +and honour higher than the angels. Know ye not, says St. Paul, that we +shall judge angels? And the angels, as they told St. John, are our +fellow-servants, not our masters; and they know that; for they saw the +Son of God doing utterly His Father’s will, and therefore they know that +their duty is to do their Father’s will also; not to do their own wills, +and set themselves up as our masters, to be pleaded with by us. They saw +the Son of God take our nature on Him, when they sang to the shepherds on +the first Christmas night: “Peace on earth, and good-will toward men;” +and therefore they look on us with love and honour, because we wear the +human nature which Christ their Master wore, and are partakers of the +Holy Spirit of God, even as they are. For no angel or archangel could do +a right thing, any more than we, except by the Holy Spirit of God. And +that Holy Spirit is bestowed on the poorest man who asks for it, as +freely as upon the highest of the heavenly host. + +And this leads us on to the next puzzle of which I spoke: Men were apt, +and are apt now, to say to themselves: Does God care whether I know what +is right? Does God care to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that +I should do my duty? For if He does not care about my being good, why +should I care about it? + +To this St. Paul answers: “God, who was manifest in the flesh, was +preached to the Gentiles.” + +God does care that men should know about God; for He loves them. He +yearns after them as a father after his children, and He knows that to +know God, to know the truth about God, is the beginning of all wisdom, +the root of all safety and honour and happiness. He willeth not that any +should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. +And, therefore, when the Son of God died for our sins, He did not stop at +that great deed of love; but He ordained Apostles, and put upon them +especially and above all men, His Holy Spirit, that they might go and +preach to all nations the good news that God had become flesh, and dwelt +among men, and borne their sorrows and infirmities, and to baptize them +into the very name of God itself, into the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Ghost; that so, instead of fancying now that God did +not care for them, they might be sure that God so longed to teach them, +that He called every child, even from its cradle, to come into His +kingdom, and be taught the whole mystery of godliness. + +The next puzzle I mentioned was: “But this right life, this mystery of +godliness, is it not something very strange and difficult, and past the +understanding of simple men who are not extraordinarily clever and +learned scholars or deep philosophers?” To that St. Paul answers: No. +It is not past any man. It is not too deep or too difficult for the +simplest, the most unlearned countryman. For, says St. Paul in the text, +we Apostles have had proof of that; we have tried it; we Apostles +preached the mystery of godliness, and it was believed on in the world. +People of the world, plain working men and women going about their +worldly business, who had no time to be great readers, or great thinkers, +or to shut themselves up in monasteries to meditate on heavenly things, +but had to live and work in the commonplace, busy, workday world—they +believed our message. We Apostles told them that the Son of God had +showed Himself in the likeness of man, and called on every man to repent, +and to be such a man as He was. And worldly people believed us, and +tried, and found that without giving up their worldly work, or deserting +the station in which God had put them, they could live godlike lives, and +become the sons of God without rebuke. They saw that scholarship was not +wanted, leisure was not wanted, but only the humble heart which hungers +and thirsts after righteousness. About their daily work, by their +cottage firesides, among their poor neighbours, the Spirit of Almighty +God gave them strength to live as Jesus their pattern lived; He filled +them with all holy, pure, noble, brave, loving thoughts and feelings, fit +for angels and archangels. He enabled them to rise out of their sins, to +trample their temptations under foot, to leave their old low brutish +sinful way of life behind them, and become new men, and persevere in +every word, and thought, and action, in virtues such as the greatest +heathen sages could not copy; ay, even to shed their life-blood freely +and boldly in martyrdom, for the sake of God and the truth of God. They, +these plain simple people, living in the world, could still live the life +of God, and die like heroes for the sake of God. + +And this again brings us to the last puzzle of which I spoke: “But what +became of those holy and godlike people when they died? What reward did +they receive for all they had done, and given up, and suffered? What +will become of us after we die? What will the next world be like? What +is heaven like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? Shall I be a man there, or +only a ghost, a spirit without a body?” + +To this St. Paul answers: That Christ, the Son of God, after He was +manifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. He does not tell us +what heaven is like; for though he had been caught up into the third +heaven, yet what he saw there, he says, was unspeakable. He neither +ought to tell, or could tell, what he saw. Neither does St. Paul tell us +what the next life will be like; for as far as we can find, God had not +told him. All he says is: The man Christ Jesus, who walked this earth +like other men, was received up into glory; and He did not leave His +man’s mind, His man’s heart, even His man’s body, behind Him. He carried +up into heaven with Him His whole manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even +to the print of the nails in His hands and in His most holy feet, and the +wound of the spear in His most holy side. And that is enough for us. +Because the man Christ Jesus is in heaven, we as men may ascend to +heaven. Where He is we shall be. And what He is, in as far as He is +man, we shall be. What we shall be we know not; but this we know, that +we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And He is a man +still; for it is written: “There is one Mediator between God and man, the +man Christ Jesus.” And He will be a man at the day of judgment; for it +is written that: “God hath ordained a day in which He will judge the +world by a man whom He hath chosen.” And He will be a man for ever; for +it is written: “This man abideth for ever.” And He Himself said to His +disciples: “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it +new with you in the kingdom of my Father.” And again He declared, even +when he was on earth, that He was the Son of Man who is in heaven. And +in heaven nothing can grow less. But if Christ were not man for ever as +well as God, He would become less; for He is now God and man also at +once; but if He laid down His manhood, and so became not man any more, +but God only, He would become less, which is not to be believed of Him of +whom it is written: That Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever. For, as the Athanasian creed teaches us, He is not God alone, +nor man alone, but God and man is one Christ; and therefore, when St. +John declares that Christ shall reign for ever and ever, he declares that +He shall reign not only as God, but as man also. Therefore whatever we +do not know about the next life, we know this, that we shall be men +there; not sinful, weak, and mortal, as we are here, but holy, strong, +immortal, after the likeness of our Lord, the firstborn from the dead, +who has ascended up on high and raised our human nature to the heaven of +heavens, and is gone to prepare a place for us, into which we too shall +enter in that day when He shall change these mortal and fallen bodies +which we now wear, the bodies of our humiliation, the bodies by wearing +which we are now a little lower than the angels; them the Lord will +change, that they may be made like unto His glorious body, according to +the mighty working whereby He subdueth all things unto Himself, that we +may see Him face to face, and dwell with Him in the glory of God the +Father for ever. + +Oh my friends, who is sufficient for these things? What shall we say of +man? Is he not indeed fearfully and wonderfully made? Here we are, weak +creatures, more liable to disease and death than the dumb beasts round +us; full of poverty, and adversity, and longings which are never +satisfied; our minds full of mistakes, our hearts full of false conceit, +full of spite and folly, struggles, murmurings, quarrellings; our +consciences full of the remembrance of sins without number. The greatest +of all heathen poets said, that there was not a more miserable and +pitiable animal upon the earth than man. He knew no better. He could +not know better. How could he, when God had not yet been manifest in the +flesh? How could he dream that the Lord God would condescend to be made +flesh, and dwell among us, and show man His glory, the glory of the +only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth—how could he dream +that? And more than all, how could he dream that God, instead of +throwing away our human nature when He rose again, as if it was too great +a degradation for Him to be a man one moment more, should condescend to +take up His human nature, His man’s body, soul, and spirit, with Him into +everlasting glory, that He might feed with it for ever the bodies and +souls of those who trust in Him, so as to make them fit for us at the +last day, to share in His everlasting life? The old heathen poet knew as +well as you or I that there was an everlasting life beyond the grave; +that men’s souls were immortal, and could not die: but the thought of it +was all dark, and dreary, and uncertain to him and to all mankind, till +the Son of God brought life and immortality to light, when He was +manifest in the flesh. + +Wonderful mystery of godliness! Wonderful love of God to man! Wonderful +condescension of God to man! Still more wonderful patience of God to +man! + +Oh you who live still in sin, when the Son of God died and rose again to +make you righteous; you who defile your bodies with sins worse than the +brutes, when the Son of God offers to raise those bodies of yours to be +equal with the angels; how shall you escape if you neglect so great +salvation; if you despise this unspeakable love; if you trample under +foot, like swine, the everlasting glory and happiness which God offers +you freely, without fee or price, for the sake of His only-begotten Son, +Jesus Christ, who died to buy them for you? + + + + +XLIV. +THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT. + + + If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I + depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will + reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of + sin, because they believe not on me: of righteousness, because I go + to my Father, and ye see me no more: of judgment, because the prince + of this world is judged.—JOHN xvi. 7–11. + +I DO not pretend to be able to explain to you the whole meaning of this +text, or even more than a very small part of it. For it speaks of God; +of God the Holy Spirit. And God is boundless; and, therefore, every text +which speaks of God is boundless too, as God is. No man can ever see the +whole meaning of it, or do more than understand dimly a little of its +truth. But what we can see, we must think over and make use of. What +can we see, now, from this text? First, we may see that the Holy Spirit, +the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, is a person. Not a mere thing, or a state +of our own hearts, or a feeling in us, or a power, like the powers and +laws by which the trees and plants grow, and the sun and moon move in +their courses; but a person, just as each of us is a person. He, the +Holy Spirit, gives life to trees and plants, sun and moon: but He is not +their life. He gives them their life; and, therefore, that life of +theirs is not He, or He could not give it; for you can only give +something which is not you. + +The Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit, not as it, but as He; as a +person, and not as a thing; as a person who can speak to men’s souls, +guide and teach them. + +“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; +for He shall not speak of Himself.” + +But we may see also that the Holy Spirit is neither God the Father, nor +the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord speaks of Him, the Holy Spirit, as a +different person either from Him or from the Father. “The Spirit,” He +says, “shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it +unto you.” + +But we may see also that there is no difference in will, or opinion, or +love, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Son. For the Spirit +does not speak of Himself; there is no self-will in Him. There is not +one will of the Father, and another of the Son, and another of the Holy +Ghost; or, one love of the Father, another love of the Son, and another +of the Holy Ghost; or, one righteousness of the Father, another of the +Son, another of the Holy Ghost: or, one mercy and grace of the Father, +another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost. For then there would be +three Gods and three Lords; and the substance of God would be divided. +But they have all one will, and one love, and one righteousness, and one +mercy. And such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy +Ghost. + +And remember always, that the Holy Spirit is very and indeed God. For He +is the Spirit of holiness itself, of righteousness itself, of goodness +itself, of love itself, of truth itself; and, therefore, He is the Spirit +of God, who is the perfect holiness, and righteousness, and truth, and +love. All other holiness, and righteousness, and truth, and love, are +only pictures and patterns of God, just as the sun’s reflection in water, +or in a glass, is a picture and pattern of the sun. As the Epistle for +to-day tells us: “Every good gift and every perfect is from above, and +cometh down from the Father of lights.” + +But the Spirit of God must be God. For else what do the words mean? Is +not the spirit of a man, a man? Is not your spirit, what you call your +soul, you? Is not your soul you, just as much as your body is you; ay, a +hundred times more? Just so, the Spirit of God is God, God Himself; and +the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the +glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. + +This, then, is the glorious promise made to you, and to me, and to all +who believe and are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and +the Holy Spirit; that that Spirit will come to us, and take charge of our +spirits, and work in them, and teach them. We cannot see Him with our +eyes, or hear Him with our ears; we cannot even feel Him at work in our +hearts and thoughts. For He is a Spirit; and His likeness, the thing in +this world which is a pattern of Him, is the wind; as indeed the name +Spirit means. You cannot see the wind, you cannot even really feel the +wind or hear it: you only know it by its effects, by what it does: by the +noise among the branches, the force against your faces, the bending +boughs, and flying dust. The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and thou +hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or +whither it goeth; even so is every one who is born of the Spirit. On him +the Spirit of God will work unseen, and unfelt, only to be discovered by +the change which He makes in the man’s heart and thoughts; and first by +the way in which He convinces him of sin, because men believe not on +Jesus Christ. + +The Holy Spirit shows men that the sins of the world, the sin of all +sins, the sin which is the root of all other sins, is not believing on +the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was because they would not believe on the +Lord Jesus Christ, that they had been falling into every other sort of +sin. + +But you may say: “How could they believe on Him before He came, and was +born in Judæa of the Virgin Mary? How could they believe on Him when He +was not there?” Ah! my friends, who told you that the Lord Jesus Christ +was not there in the world all along? Not the Bible, certainly. For the +Bible tells us that He is the Light who lights every man who cometh into +the world; that from Him came, and have come, all the right thoughts and +feelings which ever arose in the heart of every human being. The Bible +tells us that when God created the world, He was daily rejoicing in the +habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men. +The Bible tells us that He was in the world, and the world knew Him not; +that all along, through the dark times of heathendom, the Lord Jesus +Christ was a light shining in darkness, which the darkness could not +close round, and hide and quench. + +Not merely to the Jews, but to all heathens who hungered and thirsted +after righteousness, did the Lord Jesus show something of His truth; as +it is written, God is no acceptor of persons; that is, no shower of +partiality, or unjust favour: but in every nation, he that feareth God +and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him. + +But at the time that the Lord Jesus sent down His Holy Spirit, men were +not working righteousness. There was not one who did good, no not one. +For men had forgotten what righteousness was like, what a righteous man +ought to do and be. Men are ready to forget it every day. You and I are +ready to forget it, and invent some false righteousness of our own, not +like Jesus Christ, but like what we in our private fancies think is most +graceful, or most agreeable, or most easy; or most grand, and +far-fetched, and difficult. But the Holy Spirit came to convince men of +righteousness; to show them what true righteousness was like. + +And how? In the same way that He must convince us of righteousness, if +we are ever to know what righteousness is, or are ever to be righteous +ourselves. He must show us goodness; or we shall never see it, or +receive it, or copy it. + +And where is this righteousness, this perfect goodness of which the Holy +Spirit will convince us? Where, but in the Lord Jesus Christ? In the +Lord Jesus’s character, the Lord Jesus’s good works; His love, His +patience, His perfect obedience, His life, His death. The Holy Spirit, +if we give up our hearts to be taught by Him, will make us believe, and +be sure, and feel in our very inmost hearts, how noble, how beautiful, +how holy, how perfectly Godlike, was He who was born of a poor virgin, +who walked this earth for thirty-three years in toil and sorrow, who gave +His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the +hair, and hid not His face from shame and spitting, who died upon a cross +between two thieves. And the Holy Spirit will convince us of +righteousness, by making us feel what the Lord Jesus’s righteousness +consisted in; what was the root of all His goodness and holiness, namely +His perfect obedience to His Father and our Father in heaven. That is +the righteousness, which is not our own, but God’s; the righteousness +which comes by faith; not to trust in ourselves, but in God; not to +please ourselves, but God; not to do our own will, but God’s will. That +is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God set His seal on and +approved, when He exalted Him far above all principality and powers, and +set Him at His own right hand for a sign to all men, and angels, and +archangels; that righteousness means to trust and to obey God even to the +death. + +3. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. + +This may seem a puzzling speech at first. We shall understand it best, I +think, by considering who the prince of this world was in our Lord’s +time, and what he was like. A little before our Lord’s time the Roman +emperor had conquered almost the whole world which was then known, and +kept all nations in slavery, careless about their doing right, provided +they obeyed him and paid him tribute; nay, forcing them and tempting them +into all brutal and foul sin and ignorance, that he might keep up his own +power over man. + +But now the Lord of all the earth, and the Prince of men’s hearts and +thoughts, was come to visit that poor enslaved and sinful world. He +came; the princes of this world knew Him not, and crucified the Lord of +Glory. They crucified the righteous and the just One; and so they were +judged. They judged themselves; they condemned themselves. For they +showed that what they admired and what they wanted was not righteousness +and love, but wealth and power. They showed that no doing of good, no +healing of the sick, or giving of sight to the blind, or preaching the +gospel to the poor, no holiness, no love, not the perfect likeness of +God’s own goodness, which shone forth in the spotless Jesus, was anything +to them; was any reason why they should not put Him to death with the +most cruel torments, because they were afraid of His taking away their +power. He said He was a King; and therefore they crucified Him, lest His +kingdom should interfere with theirs; and for the same reason these same +Roman emperors and their magistrates, for hundreds of years afterwards, +persecuted the Christians, and hunted them down like wild beasts, and put +them to death by all horrible tortures, for the same reason that Cain +slew Abel; became his brother’s deeds were righteous, and his own wicked. + +So these Roman emperors, and their magistrates and generals were judged. +They had shown what was in their evil hearts. They had been tried in +God’s balances, and found wanting. The sentence of the Lord God had gone +forth against them. The man Christ Jesus, whom they rejected, God +accepted, and raised to His own right hand. They crucified Him; but God +gave Him all power in heaven and earth: and the Lord Jesus used His +power; yea, and uses it still. He gave His saints and martyrs strength +to defy those Roman tyrants, and to witness to all the earth that the +righteous Son of God was the King of heaven and earth, and that the +princes of this world, who wished to break His yoke off their necks, and +crush all nations to powder for their own pleasure, and fatten themselves +upon the plunder of all the earth, would surely come to naught, as it is +written in the second Psalm: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and +the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed. Yet +have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou shalt break them with +a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” + +And they did come to naught. That great Roman empire rotted away +miserably after years of such distress as had never been seen on the +earth before; and the emperors came, one after another, to shameful or +dreadful deaths. And all the while the gospel spread, and the Church +grew, till all the kingdoms of the Roman empire had become the kingdoms +of God and of His Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in +men’s hearts, and showing them, as our Lord said He would, that Jesus of +Nazareth was both Lord and King. And so was fulfilled the Lord’s words +in the gospel for to-day: “The Holy Spirit shall glorify me, for He shall +receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father +hath are mine; therefore said I that He should take of mine, and show it +unto you.” + +Oh my friends, pray for yourselves, and join me while I pray for you, +that the holy and righteous Spirit of God may convince you, and me, and +all mankind, more and more, day by day, of sin, of righteousness, and of +judgment. + +Pray to that Holy Spirit to convince you of sin day by day, whensoever +you do the least wrong thing. Pray to Him to keep your consciences +tender and quick, that you may feel instantly, and lament deeply, every +wrong thing you do. + +Pray to Him to give you, every time you do wrong, that godly sorrow which +brings peace and health, that heart-repentance never to be repented of. +Pray to Him to convince you more and more, as you grow older, that all +sin comes from not believing in Jesus Christ, not believing that He is +near you, with you, in you, putting into your hearts all right thoughts +and good desires, and willing, if you will, to help you to put those +thoughts and desires into good practice. + +Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of righteousness; +to make you see what righteousness is; that it is the very character and +likeness of God the Father, because it is the character and likeness of +the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the brightness of the Father’s glory, and +the express image of His person. Pray to Him to make you see the beauty +of holiness: how fair, and noble, and glorious a thing goodness is; how +truly Solomon says: “that all the things that may be desired are not to +be compared to it.” + +Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of judgment, and to +make you sure that the Lord is King, a righteous Judge, of purer eyes +than to behold iniquity, whose fan is in His hand, who thoroughly purges +His floor, who comes quickly, and His reward is with Him, and who surely +casts out of His kingdom, sooner or later, all things that offend, and +whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Pray to Him to make you sure by +faith, though you cannot see it, that the prince of this world is judged; +that evil doing, oppression, tyranny, injustice, cheating, neglect of man +by man, cannot and will not prosper upon the face of God’s earth; for the +everlasting sentence and wrath of God is revealed forth every moment +against all unrighteousness of men, which He will surely punish, yea, and +does hourly punish by Him by whom He judges the world, Jesus Christ, the +Lord, who is exalted high above all principalities and powers, and has +all power given to Him in heaven and earth, which He uses, as He used it +in Judæa of old, utterly and always for the good of all mankind, whom He +hath redeemed with His most precious blood. + + + + +XLV. +THE GOSPEL. + + + Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached + unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which + also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, + unless ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of + all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins + according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose + again the third day according to the scriptures.—1 CORINTHIANS xv. + 1–4. + +THIS is St. Paul’s account of the gospel; the good news which he preached +to the sinful and profligate Corinthians, when they were sunk lower than +the beasts which perish. And because they believed this good news, he +said, they were saved then and there, and would be safe only as long as +they believed that good news, and kept it in their memories. Now, from +what did this good news save them? From their sins. There was something +in St. Paul’s good news which made them hate their sins, and repent of +them, and throw them away, and rise up to be new men and women, living +new lives in godliness and purity and justice, such as they had never +lived before. Now mind, it was not bad news which made the Corinthians +repent of their sins; it was good news. It was not that St. Paul told +them that God was going to cast them into endless torment for their sins, +and that therefore they were terrified and afraid, and so repented. +Doubtless St. Paul told them, as he told other heathens, that the wrath +of God was revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness; that +tribulation and anguish was laid up in store for every soul of man who +worketh evil. But still, St. Paul says plainly here, that what saved the +Corinthians was not that or any other fearful and terrifying news, but a +gospel—good news. And he says that this good news did not merely, as +some would wish it to do, make them comfortable in their minds while they +went on in their old wicked ways. No. He says that it made them stand. +That is, made them upright, strong-minded, righteous, self-restraining +people; and that they were saved by it from those sins which had been +dragging them down, and keeping them diseased in soul, weak, miserable, +the slaves of their own passions and foul pleasures. + +What wonderful good news was this, then, which could work so strange a +change in these poor heathens, and how could it change them? + +Let us see, first, what it was. + +“That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that He +was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the +scriptures; and that He was seen of Peter, then of the twelve; after that +He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater +part remained unto this day, but some are fallen asleep. After that He +was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And last of all He was seen +of me also, as of one born out of due time.” + +You see here, that St. Paul, for some good reason, says much more about +the Lord’s rising again than even about His most precious death and +passion on the cross, while about His ascending into heaven he says +nothing. And you will find in the New Testament that the Apostles often +did the same. They spoke of the Lord rising again as if that was the +great wonder, the great glory, the great good news; and as if His most +precious death was not perfect without that. They said that the especial +office for which the Lord had ordained them, was to be witnesses of His +resurrection. They said that the Lord rose again for our justification. +They said: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and +shalt believe in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou +shalt be saved.” Here again, just as in the text, believing in the +Lord’s resurrection is made the great article of faith. Why is this? +Because that last verse which I quoted may tell us, if we consider it +carefully. + +What does confessing the Lord Jesus with our mouth mean? It means what +we ought to mean when we say, in the Apostles’ Creed, I believe in Jesus +Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Not merely, I believe that there is an +only Son of God: but I believe in a certain man, with a certain +character, who is that only Son of God. + +And what, you will ask, does that mean? + +To know that, I fear, we must go back many many hundred years, to the +times when the old martyrs confessed the Lord Jesus Christ before the +heathen. Those were times in which it was not enough to say the +Apostles’ Creed in church. Men, ay, and tender women, and little +children, had to stand by it through terror and shame, and to die in +torments unspeakable, because they chose to say: “I believe in Jesus +Christ, our Lord.” Now, what was it which made the heathen hate and +persecute and torture, and murder them for saying that? What was there +in those plain words of the Apostles’ Creed which made the great heathen +emperors of Rome, and their officers and judges hunt the Christians down +like wild beasts for 300 years, and declare that they were not fit to +live? I will tell you. When the Christians were brought before the +emperor’s judges for being Christians, they did not merely say: “I +believe that Jesus Christ’s blood will save my soul after death.” They +said that: but they said a great deal more than that. If that had been +all that the Christians said, the judge would have answered: “What care I +for your souls, or for your notions about what will happen to them when +you are dead? Go your way. You may be of what religion you like, and +talk and think about your own souls as much as you like, provided you do +not trouble the Roman emperor’s power.” But the heathen judge did not +make that answer; because he knew well enough that what the Christians +believed was not a mere religion about what would happen to their souls +after death; but something which, if it gained ground, would utterly +destroy the Roman emperor’s power. He used generally to say to the +Christians only this: “Will you burn those few grains of incense in +honour of the emperor of Rome?” And he knew, and the Christians knew +well enough, that those words meant: “Will you confess with your mouth +the emperor of Rome? Will you confess that he is the only lord and king +of this whole earth, and of your bodies and souls, and that there is no +power or authority but of him, for the gods have delivered all things +into his hands?” And then came out what confessing the Lord Jesus really +means. For the Christians used to answer: “No. The emperor of Rome is +the lord and master of our bodies, and we will obey his laws so far as we +can without doing wrong: but we cannot obey them when they are contrary +to the laws of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus +Christ, who was crucified and rose again the third day, He, and not the +emperor of Rome at all, is the Lord and King of the whole earth, and of +our bodies and souls; and we must obey Him before we obey anyone else. +Power and authority come not from the emperor of Rome, but from the Lord +Jesus Christ; and the emperor is only His servant and steward, and must +obey Him just as much as we, or the Lord will punish him as surely and +easily as He will the meanest slave. For God has delivered all things, +and the emperor of Rome among the rest, into the hand of His Son Jesus +Christ, who sits a King over all, God blessed for ever.” That was +confessing Christ. + +And to that the heathen judges used to make but one answer—for there was +but one to make. Those heathen judges’ guilty consciences, as well as +their worldly cunning, told them plainly enough exactly what St. Paul +told the Christians; that those Christians, by confessing Christ, were +not fighting against flesh and blood, and setting up their selfish +interests against other people’s selfish interests: but that the battle +they were fighting was a much deeper and more terrible one; that by +saying that One who had walked the earth as a poor man, and yet a +perfectly righteous and loving man, doing nothing but good, and +sacrificing Himself utterly for poor fallen creatures, they were fighting +against the whole state of things all over the world; against the +government, and principles, and religion of that whole unjust and +tyrannical Roman empire, and all its rulers, and generals, and judges; +against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of the +darkness of those times; against spiritual wickedness in heavenly things. +For if Jesus Christ’s life was the right life, those rulers must be +utterly wrong; for it was exactly opposite to His. + +If Jesus Christ was really the Governor of the earth, there was no hope +for them; for their way of governing was exactly opposite to His. So as +I say, they made but one answer; because there was but one to make: “You +say that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. I say the +emperor of Rome is. You say you must obey Christ first, and the emperor +of Rome afterwards. I say that you must obey the emperor first, and +Christ afterwards. At all events, if you do not, you have no right on +this earth of the emperor’s; either the emperor’s power must fall, or +your notion about Jesus Christ’s power must. And we will see whether +your heavenly King of whom you talk can deliver you out of the emperor’s +hand.” And then came the scourge, and the red-hot iron, and the wild +beasts, and the cross, and all devilish tortures which man’s evil will +could invent, brought to bear without shame or mercy upon aged men, and +tender girls, and even little children, just to make them say that the +earth belonged to the emperor, and not to Jesus Christ. Those who died +bravely under those tortures without denying Christ were called martyrs, +which means witnesses—people who bore witness before God and man that +Jesus Christ was King and Lord. Those who did not die under the +tortures, but escaped after all, were called confessors—people who had +confessed with their mouths that Jesus Christ was King and Lord, in spite +of their terror and agony. . . . That was what confessing Jesus Christ +meant in the old times. And that was what it ought to mean now, even +though there is no persecution or torture for Christians in these happier +times. + +And now, we may see perhaps why St. Paul spoke so much of our Lord’s +rising again as the most important part of the gospel. + +Because he wanted Christians to believe, not merely in a Christ who once +died, but in Him who died and is alive for evermore; in a Christ who rose +again, body, soul, and spirit, and sat at God’s right hand, praying for +poor creatures when they were tempted, and persecuted, and tormented for +righteousness’ sake. St. Paul knew well that such fearful times as those +of which I have been speaking were coming on the people to whom he wrote. +And he knew equally well that the only thought which could save them, +when the heathen judges commanded them to deny the Lord Jesus, was the +thought that He was really risen. The only thought which could make them +bold enough to face all the horrors of death, was the thought that the +Lord Jesus had not merely tasted death, but conquered it, and risen again +from it. And therefore it is that St. Paul speaks so often of Christ’s +resurrection, and that in the text he takes so much pains to prove that +Christ had really risen, by telling them how many persons, well known to +him who wrote to them, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ after He rose, and +talked with Him, and were sure that He was the very same person still, +with the same countenance, and body, and soul, and spirit, as He had when +He was nailed to the cross, and laid in the sepulchre. + +What a thought for a poor creature in the last agony of fear and shame, +expecting presently to be torn in pieces, or burnt alive: “Death, this +horrible death, cannot conquer me, weak and fearful as I am; for my Lord +and Master, for whom I am going to suffer, has conquered death, and He +will not let it conquer me. He is stronger than death and hell, and He +will not suffer me at my last hour for any pains of death to fall from +Him. He is King of heaven and earth, and He will take care of His own!” +What a comfortable thought to be able to say: “Ay, I am torn from wife +and child, and all which I love on earth. But not for ever, not for +ever. For Christ rose from the dead. And I who belong to Christ, shall +rise as He did. This poor flesh of mine may be burnt in flames, devoured +by ravenous beasts. What matter? Christ the King of men, has risen from +the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. That same +Spirit of His, which brought back His body from the grave and hell, will +bring our bodies also from the grave and hell, to a nobler, happier life +with Him in glory unspeakable. Christ is risen, and I shall rise with +Him at the last day. Christ sits at God’s right hand, watching me, +pitying me, and blessing me, holding out to me a crown of glory which +shall never fade away!” That was the thought which gave Stephen courage +to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, amid to die in peace and the murderous +blows of the Jews. For by faith he saw, as he said, the heavens opened, +and Jesus sitting at the right hand of God. He knew that his Lord was +risen, and that He would hear his dying cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my +spirit.” + +And so with us, my friends; we have no martyrdom to go through, thank +God; but it is just as true of us as it was of the blessed martyrs and +confessors, that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be +saved but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved; not only from hell, +but from sin, from giving way to temptation, from denying Christ. Oh, +pray for faith. Pray for faith. Pray to be able really to confess with +your mouth the Lord Jesus. Pray to believe with your hearts that God has +raised Him from the dead. Then when you are tempted to do wrong, you, +like Stephen, will see, not with your bodily eyes, but by faith, the Lord +Jesus sitting at God’s right hand, and be able to say to Him: “Lord +Jesus, who hast conquered all temptation, help me to conquer this. Thine +eye is on me; how can I do this great wickedness and sin against Thee?” +When you are in terror, and trouble, and affliction, and know not where +to turn, that same blessed thought—“Christ is risen from the dead”—will +be a shield and a strength to you which no other thought can give. “My +Lord is risen; He is here still—a man, with His man’s body, and His man’s +spirit—His man’s love and tenderness; He has taken them all up to heaven +with Him. He is a man still, though He is very God of very God. He rose +from the dead as a man, and therefore He can understand me, and feel for +me still, now, here in England in this very year, 1852, just as much as +He could when He was walking upon earth in Judæa of old.” + +Ay, and in the black jaws of death, when this world is vanishing from our +eyes, and we are going we know not whither, leaving behind us all we +know, and love, and understand; then that thought of all thoughts—“Christ +is risen from the dead”—is the only one which will save us from dark sad +thoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid carelessness, and the +death of a brute beast, such as too many die. “Christ is risen and I +shall rise. Christ has conquered death for Himself, and He will conquer +it for me. Christ took His man’s body and soul with Him from the tomb to +God’s right hand, and He will raise my man’s body and soul at the last +day, that I may be with Him for ever, and see Him where He is.” In life +and in death this is the only thing which shall save us from sin, from +terror, and from the dread of death; the same good news which St. Paul +preached to the Corinthians; the same good news which made St. Stephen, +and the martyrs and confessors of old brave to endure all misery for the +sake of the good and blessed news, that God had raised His Son Jesus from +the dead. + + + + +XLVI. +GOD’S WAY WITH MAN. + + + And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you + for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according + to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord + God.—EZEKIEL xx. 44. + +IN this chapter the prophet Ezekiel argues with his sinful and rebellious +countrymen, and puts them in mind of all that God has done for them and +with them, from the time when He brought them out of Egypt to that day. + +And now comes the old question, What has this to do with us! St. Paul +tells us that all things which happened to the old Jews happened for our +example. What example can we learn from this chapter? + +This, I think, we may learn: Is not the way in which God taught these +Jews the same way in which He teaches many a man—perhaps every man? +Which of us, when we were young, has not had his teaching from God? The +old Catechism which our mothers taught us, was not that a word from God +Himself to us? The voice of conscience, which made us happy when we had +done right, and uneasy and ashamed when we had gone wrong; was not that a +word from God to us? Yes, my friends, those child’s feelings of ours +about right and wrong, were none other than the voice of the Lord Jesus +Christ, the Word of God, the Light which lightens every man who comes +into the world. I tell you, every right thought and wish, every longing +to be better than you were, which ever came into any one of your hearts, +came from Him, the Lord Jesus. It was His word, His voice, His Spirit, +speaking to your spirit, just as really as He spoke to His prophet +Ezekiel, of whom we have been reading. Think of that. Recollect, never, +never forget, that all your good thoughts and feelings are not your own, +not your own at all, but the Lord’s; that without His light your hearts +are nothing but darkness, blind ignorance, and blind selfishness, and +blind passions and lusts; that it is He, he Himself, who has been +fighting against the darkness in you all your life long. Oh think, then, +what your sin has been in putting aside those good thoughts and longings! +You were turning your back, you were shutting your doors to the Lord God +Himself, very God of very God begotten, by whom all things were made. +The Creator came to visit His creature, and His creature shut Him out. +The Almighty God pleaded with mortal man, and mortal man bade God go, and +come back at a more convenient season! A voice in your heart seemed to +say: “Oh, if I could but be a better man! How I wish that I could but +give up these bad habits, and mend! I hate and despise myself for being +so bad.” And then you fancied that that voice was your own voice, that +those good thoughts were your own thoughts. If you had really known +whose they were; if you had really known, as the Bible tells you, that +they were the Word of the Lord, the only-begotten Son of the Father, +speaking to your heart, I hardly think that you would have been so ready +to say yourself: “Well, then, I will mend; but not just now: some day or +other; somehow or other, I hope, I shall be a better man. It will be +time enough to make my peace with God when I am growing old.” You would +not have dared to thrust away the good thoughts, and keep them waiting, +while you took your pleasure in a few more years’ sin; if you had guessed +_whom_ you were thrusting away; if you had guessed whom you were keeping +waiting. + +And, my good friends, has not God been saying to us many a time from our +youth up, as He did to the Jews of old: “Do not walk in the statutes of +your fathers, nor defile yourselves with their idols?” Do you ask me +how? Why, thus. Have you never said to yourself: “How ill my father +prospered, because he would do wrong!” Or, again: “See how evil doing +brings its own punishment. There is so and so growing rich, by his +cheating and his covetousness, and yet, for all his money, I would not +change places with him. God forbid that I should have on my mind what he +has on his mind!” Why should I make a long story of so simple a matter? +Which of us has not felt at times that thought? How much misery has come +in this very parish from the ill-doing of the generation who are gone to +their account, and from the ill-training which they gave their children? + +And what was that but the Word of the Lord Himself speaking to our +hearts, and saying to us: “Do not defile yourselves with their idols; do +not hurt your souls by hunting after the things which they loved better +than they loved Me: money, pleasure, drink, fighting, smuggling, +poaching, wantonness, and lust; I am the Lord your God?” + +And yet, young people will not listen to that warning voice of God. They +see other people, even their own fathers and mothers, punished for their +sins; perhaps made poor by their sins, perhaps made unhealthy by their +sins, perhaps made miserable and ill-tempered by their sins: and yet they +go and fall into, or rather walk open-eyed into, the very same sins which +made their parents wretched. Oh, how many a young person sees their home +made a complete hell on earth by ungodliness, and the ill-temper and +selfishness which come from ungodliness; and, then, as soon as they have +a home of their own, set to work to make their own family as miserable as +their father’s was before them. + +But people say often: “How could we help it? We had no chance; we were +brought up in bad ways; we had a bad example set us; how can you expect +us to be better than our fathers and mothers, and our elder brothers and +sisters? If we had had a fair chance, we might have been different: but +we had none; and we could not help going the bad way, for we were set in +it the day we were born.” + +Well, my dear friends, God shall judge you, not I. If little is given to +a man little is required of him. But not nothing at all; because more +than nothing was given him. A little is given to every man; and, +therefore, a little is required of every man. And so, he who knew not +his Master’s will shall be beaten with few stripes. But he will be +beaten with some stripes, because he ought to have known something, at +least of his Master’s will. If you were dumb animals, which can only +follow their own lusts and passions, and must be what nature has made +them, then your excuse would be good enough; but your excuse is not good +now, just because you are men and women, and not dumb beasts, and, +therefore, can rise above your natures, and conquer your lusts and +passions, as they cannot, and can do what you do not like, because, +though you dislike it, you know that it is right. And, therefore, God +does not take that excuse which sinners make, that they have had no +teaching. But what does he do to them? + +Suppose, now, that you had a dog which would not be taught, or broken in, +or cured of biting, or made useful, or bearable in any way, what would +you do to that dog? I suppose that you would kill it; you would say: “It +is an ill-conditioned animal, and there is no making it any better; so +the only thing is to put it out of the way, and not let it eat food which +might be better spent.” Now, does God deal so with sinners? When young +people rush headlong into sin, and become a nuisance to themselves and +their neighbours, does God kill them at once, that better men may step +into their place? No. And why? Just because they are not dumb animals, +which cannot be made better, but God’s children, who can be made better. +If there were really no hope of a sinner repenting and amending, I think +God would not leave him long alive to cumber the ground. But there is +hope for every one; because God the Father loves all; the loving heart of +the Lord Jesus Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, which proceeds +from the Father and the Son, strives with the hearts of all; therefore +God, in His patience and tender mercy, tries to bring his foolish +children to their senses. And how? Often in the very same way, in which +Ezekiel says He tried to bring the Jews to their senses, by letting them +go on in the road of sin, till they see what an ugly pit that same road +ends in. If your child would not believe you when you warned and assured +him that the fire would burn him, would it not be the very best way of +bringing him to his senses, to tell him: “Very well; go your own way; put +your hand into the fire, and see what comes of it; you will not believe +me; you will believe your own feelings, when your hand is burnt.” So did +the Lord to those rebellious Jews when they would go after their fathers’ +sins. He gave them statutes which were not good, and judgments by which +they could not live, to the end that they might know that He was the +Lord. God did not make them commit any sins. God forbid! He only took +away His Spirit, His light and teaching, from them, and let them go on in +the light of their own foolish and bewildered hearts, till their sin bred +misery and shame to them, and they were filled with the fruit of their +own devices. Then, after all their wealth was gone, and their land was +wasted by cruel enemies, and they themselves were carried away captive +into Babylon, they began to awake, and say to themselves: “We were wrong +after all, and the Lord was right. He knew what was really good for us +better than we did. We thought that we could do without Him, disobey +Him. But He is the Lord after all. He has been too strong for us; He +has punished us. If we had listened to His warnings years ago, we might +have been saved all this misery.” + +Ah, how many a poor foolish creature, in misery and shame, with a guilty +conscience and a sad heart, sits down, like the prodigal son, among the +swinish bad company into which his sins have brought him, longing to fill +his belly with the husks which the swine eat! but he cannot. He tries to +forget his sorrow by drinking, by bad company, by gambling, by gossiping, +like the fools around him: but he cannot. He finds no more pleasure in +sin. He is sick and tired of it. He has had enough of it and too much. +He is miserable, and he hardly knows why. But miserable he is. There is +a longing, and craving, and hunger at his heart after something better; +at least after something different. Then he begins to remember his +heavenly Father’s house. Old words which he learnt at his mother’s knee, +good old words out of his Catechism and his Bible, start up strangely in +his mind. He had forgotten them, laughed at them, perhaps, in his wild +days. But now they come up, he does not know where from, like beautiful +ghosts gliding in. And he is ashamed of them; they reproach him, the +dear old lessons; and yet they seem pleasant to him, though they make him +blush. And at last he says to himself: “Would God that I were a little +child again; once more an innocent little child at my mother’s knee! I +thought myself clever and cunning. I thought I could go my own way and +enjoy myself. But I cannot. Perhaps I have been a fool; and the old +Sunday books were right after all. At least I am miserable. I thought I +was my own master. But perhaps He about whom I used to read in the +Sunday books is my Master after all. At least I am not my own master; I +am a slave. Perhaps I have been fighting against Him, against the Lord +God, all this time, and now He has shown me that He is the stronger of +the two. . . . ” And so the poor man learns in trouble and shame to +know, like the Jews of old, who is the Lord. + +And when the Lord has drawn a man thus far, does He stop? Not so. He +does not leave His work half done. If the work is half done, it is that +we stop, not that He stops. Whosoever comes to Him, howsoever +confusedly, or clumsily, or even lazily they may come, He will in no wise +cast out. He may afflict them still more to cure that confusion and +laziness; but He is a physician who never sends a willing patient away, +or keeps him waiting for a single hour. + +How then does the Lord deal with such a man? Does He drive him further? +Not if he will go without being driven. You would call it cruel to drive +a beast on with blows, when it was willing to be led peaceably. And be +sure God is not more cruel than man. As soon as we are willing to be +led, He will take His rod off from us, and lead us tenderly enough. For +I have known God do this to a man, and a sinful man as ever trod this +earth. I have known such a man brought into utter misery and shame of +heart, and heavy affliction in outward matters, till his spirit was +utterly broken, and he was ready to say: “I am a beast and a fool. I am +not worth the bread I eat. Let me lie down and die.” And then, when the +Lord had driven that man so far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, how +the Lord turned and looked on that man as he turned and looked on Peter, +and brought his poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter’s, by a +loving smile, and not an angry frown. I have seen the Lord heap that man +with all manner of unexpected blessings, and pay him back sevenfold for +all his affliction, and raise him up, body and soul, and satisfy him with +good things, so that his youth was renewed like the eagle’s. And so the +man’s conversion to God, though it was begun by God’s chastisements and +afflictions, was brought to perfection by God’s mercy and bounty; and it +happened to that man, as Ezekiel prophesied that it would happen to the +Jews, that not fear and dread, but honour, gratitude, and that noble +shame of which no man need be ashamed, brought him home to God at last. +“And you shall remember your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have +been defiled: and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all +the evils which you have committed. And you shall know that I am the +Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to +your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of +Israel, saith the Lord God.” + +You see that God’s mercy to them would not make them conceited or +careless. It would increase their shame and confusion when they found +out what sort of a Lord He was against whom they had been rebellious; +long-suffering and of tender mercy, returning good for evil to His +disobedient children. That feeling would awake in them more shame and +more confusion than ever: but it would be a noble shame, a happy +confusion, and tears of joy and gratitude, not of bitterness. Such a +shame, such a confusion, such tears, as the blessed Magdalene’s when she +knelt at the Lord’s feet, and found that, instead of bating her and +thrusting her away for all her sins, He told her to go in peace, pardoned +and happy. Then she knew the Lord; she found out His character—His name; +for she found out that His name was love. Oh, my friends, this is the +great secret; the only knowledge worth living for, because it is the only +knowledge which will enable you to live worthily—to know the Lord. That +knowledge will enable you to live a life which will last, and grow, and +prosper for ever, beyond the grave, and death, and judgment, and +eternities of eternities. As the Lord Himself said, when He was upon +earth, “This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus +Christ whom thou hast sent.” Therefore there is no use my warning you +against sin, and telling you, do not do this, and do not do that, unless +I tell you at the same time who is the Lord. For till you know that The +Good God is the Lord, you will have no real, sound, heartfelt reason for +giving up your sins; and what is more, you will not be able to give them +up. You may alter your sort of sins from fear of this and that; but the +root of sin will be there still; and if it cannot bear one sort of fruit +it will bear another. If you dare not drink or riot, you may become +covetous and griping; if you dare not give way to young men’s sins, you +will take to old men’s sins instead; if you dare not commit open sins you +will commit secret ones in your thoughts. Sin is much too stout a plant +to be kept from bearing some sort of fruit. As long as it is not rooted +up the root will breed death in you of some sort or other; and the only +feeling which can root up sin is to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of +God, is your Lord, and that your Lord condescended to die upon the cross +for you; that you must be the Lord’s, and are not your own, but bought +with the price of His most precious blood, that you may glorify God with +your body and your soul, which are His. + +Just so, the blessed St. Augustine found that he could never conquer his +own sins by arguing with himself, or by any other means, till he got to +know God, and to see that God was the Lord. And when his spirit was +utterly broken; when he saw himself, in spite of all his wonderful +cleverness and learning, to have been a fool and blind all along, though +people round him were flattering him, and running after him to hear his +learning; then the old words which he learnt at his mother’s knee came up +in his mind, and he knew that God was the Lord after all, and that God +had been watching him, guiding him, letting him go wrong only to show him +the folly of going wrong, caring for him even when He left him to himself +and his sins, and the sad ways of his sins; bearing with him, pleading +with his conscience, alluring him back to the only true happiness, as a +loving father with a rebellious and self-willed child. And then, when +St. Augustine had found out at last that God was his Lord, who had been +taking the charge of him all through his heathen youth, he became a +changed man. He was able to conquer his sins; for God conquered them for +him. He was able to give up the profligate life which he had been +leading; not from fear of punishment, but from the Spirit of God—the +spirit of gratitude, honour, trust, and love toward God, which made him +abide in God, and God abide in him. To that blessed state may God of His +great mercy bring us all. To it He will bring us all unless we rebel and +set up our foolish and selfish will against His loving and wise will. +And if He does bring us to it, it is little matter whether He brings us +to it through joy or through sorrow, through honour or through shame, +through the garden of Eden, or through the valley of the shadow of death. +For, my dear friends, what matter how bitter the medicine is, if it does +but save our lives? + + + + +XLVII. +THE MARRIAGE AT CANA. + + + There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was + there. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the + marriage.—JOHN ii. 1, 2. + +IT is, I think, in the first place, an important, as well as a pleasant +thing, to know that the Lord’s glory, as St. Paul says, was first shown +forth at a wedding, at a feast. Not at a time of sorrow, but of joy. +Not about some strange affliction or disease, such as is the lot of very +few, but about a marriage, that which happens in the ordinary lot of all +mankind. Not in any fearful judgment or destruction of sinners, but in +blessing wedlock, by which, whether among saints or sinners, mankind is +increased. Not by helping some great philosopher to think more deeply, +or some great saint to perform more wonderful acts of holiness, but in +giving the simple pleasure of wine to simple commonplace people, of whom +we neither read that they were rich or righteous. We do not even read +whether the master of the feast ever found out that Jesus had worked a +miracle, or whether any of the company ever believed in Him, on the +strength of that miracle, except His mother and the disciples, and the +servants, who were probably the poor slaves of people in a low or +middling class of life. But that is the way of the Lord. He is no +respecter of persons. Rich and poor are alike in His sight; and the poor +need Him most, and therefore He began his work with the poor in Cana, as +He did in St. James’s time, when the poor of this world were rich in +faith, and the rich of this world were oppressors and taskmasters. So He +does in every age. Though no one else cares for the poor, He cares for +them. With their hearts He begins His work, even as He did in England +sixty years ago, by the preaching of Whitfield and Wesley. Do you wish +to know if anything is the Lord’s work? See if it is a work among the +poor. Do you wish to know whether any preaching is the true gospel of +the Lord? See whether it is a gospel, a good news to the poor. I know +no other test than that. By doing that, by preaching the gospel to the +poor, by working miracles for the poor, He has showed forth His glory, +and proved Himself the true, and just, and loving Lord of all. + +But again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He does not demand +from us: He gives to us. He had been giving from the foundation of the +world. Corn and wine, rain and sunshine, and fruitful seasons had been +his sending. And now He was come to show it. He was come to show men +who it was who had been filling their heart with joy and gladness; who +had been bringing out of the earth and air, by His unseen chemistry, the +wine which maketh glad the heart of man. In every grape that hangs upon +the vine, water is changed into wine, as the sap ripens into rich juice. +He had been doing that all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that +was His glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil of +custom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had seen the grapes +ripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, as every one of us is +tempted now: “It is the sun and the air, the nature of the vine, and the +nature of the climate, which makes the wine.” Jesus comes and answers: +“Not so. I make the wine; I have been making it all along. The vines, +the sun, the weather, are only my tools wherewith I worked, turning rain +and sap into wine; and I am greater than they; I made them; I do not +depend on them; I can make wine from water without vines or sunshine. +Behold, and drink, and see my glory _without_ the vineyard, since you had +forgotten how to see it _in_ the vineyard! For I am now, even as I was +in Paradise, The Word of the Lord God; and now, even as in Paradise, I +walk among the trees of the garden, and they know me and obey me, though +the world knows me not. I have been all along in the world, and the +world knows me not. Know me now, lest you lose the knowledge of me for +ever!” + +Those of the Jews who received that message, as the disciples did, found +out their ancient Lord, and clung to Him, and know now, in the world of +spirits, that His message was indeed a true one. Those who did not, lost +sight of Him; to this day their eyes are blinded; to this day they have +utterly forgotten that they have a Lord and Ruler, who is the Word and +Son of God. Their faith is no more like the faith of David than their +understanding of the Scriptures is like his. The Bible is a dead letter +to them. The kingdom and government of God is forgotten by them. Of all +God-worshipping people in the world, the Jews are the least godly, the +most given up to the worship of this world, and the things which they can +see, and taste, and handle, and, therefore, to covetousness, cheating, +lying, tyranny, and all the sins which spring from forgetting that this +world belongs to the Lord and that He rules and guides it, that its +blessings are His gifts, and we His stewards, to use them for the good of +all. May God help, and forgive, and convert them! Doubt not that He +will do so in His good time. But let us beware, my friends, lest we fall +into the same sin. Do not fancy that we are not in just the same danger. +It would be a cowardly thing of a preacher to call Jews, or heathens, or +any other absent persons hard names, unless their mistakes and their sins +were such as his own people wanted warnings against, ay, perhaps, had the +very root of them in their hearts already. And we have the root of the +Jews’ sin in our own hearts. Why is this one miracle read in our +churches to this day, if we do not stand just as much in need of the +lesson as those for whom it was first worked? We, as well as they, are +in danger of forgetting who it is that sends us corn and wine, and +fruitful seasons, love and marriage, and all the blessings of this life. +We, as well as the Jews, are continually fancying that these outward +earthly things, as we call them in our shallow carnal conceits, have +nothing to do with Jesus or His kingdom, but that we may compete, and +scrape, even cheat and lie to get them, and when we have them, misuse +them selfishly, as if they belonged to no one but ourselves, as if we had +no duty to perform about them, as if we owed God no service for them. + +And again, we are, just as much as the Jews were, in danger of spiritual +pride; in danger of fancying that because we are religious, and have, or +fancy we have, deep experiences and beautiful thoughts about God and +Christ and our own souls, therefore we can afford to despise those who do +not know as much as ourselves; to despise the common pleasures and petty +sorrows of poor creatures, whose souls and bodies are grovelling in the +dust, busied with the cares of this world, at their wits’ end to get +their daily bread; to despise the merriment of young people, the play of +children, and all those everyday happinesses which, though we may turn +from them with a sneer, are precious in the sight of Him who made heaven +and earth. All such proud thoughts, all such contempt of those who do +not seem as spiritual as we fancy ourselves, is evil. It is from the +devil, and not from God. It is the same vile spirit which made the +Pharisees of old say: “This people—these poor worldly drudging +wretches—who know not the law, are accursed.” And mind, this is not a +sin of rich, and learned, and highborn men only. They may be more +tempted to it than others; but poor men, when they become, by the grace +of God, wiser, more spiritual, more holy than others, are tempted, just +as much as the rich, to despise their poor neighbours to whom God has not +given the same light as themselves; and surely in them it shows ugliest +of all. A learned and high-born man may be excused for looking down upon +the sinful poor, because he does not understand their temptations, +because he never has been ignorant and struggling as they are. But a +poor man who despises the poor—he has no excuse. He ought above all men +to feel for them, for he has been tempted even as they are. He knows +their sorrows; he has been through their dark valley of bad food, bad +lodging, want of work, want of teaching, low cares which drag the soul to +earth. Surely a poor man who has tasted God’s love and Christ’s light, +ought, above all others, instead of turning his back on his class, to +pity them, to make common cause with them, to teach them, guide them, +comfort them, in a way no rich man can. Yes; after all, it is the poor +must help the poor; the poor must comfort the poor; the poor must teach +and convert the poor. + +See, in the epistle for this day, St. Paul makes no distinction between +rich and poor. This epistle is joined with the gospel for the day, to +show us what ought to be the conduct of Christians, who believe in the +miracle of Cana; what men should do who believe that they have a Lord in +heaven, by whose command suns shine, fruits ripen, men enjoy the +blessings of harvest, of marriage, of the comforts which the heathen and +the savage, as well as the Christian man, partake; what men should do who +believe that they have a Lord in heaven who entered into the common joys +and sorrows of lowly men, who was once Himself a poor villager, who ate +with publicans and sinners, who condescended to join in a wedding feast, +and increase the mere animal enjoyment of the guests. And what is St. +Paul’s command to poor as well as rich? Read the epistle for this day +and see. + +You see at once that this epistle is written in the same spirit as our +Lord’s words: by God’s Spirit, in short; the Spirit which brought the +Lord Jesus so condescendingly to the wedding feast; the Spirit which made +Him care so heartily for the common pleasures of those around Him. My +friends, these are not commands to one class, but to all. Poor as well +as rich may show mercy with cheerfulness, and love without dissimulation. +Poor as well as rich may minister to others with earnestness, and +condescend to those of low estate. Not a word in this whole epistle +which does not apply equally to every rank, and sex, and age. + +Neither are these commands to each of us by ourselves, but to all of us +together, as members of a family. If you will look through them they are +not things to be done to ourselves, but to our neighbours; not +experiences to be felt about our own souls: but rules of conduct to our +fellow-men. They are all different branches and flowers from that one +root: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” + +Do we live thus, rich or poor? Can we look each other in the face this +afternoon and say, each man to his neighbour: “I have behaved like a +brother to you. I have rejoiced at your good fortune, and grieved at +your sorrow. I have preferred you to myself. I have loved you without +dissimulation. I have been earnest in my place and duty in the parish +for the sake of the common good of all. I have condescended to those of +lower rank than myself. I have—” Ah, my dear friends, I had better not +go on with the list. God forgive us all! The less we try to justify +ourselves on this score the better. Some of us do indeed try to behave +like brothers and sisters to their neighbours; but how few of us; and +those few how little! And yet we are brothers. We are members of one +family, sons of one Father, joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who +sat eating and drinking at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and +mixed freely in the joys and the sorrows of the poorest and meanest. +Joint-heirs with Christ; yet how unlike Him! My friends, we need to +repent and amend our ways; we need to confess, every one of us, rich and +poor, the pride, the selfishness, the carelessness about each other, +which keeps us so much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so +little for each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of you. +Those who have behaved most like brothers, will be most ready to confess +how little they have behaved like brothers. Confess: “Father, I have +sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called +thy son, for I have not loved, cared for, helped my brothers and sisters +round, who are just as much thy children as I am.” Pray for the spirit +of Jesus, the spirit of condescension, love, fellow-feeling; that spirit +which rejoices simply and heartily with those who are happy, and feels +for another’s sorrows as if they were its own. Pray for it; for till it +comes, there will be no peace on earth. Pray for it; for when it comes +and takes possession of your hearts, and you all really love and live +like brothers, children of one Father, the kingdom of God will be come +indeed, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. + + + + +XLVIII. +PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE. + + + And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked + how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, when thou art + bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, + lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that + bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou + begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, + go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee + cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou + have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For + whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth + himself shall be exalted.—LUKE xiv. 7–11. + +WE heard in the gospel for to-day how the Lord Jesus put forth a parable +to those who were invited to a dinner with Him at the Pharisee’s house. +A parable means an example of any rules or laws; a story about some rule, +by hearing which people may see how the rule works in practice, and +understand it. Now, our Lord’s parables were about the kingdom of God. +They were examples of the rules and laws by which the kingdom of God is +governed and carried on. Therefore He begins many of His parables by +saying, The kingdom of God is like something—something which people see +daily, and understand more or less. “The kingdom of God is like a +field;” “The kingdom of God is like a net;” “The kingdom of God is like a +grain of mustard seed;” and so forth. And even where He did not begin +one of His parables by speaking of the kingdom of God, we may be still +certain that it has to do with the kingdom of God. For the one great +reason why the Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us, was to preach the +kingdom of God, His Father and our Father, and to prove to men that God +was their King, even at the price of his most precious blood. And, +therefore, everything which He ever did, and everything which He ever +spoke, had to do with this one great work of His. This parable, +therefore, which you heard read in the gospel for to-day, has to do with +the kingdom of God, and is an example of the laws of it. + +Now, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while to consider. For +at baptism we were declared members of the kingdom of God; we were to +renounce the world, and to live according to the kingdom of God. The +kingdom of God is simply the way in which God governs men; and the world +is the way in which men try to manage without God’s help or leave. That +is the difference between them; and a most awful difference it is. Men +fancy that they can get on well enough without God; that the ways of the +world are very reasonable, and useful, and profitable, and quite good +enough to live by, if not to die by. But all the while God is King, let +them fancy what they like; and this earth, and everything on it, from the +king on his throne to the gnat in the sunbeam, is under His government, +and must obey His laws or die. We are in God’s kingdom, my good friends, +every one of us, whether we like it or not, and we shall be there for +ever and ever. And our business is, therefore, simply to find out what +are the laws of that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as +possible, and live for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and get in +their way, they should grind us to powder. + +Now, here is one of the laws of God’s kingdom: “Whosoever exalteth +himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be exalted.” +That is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, sets himself up, will be +pulled down again: while he who is contented to keep low, and think +little of himself, will be raised up and set on high. Now the world’s +rule is the exact opposite of this. The world says, Every man for +himself. The way of the world is to struggle and strive for the highest +place; to be a pushing man, and a rising man, and a man who will stand +stiffly by his rights, and give his enemy as good as he brings, and beat +his neighbour out of the market, and show off himself to the best +advantage, and try to make the most of whatever wit or money he has to +look well in the world, that people may look up to him and flatter him +and obey him; and so the world has no objection to people’s pretending to +be better than they are. Every man must do the best he can for himself, +the world says, and never mind his neighbours: they must take care of +themselves; and if they are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the +worse for them. So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when +he has anything to sell, making it out better than it really is, and +hiding the fault in it as far as he can. When a tradesman or +manufacturer sends about “puffs” of his goods, and pretends that they are +better and cheaper than other people’s, just to get custom by it, the +world does not call that what it is—boasting and lying. It says: “Of +course a man must do the best he can for himself. If a man does not +praise himself, nobody else will praise him; he cannot expect his +neighbours to take him for better than his own words.” So again, if a +man wants a place or situation, the world thinks it no harm if he gives +the most showy character of himself, and gets his friends to say all the +good of him they can, and a great deal more, and to say none of the +harm—in short, to make himself out a much better, or shrewder, or +worthier man than he really is. The world does not call that either what +it is—boasting, and lying, and thrusting oneself into callings to which +God has not called us. The world says: “Of course a man must turn his +best side outwards. You cannot expect a man to tell tales on himself.” + +And, my friends, the world would be quite right, and reasonable, and +prudent, in telling us to push, and boast, and lie, and puff ourselves +and our goods, if it were not for one thing which the foolish blind world +is always forgetting, and that is, that there is a God who judges the +earth. If God were not our King; if He took no care of us men and our +doings; if mankind had it all their own way on earth, and were forced to +shift for themselves without any laws of God to guide them, then the best +thing every man could do would be to fight for himself; to get all he +could for himself, and leave as little as he could for his neighbours; to +make himself out as great, and wise, and strong, as he could, and try to +make his neighbours buy him at his own price. That would be the best +plan for every man, if God was not King; and therefore the world says +that that is the best plan for every man, because the world does not +believe that God is King, and hates the notion that God is King, and +laughs at and persecutes, as Jesus Christ said it would, those who preach +the kingdom of God, and tell men, as I tell you in God’s name: “You were +not made to be selfish; you were not meant to rise in the world by +boasting and pushing down and deceiving your neighbours. For you are +subjects of God’s kingdom; and to do so is to break his laws, and to put +yourselves under His curse; and however worldly-wise all this selfishness +and boasting may seem, it is sin, whose wages are death and ruin.” + +For, my friends, let the world try to forget God as it will, He does not +forget the world. Let men try to make rules and laws for themselves, +rules about religion, rules about government, rules about trade, rules +about morals and what they fancy is just and fair; let them make as many +rules as they like, they are only wasting their time; for God has made +His rules already, and revealed them to us in the Bible, and told us that +the earth and mankind are governed in His way, and not in ours, and that +He will not alter His everlasting rules to suit our new ones. As David +says: “Let the people be never so unquiet, still the Lord is King.” + +Ah, my friends, it is very easy to say all this, but it is not so easy to +believe it. Every one, every respectable person at least, is ready +enough to talk about God, and God’s will, and so forth. But when it +comes to practice; when it comes to doing God’s will, and not our own; +when it comes to obeying His direct and plain commands, and not the +fashions and maxims which men have invented for themselves; when it comes +to giving up what we long for, because He has said that if we try after +it in our own way, and not in His, we shall never have it at all, then +comes the trial; then comes the time to see whether we believe that God +is the King of the earth or not; then comes the time to see whether we +have renounced the world, and determined to live as God’s sons in God’s +kingdom, or whether our religion is some form of words, or way of +thinking and feeling which we hope may save our souls from hell, but +which has nothing to do with our daily life and conduct, and leaves us +just as worldly as any heathen, in all our dealings with our fellow-men, +from Monday morning to Saturday night. Then comes the time to try our +faith in God. + +And then, alas! it comes out, in these evil, and godless, and +hypocritical times in which we live, that many a man who fancies himself +religious, and respectable, and blameless, and what not, no more really +believes that he is living in God’s kingdom than the heathen do. And if +you ask him, you will find out most probably that he fancies that God’s +kingdom is not on earth now, but that it will be on earth some day. A +cunning delusion of the devil, that, my friends! To make us go his way +while we fancy that we are going our own way. To make us say to +ourselves: “Ah! it is very unfortunate that God is not King of the earth +now. Of course He will be after the resurrection, in the new heaven and +the new earth, where there will be no sin. But He is not King now; this +world is given over to sin and the devil, so fallen and ruined and +corrupt that—that—that, in short, we cannot be expected to behave like +God’s children in it, but must just follow the ways of the world, and +live by ambition, and selfishness, and cunning, and boasting, and +competing in this life; a life of love, and justice, and humbleness, and +fellow-help, and mercy, and self-sacrifice is impossible in such a world +as this; we cannot live like angels, till we get to heaven!” So say nine +people out of ten; the devil deceiving them, and their own hearts, alas! +being but too glad to catch at the excuse for sin which the devil gives +them, when he tells them that this present earth is not God’s kingdom; +and so they go and act accordingly, selfish, grudging, pushing, boastful, +every man’s hand against his neighbour and for himself, till they succeed +too often in making this earth as fearfully like the devil’s kingdom as +it is possible for God’s kingdom to be made. + +But what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that he who sets +himself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself low shall be set +up? What has it to do with the text? It has everything to do with the +text. If people really believed that they were God’s subjects and +children in God’s kingdom, they would not need to ask that question long. + +If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in anyone +setting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those who +set up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their high +thoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God is really the +King of the earth, He must be the one to set people up, and not they +themselves. Look again at the parable. The man who asks the guests to +dine with him has surely a right to place each of them where he likes. +The house is his, the dinner is his. He has a right to invite whom he +likes; and he has a right to settle where they shall sit. If they choose +their own places—if any guest takes upon himself to seat himself at the +head of the table, because he thinks it his right, he offends against all +rules of right feeling and propriety toward the man who has invited him. +All he has a right to expect is, that his host will not put him in the +wrong place, that he will settle all places at his table according to +people’s real rank and deserts, and as our Testaments say, put “the +worthiest man in the highest room.” And if people really believed in +God, which very few do, they would surely expect no less of God. What +gentleman, farmer, or labourer is there, with common sense and good +feeling, who would not show most respect to the most respectable persons +who came into his house, and send his best and trustiest workmen about +his most important errands? True, he might make mistakes, and worse. +Being a weak man, he might be tempted to put the rich sinner in a higher +place than the poor saint: or he might, from private fancy, be blinded +about his workmen’s characters, and so send a worse man, because he was +his favourite, to do what another man whom he did not fancy as well might +do a great deal better. But you cannot suspect God of that. He is no +respecter of persons—whether a man be rich or poor, no matter to God: all +which He inquires into is—Is he righteous or unrighteous, wise or +foolish, able to do his work or unable? And God can make no mistakes +about people’s characters. As St. Paul says of the Lord Jesus: “The Word +of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing through to the +dividing of the very joints and marrow, so that all things are naked and +open in the sight of Him with whom we have to do.” There is no blinding +God, no hiding from God, no cheating God, just as there is no flattering +God. He knows what each and every one of us is fit for. He knows what +each and every one of us is worth; and what is more, He knows what we +ought to know, that each and every one of us is worth nothing without +Him. Therefore there is no use pretending to be better than we are. God +knows just how good we are, and will reward us, even in this life only +according as we deserve, in spite of all our boasting. There is no use +pretending to be wiser than we are. For all the wisdom we have comes +from God; and if we pretend to have more than we have, and by that +greatest act of folly, show that we have no wisdom at all, He will take +from us even what we have, and make all our cunning plans come to +nothing, and prove us fools, just when we fancy ourselves most clever. +There is no use being ambitious and pushing, and trying to scramble up on +our neighbours’ shoulders. For we were not sent into this world to do +what we like, but what God likes; not to work for ourselves, but to work +for God; and God knows exactly how much good each of us can do, and what +is the best place for us to do it in, and how to teach and enable us to +do it; and if we choose to be taught, He will teach us; and if we choose +to go His way, and do His work, He will help us to it. But if we will +not have his way, He will not let us have our own way—not at first, at +least. He will bring our plans to nothing, and let us make fools of +ourselves, and bring in sudden accidents of which we never dreamed, just +to show us that we are not our own masters, and cannot cut out our own +roads through life. And if we take His lesson, and go to Him to teach +and strengthen us—well: and if not—then perhaps—which is the most awful +misery which can happen to any man in earth—God may give up teaching us +during this life, and let us have our own way, and be filled with the +fruit of our own devices; from which worst of punishments may He in His +mercy, save you, and me, and all belonging to us, in this life and in the +life to come. + +But some of you may say: “We understand the first half of the text very +well, and like it very well; we all think it just that those who set +themselves up should have a fall, and we are very glad to see them have a +fall: but we do not see why he who abases himself should have any right +to be exalted.” Ah, my friends, it is much easier, and needs much less +knowledge of God, and much less of the likeness of Christ, to see what is +wrong, than to see what is right. Every man knows when a bone is broken, +but it is not every one who can set it again. Nevertheless, there is a +sort of left-handed reason in that argument. For a man has no more right +to make himself out worse than he is, than he has to make himself out +better than he is. A man should confess to being just what he is, +neither more nor less. Nevertheless, he who humbles himself shall be +exalted. + +Of course I do not mean those who, like some I know, make a fawning +humble way of talking a cloak for their own self-conceit; who call +themselves miserable sinners all the time that they are fancying that +they are almost the only people in the world who are sure of being saved, +whatever they do; who, as some do, actually pride themselves on their own +convictions of sin, and glory in their own shame, and despise those who +will not slander themselves as they do. + +They are equally hateful to God and to God’s enemies. If you and I are +disgusted at such hypocritical self-conceit, be sure the Lord Jesus is +far more pained at it than we are; for as a wise man says: “The devil’s +darling sin is the pride that apes humility.” + +But let a man really be convinced of sin; let a man really believe in the +Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement; let a man really believe in the Holy +Spirit; and that man will have little need to ask why he should humble +himself more than he deserves, and little wish to boast of himself, and +push himself forward, and get praise, or riches, or power in the world. +For that man would say to himself: “I, sinner as I am; I, who know that I +do so many wrong things daily; things so wrong that it required the blood +of the Son of God to wash out the guilt of them—who am I to set myself +up? I cannot be faithful in a little—why should I try to be ruler over +much? I cannot use properly the blessings and the power which God does +give me—must I not take for granted that, if I had more riches, more +power, I should use them still worse? I know well enough of a thousand +sins, and weaknesses and ignorances in myself which my neighbours never +see. I believe, therefore, my neighbours have much too good an opinion +of me, and not too bad a one; and therefore I am not going to boast or +puff myself to them. I can only thank God they do not see the inside of +this foolish heart of mine as well as He does! In short, I am not going +to set myself up, and try to get a higher place among men than I have +already, because I am certain that I have already a ten times better one +than I deserve.” + +Or again, if a man really believed in the Holy Ghost, which is much the +same as really believing in the kingdom of God; if he really believed +that God was the King and Master of his heart and soul; if he really +believed that everything good, and right, and wise in him came from God’s +Holy Spirit, and that everything wrong and foolish in him came from +himself and the devil; then he would surely say to himself: “Who am I to +try to set myself up above my neighbours, and get power over them; what +have I that I did not receive? Whatever money, or station, or +cleverness, or power of mind I have, God has given me, and without Him I +should be nothing. Therefore, He only gave me these talents to use for +Him, and if I use them for my own ends, I shall be misusing them, and +trying to rob God of His own. I am His child, His subject, His steward; +He has put me just in that place in His earth which is most fit for me, +and my business is, not to try to desert my post, and to wander out of +the place here He has put me, but to see that I do the duty which lies +nearest me, so that I shall be able to give an account to Him. It is +only if I am faithful in a few things, that I can expect God to make me +ruler over many things.” Ah, my friends, if we could but see ourselves, +not as we fancy we are, nor as others fancy we are, but just as we really +are, then, instead of pushing, and boasting, and standing stiffly by our +rights, and fancying that God and man are unjust to us, we should be +crying out all day long with the prodigal son: “Father, I have sinned +against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy +son.” We should say with St. Paul—who, after all, remember, was the +wisest, and most learned, and noblest-hearted of all the Apostles—that we +are at best the chief of sinners. We should feel like the dear and +blessed Magdalene of old, the pattern for ever of all true penitents, +that it was quite honour enough to be allowed to wash Christ’s feet with +our tears, while every one round us sneered at us and looked down upon +us—as, after all, we deserve. And so, believe me, we should be exalted. +It would pay us, if payment is what we want. For so we should be in a +more right, more true, more healthy, more wise, more powerful state of +mind; more like Jesus Christ, and therefore more likely to be sent to do +Christ’s work, and share Christ’s reward. For this is the great law of +the kingdom of God in which we live, that man is nothing, and God is +everything; and that we are strong and wise, and something, only when we +find out that we are weak and foolish, and nothing, and go to our Father +in heaven for strength, and wisdom, and spiritual eternal life. And then +we find out how true it is that he who humbles himself, as he deserves, +will be raised up; how he who loses his life will save it; how blessed +are the poor in spirit, those who feel that they have nothing but what +God chooses to give them; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! How +blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; who feel +that they are not doing right, and yet cannot rest till they do right; +for they shall be filled! How blessed are the meek, who do not set up +themselves, or try to fight their own battles, and compete with their +neighbours in the great scramble and struggle of this world; for +they—just the last persons whom the world would expect to do it—shall +inherit the earth! Choose, my friends, choose! The world says: “Push +upwards, praise yourself, help yourself, put your best side outwards.” +The great God who made heaven and earth says: “Know that you are weak, +and foolish, and sinful in yourself. Know that whatever wisdom you have, +I the Lord lent you; and I the Lord expect the interest of my loan. Know +that you are my child in my Kingdom. Stay where I have put you, and when +I want you for something better, I will call you; and if you try to rise +without my calling you, I will only drive you back again.” So the only +way to be ruler over much, is first to be faithful in a little. My +friends, which of the two do you think is likely to know best, man or +God? + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +{217} In 1848–49. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS*** + + +******* This file should be named 8202-0.txt or 8202-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/8/2/0/8202 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Sermons on National Subjects + + +Author: Charles Kingsley + + + +Release Date: October 25, 2014 [eBook #8202] +[This file was first posted on July 1, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1890 Macmillan and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>SERMONS ON NATIONAL<br /> +SUBJECTS.</h1> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +CHARLES KINGSLEY.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">London:<br /> +MACMILLAN AND CO.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND NEW YORK</span><br /> +1890</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>First Edition</i>, 1880.<br /> +<i>Reprinted</i>, 1886, 1890.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"> </p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">SERMON I.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The King of the Earth</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page1">1</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">II.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Holy Scripture</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page9">9</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">III.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Kingdom of God</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page17">17</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">IV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">A Preparation for Christmas</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page31">31</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">V.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Christmas Day</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page40">40</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">True Abstinence</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page47">47</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Good Friday</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page59">59</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">VIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Easter Day</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page67">67</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">IX.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Comforter</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page76">76</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">X.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Whit Sunday</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page85">85</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Ascension Day</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page99">99</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Fount of Science</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page109">109</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">First Sermon on the Cholera</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page134">134</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XIV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Second Sermon on the +Cholera</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page144">144</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Third Sermon on the Cholera</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page153">153</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XVI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">On the Day of Thanksgiving</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page164">164</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XVII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Covenant</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page175">175</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XVIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">National Rewards and +Punishments</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page184">184</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XIX.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Deliverance of +Jerusalem</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page191">191</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XX.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Profession and Practice</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page199">199</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Unfaithful Servant</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page210">210</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Way to Wealth</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page221">221</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Love of Christ</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page230">230</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXIV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">David’s Victory</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page242">242</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">David’s Education</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page254">254</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXVI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Value of Law</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page265">265</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXVII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Source of Law</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page275">275</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXVIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Education of a Heathen</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page287">287</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXIX.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Jeremiah’s Calling</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page298">298</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXX.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Perfect King</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page306">306</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">God’s Warnings</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page316">316</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Pharaoh’s Heart</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page325">325</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Red Sea Triumph</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page337">337</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXIV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Christmas Day</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page346">346</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">New Year’s Day</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page354">354</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXVI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Deluge</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page362">362</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXVII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Kingdom of God</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page373">373</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXVIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Light</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page384">384</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XXXIX.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Unpardonable Sin</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page395">395</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XL.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Spirit of Bondage</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page403">403</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Fall</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page412">412</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">God’s Covenants</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page423">423</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Mystery of Godliness</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page433">433</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLIV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Work of God’s +Spirit</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page445">445</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLV.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Gospel</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page453">453</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLVI.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">God’s Way with Man</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page463">463</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLVII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">The Marriage at Cana</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page474">474</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right">XLVIII.</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="smcap">Parable of the Lowest Place</span></p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page482">482</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="page1"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 1</span><span +class="GutSmall">I.</span><br /> +THE KING OF THE EARTH.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">[<i>Preached in</i> 1849.]</p> +<blockquote><p>Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.—<span +class="smcap">Matthew</span> xxi. 4.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> Sunday is the first of the +four Sundays in Advent. During those four Sundays, our +forefathers have advised us to think seriously of the coming of +our Lord Jesus Christ—not that we should neglect to think +of it at all times. As some of you know, I have preached to +you about it often lately. Perhaps before the end of Advent +you will all of you, more or less, understand what all that I +have said about the cholera, and public distress, and the sins of +this nation, and the sins of the labouring people has to do with +the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend, +especially in my next four sermons, to speak my whole mind to you +about this matter as far as God has shown it to me; taking the +Collect, Epistle, and Gospels, for each Sunday in Advent, and +explaining them. I am sure I cannot do better; for the more +I see of those Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and the way in +which they are arranged, the more I am astonished and delighted +at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the wise order in which +they follow each other, and fit into each other. It is very +fit, too, that we should think of our Lord’s coming at this +season of the year above all others; because it is the hardest +season—the season of most want, and misery, and discontent, +when wages are low, and work is scarce, and fuel is dear, and +frosts are bitter, and farmers and tradesmen, and gentlemen, too, +are at their wits’ end to square their accounts, and pay +their way. Then is the time that the evils of society come +home to us—that our sins, and our sorrows, which, after +all, are the punishment of our sins, stare us in the face. +Then is the time, if ever, for men’s hearts to cry out for +a Saviour, who will deliver them out of their miseries and their +sins; for a Heavenly King who will rule them in righteousness, +and do justice and judgment on the earth, and see that those who +are in need and necessity have right; for a Heavenly Counsellor +who will guide them into all truth—who will teach them what +they are, and whither they are going, and what the Lord requires +of them. I say the hard days of winter are a fit time to +turn men’s hearts to Christ their King—the fittest of +all times for a clergyman to get up in his pulpit, as I do now, +and tell his people, as I tell you, that Jesus Christ your King +has not forgotten you—that He is coming speedily to judge +the world, and execute justice and judgment for the meek of the +earth.</p> +<p>Now do not be in a hurry, and fancy from what I have just +said, that I am one of those who think the end of the world is at +hand. It may be, for aught I know. “Of that day +and that hour knoweth no man, not even the angels of God, nor the +Son, but the Father only.” If you wish for my own +opinion, I believe that what people commonly call the end of the +world, that is, the end of the earth and of mankind on it, is not +at hand at all. As far as I can judge from Scripture, and +from the history of all nations, the earth is yet young, and +mankind in its infancy. Five thousand years hence, our +descendants may be looking back on us as foolish barbarians, in +comparison with what they know: just as we look back upon the +ignorance of people a thousand years ago. And yet I believe +that the end of this world, in the real Scripture sense of the +word “world,” is coming very quickly and very +truly—The end of this system of society, of these present +ways in religion, and money-making, and conducting ourselves in +all the affairs of life, which we English people have got into +nowadays. The end of it is coming. It cannot last +much longer; for it is destroying itself. It will not last +much longer; for Christ and not the devil is the King of the +earth. As St. Paul said to his people, so say I to you, +“The night is far spent, the day is at hand.”</p> +<p>These may seem strange words, but almost every one is saying +them, in his own way. One large party among religious +people in these days is complaining that Christ has left His +Church, and that the cause of Christianity will be ruined and +lost, unless some great change takes place. Another large +party of religious people say, that the prophecies are on the +point of being all fulfilled that the 1260 days, spoken of by the +prophet Daniel, are just coining to an end; and that Christ is +coming with His saints, to reign openly upon earth for a thousand +years. The wisest philosophers and historians of late years +have been all foretelling a great and tremendous change in +England, and throughout all Europe; and in the meantime, +manufacturers and landlords, tradesmen and farmers, artisans and +labourers, all say, that there <i>must</i> be a change and will +be a change. I believe they are all right, every one of +them. They put it in their words; I think it better to put +it in the Scripture words, and say boldly, “Jesus Christ, +the King of the earth, is coming.”</p> +<p>But you will ask, “What right have you to stand up and +say anything so surprising?” My friends, the world is +full of surprising things, and this age above all ages. It +was not sixty years ago, that a nobleman was laughed at in the +House of Lords for saying that he believed that we should one day +see ships go by steam; and now there are steamers on every sea +and ocean in the world. Who expected twenty years ago to +see the whole face of England covered with these wonderful +railroads? Who expected on the 22nd of February last year, +that, within a single month, half the nations of Europe, which +looked so quiet and secure, would be shaken from top to bottom +with revolution and bloodshed—kings and princes vanishing +one after the other like a dream—poor men sitting for a day +as rulers of kingdoms, and then hurled down again to make room +for other rulers as unexpected as themselves? Can anyone +consider the last fifty years?—can anyone consider that one +last year, 1848, and then not feel that we do live in a most +strange and awful time? a time for which nothing is too +surprising—a time in which we all ought to be prepared, +from the least to the greatest, to see the greatest horrors and +the greatest blessings come suddenly upon us, like a thief in the +night? So much for Christ’s coming being too +wonderful a thing to happen just now. Still you are right +to ask: “What do you mean by Christ’s being our King? +what do you mean by His coming to us? What reason have you +for supposing that He is coming <i>now</i>, rather than at any +other time? And if He be coming, what are we to do? +What is there we ought to repent of? what is there we ought to +amend?”</p> +<p>Well, my friends—it is just these very questions which I +hope and trust God will help me to answer to you, in my next few +sermons—I am perfectly convinced that we must get them +answered and act upon them speedily. I am perfectly +convinced that if we go on as most of us are going in England +now, the Lord of us all will come in an hour when we are not +aware, and cut us asunder in the deepest and most real sense, as +He came and cut asunder France, Germany, and Austria only last +year, and appoint us our portion with the unbelievers. And +I believe that our punishment will be seven times as severe as +that of either France, Germany, or Austria, because we have had +seven times their privileges and blessings, seven times their +Gospel light and Christian knowledge, seven times their freedom +and justice in laws and constitution; seven times their wealth, +and prosperity, and means of employing our population. Much +has been given to England, and of her much will be +required. And if you could only see the state of mankind +over the greatest part of the globe, how infinitely fewer +opportunities they have of knowing God’s will than you +have, you would feel that to you, poor and struggling as some of +you are—to you much has been given, and of you much will be +required.</p> +<p>Now first, what do I mean by Christ being our king? I +daresay there are some among you who are inclined to think that, +when we talk of Christ being a king, that the word king means +something very different from its common meaning—and, God +knows, that that is true enough. Our blessed Lord took care +to make people understand that—how He was not like one of +the kings of the nations, how His kingdom was not of this +world. But yet the Bible tells us again and again that all +good kings, all real kings, are patterns of Christ; and, +therefore, that when we talk of Christ being a king, we mean that +He is a king in everything that a king ought to be; that He +fulfils perfectly all the duties of a king; that He is the +pattern which all kings ought to copy. Kings have been in +all ages too apt to forget that, and, indeed, so have the people +too. We English have forgotten most thoroughly in these +days, that Christ is our king, or even a king at all. We +talk of Christ being a “spiritual” king, and then we +say that that merely means that He is king of Christians’ +hearts. And when anyone asks what that means, it comes out, +that all we mean is, that Christ has a very great influence over +the hearts of believing Christians—when He can obtain it; +or else that it means that He is king of a very small number of +people called the elect, whom He has chosen out, but that He has +absolutely nothing to do with the whole rest of the world. +And then, when anyone stands up with the Bible in his hand, and +says, in the plain words of Scripture: “Christ is not only +the king of believers, He is the king of the whole earth; the +king of the clouds and the thunder, the king of the land and the +cattle, and the trees, and the corn, and to whomsoever He will He +giveth them. Christ is not only the king of +believers—He is the king of all—the king of the +wicked, of the heathen, of those who do not believe Him, who +never heard of Him. Christ is not only the king of a few +individual persons, one here and one there in every parish, but +He is the king of every nation. He is the king of England, +by the grace of God, just as much as Queen Victoria is, and ten +thousand times more.” If any man talks in this way, +people stare—think him an enthusiast—ask him what new +doctrine this is, and call his words unscriptural, just because +they come out of Scripture and not out of men’s perversions +and twistings of Scripture. Nevertheless Christ is King; +really and truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will +make men know it. What He was, that He is and ever will be; +there is no change in Him; His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, +and His dominion endureth throughout all ages, and woe unto +those, small or great, who rebel against Him!</p> +<p>But what sort of a king is He? He is a king of law, and +order, and justice. He is not selfish, fanciful, +self-willed. He said himself that He came not to do His own +will, but His Father’s. He is a king of gentleness +and meekness too: but do not mistake that. There is no weak +indulgence in Him. A man may be very meek, and yet stern +enough and strong enough. Moses was the meekest of men, we +read, and yet He made those who rebelled against him feel that he +was not to be trifled with. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram found +that to their cost. He would not even spare his own brother +Aaron, his own sister Miriam, when they rebelled. And he +was right. He showed his love by it; indulgence is not +love. It is no sign of meekness, but only of cowardice and +carelessness, to be afraid to rebuke sin. Moses knew that +he was doing God’s work, that he was appointed to make a +great nation of those slavish besotted Jews, his countrymen; that +he was sent by God with boundless blessings to them; and woe to +whoever hindered him from that. Because he loved the Jews, +therefore he dared punish those who tempted them to forget the +promised land of Canaan, or break God’s covenant, in which +lay all their hope.</p> +<p>And such a one is our King, my friends; Jesus Christ the Son +of God. Like Moses, says St. Paul, He is faithful in all +His office. Therefore He is severe as well as gentle. +He was so when on earth. With the poor, the outcast, the +neglected, those on whom men trampled, who was gentler than the +Lord Jesus? To the proud Pharisee, the canting Scribe, the +cunning Herodian, who was sterner than the Lord Jesus? Read +that awful 23rd chapter of St. Matthew, and then see how the +Saviour, the lamb dumb before His shearers, He of whom it was +said “He shall not strive nor cry, nor shall His voice be +heard in the streets”—how He could speak when He had +occasion. . . . “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, +hypocrites!” “Ye serpents, ye generation of +vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”</p> +<p>My friends, those were the words of our King; of Him in whom +was neither passion nor selfishness; who loved us even to the +death, and endured for us the scourge, the cross, the +grave. And believe me, such are His words now; though we do +not hear Him, the heaven and the earth hear Him and obey +Him. His message is pardon, mercy, deliverance to the +sorrowful, and the oppressed, and the neglected; and to the +proud, the tyrannical, the self-righteous, the hypocritical, +tribulation and anguish, shame and woe.</p> +<p>Because He is the Saviour, therefore He is a consuming fire to +all those who try to hinder Him from saving men. Because He +is the Son of God, He will sweep out of His Father’s +kingdom all who offend, and whosoever maketh and loveth a +lie. Because He is boundless mercy and love, therefore He +will show no mercy to those who try to stop His purposes of +love. Because He is the King of men, the enemies of mankind +are His enemies; and He will reign till He has put them all under +His feet.</p> +<h2><a name="page9"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 9</span><span +class="GutSmall">II.</span><br /> +HOLY SCRIPTURE.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<blockquote><p>Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were +written for our example, that we, through patience and comfort of +the Scriptures, might have hope.—<span +class="smcap">Romans</span> xv. 4.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>“<span class="smcap">Whatsoever</span> was written +aforetime.” There is no doubt, I think, that by these +words St. Paul means the Bible; that is, the Old Testament, which +was the only part of the Bible already written in his time. +For it is of the Psalms which he is speaking. He mentions a +verse out of the 69th Psalm, “The reproaches of Him that +reproached thee fell on me;” which, he says, applies to +Christ just as much as it did to David, who wrote it. +Christ, he says, pleased not Himself any more than David, but +suffered willingly and joyfully for God’s sake, because He +knew that He was doing God’s work. And we, he goes on +to say, must do the same; do as Christ did; we must not please +ourselves, but every one of us please our brother for his good +and edification; that is, in order to build him up, strengthen +him, make him wiser, better, more comfortable. For, he +says, Christ pleased not Himself, but like David, lived only to +help others; and therefore this verse out of David’s +Psalms, “The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell +on me,” is a lesson to us; a pattern of what we ought to +feel, and do, and suffer. “For whatsoever was written +aforetime,” all these ancient psalms and prophets, and +histories of men and nations who trusted in God, “were +written for our example, that we, through patience and comfort of +the Scriptures, might have hope.”</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is true; and the longer you live a life +of faith and godliness, the longer you read and study that +precious Book of books which God has put so freely into your +hands in these days, the more true you will find it. And if +it was true of the Old Testament, written before the Lord came +down and dwelt among men, how much more must it be true of the +New Testament, which was written after His coming by apostles and +evangelists, who had far fuller light and knowledge of the Lord +than ever David or the old prophets, even in their happiest +moments, had. Ah, what a treasure you have, every one of +you, in those Bibles of yours, which too many of you read so +little! From the first chapter of Genesis to the last of +Revelations, it is all written for our example, all profitable +for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly +furnished for all good works. Ah! friends, friends, is not +this the reason why so many of you do not read your Bibles, that +you do not wish to be furnished for good works?—do not wish +to be men of God, godly and godlike men, but only to be men of +the world, caring only for money and pleasure?—some of you, +alas! not wishing to be men and women at all, but only a sort of +brute beasts with clothes on, given up to filth and folly, like +the animals that perish, or rather worse than the animals, for +they could be no better if they tried, but you might be. +Oh! what might you not be, what are you not already, if you but +knew it! Members of Christ, children of God, heirs of the +kingdom of heaven, heirs of a hope undying, pure, that will never +fade away, having a right given you by the promise and oath of +Almighty God himself, to hope for yourselves, for your +neighbours, for this poor distracted world, for ever and ever; a +right to believe that there is an everlasting day of justice, and +peace, and happiness in store for the whole world, and that you, +if you will, may have your share in that glorious sunrise which +shall never set again. You may have your share in it, each +and every one of you; and if you ask why, go to the Scriptures, +and there read the promises of God, the grounds of your just +hope, for all heaven and earth.</p> +<p>First, of hope for yourselves.—I say first for +yourselves, not because a man is right in being selfish, and +caring only for his own soul, but because a man must care for his +own soul first, if he ever intends to care for others; a man must +have hope for himself first, if he is to have hope for +others. He may stop there, and turn his religion into a +selfish superstition, and spend his life in asking all day long, +“Shall I be saved, shall I be damned?” or worse +still, in chuckling over his own good fortune, and saying to +himself, “I shall be saved, whoever else is damned;” +but whether he ends there or not, he must begin there; begin by +trying to get himself saved. For if he does not know what +is right and good for himself, how can he tell what is right and +good for others? If he wishes to bring his neighbours out +of their sins, he must surely first have been brought out of his +own sins, and so know what forgiveness and sanctification +means. If he wishes to make others at peace with God, he +must first be at peace with God himself, to know what God’s +peace is. If he wants to teach others their duty, he must +first know his own duty, for all men’s duty is one and the +same. If he wishes to have hope for the world, he must +first have hope for himself, for he is in the world, a part of +it, and he must learn what blessings God intends for him, and +they will teach him what blessings God has in store for the +earth. Faith and hope, like charity, must begin at +home. By learning the corruption of our own hearts, we +learn the corruption of human nature. By learning what is +the only medicine which can cure our own sick hearts, we learn +what is the only medicine which can cure human nature. We +learn by our own experience, that God is all-forgiving love; that +His peace shines bright upon the soul which casts itself utterly +on Jesus Christ the Lord for pardon, strength, and safety; that +God’s Spirit is ready and able to raise us out of all our +sin, and sottishness, and weakness, and wilfulness, and +selfishness, and renew us into quite new men, different +characters from what we used to be; and so, by having hope for +ourselves, we learn step by step and year by year to have hope +for our friends, for our neighbours, and for the whole world.</p> +<p>For that is another great lesson which the Bible teaches +us—hope for the world. Men say to us, “This +world has always gone on ill, and will always go on so. +Tyrants and knaves and hypocrites have always had the power in +it; idlers have always had the enjoyment of it; while the humble, +and industrious, and godly, who would not foul their hands with +the wicked ways of the world, have been always laughed at, +neglected, oppressed, persecuted. The world,” they +say, “is very bad, and we cannot live in it without giving +way a little to its badness, and going the old road.”</p> +<p>But he who, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, +has hope, can answer “Yes—and yet no.” +“Yes—we agree that the world has gone on badly +enough: perhaps we think the world worse than it thinks itself; +for God’s Spirit has taught us to see sin, and shame, and +ruin, in many a thing which the world thinks right and +reasonable. And yet,” says the true Christian man, +“although we think the world worse than anyone else thinks +it, and are more unhappy than anyone else about all the sin, and +injustice, and misery we see in it, we have the very strongest +faith—we are perfectly certain—we are as sure as if +we saw it coming to pass here before us, that the world will come +right at last. For the Bible tells us that the Son of God +is the king of the world; that He has been the master and ruler +of it from the beginning. He, the Bible tells us, +condescended to come down on earth and be born in the likeness of +a poor man, and die on the cross for this poor world of His, that +He might take away the sins of it.” “Behold the +Lamb of God,” said John the Baptist, “who takes away +the sin of the world.” How dare we, who call +ourselves Christians, we who have been baptized into His name, we +who have tasted of His mercy, we who know the might of His love, +the converting and renewing power of His Spirit—how dare we +doubt but that He <i>will</i> take away the sins of the +world? Ay; step by step, nation by nation, year by year, +the Lord shall conquer; love, and justice, and wisdom shall +spread and grow; for He must reign till He has put all enemies +under His feet. He has promised to take away the sins of +the world, and He is God, and cannot lie. There is the +Christian’s hope: let him leave infidels to say “The +world always was bad, and it must remain so to the end;” +the Christian ought to be able to answer, “The world was +bad, and is bad; but for that very reason it will <i>not</i> +remain so to the end: for the Lord and king of the earth is +boundless love, justice, goodness itself, and He will thoroughly +purge His floor, and cast out of His kingdom all things that +offend, and make in His good time the kingdoms of this world, the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ.”</p> +<p>“Ah but,” someone may say, “that, if it ever +happens at all, will not happen till we are dead, and what part +or lot shall <i>we</i> have in it? we who die in the midst of all +this sin, and injustice, and distress?” There again +the Bible gives us hope: “I believe,” says the Creed, +“in the resurrection of the flesh.” The Bible +teaches us to believe, that we, each of us, as human beings, men +and women, shall have a share in that glorious day; not merely as +ghosts, and disembodied spirits—of which the Bible, thanks +be to God, says little or nothing, but as real live human beings, +with new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new +heaven. “Therefore,” says David, “my +flesh shall rest in hope;” not merely my soul, my ghost, +but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died, but rose +again with His body, shall raise our bodies, according to the +mighty working by which He subdues all things to Himself; and +then the whole manhood of each of us, body, soul, and spirit, +shall have one perfect consummation and bliss, in His eternal and +everlasting glory.—That is our hope. If that is not a +gospel, and good news from heaven to poor distressed creatures in +hovels, and on sick beds, to people racked with life-long pain +and disease, to people in crowded cities, who never from +week’s end to week’s end look on the green fields and +bright sky—if that is not good news, and a dayspring of +boundless hope from on high for them, what news can be?</p> +<p>But how are we to get this hope? The text tells us; +through comfort of the Scriptures; through the strengthening and +comforting promises, and examples, and rules of God’s +gracious dealings which we find therein. Through comfort of +the Scriptures, but also through patience. Ah, my friends, +of that too we must think; we must, as St. James says, “let +patience have her perfect work,” or else we shall not be +perfect ourselves. If we are hasty, self-conceited, +covetous, ready to help ourselves by the first means that come to +hand; if we are full of hard judgments about our neighbours, and +doubts about God’s good purpose toward the world; in short, +if we are not <i>patient</i>, the Bible will teach us little or +nothing. It may make us superstitious, bigoted, fanatical, +conceited, pharisaical, but like Jesus Christ the Lord it will +not make us, unless we have patience.</p> +<p>And where are we to get patience? God knows it is hard +in such a world as this for poor creatures to be patient +always. But faith can breed patience, though patience +cannot breed itself;—and faith in whom? Faith in our +Father in heaven, even in the Almighty God Himself. He +calls Himself “the God of Patience and +Consolation.” Pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will +make you patient; pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will console +and comfort you. He has promised That Spirit of His, The +Spirit of love, trust, and patience—The Comforter—to +as many as ask Him. Ask Him now, this day—come to His +holy table this day, and ask Him to make you patient; ask Him to +take all the hastiness, and pride, and ill-temper, and self-will, +and greediness out of you, and to change your wills into the +likeness of His will. Then your eyes will be opened to +understand His law. Then you will see in the Scriptures a +sure promise of hope and glory and redemption for yourself and +all the world. Then you will see in the blessed sacrament +of the Lord’s body and blood, a sure sign and warrant, +handed down from land to land, and age to age, from year to year, +and from father to son, that these promises shall come true; that +hope shall become fact; that not one of the Lord’s words +shall fail, or pass away, till all be fulfilled.</p> +<h2><a name="page17"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 17</span><span +class="GutSmall">III.</span><br /> +THE KINGDOM OF GOD.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<blockquote><p>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord +has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent +me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the +captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are +bound.—<span class="smcap">Isaiah</span> lxi. 1.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">My</span> friends, I do entreat those of +you who wish to get any real good from this sermon, to listen to +me carefully all through it. Not that I have to complain of +you in general for not attending to me. I thank God, and +thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this +pulpit. But there are many people who have a bad trick of +minding the preacher carefully enough for a minute or two, and +then letting their wits wander, and think about something else; +and then if any word in the sermon strikes them, waking up +suddenly, and thinking again for a little, and then letting their +thoughts run wild again; and so on. Whereby it happens that +they only recollect a few scraps of the sermon, a word here, and +a sentence there, and get into their heads all sorts of mistakes +and false notions about the preacher’s meaning.</p> +<p>That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: +that is only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. +Men and women should listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, +and so only, will they be able to judge of the message which the +preacher brings them. Listen to me, therefore, all through +this sermon, and may God give you grace to understand it and lay +it to heart, for it is the good news of the kingdom of God.</p> +<p>You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the +Lord Jesus Christ’s words would never pass away; that His +prophecies are continually coming true, and being fulfilled over +and over again. Now this text is not one of His prophecies, +but it is a prophecy about Him; one which He fulfilled, and which +He has been fulfilling again and again. He is fulfilling +it, as I believe, more than ever, now in these very days.</p> +<p>If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find +this prophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at +first, that Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, +“That the Spirit of the Lord was upon +<i>him</i>”—Isaiah—“because the Lord had +appointed <i>him</i> to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind +up the broken-hearted, and deliverance to the captives, to preach +the acceptable year of the Lord.” Isaiah must have +spoken truly about himself. He could not have meant to tell +a falsehood, to say a thing was true of himself which was only +true of Jesus, who did not come till 800 years afterwards. +And he did speak the truth: you cannot read his prophecies +without seeing that the Spirit of the Lord was indeed upon him; +that the words which he spoke must have comforted all those who +were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the nation in their +time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came true; +that the Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of +Judæa to Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as +Isaiah prophesied, and the Jewish nation raised to far greater +holiness, and prosperity, and happiness than it had ever been in +before. And yet 800 years afterwards the Lord took those +very same words to Himself, and said, that <i>He</i> fulfilled +them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish synagogue, out of +the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the congregation, +“This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your +ears.” And again, as we read in the Gospel for this +day, when John the Baptist sent to ask Him if He was really the +Christ, He made use of another prophecy of Isaiah, and told +John’s disciples that He <i>was</i> the Christ, because He +was fulfilling that prophecy; because He <i>was</i> making the +deaf hear, and the blind see, and preaching the gospel to the +poor. Now, how is that? Could Isaiah be right in +applying those words to himself, and yet Christ be right in +applying them to Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice +over?</p> +<p>No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. +No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. +Peter. That is, it does not apply to any one private, +particular thing that is to happen. Every prophecy of +Scripture goes on fulfilling itself more and more, as time rolls +on and the world grows older. St. Peter tells us the reason +why. No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation; +because it does not come from the will of man, from any invention +or discovery of poor short-sighted human beings, who can only +judge by what they see around them in their own times: but holy +men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And +who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the everlasting +Spirit; the Spirit who cannot change, for He <i>is</i> God. +The Spirit who searcheth the deep things of God, and teaches them +to men. And what are the deep things of God? They are +eternal as God is. Eternal laws; everlasting rules which +cannot alter. That is the meaning of it all. The +Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches men the laws of God; +the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which He governs all +heaven and earth, and men, and nations; the laws which come into +force, not once only, but always; the laws of God which are +working round us now, just as much as they were eighteen hundred +years ago, just as much as they were in Isaiah’s +time. Therefore it is, that I said that these old Jewish +prophecies, which were inspired by the Holy Spirit, are coming +true now, and will keep on coming true, time after time, in their +proper place and order, and whensoever the times are fit for +them, even to the end of the world.</p> +<p>But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things +of Christ, and shows them unto us. And what are the things +of Christ? They must be eternal things, unchangeable +things, for Christ is unchangeable—Jesus Christ, the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is over all, God +blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in heaven and +earth. He reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He +is less a Saviour now, than He was when He spoke those things to +John’s disciples? Do you think He is less able to +hear and to help than He was in John’s time? Do you +think He used to care about people’s bodies then, but that +He only cares about their souls now? Do you think that He +is less compassionate, and less merciful, as well as less +powerful, than He was when He made the blind see, and the lame +walk, and the deaf hear, in Judæa of old?</p> +<p>Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have +expected that Christ was <i>more</i> powerful, <i>more</i> +compassionate, if that were possible. At least one would +expect that His power and compassion would show itself more and +more, and make itself felt more and more, year by year, and age +by age; more and more healing disease; more and more comforting +sorrow; more and still more casting out cunning and evil spirits, +till He had put all under His feet. He Himself said it +should be so. He always spoke of His own kingdom as a thing +which was to grow and increase by laws of its own, men knew not +how, but He knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His +kingdom was, He said, at first the smallest of all seeds; but it +was to grow, and take root, and spread into a mighty tree, He +said, till the very birds in the air lodged in the branches of +it; and David’s words should be fulfilled, “Thou, +Lord, shalt save both man and beast.” And does not +St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom which +should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies +under His feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? +the earth on which we stand, the dumb animals around us? +For, as St. Paul says, the whole creation is groaning in +labour-pangs, waiting to be raised into a higher state. And +it shall be raised. The whole creation shall be set free +into the glorious liberty of the children of God.</p> +<p>What does that mean? How can I tell you?</p> +<p>This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was +merciful enough to heal people’s bodies at first, but that +He has given up doing it now, and will never do it again. +“Well, but,” some would say, “what does all +this come to? You are merely telling us what we knew +before—that if any of us are cured from disease, or raised +up from a sick bed, it is all the Lord’s +doing.” If you do believe that, really, my friends, +happy are you! Many of you, I think, do believe it. +The poor are more inclined to believe it, I think, than the +rich. But even in the mouths of the poor one often hears +words which make one suspect that they do <i>not</i> believe +it. I am very much afraid that a great many have got into +the trick of saying that it was God’s mercy that they were +cured, and that it pleased the Lord to raise them up from a sick +bed, very much as a piece of cant. They say the words by +rote, because they have been accustomed to hear them said by +others, without thinking of the meaning of them; just as, on the +other hand, a great many people curse and swear without thinking +of the awful oaths they use. Ay, and often enough the very +same persons will say that it was the Lord’s mercy they +were cured of their sickness; and then, if they get into a +passion, pray the very same Lord to do that to the bodies and +souls of their neighbours which it is a shame to speak of +here. Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings: +showing that whether or not they are in earnest in cursing, they +are not earnest in blessing.</p> +<p>Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus +Christ who cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, +when they got well, more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them +to behave. They would show forth their thankfulness not +only with their lips, but in their lives. You who +believe—you who say—that Christ has cured your +sicknesses, show your faith by your works. Live like those +who are alive again from the dead; who are not your own, but +bought with a price, and bound to work for God with your bodies +and your spirits, which are His—then, and then only, can +either God or man believe you.</p> +<p>Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that +people do not mean what they say about this matter. I think +too many say, “It has pleased God,” merely as an +empty form of words, when all they mean is, “What must be, +must, and it cannot be helped.” Else, why do they +say, “It has pleased the Lord to send me +sickness?” What is the use of saying, “It has +pleased the Lord to cure me,” when you say in the same +breath, “It has pleased the Lord to make me +ill?” I know you will say that, “Of course, +whatever happens must be the Lord’s will; if it did not +please Him it would not happen.” I do not care for +such words; I will have nothing to do with them. I will +neither entangle you nor myself in those endless disputings and +questions about freewill and necessity, which never yet have come +to any conclusion, and never will, because they are too deep for +poor short-sighted human beings like us. “To the law +and to the testimony,” say I. I will hold to the +words of the Bible; what it says, I will say; what it does not +say I will not say, to please any man’s system of +doctrines. And I say from the Bible that we have no more +right to say, “It has pleased the Lord to make me +sick,” than, “It has pleased the Lord to make me a +sinner.” Scripture everywhere speaks of sickness as a +real evil and a curse—a breaking of the health, and order, +and strength, and harmony of God’s creation. It +speaks of madmen as possessed with evil spirits; did <i>that</i> +please God? The woman who was bowed with a spirit of +infirmity, and could not lift herself up—did our Lord say +that it had pleased God to make her a wretched cripple? No; +he spoke of her as this daughter of Israel, whom Satan had bound, +and not God, this eighteen years; and that was His reason for +healing her, even on the sabbath-day, because her disease was not +the work of God, but of the cruel, disordering, destroying evil +spirit which is at enmity with God. That was why Christ +cured her. And <i>that</i>—for this is the point I +have been coming to, step by step—that was the reason why, +when John the Baptist sent to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our +Lord answered: “Go and show John again those things which +ye do see and hear: the blind receive their sight, and the lame +walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are +raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to +them.”</p> +<p>Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord +meant merely: “Tell John what wonderful miracles I am +working.” If He had meant that why would He have put +in as the last proof that He was the Christ, that He was +preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful miracle +was there in <i>that</i>? No: it was as if He had said: +“Go and tell John that I am the Christ, because I am the +great physician, the healer and deliverer of body and soul: one +who will and can cure the loathsome diseases, the uselessness, +the misery, the ignorance of the poorest and +meanest.” He has proved Himself the Christ by showing +not only His boundless power, but His boundless love and mercy; +and <i>that</i>, not only to men’s souls, but to their +bodies also. To prove Himself the Christ by wonderful and +astonishing miracles was exactly what He would not do. He +refused, when the Scribes and Pharisees came and asked of Him a +sign from heaven to prove that He was Christ—wanting Him, I +suppose, to bring some apparition, or fiery comet, or great voice +out of the sky, to astonish them with His power; He told them +peremptorily that He would give them no such thing: and yet He +said that His mighty works did prove Him to be Christ; He +pronounced woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not believing +Him on account of His mighty works: He told the Scribes and +Pharisees that they ought to believe on Him merely for His +works’ sake. And why would they not believe on +Him? Just because they could not see that God’s power +was shown more in healing and delivering sufferers, than in +astonishing and destroying. They could not see that +God’s perfect likeness shone out in Christ—that He +was the express image of the Father, just because He went about +doing good, and healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner +of infirmities among the people. But so it is, my +friends! Jesus is the Saviour, the deliverer, the great +physician, the healer of soul and body. Not a pang is felt +or a tear shed on earth, but He sorrows over it. Not a +human being on earth dies young, but He, as I believe, sorrows +over it. What it is which prevents Him healing every +sickness, soothing every sorrow, wiping away every tear +<i>now</i>, we cannot tell. But this we can tell, that it +is His will that none should perish. This we <i>can</i> +tell; that He is willing as ever to heal the sick, to cleanse the +leper, to cast out devils, to teach the ignorant, to bind up the +broken-hearted. This we <i>can</i> tell; that He will go on +doing so more and more, year by year, and age by age. This +we <i>can</i> tell, from Scripture, that Christ is stronger than +the devil. This we can tell; that Christ, and all good men, +the spirits of just men made perfect, the wise and the great in +God’s sight, who have left us their books, their sayings, +their writings, as precious health-giving heirlooms—have +been fighting, and are fighting, and will fight to the end +against the devil, and sin, and oppression, and misery, and +disease, and everything which spoils and darkens the face of +God’s good earth. And this we <i>can</i> tell; that +they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger than +the devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than +darkness; God’s Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and +order, is stronger than all the evil customs, and ignorance, and +carelessness, and cruelty, and superstition, which makes +miserable the lives and, as far as we can see, destroys the souls +of thousands. Yes, I say, Christ’s kingdom is a +kingdom of health and deliverance for body and soul; and it will +conquer, and it will spread, and it will grow, till the nations +of the world have become the kingdoms of God and of His +Christ. Christ reigns, and Christ will reign till He has +put all His enemies under His feet; and the last of His enemies +which shall be destroyed is <i>Death</i>. Death is His +enemy. He has conquered death by rising from the +dead. And the day will come when death will be no +more—when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and God +shall wipe away tears from all eyes. I say it +again—never forget it—Christ is King, and His kingdom +is a kingdom of health, and life, and deliverance from all +evil. It always has been so, from the first time our Lord +cured the leper in Galilee; it will be so to the end of the +world. And, therefore—to come back to the very place +from which I started at the beginning of my +sermon—therefore, whenever one of the days of the Lord is +at hand, whenever God’s kingdom makes a great step forward, +this same prophecy in our text is fulfilled in some striking and +wonderful way. And I say it is fulfilled now in these days +more than it ever has been. Christ is healing the sick, +cleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, +and preaching the gospel to the poor, seven times more in these +days in which we live than He did when He walked upon earth in +Judæa.</p> +<p>Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that +the cure of all diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, +I beseech you, how many more diseases are cured now than were +formerly. One may say that the knowledge of medicine is not +one hundred years old. Nothing, my friends, makes me feel +more strongly what a wonderful and blessed time we live in, and +how Christ is showing forth mighty works among us, than this same +sudden miraculous improvement in the art of healing, which has +taken place within the memory of man. Any country doctor +now knows more, thank God, or ought to know, than the greatest +London physicians did two generations ago. New cures for +deafness, blindness, lameness, every disease that flesh is heir +to, are being discovered year by year. Oh, my friends! you +little know what Christ is doing among you, for your bodies as +well as for your souls. There is not a parish in England +now in which the poorest as well as the richest are not cured +yearly of diseases, which, if they had lived a hundred years ago, +would have killed them without hope or help. And then, when +one looks at these great and blessed plans for what is called +sanitary reform, at the sickness and the misery which has been +done away with already by attending to them, even though they +have only just begun to be put in practice—our hearts must +be hard indeed if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us +the gifts of healing far more bountifully and mercifully than +even He did to the first apostles.</p> +<p>But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these +days. Oh, my friends! which shows Christ’s mercy +most, to raise those who are already dead, or to save those alive +who are about to die? Those in this church who have read +history know as well as I, how in our forefathers’ time +people died in England by thousands of diseases which are +scarcely ever deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now actually +vanished out of the land, before the new light of medicine and of +civilisation which Christ has revealed to us in these days. +For one child who lived and grew up in old times, two live and +grow up now. In London alone there are not half as many +deaths in proportion to the number of people as there were a +hundred years ago. And is not that a mightier work of +Christ’s power and love than if He had raised a few dead +persons to life?</p> +<p>And now for the last part of our Lord’s witness about +Himself. To the poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my +friends, is not <i>that</i> coming true in our days as it never +came true before? Look back only fifty years, and consider +the difference between the doctrines which were preached to the +poor and the doctrines which are preached to them now. Look +round you and see how everywhere earnest and godly ministers have +sprung up, of all sects and opinions, as well as of the Church of +England, not only to preach the gospel in the pulpit, but to +carry it to the sick bedside of the lonely cottage, to the +prison, and to those fearful sties, worse than prisons, where in +our great cities the heathen poor live crowded together. +Look at the teaching which the poor man can get now, compared to +what he used to—the sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the +lending libraries, the schools—just consider the hundreds +of thousands of pounds which are subscribed every year to educate +the children of the poor, and then say whether Christ is not +working a mighty work among us in these days. I know that +not half as much is done as ought to be done in that way; not +half as much as will be done; and what is done will have to be +done better than it has been done yet; but still, can anyone in +this church who is fifty years old deny that there is a most +enormous and blessed improvement which is growing and spreading +every year? Can anyone deny that the gospel is preached to +the poor now in a way that it never was before within the memory +of man?</p> +<p>Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon—a sermon +which proclaims to you that Christ is <i>come</i>; yes, He is +come—come never to leave mankind again! Christ reigns +over the earth, and will reign for ever. At certain great +and important times in the world’s history, like this +present time, times which He Himself calls “days of the +Lord,” He shows forth His power, and the mightiness and +mercy of His kingdom, more than at others. But still He is +always with us; we have no need to run up and down to look for +Christ: to say, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring Him +down? Who shall descend into the deep to bring Him +up? For the kingdom of God, as He told us Himself, is among +us, and within us. Yes, within us. All these +wonderful improvements and discoveries, all things beneficial to +men which are found out year by year, though they seem to be of +men’s invention, are really of Christ’s revealing, +the fruits of the kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, +who is teaching men, though they too often will not believe it; +though they disclaim God’s Spirit and take all the glory to +themselves. Truly Christ is among us; and our eyes are +held, and we see Him not. That is our English sin—the +sin of unbelief, the root of every other sin. Christ works +among us, and we will not own Him. Truly, Jesus Christ may +well say of us English at this day, There were ten cleansed, but +where are the nine? How few are there, who return to give +glory to God! Oh, consider what I say; the kingdom of God +is among us now; its blessings are growing richer, fuller among +us every day. Beware, lest if we refuse to acknowledge that +kingdom and Christ the King of it, it be taken away from us, and +given to some other nation, who will bring forth the fruits of +it, fellow-help and brotherly kindness, purity and sobriety, and +all the fruits of the Spirit of God.</p> +<h2><a name="page31"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 31</span><span +class="GutSmall">IV.</span><br /> +A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Rejoice in the Lord +always.—<span class="smcap">Philippians</span> iv. 4.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is the beginning of the +Epistle for to-day, the Sunday before Christmas. We will +try to find out why it was chosen for to-day, and what lesson we +may learn from it.</p> +<p>Now Christmas-time was always a time of rejoicing among many +heathen nations, and long before the Lord Jesus Christ +came. That was natural and reasonable enough, if you will +consider it. For now the shortest day is past. The +sun is just beginning to climb higher and higher in the sky each +day, and bring back with him longer sunshine, and shorter +darkness, and spring flowers, and summer crops, and a whole new +year, with new hopes, new work, new lessons, new blessings. +The old year, with all its labours and all its pleasures, and all +its sorrows and all its sins, is dying, all but gone. It +lies behind us, never to return. The tears which we shed, +we never can shed again. The mistakes we made, we have a +chance of mending in the year to come. And so the heathens +felt, and rejoiced that another year was dying, another year +going to be born.</p> +<p>And Christmas was a time of rejoicing too, because the farming +work was done. The last year’s crop was housed; the +next year’s wheat was sown; the cattle were safe in yard +and stall; and men had time to rest, and draw round the fire in +the long winter nights, and make merry over the earnings of the +past year, and the hopes and plans of the year to come. And +so over all this northern half of the world Christmas was a merry +time.</p> +<p>But the poor heathens did not know the Lord. They did +not know who to thank for all their Christmas blessings. +And so some used to thank the earth for the crops, and the sun +for coming back again to lengthen the days, as if the earth and +sun moved of themselves. And some used to thank false gods +and ancient heroes, who, perhaps, never really lived at +all. And some, perhaps the greater number, thanked nothing +and no one, but just enjoyed themselves, and took no thought, as +too many do now at Christmas-time. So the world went on, +Christmas after Christmas; and the times of that ignorance, as +St. Paul says, God winked at. But when the fulness of time +was come, He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to be the judge +and ruler of the world; and commanded all men everywhere to +repent, and turn from all their vanities to serve the living God, +who had made heaven and earth, and all things in them.</p> +<p>He did not wish them to give up their Christmas mirth. +No: all along He had been trying to teach them by it about His +love to them. As St. Paul told them once, God had not left +Himself without witness, in that He gave them rain and fruitful +seasons, filling their hearts with joy and gladness.</p> +<p>God did not wish them, or us, to give up Christmas +mirth. The apostles did not wish it. The great men, +true followers of the apostles, who shaped our Prayer-book for +us, and sealed it with their life-blood, did not wish it. +They did not wish farmers, labourers, servants, masters, to give +up one of the old Christmas customs; but to remember who made +Christmas, and its blessings; in short, to rejoice in The +Lord. Our forefathers had been thanking the wrong persons +for Christmas. Henceforward we were to thank the right +person, The Lord, and rejoice in Him. Our forefathers had +been rejoicing in the sun, and moon, and earth; in wise and +valiant kings who had lived ages before; in their own strength, +and industry, and cunning. Now they were to rejoice in Him +who made sun, and moon, and earth; in Him who sent wise and +valiant kings and leaders; in Him who gives all strength, and +industry, and cunning; by whose inspiration comes all knowledge +of agriculture, and manufacture, and all the arts which raise men +above the beasts that perish. So their Christmas joys were +to go on, year by year while the world lasted: but they were to +go on rightly, and not wrongly. Men were to rejoice in The +Lord, and then His blessing would be on them, and the thanks and +praise which they offered Him, He would return with interest, in +fresh blessings for the coming year.</p> +<p>Therefore, I think, this Epistle was chosen for to-day, the +Sunday before Christmas, to show us in whom we are to rejoice; +and, therefore, to show us how we are to rejoice. For we +must not take the first verse of the Epistle and forget the +rest. That would neither be wise nor reverent toward St. +Paul, who wrote the whole, and meant the whole to stand together +as one discourse; or to the blessed and holy men who chose it for +our lesson on this day. Let us go on, then, with the +Epistle, line by line, throughout.</p> +<p>“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, +rejoice.” As much as to say, you cannot rejoice too +much, you cannot overdo your happiness, thankfulness, +merriment. You do not know half—no, not the +thousandth part of God’s love and mercy to you, and you +never will know. So do not be afraid of being too happy, or +think that you honour God by wearing a sour face, when He is +heaping blessings on you, and calling on you to smile and +sing. But “let your moderation be known unto all +men.” There is a right and a wrong way of being +merry. There is a mirth, which is no mirth; whereof it is +written, in the midst of that laughter there is a heaviness, and +the end thereof is death. Drunkenness, gluttony, indecent +words and jests and actions, these are out of place on +Christmas-day, and in the merriment to which the pure and holy +Lord Jesus calls you all. They are rejoicing in the flesh +and the devil, and not in the Lord at all; and whosoever indulges +in them, and fancies them merriment, is keeping the devil’s +Christmas, and not Jesus Christ’s. So let your +moderation be known to all men. Be <i>merry and +wise</i>. The fool lets his mirth master him, and carry him +away, till he forgets himself, and says and does things of which +he is ashamed when he gets up next morning, sick and sad at +heart. The wise man remembers that, let the occasion be as +joyful a one as it may, “the Lord is at hand.” +Christ’s eye is on him, while he is eating, and drinking, +and laughing. He is not afraid of Christ’s eye, +because, though it is Divine it is a human, loving, smiling eye; +rejoicing in the happiness of His poor, hard-worked brothers here +below. But he remembers that it is a holy eye, too; an eye +which looks with sadness and horror on anything which is wrong; +on all drunkenness, quarrelling, indecency; and so on in all his +merriment, he is still master of himself. He remembers that +his soul is nobler than his body; that his will must be stronger +than his appetite; and so he keeps himself in check; he keeps his +tongue from evil, and his stomach from sottishness, and though he +may be, and ought to be, the merriest of the whole party, yet he +takes care to let his moderation, his sobriety, be known and +plain to everyone, remembering that the Lord is at hand.</p> +<p>And that man—I will stand surety for him—will be +the one who will rise from his bed next morning, best able to +carry out the next verse of the Epistle, and “be careful +for nothing.”</p> +<p>Now that is no easy matter here in England; to rich and poor, +Christmas is the time for settling accounts and paying +debts. And therefore in England, where living is dear, and +everyone, more or less, struggling to pay his way, Christmas is +often a very anxious, disturbing time of year. Many a +family, for all their economy, cannot clear themselves at the +year’s end; and though they are able to forget that now and +then, thank God, through great part of the year, yet they cannot +forget it at Christmas. But, as I said, the man who at +Christmas-time will be most able to be careful for nothing, will +be the man whose moderation has been known to everyone; for he +will, if he has lived the year through in the same temper in +which he has spent Christmas, have been moderate in his expenses; +he will have kept himself from empty show, and pretending to be +richer than he is. He will have kept himself from throwing +away his money in drink, and kept his daughters from throwing +away money in dress, which is just what too many, in their +foolish, godless, indecent hurry to get rid of their own children +off their hands do not do.</p> +<p>And he will be the man who will be in the best humour, and +have the clearest brain, to kneel down when he gets up to his +daily work, and “in everything, by prayer and supplication, +make his requests known to God.” And then, whether he +can make both ends meet or not, whether he can begin next year +free from debt or not, still “the peace of God will keep +his heart.” He may be unable to clear himself, but +still he will know that he has a loving and merciful Father in +heaven, who has allowed distress and difficulty to come on him +only as a lesson and an education. That this distress came +because God chose, and that when God chooses it will go +away—and that till then—considering that the Lord God +sent it—it had better <i>not</i> go away. He will +believe that God’s gracious promises stand true—that +the Lord will never let those who trust in Him be confounded and +brought to shame—that He will let none of us be tempted +beyond what we are able, but will always with the temptation make +a way for us to escape, that we may be able to bear it. And +so the peace of God which passes understanding, will keep that +man’s mind. And in whom? “In Jesus +Christ.” Now what did St. Paul mean by putting in the +Lord Jesus Christ’s name there? what is the meaning of +“in Jesus Christ”? This is what it means; it +means what Christmas-day means. A man may say, “Your +sermon promises fine things, but I am miserable and poor; it +promises a holy and noble rejoicing to everyone, but I am unholy +and mean. It promises peace from God, and I am sure I am +not at peace: I am always fretting and quarrelling; I quarrel +with my wife, my children, and my neighbours, and they quarrel +with me; and worst of all,” says the poor man, “I +quarrel with myself. I am full of discontented, angry, +sulky, anxious, unhappy thoughts; my heart is dark and sad and +restless within me—would God I were peaceful, but I am not: +look in my face and see!”</p> +<p>True, my friend, but on Christmas-day the Son of God was born +into the world, a man like you.</p> +<p>“Well,” says the poor man, “but what has +that to do with my anxiety and my ill-temper?”</p> +<p>It would take the whole year through, my friend, to show you +all that it has to do with you and your unhappiness. All +the Lessons, Epistles, and Gospels of the year are set out to +show you what it has to do with you. But in the meanwhile, +before Christmas-day comes, consider this one thing: Why are you +anxious? Because you do not know what is to happen to +you? Then Christmas-day is a witness to you, that +whatsoever happens to you, happens to you by the will and rule of +Jesus Christ, The perfect man; think of that. <i>The +perfect man</i>—who understands men’s hearts and +wants, and all that is good for them, and has all the wisdom and +power to give us what is good, which we want ourselves. And +what makes you unhappy, my friends? Is it not at heart just +this one thing—you are unhappy because you are not pleased +with yourselves? And you are not pleased with yourselves +because you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves; and +you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves, because you +know, in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased with +you? What cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we +find?—This.</p> +<p>The child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew +up in poverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through +all shame and sorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the +poor child of Bethlehem, is Lord and King of heaven and +earth. He will feel for us; He will understand our +temptations; He has been poor himself, that He might feel for the +poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He might feel for those +whose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the sins and felt +the miseries of the whole world, that He might feel for us when +we are wearied with the burden of life, and confounded by the +remembrance of our own sins.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on +Christmas-day; and that thought alone will be enough to fill you +with rejoicing and hope for yourselves and all the world, and +with the peace of God which passes understanding, the peace which +the angels proclaimed to the shepherds on the first Christmas +night—“On earth peace, and good will toward +men”—and if God wills us good, my friend; what matter +who wishes us evil?</p> +<h2><a name="page40"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 40</span><span +class="GutSmall">V.</span><br /> +CHRISTMAS-DAY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon +Him the form of a slave.—<span +class="smcap">Philippians</span> ii. 7.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, +if we had been at Rome, the great capital city, and mistress of +the whole world, we should have seen a strange +sight—strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts of +law were shut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no +criminals punished. The sorrow and the strife of that great +city had stopped, in great part, for three days, and all people +were giving themselves up to merriment and good +cheer—making up quarrels, and giving and receiving presents +from house to house. And we should have seen, too, a +pleasanter sight than that. For those three days of +Christmas-time were days of safety and merriment for the poor +slaves—tens of thousands of whom—men, women, and +children—the Romans had brought out of all the countries in +the world—many of our forefathers and mothers among +them—and kept them there in cruel bondage and shame, worked +and fed, bought and sold, like beasts, and not like human beings, +not able to call their lives or their bodies their own, forced to +endure any shame or sin which their tyrants required of them, and +liable any moment to be beaten, tortured, or crucified at the +mercy of cruel and foul masters and mistresses. But on that +Christmas-day, according to an old custom, they were allowed for +once in the whole year to play at being free, to dress in their +masters’ and mistresses’ clothes, to say what they +thought of them boldly, without fear of punishment, and to eat +and drink at their masters’ tables, while their masters and +mistresses waited on them. It was an old custom, that, +among the heathen Romans, which their forefathers, who were wiser +and better than they, had handed down to them. They had +forgotten, perhaps, what it meant: but still we may see what it +must have meant: That the old forefathers of the Romans had +intended to remind their children every year by that custom, that +their poor hard-worked slaves were, after all, men and women as +much as their masters; that they had hearts and consciences, and +sense in them, and a right to speak what they thought, as much as +their masters; that they, as much as their masters, could enjoy +the good things of God’s earth, from which man’s +tyranny had shut them out; and to remind those cruel masters, by +making them once every year wait on their own slaves at table, +that they were, after all, equal in the sight of God, and that it +was more noble for those who were rich, and called themselves +gentlemen, to help others, than to make others slave for +them.</p> +<p>I do not mean, of course, that those old heathens understood +all this clearly. You will see, by the latter part of my +sermon, why they could not understand it clearly. But there +must have been some sort of dim, confused suspicion in their +minds that it was wrong and cruel to treat human beings like +brute beasts, which made them set up that strange old custom of +letting their slaves play at being free once every +Christmas-tide.</p> +<p>But if on this same day, 1851 years ago, instead of being in +the great city of Rome, we had been in the little village of +Bethlehem in Judæa, we might have seen a sight stranger +still; a sight which we could not have fancied had anything to do +with that merrymaking of the slaves at Rome, and yet which had +everything to do with it.</p> +<p>We should have seen, in a mean stable, among the oxen and the +asses, a poor maiden, with her newborn baby laid in the manger, +for want of any better cradle, and by her her husband, a poor +carpenter, whom all men thought to be the father of her child. . +. . There, in the stable, amid the straw, through the cold +winter days and nights, in want of many a comfort which the +poorest woman, and the poorest woman’s child would need, +they stayed there, that young maiden and her newborn babe. +That young maiden was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that poor baby +was the Son of God. The Son of God, in whose likeness all +men were made at the beginning; the Son of God, who had been +ruling the whole world all along; who brought the Jews out of +slavery, a thousand years before, and destroyed their cruel +tyrants in the Red Sea; the Son of God, who had been all along +punishing cruel tyrants and oppressors, and helping the poor out +of misery, whenever they called on Him. The Light which +lightens every man who comes into the world, was that poor +babe. It was He who gives men reason, and conscience, and a +tender heart, and delight in what is good, and shame and +uneasiness of mind when they do wrong. It was He who had +been stirring up, year by year, in those cruel Romans’ +hearts, the feeling that there was something wrong in grinding +down their slaves, and put into their minds the notion of giving +them their Christmas rest and freedom. He had been keeping +up that good old custom for a witness and a warning that all men +were equal in His sight; that all men had a right to liberty of +speech and conscience; a right to some fair share in the good +things of the earth, which God had given to all men freely to +enjoy. But those old Romans would not take the +warning. They kept up the custom, but they shut their eyes +to the lesson of it. They went on conquering and oppressing +all the nations of the earth, and making them their slaves. +And now He was come—He Himself, the true Lord of the earth, +the true pattern of men. He was come to show men to whom +this world belonged: He was come to show men in what true power, +true nobleness consisted—not in making others minister to +us, but in ministering to them: He was come to set a pattern of +what a man should be; He was the Son of Man—<span +class="GutSmall">THE MAN</span> of all men—and therefore He +had come with good news to all poor slaves, and neglected, +hard-worked creatures: He had come to tell them that He cared for +them; that He could and would deliver them; that they were +God’s children, and His brothers, just as much as their +Roman masters; and that He was going to bring a terrible time +upon the earth—“days of the Son of Man,” when +He would judge all men, and show who were true men and who were +not—such a time as had never been before, or would be +again; when that great Roman empire, in spite of all its armies, +and its cunning, and its riches, plundered from every nation +under heaven, would crumble away and perish shamefully and +miserably off the face of the earth, before tribes of poor, +untaught, savage men, the brothers and countrymen of those very +slaves whom the Romans fancied were so much below them, that they +had a right to treat them like the beasts which perish.</p> +<p>That was the message which that little child lying in the +manger there at Bethlehem, had been sent out from God to +preach. Do you not see now what it had to do with that +strange merrymaking of the poor slaves in Rome, which I showed +you at the beginning of my sermon?</p> +<p>If you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke +says, the shepherds in Judæa heard the angels sing, on this +night 1851 years ago. That song tells us the meaning of +that babe’s coming. That song tells us what that +babe’s coming had to do with the poor slaves of Rome, and +with all poor creatures who have suffered and sorrowed on this +earth, before or since.</p> +<p>“Glory to God in the highest,” they sang, +“and on earth peace, good will to men.”</p> +<p>Glory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in +the manger among the cattle, was showing what was the very +highest glory of the great God who had made heaven and +earth. Not to show His power and His majesty, but to show +His condescension and His love. To stoop, to condescend, to +have mercy, to forgive, that is the highest glory of God. +That is the noblest, the most Godlike thing for God or man. +And God showed that when He sent down His only-begotten +Son—not to strike the world to atoms with a touch, not to +hurl sinners into everlasting flame, but to be born of a village +maiden, to take on Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow, +to which man is heir, even to death itself; to make Himself of no +reputation, and take on Himself the form of a slave, and forgive +sinners, and heal the sick, and comfort the outcast and despised, +that He might show what God was like—show forth to men, as +a poor maiden’s son, the brightness of God’s glory, +and the express likeness of His person.</p> +<p>“And on earth peace” they sang. Men had been +quarrelling and fighting then, and men are quarrelling and +fighting now. That little babe in the manger was come to +show them how and why they were all to be at peace with each +other. For what causes all the war and quarrelling in the +world, but selfishness? Selfishness breeds pride, passion, +spite, revenge, covetousness, oppression. The strong care +for themselves, and try to help themselves at the expense of the +weak, by force and tyranny; the weak care for themselves in their +turn, and try to help themselves at the expense of the strong, by +cunning and cheating. No one will condescend, give way, +sacrifice his own interest for his neighbour’s, and hence +come wars between nations, quarrels in families, spite and +grudges between neighbours. But in the example of that +little child of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord, God was saying +to men, “Acquaint yourselves with Me, and be at +peace.” God is not selfish; it is our selfishness +which has made us unlike God. God so loved the sinful +world, that He gave His only-begotten Son for it. Is that +an action like ours? The Son of God so obeyed His Father, +and so loved this world, that He made Himself of no reputation, +and took on Him the likeness of a slave, and became obedient to +death, even to the most fearful and shameful of all deaths, the +death of the cross; not for Himself, but for those who did not +know Him, hated Him, killed Him. In short, He sacrificed +Himself for us. That is God’s likeness. +Self-sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the babe of Bethlehem, proved +Himself the Son of God, and the express likeness of the Father, +by sacrificing Himself for us. Sacrifice yourselves then +for each other! Give up your own pride, your own +selfishness, your own interest for each other, and you will be +all at peace at once.</p> +<p>But the angels sang, “Good will toward men.” +Without that their song would not have been complete. For +we are all ready to say, at such words as I have been speaking, +“Ah! pleasant enough, and pretty enough, if they were but +possible; but they are not possible. It is in the nature of +man to be selfish. Men have gone on warring, grudging, +struggling, competing, oppressing, cheating from the beginning, +and they will do so to the end.”</p> +<p>Yes, it is not in the <i>nature</i> of man to do +otherwise. In as far as man yields to his nature, and is +like the selfish brute beasts, it is not possible for him to do +anything but go on quarrelling, and competing, and cheating to +the last. But what man’s nature cannot do, +God’s grace can. God’s good will is toward +you. He loves you, He wills—and if He wills, what is +too hard for Him?—He wills to raise you out of this +selfish, quarrelsome life of sin, into a loving, brotherly, +peaceful life of righteousness. His spirit, the spirit of +love by which He made and guides all heaven and earth, the spirit +of love in which He gave His only Son for you, the spirit of love +in which His Son Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for you, and +took on Himself a meaner state than any of you can ever +have—the likeness of a slave—that spirit is promised +to you, and ready for you. That little baby in the manger +at Bethlehem—God sacrificing Himself for you in the spirit +of love—is a sign that that spirit of love is the spirit of +God, and therefore the only right spirit for you and me, who are +men and women made in the image of God. That babe in the +manger at Bethlehem is a sign to you and me, that God will freely +give us that spirit of love if we ask for it. For He would +not have set us that example, if He had not meant us to follow +it, and He would not ask us to follow it, if He did not intend to +give us the means of following it. Therefore, my friends, +it is written, Ask and ye shall receive. If your heavenly +Father spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him for you, will +He not with Him likewise freely give you all things? Oh! +ask and you shall receive. However poor, ignorant, sinful +you may be, God’s promises are ready for you, signed and +sealed by the bread and wine on that table, the memorial of +Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem. Ask, and you shall +receive! Comfort from sorrow, peaceful assurance of +God’s good will toward you, deliverance from your sins, and +a share in the likeness of Him who on this day made Himself of no +reputation, and took on Him the form of a slave.</p> +<h2><a name="page47"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 47</span><span +class="GutSmall">VI.</span><br /> +TRUE ABSTINENCE.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.</p> +<blockquote><p>I keep under my body, and bring it into +subjection.—1 <span class="smcap">Cor</span>. ix. 27.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the Collect for this day we have +just been praying to God, to give us grace to use such +abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to our spirit, we may +follow His godly motions.</p> +<p>Now we ought to have meant something when we said these +words. What did we mean by them? Perhaps some of us +did not understand them. They could not be expected to mean +anything by them. But it is a sad thing, a very sad thing, +that people will come to church Sunday after Sunday, and repeat +by rote words which they do not understand, words by which they +therefore mean nothing, and yet never care or try to understand +them.</p> +<p>What are the words there for, except to be understood? +All of you call people foolish, who submit to have prayers read +in their churches in a foreign language, which none, at least of +the poor, can understand. But what right have you to call +them foolish, if you, whose Prayer-books are written in English, +take no trouble to find out the meaning of them? Would to +Heaven that you would try to find out the meaning of the +Prayer-book! Would to Heaven that the day would come, when +anyone in this parish who was puzzled by any doctrine of +religion, or by any text in the Bible, or word in the +Prayer-book, would come confidently to me, and ask me to explain +it to him! God knows, I should think it an honour and a +pleasure, as well as a duty. I should think no time better +spent than in answering your questions. I do beseech you to +ask me, every one of you, when and where you like, any questions +about religion which come into your minds. Why am I put in +this parish, except to teach you? and how can I teach you better, +than by answering your questions? As it is, I am +disheartened, and all but hopeless, at times, about the state of +this parish, and the work I am trying to do here; because, though +you will come and hear me, thank God, willingly enough, you do +not seem yet to have gained confidence enough in me, or to have +learnt to care sufficiently about the best things, to ask +questions of me about them. My dear friends, if you wanted +to get information about anything you really cared for, you would +ask questions enough. If you wanted to know some way to a +place on earth you would ask it; why not ask your way to things +better than this earth can give? But whether or not you +will question me I must go on preaching to you, though whether or +not you care to listen is more, alas! than I can tell.</p> +<p>But listen to me, now, I beseech you, while I try to explain +to you the meaning of the words which you have been just using in +this Collect. You have asked God to give you grace to use +abstinence. Now what is the meaning of abstinence? +Abstinence means abstaining, refraining, keeping back of your own +will from doing something which you might do. Take an +example. When a man for his health’s sake, or his +purse’s sake, or any other good reason, drinks less liquor +than he might if he chose, he abstains from liquor. He uses +abstinence about liquor. There are other things in which a +man may abstain. Indeed, he may abstain from doing anything +he likes. He may abstain from eating too much; from lying +in bed too long; from reading too much; from taking too much +pleasure; from making money; from spending money; from right +things; from wrong things; from things which are neither right +nor wrong; on all these he may use abstinence. He may +abstain for many reasons; for good ones, or for bad ones. A +miser will abstain from all sorts of comforts to hoard up +money. A superstitious man may abstain from comforts, +because he thinks God grudges them to him, or because he thinks +God is pleased by the unhappiness of His creatures, or because he +has been taught, poor wretch, that if he makes himself +uncomfortable in this life, he shall have more comfort, more +honour, more reason for pride and self-glorification, in the life +to come. Or a man may abstain from one pleasure, just to be +able to enjoy another all the more; as some great gamblers drink +nothing but water, in order to keep their heads clear for +cheating. All these are poor reasons; some of them base, +some of them wicked reasons for abstaining from anything. +Therefore, abstinence is not a good thing in itself; for if a +thing is good in itself, it can never be wrong. Love is +good in itself, and, therefore, you cannot love anyone for a bad +reason. Justice is good in itself, pity is good in itself, +and, therefore, you can never be wrong in being just or +pitiful.</p> +<p>But abstinence is not a good thing in itself. If it +were, we should all be bound to abstain always from everything +pleasant, and make ourselves as miserable and uncomfortable as +possible, as some superstitious persons used to do in old +times. Abstinence is only good when it is used for a good +reason. If a man abstains from pleasure himself, to save up +for his children; if he abstains from over eating and over +drinking, to keep his mind clear and quiet; if he abstains from +sleep and ease, in order to have time to see his business +properly done; if he abstains from spending money on himself, in +order to spend it for others; if he abstains from any habit, +however harmless or pleasant, because he finds it lead him +towards what is wrong, and put him into temptation; then he does +right; then he is doing God’s work; then he may expect +God’s blessing; then he is trying to do what we all prayed +God to help us to do, when we said, “Give us grace to use +such abstinence;” then he is doing, more or less, what St. +Paul says he did, “Keeping his body under, and bringing it +into subjection.”</p> +<p>For, see, the Collect does not say, “Give us grace to +use abstinence,” as if abstinence were a good thing in +itself, but “to use such abstinence, that”—to +use a certain kind of abstinence, and that for a certain purpose, +and that purpose a good one; such abstinence that our flesh may +be subdued to our spirit; that our flesh, the animal, bodily +nature which is in us, loving ease and pleasure, may not be our +master, but our servant; so that we may not follow blindly our +own appetites, and do just what we like, as brute beasts which +have no understanding. And our flesh is to be subdued to +our spirit for a certain purpose; not because our flesh is bad, +and our spirit good; not in order that we may puff ourselves up +and admire ourselves, and say, as the philosophers among the +heathen used, “What a strong-minded, sober, +self-restraining man I am! How fine it is to be able to +look down on my neighbours, who cannot help being fond of +enjoying themselves, and cannot help caring for this +world’s good things. I am above all that. I +want nothing, and I feel nothing, and nothing can make me glad or +sorry. I am master of my own mind, and own no law but my +own will.” The Collect gives us the true and only +reason, for which it is right to subdue our appetites; which is, +that we may keep our minds clear and strong enough to listen to +the voice of God within our hearts and reasons; to obey the +motions of God’s Spirit in us; not to make our bodies our +masters, but to live as God’s servants.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s meaning, when he speaks of keeping +under his body, and bringing it into subjection. The exact +word which he uses, however, is a much stronger one than merely +“keeping under;” it means simply, to beat a +man’s face black and blue; and his reason for using such a +strong word about the matter is, to show us that he thought no +labour too hard, no training too sharp, which teaches us how to +restrain ourselves, and keep our appetites and passions in manful +and godly control.</p> +<p>Now, a few verses before my text, St. Paul takes an example +from foot-racers. “These foot-racers,” he says, +“heathens though they are, and only trying to win a +worthless prize, the petty honour of a crown of leaves, see what +trouble they take; how they exercise their limbs; how careful and +temperate they are in eating and drinking, how much pain and +fatigue they go through to get themselves into perfect training +for a race. How much more trouble ought we to take to make +ourselves fit to do God’s work? For these foot-racers +do all this only to gain a garland which will wither in a week; +but we, to gain a garland which will never fade away; a garland +of holiness, and righteousness, and purity, and the likeness of +Jesus Christ.”</p> +<p>The next example of abstinence which St. Paul takes, is from +the prize-fighters, who were very numerous and very famous, in +the country in which the Corinthians lived. “I +fight,” he says, “not like one who beats the +air;” that is, not like a man who is only brandishing his +hands and sparring in jest, but like a man who knows that he has +a fight to fight in hard earnest; a terrible lifelong fight +against sin, the world, and the devil; “and, +therefore,” he says, “I do as these fighters +do.” They, poor savage and brutal heathens as they +are, go through a long and painful training. Their very +practice is not play; it is grim earnest. They stand up to +strike, and be struck, and are bruised and disfigured as a matter +of course, in order that they may learn not to flinch from pain, +or lose their tempers, or turn cowards, when they have to +fight. “And so do I,” says St. Paul; +“they, poor men, submit to painful and disagreeable things +to make them brave in their paltry battles. I submit to +painful and disagreeable things, to make me brave in the great +battle which I have to fight against sin, and ignorance, and +heathendom.” “Therefore,” he says, in +another place, “I take pleasure in afflictions, in +persecutions, in necessities, in distresses;” and that not +because those things were pleasant, they were just as unpleasant +to him as to anyone else; but because they taught him to bear, +taught him to be brave; taught him, in short, to become a perfect +man of God.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s account of his own training: in the +Epistle for to-day we have another account of it; a description +of the life which he led, and which he was content to +lead—“in much suffering, in stripes, in +imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watching, in +fastings”—and an account, too, of the temper which he +had learnt to show amid such a life of vexation, and suffering, +and shame, and danger—“approving himself in all +things the minister of God, by pureness, by wisdom, by +longsuffering, by kindness, by the spirit of holiness, by love +unfeigned;” “as dying, and behold we live; as +chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as +poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all +things.”—In all things proving himself a true +messenger from God, by being able to dare and to endure for +God’s sake, what no man ever would have dared and endured +for his own sake.</p> +<p>“But”—someone may say—“St. Paul +was an apostle; he had a great work to do in the world; he had to +turn the heathen to God; and it is likely enough that he required +to train himself, and keep strict watch over all his habits, and +ways of thinking and behaving, lest he should grow selfish, lazy, +cowardly, covetous, fond of ease and amusement. He had, of +course, to lead a life of strange suffering and danger; and he +had therefore to train himself for it. But what need have +we to do as St. Paul did?”</p> +<p>Just as much need, my good friends, if you could see it.</p> +<p>Which of us has not to lead a life of suffering? We +shall each and all of us, have our full share of trouble before +we die, doubt it not.</p> +<p>And which of us has not to lead a life of danger? I do +not mean bodily danger; of that, there is little +enough—perhaps too little—in England now; but of +danger to our hearts, minds, characters? Oh, my friends, I +pity those who do not think themselves in danger every day of +their lives, for the less danger they see around them, the more +danger there is. There is not only the common danger of +temptation, but over and above it, the worse danger of not +knowing temptation when it comes. Who will be most likely +to walk into pits and mires upon the moor—the man who knows +that they are there around him, or the man who goes on careless +and light of heart, fancying that it is all smooth ground? +Woe to you, young people, if you fancy that you are to have no +woe! Danger to you, young people, if you fancy yourselves +in no danger!</p> +<p>“This is sad and dreary news”—some of you +may say. Ay, my friends, it would be sad and dreary news +indeed; and this earth would be a very sad and dreary place; and +life with all its troubles and temptations, would not be worth +having, if it were not for the blessed news which the Gospel for +this day brings us. That makes up for all the sadness of +the Epistle; that gives us hope; that tells us of one who has +been through life, and through death too, yet without sin. +That tells us of one who has endured a thousand times more +temptation than we ever shall, a thousand times more trouble than +we ever shall, and yet has conquered it all; and that He who has +thus been through all our temptations, borne all our weaknesses, +is our King, our Saviour, who loves us, who teaches us, who has +promised us His Holy Spirit, to make us like Himself, strong, +brave, and patient, to endure all that man or devil, or our own +low animal tempers and lusts, can do to hurt us. The Gospel +for this day tells us how He went and was alone in the wilderness +with the wild beasts, and yet trusted in God, His Father and +ours, to keep Him safe. How He went without food forty days +and nights, and yet in His extreme hunger, refused to do the +least self-willed or selfish thing to get Himself food. Is +that no lesson, no message of hope for the poor man who is +tempted by hunger to steal, or tempted by need to do a mean and +selfish thing, to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore need +and hunger far worse than his, understands all his temptations, +and feels for him, and pities him, and has promised him +God’s Spirit to make him strong, as He himself was?</p> +<p>Is it no comfort to young people who are tempted to vanity, +and display, and self-willed conceited longings, tempted to +despise the advice of their parents and elders, and set up for +themselves, and choose their own way—Is it no good news, I +say, for them to hear that their Lord and Saviour was tempted to +it also, and conquered it?—That He will teach them to +answer the temptation as He did, when He refused even to let +angels hold Him over the temple, up between earth and heaven, for +a sign and a wonder to all the Jews, because God His Father had +not bidden Him to do it, and therefore He would not tempt the +Lord His God?</p> +<p>Is it no good news, again, to those who are tempted to do +perhaps one little outward wrong thing, to yield on some small +point to the ways of the world, in order to help themselves on in +life, to hear that their Lord and Saviour conquered that +temptation too?—That he refused all the kingdoms of the +world, and the glory of them, when the devil offered them, +because he knew that the devil could not give them to Him; that +all wealth, and power, and glory belonged to God, and was to be +got only by serving Him?</p> +<p>Oh do you all, young people especially, think of this. +As you grow up and go out into life, you will be tempted in a +hundred different ways, by things which are +pleasant—everyone knows that they are pleasant +enough—but wrong. One will be tempted to be vain of +dress; another to be self-conceited; another to be lazy and idle; +another to be extravagant and roving; another to be over fond of +amusement; another to be over fond of money; another to be over +fond of liquor; another to go wrong, as too many young men and +young women do, and bring themselves, and those with whom they +keep company, and whom they ought, if they really love them, to +respect and honour, down into sin and shame. You will all +be tempted, and you will all be troubled; one by poverty, one by +sickness, one by the burden of a family, one by being laughed at +for trying to do right. But remember, oh remember, whenever +a temptation comes upon you, that the blessed Jesus has been +through it all, and conquered all, and that His will is, that you +shall be holy and pure like Him, and that, therefore, if you but +ask Him, He will give you strength to keep pure. When you +are tempted, pray to Him: the struggle in your own minds will, no +doubt, be very great; it will be very hard work for you—sin +looks so pleasant on the outside! Poor souls, it is a sad +struggle for you! Many a poor young fellow, who goes wrong, +deserves rather to be pitied than to be punished. Well +then, if no man else will pity him, Jesus, the Man of all men, +will. Pray to Him! Cry aloud to Him! Ask Him to +make you stout-hearted, patient, really manful, to fight against +temptation. Ask Him to give you strength of mind to fight +against all bad habits. Ask Him to open your eyes to see +when you are in danger. Ask Him to help you to keep out of +the way of temptation. Ask Him, in short, to give you grace +to use such abstinence that your flesh may be subdued to your +spirit. And then you will not follow, as the beasts do, +just what seems pleasant to your flesh; no, you will be able to +obey Christ’s godly motions, that is, to do, as well as to +love, the good desires which He puts into your hearts. You +will do not merely what is pleasant, but what is right; you will +not be your own slaves, you will be your own masters, and +God’s loyal and obedient sons; you will not be, as too many +are, mere animals going about in the shape of men, but truly men +at heart, who are not afraid of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or +death itself, when they are in the right path, about the work to +which God has called them.</p> +<p>But if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you +must believe that He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him +to help you, you must believe that He will and does help +you—you must believe that it is He Himself who has put into +your hearts the very desire of being holy and strong at all; and +therefore you must believe that you can help yourselves. +Help yourselves, and He will help you. If you ask for His +help, He will give it. But what is the use of His giving +it, if you do not use it? To him who has shall be given, +and he shall have more; but from him who has not shall be taken +away even what he seems to have. Therefore do not merely +pray, but struggle and try <i>yourselves</i>. Train +yourselves as St. Paul did; train yourselves to keep your temper; +train yourselves to bear unpleasant things for the sake of your +duty; train yourselves to keep out of temptation; train +yourselves to be forgiving, gentle, thrifty, industrious, sober, +temperate, cleanly, as modest as little children in your words, +and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when He sees you trying +to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be hard to +educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at +best—you will find it a thousand times harder, though, if +you are slaves to your own fleshly sins. But the more you +struggle against sin, the less hard you will find it to fight; +the more you resist the devil, the more he will flee from you; +the more you try to conquer your own bad passions, the more God +will help you to conquer them; it may be a hard battle, but it is +a sure one. No fear but that everyone can, if he will, work +out his own salvation, for it is God Himself who works in us to +will and to do of His good pleasure. All you have to do is +to give yourselves up to Him, to study His laws, to labour as +well as long to keep them, and He will enable you to keep them; +He will teach you in a thousand unexpected ways; He will daily +renew and strengthen your hearts by the working of His Spirit, +that you may more and more know, and love, and do, what is right; +and you will go on from strength to strength, to the height of +perfect men, to the likeness of Jesus Christ the Lord, who +conquered all human temptations for your sake, that He might be a +high-priest who can be touched with the feeling of our +infirmities, because He was tempted in all points like as we are, +yet without sin.</p> +<h2><a name="page59"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 59</span><span +class="GutSmall">VII.</span><br /> +GOOD FRIDAY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the +angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His +pity He redeemed them; and He bare them and carried them all the +days of old.—<span class="smcap">Isaiah</span> lxiii. +9.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> this very day, at this very +hour, 1817 years ago, hung one nailed to a cross; bruised and +bleeding, pierced and naked, dying a felon’s death between +two thieves; in perfect misery, in utter shame, mocked and +insulted by all the great, the rich, the learned of His nation; +one who had grown up as a man of low birth, believed by all to be +a carpenter’s son; without scholarship, money, +respectability; even without a home wherein to lay His +head—and here was the end of His life! True, He had +preached noble words, He had done noble deeds: but what had they +helped Him? They had not made the rich, the learned, the +respectable, the religious believe on Him; they had not saved Him +from persecution, and insult, and death. The only mourners +who stood by to weep over His dying agonies were His mother, a +poor countrywoman; a young fisherman; and one who had been a +harlot and a sinner. There was an end!</p> +<p>Do you know who that Man was? He was your King; the King +of rich and poor; and He was your King, not in spite of His +suffering all that shame and misery, but just because He suffered +it; because He chose to be poor, and miserable, and despised; +because He endured the cross, despising the shame; because He +took upon Himself to fulfil His Father’s will, all ills +which flesh is heir to—therefore He is now your King, the +Saviour of the world, the poor man’s friend, the Lord of +heaven and earth. Is He such a King as <i>you</i> wish +for?</p> +<p>Is He the sort of King you want, my friends? Does He +fulfil your notions of what the poor man’s friend should +be? Do you, in your hearts, wish He had been somewhat +richer, more glorious, more successful in the world’s +eyes—a wealthy and prosperous man, like Solomon of +old? Are any of you ready to say, as the money-blinded Jews +said, when they demanded their true King to be crucified, +“We have no king but Cæsar?—Provided the +law-makers and the authorities take care of our interests, and +protect our property, and do not make us pay too many rates and +taxes, that is enough for us.” Will you have no king +but Cæsar? Alas! those who say that, find that the +law is but a weak deliverer, too weak to protect them from +selfishness, and covetousness, and decent cruelty; and so +Cæsar and the law have to give place to Mammon, the god of +money. Do we not see it in these very days? And +Mammon is weak, too. This world is not a shop, men are not +merely money-makers and wages-earners. There are more +things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in that sort of +philosophy. Self-interest and covetousness cannot keep +society orderly and peaceful, let sham philosophers say what they +will. And then comes tyranny, lawlessness, rich and poor +staining their hands in each other’s blood, as we saw +happen in France two years ago; and so, after all, Mammon has to +give place to Moloch, the fiend of murder and cruelty; and woe to +rich and poor when he reigns over them! Ay, woe—woe +to rich and poor when they choose anyone for their king but their +real and rightful Lord and Master, Jesus, the poor man, afflicted +in all their afflictions, the Man of sorrows, crucified on this +day.</p> +<p>Is He the kind of King you like? Make up your minds, my +friends—make up your minds! For whether you like Him +or not, your King He was, your King He is, your King He will be, +blessed be God, for ever. Blessed be God, indeed! If +He were not our King; if anyone in heaven or earth was Lord of +us, except the Man of sorrows, the Prince of sufferers, what +hope, what comfort would there be? What a horrible, black, +fathomless riddle this sad, diseased, moaning world would +be! No king would suit us but the Prince of +sufferers—Jesus, who has borne all this world’s +griefs, and carried all its sorrows—Jesus, who has Himself +smarted under pain and hunger, oppression and insult, treachery +and desertion, who knows them all, feels for them all, and will +right them all, in His own good time.</p> +<p>Believing in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish +after another, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the +labourer who tills the land worse housed than the horse he +drives, worse clothed than the sheep he shears, worse nourished +than the hog he feeds—and yet not despair: for the Prince +of sufferers is the labourer’s Saviour; He has tasted +hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, oppression, and +neglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the moorside is +His brother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world has +shared, when the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had +nests, while the Son of God had not where to lay His head. +He is the King of the poor, firstborn among many brethren; His +tenderness is Almighty, and for the poor He has prepared +deliverance, perhaps in this world, surely in the world to +come—boundless deliverance, out of the treasures of His +boundless love.</p> +<p>Believing in Jesus, we can pass by mines, and factories, and +by dungeons darker and fouler still, in the lanes and alleys of +our great towns and cities, where thousands and tens of thousands +of starving men, and wan women, and children grown old before +their youth, sit toiling and pining in Mammon’s +prison-house, in worse than Egyptian bondage, to earn such pay as +just keeps the broken heart within the worn-out body;—ay, +we can go through our great cities, even now, and see the women, +whom God intended to be Christian wives and mothers, the slaves +of the rich man’s greed by day, the playthings of his lust +by night—and yet not despair; for we can cry, No! thou +proud Mammon, money-making fiend! These are not thine, but +Christ’s; they belong to Him who died on the cross; and +though thou heedest not their sighs, He marks them all, for He +has sighed like them; though there be no pity in thee, there is +in Him the pity of a man, ay, and the indignation of a God! +He treasures up their tears; He understands their sorrows; His +judgment of their guilt is not like thine, thou Pharisee! +He is their Lord, who said, that to those to whom little was +given, of them shall little be required. Generation after +generation, they are being made perfect by sufferings, as their +Saviour was before them; and then, woe to thee! For even as +He led Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and a +stretched-out arm, and signs and wonders, great and terrible, so +shall He lead the poor out of their misery, and make them +households like a flock of sheep; even as He led Israel through +the wilderness, tender, forbearing, knowing whereof they were +made, having mercy on all their brutalities, and idolatries, +murmurings, and backslidings, afflicted in all their +afflictions—even while He was punishing them outwardly, as +He is punishing the poor man now—even so shall He lead this +people out in His good time, into a good land and large, a land +of wheat and wine, of milk and honey; a rest which He has +prepared for His poor, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. He +can do it; for the Almighty Deliverer is His name. He will +do it; for His name is Love. He knows how to do it; for He +has borne the griefs, and carried the sorrows of the poor.</p> +<p>Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary +ones! Look to the cross this day! There hung your +king! The King of sorrowing souls, and more, the King of +sorrows. Ay, pain and grief, tyranny and desertion, death +and hell, He has faced them one and all, and tried their +strength, and taught them His, and conquered them right +royally! And, since He hung upon that torturing cross, +sorrow is divine, god-like, as joy itself. All that +man’s fallen nature dreads and despises, God honoured on +the cross, and took unto Himself, and blessed, and consecrated +for ever. And now, blessed are the poor, if they are poor +in heart, as well as purse; for Jesus was poor, and theirs is the +kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the hungry, if they hunger +for righteousness as well as food; for Jesus hungered, and they +shall be filled. Blessed are those who mourn, if they mourn +not only for their afflictions, but for their sins, and for the +sins they see around them; for on this day, Jesus mourned for our +sins; on this day He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; and +they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who are ashamed +of themselves, and hate themselves, and humble themselves before +God this day; for on this day Jesus humbled Himself for us; and +they shall be exalted. Blessed are the forsaken and the +despised.—Did not all men forsake Jesus this day, in His +hour of need? and why not thee, too, thou poor deserted +one? Shall the disciple be above his Master? No; +everyone that is perfect, must be like his master. The +deeper, the bitterer your loneliness, the more are you like Him, +who cried upon the cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou +forsaken Me?” He knows what that grief, too, is +like. He feels for thee, at least. Though all forsake +thee, He is with thee still; and if He be with thee, what matter +who has left thee for a while? Ay, blessed are those that +weep now, for they shall laugh. It is those whom the Lord +loveth that He chasteneth. And because He loves the poor, +He brings them low. All things are blessed now, but sin; +for all things, excepting sin, are redeemed by the life and death +of the Son of God. Blessed are wisdom and courage, joy, and +health, and beauty, love and marriage, childhood and manhood, +corn and wine, fruits and flowers, for Christ redeemed them by +His life. And blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed +are weakness and ugliness, blessed are agony and sickness, +blessed the sad remembrance of our sins, and a broken heart, and +a repentant spirit. Blessed is death, and blessed the +unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection day, for +Christ redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things, +weak, as well as strong. Blessed are all days, dark, as +well as bright, for all are His, and He is ours; and all are +ours, and we are His, for ever.</p> +<p>Therefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own +sadness; ache on, ye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own +sorrows. Rejoice that you are made free of the holy +brotherhood of mourners, that you may claim your place, too, if +you will, among the noble army of martyrs. Rejoice that you +are counted worthy of a fellowship in the sufferings of the Son +of God. Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall come +joy. Trust on; for in man’s weakness God’s +strength shall be made perfect. Trust on, for death is the +gate of life. Endure on to the end, and possess your souls +in patience for a little while, and that, perhaps, a very little +while. Death comes swiftly; and more swiftly still, +perhaps, the day of the Lord. The deeper the sorrow, the +nearer the salvation:</p> +<blockquote><p>The night is darkest before the dawn;<br /> +When the pain is sorest the child is born;<br /> +And the day of the Lord is at hand.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Ay, if the worst should come; if neither the laws of your +country nor the benevolence of the righteous were strong enough +to defend you; if one charitable plan after another were to fail; +if the labour-market were getting fuller and fuller, and poverty +were spreading wider and wider, and crime and misery were +breeding faster and still faster every year than education and +religion; all hope for the poor seemed gone and lost, and they +were ready to believe the men who tell them that the land is +over-peopled—that there are too many of us, too many +industrious hands, too many cunning brains, too many immortal +souls, too many of God’s children upon God’s earth, +which God the Father made, and God the Son redeemed, and God the +Holy Spirit teaches: then the Lord, the Prince of sufferers, He +who knows your every grief, and weeps with you tear for tear, He +would come out of His place to smite the haughty ones, and +confound the cunning ones, and silence the loud ones, and empty +the full ones; to judge with righteousness for the meek of the +earth, to hearken to the prayer of the poor, whose heart he has +been preparing, and to help the fatherless and needy to their +right, that the man of the world may be no more exalted against +them.</p> +<p>In that day men will find out a wonder and miracle. They +will see many that are first last, and many that are last +first. They will find that there were poor who were the +richest after all; the simple who were wisest, and gentle who +were bravest, and weak who were strongest; that God’s ways +are not as men’s ways, nor God’s thoughts as +men’s thoughts. Alas, who shall stand when God does +this? At least He who will do it is Jesus, who loved us to +the death; boundless love and gentleness, boundless generosity +and pity; who was tempted even as we are, who has felt our every +weakness. In that thought is utter comfort, that our Judge +will be He who died and rose again, and is praying for us even +now, to His Father and our Father. Therefore fear not, +gentle souls, patient souls, pure consciences and tender +hearts. Fear not, you who are empty and hungry, who walk in +darkness and see no light; for though He fulfil once more, as He +has again and again, the awful prophecy before the text; though +He tread down the people in His anger, and make them drunk in His +fury, and bring their strength to the earth; though kings with +their armies may flee, and the stars which light the earth may +fall, and there be great tribulation, wars, and rumours of wars, +and on earth distress of nations with perplexity—yet it is +when the day of His vengeance is at hand, that the year of His +redeemed is come. And when they see all these things, let +them rejoice and lift up their heads, for their redemption +draweth nigh.</p> +<p>Do you ask how I know this? Do you ask for a sign, for a +token that these my words are true? I know that they are +true. But, as for tokens, I will give you but this one, the +sign of that bread and that wine. When the Lord shall have +delivered His people out of all their sorrows, they shall eat of +that bread and drink of that wine, one and all, in the kingdom of +God.</p> +<h2><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 67</span><span +class="GutSmall">VIII.</span><br /> +EASTER-DAY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things +which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of +God.—<span class="smcap">Colossians</span> iii. 1.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">know</span> no better way of preaching +to you the gospel of Easter, the good news which this day brings +to all men, year after year, than by trying to explain to you the +Epistle appointed for this day, which we have just read.</p> +<p>It begins, “If ye then be risen with +Christ.” Now that does not mean that St. Paul had any +doubt whether the Colossians, to whom he was speaking, were risen +with Christ or not. He does not mean, “I am not sure +whether you are risen or not; but perhaps you are not; but if you +are, you ought to do such and such things.” He does +not mean that. He was quite sure that these Colossians were +risen with Christ. He had no doubt of it whatsoever. +If you look at the chapter before, he says so. He tells +them that they were buried with Christ in baptism, in which also +they were risen with Christ, through faith of the operation of +God, who has raised Him from the dead.</p> +<p>Now what reason had St. Paul to believe that these Colossians +were risen with Jesus Christ? Because they had given up sin +and were leading holy lives? That cannot be. The +Epistle for this day says the very opposite. It does not +say, “You are risen, because you have left off +sinning.” It says, “You must leave off sinning, +because you are risen.” Was it then on account of any +experiences, or inward feeling of theirs? Not at all. +He says that these Colossians had been baptized, and that they +had believed in God’s work of raising Jesus Christ from the +dead, and that therefore they were risen with Christ. In +one word, they had believed the message of Easter-day, and +therefore they shared in the blessings of Easter-day; as it is +written in another place, “If thou shalt confess with thy +mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thy heart that God +has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”</p> +<p>Now these seem very wide words, too wide to please most +people. But there are wider words still in St. Paul’s +epistles. He tells us again and again that God’s +mercy is a free gift; that He has made to us a free present of +His Son Jesus Christ. That He has taken away the effect of +all men’s sin, and more than that, that men are God’s +children; that they have a right to believe that they are so, +because they are so. For, He says, the free gift of Jesus +Christ is not like Adam’s offence. It is not less +than it, narrower than it, as some folks say. It is not +that by Adam’s sin all became sinners, and by Jesus +Christ’s salvation an elect few out of them shall be made +righteous. If you will think a moment, you will see that it +cannot be so. For Jesus Christ conquered sin and death and +the devil. But if, as some think, sin and death and the +devil have destroyed and sent to hell by far the greater part of +mankind, then they have conquered Christ, and not Christ +them. Mankind belonged to Christ at first. Sin and +death and the devil came in and ruined them, and then Christ came +to redeem them; but if all that He has been able to do is to +redeem one out of a thousand, or even nine out of ten, of them, +then the devil has had the best of the battle. He, and not +Christ, is the conqueror. If a thief steals all the sheep +on your farm, and all that you can get back from him is a part of +the whole flock, which has had the best of it, you or the +thief? If Christ’s redemption is meant for only a +few, or even a great many elect souls out of all the millions of +mankind, which has had the best of it, Christ, the master of the +sheep, or the devil, the robber and destroyer of them? Be +sure, my friends, Christ is stronger than that; His love is +deeper than that; His redemption is wider than that. How +strong, how deep, how wide it is, we never shall know. St. +Paul tells us that we never shall know, for it is boundless; but +that we shall go on knowing more and more of its vastness for +ever, finding it deeper, wider, loftier than our most glorious +dreams could ever picture it. But this, he says, we do +know, that we have gained more than Adam lost. For if by +one man’s offence many were made sinners, much more shall +they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of +righteousness reign in life by one even Jesus Christ. For, +he says, where sin abounded, God’s grace and free gift has +much more abounded. Therefore, as by the offence of one, +judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the +righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to +justification of life. Upon all men, you see. There +can be no doubt about it. Upon you and me, and foreigners, +and gipsies, and heathens, and thieves, and harlots—upon +all mankind, let them be as bad or as good, as young or as old, +as they may, the free gift of God has come to justification of +life; they are justified, pardoned, and beloved in the sight of +Almighty God; they have a right and a share to a new life; a +different sort of life from what they are inclined to lead, and +do lead, by nature—to a life which death cannot take away, +a life which may grow, and strengthen, and widen, and blossom, +and bear fruit for ever and ever. They have a share in +Christ’s resurrection, in the blessing of Easter-day. +They have a share in Christ, every one of them whether they claim +that share or not. How far they will be punished for not +claiming it, is a very different matter, of which we know nothing +whatsoever. And how far the heathen who have never heard of +Christ, or of their share in Him, will be punished, we know +not—we are not meant to know. But we know that to +their own Master they stand or fall, and that their Master is our +Master too, and that He is a just Master, and requires little of +him to whom He gives little; a just and merciful Master, who +loved this sinful world enough to come down and die for it, while +mankind were all rebels and sinners, and has gone on taking care +of it, and improving it, in spite of all its sin and rebellion +ever since, and that is enough for us.</p> +<p>St. Paul knew no more. It was a mystery, he says, a +wonderful and unfathomable matter, which had been hidden since +the foundation of the world, of which he himself says that he saw +only through a glass darkly; and we cannot expect to have clearer +eyes than he. But this he seems to have seen, that the +Lord, when He rose again, bought a blessing even for the dumb +beasts and the earth on which we live. For he says, the +whole creation is now groaning in the pangs of labour, being +about to bring forth something; and the whole creation will rise +again; how, and when, and into what new state, we cannot +tell. But St. Paul seems to say that when the Lord shall +destroy death, the last of his enemies, then the whole creation +shall be renewed, and bring forth another earth, nobler and more +beautiful than this one, free from death, and sin, and sorrow, +and redeemed into the glorious liberty of the children of +God.</p> +<p>But this, on the other hand, St. Paul did see most clearly, +and preached it to all to whom he spoke, that the ground and +reason of this great and glorious mystery was the thing which +happened on the first Easter-day, namely, the Lord Jesus rising +from the dead. About that, at least, there was no doubt at +all in his mind. We may see it by the Easter anthem, which +we read this morning, taken out of the fifteenth chapter of his +first epistle to the Corinthians:</p> +<p>“Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first +fruits of them that slept.</p> +<p>“For since by man came death, by man came also the +resurrection of the dead.</p> +<p>“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be +made alive.”</p> +<p>Now he is not talking here merely of the rising again of our +bodies at the last day. That was in his mind only the end, +and outcome, and fruit, and perfecting, of men’s rising +from the dead in this life. For he tells these same +Corinthians, and the Colossians, and others to whom he wrote, +that life, the eternal life which would raise their bodies at the +last day, was even then working in them.</p> +<p>Neither is he speaking only of a few believers. He says +that, owing to the Lord’s rising on this day, all shall be +made alive—not merely all Christians, but all men. +For he does not say, as in Adam all Christians die, but all men; +and so he does not say, all Christians shall be made alive, but +all men. For here, as in the sixth chapter of Romans, he is +trying to make us understand the likeness between Adam and Jesus +Christ, whom he calls the new Adam. The first Adam, he +says, was only a living soul, as the savages and heathens are; +but the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, the true pattern of +men, is a quickening, life-giving spirit, to give eternal life to +every human being who will accept His offer, and claim his share +and right as a true man, after the likeness of the new Adam, +Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>We then, every one of us who is here to-day, have a right to +believe that we have a share in Christ’s eternal life: that +our original sin, that is, the sinfulness which we inherited from +our forefathers, is all forgiven and forgotten, and that mankind +is now redeemed, and belongs to the second Adam, the true and +original head and pattern of man, Jesus Christ, in whom was no +sin; and that because mankind belongs to him, God is well pleased +with them, and reconciled to them, and looks on them not as a +guilty, but as a pardoned and beloved race of beings.</p> +<p>And we have a right to believe also, that because all power is +given to Christ in heaven and earth, there is given to Him the +power of making men what they ought to be—like His own +blessed, and glorious, and perfect self. Ask him, and you +shall receive; knock at the gate of His treasure-house, and it +shall be opened. Seek those things that are above, and you +shall find them. You shall find old bad habits die out in +you, new good habits spring up in you; old meannesses become +weaker, new nobleness and manfulness become stronger; the old, +selfish, covetous, savage, cunning, cowardly, brutal Adam dying +out, the new, loving, brotherly, civilised, wise, brave, manful +Adam growing up in you, day by day, to perfection, till you are +changed from grace to grace, and glory to glory into the likeness +of the Lord of men.</p> +<p>“These are great promises,” you may say, +“glorious promises; but what proof have you that they +belong to us? They sound too good to be true; too great for +such poor creatures as we are; give us but some proof that we +have a right to them; give us but a pledge from Jesus Christ; +give us but a sign, an assurance from God, and we may believe you +then.”</p> +<p>My friends, I am certain—and the longer I live I am the +more certain—that there is no argument, no pledge, no sign, +no assurance, like the bread and the wine upon that table. +Assurances in our own hearts and souls are good, but we may be +mistaken about them; for, after all, they are our own thoughts, +notions in our own souls, these inward experiences and +assurances; delightful and comforting as they are at times, yet +we cannot trust them—we cannot trust our own hearts, they +are deceitful above all things, who can know them? Yes: our +own hearts may tell us lies; they may make us fancy that we are +pleasing God, when we are doing the things most hateful to +Him. They have made thousands fancy so already. They +may make us fancy we are right in God’s sight, when we are +utterly wrong. They have made thousands fancy so +already. These hearts of ours may make us fancy that we +have spiritual life in us; that we are in a state higher and +nobler than the sinners round us, when all the while our spirits +are dead within us. They made the Pharisees of old fancy +that their souls were alive, and pure, and religious, when they +were dead and damned within them; and they may make us fancy so +too. No: we cannot trust our hearts and inward feelings; +but that bread, that wine, we can trust. Our inward +feelings are a sign from man; that bread and wine are a sign from +God. Our inward feelings may tell us what we feel toward +God: that bread, that wine, tell us something ten thousand times +more important; they tell us what God feels towards us. And +God must love us before we can love Him; God must pardon us +before we can have mercy on ourselves; God must come to us, and +take hold of us, before we can cling to Him; God must change us, +before we can become right; God must give us eternal life in our +hearts before we can feel and enjoy that new life in us. +Then that bread, that wine, say that God has done all that for us +already; they say: “God does love you; God has pardoned +you; God has come to you; God is ready and willing to change and +convert you; God has given you eternal life; and this love, this +mercy, this coming to find you out while you are wandering in +sin, this change, this eternal life, are all in His Son Jesus +Christ; and that bread, that wine, are the signs of +it.” It is for the sake of Jesus’ blood that +God has pardoned you, and that cup is the new covenant in His +blood. Come and drink, and claim your pardon. It is +simply because Jesus Christ was man, and you, too, are men and +women, wearing the flesh and blood which Christ wore; eating and +drinking as Christ ate and drank, and not for any works or faith +of your own, that God loves you, and has come to you, and called +you into His family. This is the Gospel, the good news of +Christ’s free grace, and pardon, and salvation; and that +bread, that wine, the common food of all men, not merely of the +rich, or the wise, or the pious, but of saints and penitents, +rich and poor. Christians and heathens, alike—that +plain, common, every-day bread and wine—are the signs of +it. Come and take the signs, and claim your share in +God’s love, in God’s family. And it is in Jesus +Christ, too, that you have eternal life. It is because you +belong to Jesus Christ, to mankind, of which He is the head and +king, that God will change you, strengthen your soul to rise +above your sins, raise you up daily more and more out of +spiritual death, out of brutishness, and selfishness, and +ignorance, and malice, into an eternal life of wisdom, and love, +and courage, and mercifulness, and patience, and obedience; a +life which shall continue through death, and beyond death, and +raise you up again for ever at the last day, because you belong +to Christ’s body, and have been fed with Christ’s +eternal life. And that bread, that wine are the signs of +it. “Take, eat,” said Jesus, “this is my +body; drink, this is my blood.” Those are the signs +that God has given you eternal life, and that this life is in His +Son. What better sign would you have? There is no +mistaking their message; they can tell you no lies. And +they can, and will, bring your own Gospel-blessings to your mind, +as nothing else can. They will make you feel, as nothing +else can, that you are the beloved children of God, heirs of all +that your King and Head has bought for you, when He died, and +rose again upon this day. He gave you the Lord’s +Supper for a sign. Do you think that He did not know best +what the best sign would be? He said: “Do this in +remembrance of me.” Do you think that He did not know +better than you, and me, and all men, that if you did do it, it +would put you in remembrance of Him?</p> +<p>Oh! come to His table, this day of all days in the year; and +claim there your share in His body and His blood, to feed the +everlasting life in you; which, though you see it not now, though +you feel it not now, will surely, if you keep it alive in you by +daily faith, and daily repentance, and daily prayer, and daily +obedience, raise you up, body and soul, to reign with Him for +ever at the last day.</p> +<h2><a name="page76"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 76</span><span +class="GutSmall">IX.</span><br /> +THE COMFORTER.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.</p> +<blockquote><p>If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto +you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.—<span +class="smcap">John</span> xvi. 7.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> are now coming near to two great +days, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday, which our forefathers have +appointed, year by year, to put us continually in mind of two +great works, which the Lord worked out for us, His most unworthy +subjects, and still unworthier brothers.</p> +<p>On Ascension-day He ascended up into Heaven, and received +gifts for men, even for His enemies, that the Lord God might +dwell among them; and on Whit-Sunday, He sent down those +gifts. The Spirit of God came down to dwell in the hearts +of men, to be the right of everyone who asks for it, white or +black, young or old, rich or poor, and never to leave this earth +as long as there is a human being on it. And because we are +coming near to these two great days, the Prayer-book, in the +Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, tries to put us in mind of those +days, and to make us ready to ask for the blessings of which they +are the yearly signs and witnesses. The Gospel for last +Sunday told us how the Lord told His disciples just before His +death, that for a little while they should not see Him; and again +a little while and they should see Him, because he was going to +the Father, and that they should have great sorrow, but that +their sorrow should be turned into joy. And the Gospel for +to-day goes further still, and tells us why He was going +away—that He might send to them the Comforter, His Holy +Spirit, and that it was expedient—good for them, that He +should go away; for that if He did not, the Comforter would not +come to them. Now, in these words, I do not doubt He was +speaking of Ascension-day, and of Whit-Sunday; and therefore it +is that these Gospels have been chosen to be read before +Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday; and in proportion as we attend to +these Gospels, and take in the meaning of them, and act +accordingly, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be a blessing and +a profit to us; and in proportion as we neglect them, or forget +them, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be witnesses against our +souls at the day of judgment, that the Lord Himself condescended +to buy for us with His own blood, blessings unspeakable, and +offer them freely unto us, in spite of all our sins, and yet we +would have none of them, but preferred our own will to +God’s will, and the little which we thought we could get +for ourselves, to the unspeakable treasures which God had +promised to give us, and turned away from the blessings of His +kingdom, to our own foolish pleasure and covetousness, like +“the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her +wallowing in the mire.”</p> +<p>I said that God had promised to us an unspeakable treasure: +and so He has; a treasure that will make the poorest and weakest +man among us, richer than if he had all the wealth gathered from +all the nations of the world, which everyone is admiring now in +that Great Exhibition in London, and stronger than if he had all +the wisdom which produced that wealth. Let us see now what +it is that God has promised us—and then those to whom God +has given ears to hear, and hearts to understand, will see that +large as my words may sound, they are no larger than the +truth.</p> +<p>Christ said, that if He went away, He would send down the +Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God. The Nicene Creed says, +that the Holy Spirit of God is the Lord and Giver of life; and so +He is. He gives life to the earth, to the trees, to the +flowers, to the dumb animals, to the bodies and minds of men; all +life, all growth, all health, all strength, all beauty, all +order, all help and assistance of one thing by another, which you +see in the world around you, comes from Him. He is the Lord +and Giver of life; in Him, the earth, the sun and stars, all live +and move and have their being. He is not them, or a part of +them, but He gives life to them. But to men He is more than +that—for we men ourselves are more than that, and need +more. We have immortal spirits in us—a reason, a +conscience, and a will; strange rights and duties, strange hopes +and fears, of which the beasts and the plants know nothing. +We have hearts in us which can love, and feel, and sorrow, and be +weak, and sinful, and mistaken; and therefore we want a +Comforter. And the Lord and Giver of life has promised to +be our Comforter; and the Father and the Son, from both of whom +He proceeds, have promised to send Him to us, to strengthen and +comfort us, and give our spirits life and health, and knit us +together to each other, and to God, in one common bond of love +and fellow-feeling even as He the Spirit knits together the +Father and the Son.</p> +<p>I said that we want a Comforter. If we consider what +that word Comforter means, we shall see that we do want a +Comforter, and that the only Comforter which can satisfy us for +ever and ever, must be He, the very Spirit of God, the Lord and +Giver of life.</p> +<p>Now Comforter means one who gives comfort; so the meaning of +it will depend upon what comfort means. Our word comfort, +comes from two old Latin words, which mean <i>with</i> and <i>to +strengthen</i>. And, therefore, a Comforter means anyone +who is with us to strengthen us, and do for us what we could not +do for ourselves. You will see that this is the proper +meaning of the word, when you remember what bodily things we call +comforts. You say that a person is comfortable, or lives in +comfort, if he has a comfortable income, a comfortable house, +comfortable clothes, comfortable food, and so on. Now all +these things, his money, his house, his clothes, his food, are +not himself. They make him stronger and more at ease. +They make his life more pleasant to him. But they are not +<i>him</i>; they are round him, with him, to strengthen +him. So with a person’s mind and feelings; when a man +is in sorrow and trouble, he cannot comfort himself. His +friends must come to him and comfort him; talk to him, advise +him, show their kind feeling towards him, and in short, be with +him to strengthen him in his afflictions. And if we require +comfort for our bodies, and for our minds, my friends, how much +more do we for our spirits—our souls, as we call +them! How weak, and ignorant, and self-willed, and +perplexed, and sinful they are—surely our souls require a +comforter far more than our bodies or our minds do! And to +comfort our spirits, we require a spirit; for we cannot see our +own spirits, our own souls, as we can our bodies. We cannot +even tell by our feelings what state they are in. We may +deceive ourselves, and we do deceive ourselves, again and again, +and fancy that our souls are strong when they are weak—that +they are simple and truthful when they are full of deceit and +falsehood—that they are loving God when they are only +loving themselves—that they are doing God’s will when +they are only doing their own selfish and perverse wills. +No man can take care of his own spirit, much less give his own +spirit life; “no man can quicken his own soul,” says +David, that is, no man can give his own soul life. And +therefore we must have someone beyond ourselves to give life to +our spirits. We must have someone to teach us the things +that we could never find out for ourselves, someone who will put +into our hearts the good desires that could never come of +themselves. We must have someone who can change these wills +of ours, and make them love what they hate by nature, and make +them hate what they love by nature. For by nature we are +selfish. By nature we are inclined to love ourselves, +rather than anyone else; to take care of ourselves, rather than +anyone else. By nature we are inclined to follow our own +will, rather than God’s will, to do our own pleasure, +rather than follow God’s commandments, and therefore by +nature our spirits are dead; for selfishness and self-will are +<i>spiritual death</i>. Spiritual life is love, pity, +patience, courage, honesty, truth, justice, humbleness, industry, +self-sacrifice, obedience to God, and therefore to those whom God +sends to teach and guide us. <i>That</i> is spiritual +life. That is the life of Jesus Christ; His character, His +conduct, was like that—to love, to help, to pity, all +around—to give up Himself even to death—to do His +Father’s will and not His own. That was His +life. Because He was the Son of God He did it. In +proportion as we live like Him, we shall he living like sons of +God. In proportion as we live like Jesus Christ, the Son of +God, our spirits will be alive. For he that hath Jesus +Christ the Son of God in him, hath life, and he that hath not the +Son of God, hath not life, says St. John. But who can raise +us from the death of sin and selfishness, to the life of +righteousness and love? Who can change us into the likeness +of Jesus Christ? Who can even show us what Jesus +Christ’s likeness is, and take the things of Christ and +show them to us; so that by seeing what He was, we may see what +we should be? And who, if we have this life in us, will +keep it alive in us, and be with us to strengthen us? Who +will give us strength to force the foul and fierce and false +thoughts out of our mind, and say, “Get thee behind me, +Satan?” Who will give our spirits life? and who will +strengthen that life in us?</p> +<p>Can we do it for ourselves? Oh! my friends, I pity the +man who is so blind and ignorant, who knows so little of himself, +upon whom the lessons which his own mistakes, and sins, and +failings should have taught him, have been so wasted that he +fancies that he can teach and guide himself without any help, and +that he can raise his own soul to life, or keep it alive without +assistance. Can his body do without its comforts? +Then how can his spirit? If he left his house, and threw +away his clothes, and refused all help from his fellow-men, and +went and lived in the woods like a wild beast, we should call him +a madman, because he refused the help and comfort to his body +which God has made necessary for him. But just as great a +madman is he who refuses the help and the strengthening which God +has made necessary for his spirit—just as great a madman is +he who fancies that his soul is any more able than his body is, +to live without continual help. It is just because man is +nobler than the beast that he requires help. The fox in the +wood needs no house, no fire; he needs no friends; he needs no +comforts, and no comforters, because he is a beast—because +he is meant to live and die selfish and alone; therefore God has +provided him in himself with all things necessary to keep the +poor brute’s selfish life in him for a few short +years. But just because man is nobler than that; just +because man is not intended to live selfish and alone; just +because his body, and his mind, and his spirit are beautifully +and delicately made, and intended for all sorts of wonderful +purposes, therefore God has appointed that from the moment he is +born to all eternity he cannot live alone; he cannot support +himself; he stands in continual need of the assistance of all +around him, for body, and soul, and spirit; he needs clothes, +which other men must make; houses, which other man must build; +food, which other men must produce; he has to get his livelihood +by working for others, while others get their livelihood in +return by working for him. As a child he needs his parents +to be his comforters, to take care of him in body and mind. +As he grows up he needs the care of others; he cannot exist a day +without his fellow-men: he requires school-masters to educate +him; books and masters to teach him his trade; and when he has +learnt it, and settled himself in life, he requires laws made by +other men, perhaps by men who died hundreds of years before he +was born, to secure to him his rights and property, to secure to +him comforts, and to make him feel comfortable in his station; he +needs friends and family to comfort him in sorrow and in joy, to +do for him the thousand things which he cannot do for +himself. In proportion as he is alone and friendless he is +pitiable and miserable, let him be as rich as Solomon +himself. From the moment, I say, he is born, he needs +continual comforts and comforters for his body, and mind, and +heart. And then he fancies that, though his body and his +mind cannot exist safely, or grow up healthily, without the +continual care and comforting of his fellow-men, that yet his +soul, the part of him which is at once the most important and the +most in danger; the part of him of which he knows least; the part +of him which he understands least; the part of him of which his +body and mind cannot take care, because it has to take care of +them, can live, and grow, and prosper without any help +whatsoever!</p> +<p>And if we cannot strengthen our own souls no man can +strengthen them for us. No man can raise our bodies to +life, much less can he raise our souls. The physician +himself cannot cure the sicknesses of our bodies; he can only +give us fit medicines, and leave them to cure us by certain laws +of nature, which he did not make, and which he cannot +alter. And though the physician can, by much learning, +understand men’s bodies somewhat, who can understand +men’s souls? We cannot understand our own souls; we +do not know what they are, how they live; whence they come, or +whither they go. We cannot cure them ourselves, much less +can anyone cure them for us. The only one who can cure our +souls is He that made our souls; the only one who can give life +to our souls is He who gives life to everything. The only +one who can cure, and strengthen, and comfort our spirits, is He +who understands our spirits, because He himself is the Spirit of +all spirits, the Spirit who searcheth all things, even the deep +things of God; because He is the Spirit of God the Father, who +made all heaven and earth, and of Jesus Christ the Son, who +understands the heart of man, who can be touched with the +feelings of our infirmities, and hath been tempted in all things, +just as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>He is the Comforter which God has promised to our spirits, the +only Comforter who can strengthen our spirits; and if we have Him +with us, if He is strengthening us, if He is leading us, if He is +abiding with us, if He is changing us day by day, more and more +into the likeness of Jesus Christ, are we not, as I said at the +beginning of my sermon, richer than if we possessed all the land +of England, stronger than if we had all the armies of the world +at our command? For what is more precious than—God +Himself? What is stronger than—God Himself? The +poorest man in whom God’s Spirit dwells is greater than the +greatest king in whom God’s Spirit does not dwell. +And so he will find in the day that he dies. Then where +will riches be, and power? The rich man will take none of +them away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow +him. Naked came he into this world, and naked shall he +return out of it, to go as he came, and carry with him none of +the comforts which he thought in this life the only ones worth +having. But the Spirit of God remains with us for ever; +that treasure a man shall carry out of this world with him, and +keep to all eternity. That friend will never forsake him, +for He is the Spirit of Love, which abideth for ever. That +Comforter will never grow weak, for He is Himself the very +eternal Lord and Giver of Life; and the soul that is possessed by +Him must live, must grow, must become nobler, purer, freer, +stronger, more loving, for ever and ever, as the eternities roll +by. That is what He will give you, my friends; that is His +treasure; that is the Spirit-life, the true and everlasting life, +which flows from Him as the stream flows from the +fountain-head.</p> +<h2><a name="page85"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 85</span><span +class="GutSmall">X.</span><br /> +WHIT-SUNDAY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, +longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance—against such there is no law.—<span +class="smcap">Galatians</span> v. 22, 23.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> all countries, and in all ages, +the world has been full of complaints of Law and +Government. And one hears the same complaints in England +now. You hear complaints that the laws favour one party and +one rank more than another, that they are expensive, and harsh, +and unfair, and what not?—But I think, my friends, that for +us, and especially on this Whit-Sunday, it will be much wiser, +instead of complaining of the laws, to complain of ourselves, for +needing those laws. For what is it that makes laws +necessary at all, except man’s sinfulness? Adam +required no laws in the garden of Eden. We should require +no laws if we were what we ought to be—what God has offered +to make us. We may see this by looking at the laws +themselves, and considering the purposes for which they were +made. We shall then see, that, like Moses’ Laws of +old, the greater part of them have been added because of +transgressions.—In plain English—to prevent men from +doing things which they ought not to do, and which, if they were +in a right state of mind, they would not do. How many laws +are passed, simply to prevent one man, or one class, from +oppressing or ill-using some other man or class? What a +vast number of them are passed simply to protect property, or to +protect the weak from the cruel, the ignorant from the +cunning! It is plain that if there was no cruelty, no +cunning, no dishonesty, these laws, at all events, would not be +needed. Again, one of the great complaints against the laws +and the government, is that they are so expensive, that rates and +taxes are heavy burdens—and doubtless they are: but what +makes them necessary except men’s sin? If the poor +were more justly and mercifully treated, and if they in their +turn were more thrifty and provident, there would be no need of +the expenses of poor rates. If there was no love of war and +plunder, there would be no need of the expense of an army. +If there was no crime, there would be no need of the expense of +police and prisons. The thing is so simple and +self-evident, that it seems almost childish to mention it. +And yet, my friends, we forget it daily. We complain of the +laws and their harshness, of taxes and their expensiveness, and +we forget all the while that it is our own selfishness and +sinfulness which brings this expense upon us, which makes it +necessary for the law to interfere and protect us against others, +and others against us. And while we are complaining of the +government for not doing its work somewhat more cheaply, we are +forgetting that if we chose, we might leave government very +little work to do—that every man if he chose, might be his +own law-maker and his own police—that every man if he will, +may lead a life “against which there is no law.”</p> +<p>I say again, that it is our own fault, the fault of our +sinfulness, that laws are necessary for us. In proportion +as we are what Scripture calls “natural men,” that +is, savage, selfish, divided from each other, and struggling +against each other, each for his own interest; as long as we are +not renewed and changed into new men, so long will laws, heavy, +severe, and burdensome, be necessary for us. Without them +we should be torments to ourselves, to our neighbours, to our +country. But these laws are only necessary as long as we +are full of selfishness and ungodliness. The moment we +yield ourselves up to God’s law, man’s laws are ready +enough to leave us alone. Take, for instance, a common +example; as long as anyone is a faithful husband and a good +father, the law does not interfere with his conduct towards his +wife and children. But it is when he is unfaithful to them, +when he ill-treats them, or deserts them, that the law interferes +with its “Thou shalt not,” and compels him to behave, +against his will, in the way in which he ought to have behaved of +his own will. It was free to the man to have done his duty +by his family, without the law—the moment he neglects his +duty, he becomes amenable to it.</p> +<p>But the law can only force a man’s actions: it cannot +change his heart. In the instance which I have been just +mentioning, the law can say to a man, “You shall not +ill-treat your family; you shall not leave them to +starve.” But the law cannot say to him “You +shall love your family.” The law can only command +from a man outward obedience; the obedience of the heart it +cannot enforce. The law may make a man do his duty, it +cannot make a man <i>love</i> his duty. And therefore laws +will never set the world right. They can punish persons +after the wrong is done, and that not certainly nor always: but +they cannot certainly prevent the wrongs being done. The +law can punish a man for stealing: and yet, as we see daily, men +steal in the face of punishment. Or even if the law, by its +severity, makes persons afraid to commit certain particular +crimes, yet still as long as the sinful heart is left in them +unchanged, the sin which is checked in one direction is sure to +break out in another. Sin, like every other disease, is +sure, when it is driven onwards, to break out at a fresh point, +or fester within some still more deadly, because more hidden and +unsuspected, shape. The man who dare not be an open sinner +for fear of the law, can be a hypocrite in spite of it. The +man who dare not steal for fear of the law, can cheat in spite of +it. The selfish man will find fresh ways of being selfish, +the tyrannical man of being tyrannical, however closely the law +may watch him. He will discover some means of evading it; +and thus the law, after all, though it may keep down crime, +multiplies sin; and by the law, as St. Paul says, is the +knowledge of sin.</p> +<p>What then will do that for this poor world which the law +cannot do—which, as St. Paul tells us, not even the law of +God given on Mount Sinai, holy, just, good as it was, could do, +because no law can give life? What will give men a new +heart and a new spirit, which shall love its duty and do it +willingly, and not by compulsion, everywhere and always, and not +merely just as far as it commanded? The text tells us that +there is a Spirit, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, +longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; +a character such as no laws can give to a man, and which no law +dare punish in a man. Look at this character as St. Paul +sets it forth—and then think what need would there be of +all these burdensome and expensive laws, if all men were but full +of the fruits of that Spirit which St. Paul describes?</p> +<p>I know what answer will be ready, in some of your minds at +least, to all this. You will be ready to reply, almost +angrily, “Of course if everyone was perfect, we should need +no laws: but people are not perfect, and you cannot expect them +to be.” My friends, whether or not <i>we</i> expect +baptized people, living in a Christian country, to be perfect, +God expects them to be perfect; for He has said, by the mouth of +His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, “Be ye therefore perfect, +as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.” And He +has told us what being perfect is like; you may read it for +yourselves in His sermon on the Mount; and you may see also that +what He commands us to do in that sermon, from the beginning to +the end, is the exact opposite and contrary of the ways and rules +of this world, which, as I have shown, make burdensome laws +necessary to prevent our devouring each other. Now, do you +think that God would have told us to be perfect, if He knew that +it was impossible for us? Do you think that He, the God of +truth, would have spoken such a cruel mockery against poor sinful +creatures like us, as to command us a duty without giving us the +means of fulfilling it? Do you think that He did not know +ten thousand times better than I what I have been just telling +you, that laws could not change men’s hearts and wills; +that commanding a man to love and like a thing will not make him +love and like it; that a man’s heart and spirit must be +changed in him from within, and not merely laws and commandments +laid on him from without? Then why has He commanded us to +love each other, ay, to love our enemies, to bless those who +curse us, to pray for those who use us spitefully? Do you +think the Lord meant to make hypocrites of us; to tell us to go +about, as some who call themselves religious do go about, with +their lips full of meek, and humble, and simple, and loving +words, while their hearts are full of pride, and spite, and +cunning, and hate, and selfishness, which are all the more deadly +for being kept in and plastered over by a smooth outside? +God forbid! He tells us to love each other, only because He +has promised us the spirit of love. He tells us to be +humble, because He can make us humble-hearted. He tells us +to be honest, because He can make us love and delight in +honesty. He tells us to refrain ourselves from foul +thoughts as well as from foul actions, because He can take the +foul heart out of us, and give us instead the spirit of purity +and holiness. He tells us to lead new lives after the new +pattern of Himself, because He can give us new hearts and a new +spring of life within us; in short, He bids us behave as sons of +God should behave, because, as He said Himself, “If we, +being evil, know how to give our children what is good for them, +much more will our heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those +who ask him.” If you would be perfect, ask your +Father in heaven to make you perfect. If you feel that your +heart is wrong, ask Him to give you a new and a right +heart. If you feel yourselves—as you are, whether you +feel it or not—too weak, too ignorant, too selfish, to +guide yourselves, ask Him to send His Spirit to guide you; ask +for the Spirit from which comes all love, all light, all wisdom, +all strength of mind. Ask for that Spirit, and you +<i>shall</i> receive it; seek for it, and you shall find it; +knock at the gate of your Father’s treasure-house, and it +shall be surely opened to you.</p> +<p>But some of you, perhaps, are saying to yourselves, “How +will my being changed and renewed by the Spirit of God, render +the laws less burdensome, while the crime and sin around me +remain unchanged? It is others who want to be improved as +much, and perhaps more than I do.” It may be so, my +friends; or, again, it may not; those who fancy that others need +God’s Spirit more than they do, may be the very persons who +need it really the most; those who say they see, may be only +proving their blindness by so saying; those who fancy that their +souls are rich, and are full of all knowledge, and understand the +whole Bible, and want no further teaching, may be, as they were +in St. John’s time, just the ones who are wretched, and +miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked in soul, and do not +know it. But at all events, if you think others need to be +changed by God’s Spirit, <i>pray</i> that God’s +Spirit may change them. For believe me, unless you pray for +God’s Spirit for each other, ay, for the whole world, there +is no use asking for yourselves. This, I believe, is one of +the reasons, perhaps the chief reason, why the fruits of +God’s Spirit are so little seen among us in these days; why +our Christianity is become more and more dead, and hollow, and +barren, while expensive and intricate laws and taxes are becoming +more and more necessary every year; because our religion has +become so selfish, because we have been praying for God’s +Spirit too little for each other. Our prayers have become +too selfish. We have been looking for God’s Spirit +not so much as a means to enable us to do good to others, but as +some sort of mysterious charm which was to keep us ourselves from +the punishment of our sins in the next life, or give us a higher +place in heaven; and, therefore, St. James’s words have +been fulfilled to us, even in our very prayers for God’s +Spirit, “Ye ask and have not, because ye ask amiss, to +consume it upon your lusts”—save our selfish souls +from the pains of hell; to give our selfish souls selfish +pleasures and selfish glorification in the world to come: but not +to spread God’s kingdom upon earth, not to make us live on +earth such lives as Christ lived; a life of love and +self-sacrifice, and continual labour for the souls of +others. Therefore it is, that God’s Spirit is not +poured out upon us in these days; for God’s Spirit is the +spirit of love and brotherhood, which delivers a man from his +selfishness; and if we do not desire to be delivered from our +selfishness, we do not desire the Spirit of God, and the Spirit +of God will not be bestowed upon us. And no man desires to +be delivered from his own selfishness, who in his very prayers, +when he ought to be thinking least about himself alone, is +thinking about himself most of all, and forgetting that he is the +member of a family—that all mankind are his +brethren—that he can claim nothing for himself to which +every sinner around him has an equal right—that nothing is +necessary for him, which is not equally necessary for everyone +around him; that he has all the world besides himself to pray +for, and that his prayers for himself will be heard only +according as he prays for all the world beside. Baptism +teaches us this, when it tells us that our old selfish nature is +to be washed away, and a new character, after the pattern of +Christ, is to live and grow up in us; that from the day we are +baptized, to the day of our death, we should live not for +ourselves, but for Jesus, in whom was no selfishness; when it +teaches us that we are not only children of God, but members of +Christ’s Family, and heirs of God’s kingdom, and +therefore bound to make common cause with all other members of +that Family, to live and labour for the common good of all our +fellow-citizens in that kingdom. The Lord’s prayer +teaches us this, when He tells us to pray, not “My +Father,” but “Our Father;” not “my soul +be saved,” but “Thy kingdom come;” not +“give <i>me</i>,” but “give <i>us</i> our daily +bread;” not “forgive <i>me</i>,” but +“forgive <i>us</i> our trespasses,” and that only as +we forgive others; not “lead <i>me</i> not,” but +“lead <i>us</i> not into temptation;” not +“deliver <i>me</i>,” but “deliver <i>us</i> +from evil.” After <i>that</i> manner the Lord told us +to pray; and, in proportion as we pray in that manner, asking for +nothing for ourselves which we do not ask for everyone else in +the whole world, just so far and no farther will God <i>hear</i> +our prayers. He who asks for God’s Spirit for himself +only, and forgets that all the world need it as much as he, is +not asking for God’s Spirit at all, and does not know even +what God’s Spirit is. The mystery of Pentecost, too, +which came to pass on this day 1818 years ago, teaches us the +same thing also. Those cloven tongues of fire, the tokens +of God’s Spirit, fell not upon one man, but upon many; not +when they were apart from each other, but when they were +together; and what were the fruits of that Spirit in the +Apostles? Did they remain within that upper room, each +priding himself upon his own gifts, and trying merely to gain +heaven for his own soul? If they had any such fancies, as +they very likely had before the Spirit fell upon them, they had +none such afterwards. The Spirit must have taken all such +thoughts from them, and given them a new notion of what it was to +be devout and holy: for instead of staying in that upper room, +they went forth instantly into the public place to preach in +foreign tongues to all the people. Instead of keeping +themselves apart from each other in silence, and fancying, as +some have done, and some do now, that they pleased God by being +solitary, and melancholy, and selfish—what do we read? the +fruit of God’s Spirit was in them; that they and the three +thousand souls who were added to them, on the first day of their +preaching, “were all together, and had all things common, +and sold their possessions, and goods, and parted them to all +men, as every man had need, and continuing daily with one accord +in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat +their bread in gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and +having favour with all the people.” Those were the +fruits of God’s Spirit in <i>them</i>. Till we see +more of that sort of life and society in England, we shall not be +able to pride ourselves on having much of God’s Spirit +among us.</p> +<p>But above all, if anything will teach us that the strength of +God’s Spirit is not a strength which we must ask for for +ourselves alone; that the blessings of God’s kingdom are +blessings which we cannot have in order to keep them to +ourselves, but can only enjoy in as far as we share them with +those around us; if anything, I say, ought to teach us that +lesson, it is the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. +Just consider a moment, my friends, what a strange thing it is, +if we will think of it, that the Lord’s Supper, the most +solemn and sacred thing with which a man can have to do upon +earth, is just a thing which he cannot transact for himself, or +by himself. Not alone in secret, in his chamber, but, +whether he will or not, in the company of others, not merely in +the company of his own private friends, but in the company of any +or everyone, rich or poor, who chooses to kneel beside him; he +goes with others, rich and poor alike, to the Lord’s Table, +and there the same bread, and the same wine, is shared among all +by the same priest. If that means anything, it means +this—that rich and poor alike draw life for their souls +from the same well, not for themselves only, not apart from each +other, but all in common, all together, because they are +brothers, members of one family, as the leaves are members of the +same tree; that as the same bread and the same wine are needed to +nourish the bodies of all, the same spirit of God is needed to +nourish the souls of all; and that we cannot have this spirit, +except as members of a body, any more than a man’s limb can +have life when it is cut off and parted from him. This is +the reason, and the only reason, why Protestant clergymen are +forbidden, thank God! to give the Holy Sacrament of the +Lord’s Supper, to any one person singly. If a +clergyman were to administer the Lord’s Supper, to himself +in private, without any congregation to partake with him, it +would not be the Lord’s Supper, it would be nothing, and +worse than nothing; it would be a sham and a mockery, and, I +believe, a sin. I do not believe that Christ would be +present, that God’s Spirit would rest on that man. +For our Lord says, that it is where two or three are gathered +together in His name, that He is in the midst of them. And +it was at a supper, at a feast, where all the Apostles were met +together, that our Lord divided the bread amongst them, and told +them to share the cup amongst themselves, just as a sign that +they were all members of one body—that the welfare of each +of them was bound up in the welfare of all the rest that +God’s blessing did not rest upon each singly, but upon all +together. And it is just because we have forgotten this, my +friends—because we have forgotten that we are all brothers +and sisters, children of one family, members of one +body—because in short, we have carried our selfishness into +our very religion, and up to the altar of God, that we neglect +the Lord’s Supper as we do. People neglect the +Lord’s Supper because they either do not know or do not +like that, of which the Lord’s Supper is the token and +warrant. It is not merely that they feel themselves unfit +for the Lord’s Supper, because they are not in love and +charity with all men. Oh! my dear friends, do not some of +your hearts tell you, that the reason why you stay away from the +Lord’s Supper is because you do not <i>wish</i> to be fit +for the Lord’s Supper—because you do not like to be +in love and charity with all men—because you do not wish to +be reminded that you are equals in God’s sight, all equally +sinful, all equally pardoned—and to see people whom you +dislike or despise, kneeling by your side, and partaking of the +same bread and wine with you, as a token that God sees no +difference between you and them; that God looks upon you all as +brothers, however little brotherly love or fellow-feeling there +may be, alas! between you? Or, again, do not some of you +stay away from the Lord’s Supper, because you see no good +in going? because it seems to make those who go no better than +they were before? Shall I tell you the reason of +that? Shall I tell you why, as is too true, too many do +come to the Lord’s Supper, and so far from being the better +for it, seem only the worse? Because they come to it in +selfishness. We have fallen into the same false and +unscriptural way of looking at the Lord’s Supper, into +which the Papists have. People go to the Lord’s +Supper nowadays too much to get some private good for their own +souls, and it would not matter to many of them, I am afraid, if +not another person in the parish received it, provided they can +get, as they fancy, the same blessing from it. Thus they +come to it in an utterly false and wrong temper of mind. +Instead of coming as members of Christ’s body, to get from +Him life and strength, to work, in their places, as members of +that body, they come to get something for themselves, as if there +was nobody else’s soul in the world to be saved but their +own. Instead of coming to ask for the Spirit of God to +deliver them from their selfishness, and make them care less +about themselves, and more about all around them, they come to +ask for the Spirit of God because they think it will make +themselves higher and happier in heaven. And of course they +do not get what they come for, because they come for the wrong +thing. Thus those who see them, begin to fancy that the +Lord’s Supper is not, after all, so very important for the +salvation of their souls; and not finding in the Bible actually +written these words, “Thou shalt perish everlastingly +unless thou take the Lord’s Supper,” they end by +staying away from it, and utterly neglecting it, they and their +children after them; preferring their own selfishness, to +God’s Spirit of love, and saying, like Esau of old, +“I am hungry, and I must live. I must get on in this +selfish world by following its selfish ways; what is the use of a +spirit of love and brotherhood to me? If I were to obey the +Gospel, and sacrifice my own interest for those around me, I +should starve; what good will my birthright do me?”</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, I pray God that some of you, at least, may +change your mind. I pray God that some of you may see at +last, that all the misery and the burdens of this time, spring +from one root, which is selfishness; and that the reason why we +are selfish, is because we have not with us the Spirit of God, +which is the spirit of brotherhood and love. Let us pray +God now, and henceforth, to take that selfishness out of all our +hearts. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to pour upon +us, and upon all our countrymen, ay, and upon the whole world, +the spirit of friendship and fellow-feeling, the spirit which +when men have among them, they need no laws to keep them from +supplanting, and oppressing, and devouring each other, because +its fruits are love, cheerfulness, peace, long suffering, +gentleness, goodness, honesty, meekness, temperance Then there +will be no need, my friends, for me to call you to the Supper of +the Lord. You will no more think of staying away from it, +than the Apostles did, when the Spirit was poured out on +them. For what do we read that they did after the first +Whit-Sunday? That altogether with one accord, they broke +bread daily; that is, partook of the Lord’s Supper every +day, from house to house. They did not need to be told to +do it. They did it, as I may say, by instinct. There +was no question or argument about it in their minds. They +had found out that they were all brothers, with one common cause +in joy and sorrow—that they were all members of one +body—that the life of their souls came from one root and +spring, from one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the light and the +life of men, in whom they were all one, members of each other; +and therefore, they delighted in that Lord’s Supper, just +because it brought them together; just because it was a sign and +a token to them that they did belong to each other, that they had +one Lord, one faith, one interest, one common cause for this +life, and for all eternity. And therefore the blessing of +that Lord’s Supper did come to them, and in it they did +receive strength to live like children of God and members of +Christ, and brothers to each other and to all mankind. They +proved by their actions what that Communion Feast, that Sacrament +of Brotherhood, had done for them. They proved it by not +counting their own lives dear to them, but going forth in the +face of poverty and persecution, and death itself, to preach to +the whole world the good news that Christ was their King. +They proved it by their conduct to each other when they had all +things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and +parted them to all, as every man had need. They proved it +by needing no laws to bind them to each other from without, +because they were bound to each other from within, by the love +which comes down from God, and is the very bond of peace, and of +every virtue which becomes a man.</p> +<h2><a name="page99"></a><span class="pagenum">p. 99</span><span +class="GutSmall">XI.</span><br /> +ASCENSION-DAY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany; and +he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to +pass while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried +up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to +Jerusalem, with great joy; and were continually in the temple, +praising and blessing God.—<span class="smcap">Luke</span> +xxiv. 50–53.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">On</span> this day it is fit and proper +for us—if we have understood, and enjoyed, and profited by +the wonder of the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven—to be +in the same state of mind as the Apostles were after His +Ascension: for what was right for them is right for us and for +all men; the same effects which it produced on them it ought to +produce on us. And we may know whether we are in the state +in which Christian men ought to be, by seeing how far we are in +the same state of mind as the Apostles were. Now the text +tells us in what state of mind they were; how that, after the +Lord Jesus was parted from them, and carried up into Heaven, they +worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy, and +were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. +It seems at first sight certainly very strange that they should +go back with great joy. They had just lost their Teacher, +their Master—One who had been more to them than all friends +and fathers could be; One who had taken them, poor simple +fishermen, and changed the whole course of their lives, and +taught them things which He had taught to no one else, and given +them a great and awful work to do—the work of changing the +ways and thoughts and doings of the whole world. He had +sent them out—eleven unlettered working men—to fight +against the sin and the misery of the whole world. And He +had given them open warning of what they were to expect; that by +it they should win neither credit, nor riches, nor ease, nor +anything else that the world thinks worth having. He gave +them fair warning that the world would hate them, and try to +crush them. He told them, as the Gospel for to-day says, +that they should be driven out of the churches; that the +religious people, as well as the irreligious, would be against +them; that the time would come when those who killed them would +think that they did God service; that nothing but labour, and +want, and persecution, and slander, and torture, and death was +before them—and now He had gone away and left them. +He had vanished up into the empty air. They were to see His +face, and hear His voice no more. They were to have no more +of His advice, no more of His teaching, no more of His tender +comfortings; they were to be alone in the world—eleven poor +working men, with the whole world against them, and so great a +business to do that they would not have time to get their bread +by the labour of their hands. Is it not wonderful that they +did not sit down in despair, and say, “What will become of +us?” Is it not wonderful that they did not give +themselves up to grief at losing the Teacher who was worth all +the rest of the world put together? Is it not wonderful +that they did not go back, each one to his old trade, to his +fishing and to his daily labour, saying, “At all events we +must eat; at all events we must get our livelihood;” and +end, as they had begun, in being mere labouring men, of whom the +world would never have heard a word? And instead of that we +read that they went back with great joy not to their homes but to +Jerusalem, the capital city of their country, and “were +continually in the temple blessing and praising God.” +Well, my friends, and if it is possible for one man to judge what +another man would have done—if it is possible to guess what +we should have done in their case—common-sense must show us +this, that if He was merely their Teacher, they would have either +given themselves up to despair, or gone back, some to their +plough, some to their fishing-nets, and some, like Matthew, to +their counting-houses, and we should never have heard a word of +them. But if you will look in your Bibles, you will find +that they thought Him much more than a teacher—that they +thought Him to be the Lord and King of the whole world; and you +will find that the great joy with which the disciples went back, +after He ascended into heaven, came from certain very strange +words that He had been speaking to them just before He +ascended—words about which they could have but two +opinions: either they must have thought that they were utter +falsehood, and self-conceit, and blasphemy; and that Jesus, who +had been all along speaking to them such words of wisdom and +holiness as never man spake before, had suddenly changed His +whole character at the last, and become such a sort of person as +it is neither fit for me to speak of, or you to hear me speak of, +in God’s church, and in Jesus Christ’s hearing, even +though it be merely for the sake of argument; or else they must +have thought <i>this</i> about His words, that they were the most +joyful and blessed words that ever had been spoken on the earth; +that they were the best of all news; the most complete of all +Gospels for this poor sinful world; that what Jesus had said +about Himself was true; and that as long as it was true, it did +not matter in the least what became of them; it did not matter in +the least what difficulties stood in their way, for they would be +certain to conquer them all; it did not matter in the least how +men might persecute and slander them, for they would be sure to +get their reward; it did not matter in the least how miserable +and sinful the world might be just then, for it was certain to be +changed, and converted, and brought to God, to righteousness, to +love, to freedom, to light, at last.</p> +<p>If you look at the various accounts, in the four gospels, of +the Lord’s last words on earth, you will see, surely, what +I mean. Let us take them one by one.</p> +<p>St. Matthew tells us that, a few days before the Lord’s +ascension, He met His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where +he had appointed them to await him; and there told them, that all +power was given to Him in heaven and earth. Was not that +blessed news—was not that a gospel? That all the +power in heaven and earth belonged to <i>Him</i>? To Him, +who had all His life been doing good? To Him, in whom there +had never been one single stain of tyranny or selfishness? +To Him, who had been the friend of publicans and sinners? +To Him, who had rebuked the very richest, and loved the very +poorest? To him, who had shown that He had both the power +and the will to heal every kind of sickness and disease? To +Him, who had conquered and driven out, wherever He met them, all +the evil spirits which enslave and torment poor sinful men? +To Him, who had shown by rising from the dead, that He was +stronger than even death itself? To Him, who had declared +that He was the Son of God the Father, that the great God who had +made heaven and earth, and all therein, was perfectly pleased and +satisfied with Him, that He was come to do His Father’s +will, and not His own; that He was the ancient Lord of the earth, +the I AM who was before Abraham? And He was now to have all +power in heaven and earth! Everything which was done right +in the world henceforth, was to be His doing. The kingdom +and rule over the whole universe, was to be His. So He +said; and His disciples believed Him; and if they believed Him, +how could they but rejoice? How could they but rejoice at +the glorious thought that He, the son of the village maiden, the +champion of the poor and the suffering, was to have the +government of the world for ever? That He, who all the +while He had been on earth had showed that He was perfect +justice, perfect love, perfect humanity, was to reign till He had +put all His enemies under His feet? How could the world but +prosper under such a King as that? How could wickedness +triumph, while He, the perfectly righteous one, was King? +How could misery triumph, while He, the perfectly merciful one, +was King? How could ignorance triumph, while He, the +perfectly wise one, who had declared that God the Father hid +nothing from Him, was King? Unless the disciples had been +more dull and selfish than the dumb beasts around them, what +could they do but rejoice at that news? What matter to them +if Jesus were taken out of their sight, as long as all power was +given to Him in heaven and earth?</p> +<p>But He had told them more. He had told them that they +were not to keep this glorious secret to themselves. No: +they were to go forth and preach the gospel of it, the good news +of it, to every creature—to preach the gospel of the +kingdom of God. The good news that God was the King of men, +after all; that cruel tyrants and oppressors, and conquerors, +were not their kings; that neither the storms over their heads, +nor the earth under their feet, nor the clouds and the rivers +whom the heathens used to worship in the hope of persuading the +earth and the weather to be favourable to them, and bless their +harvests, were their kings; that idols of wood and stone, and +evil spirits of lust, and cruelty, and covetousness, were not +their kings; but that God was their King; that He loved them, He +pitied them in spite of all their sins; that He had sent His only +begotten Son into the world to teach them, to live for +them—to die for them—to claim them for His own. +And, therefore, they were to go and baptize all nations, as a +sign that they were to repent, and change, and put away all their +old false and evil heathen life, and rise to a new life, they and +their children after them, as God’s children, God’s +family, brothers of the Son of God. And they were to +baptize them into a name; showing that they belonged to those +into whose name they were baptized; into the name of the Father, +and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They were to be baptized +into the name of the Father, as a sign that God was their Father, +and they His children. They were to be baptized into the +name of the Son, as a sign that the Son, Jesus Christ, was their +King and head; and not merely their King and head, but their +Saviour, who had taken away the sin of the world, and redeemed it +for God, with His own most precious blood; and not merely their +Saviour, but their pattern; that they might know that they were +bound to become as far as is possible for mortal man such sons of +God as Jesus himself had been, like Him obedient, pure, +forgiving, brotherly, caring for each other and not for +themselves, doing their heavenly Father’s will and not +their own. And they were to baptize all nations into the +name of the Holy Spirit, for a sign that God’s Spirit, the +Lord and giver of life, would be with them, to give them new +life, new holiness, new manfulness; to teach, and guide, and +strengthen them for ever. That was the gospel which they +had to preach. The good news that the Son of God was the +King of men. That was the name into which they were to +baptize all nations—the name of children of God, members of +Christ, heirs of a heavenly and spiritual kingdom, which should +go on age after age, for ever, growing and spreading men knew not +how, as the grains of mustard-seed, which at first the least of +all seeds, grows up into a great tree, and the birds of the air +come and lodge in the branches of it—to go on, I say, from +age to age, improving, cleansing, and humanising, and teaching +the whole world, till the kingdoms of the earth became the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ. That was the work which +the Apostles had given them to do. Do you not see, friends, +that unless those Apostles had been the most selfish of men, +unless all they cared for was their own gain and comfort, they +must have rejoiced? The whole world was to be set +right—what matter what happened to them? And, +therefore, I said at the beginning of my sermon, that a sure way +to know whether our minds were in a right state, was to see +whether we felt about it as the Apostles felt. The Bible +tells us to rejoice always, to praise and give thanks to God +always. If we believe what the Apostles believed, we shall +be joyful; if we do not, we shall not be joyful. If we +believe in the words which the Lord spoke before He ascended on +high, we shall be joyful. If we believe that all power in +heaven and earth is His, we shall be joyful. If we believe +that the son of the village maiden has ascended up on high, and +received gifts for men, we shall be joyful. If we believe +that, as our baptism told us, God is our Father, the Son of God +our Saviour, the Spirit of God ready to teach and guide us, we +shall be joyful. Do you answer me, “But the world +goes on so ill; there is so much sin, and misery, and folly, and +cruelty in it; how can we be joyful?” I answer: There +was a hundred times as much sin, and misery, and folly, and +cruelty, in the Apostles’ time, and yet they were joyful, +and full of gladness, blessing and praising God. If you +answer, “But we are so slandered, and neglected, and +misunderstood, and hard-worked, and ill-treated; we have no time +to enjoy ourselves, or do the things which we should like +best. How can we be joyful?” I answer: So were the +Apostles. They knew that they would be a hundred times as +much slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, as you can ever +be; that they would have far less time to enjoy themselves, far +less opportunity of doing the things which they liked best, than +you can ever have; they knew that misery, and persecution, and a +shameful death were before them, and yet they were joyful and +full of gladness, blessing and praising God. And why should +you not be? For what was true for them is true for +you. They had no blessing, no hope, but what you have just +as good a right to as they had. They were joyful, because +God was their Father, and God is your Father. They were +joyful because they and all men belonged to God’s family; +and you belong to it. They were joyful, because God’s +Spirit was promised to them, to make them like God; and +God’s Spirit was promised to you. They were joyful, +because a poor man was king of heaven and earth; and that poor +man, Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, is as much your +King now as He was theirs then. They were joyful, because +the whole world was going to improve under His rule and +government; and the whole world is improving, and will go on +improving for ever. They were joyful, because Jesus, whom +they had known as a poor, despised, crucified man on earth, had +ascended up to heaven in glory; and if you believe the same, you +will be joyful too. In proportion as you believe the +mystery of Ascension-day; if you believe the words which the Lord +spoke before He ascended, you will have cheerful, joyful, hopeful +thoughts about yourselves, and about the whole world; if you do +not, you will be in continual danger of becoming suspicious and +despairing, fancying the world still worse than it is, fancying +that God has neglected and forgotten it, fancying that the devil +is stronger than God, and man’s sins wider than +Christ’s redemption till you will think it neither worth +while to do right yourselves, nor to make others do right towards +you.</p> +<h2><a name="page109"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +109</span><span class="GutSmall">XII.</span><br /> +THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>A Sermon Preached at St. +Margaret’s Church</i>, <i>Westminster</i>, <i>May</i> +4<i>th</i>, 1851, <i>in behalf of the Westminster +Hospital</i>.)</p> +<blockquote><p>When He ascended up on high, He led captivity +captive, and received gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, +that the Lord God might dwell among them.—<span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> lxviii. 18, and <span +class="smcap">Ephesians</span> iv. 8.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">If</span>, a thousand years ago, a +congregation in this place had been addressed upon the text which +I have chosen, they would have had, I think, little difficulty in +applying its meaning to themselves, and in mentioning at once +innumerable instances of those gifts which the King of men had +received for men, innumerable signs that the Lord God was really +dwelling amongst them. But amongst those signs, I think, +they would have mentioned several which we are not now generally +accustomed to consider in such a light. They would have +pointed not merely to the building of churches, the founding of +schools, the spread of peace, the decay of slavery; but to the +importation of foreign literature, the extension of the arts of +reading, writing, painting, architecture, the improvement of +agriculture, and the introduction of new and more successful +methods of the cure of diseases. They might have expressed +themselves on these points in a way that we consider now puerile +and superstitious. They might have attributed to the +efficacy of prayer, many cures which we now attribute—shall +I say? to no cause whatsoever. They may have quoted as an +instance of St. Cuthbert’s sanctity, rather than of his +shrewd observations, his discovery of a spring of water in the +rocky floor of his cell, and his success in growing barley upon +the barren island where wheat refused to germinate; and we might +have smiled at their superstition, and smiled, too, at their +seeing any consequence of Christianity, any token that the +kingdom of God was among them, in Bishop Wilfred’s rescuing +the Hampshire Saxons from the horrors of famine, by teaching them +the use of fishing-nets. But still so they would have +spoken—men of a turn of mind no less keen, shrewd, and +practical than we, their children; and if we had objected to +their so-called superstition that all these improvements in the +physical state of England were only the natural consequences of +the introduction of Roman civilisation by French and Italian +missionaries, they would have smiled at us in their turn, not +perhaps without some astonishment at our stupidity, and asked: +“Do you not see, too, that <i>that</i> is in itself a sign +of the kingdom of God—that these nations who have been for +ages selfishly isolated from each other, except for purposes of +conquest and desolation, should be now teaching each other, +helping each other, interchanging more and more, generation by +generation, their arts, their laws, their learning becoming fused +down under the influence of a common Creed, and loyalty to one +common King in Heaven, from their state of savage jealousy and +warfare, into one great Christendom, and family of +God?” And if, my friends, as I think, those +forefathers of ours could rise from their graves this day, they +would be inclined to see in our hospitals, in our railroads, in +the achievements of our physical Science, confirmation of that +old superstition of theirs, proofs of the kingdom of God, +realisations of the gifts which Christ received for men, vaster +than any of which they had ever dreamed. They might be +startled at God’s continuing those gifts to us, who hold on +many points a creed so different from theirs. They might be +still more startled to see in the Great Exhibition of all +Nations, which is our present nine-days’ wonder, that those +blessings were not restricted by God even to nominal Christians, +but that His love, His teaching, with regard to matters of +civilisation and physical science, were extended, though more +slowly and partially, to the Mahometan and the Heathen. And +it would be a wholesome lesson to them, to find that God’s +grace was wider than their narrow theories; perhaps they may have +learnt it already in the world of spirits. But of its +<i>being</i> God’s grace, there would be no doubt in their +minds. They would claim unhesitatingly, and at once, that +great Exhibition established in a Christian country, as a point +of union and brotherhood for all people, for a sign that God was +indeed claiming all the nations of the world as His +own—proving by the most enormous facts that He had sent +down a Pentecost, gifts to men which would raise them not merely +spiritually, but physically and intellectually, beyond anything +which the world had ever seen, and had poured out a spirit among +them which would convert them in the course of ages, gradually, +but most surely and really, from a pandemonium of conquerors and +conquered, devourers and devoured, into a family of +fellow-helping brothers, until the kingdoms of the world became +the kingdoms of God and of His Christ.</p> +<p>But I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple +old Saxon faith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it +makes the preacher this day, that the time of real brotherhood +and peace is still but too far off; and that the achievements of +our physical science, the unity of this great Exhibition, noble +as they are, are still only dim forecastings and prophecies, as +it were, of a higher, nobler reality. And they would say +sadly to us, their children: “Sons, you ought to be so near +to God; He seems to have given you so much and to have worked +among you as He never worked for any nation under heaven. +How is it that you give the glory to yourselves, and not to +Him?”</p> +<p>For do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, +in any real, honest, and practical sense? There may be some +official and perfunctory talk of God’s blessing on our +endeavours; but there seems to be no real belief in us that God, +the inspiration of God, is the very fount and root of the +endeavours themselves; that He teaches us these great +discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this wondrous wealth; +that He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. +True, we keep up something of the form and tradition of the old +talk about such things; we join in prayer to God to bless our +great Exhibition, but we do not believe—we do not believe, +my friends—that it was God who taught us to conceive, +build, and arrange that Great Exhibition; and our notion of +God’s blessing it, seems to be God’s absence from it; +a hope and trust that God will leave it and us alone, and not +“visit” it or us in it, or “interfere” by +any “special providences,” by storms, or lightning, +or sickness, or panic, or conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that +we could manage it all perfectly well without God, but that as He +exists, and has some power over natural phenomena, which is not +very exactly defined, we must notice His existence over and above +our work, lest He should become angry and “visit” us +. . . And this in spite of words which were spoken by one whose +office it was to speak them, as the representative of the highest +and most sacred personage in these realms; words which deserve to +be written in letters of gold on the high places of this city; in +which he spoke of this Exhibition as an “approach to a more +complete fulfilment of the great and sacred mission which man has +to perform in the world;” when he told the English people +that “man’s reason being created in the image of God, +he has to discover the laws by which Almighty God governs His +creations, and by making these laws the standard of his action, +to conquer nature to his use, himself a divine instrument;” +when he spoke of “thankfulness to Almighty God for what he +has already <i>given</i>,” as the first feeling which that +Exhibition ought to excite in us; and as the second, “the +deep conviction that those blessings can only be realised in +proportion to”—not, as some would have it, the +rivalry and selfish competition—but “in proportion to +the <i>help</i> which we are prepared to render to each other; +and, therefore, by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only +between individuals, but between all nations of the +earth.” We read those great words; but in the hearts +of how few, alas! to judge from our modern creed on such matters, +must the really important and distinctive points of them find an +echo! To how few does this whole Exhibition seem to have +been anything but a matter of personal gain or curiosity, for +national aggrandisement, insular self-glorification, and +selfish—I had almost said, treacherous—rivalry with +the very foreigners whom we invited as our guests?</p> +<p>And so, too, with our cures of diseases. We speak of +God’s blessing the means, and God’s blessing the +cure. But all we really mean by blessing them, is +permitting them. Do not our hearts confess that our notion +of His blessing the means, is His leaving the means to themselves +and their own physical laws—leaving, in short, the cure to +us and not preventing our science doing its work, and asserting +His own existence by bringing on some unexpected crisis, or +unfortunate relapse—if, indeed, the old theory that He does +bring on such, be true?</p> +<p>Our old forefathers, on the other hand, used to believe that +in medicine, as in everything else, God taught men all that they +knew. They believed the words of the Wise Man when he said +that “the Spirit of God gives man +understanding.” The method by which Solomon believed +himself to have obtained all his physical science and knowledge +of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth +on the wall, was in their eyes the only possible method. +They believed the words of Isaiah when he said of the tillage and +the rotation of crops in use among the peasants of his country, +that their God instructed them to discretion and taught them; and +that even the various methods of threshing out the various +species of grain came “forth from the Lord of hosts, who is +excellent in counsel, and wonderful in working.”</p> +<p>Such a method, you say, seems to you now miraculous. It +did not seem to our forefathers miraculous that God should teach +man; it seemed to them most simple, most rational, most natural, +an utterly every-day axiom. They thought it was because so +few of the heathen were taught by God that they were no wiser +than they were. They thought that since the Son of God had +come down and taken our nature upon Him, and ascended up on high +and received gifts for men, that it was now the right and +privilege of every human being who was willing to be taught of +God, as the prophet foretold in those very words; and that +baptism was the very sign and seal of that fact—a sign that +for every human being, whatever his age, sex, rank, intellect, or +race, a certain measure of the teaching of God and of the Spirit +of God was ready, promised, sure as the oath of Him that made +heaven and the earth, and all things therein. That was +Solomon’s belief. We do not find that it made him a +fanatic and an idler, waiting with folded hands for inspiration +to come to him he knew not how nor whence. His belief that +wisdom was the revelation and gift of God did not prevent him +from seeking her as silver, and searching for her as hid +treasures, from applying his heart to seek and search out by +wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven; and we +do not find that it prevented our forefathers. +Ceadmon’s belief that God inspired him with the poetic +faculty, did not make him the less laborious and careful +versifier. Bishop John’s blessing the dumb +boy’s tongue in the name of Him whom he believed to be Word +of God and the Master of that poor dumb boy, did not prevent his +anticipating some of the discoveries of our modern wise men, in +setting about a most practical and scientific cure. +Alfred’s continual prayers for light and inspiration made +him no less a laborious and thoughtful student of war and law, of +physics, language, and geography. These old Teutons, for +all these superstitions of theirs, were perhaps as businesslike +and practical in those days as we their children are in +these. But that did not prevent their believing that unless +God showed them a thing, they could not see it, and thanking Him +honestly enough for the comparative little which He did show +them. But we who enjoy the accumulated teaching of +ages—we to whose researches He is revealing year by year, +almost week by weeks wonders of which they never dreamed—we +whom He has taught to make the lame to walk, the dumb to speak, +the blind to see, to exterminate the pestilence and defy the +thunderbolt, to multiply millionfold the fruits of learning, to +annihilate time and space, to span the heavens, and to weigh the +sun—what madness is this which has come upon us in these +last days, to make us fancy that we, insects of a day, have found +out these things for ourselves, and talk big about the progress +of the species, and the triumphs of intellect, and the +all-conquering powers of the human mind, and give the glory of +all this inspiration and revelation, not to God, but to +ourselves? Let us beware, beware—lest our boundless +pride and self-satisfaction, by some mysterious yet most certain +law, avenge itself—lest like the Assyrian conqueror of old, +while we stand and cry, “Is not this great Babylon which I +have built?” our reason, like his, should reel and fall +beneath the narcotic of our own maddening self-conceit, and while +attempting to scale the heavens we overlook some pitfall at our +feet, and fall as learned idiots, suicidal pedants, to be a +degradation, and a hissing, and a shame.</p> +<p>However strongly you may differ from these opinions of our own +forefathers with regard to the ground and cause of physical +science, and the arts of healing, I am sure that the recollection +of the thrice holy ground upon which we stand, beneath the shadow +of venerable piles, witnesses for the creeds, the laws, the +liberties, which those our ancestors have handed down to us, will +preserve you from the temptation of dismissing with hasty +contempt their thoughts upon any subject so important; will make +you inclined to listen to their opinion with affection, if not +with reverence; and save, perhaps, the preacher from a sneer when +he declares that the doctrine of those old Saxon men is, in his +belief, not only the most Scriptural, but the most rational and +scientific explanation of the grounds of all human knowledge.</p> +<p>At least, I shall be able to quote in support of my own +opinion a name from which there can be no appeal in the minds of +a congregation of educated Englishmen—I mean Francis Bacon, +Lord Verulam, the spiritual father of the modern science, and, +therefore, of the chemistry and the medicine of the whole +civilised world. If there is one thing which more than +another ought to impress itself on the mind of a careful student +of his works, it is this—that he considered science as the +inspiration of God, and every separate act of induction by which +man arrives at a physical law, as a revelation from the Maker of +those laws; and that the faith which gave him daring to face the +mystery of the universe, and proclaim to men that they could +conquer nature by obeying her, was his deep, living, practical +belief that there was One who had ascended up on high and led +captive in the flesh and spirit of a man those very idols of +sense which had been themselves leading men’s minds +captive, enslaving them to the illusions of their own senses, +forcing them to bow down in vague awe and terror before those +powers of Nature, which God had appointed, not to be their +tyrants, but their slaves. I will not special-plead +particulars from his works, wherein I may consider that he +asserts this. I will rather say boldly that the idea runs +through every line he ever wrote; that unless seen in the light +of that faith, the grounds of his philosophy ought to be as +inexplicable to us, as they would, without it, have been +impossible to himself. As has been well said of him: +“Faith in God as the absolute ground of all human as well +as of all natural laws; the belief that He had actually made +Himself known to His creatures, and that it was possible for them +to have a knowledge of Him, cleared from the phantasies and idols +of their own imaginations and understandings; this was the +necessary foundation of all that great man’s mind and +speculations, to whatever point they were tending, and however at +times they might be darkened by too close a familiarity with the +corruptions and meannesses of man, or too passionate an addiction +to the contemplation of Nature. Nor should it ever be +forgotten that he owed all the clearness and distinctness of his +mind to his freedom from that Pantheism which naturally disposes +to a vague admiration and adoration of Nature, to the belief that +it is stronger and nobler than ourselves; that we are servants, +and puppets, and portions of it, and not its lords and +rulers. If Bacon had in anywise confounded Nature with +God—if he had not entertained the strongest practical +feeling that men were connected with God through One who had +taken upon Him their nature, it is impossible that he could have +discovered that method of dealing with physics which has made a +physical science possible.”</p> +<p>No really careful student of his works, but must have +perceived this, however glad, alas! he may have felt at times to +thrust the thought of it from him, and try to think that Francis +Bacon’s Christianity was something over and above his +philosophy—a religion which he left behind him at the +church-door—or only sprinkled up and down his works so much +of it as should shield him in a bigoted age from the suspicion of +materialism. A strange theory, and yet one which so +determined is man to see nothing, whether it be in the Bible or +in the Novum Organum, but what each wishes to see, has been +deliberately put forth again and again by men who fancy, +forsooth, that the greatest of English heroes was even such an +one as themselves. One does not wonder to find among the +general characteristics of those writers who admire Bacon as a +materialist, the most utter incapacity of philosophising on +Bacon’s method, the very restless conceit, the hasty +generalisation, the hankering after cosmogonic theories, which +Bacon anathematises in every page. Yes, I repeat it, we owe +our medical and sanitary science to Bacon’s philosophy; and +Bacon owed his philosophy to his Christianity.</p> +<p>Oh! it is easy for us, amid the marvels of our great +hospitals, now grown commonplace in our eyes from very custom, to +talk of the empire of mind over matter; for us—who reap the +harvest whereof Bacon sowed the seed. But consider, how +great the faith of that man must have been, who died in hope, not +having received the promises, but seeing them afar off, and +haunted to his dying day with glorious visions of a time when +famine and pestilence should vanish before a scientific +obedience—to use his own expression—to the will of +God, revealed in natural facts. Thus we can understand how +he dared to denounce all that had gone before him as blind and +worthless guides, and to proclaim himself to the world as the one +restorer of true physical philosophy. Thus we can +understand how he, the cautious and patient man of the world, +dared indulge in those vast dreams of the scientific triumphs of +the future. Thus we can understand how he dared hint at the +expectation that men would some day even conquer death itself; +because he believed that man had conquered death already, in the +person of its King and Lord—in the flesh of Him who +ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, and received +gifts for men. The “empire of mind over +matter?” What practical proof had he of it amid the +miserable alternations of empiricism and magic which made up the +pseudo-science of his time; amid the theories and speculations of +mankind, which, as he said, were “but a sort of +madness—useless alike for discovery or for +operation.” What right had he, more than any other +man who had gone before him, to believe that man could conquer +and mould to his will the unseen and tremendous powers which work +in every cloud and every flower? that he could dive into the +secret mysteries of his own body, and renew his youth like the +eagle’s? This ground he had for that faith—that +he believed, as he says himself, that he must “begin from +God; and that the pursuit of physical science clearly proceeds +from Him, the Author of good, and Father of light.” +This gave him faith to say that in this as in all other Divine +works, the smallest beginnings lead assuredly to some result, and +that the “remark in spiritual matters, that the kingdom of +God cometh without observation, is also found to be true in every +great work of Divine Providence; so that everything glides on +quietly without confusion or noise, and the matter is achieved +before men either think or perceive that it is +commenced.” This it was which gave him courage to +believe that his own philosophy might be the actual fulfilment of +the prophecy, that in the last days many should run to and fro, +and knowledge should be increased—words which, like +hundreds of others in his works, sound like the outpourings of an +almost blasphemous self-conceit, till we recollect that he looked +on science only as the inspiration of God, and man’s empire +over nature only as the consequence of the redemption worked out +for him by Christ, and begin to see in them the expressions of +the deepest and most divine humility.</p> +<p>I doubt not that many here will be far more able than I am +practically to apply the facts which I have been adducing to the +cause of the hospital for which I am pleading. But there is +one consequence of them to which I must beg leave to draw +attention more particularly, especially at the present era of our +nation. If, then, these discoveries of science be indeed +revelations and inspirations from God, does it not follow that +all classes, even the poorest and the most ignorant, the most +brutal, have an equal right to enjoy the fruits of them? +Does it not follow that to give to the poor their share in the +blessings which chemical and medical science are working out for +us, is not a matter of charity or benevolence, but of +<i>duty</i>, of indefeasible, peremptory, immediate duty? +For consider, my friends; the Son of God descends on earth, and +takes on Him not only the form, but the very nature, affections, +trials, and sorrows of a man. He proclaims Himself as the +person who has been all along ruling, guiding, teaching, +improving men; the light who lighteth every man who cometh into +the world. He proclaims Himself by acts of wondrous power +to be the internecine foe and conqueror of every form of sorrow, +slavery, barbarism, weakness, sickness, death itself. He +proclaims Himself as One who is come to give His life for His +sheep—One who is come to restore to men the likeness in +which they were originally created, the likeness of their Father +in Heaven, who accepteth the person of no man—who causeth +His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, who sendeth His +rain on the just and on the unjust, in whose sight the meanest +publican, if his only consciousness be that of his own baseness +and worthlessness, is more righteous than the most learned, +respectable, and self-satisfied pharisee. He proclaims +Himself the setter-up of a kingdom into which the publican and +the harlot will pass sooner than the rich, the mighty, and the +noble; a kingdom in which all men are to be brothers, and their +bond of union loyalty to One who spared not His own life for the +sheep, who came not to do His own, but the will of the Father who +had sent Him, and who showed by His toil among the poor, the +outcast, the ignorant, and the brutal, what that same will was +like. With His own life-blood He seals this Covenant +between God and man. He offers up His own body as the +first-fruits of this great kingdom of self-sacrifice. He +takes poor fishermen and mechanics, and sends them forth to +acquaint all men with the good news that God is their King, and +to baptize them as subjects of that kingdom, bound to rise in +baptism to a new life, a life of love, and brotherhood, and +self-sacrifice, like His own. He commands them to call all +nations to that sacred Feast wherein there is neither rich nor +poor, but the same bread and the same wine are offered to the +monarch and to the slave, as signs of their common humanity, +their common redemption, their common interest—signs that +they derive their life, their health, their reason, their every +faculty of body, soul, and spirit, from One who walked the earth +as the son of a poor carpenter, who ate and drank with publicans +and sinners. He sends down His Spirit on them with gifts of +language, eloquence, wisdom, and healing, as mere earnests and +first-fruits; so they said, of that prophecy that He would pour +out His Spirit upon all flesh, even upon slaves and +handmaids. And these poor fishermen feel themselves +impelled by a divine and irresistible impulse to go forth to the +ends of the world, and face persecution, insult, torture, and +death—not in order that they may make themselves lords over +mankind, but that they may tell them that One is their Master, +even Jesus Christ, both God and man—that <i>He</i> rules +the world, and will rule it, and <i>can</i> rule it, that in His +sight there is no distinction of race, or rank, or riches, +neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. +And, as a fact, their message has prevailed and been believed; +and in proportion as it has prevailed, not merely individual +sanctity or piety, but liberty, law, peace, civilisation, +learning, art, science, the gifts which he bought for men with +His blood, have followed in its train: while the nations who have +not received that message that God was their King, or having +received it have forgotten it, or perverted it into a +superstition and an hypocrisy, have in exactly that proportion +fallen back into barbarism and bloodshed, slavery and +misery. My friends, if this philosophy of history, this +theory of human progress, or as I should call it, this Gospel of +the Kingdom of God mean anything—does it not mean this? +this which our forefathers believed, dimly and inconsistently +perhaps, but still believed it, else we had not been here this +day—that we are not our own, but the servants of Jesus +Christ, and brothers of each other—that the very +constitution and ground-law of this human species which has been +redeemed by Christ, is the self-sacrifice which Christ displayed +as the one perfection of humanity—that all rank, property, +learning, science, are only held by their possessors in trust +from that King who has distributed them to each according as He +will, that each might use them for the good of all, +certain—as certain as God’s promise can make +man—that if by giving up our own interest for the interest +of others, we seek first the kingdom of God, and the +righteousness between man and man, which we call <i>mercy</i>, +according to which it is constituted, all other things, health, +wealth, peace, and every other blessing which humanity can +desire, shall be added unto us over and above, as the natural and +necessary fruits of a society founded according to the will of +God, and declared in his Son Jesus Christ, and therefore +according to those physical laws, whereof He is at once the +Creator, the Director, and the Revealer?</p> +<p>This was the faith of our forefathers, both laity and +clergy—that the Lord was King, be the people never so +unquiet; that men were His stewards and His pupils only, and not +His vicars; that they were equal in His sight, and not the slaves +and tyrants of each other; and that the help that was done upon +earth, He did it all Himself. Dimly, doubtless, they saw +it, and inconsistently: but they saw it, and to their faith in +that great truth we owe all that has made England really noble +among the nations. Of the fruits of that faith every +venerable building around us should remind us. To that +faith in the laity, we owe the abolition of serfdom, the freedom +of our institutions, the laws which provide equal justice between +man and man; to that faith in the clergy, and especially in the +monastic orders, we owe the endowment of our schools and +universities, the improvement of agriculture, the preservation +and the spread of all the liberal arts and sciences, as far as +they were then discovered; so that every one of those abbeys +which we now revile so ignorantly, became a centre of freedom, +protection, healing, and civilisation, a refuge for the +oppressed, a well-spring of mercy for the afflicted, a practical +witness to the nation that property and science were not the +private and absolute possession of men, but only held in trust +from God for the benefit of the common weal: and just in +proportion as in the 14th and 15th centuries those institutions +fell from their first estate, and began to fancy that their +wealth and wisdom was their own, acquired by their own cunning, +to be used for their own aggrandizement, they became an imposture +and imbecility, an abomination and a ruin. And it was this +faith, too, in a still nobler and clearer form, which at the +Reformation inspired the age which could produce a Ridley, a +Latimer, an Elizabeth, a Shakspeare, a Spenser, a Raleigh, a +Bacon, and a Milton; which knit together, in spite of religious +feuds and social wrongs, the nation of England with a bond which +all the powers of hell endeavoured in vain to break. +Doubtless, there too there was inconsistency enough. +Elizabeth may have mixed up ambitious dynastic dreams with her +intense belief that God had given her her wisdom, her learning, +her mighty will, only to be the servant of His servants and +defender of the faith. Men like Drake and Raleigh, while +they were believing that God had sent them forth to smite with +the sword of the Lord the devourers of the earth, the destroyers +of religion, freedom, civilisation, and national life, may have +been unfaithful to what they believed their divine mission, and +fancied that they might use their wisdom and valour that God gave +them for their selfish ends, till they committed (as some say) +acts of rapacity and cruelty worthy of the merest +buccaneer. But <i>that</i> was not what made them +conquer—that was not what made the wealth and the might of +Spain melt away before their little bands of heroes; but the same +old faith, shining out in all their noblest acts and words, that +“the Lord <i>was</i> King, and that the help that was done +upon earth, He did it all Himself?” So again, Bacon +may have fancied, and did fancy in his old age, that he might use +his deep knowledge of mankind for his own selfish ends—that +he might indulge himself in building himself up a name that might +fill all the earth, that he who had done so much for God and for +mankind, might be allowed to do at last somewhat for himself, and +tempted, by a paltry bribe, fall for awhile, as David did before +him, that God, and not he, might have the glory of all his +wisdom. But then he was less than himself; then he had but +lost sight of his lode-star. Then he had forgotten, but +only for awhile, that he owed all to the teaching of that God who +had given to the young and obscure advocate the mission of +affecting the destinies of nations yet unborn.</p> +<p>And believe me, my friends, even as it has been with our +forefathers, so it will be with us. According to our faith +will it be unto us, now as it was of old. In proportion as +we believe that wealth, science, and civilisation are the work +and property of man, in just that proportion we shall be tempted +to keep them selfishly and exclusively to ourselves. The +man of science will be tempted to hide his discoveries, though +men may be perishing for lack of them, till he can sell them to +the highest bidder; the rich man will be tempted to purchase them +for himself, in order that he may increase his own comfort and +luxury, and feel comparatively lazy and careless about their +application to the welfare of the masses; he will be tempted to +pay an exorbitant price for anything that can increase his +personal convenience, and yet when the question is about +improving the supply of necessaries to the poor, stand haggling +about considerations of profitable investment, excuse himself +from doing the duty which lies nearest to him by visions of +distant profit, of which a thousand unexpected accidents may +deprive him after all, and make his boasted scientific care for +the wealth of the nation an excuse for leaving tens of thousands +worse housed and worse fed than his own beasts of burden. +The poor man will be tempted franctically to oppose his +selfishness and unbelief to the selfishness and unbelief of the +rich, and clutch from him by force the comfort which really +belong to neither of them, in order that he may pride himself in +them and misuse them in his turn; and the clergy will be tempted, +as they have too often been tempted already, to fancy that reason +is the enemy, and not the twin sister of faith; to oppose +revelation to science, as if God’s two messages could +contradict each other; to widen the Manichæan distinction +between secular and spiritual matters, so pleasant to the natural +atheism of fallen man; to fancy that they honour God by limiting +as much as possible His teaching, His providence, His wisdom, His +love, and His kingdom, and to pretend that they are defending the +creeds of the Catholic Church, by denying to them any practical +or real influence on the economic, political, and physical +welfare of mankind. But in proportion as we hold to the old +faith of our forefathers concerning science and civilisation, we +shall feel it not only a duty, but a glory and a delight, to make +all men sharers in them; to go out into the streets and lanes of +the city and call in the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, +that they may sit down and take their share of the good things +which God has provided in His kingdom for those who obey +Him. Every new discovery will be hailed by us as a fresh +boon from God to be bestowed by the rain and the sunshine freely +upon us all. The sight of every sufferer will make us ready +to suspect and to examine ourselves lest we should be in some +indirect way the victim of some neglect or selfishness of our +own. Every disease will be a sign to us that in some +respect or other, the physical or moral laws of human nature have +been overlooked or broken. The existence of an unhealthy +locality, the recurrence of an epidemic, will be to us a subject +of public shame and self-reproach. Men of science will no +longer go up and down entreating mankind in vain to make use of +their discoveries; the sanitary reformer will be no longer like +Wisdom crying in the streets and no man regarding her; and in +every ill to which flesh is heir we shall see an enemy of our +King and Lord, and an intruder into His Kingdom, against which we +swore at our baptism to fight with an inspiring and delicious +certainty that God will prosper the right; that His laws cannot +change; that nature, and the disturbances and poisons, and brute +powers thereof, were meant to be the slaves, and not the tyrants +of a race whose head has conquered the grave itself.</p> +<p>This is no speculative dream. The progress of science is +daily proving it to be an actual truth; proving to us that a +large proportion of diseases—how large a proportion, no man +yet dare say—are preventible by science under the direction +of that common justice and mercy which man owes to man. The +proper cultivation of the soil, it is now clearly seen, will +exterminate fevers and agues, and all the frightful consequences +of malaria. An attention to those simple decencies and +cleanlinesses of life of which even the wild animals feel the +necessity, will prevent the epidemics of our cities, and all the +frightful train of secondary diseases which follow them, or +supply their place. The question which is generally more +and more forcing itself on the minds of scientific men is not how +many diseases are, but how few are not, the consequences of +man’s ignorance, barbarism, and folly. The medical +man is felt more and more to be as necessary in health as he is +in sickness, to be the fellow-workman not merely of the +clergyman, but of the social reformer, the political economist, +and the statesman; and the first object of his science to be +prevention, and not cure. But if all this be true, as true +it is, we ought to begin to look on hospitals as many medical men +I doubt not do already, in a sadder though in a no less important +light. When we remember that the majority of cases which +fill their wards are cases of more or less directly preventible +diseases, the fruits of our social neglect, too often of our +neglect of the sufferers themselves, too often also our neglect +of their parents and forefathers; when we think how many a bitter +pang is engendered and propagated from generation to generation +in the noisome alleys and courts of this metropolis, by foul +food, foul bedrooms, foul air, foul water, by intemperance, the +natural and almost pardonable consequence of want of water, +depressing and degrading employments, and lives spent in such an +atmosphere of filth as our daintier nostrils could not endure a +day: then we should learn to look upon these hospitals not as +acts of charity, supererogatory benevolences of ours towards +those to whom we owe nothing, but as confessions of sin, and +worthy fruits of penitence; as poor and late and partial +compensation for misery which we might have prevented. And +when again, taking up scientific works, we find how vast a +proportion of the remaining cases of disease are produced +directly or indirectly by the unhealthiness of certain +occupations, so certainly that the scientific man can almost +prophesy the average shortening of life, and the peculiar form of +disease, incident to any given form of city labour—when we +find, to quote a single instance, that a large +proportion—one half, as I am informed—of the female +cases in certain hospitals, are those of women-servants suffering +from diseases produced by overwork in household labour, +especially by carrying heavy weights up the steep stairs of our +London houses—when we consider the large proportion of +accident cases which are the result, if not always of neglect in +our social arrangements, still of danger incurred in labouring +for us, we shall begin to feel that our debts towards the poorer +classes, for whom this and other hospitals are instituted, swells +and mounts up to a burden which ought to be and would be +intolerable to us, if we had not some such means as this hospital +affords of testifying our contrition for neglect for which we +cannot atone, and of practically claiming in the hospital our +brotherhood with those masses whom we pass by so carelessly in +the workshop and the street. What matters it that they have +undertaken a life of labour from necessity, and with a full +consciousness of the dangers they incur in it? For whom +have they been labouring, but for us? Their handiwork +renders our houses luxurious. We wear the clothes they +make. We eat the food they produce. They sit in +darkness and the shadow of death that we may enjoy light and life +and luxury and civilisation. True, they are free men, in +name, not free though from the iron necessity of crushing +toil. Shall we make their liberty a cloak for our +licentiousness? and because they are our brothers and not our +slaves, answer with Cain, “Am I my brother’s +keeper?” What if we have paid them the wages which +they ask? We do not feed our beasts of burden only as long +as they are in health, and when they fall sick leave them to cure +themselves and starve—and these are not our beasts of +burden; they are members of Christ, children of God, inheritors +of the Kingdom of Heaven. Prove it to them, then, for they +are in bitter danger of forgetting it in these days. Prove +to them, by helping to cure their maladies, that they are members +of Christ, that they do indeed belong to Him who without fee or +payment freely cured the sick of Judæa in old time. +Prove to them that they are children of God by treating them as +such—as children of Him without whom not a sparrow falls to +the ground, children of Him whose love is over all His works, +children of Him who defends the widow and the fatherless, and +sees that those who are in need or necessity have right, and who +maketh inquiry for the blood of the innocent. Prove to them +that they are inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, by proving to +them first of all that the Kingdom of Heaven exists, that all, +rich and poor alike, are brothers, and One their Master, He who +ascended up on high and led captivity captive, and received gifts +for men, the gifts of healing, the gifts of science, the gifts of +civilisation, the gifts of law, the gifts of order, the gifts of +liberty, the gifts of the spirit of love and brotherhood, of +fellow-feeling and self-sacrifice, of justice and humility, a +spirit fit for a world of redeemed and pardoned men, in which +mercy is but justice, and self-sacrifice the truest +self-interest; a world, the King and Master of which is One who +poured out his own life-blood for the sake of those who hated +him, that men should henceforth live not for themselves, but for +Him who died and rose again, and ascended up on high and received +gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell among them.</p> +<p>And because all general truths can only be verified in +particular instances, verify your general faith in that +Christianity which you profess in this particular instance, by +doing the duty which lies nearest to you, and <i>giving</i>, +<i>as it is called</i>, to this hospital for which I now +plead.</p> +<p>Thanks to the spirit and the attainments of the average of +English medical men and chaplains, to praise the management of +any hospital which is under their care, is a needless +impertinence. Do you find funds, there will be no fear as +to their being well employed; and no fear, alas! either of their +services being in full demand, while the sanitary state of vast +streets of South London, lying close to this hospital, are in a +state in which they are, and in which private cupidity and +neglect seem willing to compel them to remain. It is on +account of its contiguity to these neglected, destitute, and +poisonous localities, that this hospital seems to me especially +valuable. But though situated in a part of London where its +presence is especially needed, it has not, from various causes +which have arisen from no fault of its own, attracted as much +public notice as some other more magnificent foundations; while +it possesses one feature, peculiar I believe to it, among our +London hospitals, which seems to me to render it especially +deserving of support: I speak of the ward for incurable patients, +in which, instead of ending their days in the melancholy wards of +a workhouse, or amid those pestilential and crowded dwellings +which have perhaps produced their maladies, and which certainly +will aggravate them, they may have their heavy years of hopeless +suffering softened by a continued supply of constant comforts, +and constant medical solicitude, such as the best-conducted +workhouse, or the most laborious staff of parish surgeons, and +district visitors, ay, not even the benevolence and +self-sacrifice of friends and relations, can possibly +provide. I beseech you, picture to yourselves the amount of +mere physical comfort, not to mention the higher blessings of +spiritual teaching and consolation, accruing to some poor +tortured cripple, in the wards of this hospital; compare it with +the very brightest lot possible for him in the dwellings of the +lower, or even of the middle classes of the metropolis; then +recollect that these hospital luxuries, which would be +unattainable by him elsewhere, are but a tithe of those which +you, in his situation, would consider absolute necessaries, +without which a life of suffering, ay, even of health, were +intolerable—and do unto others this day, as you would that +others should do unto you!</p> +<p>I might have taken some other and more popular method of +drawing your attention to this institution.</p> +<p>I might have tried to excite your feelings and sympathies by +attempts at pathetic or picturesque descriptions of +suffering. But the minister of a just God is bound to +proclaim that God demands not <i>sentiment</i>, but +<i>justice</i>. The Bible knows nothing of the +“religious sentiments and emotions,” whereof we hear +so much talk nowadays. It speaks of <i>duty</i>. +“Beloved, if God so loved us, we <i>ought</i> to love one +another.”</p> +<p>I might also have attempted to flatter you into giving, by +representing this as a “<i>good work</i>,” a work of +charity and piety, well pleasing to God; a sort of work of +Protestant supererogation, fruits of faith which we may show, if +we like, up to a certain not very clearly defined point of +benevolence, but the absence of which probably will not seriously +affect our eternal salvation, still less our right to call +ourselves orthodox, Protestants, churchmen, worthy, kind-hearted, +respectable, blameless. The Bible knows nothing of such a +religion; it neither coaxes nor flatters, it +<i>commands</i>. It demands mercy, because mercy is +justice; and declares with what measure we mete to others, it +shall be surely measured to us again. If therefore my words +shall seem to some here, to be not so much a humble request as a +peremptory demand, I cannot help it. I have pleaded the +cause of this hospital on the only solid ground of which I am +aware, for doing anything but evil to everyone around us who is +not a private friend, or a member of one’s own +family. I ask you to help the poor to their share in the +gifts which Christ received for men, because they are His gifts, +and neither ours nor any man’s. Among these venerable +buildings, the signs and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, and the +blessings of that Kingdom which for a thousand years have been +spreading and growing among us—I ask it of you as citizens +of that Kingdom. Prove your brotherhood to the poor by +restoring to them a portion of that wealth which, without their +labour, you could never have possessed. Prove your +brotherhood to them in a thousand ways—in every +way—in this way, because at this moment it happens to be +the nearest and the most immediate, and because the necessity for +it is nearer, more immediate, to judge by the signs of the times, +and most of all by their self-satisfied unconsciousness of +danger, their loud and shallow self-glorification, than ever it +was before. Work while it is called to-day, lest the night +come wherein no man can work, but only take his wages.</p> +<p>Again I say, I may seem to some here to have pleaded the cause +of this hospital in too harsh and peremptory a tone. . . . +And yet I have a ground of hope, in the English love of simple +justice, in the noble instances of benevolence and self-sacrifice +among the wealthy and educated, which are, thank God! increasing +in number daily, as the need of them increases—in these, I +say, I have a ground of hope that there are many here to-day who +would sooner hear the language of truth than of flattery; who +will be more strongly moved toward a righteous deed by being told +that it is their duty toward God, their country, and their +fellow-citizens, than by any sentimental baits for personal +sympathy, or for the love of Pharisaic ostentation.</p> +<h2><a name="page134"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +134</span><span class="GutSmall">XIII.</span><br /> +FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(<i>Sunday Morning</i>, +<i>September</i> 27<i>th</i>, 1849.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">God’s judgments +are from above, out of the sight of the wicked.—<span +class="smcap">Psalm</span> x. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have just been praying to God to +remove from us the cholera, which we call a judgment of God, a +chastisement; and God knows we have need enough to do so. +But we can hardly expect God to withdraw His chastisement unless +we correct the sins for which He chastised us, and therefore +unless we find out what particular sins have brought the evil on +us. For it is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to tell +God, in a general way, that we believe He is punishing us for our +sins, and then to avoid carefully confessing any particular sin, +and to get angry with anyone who tells us boldly <i>which</i> sin +God is punishing us for. But so goes the world. +Everyone is ready to say, “Oh! yes, we are all great +sinners, miserable sinners!” and then if you charge them +with any particular sin, they bridle up and deny <i>that</i> sin +fiercely enough, and all sins one by one, confessing themselves +great sinners, and yet saying that they don’t know what +sins they have committed. No man really believes himself a +sinner, no man really confesses his sins, but the man who can +honestly put his finger on <i>this</i> sin or <i>that</i> sin +which he has committed, and is not afraid to confess to God, +“<i>This</i> sin and <i>that</i> sin have I +done—<i>this</i> bad habit and <i>that</i> bad habit have I +cherished within me.” Therefore, I say, it is no use +for us Englishmen to dream that we can flatter and persuade the +great God of Heaven and earth into taking away the cholera from +us, unless we find out and confess openly what we have done to +bring on the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth fruits +worthy of repentance, by amending our habits on that point, and +doing everything for the future which shall not bring on the +cholera, but keep it off.</p> +<p>Do not let us believe this time, my friends, in the pitiable, +insincere way in which all England believed when the cholera was +here sixteen years ago. When they saw human beings dying by +thousands, they all got frightened, and proclaimed a Fast and +confessed their sins and promised repentance in a general +way. But did they repent of and confess those sins which +had caused the cholera? Did they repent of and confess the +covetousness, the tyranny, the carelessness, which in most great +towns, and in too many villages also, forces the poor to lodge in +undrained stifling hovels, unfit for hogs, amid vapours and +smells which send forth on every breath the seeds of rickets and +consumption, typhus and scarlet fever, and worse and last of all, +the cholera? Did they repent of their sin in that? +Not they. Did they repent of the carelessness and laziness +and covetousness which sends meat and fish up to all our large +towns in a half-putrid state; which fills every corner of London +and the great cities with slaughter-houses, over-crowded +graveyards, undrained sewers? Not they. To confess +their sins in a general way cost them a few words; to confess and +repent of the real particular sins in themselves, was a very +different matter; to amend them would have touched vested +interests, would have cost money, the Englishman’s god; it +would have required self-sacrifice of pocket, as well as of +time. It would have required manful fighting against the +prejudices, the ignorance, the self-conceit, the laziness, the +covetousness of the wicked world. So they could not afford +to repent and amend of all <i>that</i>. And when those +great and good men, the Sanitary Commissioners, proved to all +England fifteen years ago, that cholera always appeared where +fever had appeared, and that both fever and cholera always cling +exclusively to those places where there was bad food, bad air, +crowded bedrooms, bad drainage and filth—that such were the +laws of God and Nature, and always had been; they took no notice +of it, because it was the poor rather than the rich who suffered +from those causes. So the filth of our great cities was +left to ferment in poisonous cesspools, foul ditches and marshes +and muds, such as those now killing people by hundreds in the +neighbourhood of Plymouth; for one house or sewer that was +improved, a hundred more were left just as they were in the first +cholera; as soon as the panic of superstitious fear was past, +carelessness and indolence returned. Men went back, the +covetous man to his covetousness, and the idler to his +idleness. And behold! sixteen years are past, and the +cholera is as bad as ever among us.</p> +<p>But you will say, perhaps, it is presumptuous to say that +Englishmen have brought the cholera on themselves, that it is +God’s judgment, and that we cannot explain His inscrutable +Providence. Ah! my friends, that is a poor excuse and a +common one, for leaving a great many sins as they are! When +people do not wish to do God’s will, it is a very pleasant +thing to talk about God’s will as something so very deep +and unfathomable, that poor human beings cannot be expected to +find it out. It is an old excuse, and a great favourite +with Satan, I have no doubt. Why cannot people find out +God’s will?—Because they do not <i>like</i> to find +it out, lest it should shame them and condemn them, and cost them +pleasure or money—because their eyes are blinded with +covetousness and selfishness, so that they cannot see God’s +will, even when they <i>do</i> look for it, and then they go and +cant about God’s judgments; while those judgments, as the +text says, are far above out of their mammon-blinded and +prejudice-blinded sight. What do they mean by that +word? Come now, my friends! let us face the question like +men. What do you mean really when you call the cholera, or +fever, or affliction at all, God’s judgment? Do you +merely mean that God is punishing you, you don’t know for +what, and you can’t find out for what? but that all which +He expects of you is to bear it patiently, and then go and do +afterwards just what you did before? Dare anyone say that +who believes that God is a God of justice, much less a God of +love? What would you think of a father who punished his +children, and then left them to find out as they could what they +were punished for? And yet that is the way people talk of +pestilence and of great afflictions, public and private. +They are not ashamed to accuse God of a cruelty and an injustice +which they would be ashamed to confess themselves! How can +men, even religious men often, be so blasphemous? Mainly, I +think, because they do not really believe in God at all, they +only believe about Him—they believe that they ought to +believe in Him. They have no living personal faith in God +or Christ; they do not know God; they do not know God’s +character, and what to believe of Him, and what to expect of Him; +or what they ought to say of Him; because they do not know, they +have not studied, they have not loved the character of Christ, +who is the express image and likeness of God. Therefore +God’s judgments are far away out of their sight; therefore +they make themselves a God in their own image and after their own +likeness, lazy, capricious, revengeful; therefore they are not +afraid or ashamed to say that God sends pestilence into a country +without showing that country why it is sent. But another +great reason, I believe, why God’s judgments in this and +other matters are far above out of our sight, is the careless, +insincere way of using words which we English have got into, even +on the most holy and awful matters. I suppose there never +was a nation in the world so diseased through and through with +the spirit of cant, as we English are now: except perhaps the old +Jews, at the time of our Lord’s coming. You hear men +talking as if they thought God did not understand English, +because they cling superstitiously to the letter of the Bible in +proportion as they lose its spirit. You hear men taking +words into their mouths which might make angels weep and devils +tremble, with a coolness and oily, smooth carelessness which +shows you that they do not feel the force of what they are +saying. You hear them using the words of Scripture, which +are in themselves stricter and deeper than all the books of +philosophy in the world, in such a loose unscriptural way, that +they make them mean anything or nothing. They use the words +like parrots, by rote, just because their forefathers used them +before them. They will tell you that cholera is a judgment +for our sins, “in a sense,” but if you ask them for +what sins, or in what sense, they fly off from that <i>home</i> +question, and begin mumbling commonplaces about the inscrutable +decrees of Providence, and so on. It is most sad, all this; +and most fearful also.</p> +<p>Therefore, I asked you, my friends, what is the meaning of +that word judgment? In common talk, people use it rightly +enough, but when they begin to talk of God’s judgments, +they speak as if it merely meant punishments. Now judgment +and punishment are two things. When a judge gives judgment, +he either acquits or condemns the accused person; he gives the +case for the plaintiff, or for the defendant: the punishment of +the guilty person, if he be guilty, is a separate thing, +pronounced and inflicted afterwards. His judgment, I say, +is his <i>opinion</i> about the person’s guilt, and even so +God’s judgments are the expression of His opinion about our +guilt. But there is this difference between man and God in +this matter—a human judge gives his opinion in words, God +gives His in events: therefore there is no harm for a human judge +when he has told a person why he must punish, to punish him in +some way that has nothing to do with his crime—for +instance, to send a man to prison because he steals, though it +would be far better if criminals could be punished in kind, and +if the man who stole could be forced either to make restitution, +or work out the price of what he stole in hard labour. For +this is God’s plan—God always pays sinners back in +kind, that He may not merely punish them, but <i>correct</i> +them; so that by the kind of their punishment, they may know the +kind of their sin. God punishes us, as I have often told +you, not by His caprice, but by His laws. He does not +<i>break His laws</i> to harm us; the laws themselves harm us, +when we break them and get in their way. It is always so, +you will find, with great national afflictions. I believe, +when we know more of God and His laws, we shall find it true even +in our smallest private sorrows. God is unchangeable; He +does not lose His temper, as heathens and superstitious men +fancy, to punish us. He does not change His order to punish +us. <i>We</i> break His order, and the order goes on in +spite of us and crushes us: and so we get God’s judgment, +God’s opinion of our breaking His laws. You will find +it so almost always in history. If a nation is laid waste +by war, it is generally their own fault. They have sinned +against the law which God has appointed for nations. They +have lost courage and prudence, and trust in God, and +fellow-feeling and unity, and they have become cowardly and +selfish and split up into parties, and so they are easily +conquered by their own fault, as the Bible tells us the Jews were +by the Chaldeans; and their ruin is God’s judgment, +God’s opinion plainly expressed of what He thinks of them +for having become cowardly and selfish, and factious and +disinterested. So it is with famine again. Famines +come by a nation’s own fault—they are God’s +plainly spoken opinion of what <i>He</i> thinks of breaking His +laws of industry and thrift, by improvidence and bad +farming. So when a nation becomes poor and bankrupt, it is +its own fault; that nation has broken the laws of political +economy which God has appointed for nations, and its ruin is +God’s judgment, God’s plain-spoken opinion again of +the sins of extravagance, idleness, and reckless speculation.</p> +<p>So with pestilence and cholera. They come only because +we break God’s laws; as the wise poet well says:</p> +<blockquote><p>Voices from the depths <i>of Nature</i> borne<br +/> +Which vengeance on the guilty head proclaim.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>—“Of nature;” of the order and constitution +which God has made for this world we live in, and which if we +break them, though God in his mercy so orders the world that +punishment comes but seldom even to our worst offences, yet +surely do bring punishment sooner or later if broken, in the +common course of nature. Yes, my friends, as surely and +naturally as drunkenness punishes itself by a shaking hand and a +bloated body, so does filth avenge itself by pestilence. +Fever and cholera, as you would expect them to be, are the +expression of God’s judgment, God’s opinion, +God’s handwriting on the wall against us for our sins of +filth and laziness, foul air, foul food, foul drains, foul +bedrooms. Where they are, there is cholera. Where +they are not, there is none, and will be none, because they who +do not break God’s laws, God’s laws will not break +them. Oh! do not think me harsh, my friends; God knows it +is no pleasant thing to have to speak bitter and upbraiding +words; but when one travels about this noble land of England, and +sees what a blessed place it might be, if we would only do +God’s will, and what a miserable place it is just because +we will not do God’s will, it is enough to make one’s +soul boil over with sorrow and indignation; and then when one +considers that other men’s faults are one’s own fault +too, that one has been adding to the heap of sins by one’s +own laziness, cowardice, ignorance, it is enough to break +one’s heart—to make one cry with St. Paul, “Oh +wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of +this death?” Ay, my friends, the state of things in +England now is enough to drive an earnest man to despair, if one +did not know that all our distresses, and this cholera, like the +rest, are indeed <i>God’s</i> judgments; the judgments and +expressed opinions, not of a capricious tyrant, but of a +righteous and loving Father, who chastens us just because He +loves us, and afflicts us only to teach us His will, which alone +is life and happiness. Therefore we may believe that this +very cholera is meant to be a blessing; that if we will take the +lesson it brings, it will be a blessing to England. God +grant that all ranks may take the lesson—that the rich may +amend their idleness and neglect, and the poor amend their dirt +and stupid ignorance; then our children will have cause to thank +God for the cholera, if it teaches us that cleanliness is indeed +next to holiness, if it teaches us, rich and poor, to make the +workman’s home what it ought to be. And believe me, +my friends, that day will surely come; and these distresses, sad +as they are for the time, are only helping to hasten it—the +day when the words of the Hebrew prophets shall be fulfilled, +where they speak of a state of comfort and prosperity, and +civilisation, such as men had never reached in their +time—how the wilderness shall blossom like the rose, and +there shall be heaps of corn high on the mountain-tops, and the +cities shall be green as grass on the earth, instead of being the +smoky, stifling hot-beds of disease which they are now—and +how from the city of God streams shall flow for the healing of +the nations: strange words, those, and dim; too deep to be +explained by any one meaning, or many meanings, such as our small +minds can give them; but full of blessed cheering hope. For +of whatever they speak, they speak at least of this—of a +time when all sorrow and sighing shall be done away, when science +and civilisation shall go hand in hand with godliness—when +God shall indeed dwell in the hearts of men, and His kingdom +shall be fulfilled among them, when “His ways shall be +known upon earth at last, and His saving health among all +nations”—of a time when all shall know Him, from the +least unto the greatest, and be indeed His children, doing no +sin, because they will have given up themselves, their +selfishness and cruelty and covetousness, and stupidity and +laziness, to be changed and renewed into God’s +likeness. Then all these distresses and pestilences, which, +as I have shown you, come from breaking the will of God, will +have passed away like ugly dreams, and all the earth shall be +blessed, because all the earth shall at last be fulfilling the +words of the Lord’s Prayer, and God’s will shall be +done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. Oh! my +friends, have hope. Do you think Christ would have bid us +pray for what would never happen? Would He have bid us all +to pray that God’s will might be done unless He had known +surely that God’s will would one day be done by men on +earth below even as it is done in heaven?</p> +<h2><a name="page144"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +144</span><span class="GutSmall">XIV.</span><br /> +SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA.</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Visiting the sins of +the fathers upon the children.—<span +class="smcap">Exodus</span> xx. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> my sermon last Sunday I said +plainly that cholera, fever, and many more diseases were +man’s own fault, and that they were God’s judgments +just because they were man’s own fault, because they were +God’s plainspoken opinion of the sin of filth and of habits +of living unfit for civilised Christian men.</p> +<p>But there is an objection which may arise in some of your +minds, and if it has not risen in <i>your</i> minds, still it has +in other people’s often enough; and therefore I will state +it plainly, and answer it as far as God shall give me +wisdom. For it is well to get to the root of all matters, +and of this matter of Pestilence among others; for if we do +believe this Pestilence to be God’s judgment, then it is a +spiritual matter most proper to be spoken of in a place like this +church, where men come as spiritual beings to hear that which is +profitable for their souls. And it <i>is</i> profitable for +their souls to consider this matter; for it has to do, as I see +more and more daily, with the very deepest truths of the Gospel; +and accordingly as we believe the Gospel, and believe really that +Jesus Christ is our Saviour and our King, the New Adam, the +firstborn among many brethren, who has come down to proclaim to +us that we are all brothers in Him—in proportion as we +believe <i>that</i>, I say, shall we act upon this very matter of +public cleanliness.</p> +<p>The objection which I mean is this: people say it is very hard +and unfair to talk of cholera or fever being people’s own +fault, when you see persons who are not themselves dirty, and +innocent little children, who if they are dirty are only so +because they are brought up so, catch the infection and die of +it. You cannot say it is their fault. Very +true. I did not say it was their fault. I did not say +that each particular person takes the infection by his own fault, +though I do say that nine out of ten do. And as for little +children, of course it is not their fault. But, my friends, +it must be someone’s fault. No one will say that the +world is so ill made that these horrible diseases must come in +spite of all man’s care. If it was so, plagues, +pestilences, and infectious fevers would be just as common now in +England, and just as deadly as they were in old times; whereas +there is not one infectious fever now in England for ten that +there used to be five hundred years ago. In ancient times +fevers, agues, plague, smallpox, and other diseases, whose very +names we cannot now understand, so completely are they passed +away, swept England from one end to the other every few years, +killing five people where they now kill one. Those +diseases, as I said, have many of them now died out entirely; and +those which remain are becoming less and less dangerous every +year. And why? Simply because people are becoming +more cleanly and civilised in their habits of living; because +they are tilling and draining the land every year more and more, +instead of leaving it to breed disease, as all uncultivated land +does. It is not merely that doctors are becoming wiser: we +ourselves are becoming more reasonable in our way of +living. For instance, in large districts both of Scotland +and of the English fens, where fever and ague filled the country +and swept off hundreds every spring and fall thirty years ago, +fever and ague are now almost unknown, simply because the marshes +have all been drained in the meantime. So you see that +people can prevent these disorders, and therefore it must be +someone’s fault if they come. Now, whose fault is +it? You dare not lay the blame on God. And yet you do +lay the fault on God if you say that it is no <i>man’s</i> +fault that children die of fever. But I know what the +answer to that will be: “We do not accuse God—it is +the fault of the fall, Adam’s curse which brought death and +disease into the world.” That is a common answer, and +the very one I want to hear. What? is it just to say, as +many do, that all the diseases which ever tormented poor little +innocent children all over the world, came from Adam’s +sinning six thousand years ago, and yet that it is unfair to say +that one little child’s fever came from his parents’ +keeping a filthy house a month ago? That is swallowing a +camel and straining at a gnat—that God should be just in +punishing all mankind for Adam’s sin, and yet unjust in +punishing one little child for its parents’ sin. If +the one is just the other must be just too, I think. If you +believe the one, why not believe the other? Why? +Because Adam’s curse and “original” sin, as +people call it, is a good and pleasant excuse for laying our sins +and miseries at Adam’s door; but the same rule is not so +pleasant in the case of filth and fever, when it lays other +people’s miseries at our door.</p> +<p>I believe that all the misery in the world sprung from +Adam’s disobedience and falling from God. “By +one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death +passed on all men, even on those who had not sinned after the +likeness of Adam’s transgression.” So says the +Bible, and I believe it says so truly. For this is the law +of the earth, God’s law which He proclaimed in the +text. He does visit the sins of the fathers upon the +children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate +Him. It is so. You see it around you daily. No +one can deny it. Just as death and misery entered into the +world by one man, so we see death and misery entering into many a +family. A man or woman is a drunkard, or a rogue, or a +swearer: how often their children grow up like them! We +have all seen that, God knows, in this very parish. How +much more in great cities, where boys and girls by +thousands—oh, shame that it should be so in a Christian +land!—grow up thieves from the breast, and harlots from the +cradle. And why? Why are there, as they say, and I am +afraid say too truly, in London alone upwards of 10,000 children +under sixteen who live by theft and harlotry? Because the +parents of these children are as bad as +themselves—drunkards, thieves, and worse—and they +bring up their children to follow their crimes. If that is +not the fathers’ sins being visited on the children, what +is?</p> +<p>How often, again, when we see a wild young man, we say, and +justly: “Poor fellow! there are great excuses for him, he +has been so badly brought up.” True, but his wildness +will ruin him all the same, whether it be his father’s +fault or his own that he became wild. If he drinks he will +ruin his health; if he squanders his money he will grow +poor. God’s laws cannot stop for him; he is breaking +them, and they will avenge themselves on him. You see the +same thing everywhere. A man fools away his money, and his +innocent children suffer for it. A man ruins his health by +debauchery, or a woman hers by laziness or vanity or +self-indulgence, and her children grow up weakly and inherit +their parents’ unhealthiness. How often again, do we +see passionate parents have passionate children, stupid parents +stupid children, mean and lying parents mean and lying children; +above all, ignorant and dirty parents have ignorant and dirty +children. How can they help being so? They cannot +keep themselves clean by instinct; they cannot learn without +being taught: and so they suffer for their parents’ +faults. But what is all this except God’s visiting +the sins of the fathers upon the children? Look again at a +whole parish; how far the neglect or the wickedness of one man +may make a whole estate miserable. There is one parish in +this very union, and the curse of the whole union it is, which +will show us that fearfully enough. See, too, how often +when a good and generous young man comes into his estate, he +finds it so crippled with debts and mortgages by his +forefathers’ extravagance, that he cannot do the good he +would to his tenants, he cannot fulfil his duty as landlord where +God has placed him, and so he and the whole estate must suffer +for the follies of generations past. If that is not God +visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, what is it?</p> +<p>Look again at a whole nation; the rulers of two countries +quarrel, or pretend to quarrel, and go to war—and some here +know what war is—just because there is some old grudge of a +hundred years standing between two countries, or because rulers +of whose names the country people, perhaps, never heard, have +chosen to fall out, or because their forefathers by cowardice, or +laziness, or division, or some other sin, have made the country +too weak to defend itself; and for that poor people’s +property is destroyed, and little infants butchered, and innocent +women suffer unspeakable shame. If that is not God visiting +the sins of the fathers on the children, what is it?</p> +<p>It is very awful, but so it is. It is the law of this +earth, the law of human kind, that the innocent often suffer for +other’s faults, just as you see them doing in cholera, +fever, ague, smallpox, and other diseases which man can prevent +if he chooses to take the trouble. There it is. We +cannot alter it. Those who will may call God unjust for +it. Let them first see, whether He is not only most just, +but most merciful in making the world so, and no other way. +I do not merely mean that whatever God does must be right. +That is true, but it is a poor way of getting over the +difficulty. God has taught us what is right and wrong, and +He will be judged by His own rules. As Abraham said to Him +when Sodom was to be destroyed: “That be far from Thee, to +punish the righteous with the wicked. Shall not the Judge +of all the earth do right?” Abraham knew what was +right, and he expected God not to break that law of right. +And we may expect the same of God. And I may be able, I +hope, in my sermon next Sunday, to show you that in this matter +God does break the law of right. Nevertheless, in the +meantime, this is His way of dealing with men. When Sodom +was destroyed He brought righteous Lot out of it. But Sodom +was destroyed, and in it many a little infant who had never known +sin. And just so when Lisbon was swallowed up by an +earthquake, ninety years ago, the little children perished as +well as the grown people—just as in the Irish famine fever +last year, many a doctor and Roman Catholic priest, and +Protestant clergyman, caught the fever and died while they were +piously attending on the sick. They were acting like +righteous men doing their duty at their posts; but God’s +laws could not turn aside for them. Improvidence, and +misrule, which had been working and growing for hundreds of +years, had at last brought the famine fever, and even the +righteous must perish by it. They had their sins, no doubt, +as we all have; but then they were doing God’s work bravely +and honestly enough, yet the fever could not spare them any more +than it could spare the children of the filthy parents, though +they had not kept pigsties under their windows, nor cesspools at +their doors. It could not spare them any more than it can +spare the tenants of the negligent or covetous house-owner, +because it is his fault and not theirs that his houses are +undrained, overcrowded, destitute—as whole streets in many +large towns are—of the commonest decencies of life. +It may be the landlord’s fault, but the tenants +suffer. God visits the sins of the fathers upon the +children, and landlords ought to be fathers to their tenants, and +must become fathers to them some day, and that soon, unless they +intend that the Lord should visit on them all their sins, and +their forefathers’ also, even unto the third and fourth +generation.</p> +<p>For do not fancy that because the innocent suffer with the +guilty that therefore the guilty escape. Seldom do they +escape in this world, and in the world to come never. The +landlord who, as too many do, neglects his cottages till they +become man-sties, to breed pauperism and disease—the +parents whose carelessness and dirt poison their children and +neighbours into typhus and cholera—their brother’s +blood will cry against them out of the ground. It will be +required at their hands sooner or later, by Him who beholds +iniquity and wrong, and who will not be satisfied in the day of +His vengeance by Cain’s old answer, “Am I my +brother’s keeper?”</p> +<p>We are every one of us our brother’s keeper; and if we +do not choose to confess that, God will prove it to us in a way +that we cannot mistake. A wise man tells a story of a poor +Irish widow who came to Liverpool and no one would take her in or +have mercy on her, till, from starvation and bad lodging, as the +doctor said, she caught typhus fever, and not only died herself, +but gave the infection to the whole street, and seventeen persons +died of it. “See,” says the wise man, +“the poor Irish widow was the Liverpool people’s +sister after all. She was of the same flesh and blood as +they. The fever that killed her killed them, but they would +not confess that they were her brothers. They shut their +doors upon her, and so there was no way left for her to prove her +relationship, but by killing seventeen of them with +fever.” A grim jest that, but a true one, like +Elijah’s jest to the Baal priests on Carmel. A true +one, I say, and one that we have all need to lay to heart.</p> +<p>And I do earnestly trust in you that you will lay it to +heart. We have had our fair warning here. We have had +God’s judgment about our cleanliness; His plain spoken +opinion about the sanitary state of this parish. We deserve +the fever, I am afraid; not a house in which it has appeared but +has had some glaring neglect of common cleanliness about it; and +if we do not take the warning God will surely some day repeat +it. It will repeat itself by the necessary laws of nature; +and we shall have the fever among us again, just as the cholera +has reappeared in the very towns, and the very streets, where it +was seventeen years ago, wherever they have not repented of and +amended their filth and negligence. And I say openly, that +those who have escaped this time may not escape next. God +has made examples, and by no means always of the worst +cottages. God’s plan is to take one and leave another +by way of warning. “It is expedient that one man +should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish +not” is a great and a sound law, and we must profit by +it. So let not those who have escaped the fever fancy that +they must needs be without fault. “Think ye that +those sixteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, +were sinners above all those that dwelt at Jerusalem? I say +unto you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise +perish.”</p> +<p>And I say again, as I said last Sunday, that this is a +spiritual question, a Gospel sermon; for by your conduct in this +matter will your faith in the Gospel be proved. If you +really believe that Jesus Christ came down from heaven and +sacrificed Himself for you, you will be ready to sacrifice +yourselves in this matter for those for whom He died; to +sacrifice, without stint, your thought, your time, your money, +and your labour. If you really believe that He is the sworn +enemy of all misery and disease, you will show yourselves too the +sworn enemies of everything that causes misery and disease, and +work together like men to put all pestilential filth and damp out +of this parish. If you really believe that you are all +brothers, equal in the sight of God and Christ, you will do all +you can to save your brothers from sickness and the miseries +which follow it. If you really believe that your children +are God’s children, that at baptism God declares your +little ones to be His, you will be ready to take any care or +trouble, however new or strange it may seem, to keep your +children safe from all foul smells, foul food, foul water, and +foul air, that they may grow up healthy, hearty, and cleanly, fit +to serve God as christened, free, and civilised Englishmen should +in this great and awful time, the most wonderful time that the +earth has ever seen, into which it has pleased God of His great +mercy to let us all be born.</p> +<h2><a name="page153"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +153</span><span class="GutSmall">XV.</span><br /> +THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA.</h2> +<blockquote><p>I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the +iniquity of the Fathers upon the children, unto the third and +fourth generation of them that hate me.—<span +class="smcap">Exodus</span> xx. 6.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> of you were perhaps surprised +and puzzled by my saying in my last sermon that God’s +visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, and letting the +innocent suffer for the guilty, was a blessing and not a +curse—a sign of man’s honour and redemption, not of +his shame and ruin. But the more I have thought of those +words, the more glad I am that I spoke them boldly, the more true +I find them to be.</p> +<p>I say that there is in them the very deepest and surest ground +for hope. “Yes,” some of you may say, “to +be sure when we see the innocent suffering for the guilty, it is +a plain proof that another world must come some day, in which all +that unfairness shall be set right.” Well, my +friends, it does prove that, but I should be very sorry if it did +not prove a great deal more than that—this suffering of the +innocent for the guilty. I have no heart to talk to you +about the next life, unless I can give you some comfort, some +reason for trusting in God in this life. I never saw much +good come of it. I never found it do my own soul any good, +to be told: “<i>This</i> life and <i>this</i> world in +which you now live are given up irremediably to misrule and +deceit, poverty and pestilence, death and the devil. You +cannot expect to set this world right—you must look to the +next world. Everything will be set right +there.” That sounds fine and resigned; and there +seems to be a great deal of trust in God in it; but, as I think, +there is little or none; and I say so from the fruits I see it +bear. If people believe that this world is the +devil’s world, and only the next world God’s, they +are easily tempted to say: “Very well, then, we must serve +the devil in this world, and God in the next. We must, of +course, take great care to get our souls saved when we die, that +we may go to heaven and live for ever and ever; but as to this +world and this life, why, we must follow the ways of the +world. It is not our fault that they have nothing to do +with God. It is not our fault that society and the world +are all rotten and accursed; we found them so when we were born, +and we must make the best of a bad matter and sail as the world +does, and be covetous and mean and anxious—how can we help +it?—and stand on our own rights, and take care of number +one; and even do what is not quite right now and then—for +how can we help it?—or how else shall we get on in this +poor lost, fallen, sinful world!”</p> +<p>And so it comes, my friends, that you see people +professing—ay, and believing, Gospel doctrines, and +struggling and reading, and, as they fancy, praying, morning, +noon, and night, to get their own souls saved—who yet, if +you are to judge by their conduct, are little better than rogues +and heathens; whose only law of life seems to be the fear of what +people will say of them; who, like Balaam the son of Bosor, are +trying daily to serve the devil without God finding it out, +worshipping the evil spirit, as that evil spirit wanted our +blessed Lord to do, because they believed his lie, which Christ +denied—that the glory of this world belongs to the evil +one; and then comforting themselves like Balaam their father, in +the hope that they shall die the death of the righteous, and +their last end be like his.</p> +<p>Now I say my friends that this is a lie, and comes from the +father of lies, who tempts every man, as he tempted our Lord, to +believe that the power and glory of this world are his, that +man’s flesh and body, if not his soul, belongs to +him. I say, it is no such thing. The world is +God’s world. Man is God’s creature, made in +God’s image, and not in that of a beast or a devil. +The kingdom, the power, and the glory, <i>are</i> God’s +now. You say so every day in the Lord’s +Prayer—believe it. St. James tells you not to curse +men, because they are made in the likeness of God now—not +<i>will</i> be made in God’s likeness after they die. +Believe that; do not be afraid of it, strange as it may seem to +understand. It is in the Bible, and you profess to believe +that what is in the Bible is true. And I say that this +suffering of the innocent for the guilty is a proof of +that. If man was not made so that the innocent could suffer +for the guilty, he could not have been redeemed at all, for there +would have been no use or meaning in Christ’s dying for us, +the just for the unjust. And more, if the innocent could +not suffer for the guilty we should be like the beasts that +perish.</p> +<p>Now, why? Because just in proportion as any creature is +low—I mean in the scale of life—just in that +proportion it does without its fellow-creatures, it lives by +itself and cares for no other of its kind. A vegetable is a +meaner thing than an animal, and one great sign of its being +meaner is, that vegetables cannot do each other any +good—cannot help each other—cannot even hurt each +other, except in a mere mechanical way, by overgrowing each other +or robbing each other’s roots; but what would it matter to +a tree if all the other trees in the world were to die? So +with wild animals. What matters it to a bird or a beast, +whether other birds and beasts are ill off or well off, wise or +stupid? Each one takes care of itself—each one shifts +for itself. But you will say “Bees help each other +and depend upon each other for life and death.” True, +and for that very reason we look upon bees as being more wise and +more wonderful than almost any animals, just because they are so +much like us human beings in depending on each other. You +will say again, that among dogs, a riotous hound will lead a +whole pack wrong—a staunch and well-broken hound will keep +a whole pack right; and that dogs do depend upon each other in +very wonderful ways. Most true, but that only proves more +completely what I want to get at. It is the <i>tame</i> +dog, which man has taken and broken in, and made to partake more +or less of man’s wisdom and cunning, who depends on his +fellow-dogs. The wild dogs in foreign countries, on the +other hand, are just as selfish, living every one for himself, as +so many foxes might be. And you find this same rule holding +as you rise. The more a man is like a wild animal, the more +of a <i>savage</i> he is, so much more he depends on himself, and +not on others—in short, the less civilised he is; for +civilised means being a citizen, and learning to live in cities, +and to help and depend upon each other. And our common +English word “civil” comes from the same root. +A man is “civil” who feels that he depends upon his +neighbours, and his neighbours on him; that they are his +fellow-citizens, and that he owes them a duty and a +friendship. And, therefore, a man is truly and sincerely +civil, just in proportion as he is civilised; in proportion as he +is a good citizen, a good Christian—in one word, a <i>good +man</i>.</p> +<p>Ay, that is what I want to come to, my friends—that word +<i>man</i>, and what it means. The law of man’s life, +the constitution and order on which, and on no other, God has +made man, is <i>this</i>—to depend upon his fellow-men, to +be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; for we are brothers to +each other. God made of one blood all nations to dwell on +the face of the earth. The same food will feed us all +alike. The same cholera will kill us all alike. And +we can give the cholera to each other; we can give each other the +infection, not merely by our touch and breath, for diseased +beasts can do that, but by housing our families and our tenants +badly, feeding them badly, draining the land around them +badly. This is the secret of the innocent suffering for the +guilty, in pestilences, and famines, and disorders, which are +handed down from father to child, that we are all of the same +blood. This is the reason why Adam’s sin infected our +whole race. Adam died, and through him all his children +have received a certain property of sinfulness and of dying, just +as one bee transmits to all his children and future generations +the property of making honey, or a lion transmits to all its +future generations the property of being a beast of prey. +For by sinning and cutting himself off from God Adam gave way to +the lower part of him, his flesh, his animal nature, and +therefore he died as other animals do. And we his children, +who all of us give way to our flesh, to our animal nature, every +hour, alas! we die too. And in proportion as we give way to +our animal natures we are liable to die; and the less we give way +to our animal natures, the less we are liable to die. We +have all sinned; we have all become fleshly animal creatures more +or less; and therefore we must all die sooner or later. But +in proportion as we become Christians, in proportion as we become +civilised, in short, in proportion as we become true men, and +conquer and keep in order this flesh of ours, and this earth +around us, by the teaching of God’s spirit, as we were +meant to do, just so far will length of life increase and +population increase. For while people are savages, that is, +while they give themselves up utterly to their own fleshly lusts, +and become mere animals like the wild Indians, they cannot +increase in number. They are exposed, by their own lusts +and ignorance and laziness, to every sort of disease; they turn +themselves into beasts of prey, and are continually fighting and +destroying each other, so that they, seldom or never increase in +numbers, and by war, drunkenness, smallpox, fevers, and other +diseases too horrible to mention, the fruit of their own lusts, +whole tribes of them are swept utterly off the face of the +earth. And why? They are like the beasts, and like +the beasts they perish. Whereas, just in proportion as any +nation lives according to the spirit and not according to the +flesh; in proportion as it conquers its own fleshly appetites +which tempt it to mere laziness, pleasure, and ignorance, and +lives according to the spirit in industry, cleanliness, chaste +marriage, and knowledge, earthly and heavenly, the length of life +and the number of the population begin to increase at once, just +as they are doing, thank God! in England now; because Englishmen +are learning more and more that this earth is God’s earth, +and that He works it by righteous and infallible laws, and has +put them on it to till it and subdue it; that civilisation and +industry are the cause of Christ and of God; and that without +them His kingdom will not come, neither will His will be done on +earth.</p> +<p>But now comes a very important question. The beasts are +none the worse for giving way to their flesh and being mere +animals. They increase and multiply and are happy enough; +whereas men, if they give way to their flesh and become animals, +become fewer and weaker, and stupider, and viler, and more +miserable, generation after generation. Why? Because +the animals are meant to be animals, and men are not. Men +are meant to be men, and conquer their animal nature by the +strength which God gives to their spirits. And as long as +they do not do so; as long as they remain savage, sottish, +ignorant, they are living in a lie, in a diseased wrong state, +just as God did <i>not</i> mean them to live; and therefore they +perish; therefore these fevers, and agues, and choleras, war, +starvation, tyranny, and all the ills which flesh is heir to, +crush them down. Therefore they are at the mercy of the +earth beneath their feet, and the skies above their head; at the +mercy of rain and cold; at the mercy of each other’s +selfishness, laziness, stupidity, cruelty; in short, at the mercy +of the brute material earth, and their own fleshly lusts and the +fleshly lusts of others, because they love to walk after the +flesh and not after the spirit—because they like the +likeness of the old Adam who is of the earth earthy, better than +that of the new Adam who is the Lord from heaven—because +they like to be animals, when Christ has made them in his own +image, and redeemed them with His own blood, and taught them with +His own example, and made them men. He who will be a man, +let him believe that he is redeemed by Christ, and must be like +Christ in everything he says and does. If he would carry +that out, if he would live perfectly by faith in God, if he would +do God’s will utterly and in all things he would soon find +that those glorious old words still stood true: “Thou shalt +not be afraid of the arrow by night, nor of the pestilence which +walketh in the noonday; a thousand shall fall at thy side, and +ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh +thee.” For such a man would know how to defend +himself against evil; God would teach him not only to defend +himself, but to defend those around him. He would be like +his Lord and Master, a fountain of wisdom and healing and safety +to all his neighbours. We might any one of us be +that. It is everyone’s fault more or less that he is +not. Each of us who is educated, civilised, converted to +the knowledge and love of God, it is his sin and shame that he is +<i>not</i> that. Above all, it is the clergyman’s sin +and shame that he is not. Ay, believe me, when I blame you, +I blame myself ten thousand times more. I believe there is +many a sin and sorrow from which I might have saved you here, if +I had dealt with you more as a man should deal who believes that +you and I are brothers, made in the same image of God, redeemed +by the same blood of Christ. And I believe that I shall be +punished for every neglect of you for which I have been ever +guilty. I believe it, and I thank God for it; for I do not +see how a clergyman, or anyone else, can learn his duty, except +by God’s judging him, and punishing him, and setting his +sins before his face.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, it is good for us to be afflicted, good for +us to suffer anything that will teach us this great truth, that +we are our brother’s keepers; that we are all one family, +and that where one of the members suffers, all the other members +suffer with it; and that if one of the members has cause to +rejoice, all the others will have cause to rejoice with it. +A blessed thing to know, is that—though whether we know it +or not, we shall find it true. If we give way to our animal +nature, and try to live as the beasts do, each one caring for his +own selfish pleasure—still we shall find out that we cannot +do it. We shall find out, as those Liverpool people did +with the Irish widow, that our fellow-men <i>are</i> our +brothers—that what hurts them will be sure in some strange +indirect way to hurt us. Our brothers here have had the +fever, and we have escaped; but we have felt the fruits of it, in +our purses—in fear, and anxiety, and distress, and +trouble—we have found out that they could not have the +fever without our suffering for it, more or less. You see +we are one family, we men and women; and our relationship will +assert itself in spite of our forgetfulness and our +selfishness. How much better to claim our brotherhood with +each other, and to act upon it—to live as brothers +indeed. That would be to make it a blessing, and not a +curse; for as I said before, just because it is in our power to +injure each other, therefore it is in our power to help each +other. God has bound us together for good and for evil, for +better for worse. Oh! let it be henceforward in this parish +for better, and not for worse. Oh! every one of you, +whether you be rich or poor, farmer or labourer, man or woman, do +not be ashamed to own yourselves to be brothers and sisters, +members of one family, which as it all fell together in the old +Adam, so it has all risen together in the new Adam, Jesus +Christ. There is no respect of persons with God. We +are all equal in His sight. He knows no difference among +men, except the difference which God’s Spirit gives, in +proportion as a man listens to the teaching of that +Spirit—rank in godliness and true manhood. Oh! +believe that—believe that because you owe an infinite debt +to Christ and to God—His Father and your +Father—therefore you owe an infinite debt to your +neighbours, members of Christ and children of God just as you +are—a debt of love, help, care, which you <i>can</i>, pay, +just because you are members of one family; for because you are +members of one family, for that very reason every good deed you +do for a neighbour does not stop with that neighbour, but goes on +breeding and spreading, and growing and growing, for aught we +know, for ever. Just as each selfish act we do, each bitter +word we speak, each foul example we set, may go on spreading from +mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, from parent to child, till +we may injure generations yet unborn; so each noble and +self-sacrificing deed we do, each wise and loving word we speak, +each example we set of industry and courage, of faith in God and +care for men, may and will spread on from heart to heart, and +mouth to mouth, and teach others to do and be the like; till +people miles away, who never heard of our names, may have cause +to bless us for ever and ever. This is one and only one of +the glorious fruits of our being one family. This is one +and only one of the reasons which make me say that it was a good +thing mankind was so made that the innocent suffer for the +guilty. For just as the innocent are injured by the guilty +in this world, even so are the guilty preserved, and converted, +and brought back again by the innocent. Just as the sins of +the fathers are visited on the children, so is the righteousness +of the fathers a blessing to the children; else, says St. Paul, +our children would be unclean, but now they are holy. For +the promises of God are not only to us, but to our children, even +to as many as the Lord our God shall call. And thus each +generation, by growing in virtue and wisdom and the knowledge of +God, will help forward all the generations which follow it to +fuller light and peace and safety; and each parent in trying to +live like a Christian man himself, will make it easier for his +children to live like Christians after him. And this rule +applies even in the things which we are too apt to fancy +unimportant—every house kept really clean, every family +brought up in habits of neatness and order, every acre of foul +land drained, every new improvement in agriculture and +manufactures or medicine, is a clear gain to all mankind, a good +example set which is sure sooner or later to find followers, +perhaps among generations yet unborn, and in countries of which +we never heard the name.</p> +<p>Was I not right then in saying that this earth is not the +devil’s earth at all, but a right good earth, of +God’s making and ruling, wherein no good deed will perish +fruitless, but every man’s works will follow him—a +right good earth, governed by a righteous Father, who, as the +psalm says “is merciful,” just “because He +rewards every man according to his work.”</p> +<h2><a name="page164"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +164</span><span class="GutSmall">XVI.</span><br /> +ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(Nov. 15th, 1849.)</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">God hath visited his +people.—<span class="smcap">Luke</span> vii. 16.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> are assembled this day to thank +God solemnly for the passing away of the cholera from England; +and we must surely not forget to thank Him at the same time for +the passing away of the fever, which has caused so much expense, +sorrow, and death among us. Now I wish to say a very few +words to you on this same matter, to show you not only how to be +thankful to God, but what to be thankful for. You may say: +It is easy enough for us to know what to thank God for in this +case. We come to thank Him, as we have just said in the +public prayers, for having withdrawn this heavy visitation from +us. If so, my friends, what we shall thank Him for depends +on what we mean by talking of a visitation from God.</p> +<p>Now I do not know what people may think in this parish, but I +suspect that very many all over England do <i>not</i> know what +to thank God for just now; and are altogether thanking him for +the wrong thing—for a thing which, very happily for them, +He has <i>not</i> done for them, and which, if He had done it for +them, would have been worse for them than all the evil which ever +happened to them from their youth up until now. To be plain +then, many, I am afraid, are thanking God for having gone away +and left them. While the cholera was here, they said that +God was visiting them; and now that the cholera is over, they +consider that God’s visit is over too, and are joyful and +light of heart thereat. If God’s visit is over, my +friends, and He is gone away from us; if He is not just as near +us now as He was in the height of the cholera, the best thing we +can do is to turn to Him with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, +and roll ourselves in the dust, and instead of thanking our +Father for going away, pray to Him, of his infinite mercy, to +condescend to come back again and visit us, even though, as +superstitious and ignorant men believe, God’s visiting us +were sure to bring cholera, or plague, or pestilence, or famine, +or some other misery. For I read, that in His presence is +life and not death—at His right hand is fulness of joy, and +not tribulation and mourning and woe; but if not, it were better +to be with God in everlasting agony, than to be in everlasting +happiness without God.</p> +<p>Here is a strange confusion—people talking one moment +like St. Paul himself, desiring to be with Christ and God for +ever, and then in the same breath talking like the Gadarenes of +old, when, after Christ had visited them, and judged their sins +by driving their unlawful herd of swine into the sea, they +answered by beseeching Him to depart out of their coasts.</p> +<p>Why is this confusion?—Because people do not take the +trouble to read their Bibles; because they bring their own loose, +careless, cant notions with them when they open their Bibles, and +settle beforehand what the Bible is to tell them, and then pick +and twist texts till they make them mean just what they like and +no more. There is no folly, or filth, or tyranny, or +blasphemy, which men have not defended out of the Bible by +twisting it in this way. The Bible is better written than +that, my friends. He that runs may read, if he has sense to +read. The wayfaring man, though simple, shall make no such +mistake therein, if he has God’s Spirit in him—the +spirit of faith, which believes that the Bible is God’s +message to men—the humble spirit, which is willing to +listen to that message, however strange or new it may seem to +him—the earnest spirit, which reads the Bible really to +know what a man shall do to be saved. Look at your Bibles +thus, my friends, about this matter. Read all the texts +which speak of God’s visiting and God’s visitation, +and you will find all the confusion and strangeness vanish +away. For see! The Bible talks of the Lord visiting +people in His wrath—visiting them for their +sins—visiting them with sore plagues and punishments, about +forty times. But the Bible speaks very nearly as often of +God’s visiting people to bring them blessings and not +punishments. The Bible says God visited Sarah and Hannah to +give them what they most desired—children. God +visited the people of Israel in Egypt to deliver them out of +slavery. In the book of Ruth we read how the Lord visited +His people in giving them bread. The Psalmist, in the +captivity at Babylon, <i>prays</i> God to visit him with His +salvation. The prophet Jeremiah says that it was a sign of +God’s anger against the Jews that He had not visited them; +and the prophets promised again and again to their countrymen, +how, after their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon, the +Lord would visit them, and what for?—To bring them back +into their own land with joy, and heap them with every +blessing—peace and wealth, freedom and righteousness. +So it is in the New Testament too. Zacharias praised God: +“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and +redeemed His people; through the tender mercy of our God, whereby +the day-spring from on high hath visited us.” And +that was the reason why I chose Luke vii. 16, for my +text—only because it is an example of the same thing. +The people, it says, praised God, saying: “A great Prophet +is risen up among us, and God hath visited His +people.” And in the 14th of Acts we read how God +visited the Gentiles, not to punish them, but to take out of them +a people for His name, namely, Cornelius and his household. +And lastly, St. Peter tells Christian people to glorify God in +the day of visitation, as I tell you now—whether His +visitation comes in the shape of cholera, or fever, or +agricultural distress; or whether it comes in the shape of +sanitary reform, and plenty of work, and activity in commerce; +whether it seems to you good or evil, glorify God for it. +Thank Him for it. Bless Him for it. Whether His +visitation brings joy or sorrow, it surely brings a blessing with +it. Whether God visits in wrath or in love, still God +visits. God shows that He lives; God shows us that He has +not forgotten us; God shows us that He is near us. Christ +shows us that His words are true: “Lo, I am with you alway, +even to the end of the world.”</p> +<p>That is a hard lesson to learn and practise, though not a very +difficult one to understand. I will try now to make you +understand it—God alone can teach you to practise it. +I pray and hope, and I believe too, that He will—that these +very hard times are meant to teach people <i>really</i> to +believe in God and Jesus Christ, and that they <i>will</i> teach +people. God knows we need, and thanks be to Him that He +<i>does</i> know that we need, to be taught to believe in +Him. Nothing shows it to me more plainly than the way we +talk about God’s visitations, as if God was usually away +from us, and came to us only just now and then—only on +extraordinary occasions. People have gross, heathen, +fleshly, materialist notions of God’s visitations, as if He +was some great earthly king who now and then made a journey about +his dominions from place to place, rewarding some and punishing +others. God is not in any place, my friends. God is a +Spirit. The heaven and the heaven of heavens could not +contain Him if He wanted a place to be in, as, glory be to His +name, He does not. If He is near us or far from us, it is +not that He is near or far from our bodies, as the Queen might be +nearer to us in London than in Scotland, which is most +people’s notion of God’s nearness. He is near, +not our bodies, but our spirits, our souls, our hearts, our +thoughts—as it is written, “The kingdom of God is +<i>within</i> you.” Do not fancy that when the +cholera was in India, God was nearer India than He was to +England, and that as the cholera crawled nearer and nearer, God +came nearer and nearer too; and that now the cholera is gone away +somewhere or other, God is gone away somewhere or other too, to +leave us to our own inventions. God forbid a thousand +times! As St. Paul says: “He is not far from any one +of us.” “In Him we live and move and have our +being,” cholera or none. Do you think Christ, the +King of the earth, is gone away either—that while things go +on rightly, and governments, and clergy, and people do right, +Christ is there then, filling them all with His Spirit and +guiding them all to their duty; but that when evil times come, +and rulers are idle, and clergy dumb dogs, and the rich +tyrannous, and the poor profligate, and men are crying for work +and cannot get it, and every man’s hand is against his +fellow, and no one knows what to do or think; and on earth is +distress of nations with perplexity, men’s hearts failing +them for fear, and for dread of those things which are coming on +the earth—do you think that in such times as those, Christ +is the least farther off from us than He was at the best of +times?—The least farther off from us now than He was from +the apostles at the first Whitsuntide? God +forbid!—God forbid a thousand times! He has promised +Himself, He that is faithful and true, He that will never deny +Himself, though men deny Him, and say He is not here, because +their eyes are blinded with love of the world, and covetousness +and bigotry, and dread lest He, their Master, should come and +find them beating the men-servants and maid-servants, and eating +and drinking with the drunken in the high places of the earth, +and saying: “Tush! God hath forgotten +it”—ay, though men have forgotten Him thus, +and—worse than thus, yet He hath said it—“Lo, I +am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” +Why, evil times are the very times of which Christ used to speak +as the “days of the Lord,” and the “days of the +Son of man.” Times when we hear of wars and rumours +of wars, and on earth distress of nations with +perplexity—what does He tell men to do in them? To go +whining about, and say that Christ has left His Church? +No! “Then,” He says, “when all these +things come to pass, then rejoice and lift up your heads, for +your redemption draweth nigh.”</p> +<p>And yet the Scripture does most certainly speak of the +Lord’s coming out of His place to visit—of the Son of +Man coming, and not coming to men—of His visiting us at one +time and not at another. How does that agree with what I +have just said? My dear friends, we shall see that it +agrees perfectly with what I have said, if we will only just +remember that we are not beasts, but men. It may seem a +strange thing to have to remind people of, but it is just what +they are always forgetting. My friends, we are not animals, +we are not spiders to do nothing but spin, or birds only to build +nests for ourselves, much less swine to do nothing but dig after +roots and fruits, and get what we can out of the clods of the +ground. We are the children of the Most High God; we have +immortal souls within us; nay, more, we are our souls: our bodies +are our husk—our shell—our clothes—our +house—changing day by day, and year by year upon us, one +day to drop off us till the Resurrection. But <i>we</i> are +our <i>souls</i>, and when God visits, it is our souls He visits, +not merely our bodies. There is the whole secret. +People forget God, and therefore they are glad to fancy that He +has forgotten them, and has nothing to do with this world of His +which they are misusing for their own selfish ends; and then God +in His mercy visits them. He knocks at the door of their +hearts, saying: “See! I was close to you all the +while.” He forces them to see Him and to confess that +He is there whether they choose or not. God is not away +from the world. He is away from people’s hearts, +because He has given people free wills, and with free wills the +power of keeping Him out of their hearts or letting Him in. +And when God visits He forces Himself on our attention. He +knocks at the door of our hard hearts so loudly and sharply that +He forces all to confess that He is there—all who are not +utterly reprobate and spiritually dead. In blessings as +well as in curses, God knocks at our hearts. By sudden good +fortune, as well as by sudden mishap; by a great deliverance from +enemies, by an abundant harvest, as well as by famine and +pestilence. Therefore this cholera has been a true +visitation of God. The poor had fancied that they might be +as dirty, the rich had fancied that they might be as careless, as +they chose; in short, that they might break God’s laws of +cleanliness and brotherly care without His troubling Himself +about the matter. And lo! He has visited us; and shown us +that He does care about the matter by taking it into His own +hands with a vengeance. He who cannot see God’s hand +in the cholera must be as blind—as blind as who?—as +blind as he that cannot see God’s hand when there is no +cholera; as blind as he who cannot see God’s hand in every +meal he eats, and every breath he draws; for that man is stone +blind—he can be no blinder. The cholera came; +everyone ought to see that it did not come by blind chance, but +by the will of some wise and righteous Person; for in the first +place God gave us fair warning. The cholera came from India +at a steady pace. We knew to a month when it would arrive +here. And it came, too, by no blind necessity, as if it was +forced to take people whether it liked or not. Just as it +was in the fever here, so it was in the cholera, “One shall +be taken and another left.” It took one of a street +and left another; took one person in a family and left another: +it took the rich man who fancied he was safe, as well as the poor +man who did not care whether he was safe or not. The +respectable man walking home to his comfortable house, passed by +some untrapped drain, and then poisonous gas struck him and he +died. The rich physician who had been curing others, could +not save himself from the poison of the crowded graveyard which +had been allowed to remain at the back of his house. By all +sorts of strange and unfathomable judgments the cholera showed +itself to be working, not by a blind necessity, but at the will +of a thinking Person, of a living God, whose ways are not as our +own ways, and His paths are in the great deep. And yet the +cholera showed—and this is what I want to make you +feel—that it was working at the will of the same God in +whom we live and move and have our being, who sends the food we +eat, the water in which we wash, the air we breathe, and who has +ordained for all these things natural laws, according to which +they work, and which He never breaks, nor allows us to break +them. For every case of cholera could be traced to some +breaking of these laws—foul air—foul food—foul +water, or careless and dirty contact with infected persons; so +that by this God showed that He and not chance ruled the world, +and that he was indeed the living and willing God. He +showed at the same time that He was the wise God of order and of +law; and that gas and earth, wind and vapour, fulfil His word, +without His having to break His laws, or visit us by moving, as +people fancy, out of a Heaven where He was, down to an earth, +where He was not.</p> +<p>But, lastly, remember what I told you before, that the cholera +being a visitation means that God, by it, has been visiting our +hearts, knocking loudly at them that He may awaken us, and teach +us a lesson. And be sure that in the cholera, and this our +own parish fever, there is a lesson for each and every one of us +if we will learn it. To the simple poor man, first and +foremost, God means by the cholera to teach the simple lesson of +cleanliness; to the house-owner He means to teach that each man +is his brother’s keeper, and responsible for his property +not being a nest of disease; to rulers it is intended to teach +the lesson that God’s laws cannot be put off to suit their +laziness, cowardice, or party squabbles. But beside that, +to each person, be sure such a visitation as this brings some +private lesson. Perhaps it has taught many a widow that she +has a Friend stronger and more loving than even the husband whom +she has lost by the pestilence—the God of the widow and the +fatherless. Perhaps it has taught many a strong man not to +trust in his strength and his youth, but in the God who gave them +to him. Perhaps it has taught many a man, too, who has +expected public authorities to do everything for him, “not +to put his trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there +is no help in them,” but to hear God’s advice, +“Help thyself and God will help thee.” Perhaps +it has stirred up many a benevolent man to find out fresh means +for rooting out the miseries of society. Perhaps it has +taught many a philosopher new deep truths about the laws of +God’s world, which may enable him to enlighten and comfort +ages yet unborn. Perhaps it has awakened many a slumbering +heart, and brought many a careless sinner (for the first time in +his life) face to face with God and his own sins. +God’s judgments are manifold; they are meant to work in +different ways on different hearts. But oh! believe and be +sure that they are meant to work upon all hearts—that they +are not the punishments of a capricious tyrant, but the rod of a +loving Father, who is trying to drive us home into His fold, when +gentle entreaties and kind deeds have failed to allure us +home. Oh my friends! if you wish really to thank God for +having preserved you from these pestilences, show your +thankfulness by learning the lesson which they bring. +God’s love has spoken of each and every one of us in the +cholera. Be sure He has spoken so harshly only because a +gentler tone of voice would have had no effect upon us. +Thank Him for His severity. Thank Him for the cholera, the +fever. Thank Him for anything which will awaken us to hear +the Word of the Lord. But till you have learnt the lessons +which these visitations are meant to teach you, there is no use +thanking Him for taking them away. And therefore I beseech +you solemnly, each and all, before you leave this church, now to +pray to God to show you what lesson He means to teach you by this +past awful visitation, and also by sparing you and me who are +here present, not merely from cholera and fever, but from a +thousand mishaps and evils, which we have deserved, and from +which only His goodness has kept us. Oh may God stir up +your hearts to ask advice of Him this day! and may He in His +great mercy so teach us all His will on this day of joy, that we +may not need to have it taught us hereafter on some day of +sorrow.</p> +<h2><a name="page175"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +175</span><span class="GutSmall">XVII.</span><br /> +THE COVENANT.</h2> +<blockquote><p>The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and +Israel for his own possession. For I know that the Lord is +great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the +Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and earth, and in the sea, +and in all deep places.—<span class="smcap">Psalm</span> +cxxxv. 4, 5, 6.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Were</span> you ever puzzled to find out +why the Psalms are read every Sunday in Church, more read, +indeed, than any other part of the Bible? If any of you +say, No, I shall not think you the wiser. It is very easy +not to be puzzled with a deep matter, if one never thinks about +it at all. But when a man sets his mind to work seriously, +to try to understand what he hears and sees around him, then he +will be puzzled, and no shame to him; for he will find things +every day of his life which will require years of thought to +understand, ay, things which, though we see and know that they +are true, and can use and profit by them, we can never understand +at all, at least in this life.</p> +<p>But I do not think that God meant it to be so with these +Psalms. He meant the Bible for a poor man’s book: and +therefore the men who wrote the Bible were almost all of them +poor men, at least at one time or other of their life; and +therefore we may expect that they would write as poor men would +write, and such things as poor men may understand, if they are +fairly and simply explained. Therefore I do not think you +need be puzzled long to find out why these Psalms are read every +Sunday. For the men who wrote them had God’s spirit +with them; and God’s spirit is the spirit in which God made +and governs this world, and just as God cannot change, so +God’s spirit cannot change; and therefore the rules and +laws according to which the world runs on cannot change; and +therefore these rules about God’s government of the world, +which God’s spirit taught the old Hebrew Psalmists, are the +very same rules by which He governs it now; and therefore all the +rules in these Psalms, making allowance for the difference of +circumstances, have just as much to do with France, and Germany, +and England now, as they had with the Jews, and the Canaanites, +and the Babylonians then.</p> +<p>St. Paul tells us so. He tells us that all that happened +to the old Jews was written as an example to Christians, to the +intent that they might not sin as the Jews did, and so +(God’s laws and ways being the same now as then) be +punished as the Jews were. Moreover, St. Paul says, that +Christians now are just as much God’s chosen people as the +Jews were. God told the Jews that they were to be a nation +of kings and priests to Him. And St. John opens the +Revelations by saying: “Unto Him that loved us and washed +us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and +priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory.” +St. Paul tells the Ephesians, who had not a drop of Jewish blood +in their veins, that through Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles +had “access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, +therefore,” he goes on, “ye are no more strangers and +foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the +household of God.” In fact, he tells the Christians +of every country to which he writes, that all the promises which +God made to the Jews belonged to them just as much, that there +was no more any difference between Jew and Gentile, that the Lord +Jesus Christ was just as really among them, and with them, ruling +and helping each people in their own country, as He was in +Jerusalem when Isaiah saw His glory filling the Temple, and when +Zion was called the place of His inheritance. Indeed, the +Lord Jesus said the same thing Himself, for He said that all +power was given to Him in heaven and earth; that He was with His +churches (that is, with all companies of Christian people, such +as England) even to the end of the world; that wherever two or +three were gathered together in His name, He would be in the +midst of them; and if those blessed words and good news be true, +we Englishmen have a right to believe firmly that we belong to +Him just as much as the old Jews did; and when we read these +Psalms, to take every word of their good news—and their +warnings also—to ourselves, and to our own land of +England. And when we read in the text, that the Lord chose +Jacob unto Himself and Israel for His own possession, we have a +right to say: “And the Lord has chosen also England unto +himself, and this favoured land of Britain for his own +possession.” When we say in the Psalm: “The +Lord did what He pleased in heaven, and earth, and sea,” to +educate and deliver the people of the Jews, we have a right to +say just as boldly: “And so He has done for England, for +us, and for our forefathers.”</p> +<p>This then is the reason, the chief reason, why these Psalms +are appointed to be read every Sunday in church, and every +morning and evening where there is daily service—to teach +us that the Lord takes care not only of one man’s soul +here, and another woman’s soul there, but of the whole +country of England; of its wars and its peace; of its laws and +government, its progress and its afflictions; of all, in short, +that happens to it as a nation, as one body of men, which it +is. It must be so, my good friends, else we should be worse +off than the old Jews, and not better off, as all the New +Testament solemnly assures us a thousand times over that we +are.</p> +<p>For in the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the +strange events, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their +nation, not only the great saints among them were taken care of, +but all classes, and all characters, good and bad, even those who +had not wisdom or spiritual life enough to seek God for +themselves, still had their share in the good laws, in the +teaching and guiding, and in the national blessings which He sent +on the whole nation. They had a chance given them of +rising, and improving, and prospering, as the rest of their +countrymen rose, and improved, and prospered. And when the +Lord came to visit Judæa in flesh and blood, we find that +He went on the same method. He did not merely go to such +men as Philip and Nathaniel, to the holy and elect ones among the +Jews, but to the whole people; to the <i>lost</i> sheep, as well +as to those who were not lost. He did not part the good +from the bad before he healed their sicknesses, and fed them with +the loaves and fishes. It was enough for Him that they were +Jews, citizens of the Jewish nation. God’s promises +belonged not to one Jew or another, but to the Jewish nation; and +even the ignorant and the sinful had a share in the blessings of +the covenant, great or small in proportion as they chose to live +as Jews ought, or to forget and deny that they belonged to +God’s people.</p> +<p>Now, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was +then. He cannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, +and wild untaught creatures, in England now, than he cared for +them in Judæa of old. And we see that in fact He does +not. For as the wealth of England improves, and the laws +improve, and the knowledge of God improves, the condition of all +sorts of poor creatures improves too, though they had no share in +bringing about the good change. But we are all members of +one body, from the Queen on her throne to the tramper under the +hedge; and as St. Paul says: “If one member suffers, all +the members suffer with it, and if one member rejoices, all the +others” sooner or later “rejoice with +it.” For we, too, are one of the Lord’s +nations. He has made us one body, with one common language, +common laws, common interest, common religion for all; and what +He does for one of us He does for all. He orders all that +happens to us; whether it be war or peace, prosperity or dearth, +He orders it all; and He orders things so that they shall work +for the good, not merely of a few, but of as many as +possible—not merely for His elect, but for those who know +Him not. As He has been from the beginning, when He heaped +blessings on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites—as +He was when He endured the cross for a world lying not in +obedience, but in wickedness; so is He now; the perfect likeness +of His father, who is no respecter of persons, but causes +“His sun to shine alike on the evil on the good, and His +rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.”</p> +<p>But now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you +most solemnly, and especially in such days as these. You +may believe my words to your own ruin, or to your own +salvation. They are “the Gospel,” “the +good news of the Kingdom of God”—that is, the good +news that God has condescended to become our King, to govern and +guide us, to order all things for our good. But as St. Paul +says, the Gospel may be a savour of death unto death, as well as +a savour of life unto life. And I will tell you now; that +you have only to do what the Jews just before the coming of our +Lord did, and give way to the same thoughts as they, and then, +like them, it were better for you that you had never heard of +God, and been like the savages, to whom little or no sin is +imputed, because they are all but without law. How is +this?</p> +<p>As I said before—take your covenant privileges as the +Pharisees took theirs, and they will turn you into devils while +you are fancying yourselves God’s especial +favourites. Now this was what happened to the Pharisees: +they could not help knowing that God had shown especial favour to +them; and that He had taught them more about God than He had +taught the heathen. But instead of feeling all the more +humble and thankful for this, and of remembering day and night +that because much had been given to them much would be required +of them, they thought more about the honour and glory which God +had put on them. They forgot what God had declared, namely, +that it was not for their own goodness that He had taught them, +for that they were in themselves not a whit better than the +heathen around them. They forgot that the reason why He +taught them was, that they were to do His work on earth, by +witnessing for His name, and telling the heathen that God was +their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews. Now David, and the +old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this. Their cry +is: “Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is +King.” “Worship the Son of God, ye kings of the +earth, and make your peace with Him lest He be +angry.” “It was in vain,” he told the +heathen kings, “to try to cast away God’s government +from them, and break His bonds from off them,” for +“the Lord was King, let the nations be never so +unquiet.”</p> +<p>But the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, +that God had nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care +for them, and actually hated them; that they, as it were, had the +true God all to themselves for their own private property; and +that He had neither love nor mercy, except for them and their +proselytes, that is, the few heathens whom they could persuade +and entice not to worship the true God after the customs of their +own country—that would not have suited the Jews’ +bigotry and pride—but to turn Jews, and forget their own +people among whom they were born, and ape them in +everything. And so, as our Lord told them, after compassing +sea and land to make one of these proselytes, they only made him +after all twice as much the child of hell as themselves. +For they could not teach the heathen anything worth knowing about +God, when they had forgotten themselves what God was like. +They could tell them that there was one God, and not +two—but what was the use of that? As St. James says, +the devils believe as much as that, and yet the knowledge does +not make them holy, but only increases their fear and +despair. And so with these Pharisees. They had +forgotten that God was love. They had forgotten that God +was merciful. They had forgotten that God was just. +And therefore, while they were talking of God and pretending to +worship God, they knew nothing of God, and they did not do +God’s will, and act like God; for (as we find from the +Gospels) they were unjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous +themselves; and while they were looking down on the poor +heathens, these very heathens, the Lord told them, would rise up +in judgment against them: for they, knowing little, acted up to +the light which they had, better than the Pharisees who knew so +much. And so it will be with us, my friends, if we fancy +that God’s great favours to us are a reason for our priding +ourselves on them, and despising papists and foreigners instead +of remembering that just because God has given us so much, He +will require more of us. It is true, we do know more of the +Gospel than the papists, how, though they believe in Jesus +Christ, worship the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and idols of wood +and stone. But if they, who know so little of God’s +will, yet act faithfully up to what they do know, will they not +rise up in judgment against us, who know so much more, if we act +worse than they? Instead of despising them, we had better +despise ourselves. Instead of fancying that God’s +love is not over them, and so sinning against God’s Holy +Spirit by denying and despising the fruits of God’s Holy +Spirit in them, we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting +of our own sins. We had better pray God to open our eyes to +our own want of faith, and want of love, and want of honesty, and +want of cleanly and chaste lives; lest God in His anger should +let us go on in our evil path, till we fall into the deep +darkness of mind of the Pharisees of old. For then while we +were boasting of England as the most Christian nation in the +world, we might become the most unchristian, because the most +unlike Christ; the most wanting in love and fellow-feeling, and +self-sacrifice, and honour, and justice, and honesty; wanting, in +short, in the fruits of the Spirit. And without them there +is no use crying: “We are God’s chosen people, He Has +put His name among us, we alone hate idols, we alone have the +pure word of God, and the pure sacraments, and the pure +doctrine;” for God may answer us, as he answered the Jews +of old: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have +Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, God is able of +these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” . . +. “The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and +given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” +Oh! my friends, let us pray, one and all, that God will come and +help us, and with great might succour us, “that whereas +through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and hindered in +running the race set before us, God’s bountiful grace and +mercy may speedily help and deliver us,” and enable us to +live faithfully up to the glorious privileges which He has +bestowed on us, in calling us “members of Christ, children +of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven;” in giving +us His Bible, in allowing us to be born into this favoured land +of England, in preserving us to this day, in spite of all that we +have thought, and said, and done, unworthy of the name of +Christians and Englishmen.</p> +<p>And then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the +glorious promises which we find in another Psalm: “If thy +children will keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I shall +learn them, this land shall be my rest for ever. Here will +I dwell, for I have a delight therein. I will bless her +victuals with increase, and satisfy her poor with bread. I +will deck her priests with health, and her holy people shall +rejoice and sing.”</p> +<h2><a name="page184"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +184</span><span class="GutSmall">XVIII.</span><br /> +NATIONAL REWARDS <span class="GutSmall">AND</span> +PUNISHMENTS.</h2> +<blockquote><p>And that which cometh into your mind shall not be +at all; that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families +of the countries, to serve wood and stone. As I live, saith +the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out +arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you. . . . +And ye shall know that I am the Lord.—<span +class="smcap">Ezekiel</span> xx. 32, 33, 38.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A <span class="smcap">father</span> has two ways of showing +his love to his child—by caressing it and by punishing +it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, and ought to +be. Just because he loves his child, just because the thing +he longs most to see is that his child should grow up good, +therefore he must be, and ought to be, angry with it when it does +wrong. Therefore anger against sin is a part of God’s +likeness in us; and he who does not hate sin is not like +God. For if sin is the worst evil—perhaps the only +real evil in the world—and the end of all sin is death and +misery, then to indulge people in sin is to show them the very +worst of cruelty.</p> +<p>To sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, +is mere laziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, +does not show his love to the child by indulging it, all he shows +is, that he himself is carnal and fleshly; that he does not like +to take the trouble of punishing it, or does not like to give +himself the pain of punishing it; that, in short, he had sooner +let his child grow up in bad habits, which must lead to its +misery and ruin for years and years, if not for ever, than make +himself uncomfortable by seeing it uncomfortable for a few +minutes. That is not love, but selfishness. True love +is as determined to punish the sin as it is to forgive the +sinner. Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that we can be angry +without sinning; that is that there is an anger which comes from +hatred of sin and love to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon +tells us to punish our children when they do wrong, and not to +hold our hands for their crying. It is better for them that +they should cry a little now, than have long years of shame and +sorrow hereafter. Therefore, in all countries which are +properly governed, the law punishes in the name of God those who +break the laws of God, and punishes them even with death, for +certain crimes; because it is expedient that one man die for the +people, and that the whole nation perish not.</p> +<p>And this is God’s way of dealing with each and every one +of us. This is God’s way of dealing with Christian +nations, just as it was His way of dealing with the Jews of +old. He never allowed the Jews to prosper in sin. He +punished them at once, and sternly, whenever they rebelled +against Him; not because He hated them, but because He loved +them. His love to them showed itself whenever they went +well with Him, in triumphs and blessings; and when they rebelled +against Him, and broke His laws, He showed that very same love to +them in plague, and war, and famine, and a mighty hand, and fury +poured out. His love had not changed—they had +changed; and now the best and only way of showing His love to +them, was by making them feel His anger; and the best and only +way of being merciful to them, was to show them no +indulgence.</p> +<p>Now the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in +Ezekiel’s time, was to be like the heathen—like the +nations round them. They said to themselves: “These +heathen worship idols, and yet prosper very well. Their +having gods of wood and stone, and their indulging their +passions, and being profligate and filthy, covetous, unjust, and +tyrannical, does not prevent their being just as happy as we +are—ay, and a great deal happier. They have no strict +law of Moses, as we have threatening us and keeping us in awe, +and making us uncomfortable, and telling us at every turn, +‘Thou shalt not do this pleasant thing, and thou shalt not +do that pleasant thing.’ And yet God does not punish +them, as Moses’ law says He will punish us. These +Assyrians and Babylonians above all—they are stronger than +we, and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have +horses and chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which +we Jews cannot get. Instead of being like us, in continual +trouble from earthquakes, and drought, and famine, and war, +attacked, plundered by all the nations round us, one after +another, they go on conquering, and spreading, and succeeding in +all they lay their hand to. Look at Babylon,” said +these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; “a few +generations ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the +greatest, richest, and strongest nation in the whole world. +God has not punished it for worshipping gods of wood and stone, +why should He punish us? These Babylonians have prospered +well enough with their gods, why should not we? Perhaps it +is these very gods of wood and stone who have helped them to +become so great. Why should they not help us? We will +worship them, then, and pray to them. We will not give up +worshipping our own God, of course, lest we should offend Him; +but we will worship Him and the Babylonian idols at the same +time; then we shall be sure to be right if we have Jehovah and +the idols both on our side.” So said the Jews to +themselves. But what did Ezekiel answer them? +“Not so, my foolish countrymen,” said he, “God +will not have it so. He has taught you that these +Babylonian idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught +you that He can and will help you, that He can and will be +everything to you; He has taught you that He alone is God, who +made heaven and earth, who orders all things therein, who alone +gives any people power to get wealth; and He will not have you go +back and fall from that for any appearances or arguments +whatsoever, because it is true. He has chosen you to +witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His name to them, +that they may give up their idols and serve the true God, in whom +alone is strength. He chose you to be these heathens’ +teachers, and He will not let you become their scholars. He +meant the heathen to copy you, and He will not let you copy +them. If He does, in His love and mercy, let these poor +heathen prosper in spite of their idols, what is that to +you? It is still the Lord who makes them prosper, and not +the idols, whether they know it or not. They know no +better, and He will not impute sin to them where He has given +them no law. But you do know better; by a thousand mighty +signs and wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been teaching +you ever since you came up through the Red Sea, that He is +all-sufficient for you, that all power is His in heaven and +earth. He has promised to you, and sworn to you by Himself, +that if you keep His law and walk in His commandments, you shall +want no manner of good thing; that you shall have no cause to +envy these heathen their riches and prosperity, for the Lord will +bless you in house and land, by day and night, at home and +abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire. +Moses’ law tells you this, God’s prophets have been +telling you this, God’s wonderful dealings with you have +been telling you this, that the Lord God is enough for you. +And if you, who are meant to be a nation of kings and priests to +God, to teach all nations and serve solely Him, fancy that you +will be allowed to throw away the high honour which God has put +upon you, and lower yourselves to the follies and sins of these +heathen round you, you are mistaken. You were meant to be +above such folly, you can be above it; and you shall not prosper +by serving God and idols at once; you shall not even prosper by +serving idols alone. God will visit you with a mighty hand, +and with fury poured out, and you shall know that He is the +Lord.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This +it has to do with us—that if God taught the Jews about +Himself, He has taught us still more. If he has shown signs +and wonders of His love, and wrought mightily for the Jews, He +has wrought far more mightily for us; for He spared not His own +Son, but gave Him freely for us. If He promised to teach +the Jews, He has promised still more to teach us; for He has +promised His Holy Spirit freely to young and old, rich and poor, +to as many as ask Him, to guide us into all truth. If he +expected the Jews to set an example to all the nations around, He +expects us to do so still more. And if He punished the +Jews, and drove them back again by shame, and affliction, and +disappointment, whenever they went after other gods, and tried to +be like the heathen around, and despised their high calling, and +their high privileges, He will punish us, and drive us back again +still more fiercely, and still more swiftly. God has called +us to be a nation of Christians, and He will not let us be a +nation of heathens. We are longing to do in these days very +much as the Jews did of old; we are all too apt to say to +ourselves: “Of course we must love God, or He might be +angry with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls +saved? But the old heathen nations, and a great many +nations now, and a great many rich and comfortable people in +England now, too, get on very well without God, by just +worshipping selfishness, and money, and worldly cunning, and why +should not we do the same?—why should we not worship God +and Mammon at once, and serve God on Sundays, and the selfish +ways of the world all the week? Surely then we should be +doubly safe; we should have God and the world on our side both at +once.”</p> +<p>Now, my friends, God will not allow us to succeed on that +plan. We are members of His Church, whose head is Jesus, +who gave Himself for sinners; whose members are all brothers of +His Church, which is held together by self-sacrifice and +fellow-help. If we try to be like the heathens, and fancy +that we can succeed by selfishness, and cunning, and +covetousness, God will not let us fall from the honour which He +has put on us, and trample our blessings under foot. He +will bring our plans to nought. Whomsoever he may let +prosper in sin, He will not let those who have heard the message +prosper in it. Whatever nation He may let become great by +covetousness, and selfish competing and struggling of man against +man, He will not let England grow great by it. He loves her +too well to let her fall so, and cast away her high honour of +being a Christian nation. By great and sore afflictions, by +bringing our cleverest plans to nothing, He will teach us that we +cannot worship God and Mammon at once; that the sure riches, +either for a man or for a nation, are not money, but +righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of +selfish competition which men worship nowadays, and fancy that it +is the secret cause of all plenty, and cheapness, and +civilisation, has no place in the church of Jesus Christ, who +gave up His own life for those who hated Him, and came not to do +His own will, but the will of His Father; not to enable men to go +to heaven after a life of selfishness here; but by the power of +His Spirit—the spirit of love and fellowship to sweep all +selfishness off the face of God’s good earth. By sore +trials and afflictions will God in His mercy teach this to +England, and to every man in England who is deluded into fancying +that he can serve God, and selfishness at once, till we learn +once more, as our forefathers did of old, that He is the +Lord. Because we are His children God will chasten us; +because He receives us, He will scourge us back to Him; because +He has prepared for us things such as eye hath not seen, He will +not let us fill our bellies with the husks which the swine eat, +and like the dumb beasts, snarl and struggle one against the +other for a place at His table, as if it were not wide enough for +all His creatures, and for ten times as many more, forgetting +that He is the giver, and fancying that we are to be the takers, +and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry to snatch it out of our +neighbours’ hands. In one word, God will not give us +false prosperity, as the children of the world, the flesh, and +the devil, because he wishes to give us real prosperity as the +sons of God, in the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died on +the cross for us.</p> +<h2><a name="page191"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +191</span><span class="GutSmall">XIX.</span><br /> +THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM.</h2> +<blockquote><p>And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord +went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and +eighty five thousand: and when they arose in the morning, behold, +they were all dead corpses.—2 <span +class="smcap">Kings</span> xix. 35.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">You</span> heard read in the first lesson +last Sunday afternoon, the threats of the king of Assyria against +Jerusalem, and his defiance of the true Lord whose temple stood +there. In the first lesson for this morning’s +service, you heard of king Hezekiah’s fear and perplexity; +of the Lord’s answer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and +wonderful destruction of the Assyrian army, of which my text +tells you. Of course you have a right to ask: “This +which happened in a foreign country more than two thousand years +ago, what has it to do with us?” And, of course, my +preaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, unless I can +show you what it has to do with us; what lesson we English here, +in the year 1851, are to draw, from the help which God sent the +Jews.</p> +<p>But to find out that, we must hear the whole story. +Before we can find out why God drove the Assyrians out of +Judæa, we must find out, it seems to me, why He sent them, +or allowed them to come into Judæa; and to find out that, +we must first see how the Jews were behaving in those times, and +what sort of state their country was in; and we must find out, +too, what sort of a man this great king of Assyria was, and what +sort of thoughts were in his heart.</p> +<p>Now, by the favour of God, we can find out this. You +will see, in the first thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah’s +prophecies, a full account of the ways of the Jews in that time, +and the reasons why God allowed so fearful a danger to come upon +them. The whole first thirty-five chapters belong to each +other, and are, so to speak, a spiritual history of the Jews, and +the Assyrians, and all the nations round them, for many +years. A spiritual history—that is, not merely a +history of what they did, but of what they were, what was in +their inmost hearts, and thoughts, and spirits; a spiritual +history—that is, not merely of what they thought they were +doing, but of what God saw that they were doing—a history +of God’s mind about them all. Isaiah had God’s +spirit on him; and so he saw what was going on round him in the +same light in which God saw it, and hated it, or praised it, only +according as it was good, and according to the good Spirit of +God, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah’s +history of his own nation, and the nations around him, was very +unlike what they would have written for themselves; just as I am +afraid he would write a very different history of England now, +from what we should write, if we were set to do it. Now +what Isaiah thought of the doings of his countrymen, the Jews, I +must tell you in another sermon, next Sunday. It will be +enough this morning to speak of the king of Assyria.</p> +<p>These kings of Assyria thought themselves the greatest and +strongest beings in the world; they thought that their might was +right, and that they might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and +oppress every country round them for thousands of miles, without +being punished. They thought that they could overcome the +true God of Judæa, as they had conquered the empty idols +and false gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Iva. But Isaiah saw +that they were wrong. He told his countrymen: “These +Assyrian kings are strong, but there is a stronger King than +they, Jehovah the Lord of all the earth. It is He who sent +them to punish nation after nation, Sennacherib is the rod of +Jehovah’s anger; but he is a fool after all; for all his +cunning, for all his armies, he is a fool rushing on his +ruin. He may take Tyre, Damascus, Babylon, Egypt itself, +and cast their gods into the fire, for they are no gods, but the +work of men’s hands, wood and stone; but let him once try +his strength against the real living God; let the axe once begin +to boast itself against Him that hews therewith; and he will find +out that there is one stronger than he, one who has been using +him as a ‘tool, and who will crush him like a moth the +moment he rebels. His father destroyed Samaria and her +idols, but he shall not destroy Jerusalem. He may ravage +Ephraim, and punish the gluttony and drunkenness, and oppression +of the great landlords of Bashan; he may bring misery and +desolation through the length and breadth of the land: there is +reason, and reason but too good for that: but Jerusalem, the +place where God’s honour dwells, the temple without idols, +which is the sign that Jehovah is a living God, against it he +shall not cast up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.” +“I know,” said Isaiah, “what he is saying of +himself, this proud king of Assyria: but this is what God says of +him, that he is only a puppet, a tool in the hand of God, to +punish these wicked nations whom he is conquering one by one, and +us Jews among the rest. He, this proud king of Assyria, +thinks that he is the chosen favourite of the sun, and the moon, +and the stars, whom, in his folly, he worships as gods. He +will find out who is the real Lord of the earth; he will find out +that this great world is ruled by that very God of Israel whom he +despises. He will find that there is something in this +earth, of which he fancies himself lord and master, which is too +strong for him, which will obey God, and not him. God rules +the earth, and God rules Tophet, and the great fire-kingdoms +which boil and blaze for ever in the bowels of the earth, and +burst up from time to time in earthquakes and burning mountains; +and God has ordained that they shall conquer this proud king of +Assyria, though we Jews are too weak and cowardly, and split up +into parties by our wickedness, to make a stand against +him.” . . .</p> +<p>This great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, +which would destroy the king of Assyria’s army, was to +happen, Isaiah says, close to Jerusalem, nay, it was to shake +Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem was to be brought to great +misery by everlasting burnings, as well as by being besieged by +the Assyrians; and yet the very shaking of the earth and eruption +of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be the cause of +its deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot doubt +his words came true. For this may explain to us the way in +which the king of Assyria’s army was destroyed. The +text says, that when they encamped near Jerusalem the messenger +of the Lord went out, and slew in one night one hundred and +eighty thousand of them, who were all found dead in the +morning. How they were killed we cannot exactly tell, most +likely by a stream of poisonous vapour, such as often comes forth +out of the ground during earthquakes and eruptions of burning +mountains, and kills all men and animals who breathe it. +That this was the way that this great army was destroyed, I have +little doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah says in his +prophecies of God’s “sending a blast” upon the +king of Assyria, but because it was just like the old lesson +which God had been teaching the Jews all along, that the earth +and all in it was His property, and obeyed Him. For what +could teach them that more strongly than to see that the +earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on earth the +most awful and most murderous, the very things against which man +has no defence, obeyed God; burst forth when He chose, and did +His work as He willed? For man can conquer almost +everything in the world except these burning mountains and +earthquakes. He can sail over the raging sea in his ships; +he can till the most barren soils; he can provide against famine, +rain, and cold, ay, against the thunder itself: but the +earthquakes alone are too strong for him. Against them no +cunning or strength of man is of any use. Without warning, +they make the solid ground under his feet heave, and reel, and +sink, hurling down whole towns in a moment, and burying the +inhabitants under the ruins, as an earthquake did in Italy only a +month ago. Or they pour forth streams of fire, clouds of +dust, brimstone, and poisonous vapour, destroying for miles +around the woods and crops, farms and cities, and burying them +deep in ashes, as they have done again and again, both in Italy +and Iceland, and in South America, even during the last few +years. How can man stand against them? What greater +warning or lesson to him than they, that God is stronger than +man; that the earth is not man’s property, and will not +obey him, but only the God who made it? Now that was just +what God intended to teach the Jews all along; that the earth and +heaven belonged to Him and obeyed Him; that they were not to +worship the sun and stars, as the Assyrians and Canaanites did, +nor the earth and the rivers as the Egyptians did: but to worship +the God who made sun and stars, earth and rivers, and to put +their trust in Him to guide all heaven and earth aright; and to +make all things, sun, earth, and weather, ay, and the very +burning mountains and earthquakes, work together for good for +them if they loved God. Therefore it was that God gave His +law to Moses on the burning mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and +lightnings, and earthquakes, to show them that the lightnings and +the mountains obeyed Him. Therefore it was that the +earthquake opened the ground and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and +Abiram, who rebelled against Moses. Therefore it was that +God once used an earthquake and eruption to preserve David from +his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And all +through David’s Psalms we find how well he had learnt this +great lesson which God had taught him. Again and again we +find verses which show that he knew well enough who was the Lord +of all the earth.</p> +<p>In Isaiah’s time, it seems, God taught the Jews once +more the same thing. He taught them, and the proud king of +Assyria, once and for all, that He was indeed the Lord—Lord +of all nations, and King of kings, and also Lord of the earth, +and all that therein is. He taught it to the poor oppressed +Jews by that miraculous deliverance. He taught it to the +cruel invading king by that miraculous destruction. Just in +the height of his glory, after he had conquered almost every +nation in the east, and overcome the whole of Judæa, except +that one small city of Jerusalem, Sennacherib’s great army +was swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in a single night, +and utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his own +land; and even there he found that the God of Israel had followed +him—that the idols whom he worshipped could not save him +from the wrath of that God to whom Assyria, just as much as +Jerusalem, belonged. For as he was worshipping in the house +of Nisroch his god, his two sons smote him with the sword, and +there was an end of all his pride and conquests. . . . Now +Nisroch was the name of a star—the star which we call the +planet Saturn; and the Assyrians fancied in their folly, that +whosoever worshipped any particular star, that star would protect +and help him. . . . But, alas for the king of Assyria, +there was One above who had made the stars, and from whose +vengeance the stars could not save him; and so even while he was +worshipping, and praying to, this favourite star of his which +could not hear him, he fell dead, a murdered man, and found out +too late how true were the great words of Isaiah when he +prophesied against him.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to +learn, and which the king of Assyria had to learn, and which we +have to learn also; and which God will, in His great mercy, teach +us over and over again by bitter trials whensoever we forget it; +that The Lord is King; that He is near us, living for ever, +all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving; that those who really trust +in Him shall never be confounded; that those who trust in +themselves are trying their paltry strength against the God who +made heaven and earth, and will surely find out their own +weakness, just when they fancy themselves most successful. +So it was in Hezekiah’s time; so it is now, hard as it may +be to us to believe it. The Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, who +saved Jerusalem from the Assyrians, He still is King, let the +earth be never so unquiet. And all men, or governments, or +doctrines, or ways of thinking and behaving, which are contrary +to His will, or even pretend that they can do without Him, will +as surely come to nought as that great and terrible king of +Assyria. Though man be too weak to put them down, Christ is +not. Though man neglect to put them down, Christ will +not. If man dare not fight on the Lord’s side against +sin and evil, the Lord’s earth will fight for Him. +Storm and tempest, blight and famine, earthquakes and burning +mountains, will do His work, if nothing else will. As He +said Himself, if man stops praising Him, the very stones will cry +out, and own Him as their King. Not that the blessed Lord +is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; God forbid! He is +boundless pity, and love, and mercy. But it is just because +He is perfect love and pity that He hates sin, which makes all +the misery upon earth. He hates it, and he fights against +it for ever; lovingly at first, that He may lead sinners to +repentance; for He wills the death of none, but rather that all +should come to repentance. But if a man will not turn, He +will whet his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let him be +as great as the king of Assyria, he must down. For the Lord +will have none guide His world but Himself, because none but He +will ever guide it on the right path. Yes—but what a +glorious thought, that He will guide it, and us, on that right +path. Oh blessed news for all who are in sorrow and +perplexity! Whatsoever it is that ails you—and who is +there, young or old, rich or poor, who has not their secret +ailments at heart?—whatsoever ails you, whatsoever +terrifies you, whatsoever tempts you, trust in the same Lord who +delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians, and He will deliver +you. He will never suffer you to be tempted above that you +are able, but will with the temptation also make a way for you to +escape, that you may be able to bear it. This has been His +loving way from the beginning, and this will be His way until the +day when He wipes away tears from all eyes.</p> +<h2><a name="page199"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +199</span><span class="GutSmall">XX.</span><br /> +PROFESSION AND PRACTICE.</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Though they say, +“The Lord liveth,” surely they swear +falsely.—<span class="smcap">Jeremiah</span> v. 2.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">spoke</span> last Sunday morning of the +wonderful way in which the Lord delivered the Jews from the +Assyrian army, and I promised to try and explain to you this +morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the Assyrians to come +into Judæa, and ravage the whole country except the one +small city of Jerusalem.</p> +<p>My text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the +prophet Jeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason +to us.</p> +<p>For though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after +Isaiah, yet he had much the same message from God to give, and +much the same sins round him to rebuke. For the Jews were +always, as the Bible calls them, “a backsliding +people;” and, as the years ran on, and they began to forget +their great deliverance from the Assyrians, they slid back into +the very same wrong state of mind in which they were in +Isaiah’s time, and for which God punished them by that +terrible invasion.</p> +<p>Now, what was this?</p> +<p>One very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when +the Assyrians came into Judæa, the Jews were <i>not</i> +given up to worshipping false gods. On the contrary, we +find, both from the book of Kings and the book of Chronicles, +that a great reform in religion had taken place among them a few +years before. Their king Hezekiah, in the very first year +of his reign, removed the high places, and cut down the groves +(which are said to have been carved idols meant to represent the +stars of heaven), and even broke in pieces the brazen serpent +which Moses had made, because the Jews had begun to worship it +for an idol. He trusted in the Lord God, and obeyed Him, +more than any king of Judah. He restored the worship of the +true God in the temple, according to the law of Moses, with such +pomp and glory as had never been seen since Solomon’s +time. And not only did he turn to the true God, but his +people also. From the account which we find in Chronicles, +they seemed to have joined him in the good work. They +offered sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they +have been guilty, in leaving the true God for idols; and all +other kinds of offerings freely and willingly. “And +Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people that God had prepared the +people. Moreover, Hezekiah called all the men in +Judæa up to Jerusalem, to keep the passover according to +the law of Moses,” which they had neglected to do for many +years, and the people answered his call and “came, and kept +the feast at Jerusalem seven days, with joy and great gladness, +offering peace-offerings, and making confession to the God of +their fathers. So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for +since the time of Solomon there was not the like in +Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites arose, and +blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer +came up to the Lord’s holy dwelling, even to +heaven.” And when it was all finished, the people +went out of their own accord, and destroyed utterly all the +idols, and high places, and altars throughout the land, and +returned to their houses in peace.</p> +<p>Now does not all this sound very satisfactory and +excellent? What better state of mind could people be +in? What a wonderful reform, and spread of true +religion! The only thing like it, that we know, is the +wonderful reform and spread of religion in England in the last +sixty years, after all the ungodliness and wickedness that went +on from the year 1660 to the time of the French war; the building +of churches, the founding of schools, the spread of Bibles, and +tracts, and the wonderful increase of gospel preachers, so that +every old man will tell you, that religion is talked about and +written about now, a thousand times more than when he was a +boy. Indeed, unless a man makes a profession of some sort +of religion or other, nowadays, he can hardly hope to rise in the +world, so religious are we English become.</p> +<p>Now let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful +spread of true religion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may +see what he would think of ours now, if he were alive. His +opinion is sure to be the right one. His rules can never +fail, for he was an inspired prophet, and saw things as they are, +as God sees them; and therefore his rules will hold good for +ever. Let us see what they were.</p> +<p>The first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is called +“The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw +concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, +Ahaz, and Hezekiah.” Now this is one prophecy by +itself, in the shape of a poem; for in the old Hebrew it is +written in regular verses. The second chapter begins with +another heading, and is the beginning of a different poem; so +that this first chapter is, as it were, a summing up of all that +he is going to say afterwards; a short account of the state of +the Jews for more than forty years. And what is more, this +first chapter of Isaiah must have been written in the reign of +Hezekiah, in those very religious days of which I was just +speaking; for it says that the country was desolate, and +Jerusalem alone left. And this never happened during +Isaiah’s lifetime, till the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, +that is, till this great spread of the true religion had been +going on for thirteen years. Now what was Isaiah’s +vision? What did he, being taught by God’s Spirit, +<i>see</i> was God’s opinion of these religious Jews? +Listen, my friends, and take it solemnly to heart!</p> +<p>“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear +unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what +purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the +Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of +fed beasts: and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of +lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to appear before me, +who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? +Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; +the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot +away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your +new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a +trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye +spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; yea, when +ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of +blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your +doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well, +seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead +for the widow. . . . How is the faithful city become an +harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but +now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed +with water; thy princes are rebellious, and companions of +thieves; every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: +they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the +widow come unto them. Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord +of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine +adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.” . . .</p> +<p>Again, I say, my friends, listen to it, and take it solemnly +to heart! That is God’s opinion of religion, even the +truest and soundest in worship and doctrine, when it is without +godliness, without holiness; when it goes in hand with injustice, +and covetousness, and falsehood, and cheating, and oppression, +and neglect of the poor, and keeping company with the wicked, +because it is profitable; in short, when it is like too much of +the religion which we see around us in the world at this day.</p> +<p>Yes—it was of no use holding to the letter of the law +while they forgot its spirit. God had commanded +church-going, and woe to those, then or now, who neglect +it. Yet the Lord asks, “Who hath required this at +your hands, to tread my courts?”. . . He had +commanded the Sabbath-day to be kept holy; and woe to those, then +or now, who neglect it. Yet He says, “Your Sabbaths I +cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn +meeting.” The Lord had appointed feasts: and yet He +says that His soul hated them; they were a trouble to Him; He was +weary to bear them. The Lord had commanded prayer; and woe +to those, then or now, in England, as in Judæa, who neglect +to pray. And yet He says: “When ye spread forth your +hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many +prayers, I will not hear.” And why?—He himself +condescends to tell them the reason, which they ought to have +known for themselves: “Because,” He says, “your +hands are full of blood.” This was the reason why all +their religiousness, and orthodoxy, and church-going, and +praying, was only disgusting to God; because there was no +righteousness with it. Their faith was only a dead, rotten, +sham faith, for it brought forth no fruits of justice and love; +and their religion was only hypocrisy, for it did not make them +holy. No doubt they thought themselves pious and sincere +enough; no doubt they thought that they were pleasing God +perfectly, and giving Him all that He could fairly ask of them; +no doubt they were fiercely offended at Isaiah’s message to +them; no doubt they could not understand what he meant by calling +them a hypocritical nation, a second Sodom and Gomorrah, while +they were destroying idols, and keeping the law of Moses, and +worshipping God more earnestly than He had been worshipped since +Solomon’s time. But so it was. That was the +message of God to them; that was the vision of Isaiah concerning +them; that there was no soundness in the whole of the nation, +“from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, +nothing but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying +sores”—that is, that the whole heart and conscience, +and ways of thinking, were utterly rotten, and abominable in the +sight of God, even while they were holding the true doctrines +about them, and keeping up the pure worship of Him. This, +says the Lord, is not the way to please me. “He hath +showed thee, oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord +require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk +humbly with thy God?” To do justly, to love mercy, +and then to walk humbly, sure that when you seem to have done all +your duty, you have left only too much of it undone; even as St. +Paul felt when he said, that though he knew nothing against +himself; though he could not recollect a single thing in which he +had failed of his duty to the Corinthians, yet that did not +justify him. “For he that judgeth me,” he says, +“is the Lord.” He sees deeper than I can; and +He, alas! may take a very different view of my conduct from what +I do; and this life of mine, which looks to me, from my +ignorance, so spotless and perfect, may be, in His eyes, full of +sins, and weakness, and neglects, and shameful follies. +“To walk humbly with God.” Not to believe that +because you read the Bible, and have heard the gospel, and are +sharp at finding out false doctrine in preachers, and belong to +the Church of England, that therefore you know all about God, and +can look down upon poor papists, and heathens, and say: +“This people, which knoweth not the law, is accursed: but +<i>we</i> are enlightened, we understand the whole Bible, we know +everything about God’s will, and man’s duty; and +whosoever differs from us, or pretends to teach us anything new +about God, must be wrong.” Not to do so, my friends, +but to believe what St. Paul tells us solemnly, “That if +any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he +ought to know”—to believe that the Great God, and the +will of God, and the love of God, and the mystery of Redemption, +and the treasures of wisdom which are in His Bible, are, as St. +Paul told you, boundless, like a living well, which can never be +fathomed, or drawn dry, but fills again with fresh water as fast +as you draw from it. That is walking humbly with God; and +those who do not do so, but like the Pharisees of old, believe +that they have all knowledge, and can understand all the +mysteries of the Bible, and go through the world, despising and +cursing all parties but their own—let them beware, lest the +Lord be saying of them, as He said of the church of Sardis, of +old: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and +have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and +miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”</p> +<p>How is this? What is this strange thing, without which +even the true knowledge of doctrine is of no use; which, if a +man, or a nation has not, he is poor, and blind, and wretched, +and naked in soul, in spite of all his religion? Isaiah +will tell us—What did he say to the Jews in his day?</p> +<p>“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your +doings from before my eyes. Do justice to the fatherless, +and relieve the widow!” “Do that,” says +the Lord, “and then your repentance will be sincere. +Church building and church going are well—but they are not +repentance—churches are not souls. I ask you for your +hearts, and you give me fine stones and fine words. I want +souls—I want <i>your</i> souls—I want you to turn to +me. And what am I? saith the Lord. I am justice, I am +love, I am the God of the oppressed, the fatherless, the +widow.—That is my character. Turn to justice, turn to +love, turn to mercy; long to be made just, and loving, and +merciful; see that your sin has been just this, and nothing else, +that you have been unjust, unloving, unmerciful. Repent for +your neglect and cruelty, and repent in dust and ashes, when you +see what wretched hypocrites you really are. And then, my +boundless mercy and pardon shall be open to you. As you +wish to be to me, so will I be to you; if you wish to become +merciful, you shall taste my mercy; if you wish to become loving +to others, you shall find that I love you; if you wish to become +just, you shall find that I am just, just to deal by you as you +deal by others; faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and +to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then, all +shall be forgiven and forgotten; “though your sins be as +scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like +crimson, they shall be as wool.”</p> +<p>Surely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; +for this is the sin which most destroys all men and +nations—high religious profession with an ungodly, +covetous, and selfish life. It is the worst and most +dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which eats out +the heart and life without giving pain; so that the sick man +never suspects that anything is the matter with him, till he +finds himself, to his astonishment, at the point of death. +So it was with the Jews, three times in their history. In +the time of Isaiah, under King Hezekiah; in the time of Jeremiah, +under King Josiah; and last and worst of all, in the time of +Jesus Christ. At each of these three times the Jews were +high religious professors, and yet at each of these three times +they were abominable before God, and on the brink of ruin. +In Isaiah’s time their eyes seemed to have been opened at +last to their own sins. Their fearful danger, and wonderful +deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard last Sunday, +seem to have done that for them; as God intended it should. +During the latter part of Hezekiah’s reign they seemed to +have turned to God with their hearts, and not with their lips +only; and Isaiah can find no words to express the delight which +the blessed change gives him. Nevertheless, they soon fell +back again into idolatry; and then there was another outward +lip-reformation under the good King Josiah; and Jeremiah had to +give them exactly the same warning which Isaiah had given them +nearly a hundred years before. But that time, alas! they +would not take the warning; and then all the evil which had been +prophesied against them came on them. From hypocritical +profession, they fell back again into their old idolatry; their +covetousness, selfishness, party-quarrels, and profligate lives +made them too weak and rotten to stand against Nebuchadnezzar, +King of Babylon, when he attacked them; and Jerusalem was +miserably destroyed, the temple burnt, and the Jews carried +captives to Babylon. There they repented in bitter sorrow +and slavery; and God allowed them after seventy years to return +to their own land. Then at first they seemed to be a really +converted people, and to be worshipping God in spirit and in +truth. They never again fell back into the idolatry of the +heathen. So far from it, they became the greatest possible +haters of it; they went on keeping the law of God with the utmost +possible strictness, even to the day when the Lord Jesus appeared +among them. Their religious people, the Scribes and +Pharisees, were the most strict, moral, devout people of the +whole world. They worshipped the very words and letters of +the Bible; their thoughts seemed filled with nothing but God and +the service of God: and yet the Lord Jesus told them that they +were in a worse state, greater sinners in the sight of God, than +they had ever been; that they, who hated idolatry, were filling +up the measure of their idolatrous forefathers’ iniquity; +that the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth was to +fall on them; that they were a race of serpents, a generation of +vipers; and that even He did not see how they could escape the +damnation of hell. And they proved how true His words were, +by crucifying the very Lord of whom their much-prized Scriptures +bore witness, whom they pretended to worship day and night +continually; and received the just reward of their deeds in forty +years of sedition, bloodshed, and misery, which ended by the +Romans coming and sweeping the nation of the Jews from off the +face of the earth.</p> +<p>So much for profession without practice. So much for +true doctrine with dishonest and unholy lives. So much for +outward respectability with inward sinfulness. So much for +hating idolatry, while all the while men’s hearts are far +from God!</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, let us all search our hearts carefully in +these times of high profession and low practice; lest we be +adding our drop of hypocrisy to the great flood of it which now +stifles this land of England, and so fall into the same +condemnation as the Jews of old, in spite of far nobler examples, +brighter and wider light, and more wonderful and bounteous +blessings.</p> +<h2><a name="page210"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +210</span><span class="GutSmall">XXI.</span><br /> +THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT.</h2> +<blockquote><p>But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord +delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the men servants and +the maid servants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken; the +lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for +him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him +asunder, and will appoint him his portion with the +unbelievers.—<span class="smcap">Luke</span> xii. 45, +46.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">But</span> why with the unbelievers? +The man had not disbelieved that he had any Lord at all; he had +only believed that his Lord delayed his coming. And why was +he to be put with those who do not believe in him at all? +This is a very fearful question, friends, for us, when we think +how it is the fashion among us now, to believe that our Lord +delays His coming.—And surely most of us do believe +that? For is it not our notion that, when the Lord Jesus +ascended up to heaven, He went away a great distance off, perhaps +millions of miles beyond the stars; and that He will not come +back again till the last—which, for aught we know, and as +we rather expect, may not happen for hundreds or thousands of +years to come? Is not that most people’s notion, rich +as well as poor? And if that is not believing that our Lord +delays His coming, what is?</p> +<p>But, you may answer, the Creed says plainly, that He ascended +into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. Ah! my +friends, those great words of the Creed which you take into your +lips every Sunday, mean the very opposite to what most people +fancy. They do not say, “The Lord Jesus has left this +poor earth to itself and its misery:” but they say, +“Lo, He is with you, even to the end of the +world.” True, He is ascended into heaven. And +how far off is heaven?—for so far off is the Lord Jesus, +and no farther. Not so far off, my friends, after all, if +you knew where to find it. Truly said the great and good +poet, now gone home to his reward:</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Heaven lies about us in +our infancy.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And if we lose sight of it as we grow up to be men and women, +it is not because heaven goes farther off, but because we grow +less heavenly. Even now, so close is heaven to us, that any +one of us might enter into heaven this moment, without stirring +from his seat. One real cry from the depths of your +heart—“Father, forgive thy sinful +child!”—one real feeling of your own worthlessness, +and weakness, and emptiness, and of God’s righteousness, +and love, and mercy, ready for you—and you are in heaven +there and then, as near the feet of the blessed Lord Jesus, as +Mary Magdalen was, when she tried to clasp them in the +garden. I am serious, my friends; I am not given to talk +fine figures of poetry; I am talking sober, straightforward, +literal truth. And the Lord sits at God’s right hand +too? you believe that? Then how far off is God?—for +as far off as God is, so far off is the Lord Jesus, and no +farther. What says St. Paul? That “God is not +far off from any one of us—for in Him we live, and move, +and have our being” . . . IN Him . . . . How far off +is that? And is not God everywhere, if indeed we can say +that He is any where? Then the Lord Jesus, who is at +God’s right hand, is everywhere also—here, now, with +us this day. One would have thought that there was no need +to prove that by argument, considering that His own blessed lips +told us: “Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the +world;” and again: “Wheresoever two or three are +gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of +them.” And this is the Lord whom people fancy is gone +away far above the stars, till the end of time! Oh, my +friends, rather bow your heads before Him here this moment. +For here He is among us now, listening to every thought of our +poor sinful hearts. . . . He is where God is—God +<i>in</i> whom we live, and move, and have our being—and +that is everywhere. Do you wish Him to be any nearer, my +friends? Or do you—do you—take care what your +hearts answer, for He is watching them—do you in the depth +of your hearts wish that He were a little farther off? Does +the notion of His being here on this earth, watching and +interfering (as we call it nowadays in our atheism) with us and +everything, seem unpleasant and burdensome? Is it more +comfortable to you to think that He is away far up beyond the +stars? Do you feel the lighter and freer for fancying that +He will not visit the earth for many a year to come? In +short, is it in your <i>hearts</i> that you are saying, The Lord +delays His coming?</p> +<p>That is a very important question. For mind, a pious man +might be, as many a pious man has been in these days, deceived by +bad teaching into the notion that Jesus Christ was gone far +away. But if he were a truly pious man, if he truly loved +the Lord, that would be a painful thought—as I should have +fancied, an unbearable thought—to him, when he looked out +upon this poor miserable, confused world. He would be +crying night and day: “Oh, that thou wouldest rend the +heavens and come down!” He would be in an agony of +pity for this poor deserted earth, and of longing for the Saviour +of it to come back and save it. He would never have a +moment’s peace of mind till he had either seen the Lord +come back again in His glory, or till he had found out—what +I am sure the blessed Lord would teach him as a reward for his +love—that it was all a dream and a nightmare, and that the +Lord of the earth was in the earth, and close to him, all along; +only that his weak eyes were held so that he did not know the +Lord and the Lord’s works when he saw them.</p> +<p>But that was not the temper of this servant in the +Lord’s parable. I am afraid it is by no means the +temper of many of us nowadays. The servant said <i>in his +heart</i>, that his master would be long away. It was his +heart put the thought into his head. He took to the notion +<i>heartily</i>, as we say, because he was glad to believe it was +true; glad to think that his master would not come to +“interfere” with him; and that in the meantime he +might be lord and master himself, and treat everyone in the house +as if he himself was the owner of it, and tyrannise over his +fellow-servants, and enjoy himself in luxury and good +living. So says David of the fool: “The fool hath +said in his heart, there is no God;” his heart puts that +thought into his head. He wishes to believe that there is +no God; and when there is a will there is a way; and he soon +finds out reasons and arguments enough to prove what he is so +very anxious to prove.</p> +<p>Now, my friends, I am afraid that there is not so much +difference as people fancy, between the fool who says in his +heart, “There is no God,” and the fool who says in +his heart, “My master delays His +coming.”—“God has left the world to us, and we +must shift for ourselves in it.” The man who likes to +be what St. Paul calls “without God in the world,” is +he so very much wiser than the man who likes to have no God at +all? St. James did not think so; for what does he say: +“Thou believest that there is one God? Thou doest +well—the devils also believe and tremble.” They +know as much as that; but it does them no good—only +increases their fear. “But wilt thou know, oh! vain +man, that faith without works,” believing without doing, +“is dead?” And are not too many, as I said just +now, afraid of the thought of God; so afraid of it that they wish +to allow the Son of God as little share as possible in the +management of this world? Have not too many a belief +without works; a mere belief that there is one God and not two, +which hardly, from one year’s end to another, makes them do +one single thing which they would not have done if they had +believed that there was no God at all? Fear of the law, +fear of the policeman, fear of losing their work or their custom; +fear of losing their neighbour’s good word—that is +what keeps most people from breaking loose. There is not +much of the fear of God in that, or the love of God either as far +as I can see. They go through life as if they had made a +covenant with God, that He should have his own way in the world +to come, if He would only let them have their way in this +world. Oh! my friends, my friends, do you think God is God +of the next world and not of this also? Do you think the +kingdom, and the power, and the glory will be His a great many +hundreds of years hence, in what you call heaven; and will not +see what every page of Scripture tells you, what you yourself say +every time you repeat the Lord’s Prayer, that the Kingdom, +and the Power and the Glory are His now, here in this life, and +that He has committed all things to His Son Jesus Christ and +given the power into His hand, that He may rule this earth in +righteousness now, here, in this life, and conquer back for God +one by one, if it be possible, every creature upon earth? +So says the Bible—and people profess nowadays to believe +their Bibles. My friends, too many, nowadays, while they +profess very loudly to believe what the Bible says, only believe +what their favourite teachers tell them that the Bible +says. If they really read their Bibles for themselves, and +took God at His word, there would be less tyrannising of one man +over another, less grinding down of men by masters, and of men by +each other—for the poor are often very hard on each other +in England, now, my friends—very envious and spiteful, and +slanderous about each other. They say that dog won’t +eat dog—yet how many a poor man grudges and supplants his +neighbour, and tries to get into his place and beat him down in +his wages? And there are those who call themselves learned +men, who tell the poor that that is God’s will, and the way +by which God intends them to prosper. If those men believed +their Bibles, they would be repenting in sackcloth and ashes for +having preached such a devil’s sermon to God’s +children. If men really read their Bibles, there would be +less eating and drinking with the drunken; less idleness and +luxury among the rich; less fancying that a man has a right to do +what he likes with his own, because all men would know that they +were only the Lord’s stewards, bound to give an account to +him of the good which they had done with what he has lent +them. There would be fewer parents fancying that they can +tyrannise over their children, bringing them up as heathens for +the sake of the few pence they earn; using bad language, and +doing shameful things before them, which they dared not do if +they recollected that the Lord was looking on; beating and +scolding them as if they were brutes or slaves, to save +themselves the trouble of teaching them gently what the poor +little creatures cannot know without being taught: and most +shameful of all, robbing the poor children of their little +earnings to spend it themselves in drunkenness. Ah, blessed +Lord! if people did but know how near Thou wert to them, all that +would vanish out of England, as the night clouds vanish away +before the sun!</p> +<p>And He is near, my friends: He is watching; He is governing; +He is at hand: and in this life or in the life to come, forget +Him as we choose, He will make us know plain enough, and without +any doubt whatsoever, that He is the Lord.</p> +<p>He has fulfilled this awful parable of his about the +unfaithful servant already; many a time, against many a man, many +a great king, and prince, and nation; and he will fulfil it +against each and every man, from the nobleman in his castle to +the labourer in his cottage, who says in his heart, “My +Lord delays his coming,” and begins to tyrannise over those +who are weaker than himself, and to enjoy himself as he likes, +and forget that he is not his own, but bought with the price of +Christ’s blood, and bound to work for Christ’s +kingdom and glory.</p> +<p>So he punished the popes of Rome, three hundred years +ago. When all the nations in Europe were listening to them +and obeying them, and they had put into their hands by God a +greater power of doing good than He ever gave to any human being +before or since, what did they do? Instead of using their +power for Christ, they used it for themselves. Instead of +preaching to all nations the good news that Christ the Son of God +was their King, they said: “I, the pope, am your +king. Christ is gone far away into heaven, and has +committed all power on earth to us; we are Christ’s vicars; +we are in Christ’s place; He has entrusted to our keeping +all the treasures of His merits and His grace, and no one can get +any blessing from Christ, unless we choose to give it +him.” So they said in their hearts just what the +foolish servant in the parable said: and fancying that they were +lords and masters, naturally enough went on to behave as such; to +beat the men-servants and maid-servants, that is, to oppress and +tyrannise over the bodies and minds and consciences of men, and +women too, God knows; and to eat and drink with the drunken, to +live in riot and debauchery. But the Lord was not so far +off as those foolish popes fancied. And in an hour when +they were not aware, He came and cut them asunder. He +snatched from them one-half of the nations of Europe, and England +among the rest; He punished them by doubt, ignorance, confusion, +and utter blindness, and appointed them their portion among the +unbelievers in such terrible earnest, that to this very day, to +judge by the things which they say and do, it is difficult to +persuade ourselves that the popes really believe in any God at +all.</p> +<p>So He did, only three years ago, to many kings and princes on +the Continent. <a name="citation217"></a><a href="#footnote217" +class="citation">[217]</a> They professed to be Christians; +but they had forgotten that they were Christ’s stewards, +that all their power came from Him, and that he had given it them +only to use for the good of their subjects. And they too +went on saying: “The Lord delays His coming, we are +rulers in this world, and God is ruler in the world to +come.” So they, too, oppressed their subjects, and +lived in ease on what they wrung out of the poor wretches below +them. But the Lord was nearer them, too, than they fancied; +and all at once—as they were fancying themselves all safe +and prosperous, and saying, “We are those who ought to +speak, who is Lord over us?”—their fool’s +paradise crumbled from under their feet. A few paltry mobs +of foolish starving people, without weapons, without leaders, +without good counsel to guide them, rose against them. And +what did they do? They might have crushed down the rebels +most of them, in a week, if they had had courage. And in +the only country where the rebels were really strong, that is, in +Austria, all might have been quiet again at once, if the king had +only had the heart to do common justice, and keep his own solemn +oaths. But no—the terror of the Lord came upon +them. He most truly cut them in sunder. They were +every man of a different mind, and none of them in the same mind +a day together; they became utterly conscience-stricken, +terrified, perplexed, at their wit’s end, not having +courage or determination to do anything, or even to do nothing, +and fled shamefully away one after another, to their everlasting +disgrace. And those of them who have got back their power +since are showing sadly enough, by their obstinate folly and +wickedness, that the Lord has appointed them their portion with +the unbelievers, and left them to fill up the measure of their +iniquity, and drink deep the cup of wrath which is in His hand, +full and mixed for those who forget God.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, let us lay these things solemnly to +heart. Do not fancy that the Lord will punish the wicked +great, and forget the wicked small. In His sight there is +neither great nor small; all are small enough for Him to crush +like the moth; and all are too great to be overlooked, or +forgotten by Him, without whom not a sparrow falls to the +ground. Again I say, my friends, let us lay His parable to +heart. Let us who have property, and station, and +education, never forget who has given it us, and for whom we must +use it. Let us never forget that to whom much is given, of +them will much be required. Let us pray to the Lord daily +to write upon our inmost hearts those solemn words: “Who +made thee to differ from another; and what hast thou which thou +didst not receive?” Let us look on our servants, our +labourers, on every human being over whom we have any influence, +as weaker brothers whom God has commanded us to help, teach, and +guide in body, mind, and spirit, not that we may make them our +slaves, but make them free, manful, self-helping, and in due time +independent of us and of everyone except God.</p> +<p>And you young people, who have no authority over anyone, but +over your own bodies; to whom the Lord has given little or +nothing to manage and take care of except your own health and +strength—do not let the devil tempt you to believe that +that health and strength is your own property, to do what you +like with. It belongs to the Lord who died for you, and He +will require an account from you how you have used it. Do +not let the devil tempt you to believe that the Lord delays His +coming to you—that you may do what you like now, in the +prime of your years, and that it will be time enough to think +about God and religion when God visits you with cares, and +sickness, and old age. That is the fancy of too many; but +it will surely turn out to be a mistake. Those who misuse +their youth, and health, and strength, in tyrannising over those +who are weaker than themselves, and laughing at those who are not +as clever as themselves, and eating and drinking with the +drunken—the Lord will come to them in an hour when they are +not aware, and cut them asunder, in some way or other, by loss of +work, or poverty, or sickness, or doubt and confusion, and bitter +shame and perplexity of mind; till they find out, poor things, +that they have been living like the unbelievers all their youth, +without God in the world, while God’s love and God’s +teaching, and God’s happiness was ready for them; and have +to go back again to their Father and their Lord, and cry: +“Father, we have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and +are no more worthy to be called Thy children!” Oh, +you who have been fancying that the Lord was gone far away, and +that you had a right to do what you liked with the powers which +He has given you, go back to Him, now at once, and confess that +you, and all belonging to you, belong to Him, and ask Him to +teach you how to use it aright. Ask Him to teach you how to +please Him with it, and not yourselves only. Ask Him to +teach you how to do good to all around you, and not merely to do +what you like. Ask Him to show you how to do your duty to +Him, and to your neighbours, for whom He died on the cross, in +that station of life to which He has called you. Ask Him to +show you how to use your property, your knowledge, your business, +your strength, your health, so that you may be a blessing and a +help to those whom He blesses and helps, and who, He wishes, +should bless and help each other. Go back to Him at once, +my friends. You will not have far to go, seeing that He is +now even among us here hearing my clumsy words; and I do hope, +and trust, and pray, bringing them home to some of your hearts +with that spirit and power of His, which is like a two-edged +sword, piercing to the very depths of a man’s heart, and +showing him how ugly it is—and how noble the Lord will make +it, if he will but repent and pray to Him who never cast out any +that came to Him.</p> +<h2><a name="page221"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +221</span><span class="GutSmall">XXII.</span><br /> +THE WAY TO WEALTH.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye +upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and +the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the +Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he +will abundantly pardon.—<span class="smcap">Isaiah</span> +lv. 6, 7.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> of you, surely, while the +first lesson was being read this morning, must have felt the +beauty of it; and if you were thoughtful, perplexed, weary, sad +at heart, perhaps you felt that it was more than +beautiful—that it was full of comfort. And so it +should be full of comfort to you, my friends. God meant it +to give you comfort. For though it was written and spoken +by a man of like passions with ourselves, it was just as truly +written and spoken by God, who made heaven and earth. It is +true and everlasting, the message which it brings, and like all +true and everlasting words, it is the voice of God who cannot +change; who makes no difference between Jew and Gentile, between +us in England here, and nations which perished hundreds of years +ago.</p> +<p>And what is its message? What was God’s word to +the old Jews, among all their sin, and sorrow, and labour?</p> +<p>Is it the message of a stern judge, saying: “Pay me that +thou owest, to the uttermost farthing; and if you cannot do that, +fret and torment yourselves in shame and terror here on earth, +for all your sins, if, possibly, you may chance to change my +mind, and find forgiveness at the last day?”</p> +<p>Is it the message of a proud tyrant, saying: “If you are +miserable, and fallen, and sinful, what is that to me? I am +perfect, blest, contented with myself, alone in my glory, far +away beyond the sight of men, beyond the sun and stars—what +are you worms of earth to me?”</p> +<p>Or is it the voice of a loving Father, calling to his +self-willed children who have gone proudly and boldly away from +their Father’s house, and thrown off their Father’s +government, and said in their conceit: “We are men. +Do not we know good and evil? Do we not know what is our +interest? Cannot we judge for ourselves, and shift for +ourselves, and take care of ourselves? Why are we to be +barred from pleasant things here, and profitable things +there? We will be our own masters.”</p> +<p>To self-willed children who have said thus, and done thus in +their foolish hearts, and have found all their conceit, and +shrewdness, only lead them into sorrow, and perplexity, and +distress.—Who have found that with all their cleverness +they could not get the very good things for which they left their +Father’s house; or if they get them, find no enjoyment in +them, but only discontent, and shame, and danger, and a sad +self-accusing heart—spending their money for that which +does not feed them after all, and labouring hard for things which +do not satisfy them; always longing for something +more—always finding the pleasure, or the profit, or the +honour which a little way off looked so fine, looked quite ugly +and worthless, when they come up to it and get hold of +it—finding all things full of labour; the eye never +satisfied with seeing, or the ear with hearing; the same thing +coming over and over again. Each young man starting with +gay hopes, as if he were the first man that ever was born, and he +was going to do out of hand such fine things as man never did +before, and make his own fortune, and set the world to right at +once; and then as he grows older, falling into the same weary +ruts as his forefathers went dragging on it, every fresh year +bringing its own labour and its own sorrow; and dying like them, +taking nothing away with him of all he has earned, and crying +with his last breath: “That which is crooked cannot be made +straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. +What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under +the sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?”</p> +<p>To self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever +since they were born, they and their fathers before them, and +found it go round in a ring and leave them just where they +started in heart and soul, and, on their death-beds, in purse and +power also—</p> +<p>To such struggling, dissatisfied beings—such as +nine-tenths of the men and women on this earth, alas! are +still—comes the word of this loving Father:</p> +<p>“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! +and he that hath no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, +buy wine and milk without money, and without price.” +Why do you fancy that money can give you all you want? Why +this labouring and straining after money, as if it was God, as if +it made heaven and earth, and all therein? Is money a God? +or money’s worth? “I am God,” saith the Lord, +“and beside me there is none else. It is I who give, +and not money. It is I who save men, and not money. +And I do save, and I do give freely to all. Come, and try +my mercy, and see if my word be not true.”</p> +<p>This struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone—what +profit comes of it? are you happier? are you wiser? are you +better? are you more at peace with your neighbours; more at peace +with your own hearts and consciences? If you are, money has +not made you so, nor plotting, and scraping, and struggling, and +pushing your neighbour down, that you may rise a few inches on +his shoulders. No. Hear what the voice of your Father +says is the true way to wealth and comfort, after which you all +struggle and labour so hard in vain.—“Hearken +diligently unto me, and you shall eat that which is good, and +your soul shall delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear +and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And +I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure +mercies,” or rather “the faithful oath which I sware +unto David?” And what is this faithful oath which God +sware to David.—“Of the fruit of thy body, I will set +on thy seat.” A promise of a righteous king who +should arise in David’s family. How far David +understood the full meaning of that glorious promise we cannot +tell. He thought most probably, at first, that Solomon, his +son, was to be the king who would fulfil it. But all +through many of his psalms, there are deep and great words about +some nobler and more perfect king than Solomon—about one +who, as Isaiah says here, would perfectly witness to the people +that God was their King; one who would be a perfect leader and +commander of the people; a holy one of Israel, who would sit on +God’s right hand; to hear the good news of whom, the Jews +would call nations whom they then did not know of, and for whose +sake nations who did not know them would run to them. And +dimly David did see this, that God would raise up a true Christ, +that is, one truly anointed by God, chosen and sent out by God, +to sit on his throne, and be perfectly what David was only in +part; a King made perfect by suffering, a King of poor men, a +King who bore the sins and carried the iniquities of all His +people, from the highest to the lowest. We know who that +was. We know clearly what David only knew dimly, what +Isaiah only knew a little more clearly. We know who was +born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, ascended +into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of God, ever praying +for us, ruling the world in righteousness, Jesus the Lord, the +Holy One of Israel, to whom all power is given in heaven and +earth.</p> +<p>But Isaiah, though he knew Him only dimly, still knew +Him. He did not know that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, +would take on Himself the form of a poor man, and be called the +son of the carpenter. Such boundless love and condescension +in the Son of God he never could have fancied for himself, and +God had not chosen to reveal it to him; or to anyone else in +those days. But this he did see, that the Lord Jesus, He +whom he calls the Holy One of Israel, was near the Jews in his +time; that He was watching over them, mourning over their sins, +arguing with them, and calling them to return to Him with most +human love and tenderness, as a husband to the woman whom he +loves in spite of her unfaithfulness to him. As he says to +his sinful and distressed country in the chapter before this: +“Thy Maker is thy husband: the Lord of Hosts is His name, +and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the Lord of the whole +earth shall He be called. For the Lord hath called thee as +a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. For a small moment +have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather +thee. In a little anger I hid my face from thee for a +moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, +saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”</p> +<p>This, then, Isaiah knew—that the heart of the Holy Lord +pitied and yearned after those poor sinful Jews, as a +husband’s after a foolish and sinful wife. And how +much more should we believe the same, how much more should we +believe that His heart pities and yearns for all foolish and +sinful people here in England now! We who know a thousand +times more than Isaiah knew of His love, His pity, His +condescension, which led Him to sacrifice Himself upon the cross +for us? Surely, surely, if Isaiah had a right to say to +those Jews, “Seek the Lord while He may be found,” I +have a thousand times as much right to say it to you. If +Isaiah had a right to say to those Jews, “Let the wicked +forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let +him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to +our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” then I have a +right to say it to you.</p> +<p>Free mercy, utter pardon, pardon for all, even for the +worst. And what is the argument which Isaiah uses to make +his countrymen repent? Is it “Repent, or you shall be +damned: Repent because God’s wrath and curse is against +you. The Lord hates you and despises you, and you must +crawl to His feet like beaten hounds, and entreat Him not to +strike you into hell as He intends”? Not so; it was +because God loved the Jews, that they were to repent. It is +because God loves you that you must repent. “Incline +your ear,” saith the Lord, “and come unto me, hear, +and your soul shall live; and you shall eat that which is good, +and your soul shall delight itself in fatness.” Yes, +God is love. God’s delight and glory is to give; in +spite of all our sins He gives and gives, sending rain and +fruitful seasons to just and unjust, to fill their hearts with +joy and gladness; and all the while men fancy that it is not God +that gives, but they who take. God has not left Himself, as +St. Paul says, without a witness; every fruitful shower and +quickening gleam of sunshine cries to us—See! God is love: +He is the giver. And men will not hear that voice. +They say in their hearts, “The Lord is far away above the +skies; He does not care for us: we must help ourselves, each man +to what he can get off this earth; nay, even, when we are hard +put to it for a living, we must break God’s laws to keep +ourselves alive, and so steal from God’s table the very +good things which He offers us freely.”</p> +<p>But some will say: “He does not give freely; we must +work and struggle. Why do you mock poor hard-worked +creatures with such words as these?”</p> +<p>Ask that question of God, my friends, and not of me. +Isaiah said that those who hearkened to God diligently should eat +what is good. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said the +same—that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His +justice, all other things should be added to them. He did +not mean us to be idle, God forbid! but this He meant, that if +we, each in his business and calling, put steadily before +ourselves what is right, what God would wish us, His subjects, to +be in His Kingdom—if instead of making our first thought in +every business we take in hand, “What will suit my interest +best, what will raise most money, what will give me most +pleasure?” we said to ourselves all day long, “What +will be most right, and just, and merciful for us to do; what +will be most pleasing to a God who is love and justice itself? +what will do most good to my neighbour as well as myself?” +then all things would go well with us. Then we should be +prosperous and joyful. Then our plans would succeed and our +labour bring forth real profit to us, because they would be +according to the will of God: we should be fellow-workers with +Jesus Christ in the great work of doing good to this poor +distracted world, and His help and blessing would be with us.</p> +<p>And if you ask me, how can this come to pass, I must answer, +as Isaiah does in this same chapter: “The Lord’s ways +are not as our ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, but higher +than ours, as the heavens are above the earth.” But +if we do turn to God, and repent each man of us of his +selfishness, his unfaithfulness, his hard-heartedness, his +covetousness, his self-will, his ungodliness—then +God’s blessing, as Isaiah says, will come down on us, and +spring up among us, we know not how or whence, like the rain and +snow, which comes down from heaven and waters the earth, and +makes it bud and bring forth to give seed to the sower and bread +to the eater. So shall be the Lord’s word, which goes +out of His mouth; it will not return to Him void, but will +accomplish what He pleases, and prosper in that whereto He sends +it. He will teach us and guide us in the right way. +He will put His word into the mouths of true teachers to show us +our duty. He will pour out His spirit upon us, to make us +love our duty. In one way and another, we know not how, we +shall be taught what is good for England, good for each parish, +good for each family. And wealth, peace, and prosperity for +rich and poor will be the fruit of obeying the word of God, and +giving up our hearts to be led by His spirit. As it was to +be in Judæa, of old, if they repented, so will it be with +us. They should go forth with joy and do their work in +peace. The hills should break before them into singing, and +all the trees of the field should clap their hands; instead of +thorns should come up timber-trees: instead of briers, +garden-shrubs. The whole cultivation of the country was to +improve, and be to the Lord for a name, and a sign for ever that +the true way to wealth and prosperity is the way of God, justice, +mercy to each other, and obedience to the will of Him who made +heaven and earth, trees and fruitful fields, rain and sunshine, +and gives the blessings of them freely to His children of +mankind, in proportion as they look up to Him as a loving Father, +and return to him day by day, with childlike repentance, and full +desire to amend their lives according to His holy word.</p> +<h2><a name="page230"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +230</span><span class="GutSmall">XXIII.</span><br /> +THE LOVE OF CHRIST.</h2> +<blockquote><p>For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we +thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. +And that He died for all, that they which live should not +henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for +them, and rose again.—2 <span class="smcap">Cor</span>. v. +14, 15.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> is the use of +sermons?—what is the use of books? Here are hundreds +and thousands of people hearing weekly and daily what is right, +and how many <i>do</i> what is right?—much less <i>love</i> +what is right? What can be the reason of this, that men +should know the better and choose the worse? What motive +can one find out?—what reason or argument can one put +before people, to make them do their duty? How can one stir +them up to conquer themselves; to conquer their own love of +pleasure, laziness, cowardice, conceit, above all their own +selfishness, and do simply what is right, morning, noon, and +night? That is a question worth asking and considering, for +there ought to be some use in sermons and in books; and there +ought to be some use in every one of us too. Woe to the man +who is of no use! The Lord have mercy on his soul; for he +needs it! It is, indeed, worth his while to take any +trouble which will teach him a motive for being useful; in plain +words, stir him up to do his duty, to do his rights; for a +man’s rights are not, as the world thinks, what is right +others should do to him, but what is right he should do to +others. Our duty is our right, the only thing which is +right for us. What motive will constrain us, that is, bind +us, and force us to do that?</p> +<p>Will self-interest? Will a man do right because you tell +him it is his interest, it will pay him to do it? Look +round you and see.—The drunkard knows that drinking will +ruin him, and yet he gets drunk. The spendthrift knows that +extravagance will ruin him, and yet he throws away his money +still. The idler knows that he is wasting his only chance +for all eternity, and yet he puts the thought out of his head, +and goes on idling. The cheat knows that he is in danger of +being almost certainly found out sooner or later; he knows too +that he is burdening his own conscience with the curse of inward +shame and self-contempt; and yet he goes on cheating. The +hard master knows, or ought to know (for there is quite enough to +prove it to him) that it would pay him better in the long run to +be more merciful, and less covetous; that by grinding those whom +he employs down to the last farthing, he degrades them till they +become burdens on him and curses to him; that what he gains by +high prices, he will lose in the long run by bad debts; that what +he saves in low wages, he will pay in extra poor-rates; and that +even if he does make money out of the flesh and bones of those +beneath him, that money ill gotten is sure to be ill spent, that +there is a curse on it, that it brings a curse in the gnawing of +a man’s own conscience, and a curse too in the way it flows +away from his family as fast as it flowed to them. +“He that by usury and unjust gain increases his wealth, +shall gather for him that will pity the poor.” So +said Solomon of old. And men who worship Mammon find it +come true daily, and see that, taking all things together, a +man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things +which he possesses, and that those who make such haste to be +rich, fall, as the apostle says, “into temptation and a +snare, and pierce themselves through with many +sorrows.” Such a man sees his neighbours making +money, and making themselves more unhappy, anxious, discontented +by it; he sees, in short, that it is not his interest to do +nothing but make money and save money: and yet in spite of that, +he thinks of nothing else. Self-interest cannot keep him +from that sin. I do not believe that self-interest ever +kept any man from any <i>sin</i>, though it may keep him from +many an imprudence. Self-interest may make many a man +respectable, but whom did it ever make good? You may as +well make house-walls of paper, or take a rush for a +walking-stick, as take self-interest to keep you upright, or even +prudent. The first shake—and the rush bends, and the +paper wall breaks, and a man’s selfish prudence is blown to +the winds. Let pleasure tempt him, or ambition, or the lust +of making money by speculation; let him take a spite against +anyone; let him get into a passion; let his pride be hurt; and he +will do the maddest things, which he knows to be entirely +contrary to his own interest, just to gratify the fancy of the +moment. Those who call themselves philosophers, and fancy +that men’s self-interest, if they can only feel it strong +enough, would make all men just and merciful to each other, know +as little of human nature as they do of God or the devil.</p> +<p>What <i>will</i> make a man to do his duty? Will the +hope of heaven? That depends very much upon what you mean +by heaven. But what people commonly mean by going to +heaven, is—not going to hell. They believe that they +must go to either one place or the other. They would much +sooner of course stay on earth for ever, because their treasure +is here, and their heart too. But that cannot be, and as +they have no wish to go to hell, they take up with heaven +instead, by way of making the best of a bad matter.</p> +<p>I ask you solemnly, my friends, each one of you, which would +you sooner do—stay here on earth, or go to heaven? +You need not answer <i>me</i>. I am afraid many of you +would not dare answer me as you really felt, because you would be +ashamed of not liking to go to heaven. But answer +God. Answer yourselves in the sight of God. When you +keep yourselves back from doing a wrong thing, because you know +it is wrong, is it for love of heaven, or for mere fear of being +punished in hell? Some of you will answer boldly at once: +“For neither one nor the other; when we keep from wrong, it +is because we hate and despise what is wrong: when we do right it +is because it is right and we ought to do it. We +can’t explain it, but there is something in us which tells +us we ought to do right.” Very good, my friends, I +shall have a word to say to you presently; but in the meantime +there are some others who have been saying to themselves: +“Well, I know we do right because we are afraid of being +punished if we do not do it, but what of that? at all events we +get the right thing done, and leave the wrong thing undone, and +what more do you want? Why torment us with disagreeable +questions as to <i>why</i> we do it?”</p> +<p>Now, my friends, to make the matter simpler, I will take you +at your words, for the sake of argument. Suppose you do +avoid sin from the fear of hell, does that make what you do +<i>right</i>? Does that make <i>you</i> right? Does +that make your heart right? It is a great blessing to a +man’s neighbours, certainly, if he is kept from doing wrong +any how—by the fear of hell, or fear of jail, or fear of +shame, or fear of ghosts if you like, or any other cowardly and +foolish motive—a great blessing to a man’s +neighbours: but no blessing, that I can see, to the man +himself. He is just the same; his heart is not changed; his +heart is no more right in the sight of God, or in the sight of +any man of common sense either, than it would be if he did the +wrong thing, which he loves and dare not do. You feel that +yourselves about other people. You will say “That man +has a bad heart, for all his respectable outside. He would +be a rogue if he dared, and therefore he <i>is</i> a +rogue.” Just so, I say, my friends, take care lest +God should say of you, “He would be a sinner if he dared, +and therefore he is a sinner.”</p> +<p>How can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do +right? The right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be +loving, and do loving things; and can fear of hell do that, or +hope of heaven either? Can a man make himself affectionate +to his children because he fancies he shall be punished if he is +not so, and rewarded if he is so? Will the hope of heaven +send men out to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, visit the +sick, preach the gospel to the poor?—The Papists say it +will. I say it will not. I believe that even in those +who do these things from hope of heaven and fear of hell, there +is some holier, nobler, more spiritual motive, than such +everlasting selfishness, such perfect hypocrisy, as to do loving +works for others, for the sake of one’s own self-love.</p> +<p>What feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do +good, not once in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, +not only to himself, but to all around him? I know but of +one, my friends, and that is Love. There are many sides to +love—admiration, reverence, gratitude, pity, +affection—they are all different shapes of that one great +spirit of love. Surely all of you have felt its power more +or less; how wonderfully it can conquer a man’s whole +heart, change his whole conduct. For love of a woman; for +pity to those in distress; for admiration for anyone who is +nobler and wiser than himself; for gratitude to one who has done +him kindness; for loyalty to one to whom he feels he owes a +service—a man will dare to do things, and suffer things, +which no self-interest or fear in the world could have brought +him to. Do you not know it yourselves? Is it not +fondness for your wives and children, that will make you slave +and stint yourselves of pleasure more than any hope of gain could +ever do? But there is no one human being, my friends, whom +we can meet among us now, for whom we can feel all these +different sorts of love? Surely not: and yet there must be +One Person somewhere for whom God intends us to feel them all at +once; or else He would not have given all these powers to us, and +made them all different branches of one great root of love. +There must be One Person somewhere, who can call out the whole +love in us—all our gratitude; all our pity; all our +admiration; all our loyalty; all our brotherly affection. +<i>And there is One</i>, my friends. One who has done for +us more than ever husband or father, wife or brother, can do to +call out our gratitude. One who has suffered for us more +than the saddest wretch upon this earth can suffer, to call out +our pity. One who is nobler, purer, more lovely in +character than all others who ever trod this earth, to call out +our admiration. One who is wiser, mightier than all rulers +and philosophers, to call out all our reverence. One who is +tenderer, more gentle, more feeling-hearted, than the kindest +woman who ever sat by a sick bed, to call out all our love. +Of whom can I be speaking? Of whom but of Jesus; He who for +us stooped out of the heaven of heavens; for us left His eternal +glory in the bosom of the Father; for us took upon Him the form +of a servant, and was born of a village maiden, and was called +the son of a carpenter; for us wandered this earth for thirty +years in sorrow and shame; for us gave His back to the scourge, +and His face to shameful spitting; for us hung upon the cross and +died the death of the felon and the slave. Oh! my friends, +if that story will not call out our love, what will? If we +cannot admire Christ, whom can we admire? If we cannot be +grateful to Christ, to whom can we be grateful? If we +cannot pity Christ, whom can we pity? If we cannot feel +bound in honour to live for Christ, to work for Christ, to +delight in talking of Christ, thinking of Christ, to glory in +doing Christ’s commandments to the very smallest point, to +feel no sacrifice too great, no trouble too petty, if we can +please Christ by it and help forward Christ’s kingdom upon +earth—if we cannot feel bound in honour to do that for +Christ, what honour is there in us? Again, I say, if we +cannot love Christ, whom can we love? If the remembrance of +what He has worked for us will not stir us up to work for Him, +what will stir us up?</p> +<p>I say it again, we are bound by every tie, by every feeling +that can bind man to man, to devote ourselves to Christ, the Man +of all men. I say this is no dream or fancy, it is an +actual fact which thousands and hundreds of thousands on this +earth have felt. Nothing but love to Christ, nothing but +loving Him because He first loved us, can constrain and force a +man as with a mighty feeling which he cannot resist, to labour +day and night for Christ’s sake, and therefore for the sake +of God the Father of Christ. What else do you suppose it +was which could have stirred up the apostles—above all, +that wise, learned, high-born, prosperous man, St. Paul, to leave +house and home, and wander in daily danger of his life? +What does St. Paul say himself? “The love of Christ +constraineth us, because we thus judge, and if one died for all +then were all dead, and that He died for all, that they which +live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who +died for them.” And what else could have kept St. +Paul through all that labour and sorrow of his own choosing, of +which he speaks in the chapter before?—“We are +troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but +not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not +destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord +Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our +body; for we which live are alway delivered unto death for +Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made +manifest in our body.”</p> +<p>We may say that St. Paul was an exceedingly benevolent man, +and <i>that</i> made him do it; or that he had found out certain +new truths and opinions which delighted him very much, and +therefore he did it. But St. Paul gives no such account of +himself: and we have no right to take anyone’s account but +his own. He knew his own heart best. He does not say +that he came to preach a scheme of redemption, or opinions about +Christ. He says he came to preach nothing but Christ +Himself—Christ crucified—to tell people about the +Lord he loved, about the Lord who loved him, certain that when +they had heard the plain story of Him, their hearts, if they were +simple, and true, and loving, would leap up in answer to his +words, and find out, as by instinct, what Christ had done for +them, what they were to do for Christ. Ay, I believe, my +friends—indeed I am certain—from my own reading, that +in every age and country, just in proportion as men have loved +Christ personally as a man would love another man, just in that +proportion have they loved their neighbours, worked for their +neighbours, sacrificed their time, their pleasure, their money, +to do good to all, for the sake of Him who commanded: “If +ye love <i>ME</i>, keep my commandments; and my commandment is +this, that ye should love one another as I have loved +you.” That is the only sure motive. All other +motives for doing good or being good, will fail in one case or +another case, because they do not take possession of a +man’s whole heart, but only of some part of his +heart. Love—love to Christ, can alone sweep away a +man’s whole heart and soul with it, and renew it, and +transfigure it, and make it strong instead of weak, pure instead +of foul, gentle instead of fierce, brave instead of being vain +and cowardly, and fearing what everyone will say of him. +Only love for Christ, who loved all men unto the death, will make +us love all men too: not only one here and there who may agree +with us or help us; but those who hate us, those who +misunderstand us, those who thwart us, ay, even those who disobey +and slight not only us, but Jesus Christ Himself. +<i>That</i> is the hardest lesson of all to learn; but thousands +have learnt it; everyone ought to learn it. In proportion +as a man loves Christ, he will learn to love those who do not +love Christ. For Christ loves them whether they know it or +not; Christ died for them whether they believe it or not; and we +must love them because our Saviour loves them.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, why do so few love Christ? Why do so few +live as those who are not their own, but bought with the price of +His precious blood and bound to devote themselves, body and soul, +to His cause? Why do so many struggle against their sins, +while yet they cannot break off those sins, but go struggling and +sinning on, hating their sins and yet unable to break through +their sins, like birds beating themselves to death against the +wires of their cage? Why? Because they do not know +Christ. And how can they know Him, unless they read their +Bibles with simple, childlike hearts, determined to let the Bible +tell its own story: believing that those who walked with Christ +on earth, must know best what He was like? Why? +Because they will not ask Christ to come and show Himself to +them, and make them see Him, and love Him, and admire Him, +whether they will or not. Oh! remember, if Christ be the +Son of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, we cannot go to Him, +poor, weak, ignorant creatures as we are. We cannot ascend +up into heaven to bring Christ down. He must come down out +of His own great love and condescension, and dwell in our hearts +as He has promised to do, if we do but love Him. He must +come down and show Himself to us. Oh! read your +Bibles—read the story of Christ, and if that does not stir +up in you some love for Him, you must have hearts of stone, not +flesh and blood. And then go to Him; pray to Him, whether +you believe in Him altogether or not, upon the mere chance of His +being able to hear you and help you. You would not throw +away a chance on earth; will you throw away such a chance in +heaven as having the Son of God to help you? Oh, cry to +Him; say out of the depths of your heart: “Thou most +blessed and glorious Being who ever walked this earth, who hast +gone blameless through all sorrow and temptation that man can +feel; if Thou dost love anyone, if Thou canst hear anyone, hear +me! If thou canst not help me, no one can. I have a +hundred puzzling questions which I cannot answer for myself, a +hundred temptations which I cannot conquer for myself, a hundred +bad habits which I cannot shake off of myself; and they tell me +that Thou canst teach me, Thou canst guide me, Thou canst +strengthen me, Thou canst take out of my heart this shame and +gnawing of an evil conscience. If Thou be the Son of God, +make me clean! If it be true that Thou lovest all men, show +Thy love to me! If it be true that Thou canst teach all +men, teach me! If it be true that Thou canst help all men, +help my unbelief, for if Thou dost not, there is no help for me +in heaven or earth!” You, who are sinful, distracted, +puzzled, broken-hearted, cry to Christ in that way, if you have +no better way, and see if He does not hear you. He is not +one to break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. +He will hear you, for He has heard all who have ever called on +Him. Cry to Him from the bottom of your hearts. Tell +Him that you do <i>not</i> love Him, and that yet you <i>long</i> +to love Him. And see if you do not find it true that those +who come to Christ, He will in no wise cast out. He may not +seem to answer you the first time, or the tenth time, or for +years; for Christ has His own deep, loving, wise ways of teaching +each man, and for each man a different way. But try to +learn all you can of Him. Try to know Him. Pray to +know, and understand Him, and love Him. And sooner or later +you will find His words come true, “If a man love me, I and +my Father will come to him, and take up our abode with +him.” And then you will feel arise in you a hungering +and a thirsting after righteousness, a spirit of love, and a +desire of doing good, which will carry you up and on, above all +that man can say or do against you—above all the laziness, +and wilfulness, and selfishness, and cowardice which dwells in +the heart of everyone. You will be able to trample it all +under foot for the sake of being good and doing good, in the +strength of that one glorious thought, “Christ lived and +died for me, and, so help me God, I will live and die for +Christ.”</p> +<h2><a name="page242"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +242</span><span class="GutSmall">XXIV.</span><br /> +DAVID’S VICTORY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, +and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of +armies, the God of Israel, whom thou hast defied.—1 <span +class="smcap">Samuel</span> xvii. 45.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have been reading to-day the +story of David’s victory over the Philistine giant, +Goliath. Now I think the whole history of David may teach +us more about the meaning of the Old Testament, and how it +applies to us, than the history of any other single +character. David was the great hero of the Jews; the +greatest, in spite of great sins and follies, that has ever been +among them; in every point the king after God’s own +heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not disdain to be +called especially the Son of David. David was the author, +too, of those wonderful psalms which are now in the mouths and +the hearts of Christian people all over the world; and will last, +as I believe, till the world’s end, giving out fresh depths +of meaning and spiritual experience.</p> +<p>But to understand David’s history, we must go back a +little through the lessons which have been read in church the +last few Sundays. We find in the eighth and in the twelfth +chapters of this same book of Samuel, that the Jews asked Samuel +for a king—for a king like the nations round them. +Samuel consulted God, and by God’s command chose Saul to be +their king; at the same time warning them that in asking for a +king they had committed a great and fearful sin, for “the +Lord their God was their king.” And the Lord said +unto Samuel, that in asking for a king they had rejected God from +reigning over them. Now what was this sin which the Jews +committed? for the mere having a king cannot be wrong in itself; +else God would not have anointed Saul and David kings, and +blessed David and Solomon; much less would He have allowed the +greater number of Christian nations to remain governed by kings +unto this day, if a king had been a wrong thing in itself. +I think if we look carefully at the words of the story we shall +see what this great sin of the Jews was. In the first +place, they asked Samuel to give them a king—not God. +This was a sin, I think; but it was only the fruit of a deeper +sin—a wrong way of looking at the whole question of kings +and government. And that deeper sin was this: they were a +free people, and they wanted to become slaves. God had made +them a free people; He had brought them up out of the land of +Egypt, out of slavery to Pharaoh. He had given them a free +constitution. He had given them laws to secure safety, and +liberty, and equal justice to rich and poor, for themselves, +their property, their children; to defend them from oppression, +and over-taxation, and all the miseries of misgovernment. +And now they were going to trample under foot God’s +inestimable gift of liberty. They wanted a king like the +nations round them, they said. They did not see that it was +just their glory <i>not</i> to be like the nations round them in +that. We who live in a free country do not see the vast and +inestimable difference between the Jews and the other +nations. The Jews were then, perhaps, so far as I can make +out, the only free people on the face of the earth. The +nations round them were like the nations in the East, now +governed by tyrants, without law or parliament, at the mercy of +the will, the fancy, the lust, the ambition, and the cruelty of +their despotic kings. In fact, they were as the Eastern +people now are—slaves governed by tyrants. Samuel +warned the Jews that it would be just the same with them; that +neither their property, their families, nor their liberty would +be safe under the despots for whom they wished. And yet, in +spite of that warning, they would have a king. And +why? Because they did not like the trouble of being +free. They did not like the responsibility and the labour +of taking care of themselves, and asking counsel of God as to how +they were to govern themselves. So they were ready to sell +themselves to a tyrant, that he might fight for them, and judge +for them, and take care of them, while they just ate and drank, +and made money, and lived like slaves, careless of what happened +to them or their country, provided they could get food, and +clothes, and money enough. And as long as they got that, if +you will remark, they were utterly careless as to what sort of +king they had. They said not one word to Samuel about how +much power their king was to have. They made not the +slightest inquiry as to whether Saul was wise or foolish, good or +bad. They did not ask God’s counsel, or trouble +themselves about God; so they proved themselves unworthy of being +free. They turned, like a dog to his vomit, and the sow to +her wallowing in the mire, cowardly back again into slavery; and +God gave them what they asked for. He gave them the sort of +king they wanted; and bitterly they found out their mistake +during several hundred years of continually increasing slavery +and misery.</p> +<p>There is a deep lesson for us, my friends, in all this. +And that is, that God’s gifts are not fit for us, unless we +are more or less fit for them. That to him that makes use +of what he has, more shall be given; but from him who does not, +will be taken away even what he has. And so even the +inestimable gift of freedom is no use unless men have free hearts +in them. God sets a man free from his sins by faith in +Jesus Christ; but unless that man uses His grace, unless he +desires to be free inwardly as well as outwardly—to be free +not only from the punishment of his sins, but from the sins +themselves; unless he is willing to accept God’s offer of +freedom, and go boldly to the throne of grace, and there plead +his cause with his heavenly Father face to face, without looking +to any priest, or saint, or other third person to plead for him; +if, in short, a man has not a free spirit in him, the grace of +God will become of no effect in him, and he will receive the +spirit of bondage (of slavery, that is), again to fear. +Perhaps he will fall back more or less into popery and +half-popish superstitions; perhaps, as we see daily round us, he +will fall back again into antinomianism, into the slavery of +those very sins from which God once delivered him. And just +the same is it with a nation. When God has given a nation +freedom, then, unless there be a free heart in the people and +true independence, which is dependence on God and not on man; +unless there be a spirit of justice, mercy, truth, trust of God +in them, their freedom will be of no effect; they will only fall +back into slavery, to be oppressed by fresh tyrants.</p> +<p>So it was with the great Spanish colonies in South America a +few years ago. God gave them freedom from the tyranny of +Spain; but what advantage was it to them? Because there was +no righteousness in them; because they were a cowardly, +profligate, false, and cruel people, therefore they only became +the slaves of their own lusts; they turned God’s great +grace of freedom into licentiousness, and have been ever since +doing nothing but cutting each other’s throats; every +man’s hand against his own brother; the slaves of tyrants +far more cruel than those from whom they had escaped.</p> +<p>Look at the French people, too. Three times in the last +sixty years has God delivered them from evil rulers, and given +them a chance of freedom; and three times have they fallen back +into fresh slavery. And why? Because they will not be +righteous; because they will be proud, boastful, lustful, +godless, cruel, making a lie and loving it. God help +them! We are not here to judge them, but to take warning +ourselves. Now there is no use in boasting of our English +freedom, unless we have free and righteous hearts in us; for it +is not constitutions, and parliaments, and charters which make a +nation free; they are only the shell, the outside of +freedom. True freedom is of the heart and spirit, and comes +down from above, from the Spirit of God; for where the Spirit of +God is, there is liberty, and there only. Oh, every one of +you! high and low, rich and poor, pray and struggle to get your +own hearts free; free from the sins which beset us Englishmen in +these days; free from pride, prejudice, and envy; free from +selfishness and covetousness; free from unchastity and +drunkenness; free from the conceit that England is safe, while +all the rest of the world is shaking. Be sure that the +spirit of freedom, like every other good and perfect gift, is +from above, and comes down from God, the Father of lights; and +that to keep that spirit with us, we must keep ourselves worthy +of it, and not expect to remain free if we indulge ourselves in +mean and slavish sins.</p> +<p>So the Jews got the king they wanted—a king to look at +and be proud of. Saul was, we read, a head taller than all +the rest of the people, and very handsome to look at. And +he was brave enough, too, in mere fighting, when he was awakened +and stirred up to act now and then; but there was no wisdom in +him; no real trust in God in him. He took God for an idol, +like the heathens’ false gods, which had to be pleased and +kept in good humour by the smell of burnt sacrifices; and not for +a living, righteous Person, who had to be obeyed. We read +of Saul’s misconduct in these respects, in the thirteenth +and fifteenth chapters of the First Book of Samuel. That +was only the beginning of his wickedness. The worst points +in his character, as I shall show in my next sermon, came out +afterwards. But still, his disobedience was enough to make +God cast him off, and leave him to go his own way to ruin.</p> +<p>But God was not going to cast off His people whom He +loved. He deals not with mankind after their sins, neither +rewards them according to their iniquities; and so he chose out +for them a king after His own heart—a true king of +God’s making, not a mere sham one of man’s +making. You may think it strange why God should have given +them a second king; why, as soon as Saul died, He did not let +them return back to their old freedom. But that is not +God’s way. He brings good out of evil in His great +mercy. But it is always by strange winding paths. His +ways are not as our ways. First, God gives man what is +perfectly proper for him at that time; sets man in his right +place; and then when man falls from that, God brings him, not +back to the place from which he fell, but on forward into +something far higher and better than what he fell from. He +put Adam into Paradise. Adam fell from it, and God made use +of the fall to bring him into a state far better than +Paradise—into the kingdom of God—into everlasting +life—into the likeness of Christ, the new Adam, who is a +quickening, life-giving spirit, while the old Adam was, at best, +only a living soul.</p> +<p>So with the church of Christian men. After the +apostles’ time, and even during the apostles’ time, +as we read from the Epistle to the Galatians, they fell away, +step by step, from the liberty of the gospel, till they sunk +entirely into popish superstition. And yet God brought good +out of that evil. He made that very popery a means of +bringing them back at the Reformation into clearer light than any +of the first Christians ever had had. He is going on step +by step still, bringing Christians into a clearer knowledge of +the gospel than even the Reformers had.</p> +<p>And so with the Jews. They fell from their liberty and +chose a king. And yet God made use of those kings of +theirs, of David, of Solomon, of Josiah, and Hezekiah, to teach +them more and more about Himself and His law, and to teach all +nations, by their example, what a nation should be, and how He +deals with one.</p> +<p>But now let us see what this true king, David, was like, whom +God chose, that He might raise, by his means, the Jews higher +than they ever yet had been, even in their days of freedom. +Now remark, in the first place, that David was not the son of any +very great man. His father seems to have been only a +yeoman. He was not bred up in courts. We find that +when Samuel was sent to anoint David king, he was out keeping his +father’s sheep in the field. And though, no doubt, he +had shown signs of being a very remarkable youth from the first, +yet his father thought so little of him, that he was going to +pass him over, and caused all his seven elder sons to pass before +Samuel for his choice first, though there seems to have been +nothing particular in them, except that some of them were fine +men and brave soldiers. So David seems to have been +overlooked, and thought but little of in his youth—and a +very good thing for him. It is a good thing for a young man +to bear the yoke in his youth, that he may be kept humble and +low; that he may learn to trust in God, and not in his own +wit. And even when Samuel anointed David, he anointed him +privately. His brothers did not know what a great honour +was in store for him; for we find, in the lesson which we have +just read, that when David came down to the camp, his elder +brother spoke contemptuously to him, and treated him as a +child. “I know thy pride,” he said, “and +the naughtiness of thy heart. Thou art come down to see the +battle.” While David answers humbly enough: +“What have I done? is there not a cause?” feeling +that there was more in him than his brother gave him credit for; +though he dare not tell his brother, hardly, perhaps, dare +believe himself, what great things God had prepared for +him. So it is yet—a prophet has no honour in his own +country. How many a noble-hearted man there is, who is +looked down upon by those round him! How many a one is +despised for a dreamer, or for a Methodist, by shallow worldly +people, who in God’s sight is of very great price! +But God sees not as man sees. He makes use of the weak +people of this world to confound the strong. He sends about +His errands not many noble, not many mighty; but the poor man, +rich in faith, like David. He puts down the mighty from +their seat, and exalts the humble and meek. He takes the +beggar from the dunghill, that He may set him among the princes +of His people. So He has been doing in all ages. So +He will do even now, in some measure, with everyone like David, +let him be as low as he will in the opinion of this foolish +world, who yet puts his trust utterly in God, and goes about all +his work, as David did, in the name of the Lord of hosts. +Oh! if a poor man feels that God has given him wit and +wisdom—feels in him the desire to rise and better himself +in life, let him be sure that the only way to rise is +David’s plan—to keep humble and quiet till God shall +lift him up, trusting in God’s righteousness and love to +raise him, and deliver him, and put him in that station, be it +high or low, in which he will be best able to do God’s +work, or serve God’s glory.</p> +<p>And now for the chapter from which the text is taken, which +relates to us David’s first great public triumph—his +victory over Goliath the giant. I will not repeat it to +you, because everyone here who has ears to hear or a heart to +feel ought to have been struck with every word in that glorious +story. All I will try to do is, to show you how the working +of God’s Spirit comes out in David in every action of his +on that glorious day. We saw just now David’s +humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of God’s Spirit in +him, in his answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look +next at David’s spirit of trust in God, which, indeed, is +the key to his whole life; that is the reason why he was the man +after God’s own heart—not for any virtues of his own, +but for his unshaken continual faith in God. David saw in +an instant why the Israelites were so afraid of the giant; +because they had no faith in God. They forgot that they +were the armies of the living God. David did not: +“Who is this uncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies +of the living God?” And therefore, when Saul tried to +dissuade him from attacking the Philistine, his answer is still +the same—full of faith in God. He knew well enough +what a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this giant, +nearly ten feet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which +perhaps no sword or spear which he could use could pierce. +It was no wonder, humanly speaking, that all the Jews fled from +him—that his being there stopped the whole battle. In +these days, fifty such men would make no difference in a battle; +bullets and cannon-shot would mow down them like other men: but +in those old times, before firearms were invented, when all +battles were hand-to-hand fights, and depended so much on each +man’s strength and courage, that one champion would often +decide the victory for a whole army, the amount of courage which +was required in David is past our understanding; at least we may +say, David would not have had it but for his trust in God, but +for his feeling that he was on God’s side, and Goliath on +the devil’s side, unjustly invading his country in +self-conceit, and cruelty, and lawlessness. Therefore he +tells Saul of his victory over the lion and the bear. You +see again, here, the Spirit of God showing in his +<i>modesty</i>. He does not boast or talk of his strength +and courage in killing the lion and the bear; for he knew that +that strength and courage came from God, not from himself; +therefore he says that the Lord <i>delivered him</i> from +them. He knew that he had been only doing his duty in +facing them when they attacked his father’s sheep, and that +it was God’s mercy which had protected him in doing his +duty. He felt now, that if no one else would face this +brutal giant, it was <i>his</i> duty, poor, simple, weak youth as +he was, and therefore he trusted in God to bring him safe through +this danger also. But look again how the Spirit of God +shows in his prudence. He would not use Saul’s +armour, good as it might be, because he was not accustomed to +it. He would use his own experience, and fight with the +weapons to which he had been accustomed—a sling and +stone. You see he was none of those presumptuous and +fanatical dreamers who tempt God by fancying that He is to go out +of His way to work miracles for them. He used all the +proper and prudent means to kill the giant, and trusted to God to +bless them. If he had been presumptuous, he might have +taken the first stone that came to hand, or taken only one, or +taken none at all, and expected the giant to fall down dead by a +miracle. But no; he <i>chooses five smooth</i> stones out +of the brook. He tried to get the best that he could, and +have more ready if his first shot failed. He showed no +distrust of God in that; for he trusted in God to keep him cool, +and steady, and courageous in the fight, and that, he knew, God +alone could do. The only place, perhaps, where he could +strike Goliath to hurt him was on the face, because every other +part of him was covered in metal armour. And he knew that, +in such danger as he was, God’s Spirit only could keep his +eye clear and his hand steady for such a desperate chance as +hitting that one place.</p> +<p>So he went; and as he went his courage rose higher and higher; +for unto him that hath shall more be given; and so he began to +boast too—but not of himself, like the giant. He +boasted of the living God, who was with him. He ran boldly +up to the Philistine, and at the first throw, struck on the +forehead, and felled him dead.</p> +<p>So it is; many a time the very blessing which we expect to get +only with great difficulty, God gives us at our first trial, to +show that He is the Giver, to cheer up our poor doubting hearts, +and show us that He is able, and willing too, to give exceeding +abundantly more than we can ask or think.</p> +<p>So David triumphed: and yet that triumph was only the +beginning of his troubles. Sad and weary years had he to +struggle on before he gained the kingdom which God had promised +him. So it is often with God’s elect. He gives +them blessings at first, to show them that He is really with +them; and then He lets them be evil-entreated by tyrants, and +suffer persecution, and wander out of the way in the wilderness, +that they may be made perfect by suffering, and purified, as gold +is in the refiner’s fire, from all selfishness, conceit, +ambition, cowardliness, till they learn to trust God utterly, to +know their own weakness, and His strength, and to work only for +Him, careless what becomes of their own poor worthless selves, +provided they can help His kingdom to come, and get His will to +be done on earth as it is in heaven.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, surely there is a lesson in all this for +you. Do you wish to rise like David? Of course not +one in ten thousand can rise as high, but we may all rise +somewhat, if not in rank, yet still, what is far better, in +spirit, in wisdom, in usefulness, in manfulness. Do you +wish to rise so? then follow David’s example. Be +truly brave, be truly modest, and in order to be truly brave and +truly modest, that is, be truly manly, be truly godly. +Trust in God; trust in God; that is the key to all +greatness. Courage, modesty, truth, honesty, and +gentleness; all things, which are noble, lovely, and of good +report; all things, in short, which will make you men after +God’s own heart, are all only the different fruits of that +one blessed life-giving root—<span class="smcap">Faith in +God</span>.</p> +<h2><a name="page254"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +254</span><span class="GutSmall">XXV.</span><br /> +DAVID’S EDUCATION.</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">Made perfect through +sufferings.—<span class="smcap">Hebrews</span> ii. 10.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">That</span> is my text; and a very fit one +for another sermon about David, the king after God’s own +heart. And a very fit one too, for any sermon preached to +people living in this world now or at any time. “A +melancholy text,” you will say. But what if it be +melancholy? That is not the fault of me, the +preacher. The preacher did not make suffering, did not make +disappointment, doubt, ignorance, mistakes, oppression, poverty, +sickness. There they are, whether we like it or not. +You have only to go on to the common here, or any other common or +town in England, to see too much of them—enough to break +one’s heart if—, but I will not hurry on too fast in +what I have to say. What I want to make you recollect is, +that misery is here round us, <i>in</i> us. A great deal +which we bring on ourselves; and a great deal more misery which +we do not, as far as we can see, bring on ourselves; but which +comes, nevertheless, and lets us know plainly enough that it is +close to us. Every man and woman of us have their +sorrows. There is no use shutting our eyes just when we +ourselves happen to feel tolerably easy, and saying, as too many +do, “I don’t see so very much sorrow; I am happy +enough!” Are you, friend, happy enough? So much +the worse for you, perhaps. But at all events your +neighbours are not happy enough; most of them are only too +miserable. It is a sad world. A sad world, and full +of tears. It is. And you must not be angry with the +preacher for reminding you of what is.</p> +<p>True; you would have a right to quarrel with the preacher or +anyone else who made you sorrowful with the thoughts of the +sorrow round you, and then gave you no explanation of +it—told you of no use, no blessing in it, no deliverance +from it. That would be enough to break any man’s +heart, if all the preacher could say was: “This +wretchedness, and sickness, and death, must go on as long as the +world lasts, and yet it does no good, for God or +man.” That thought would drive any feeling man to +despair, tempt him to lie down and die, tempt him to fancy that +God was not God at all, not the God whose name is Love, not the +God who is our Father, but only a cruel taskmaster, and Lord of a +miserable hell on earth, where men and women, and worst of all, +little children, were tortured daily by tens of thousands without +reason, or use, or hope of deliverance, except in a future world, +where not one in ten of them will be saved and happy. That +is many people’s notion of the world—religious +people’s even. How they can believe, in the face of +such notions, “that God is love;” how they can help +going mad with pity, if that is all the hope they have for poor +human beings, is more than I can tell. Not that I judge +them—to their own master they stand or fall: but this I do +say, that if the preacher has no better hope to give you about +this poor earth, then I cannot tell what right he has to call +himself a preacher of the gospel—that is, a preacher of +good news; then I do not know what Jesus Christ’s dying to +take away the sins of the world means; then I do not know what +the kingdom of God means; then I do not know why the Lord taught +us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, +as it is in heaven,” if the only way in which that can be +brought about is by His sending ninety-nine hundredths of mankind +to endless torture, over and above all the lesser misery which +they have suffered in this life. What will be the end of +the greater part of mankind we do not know; we were not intended +to know. God is love, and God is justice, and His justice +is utterly loving, as well as His love utterly just; so we may +very safely leave the world in the hands of Him who made the +world, and be sure that the Judge of all the earth will do right, +and that what is right is certain never to be cruel, but rather +merciful. But to every one of you who are here now, a +preacher has a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say much more +than that. He is bound to tell you good news, because God +has called you into His church, and sent you here this day, to +hear good news. He has a right to tell you, as I tell you +now, that, strange as it may seem, whatsoever sufferings you +endure are sent to make you perfect, even as your Father in +heaven is perfect; even as the blessed Lord, whom may you all +love, and trust, and worship, for ever and ever, was made perfect +by sufferings, even though He was the sinless Son of God. +Consider that. “It behoved Him,” says St. Paul, +“the Captain of our salvation, to be made perfect through +sufferings.” And why? “Because,” +answers St. Paul, “it was proper for Him to be made in all +things like His brothers”—like us, the children of +God—“that He might be a faithful and merciful high +priest;” for, just “because He has suffered being +tempted, He is able to succour us who are tempted.” A +strange text, but one which, I think, this very history of +David’s troubles will help us to understand. For it +was by suffering, long and bitter, that God trained up David to +be a true king, a king over the Jews, “after God’s +own heart.”</p> +<p>You all know, I hope, something at least of David’s +psalms. Many of them, seven of them at least, were written +during David’s wanderings in the mountains, when Saul was +persecuting him to kill him, day after day, month after month, as +you may read in the First Book of Samuel, from chapters xix. to +xxviii. Bitter enough these troubles of David would have +been to any man, but what must have made them especially bitter +and confusing to him was, that they all arose out of his +righteousness. Because he had conquered the giant, Saul +envied him—broke his promise of giving David his daughter +Merab—put his life into extreme danger from the +Philistines, before he would give him his second daughter Michal; +the more he saw that the Lord was with David, and that the young +man won respect and admiration by behaving himself wisely, the +more afraid of him Saul was; again and again he tried to kill +him; as David was sitting harmless in Saul’s house, +soothing the poor madman by the music of his harp, Saul tries to +stab him unawares; and not content with that proceeds +deliberately to hunt him down, from town to town, and wilderness +to wilderness; sends soldiers after him to murder him; at last +goes out after him himself with his guards. Was not all +this enough to try David’s faith? Hardly any man, I +suppose, since the world was made, had found righteousness pay +him less; no man was ever more tempted to turn round and do evil, +since doing good only brought him deeper and deeper into the +mire. But no, we know that he did not lose his trust in +God; for we have seven psalms, at least, which he wrote during +these very wanderings of his; the fifty-second, when Doeg had +betrayed him to Saul; the fifty-fourth, when Ziphim betrayed him; +the fifty-sixth, when the Philistines took him in Gath; the +fifty-seventh, “when he fled from Saul in the cave;” +the fifty-ninth, “when they watched the house to kill +him;” the sixty-third, “when he was in the wilderness +of Judah;” the thirty-fourth, “when he was driven +away by Abimelech;” and several more which appear to have +been written about the same time.</p> +<p>Now, what strikes us first, or ought to strike us, in these +psalms, is David’s utter faith in God. I do not mean +to say that David had not his sad days, when he gave himself up +for lost, and when God seemed to have forsaken him, and forgotten +his promise. He was a man of like passions with ourselves; +and therefore he was, as we should have been, terrified and +faint-hearted at times. But exactly what God was teaching +and training him to be, was not to be fainthearted—not to +be terrified. He began in his youth by trusting God. +That made him the man after God’s own heart, just as it was +the want of trust in God which made Saul not the man after +God’s own heart, and lost him his kingdom. In all +those wanderings and dangers of David’s in the wilderness, +God was training, and educating, and strengthening David’s +faith according to His great law: To whomsoever hath shall be +given, and he shall have more abundantly; but from him that hath +not, shall be taken away even that which he seems to have. +And the first great fruit of David’s firm trust in God was +his patience.</p> +<p>He learned to wait God’s time, and take God’s way, +and be sure that the same God who had promised that he should be +king, would make him king when he saw fit. He knew, as he +says himself, that the Strength of Israel could not lie or +repent. He had sworn that He would not fail David. +And he learned that God had sworn by His holiness. He was a +holy, just, righteous God; and David and David’s country +now were safe in His hands. It was his firm trust in God +which gave him strength of mind to use no unfair means to right +himself. Twice Saul, his enemy, was in his power. +What a temptation to him to kill Saul, rid himself of his +tormentor, and perhaps get the kingdom at once! But +no. He felt: “This Saul is a wicked, devil-tormented +murderer, a cruel tyrant and oppressor; but the same God who +chose me to be king next, chose him to be king now. He is +the Lord’s anointed. God put him where he is, and +leaves him there for some good purpose; and when God has done +with him, God will take him away, and free this poor oppressed +people; and in the meantime, I, as a private man, have no right +to touch him. I must not do evil that good may come. +If I am to be a true king, a true man at all hereafter, I must +keep true now; if I am to be a righteous lawgiver hereafter, I +must respect and obey law myself now. The Lord be judge +between me and Saul; for He is Judge, and He will right me better +than I can ever right myself.” And thus did trust in +God bring out in David that true respect for law, without which a +king, let him be as kind-hearted as he will, is but too likely to +become at last a tyrant and an oppressor.</p> +<p>But another thing which strikes any thinking man in +David’s psalms, is his strong feeling for the poor, and the +afflicted, and the oppressed. That is what makes the +Psalms, above all, the poor man’s book, the afflicted +man’s book. But how did he get that fellow-feeling +for the fallen? By having fallen himself, and tasted +affliction and oppression. That was how he was educated to +be a true king. That was how he became a picture and +pattern—a “type,” as some call it, of Jesus +Christ, the man of sorrows. That is why so many of +David’s psalms apply so well to the Lord; why the Lord +fulfilled those psalms when He was on earth. David was +truly a man of sorrows; for he had not only the burden of his own +sorrows to bear, but that of many others. His parents had +to escape, and to be placed in safety at the court of a heathen +prince. His friend Abimelech the priest, because he gave +David bread when he was starving, and Goliath’s +sword—which, after all, was David’s own—was +murdered by Saul’s hired ruffians, at Saul’s command, +and with him his whole family, and all the priests of the town, +with their wives and children, even to the baby at the +breast. And when David was in the mountains, everyone who +was distressed, and in debt, and discontented, gathered +themselves to him, and he became their captain; so that he had on +him all the responsibility, care, and anxiety of managing all +those wild, starving men, many of them, perhaps, reckless and +wicked men, ready every day to quarrel among themselves, or to +break out in open riot and robbery against the people who had +oppressed them; for—(and this, too, we may see from +David’s psalms, was not the smallest part of his +anxiety)—the nation of the Jews seems to have been in a +very wretched state in David’s time. The poor seem in +general to have lost their land, and to have become all but +slaves to rich nobles, who were grinding them down, not only by +luxury and covetousness, but often by open robbery and +bloodshed. The sight of the misrule and misery, as well as +of the bloody and ruinous border inroads which were kept up by +the Philistines and other neighbouring tribes, seems for years to +have been the uppermost, as well as the deepest thought in +David’s mind, if we may judge from those psalms of his, of +which this is the key-note; and it was not likely to make him +care and feel less about all that misery when he remembered (as +we see from his psalms he remembered daily) that God had set him, +the wandering outlaw, no less a task than to mend it all; to put +down all that oppression, to raise up that degradation, to train +all that cowardice into self-respect and valour, to knit into one +united nation, bound together by fellow-feeling and common faith +in God, that mob of fierce, and greedy, and (hardest task of all, +as he himself felt) utterly deceitful men. No wonder that +his psalms begin often enough with sadness, even though they may +end in hope and trust. He had a work around him and before +him which ought to have made his heart sad, which was a great +part of his appointed education, and helped to make him perfect +by sufferings.</p> +<p>And so, upon the bare hill-side, in woods and caves of the +earth, in cold and hunger, in weariness and dread of death, did +David learn to be the poor man’s king, the poor man’s +poet, the singer of those psalms which shall endure as long as +the world endures, and be the comfort and the utterance of all +sad hearts for evermore. Agony it was, deep and bitter, and +for the moment more hopeless than the grave itself, which crushed +out of the very depths of his heart that most awful and yet most +blessed psalm, the twenty-second, which we read in church every +Good Friday. The “Hind of the Morning” is its +title; some mournful air to which David sang it, giving, perhaps, +the notion of a timorous deer roused in the morning by the +hunters and the hounds. We read that psalm on Good Friday, +and all say that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled it. What +do we mean hereby?</p> +<p>We mean hereby, that we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ +fulfilled all sorrows which man can taste. He filled the +cup of misery to the brim, and drained it to the dregs. He +was afflicted in all David’s afflictions, in the +afflictions of all mankind. He bare all their sicknesses, +and carried all their infirmities; and therefore we read this +psalm upon Good Friday, upon the day in which He tasted death for +every man, and went down into the lowest depths of terror, and +shame, and agony, and death; and, worst of all, into the feeling +that God had forsaken Him, that there was no help or hope for Him +in heaven, as well as earth—no care or love in the great +God, whose Son He was—went down, in a word, into hell; that +hell whereof David and Heman, and Hezekiah after them, had said, +“Shall the dust give thanks unto thee? and shall it declare +thy truth?”—“Thou wilt not leave my soul in +hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see +corruption.”—“My life draweth nigh unto hell. . +. I am like one stript among the dead, like the slain that +lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut +off from thy hand. . . . Wilt thou show wonders to the +dead? and shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy +wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land +of destruction?”—“For the grave cannot praise +thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down to the pit +cannot hope for thy truth.”</p> +<p>Even into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one +moment, that God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to +God—even into that Jesus condescended to go down for +us. That worst of all temptations, of which David only +tasted a drop when he cried out, “My God, my God, why hast +thou forsaken me?” Jesus drained to the very dregs +for us.—He went down into hell for us, and conquered hell +and death, and the darkness of the unknown world, and rose again +glorious from them, that He might teach us not to fear death and +hell; that He might know how to comfort us in the hour of death: +and in the day of judgment, when on our sick bed, or in some +bitter shame and trouble, the lying devil is telling us that we +are damned and lost, and forsaken by God, and every sin we ever +did rises up and stares us in the face.</p> +<p>Truly He is a king!—a king for rich and poor, young and +old, Englishmen and negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for +them, He has tasted sorrow for them, far more than David did for +those poor, oppressed, sinful Jews of his. Read those +Psalms of David; for they speak not only of David, now long since +dead and gone, but of the blessed Jesus, who lives and reigns +over us now at this very moment. Read them, for they are +inspired; the honest words of a servant of God crying out to the +same God, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we have. And +His love has not changed. His arm is not shortened that He +cannot save. Your words need not change. The words of +those psalms in which David prayed, in them you and I may +pray. Right out of the depths of his poor distracted heart +they came. Let them come out of our hearts too. They +belong to us more than even they did to the Jews, for whom David +wrote them—more than even they did to David himself; for +Jesus has fulfilled them—filled them full—given them +boundlessly more meaning than ever they had before, and given us +more hope in using them than ever David had: for now that love +and righteousness of God, in which David only trusted beforehand, +has come down and walked on this earth in the shape of a poor +man, Jesus Christ, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem.</p> +<p>Oh, you who are afflicted, pray to God in those psalms; not +merely in the words of them, but in the spirit of them. And +to do that, you must get from God the spirit in which David wrote +them—the Spirit of God. Pray for that Spirit; for the +spirit of patience, which made David wait God’s good time +to right him, instead of trying, as too many do, to right himself +by wrong means; for the spirit of love, which taught David to +return good for evil; for the spirit of fellow-feeling, which +taught David to care for others as well as himself; and in that +spirit of love, do you pray for others while you are praying for +yourself. Pray for that Spirit which taught David to help +and comfort those who were weaker than himself, that you in your +time may be able and willing to comfort and help those who are +weaker than yourselves. And above all, pray for the Spirit +of faith, which made David certain that oppression and +wrong-doing could not stand; that the day must surely come when +God would judge the world righteously, and hear the cry of the +afflicted, and deliver the outcast and poor, that the man of the +world might be no more exalted against them. Pray, in +short, for the Spirit of Christ; and then be sure He will hear +your prayers, and answer them, and show Himself a better friend, +and a truer King to you, than ever David showed himself to those +poor Jews of old. He will deliver you out of all your +troubles—if not in this life, yet surely in the life to +come; and though you walk through the valley of the shadow of +death, yet the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds in +Him who loved you, and gave Himself for you, that you might +inherit all heaven and earth in Him.</p> +<h2><a name="page265"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +265</span><span class="GutSmall">XXVI.</span><br /> +THE VALUE OF LAW.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Let every soul be subject unto the higher +powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers +that be are ordained of God.—<span +class="smcap">Romans</span> xiii. 1.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> is the difference between a +civilised man and a savage? You will say: A civilised man +can read and write; he has books and education; he knows how to +make numberless things which makes his life comfortable to +him. He can get wealth, and build great towns, sink mines, +sail the sea in ships, spread himself over the face of the earth, +or bring home all its treasures, while the savages remain poor, +and naked, and miserable, and ignorant, fixed to the land in +which they chance to have been born.</p> +<p>True: but we must go a little deeper still. Why does the +savage remain poor and wretched, while the civilised people +become richer and more prosperous? Why, for instance, do +the poor savage gipsies never grow more comfortable or +wiser—each generation of them remaining just as low as +their forefathers were, or, indeed, getting lower and fewer? for +the gipsies, like all savages, are becoming fewer and fewer year +by year, while, on the other hand, we English increase in +numbers, and in wealth, and knowledge; and fresh inventions are +found out year by year, which give fresh employment and make life +more safe and more pleasant.</p> +<p>This is the reason: That the English have laws and obey them, +and the gipsies have none. This is the whole secret. +This is why savages remain poor and miserable, that each man does +what he likes without law. This is why civilised nations +like England thrive and prosper, because they have laws and obey +them, and every man does not do what he likes, but what the law +likes. Laws are made not for the good of one person here, +or the other person there, but for the good of all; and, +therefore, the very notion of a civilised country is, a country +in which people cannot do what they like with their own, as the +savages do. “Not do what he likes with his +own?” Certainly not; no one can or does. If you +have property, you cannot spend it all as you like. You +have to pay a part of it to the government, that is, into the +common stock, for the common good, in the shape of rates and +taxes, before you can spend any of it on yourself. If you +take wages, you cannot spend them all upon yourself and do what +you like with them. If you do not support your wife and +family out of them, the law will punish you. You cannot do +what you like with your own gun, for you may not shoot your +neighbour’s cattle or game with it. You cannot do +what you like with your own hands, for the law forbids you to +steal with them. You cannot do what you like with your own +feet, for the law will punish you for trespassing on your +neighbour’s ground without his leave. In short, you +can only do with your own what will not hurt your neighbour, in +such matters as the law can take care of. And more, in any +great necessity the law may actually hurt you for the good of the +nation at large. The law may compel you to sell your land, +to your own injury, if it is wanted for a railroad. The law +may compel you, as it did fifty years ago, to serve as a soldier +in the militia, to your own injury, if there is a fear of foreign +invasion; so that the law is above each and all of us. Our +own wills are not our masters. No man is his own +master. The law is the master of each and all of us, and if +we will not obey it willingly, it can make us obey +unwillingly.</p> +<p>Can make us? Ay, but ought it to make us? Is it +right that the law should over-ride our own free wills, and +prevent our doing what we like with our own?</p> +<p>It is right—absolutely right. St. Paul tells us +what gives law this authority: “There is no power but of +God. The powers that be are ordained of God.” +And he tells us also why this authority is given to the +law. “Rulers,” he says, “are not a terror +to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of +those who administer the law? Do that which is good, and +thou shalt have praise from them, for they are God’s +ministers to thee for good.”</p> +<p>For good, you see. For the good of mankind it was, that +God put into their hearts and reasons, that notion of making +laws, and appointing kings and magistrates to see that those laws +are obeyed. For our good. For without law no +man’s life, or family, or property would be safe. +Every man’s private selfishness, and greediness, and anger, +would struggle without check to have its way, and there would be +no bar or curb to keep each and every man from injuring each and +every man else; so the strong would devour the weak, and then +tear each other in pieces afterwards. So it is among the +savages. They have little or no property, for they have no +laws to protect property; and therefore every man expects his +neighbour to steal from him, and finds it his shortest plan to +steal from his neighbour, instead of settling down to sow corn +which he will have no chance of eating, or build houses which may +be taken from him at night by some more strong and cunning +savage. There is no law among savages to protect women and +children against the men, and therefore the women are treated +worse than beasts, and the children murdered to save the trouble +of rearing them. Every man’s hand is against his +neighbour. No one feels himself safe, and therefore no one +thinks it worth while to lay up for the morrow. No one +expects justice and mercy to be done to him, and therefore no one +thinks it worth while to do justice and mercy to others. +And thus they live in continual fear and quarrelling, feeding +like wild animals on game or roots, often, when they have bad +luck in their hunting, on offal which our dogs would refuse, and +dwindle away and become fewer and wretcheder year by year; in +this way do the savages in New South Wales live to this day, for +want of law.</p> +<p>It is for our good, then, that God has put into the heart of +man to make laws, and to obey them as sacred and divine +things. For our good, in order to save us from sinking down +into the same state of poverty and misery in which the savages +are. For our good, because we are fallen creatures, with +selfish and corrupt wills, continually apt to break loose, and +please ourselves at the expense of our neighbours. For our +good, because, however fallen we are, we are still brothers, +members of God’s family, bound to each other by duty and +relationship, if not by love.</p> +<p>Just as in a family, if parents, brothers, and sisters will +not do their duty to each other lovingly and of their free will, +the law interferes, and the custom of the country interferes, and +the opinion of neighbours interferes, and says: “You may +not love your parents: but you have no right to leave them to +starve.” “You may not love your brothers: but +if you try to injure and slander them, you are doing an unnatural +and hateful thing, abhorred by God and man, and you must expect +us to treat you accordingly, as a wild beast who does not feel +the common laws of nature and right and wrong.” So +with the law of the land. The law is meant to remind us +more or less that we are brothers, members of one body; that we +owe a duty to each other; that we are all equal in God’s +sight, who is no respecter of persons, or of rank, or of riches, +any more than the law is when it punishes the greatest nobleman +as severely as the poorest labourer. The law is meant to +remind us that God is just; that when we injure each other, we +sin against God; that God’s rule and law is, that each +transgression should receive its just reward, and that, +therefore, because man is made in the likeness of God, man is +bound, as far as he can, to visit every offence with due and +proportionate punishment. And the law punishes, as St. Paul +says, in God’s name, and for God’s sake. The +magistrate is a witness for God’s righteous government of +the world, the minister of God’s vengeance against +evil-doers, to remind all continually that evil-doing has no +place, and cannot prosper, and must not be allowed, upon this +God’s earth whereon we live.</p> +<p>But what if the laws are unfair, and punish only some sorts of +evil-doers and not others? What if they are like +spiders’ webs, which catch the little flies, and let the +great wasps break through? What if they punish poor and +weak offenders, and let the rich and powerful sinners +escape? “Obey them still,” says St. Paul. +In his time and country the laws were as unfair in that way as +laws ever were, and yet he tells Christians to obey them for +conscience’s sake. Thank God that they do punish weak +offenders. Pray God that the time may come when they may be +strong enough to punish great offenders also. But, in the +meantime, see that they have not to punish you. As far as +the laws go, they are right and good. As far as they keep +down any sort of wrong-doing whatsoever, they are God’s +ordinances, and you must obey them for God’s sake.</p> +<p>But what if the laws are not only unfair and partial, but also +unjust and wrong? Are we to obey them then? Obey them +still, says St. Paul. Of course, if they command you to do +a clearly wrong thing; if, for instance, the law commanded you to +worship idols, or to commit adultery, there is no question then; +such laws cannot be God’s ordinance. The laws can +only be God’s ordinance as far as they agree with what we +know of God’s will written in our hearts, and written in +His holy Bible. Then a man must resist the law to the +death, if need be, as the old martyrs did, dying as witnesses for +God’s righteous and eternal law, against man’s false +and unrighteous law. It is a very difficult thing, no +doubt, to tell where to draw the line in such matters. But +we, thank God, here in England now, have no need to puzzle our +heads with such questions. Every man’s conscience is +free here, and he has full liberty to worship God as he thinks +best, provided that by so doing he does not interfere with his +neighbour’s character, or property, or comfort. There +is no single law in England now, that I know of, which a man has +any need to refuse to obey, let his conscience be as tender as it +may. And as for laws which we think hurtful to the country, +or hurtful to any particular class in the country, our thinking +them hurtful is no reason that we should not obey them. As +long as they are law, they are God’s ordinance, and we have +no right to break them. They may be useful after all. +Or even if they are hurtful in some way, still God may be +bringing good out of them in some other way, of which we little +dream, as He has often done out of laws and customs which seem at +first sight most foolish and hurtful, and yet which He endured +and winked at, for the sake of bringing good out of evil. +At all events, whatsoever laws are here in England, are made by +the men whom we English have chosen, as the men most fit and wise +to make them, and we are bound to abide by them. If +Parliament is not wise enough to make perfectly good laws, that +is no one’s fault but our own; for if we were wise, we +should choose wise law-makers, and we must be filled with the +fruit of our own devices. As long as these laws have been +made and passed, by Commons, Lords, and Queen, according to the +ancient forms and constitution which God has taught our +forefathers from time to time for more than a thousand years, and +which have had God’s blessing and favour on them, and made +us, from the least of all nations, the greatest nation on the +earth; in short, as long as those laws are made according to law, +so long we are bound to believe them to be God’s ordinance, +and obey them. But understand; that is no reason why we +should not try to get them improved; for when they are changed +and done away according to the same law which made them, that +will be a sign that they are God’s ordinances no longer; +that God thinks we have no more need for them, and does not +require us to keep them. But as long as any law is what St. +Paul calls “the powers that be,” obeyed it must be, +not only for wrath, but for conscience’s sake.</p> +<p>That is a very important part of the matter. Obey the +law, St. Paul says, not only for wrath, that is, not only for +fear of punishment, but for conscience’s sake. Even +if you do not expect to be punished; even if you think no one +will ever find out that you have broken the law, remember it is +God’s ordinance. He sees you. Do not hurt your +own conscience, and deaden your own sense of right and wrong, by +breaking the least or the most unjust law in the slightest +point.</p> +<p>For instance: some people think the income-tax is very unfair; +and therefore they think there is no harm in cheating the revenue +a little, by making out their income less than it is. +Others, again, think the laws against smuggling unjust and harsh; +and therefore they see no harm in trying to avoid paying duty on +goods which they bring home, whenever they have an opportunity, +or buying cheap goods, which they must know from their price are +smuggled. Others, again, think the game laws are unfair, +and therefore see no harm in going out shooting on their own +lands without a licence; while many see no harm, or say they see +no harm, in poaching on other people’s grounds, and killing +game contrary to law wherever they can. That it is wrong to +break the law in these two first cases, you all know in your own +hearts. On the matter of poaching, some of you, I know, +have many very mistaken notions. But, my friends, I ask you +only to look at the sin and misery which poaching causes, if you +want to see that those who break the law do indeed break the +ordinance of God, and that God’s laws avenge +themselves. Look at the idleness, the untidiness, the +deceit, the bad company, the drunkenness, the misery and sin, to +man, woman, and child, which that same poaching brings about, and +then see how one little sin brings on many great ones; how a man, +by despising the authority of law, and fancying that he does no +harm in disobeying the laws, from his own fancy about poaching +being no harm, falls into temptation and a snare, and pierces +himself through with many sorrows. My young friends, +believe my words. Avoid poaching, even once in a way. +The beginning of sin is like the letting out of water; no one can +tell where it will stop. He who breaks the law in little +things will be tempted to go on and break it in greater and +greater things. He who begins by breaking man’s law, +which is the pattern of God’s law, will be tempted to go on +and break God’s law also. Is it not so? There +is no use telling me, “The game is no one’s; there is +no harm in taking it.” Light words of that kind will +not do to answer God with. You know there is harm in taking +it; for you know, as well as I do, that you cannot go after game +without neglecting your work to get it; or without going to the +worst of public-houses, among the worst of company, to sell +it. You know, as well as I do, that hand in hand with +poaching go lying, and idling, and sneaking, and fear, and +boasting, and swearing, and drinking, and the company of bad men +and bad women. And then you say there is no harm in +poaching. Do you suppose that I do not know, as well as any +one of you here, what goes to the snaring of a hare, and the +selling of a hare, and the spending of the ill-got price of a +hare? My dear young men, I know that poaching, like many +other sins, is tempting: but God has told us to flee from +temptation—to resist the devil, and he will flee from +us. If we are to give up ourselves without a struggle to +every pleasant thing which tempts us, we shall soon be at the +devil’s door. We were sent into the world to fight +against temptation and to conquer it. We were sent into the +world to do what God likes, not what we like; and therefore we +were sent into the world to obey the laws of the land wherein we +live, be they better or worse; because if we break one law +because we don’t like it, our neighbour may break another +because he don’t like that, and so forth; till there is +neither law, nor peace, nor safety, but every man doing what is +right in his own eyes, which is sure to end by every man’s +doing what is right in the devil’s eyes. We were sent +into the world to live as brothers, under laws which make us give +up our own wills and selfish lusts for the common good. And +if we find it difficult to keep the laws, if we are tempted to +break the laws, God has promised His Spirit to those who ask +Him. God has promised His Spirit to us. If we pray +for that Spirit night and morning, He will make it easy for us to +keep the laws. He will make us what our Lord was before us, +humble, patient, loving, manful and strong enough to restrain our +fancies and appetites, and to give up our wills for the good of +our neighbours, anxious and careful to avoid all appearance of +evil, trusting that because God is just, and God is King, all +laws which are not wicked are His ordinance, and therefore being +obedient to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, +even as Jesus Christ Himself was, who, though He was Lord of all, +paid taxes and tribute money to the Roman government, like the +rest of the Jews, and kept the law of Moses perfectly, and was +baptised with John’s baptism, to show that in all just and +reasonable things we are to obey the laws and customs of our +forefathers, in the country to which it has pleased the Lord that +we should belong.</p> +<h2><a name="page275"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +275</span><span class="GutSmall">XXVII.</span><br /> +THE SOURCE OF LAW.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Let every soul be subject unto the higher +powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers +that be are ordained of God.—<span +class="smcap">Romans</span> xiii. 1.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> this chapter, which we read for +the second lesson for this afternoon’s service, St. Paul +gives good advice to the Romans, and equally good advice to +us.</p> +<p>Of course what he says must be equally good for us, and for +all people, at all times, in all countries, as long as time shall +last; because St. Paul spoke by the Spirit of God, who is God +eternal, and therefore cannot change His mind, but lays down, by +the mouth of His apostles and prophets, the everlasting laws of +right and wrong, which are always equally good for all.</p> +<p>But there is something in this lesson which makes it +especially useful to us; because we English are in some very +important matters very like the Romans to whom St. Paul wrote; +though in others, thanks to Almighty God, we are still very +unlike them.</p> +<p>Now, these old Romans, as I have often told you, had risen to +be the greatest and mightiest people in the world, and to conquer +many foreign countries, and set up colonies of Romans in them, +very much as the English have done in India, and North America, +and Australia: so that the little country of Italy, with its one +great city of Rome, was mistress of vast lands far beyond the +seas, ten times as large as itself, just as this little England +is.</p> +<p>But it is not so much this which I have to speak to you about +now, as how this Rome became so great; for it was at first +nothing but a poor little country town, without money, armies, +trade, or any of those things which shallow-minded people fancy +are the great strength of a nation. True, all those things +are good; but they are useless and hurtful—and, what is +more, they cannot be got—without something better than +them; something which you cannot see nor handle; something +spiritual, which is the life and heart of a country or nation, +and without which it can never become great. This the old +Romans had; and it made them become great. This we English +have had for now fifteen hundred years; even when our forefathers +were heathens, like the Romans, before we came into this good +land of England, while we were poor and simple people, living in +the barren moors of Germany, and the snowy mountains of Norway; +even then we had this wonderful charm, by which nations are sure +to become great and powerful at last; and in proportion as we +have remembered and acted upon it, we English have thriven and +spread; and whenever we have forgotten it and broken it, we have +fallen into distress, and poverty, and shame, over the whole +land.</p> +<p>Now, what is this wonderful charm which made the old Romans +and we English great, which is stronger than money, and armies, +and trade, and all the things which we can see and handle?</p> +<p>St. Paul tells us in the text: “Let every soul be +subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of +God. The powers that be are ordained of God.”</p> +<p>To respect the law; to believe that God wills men to live +according to law; and that He will teach men right and good laws; +that magistrates who enforce the laws are God’s ministers, +God’s officers and servants; that to break the laws is to +sin against God;—that is the charm which worked such +wonders, and will work them to the end of time.</p> +<p>So you see it was a very proper thing for St. Paul, when he +wrote to these Romans after they became Christians, to speak to +them as he does in this chapter. They might have fancied, +and many did fancy, that because they were Jesus Christ’s +servants now, they need not obey their heathen rulers and laws +any more. But St. Paul says: “No; Jesus +Christ’s being King of Kings, is only the strongest +possible reason for your obeying these heathen rulers. For +if He is King of all the earth, He is King of Rome also, and of +all her colonies; and therefore you may be sure that He would not +leave these Roman rulers, and laws here if He did not think it +right and fitting. If Jesus Christ is Lord of lords He is +Lord of these Roman rulers, and they are His ministers and +stewards; and you must obey them, and pay taxes to them for +conscience’s sake, as unto the Lord, and not unto +man.”</p> +<p>So you see that St. Paul gave these Roman Christians no new +commandment on these matters; nothing different from what their +old heathen forefathers had believed. For the law which he +mentions in verse 9, “Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not +steal,” etc., had been for centuries past part of the old +Roman law, as well as of Moses’ law.</p> +<p>Those old heathen Romans believed, and rightly, that all law +and order came from the great God of gods, whom they called in +their tongue Jupiter, that is, the Heavenly Father. They +believed that He would bless those who kept the laws; who kept +their oaths and agreements, and the laws about government, about +marriage, about property, about inheritance; and that He would +surely punish those who broke the laws, who defrauded their +neighbours of their rights, who swore falsely against their +neighbour, or broke their agreements, who were unfaithful to +their wives and husbands, or in any way offended against justice +between man and man. And they believed too, and rightly, +that as long as they kept the laws, and lived justly and orderly +by them, the great Heavenly Father would protect and prosper +their town of Rome, and make it grow great and powerful, because +they were living as He would have men live; not doing each what +was right in the sight of his own eyes, but conquering their own +selfish wills and private fancies, for the sake of their +neighbour’s good, and the good of his country, that they +might all help and trust each other, as fellow-citizens of one +nation.</p> +<p>Only St. Paul had told them: Your forefathers were right in +fancying that law and right came from the great God of gods: but +they knew hardly anything, or rather, in time they forgot almost +everything, about that Heavenly Father. In their ignorance +they mixed up the belief in the one great almighty and good God, +which dwells in the hearts of all men, with filthy fables and +superstitions till they came to fancy that there were many gods +and not one, and that these many gods were sinful, foul, proud, +and cruel, as fallen men. But you have been brought back to +the knowledge of the one true, and righteous, and loving God, +which your forefathers lost. He has revealed and shown +Himself, and what He is like, in His Son Jesus Christ. He +is love, and wisdom, and justice, and order itself; and, +therefore, you must be sure, even more sure than your old heathen +forefathers, that He cares for a nation being at peace and unity +within itself, governed by wise laws, doing justice between man +and man, and keeping order throughout all its business, that +every man may do his work and enjoy his wages without hindrance, +or confusion, or fear, or robbery and oppression from those who +are stronger than he.</p> +<p>And so St. Paul says to them: “You must believe that +power and law come from God, far more firmly and clearly than +ever your heathen forefathers did.”</p> +<p>Now that St. Paul was right in this we may see from the Old +Testament. In the first lesson for this afternoon’s +service, we read how Jeremiah was sent with the most awful +warnings to the king, and the queen, and the crown prince of his +country. And why? Because they had broken the laws; +because, in a word, they had been unfaithful stewards and +ministers of the Lord God, who had given them their power and +kingdom, and would demand a strict account of all which He had +committed to their charge. But in the same book of the +prophet Jeremiah we read more than this; we read exactly what St. +Paul says about the heathen Roman governors: for the Lord God, +who is the Lord Jesus Christ, sent Jeremiah with a message to all +the heathen kings round about, to tell them that He was their +Lord and Master, that He had given them their power, heathens as +they were, because it seemed fit to Him, and that now, for their +sins, He was going to deliver them over into the hand of another +heathen, His servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and that +whosoever would not serve Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord God would +punish him with sword, and famine, and pestilence till he had +consumed them. And the first four chapters of the book of +Daniel, noble and wonderful as they are, seem to me to have been +put into the Bible simply to teach us this one thing, that +heathen rulers, as well as Christians, are the Lord’s +servants, and that their power is ordained by God. For +these chapters are entirely made up of the history, how God, by +His prophet Daniel, taught the heathen king Nebuchadnezzar that +he was God’s minister and steward. And the latter +part of the book of Daniel is the account of his teaching the +same thing to another heathen, Cyrus the great and good king of +Persia. And here St. Paul teaches the Christian Romans just +the same thing about their heathen governors and heathen laws, +that they are the ministers and the ordinance of God.</p> +<p>Now, our own English forefathers, as I said before, believed +this same thing; and if I had time, I could show you, I think, +plainly enough from God’s dealings with England, how He has +blest and prospered us whensoever we have acted up to it. +But whether we have believed it or not, there is enough in our +English laws, and in our English Prayer Book too, to witness for +it and remind us of it.</p> +<p>The very title which we give the Queen, “Queen by the +grace of God;” the solemn prayers for her when she is +crowned and anointed, not in her own palace, or in the House of +Parliament, but in the Church of God at Westminster; the prayers +which we have just offered up for the Queen, for the government, +and for the magistrates—these are all so many signs and +tokens to us that they are God’s stewards, called to do +God’s work, and that we must pray for God’s grace to +help them to fulfil their calling. And are not those ten +commandments which stand in every church, a witness of the same +thing? They are the very root of all law whatsoever. +And more, the solemn oath which a witness takes in the court of +justice, what is it but a sign of the same thing, that our +forefathers, who appointed these forms, believed that law and +justice were holy things, and that he who goes into a court of +law goes into the presence of God Himself, and confesses, when he +promises to speak the truth, so help him God, that God is the +protector and the avenger of law and justice?</p> +<p>But some people, and especially young and light-hearted +persons, are ready to say: “Obey the powers that be, +whosoever they may be, good or bad, and believe that to break +their laws is to sin against God? We might as well be +slaves at once. A man has a right to his own opinion; and +if he does not think a law good, how can he be bound to obey +it?”</p> +<p>You will often hear such words as those when you go out into +the world, into great towns, where men meet together much. +Let me give you, young people, a little advice about that +beforehand; for, fine as it sounds, it is hollow and false at +root.</p> +<p>If you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like +what is right; and do that, says St. Paul, and then the law will +not interfere with you: “For rulers are not a terror to +good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid +of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have +praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee for +good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he +beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a +revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” +And then he sums up what doing right is, in one short sentence: +“Love thy neighbour as thyself; for love is the fulfilling +of the law.” All that the laws want to make you do, +is to behave like men who do love their neighbours as themselves, +and therefore do them no harm—to behave like men who are +ready to give up their own private wills and pleasures, and even +their own private property, if wanted, for the good of their +neighbours and their country. Therefore the law calls on +you to pay rates and taxes, which are to be spent for the good of +the nation at large. And if you love your neighbour as +yourself, and have the good of everyone round you at heart, you +will no more grudge paying rates and taxes for their benefit than +you will grudge spending money to support and educate your own +children. And so you will be free, free to do what you +like, because you like, from the fear and love of God, to do +those right things which the law is set to make you do.</p> +<p>But some may say: “That is not what we mean by being +free. We mean having a share in choosing Members of +Parliament, and so in making the laws and governing the +country. When people can do that the country is a free +country.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, and it is a strange thing, or rather not a +strange thing, if we will but study our Bibles, that a country +cannot be free in that way, unless the people of it do really +believe that the powers that be are ordained of God. +Instead of that faith making the old Romans slavish, or careless +what laws were made, or how they were governed, as some fancy it +would make a people, they were as free a people, and freer almost +than we English now. They chose their own magistrates, and +they made their own laws, and prospered by so doing. And +why? Because they believed that laws came from God; and, +therefore, they not only obeyed the laws when they were made, but +they had heart and spirit to help to make them, because they +trusted that The Heavenly Father, who loved justice, would teach +them to be just, and that The God who protected laws and punished +law-breakers, would put into their minds how to make the laws +well; and so they were not afraid to govern themselves, because +they believed that God would enable them to govern themselves +well, and therefore they were free. And so far from their +having a slavish spirit in them, they were the most bold and +independent people of the whole earth. Their soldiers +conquered almost every nation against whom they fought, because +they always obeyed their officers dutifully and faithfully, +believing that it was their duty to God to obey, and to die, if +need was, for their country. Old history is full of tales, +which will never be forgotten, I trust, till the world’s +end, of the noble deeds of their men, ay, and even of their +women, who counted their own lives worthless in comparison with +the good of their country, and died in torments rather than break +the laws, or do what they knew would injure the people to whom +they belonged.</p> +<p>And so with us English. For hundreds of years we have +been growing more and more free, and more and more well-governed, +simply because we have been acting on St. Paul’s +doctrine—obeying the powers that be, because they are +ordained by God. It is the Englishman’s respect for +law, as a sacred thing, which he dare not break, which has made +him, sooner or later, respected and powerful wherever he goes to +settle in foreign lands; because foreigners can trust us to be +just, and to keep our promises, and to abide by the laws which we +have laid down. It is the English respect for law, as a +sacred thing, which has made our armies among the bravest and the +most successful on earth; because they know how to obey their +officers, and are therefore able to fight and to endure as men +should do. And as long as we hold to that belief we shall +prosper at home and abroad, and become more and more free, and +more and more strong; because we shall be united, helping each +other, trusting each other, knowing what to expect of each other, +because we all honour and obey the same laws.</p> +<p>And, on the other hand, have we not close to us, in France, a +fearful sign and proof from God that without the fear of God no +people can be free? Three times in the last sixty years +have the French risen up against evil rulers, and driven them +out. And have they been the better for it? They are +at this very moment in utter slavery to a ruler more lawless than +ever oppressed them before. And why? Because they did +not believe that law came from God, and that the powers that be +are ordained by Him. Therefore, whenever they were +oppressed, they did not try to right themselves by lawful ways, +according to the old English God-fearing custom, but to break +down the old law by riot and bloodshed, and then to set up new +laws of their own. But those new laws would never +stand. They made them, but they would not obey them when +they were made, and they could not make others obey them; because +they had no real reverence for law, and did not believe that law +came from God, or that His Spirit would give them understanding +to make good laws. They talked loud about the power and +rights of the people, and that whatever the people willed was +right: but they said nothing about the power and rights of the +Lord God; they forgot that it is only what God has willed from +everlasting that is right; and so they made laws in the strength +of their own hearts, according to what was right in the sight of +their own eyes, to please themselves. How could they +respect the laws, when the laws were only copies of their own +selfish fancies? So, because they made them to please +themselves, they soon broke them to please themselves. And +so came more lawlessness and riot, and confusion worse +confounded, till, of course, the strongest, and cunningest, and +most shameless got the upper hand; and they were plunged, poor +creatures! into the same pit of misery out of which they had been +trying to deliver themselves in their own strength, for a sign +and an example that the Lord is King, and not man at all, and +that the fear of the Lord is the only beginning of wisdom.</p> +<p>And very much the same sad fate had happened to the Romans a +little before St. Paul’s time. They gave up their +ancient respect for law; they broke the laws, and ran into all +kinds of violence, and riot, and filthy sin; and therefore God +took away their freedom from them, because they were not fit for +it, and delivered them over into the hand of one cruel tyrant +after another; and perhaps the cruellest of them all was the man +who was emperor of Rome in St. Paul’s time. Therefore +it was that St. Paul says to them: Love each other, and obey the +laws, “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake +out of sleep.”</p> +<p>As much as to say: “Your souls have fallen asleep; you +have been in a dark night, not seeing that God would avenge you +of all these sins of yours; that God’s eye was on them: you +have fallen asleep and forgotten your forefathers’ belief, +that God loves law, and order, and justice, and will punish those +who break through them. But now the Lord Jesus, the light +of the world, is come to awaken you, and to open your eyes to see +the truth about this, and to show you that you are in God’s +kingdom, and that God commands you to repent, and to obey Him, +and do justly and righteously. Therefore awake out of your +sleep; give up the works of darkness, those mean and wicked +habits which were contrary to the good old laws of your +forefathers, and which you were at heart ashamed of, and tried to +hide even while you indulged in them. Open your eyes, and +see that God is near you, your Judge, your King, seeing through +and through your souls, keen and sharp to discern the secret +thoughts and intents of the heart, so that all things are naked +and open in the sight of Him with whom we have to do.”</p> +<p>And so I may say to you, my friends, it is high time for us to +awake out of sleep. The people in England, religious as +well as others, have fallen asleep of late years too much about +this matter. They have forgotten that God is King, that +magistrates are God’s ministers. They talk as if laws +were meant to be only the device of man’s will, to serve +men’s private interests and selfishness; and therefore they +have lost very much of their respect for law, and their care to +make good laws for the future. And it is high time for us, +while all the nations of Europe are tottering and crumbling round +us, to awake out of sleep on this matter. We must open our +eyes and see where we are. For we are in God’s +kingdom. God’s Bible, God’s churches, +God’s commandments, and all the solemn old law forms of +England witness to us that God is King, set in the throne which +judges right; that order and justice, fellow-feeling and public +spirit, are His gifts, His likeness, on which He looks down with +loving care and protection; and that if we forget that, and begin +to fancy that law stands merely by the will of the many, or by +the will of the stronger, or even by the will of the +wiser—by any will of man in short; we shall end by neither +being able to make just laws any more, nor to obey those which we +have, by the blessing of God, already.</p> +<h2><a name="page287"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +287</span><span class="GutSmall">XXVIII.</span><br /> +THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour +the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways +judgment; and those that walk in pride He is able to +abase.—<span class="smcap">Daniel</span> iv. 37.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> read for the first lesson to-day +two chapters out of the book of Daniel. Those who love to +study their Bibles, have read often, of course, not only these +two chapters, but the whole book.</p> +<p>And I would advise all of you who wish to understand +God’s dealings with mankind, to study this book of Daniel, +and especially at this present time.</p> +<p>I do not wish you to study it merely on account of those +prophecies in it, which many wise and good men think foretell the +dates of our Lord’s first and second comings, and of the +end of the world. I am not skilled, my friends, in that +kind of wisdom. I cannot tell you what God will do +hereafter. But I think that the book of Daniel like the +other prophets, tells us what God is always doing on earth, and +so gives us certain and eternal rules by which we may understand +strange and terrible events, wars, distress of nations, the fall +of great men, and the suffering of innocent men, when we see them +happen, as we may see any day—perhaps very soon indeed.</p> +<p>The great lesson, I think, that this book of Daniel teaches us +is, that God is not the Lord of the Jews only, or of Christians +only, but of the whole earth; that the heathens are under His +moral law and government, as well as we; and that, as St. Peter +says, God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he +that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of +him. For the history of Nebuchadnezzar seems to me to be +the history of God’s educating a heathen and an idolater to +know Him. And we must always remember, that as far as we +can see, it was because Nebuchadnezzar was faithful to the light +which he had, that God gave him more. Of course he had his +sins; the Bible tells us what they were; just the sins which one +would expect of a man brought up a heathen and an idolater; of +one who was a great conqueror, and had gained many bloody +battles, and learned to hold men’s lives very cheap; of one +who was an absolute emperor, with no law but his own will, +furious at any contradiction; of a man of wonderful power of +mind—confident in himself, his own power, his own +cunning. But he seems not to have been a bad man, +considering his advantages. The Bible never speaks harshly +of him, though he carried away the Jews captive to Babylon. +In all that fearful war, Nebuchadnezzar was in the right, and the +Jews in the wrong; so at least Jeremiah the prophet +declared. Nebuchadnezzar saved and respected Jeremiah; and +Daniel seems to have regarded the great conqueror with real +respect and affection. When Daniel says to him, “O +king, live for ever,” and tells him that he is the head of +gold, and prays that his fearful dream may come true of his +enemies and not of him, I cannot believe that the prophet was +using mere empty phrases of court-flattery. He really felt, +I doubt not, that Nebuchadnezzar was a great and good king, as +kings went then, and his government a gain (as it easily might +be) to the nations whom he had conquered, and that it was good +that he should reign as long as possible.</p> +<p>And we may well believe Daniel’s interest in this great +king, when we consider how teachable Nebuchadnezzar showed +himself under God’s education of him, so proving that there +was in him the honest and good heart, which, when The Word is +sown in it, will bring forth fruit, thirty-fold or a +hundred-fold, according to the talents which God has bestowed on +each man.</p> +<p>This first lesson we read in the first chapter of +Daniel. He dreamt a dream. He felt that it was a very +wonderful one: but he forgot what it was. None of the +magicians of Babylon could tell him. A young Jew, named +Daniel, told him the dream and its meaning, and declared at the +same time that he had found it out by no wisdom of his own, but +God had revealed it to him. Nebuchadnezzar learned his +lesson, and confessed Daniel’s God to be a God of gods and +a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing that Daniel +could reveal that secret; and forthwith, like a wise prince, +advanced Daniel and his companions to places of the highest +authority and trust.</p> +<p>But Nebuchadnezzar required another lesson. He had +learned that the God of the Jews was wiser than all the planets +and heavenly lords and gods whom the Babylonian magicians +consulted; he had not learned that that same God of the Jews was +the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. He had learned +that the God of heaven favoured him, and had helped him toward +his power and glory; but he thought that for that very reason the +power and glory were his own—that he had a right over the +souls and consciences of his subjects, and might make them +worship what he liked, and how he liked.</p> +<p>Three Jews, whom he had set over the affairs of Babylon, +refused to worship the golden image which he had set up, and were +cast into a fiery furnace, and forthwith miraculously delivered, +and beheld by Nebuchadnezzar walking unhurt and loose in the +midst of the furnace, and with them a fourth, whose form was like +the form of the Son of God.</p> +<p>So Nebuchadnezzar was taught that this God of the Jews was the +Lord of men’s souls and consciences; that they were to obey +God rather than man. So he was taught that the God of the +Jews was no mere star or heavenly influence who could help +men’s fortunes, or bestow on them a certain fixed destiny; +but a living person, the Lord and Master of the fire, and of all +the powers of the earth, who could change and stop those powers +at His will, to deliver those who trusted in Him and obeyed +Him.</p> +<p>And this lesson, too, Nebuchadnezzar learned. He +confessed his mistake upon the spot, just in the way in which we +should have expected a great Eastern king to do, though not in +the most enlightened or merciful way. He “blessed the +God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His angel, +and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. Therefore I +make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which +speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses be made a +dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after +this sort.”</p> +<p>But there was still one deep mistake lying in the great +king’s heart which required to be rooted out. He had +learnt that Jehovah, the God of the Jews, was a revealer of +secrets, a master of the fire, a deliverer of those who trusted +in Him, a living personal Lord, wise, just, and faithful, very +different from any of his star gods or idols. But he looked +upon Jehovah only as the God of the Jews, as Daniel’s +God. He had not yet learnt that God was <i>his</i> God as +well as Daniel’s; that Jehovah was very near his heart and +mind, and had been near him all his life; that from Jehovah came +all his wisdom, his strength of mind, his success, and all which +made him differ, not only from his fellow-men, but from the +beast; that Jehovah, in a word, was the light and the life of the +world, who fills all things and by whom all things consist, +deserted by whose inward light, even for a moment, man becomes as +one of the beasts which perish. In his own eyes +Nebuchadnezzar was still the great self-dependent, self-sufficing +conqueror, wiser and stronger than all the men around him. +He thought, most probably, that on account of his wisdom, and +courage, and royalty of soul, the God of heaven had become fond +of him and favoured him. In short, he was swollen with +pride.</p> +<p>God sent him again a strange dream, which made him troubled +and afraid. He told it to his old counsellor Daniel; and +Daniel, at the danger of his life, interpreted it for him; and a +very awful meaning it had. A fearful and shameful downfall +was to come upon the king; no less than the loss of his reason, +and with it, of his throne. But whether this came to pass +or not, depended, like all God’s everlasting promises and +threats, on Nebuchadnezzar’s own behaviour. If he +repented, and broke off his sins by righteousness, and his +iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, there was good reason to +hope that so his tranquillity might be lengthened.</p> +<p>But the lesson was too hard for the proud conqueror; he did +not take the warning. He could not believe that the Most +High ruled in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He +will. He still fancied that he, and such as he, were the +lords of the world, and took from others by their own power and +cunning whatsoever they would. He does not seem to have +been angry, however, with Daniel for his plain speaking. +Most Eastern kings like Nebuchadnezzar would have put Daniel to a +cruel death on the spot as the bearer of evil news, speaking +blasphemy against the king; and no one in those times and +countries would have considered him wicked and cruel for so +doing; but Nebuchadnezzar seems to have learnt too much already +so to give way to his passion.</p> +<p>Yet, as I said before, he had not learned enough to take +God’s warning. The lesson that he was nothing, and +that God is all in all, was too hard for him. And, alas! my +friends, for whom of us is it not a hard lesson? And yet it +is the golden lesson, the first and the last which man has to +learn on earth, ay, and through all eternity: “I am +nothing; God is all in all.” All in us which is worth +calling anything; all in us which is worth having, or worth +being; all in us which is not disobedience and shortcoming, +failure and mistake, ignorance and madness, filthiness and +fierceness, as of the beasts which perish; all strength in us, +all understanding, all prudence, all right-mindedness, all +purity, all justice, all love; all in us which is worth living +for, all in us which is really alive, and not mere death in life, +the death of sin and the darkness of the pit—all is from +God the Father of lights, and from Jesus Christ the life and the +light, who lighteth every man who cometh into the world, shining +for ever in the darkness of our spirits, though that darkness, +alas! too often cannot comprehend, and embrace, and confess Him +who is striving to awake it from the dead and give it +light. Hardest of all lessons! Most blessed of all +lessons! So blessed, that if we will not let God teach it +us in any other way, it would be good and advantageous to us for +Him to teach it us as He taught it to Nebuchadnezzar—good +for us to become with him for awhile like the beasts that perish, +that we might learn with him to lift up our eyes to heaven, and +so have our understandings return to us, and learn to bless the +Most High, and not our own wit, and cunning, and prudence; and +praise and honour Him that liveth for ever, instead of praising +and honouring our own pitiful paltry selves, who are in death in +the midst of life, who come up and are cut down like the flower, +and never continue in one stay.</p> +<p>“All this came upon the King +Nebuchadnezzar.” It seems that after he or his father +had destroyed the old Babylon, the downfall of which Isaiah had +prophesied, he built a great city, after the fashion of Eastern +conquerors, near the ruins of the old one; and “at the end +of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of +Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great +Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the +might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While +the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from +heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The +kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee +from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: +they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall +pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the +kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The +same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.”</p> +<p>What a lesson! The great conqueror of all the East now a +brutal madman, hateful and disgusting to all around him—a +beast feeding among the beasts: and yet a cheap price—a +cheap price—to pay for this golden lesson.</p> +<p>Seven times past over him in his madness. What those +seven times were we do not know. They may have been actual +years: or they may have been, as I am inclined to think, changes +in his own soul and state of mind. But, at the end of the +days, the truth dawned on him. He began to see what it all +meant. He saw what he was, and why he was so; and he lifted +up his eyes to heaven; and from that moment his madness +past. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. That is no +mere figure of speech: it is an actual truth. Most madmen, +if you watch them, have that down look, or rather that inward +look, as if their eyes were fixed only on their own +fancies. They are thinking only of themselves, poor +creatures—of their own selfish and private suspicions and +wrongs—of their own selfish superstitious dreams about +heaven or hell—of their own selfish vanity and +ambition—sometimes of their own frantic self-conceit, or of +their selfish lusts and desires—of themselves, in +short. They have lost the one Divine light of reason, and +conscience, and love, which binds men to each other, and are +parted for a while from God and from their kind—alone in +their own darkness. So was Nebuchadnezzar.</p> +<p>At last he looked up, as men do when they pray; up from +himself to One greater than himself; up from the earth to heaven; +up from the natural things which we do see, which are temporal +and born to die, to moral and spiritual things which we do not +see, which are real and eternal in the heavens; up from his own +lonely darkness, looking for the light and the guidance of God; +for now he began to see that all the light which he had ever had, +all his wisdom, and understanding, and strength of will, had come +from God, however he might have misused them for his own selfish +ambition; that it was because God had taken from him His light, +who is the Word of God, that he had become a beast. And +then his reason returned to him, and he became again a man, a +rational being, made, howsoever fallen and sinful, in the +likeness of God; then he blessed and praised God. It was +not merely that he confessed that God was strong, and he weak; +righteous, and he sinful; wise, and he foolish; but he blessed +and praised God; he felt and confessed that God had done him a +great benefit, and taught him a great lesson—that God had +taught him what he was in himself and without God, that he might +see what he was with God in its true light, and honour and obey +Him from whom his reason and understanding, as well as his power +and glory, came, that so it might be fulfilled which the prophet +says: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the +mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches: but let +him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and +knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, +judgment, and righteousness <i>in the earth</i>; for in these +things I delight, saith the Lord.”</p> +<p>And so was Nebuchadnezzar’s soul brought to utter, in +his own way, the very same glorious song which, or something like +it, is said to have been sung by the three men whom, years +before, he had seen delivered from the fiery furnace, which calls +on all the works of the Lord, angels and heaven, sun and stars, +seas and winds, mountains and hills, fowls and cattle, priests +and laymen, spirits and souls of the righteous, to bless the +Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever.</p> +<p>And so ends Nebuchadnezzar’s history. We read no +more of him. He had learnt the golden lesson. May God +grant that we may learn it also!</p> +<p>But who tells the story of his madness? He +himself. The whole account is in the man’s own +words. It seems to be some public letter or proclamation, +which he either sent round his empire, or commanded to be laid up +among his records; having, as it seems, set Daniel to write it +down from his mouth. This one fact, I think, justifies me +in all that I have said about Nebuchadnezzar’s nobleness, +and Daniel’s affection for him. He does not try to +smooth things over; to pretend that he has not been mad; to find +excuses for himself; to lay any blame on any human being. +He repents openly, confesses openly. Shameful as it may be +to him, he tells the whole story. He confesses that he had +fair warning, that all was his own fault. He justifies God +utterly. My friends, we may read, thank God, many noble, +and brave, and righteous speeches of kings and great men: but +never have I read one so noble, so brave, so righteous as this of +the great king of Babylon.</p> +<p>And therefore it is; because this letter of his, in the fourth +chapter of the book of Daniel, is indeed full of the eternal Holy +Spirit of God; therefore it is, I say, that it forms part of the +Bible, part of holy scripture to this day,—a greater honour +to Nebuchadnezzar than all his kingdom; for what greater honour +than to have been inspired to write one chapter, yea, one +sentence, of the Book of Books?</p> +<p>My friends, every one of you here is in God’s +school-house, under God’s teaching, far more than +Nebuchadnezzar was. You are baptised men, knowing that +blessed name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which +Nebuchadnezzar only saw dimly, and afar off. Jesus Christ, +the Word of God, is striving with your hearts, giving to them +whatsoever light and life they have. You have been taught +from childhood to look up to Him as your King and Deliverer; to +His Father as your Father, to His Holy Spirit as your +Inspirer. Take heed how you listen to His voice within your +hearts. Take heed how you learn God’s lessons; for +God is surely educating you, and teaching you far more than He +taught the king of Babylon in old time. As you learn or +despise these lessons of God’s, will be your happiness or +your misery now and for ever. Unto the king of Babylon +little was given, and of him was little required. To you +and me much has been given; of you and me will much be +required.</p> +<h2><a name="page298"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +298</span><span class="GutSmall">XXIX.</span><br /> +JEREMIAH’S CALLING.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will +raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and +prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the +earth.—<span class="smcap">Jeremiah</span> xxiii. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> the time when Jeremiah the +prophet spoke those words to the Jews, nothing seemed more +unlikely than that they would ever come true. The whole +Jewish nation was falling to pieces from its own sins. +Brutish and filthy idolatry in high and low—oppression, +violence, and luxury among the court and the +nobility—shame, and poverty, and ignorance among the lower +classes—idleness and quackery among the +priesthood—and as kings over all, one fool and profligate +after another, set on the throne by a foreign conqueror, and +pulled down again by him at his pleasure. Ten out of the +twelve tribes of Israel had been carried off captive, young and +old, into a distant land. The small portion of country +which still remained inhabited round Jerusalem, had been overrun +again and again by cruel armies of heathens. Without +Jerusalem was waste and ruins, bloodshed and wretchedness; within +every kind of iniquity and lies, division and confusion. If +ever there was a miserable and contemptible people upon the face +of the earth, it was the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s +time. Jeremiah makes no secret of it. His prophecies +are full of it—full of lamentation and shame: “Oh +that my head were a fountain of tears, to weep for the sins of my +people!” He feels that God has sent him to rebuke +those sins, to warn and prophesy to his fellow-countrymen the +certain ruin into which they are rushing headlong; and he speaks +God’s message boldly. From the poor idol-ridden +labourer, offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven to coax her into +sending him a good harvest, to the tyrant king who had built his +palace of cedar and painted it with vermilion, he had a bitter +word for every man. The lying priest tried to silence him; +and Jeremiah answered him, that his wife should be a harlot in +the city, and his children sold for slaves. The king tried +to flatter him into being quiet; and he told him in return, that +he should be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged out and +cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. The luxurious +queen, who made her nest in the cedars, would be ashamed and +confounded, he said, for her wickedness. The crown prince +was a despised broken idol—a vessel in which was no +pleasure; he should be cast out, he and his children, into +slavery in a land which he knew not. The whole royal +family, he said, would perish; none of them should ever again +prosper or sit upon the throne of David. This was his +message; shame and confusion, woe and ruin, to high and low; +every human being he passed in the street was a doomed man. +For the day of the Lord was at hand, and who should be able to +escape it?</p> +<p>A sad calling, truly, to have to work at; and all the more sad +because Jeremiah had no pride, no steadfast opinion of his own +excellence to keep him up. He hates his calling of +prophet. At the very moment he is foretelling woe, he prays +God that his prophecy may not come true; he tries every method to +prevent its coming true, by entreating his countrymen to +repent. There runs through all his awful words a vein of +tenderness, and pity, and love unspeakable, which to me is the +one great mark of a true prophet; a sign that Jeremiah spoke by +the Spirit of God; a sign that too many writers nowadays do not +speak by the Spirit of God. If they rebuke the rich and +powerful, they do it generally in a very different spirit from +Jeremiah’s—in a spirit of bitterness and insolence, +not very easy to describe, but easy enough to perceive. +They seem to rejoice in evil, to delight in finding fault, to be +sorry, and not glad, when their prophecies of evil turn out +false; to try to set one class against another, one party against +another, as if we were not miserably enough split up already by +class interests and party spirit. They are glad enough to +rebuke the wicked great; but not to their face, not to their own +danger and hurt like Jeremiah. Their plan is to accuse the +rich to the poor, on their own platform, or in their own +newspaper, where they are safe; and, moreover, to make a very +fair profit thereby; to say behind the back of authorities that +which they dare not say to their face, and which they soon give +up saying when they have worked their own way into office; and +meanwhile take mighty credit to themselves for seeing that there +is wrong and misery in the world; as if the spirits in hell +should fancy themselves righteous, because they hated the +devil! No, my friends, Jeremiah was of a very different +spirit from that. If he ever was tempted to it when he was +young, and began to fancy himself a very grand person, who had a +right to look down on his neighbours, because God had called him +and set him apart to be a prophet from his mother’s womb, +and revealed to him the doom of nations, and the secrets of His +providence—if he ever fancied that in his heart, God led +him through such an education as took all the pride out of him, +sternly and bitterly enough. He was commissioned to go and +speak terrible words, to curse kings and nobles in the name of +the Lord: but he was taught, too, that it was not a pleasant +calling, or one which was likely to pay him in this life. +His fellow-villagers plotted against his life. His wife +deserted him. The nobles threw him into a dungeon, into a +well full of mire, whence he had to be drawn up again with ropes +to save his life. He was beaten, all but starved, kept for +years in prison. He had neither child nor friend. He +had his share of all the miseries of the siege of Jerusalem, and +all the horrors of its storm; and when he was set free by +Nebuchadnezzar, and clung to his ruined home, to see if any good +could still be done to the remnant of his countrymen, he was +violently carried off into a heathen land, and at last stoned to +death, by those very countrymen of his whom he had been trying +for years to save. In everything, and by everything, he was +taught that he was still a Jew, a brother to his sinful brothers; +that their sorrows were his sorrows, their shame his shame, their +ruin his ruin. In all their afflictions he was afflicted, +even as his Lord was after him.</p> +<p>He struggled, we find, again and again against this strange +and sad calling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony +that God had deceived him; had induced him to become a prophet, +and then repaid him for speaking God’s message with nothing +but disappointment and misery. And yet he felt he must +speak; God, he said, was stronger than he was, and forced him to +it. He said: “I will speak no more words in His name; +but the Word of the Lord was as fire within his bones, and would +not let him rest;” and so, in spite of himself, he told the +truth, and suffered for it; and hated to have to tell it, and +pitied and loved the very country which he rebuked till he cursed +“the day in which he saw the light, and the hour in which +it was said to his father, there is a man-child +born.” You who fancy that it is a fine thing, and a +paying profession, to be a preacher of righteousness and a +rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and judge! For as surely +as you or any other man is sent by God to do Jeremiah’s +work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah’s wages.</p> +<p>Do you think, then, that Jeremiah was a man only to be +pitied? Pitiable he was indeed, and sad. There was +One hung on a cross eighteen hundred years ago, more pitiable +still: and yet He is the Lord of heaven and earth. Yes; +Jeremiah had a sad life to live, and a sad task to work out; and +yet, my friends, was not that a cheap price to pay for the honour +and glory of being taught by God’s Spirit, and of speaking +God’s words? I do not mean the mere honour of having +his fame and name spread over all Christ’s kingdom; the +honour of having his writings read and respected by the wisest +and the holiest to the end of time; that mere earthly fame is but +a slight matter. I mean the real honour, the real glory, of +knowing what was utterly right and true, and therefore of knowing +Him who is utterly right and true; of knowing God; of knowing +what God’s character is: that he is a living God, and not a +dead one; a God who is near and not absent at all, loving and +merciful, just and righteous, strong and mighty to save. +Ay, my friends, this is the lesson which God taught Jeremiah; to +know the Lord of heaven and earth, and to see His hand, His rule, +in all that was happening to his fellow-countrymen, and himself; +to know that from the beginning the Lord, the Saviour-God, +Jehovah, the messenger of the covenant, He who brought up the +Jews out of Egypt, was the wise and just and loving King of the +Jews, and of all the nations upon earth; and that some day or +other He must and would conquer all the sinfulness, and misery, +and tyranny, and idolatry in the world, and show Himself openly +to men, and fulfil all the piteous longings after a just and good +king which poor wretches had ever felt, and all the glorious +promises of a just and good king which God had made to the wise +men of old time; and, therefore, in the midst of shame and +persecution, despair and ruin, Jeremiah could rejoice. +Jehoiakim, the wicked king, and all his royal house, might be +driven out into slavery; Jerusalem might become a heap of ruins +and corpses; the fair land of Judæa, and the village where +he was bred, might become thorns, and thistles, and heaps of +stones; the vineyard which he loved, the little estate at +Anathoth which had belonged to him, might be trodden down by the +stranger, and he himself die in a foreign land; around him might +be nothing but sin and decay, before him nothing but despair and +ruin: yet still there was hope, joy, everlasting certainty for +that poor, childless, captive old man; for he had found out that +the Lord still lived, the Lord still reigned. He could not +lie; he could not forget his people. Could a mother forget +her sucking child? No. When the Jews turned to Him, +He would still have mercy. His punishment of them was a +sign that he still cared for them. If He had forgotten +them, He would have let them go on triumphant in their +iniquity. No. All these afflictions were meant to +chasten them, teach them, bring them back to Him. It would +be good for them, an actual blessing to them, to be taken away +into captivity in Babylon. It might be hard to believe, but +it must be true. The Lord of Israel, the Saviour-God, who +had been caring for them so long, rising up early and sending His +prophets to them, pleading with them as a father with his child, +He would have mercy; He would teach them, in sorrow and slavery, +the lesson they were too rebellious and hard-hearted to learn in +prosperity and freedom: that the Lord was their righteousness, +and that there was no other name under heaven which could save +them from the plague, and from the famine, from the swords of the +Chaldeans, or from the division, and oppression, and brutishness, +and manifold wickedness, which was their ruin. And then +Jeremiah saw and felt—how we cannot tell—but there +his words, the words of this text, stand to this day, to show +that he did see and feel it, that some day or other, in +God’s good time, the Jews would have a true King—a +very different king from Jehoiakim the tyrant—a son of +David in a very different sense from what Jehoiakim was; that He +would come, and must come, sooner or later, The unseen King, who +had all along been governing Jews and heathens, and telling his +prophets that Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, the Chaldee and the +Persian, were his servants as well as they, and that all the +nations of the earth could do but what he chose. +“Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise +unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and +prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment on the +earth.”</p> +<p>This was the blessed knowledge which God gave Jeremiah in +return for all the misery he had to endure in warning his +countrymen of their sins. And this same blessed knowledge, +the knowledge that the earth is the Lord’s, that to Jesus +Christ is given, as He said Himself, all power in heaven and +earth, and that He is reigning, and must reign, and conquer, and +triumph till He has put all His enemies under His feet, God will +surely give to everyone, high or low, who follows +Jeremiah’s example, who boldly and faithfully warns the +sinner of his way, who rebukes the wickedness which he sees +around him: only he must do it in the spirit of Jeremiah. +He must not be insolent to the insolent, or proud to the +proud. He must not be puffed up, and fancy that because he +sees the evil of sin, and the certain ruin which is the fruit of +it, that he is therefore to keep apart from his +fellow-countrymen, and despise them in Pharisaic pride. +No. The truly Christian man, the man who, like Jeremiah, +has the Spirit of God in him, will feel the most intense pity and +tenderness of sinners. He will not only rebuke the sins of +his people, but mourn for them; he will be afflicted in all their +affliction. However harshly he may have to speak, he will +never forget that they are his countrymen, his brothers, children +of the same Father, to be judged by the same Lord. He will +feel with shame and fear that he has in himself the root of the +very same sins which he sees working death around him—that +if others are covetous, he might be so too—if they be +profligate, and deceitful, and hypocritical, without God in the +world, he might be so too. And he must feel not only that +he might be as bad as his neighbours, but that he actually would +be, if God withdrew His Spirit from him for a moment, and allowed +him to forget the only faith which saves him from sin, loyalty to +his unseen Saviour, the righteous King of kings. Therefore +he will not only rebuke his sinful neighbours; but he will tell +them, as Jeremiah told his countrymen, that all their sin and +misery proceed from this one thing, that they have forgotten that +the Lord is their King. He will pray daily for them, that +the Lord their King may show Himself to their hearts and +thoughts, and teach them all that He has done for them, and is +doing for them; and may convert them to Himself that they may be +truly His people, and His way may be known upon earth, His saving +health among all nations.</p> +<h2><a name="page306"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +306</span><span class="GutSmall">XXX.</span><br /> +THE PERFECT KING.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King +cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the +foal of an ass.—<span class="smcap">Matthew</span> xxi. +5.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">You</span> all know that this Sunday is +called the First Sunday in Advent. You all know, I hope, +that Advent means coming, and that these four Sundays before +Christmas, as I have often told you, are called Advent Sundays, +because upon them we are called to consider the coming of our +King and Saviour Jesus Christ. If you will look at the +Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for these next four Sundays, you +will see at once that they all bear upon our Lord’s +coming. The Gospels tell us of the prophecies about Christ +which He fulfilled when He came. The Epistles tell us what +sort of men we ought to be, both clergy and people, because He +has come and will come again. The Collects pray that the +Spirit of God would make us fit to live and die in a world into +which Christ has come, and in which He is ruling now, and to +which He will come again. The text which I have taken this +morning, you just heard in this Sunday’s Gospel. St. +Matthew tells you that Jesus Christ fulfilled it by riding into +Jerusalem in state upon an ass’s colt; and St. Matthew +surely speaks truth. Let us consider what the prophecy is, +and how Jesus Christ fulfilled it. Then we shall see and +believe from the Epistle what effect the knowledge of it ought to +have upon our own souls, and hearts, and daily conduct.</p> +<p>Now this prophecy, “Behold, thy king cometh unto +thee,” etc., you will find in your Bibles, in the ninth +verse of the ninth chapter of the book of Zechariah. But I +do not think that Zechariah wrote it. St. Matthew does not +say he wrote it; he merely calls it that which was spoken by the +prophet, without mentioning his name. Provided it is an +inspired word from God, which it is, it perhaps does not matter +to us so much who wrote it: but I think it was written by the +prophet Jeremiah, perhaps in the beginning of the reign of the +good king Josiah; for the chapter in which this text is, and the +two or three chapters which follow, are not at all like the rest +of Zechariah’s writings, but exactly like +Jeremiah’s. They certainly seem to speak of things +which did not happen in Zechariah’s time, but in the time +of Jeremiah, nearly ninety years before. And, above all, +St. Matthew himself seems plainly to have thought that some part, +at least, of those chapters was Jeremiah’s writing; for in +the twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and in +the ninth verse, you will find a prophecy about the +potter’s field, which St. Matthew says was spoken by +Jeremiah the prophet. Now, those words are not in the book +of Jeremiah as it stands in our Bibles: but they are in the book +of Zechariah, in the eleventh chapter, twelfth and thirteenth +verses, coming shortly after my text, and making a part of the +same prophecy. This has puzzled Christians very much, +because it seemed as if St. Matthew has made a mistake, and +miscalled Zechariah Jeremiah. But I believe firmly that, as +we are bound to expect, St. Matthew made no mistake whatsoever, +and that Jeremiah did write that prophecy as St. Matthew said, +and the two chapters before it, and perhaps the two after it, and +that they were probably kept and preserved by Zechariah during +the troublous times of the Babylonish captivity, and at last +copied by Nehemiah into Zechariah’s book of prophecy, where +they stand now; and I think it is a comfort to know this, and to +find that the evangelist St. Matthew has not made a mistake, but +knew the Scriptures better than we do.</p> +<p>But I think Jeremiah having written this prophecy in my text, +which I believe he did, is also very important, because it will +show us what the prophet meant when he spoke it, and how it was +fulfilled in his time; and the better we understand that, the +better we shall understand how our blessed Lord fulfilled it +afterwards.</p> +<p>Now, when Jeremiah was a young man, the Jews and their king +Amon were in a state of most abominable wickedness. They +were worshipping every sort of idol and false god. And the +Bible, the book of God’s law, was utterly unknown amongst +them; so that Josiah the king, who succeeded Amon, had never seen +or heard the book of the law of Moses, which makes part of our +Old Testament, till he had reigned eighteen years, as you will +find if you refer to 2 Kings xxii. 3. But this Josiah was a +gentle and just prince, and finding the book of the law of God, +and seeing the abominable forgetfulness and idolatry into which +his people had fallen, utterly breaking the covenant which God +had made with their forefathers when he brought them up out of +Egypt—when he found the book of the law, I say, and all +that he and his people should have done and had not done, and the +awful curses which God threatened in that book against those who +broke His law, “he humbled himself before God, because his +heart was tender, and turned to the Lord, as no king before him +had ever turned,” says the scripture, “with all his +heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might; so that +there was no such king before him, or either after +him.” The history of the great reformation which this +great and good king worked, you may read at length in 2 Kings +xxii. xxiii. and 2 Chron. xxxiv. xxxv. which I advise you all to +read.</p> +<p>And it appears to me that this prophecy in the text first +applies to the gentle and holy king Josiah, the first true and +good king the Jews had had for years, and the best they were ever +to have till Christ came Himself; and that it speaks of Josiah +coming to Jerusalem to restore the worship of God, not with pomp +and show, like the wicked kings both before and after him, but in +meekness and humbleness of heart, for all the sins of his people, +as the prophetess said of him in 2 Kings xxii. 19, “that +his heart was tender and humble before the Lord;” neither +coming with chariots and guards, like a king and conqueror, but +riding upon an ass’s colt; for that was, in those +countries, the ancient sign of a man’s being a man of +peace, and not of war; a magistrate and lawgiver, and not a +soldier and a conqueror. Various places of holy scripture +show us that this was the meaning of riding upon an ass in +Judæa, just as it is in Eastern countries now.</p> +<p>But some may say, How then is this a prophecy? It merely +tells us what good king Josiah was, and what every king ought to +be. Well, my friends, that is just what makes it a +prophecy. If it tells you what ought to be, it tells you +what will be. Yes, never forget that; whatever ought to be, +surely will be; as surely as this is God’s earth and +Christ’s kingdom, and not the devil’s.</p> +<p>Now, it does not matter in the least whether the prophet, when +he spoke these words, knew that they would apply to the Lord +Jesus Christ. We have no need whatsoever to suppose that he +did: for scripture gives us no hint or warrant that he did; and +if we have any real or honest reverence for scripture, we shall +be careful to let it tell its own story, and believe that it +contains all things necessary for salvation, without our patching +our own notions into it over and above. Wise men are +generally agreed that those old prophets did not, for the most +part, comprehend the full meaning of their own words. Not +that they were mere puppets and mouthpieces, speaking what to +them was nonsense—God forbid!—But that just because +they did thoroughly understand what was going on round them, and +see things as God saw them, just because they had God’s +Eternal Spirit with them, therefore they spoke great and eternal +words, which will be true for ever, and will go on for ever +fulfilling themselves for more and more. For in proportion +as any man’s words are true, and wide, and deep, they are +truer, and wider, and deeper than that man thinks, and will apply +to a thousand matters of which he never dreamt. And so in +all true and righteous speech, as in the speeches of the prophets +of old, the glory is not man’s who speaks them, but +God’s who reveals them, and who fulfils them again and +again.</p> +<p>It is true, then, that this text describes what every king +should be—gentle and humble, a merciful and righteous +lawgiver, not a self-willed and capricious tyrant. But +Josiah could not fulfil that. He was a good king: but he +could not be a perfect one; for he was but a poor, sinful, weak, +and inconsistent man, as we are. But those words being +inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be fulfilled. There ought +to be a perfect king, perfectly gentle and humble, having a +perfect salvation, a perfect lawgiver; and therefore there must +be such a king; and therefore St. Matthew tells us there came at +last a perfect king—one who fulfilled perfectly the +prophet’s words—one who was not made king of +Jerusalem, but was her King from the beginning; for that is the +full meaning of “Thy King cometh to thee.” To +Jerusalem He came, riding on the ass’s colt, like the +peaceful and fatherly judges of old time, for a sign to the poor +souls round Him, who had no lawgivers but the proud and fierce +Scribes and Pharisees, no king but the cruel and godless +Cæsar, and his oppressive and extortionate officers and +troops. Meek and lowly He came; and for once the people saw +that He was the true Son of David—a man and king, like him, +after God’s own heart. For once they felt that He had +come in the name of the Lord the old Deliverer who brought them +out of the land of Egypt, and made them into a nation, and loved +and pitied them still, in spite of all their sins, and remembered +His covenant, which they had forgotten. And before that +humble man, the Son of the village maiden, they cried: +“Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He that +cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the +Highest.”</p> +<p>And do you think He came, the true and perfect King, only to +go away again and leave this world as it was before, without a +law, a ruler, a heavenly kingdom? God forbid! Jesus +is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. What He was +then, when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem, that is He now to +us this day—a king, meek and lowly, and having salvation; +the head and founder of a kingdom which can never be moved, a +city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. +To that kingdom this land of England now belongs. Into it +we, as Englishmen, have been christened. And the +unchristened, though they know not of it, belong to it as +well. What God’s will, what Christ’s mercies +may be to them, we know not. That He has mercy for them, if +their ignorance is not their own fault, we doubt not; perhaps, +even if their ignorance be their own fault, we need not doubt +that He has mercy for them, considering the mercy which He has +shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His will +to us we do know; and His will is this—our holiness. +For He came not only to assert His own power, to redeem his own +world, but to set His people, the children of men, an example, +that they should follow in His steps. Herein, too, He is +the perfect king. He leads His subjects, He sets a perfect +example to His subjects, and more, He inspires them with the +power of following that example, as, if you will think, a perfect +ruler ought to be able to do. Josiah set the Jews an +example, but he could not make them follow it. They turned +to God at the bidding of their good king, with their lips, in +their outward conduct; but their hearts were still far from +Him. Jeremiah complains bitterly of this in the beginning +of his prophecies. He complains that Josiah’s +reformation was after all empty, hollow, hypocritical, a change +on the surface only, while the wicked root was left. They +had healed, he said, the hurt of the daughter of his people +slightly, crying, “Peace, peace, when there was no +peace.” But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of +men’s spirits as well as of their bodies. He can turn +the heart, He can renew the soul. None so ignorant, none so +sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits, but the Lord will +and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him, strengthen him, +if he will but claim his share in his King’s mercy, his +citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune +again with himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all +therein.</p> +<p>Keeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our +perfect King, is both the example and the inspirer of our souls +and characters, we may look without fear at the epistle for the +day, where it calls on us to be very different persons from what +we are, and declares to us our duty as subjects of Him who is +meek and lowly, just and having salvation. It is no +superstitious, slavish message, saying: “You have lost +Christ’s mercy and Christ’s kingdom; you must buy it +back again by sacrifices, and tears, and hard penances, or great +alms-deeds and works of mercy.” No. It simply +says: “You belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to +Him and follow His example. If He is perfect, His is the +example to follow; if he is perfect, His commandments must be +perfect, fit for all places, all times, all employments; if He is +the King of heaven and earth, His commandments must be in tune +with heaven and earth, with the laws of nature, the true laws of +society and trade, with the constitution, and business, and duty, +and happiness of all mankind, and for ever obey Him.”</p> +<p>Owe no man anything save love, for He owed no man +anything. He gave up all, even His own rights, for a time, +for His subjects. Will you pretend to follow Him while you +hold back from your brothers and fellow-servants their just +due? One debt you must always owe; one debt will grow the +more you pay it, and become more delightful to owe, the greater +and heavier you feel it to be, and that is love; love to all +around you, for all around you are your brothers and sisters; all +around you are the beloved subjects of your King and +Saviour. Love them as you love yourself, and then you +cannot harm them, you cannot tyrannise over them, you cannot wish +to rise by scrambling up on their shoulders, taking the bread out +of their mouths, making your profit out of their weakness and +their need. This, St. Paul says, was the duty of men in his +time, because the night of heathendom was far spent, the day of +Christianity and the Church was at hand. Much more is it +our duty now—our duty, who have been born in the full +sunshine of Christianity, christened into His church as children, +we and our fathers before us, for generations, of the kingdom of +God. Ay, my friends, these words, that kingdom, that King, +witness this day against this land of England. Not merely +against popery, the mote which we are trying to take out of the +foreigner’s eye, but against Mammon, the beam which we are +overlooking in our own. Owe no man anything save +love. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as +thyself.” That is the law of your King, who loved not +Himself or His own profit, His own glory, but gave Himself even +to death for those who had forgotten Him and rebelled against +Him. That law witnesses against selfishness and idleness in +rich and poor. It witnesses against the employer who grinds +down his workmen; who, as the world tells him he has a right to +do, takes advantage of their numbers, their ignorance, their low +and reckless habits, to rise upon their fall, and grow rich out +of their poverty. It witnesses against the tradesman who +tries to draw away his neighbour’s custom. It +witnesses against the working man who spends in the alehouse the +wages which might support and raise his children, and then falls +back recklessly and dishonestly on the parish rates and the alms +of the charitable. Against them all this law +witnesses. These things are unfit for the kingdom of +Christ, contrary to the laws and constitution thereof, hateful to +the King thereof; and if a nation will not amend these +abominations, the King will arise out of His place, and with sore +judgments and terrible He will visit His land and purify His +temple, saying: “My Father’s house should be a house +of prayer, and ye have made it a den of thieves.” Ay, +woe to any soul, or to any nation, which, instead of putting on +the Lord Jesus Christ, copying His example, obeying His laws, and +living worthy of His kingdom, not only in the church, but in the +market, the shop, the senate, or the palace, give themselves up +to covetousness, which is idolatry; and care only to make +provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Woe +to them; for, let them be what they will, their King cannot +change. He is still meek and lowly; He is still just and +having salvation; and He will purge out of His kingdom all that +is not like Himself, the unchaste and the idle, the unjust and +the unmerciful, and the covetous man, who is an idolater, says +the scripture, though he may call himself seven times a +Protestant, and rail at the Pope in public meetings, while he +justifies greediness and tyranny by glib words about the +necessities of business and the laws of trade, and by philosophy +falsely so called, which cometh not from above, but is earthly, +sensual, devilish. Such a man loves and makes a lie, and +the Lord of truth will surely send him to his own place.</p> +<h2><a name="page316"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +316</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXI.</span><br /> +GOD’S WARNINGS.</h2> +<blockquote><p>It may be that the house of Judah will hear all +the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return +every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity +and their sin.—<span class="smcap">Jeremiah</span> xxxvi. +3.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> first lesson for this +evening’s service tells us of the wickedness of Jehoiakim, +king of Judah. How, when Jeremiah’s prophecies +against the sins of Jehoiakim and his people were read before +him, he cut the roll with a penknife, and threw it into the +fire. Now, we must not look on this story as one which, +because it happened among the Jews many hundred years ago, has +nothing to do with us; for, as I continually remind you, the +history of the Jews, and the whole Old Testament, is the history +of God’s dealings with man—the account of God’s +plan of governing this world. Now, God cannot change; but +is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and therefore His +plan of government cannot change: but if men do as those did of +whom we read in the Old Testament, God will surely deal with them +as He dealt with the men of the Old Testament. This St. +Paul tells us most plainly in the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, +where he says that the whole history of the Jews was written for +our example—that is for the example of those Christian +Corinthians, who were not Jews at all, but Gentiles as we are; +and therefore for our example also.</p> +<p>He tells them, that it was Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus +Christ, who fed and guided the old Jews in the wilderness, and +that the Lord will deal with us exactly as He dealt with the old +Jews.</p> +<p>Therefore it is a great and fearful mistake, to suppose that +because the Jews were a peculiar people and God’s chosen +nation, that therefore the Lord’s way of governing them is +in any wise different from His way of governing us English at +this very day; for that fancy is contrary to the express words of +Holy Scripture, in a hundred different places; it is contrary to +the whole spirit of our Prayer Book, which is written all through +on the belief that the Lord deals with us just as He did with the +Jewish nation, and which will not even make sense if it be +understood in any other way; and besides, it is most dangerous to +the souls and consciences of men. It is most dangerous for +us to fancy that God can change; for if God can change, right and +wrong can change; for right is the will of God, and wrong is what +is against His will; and if we once let into our hearts the +notion that God can change His laws of right, our consciences +will become daily dimmer and more confused about right and wrong, +till we fall, as too many do, under the prophet’s curse, +“Woe to them who call good evil, and evil good; who put +sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet,” and fancy, like +Ezekiel’s Jews, that God’s ways are unequal; that is, +unlike each other, changeable, arbitrary, and capricious, doing +one thing at one time, and another at another. No. It +is sinful man who is changeable; it is sinful man who is +arbitrary. But The Lord is not a man, that He should lie or +repent; for He is the only-begotten Son, and therefore the +express likeness, of The Everlasting Father, in whom is no +variableness, nor shadow of turning.</p> +<p>But some may say, Is not that a gloomy and terrible notion of +God, that He cannot change His purpose? Is not that as much +as to say that there is a dark necessity hanging over each of us; +that a man must just be what God chooses, and do just what He has +ordained to do, and go to everlasting happiness or misery exactly +as God has foreordained from all eternity, so that there is no +use trying to do right, or not to do wrong? If I am to be +saved, say such people, I shall be saved whether I try or not; +and if I am to be damned, I shall be damned whether I try or +not. I am in God’s hands like clay in the hands of +the potter; and what I am like is therefore God’s business, +and not mine.</p> +<p>No, my friends, the very texts in the Bible which tell us that +God cannot change or repent, tell us what it is that He cannot +change in—in showing loving-kindness and tender mercy, +long-suffering, and repenting of the evil. Whatsoever else +He cannot repent of, He cannot repent of repenting of the +evil.</p> +<p>It is true, we are in His hand as clay in the hand of the +potter. But it is a sad misreading of scripture to make +that mean that we are to sit with our hands folded, careless +about our own way and conduct; still less that we are to give +ourselves up to despair, because we have sinned against God; for +what is the very verse which follows after that? +Listen. “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as +this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the +hand of the potter, so are ye in my hand, O house of +Israel. At what instant I shall speak concerning a kingdom, +to pull down and destroy it; if that nation against whom I have +pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil which +I thought to do to them. And at what instant I shall speak +concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to +plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, +then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit +them.”</p> +<p>So that the lesson which we are to draw from the parable of +the potter’s clay is just the exact opposite which some men +draw. Not that God’s decrees are absolute: but that +they are conditional, and depend on our good or evil +conduct. Not that His election or His reprobation are +unalterable, but that they alter “at that instant” at +which man alters. Not that His grace and will are +irresistible, as the foolish man against whom St. Paul argues +fancies: but that we can resist God’s will, and that our +destruction comes only by resisting His will; in short, that +God’s will is no brute material necessity and fate, but the +will of a living, loving Father.</p> +<p>And the very same lesson is taught us in Ezek. xviii., of +which I spoke just now; for if we read that chapter we shall find +that the Jews had a false notion of God that He had changed His +character, and had become in their time unmerciful and +unjust. They fancied that God was, if I may so speak, +obstinate—that if His anger had once arisen, there was no +turning it away, but that He would go on without pity, punishing +the innocent children for their father’s sin; and therefore +they fancied God’s ways were unfair, self-willed, and +arbitrary, without any care of what sort of person He afflicted; +punishing the righteous as well as the wicked, after He had +promised in His law to reward the righteous and punish the +wicked. They fancied that His way of governing the world +had changed, and that He did not in their days make a difference +between the bad and the good. Therefore Ezekiel says to +them: “When the righteous man turneth away from his +righteousness, he shall die.” “When the wicked +man turneth away from his wickedness, he shall live.” +“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? +saith the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways, +and live?”</p> +<p>This, then, is the good news, that God is love; love when He +punishes, and love when He forgives; very pitiful, and full of +long-suffering and tender mercy and repenting Him, never of the +good, but only of the evil which He threatens.</p> +<p>Both Jeremiah, therefore, and Ezekiel, give us the same +lesson. God does not change, and therefore He never changes +His mercy and His justice: for He is merciful because He is +just. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to +forgive us our sins. That is His everlasting law, and has +been from the beginning: Punishment, sure and certain, for those +who do not repent; and free forgiveness, sure and certain also, +for those who do repent.</p> +<p>So He spoke to Jeremiah in the time of Jehoiakim: “It +may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I +purpose to do to them; that I may forgive them their iniquity and +their sin.” The Lord, you see, wishes to +forgive—longs to forgive. His heart yearns over +sinful men as a father’s over his rebellious child. +But if they will still rebel, if they will still turn their +wicked wills away from Him, He must punish. Why we know +not; but He knows. Punish He must, unless we +repent—unless we turn our wills toward His will. And +woe to the stiff-necked and stout-hearted man who, like the +wicked king Jehoiakim, sets his face like a flint against +God’s warnings. How many, how many behave for years, +Sunday after Sunday, just as king Jehoiakim did! When he +heard that God had threatened him with ruin for his sins, he +heard also that God offered him free pardon if he would +repent. Jeremiah gave him free choice to be saved or to be +ruined; but his heart and will were hardened. Hearing that +he was wrong only made him angry. His pride and self-will +were hurt by being told that he must change and alter his +ways. He had chosen his way, and he would keep to it; and +he cared nothing for God’s offers of forgiveness, because +he could not be forgiven unless he did what he was too proud to +do, confess himself to be in the wrong, and openly alter his +conduct. And how many, as I first said, are like him! +They come to church; they hear God’s warnings and threats +against their evil ways; they hear God’s offers of free +pardon and forgiveness; but being told that they are in the wrong +makes them too angry to care for God’s offers of +pardon. Pride stops their cars. They have chosen +their own way, and they will keep it. They would not object +to be forgiven, if they might be forgiven without +repenting. But they do not like to confess themselves in +the wrong. They do not like to face their foolish +companions’ remarks and sneers about their changed +ways. They do not like even good people to say of them: +“You see now that you were in the wrong after all; for you +have altered your mind and your doings yourself, as we told you +you would have to do.” No; anything sooner than +confess themselves in the wrong; and so they turn their backs on +God’s mercy, for the sake of their own carnal pride and +self-will.</p> +<p>But, of course, they want an excuse for doing that; and when a +man wants an excuse, the devil will soon fit him with a good +one. Then, perhaps, the foolish sinner behaves as Jehoiakim +did. He tries to forget God’s message in the man who +brings it. He grows angry with the preacher, or goes out +and laughs at the preacher when service is over, as if it was the +preacher’s fault that God had declared what he has; as if +it was the preacher’s doing that God has revealed His anger +against all sin and unrighteousness. So he acts like +Jehoiakim, who tried to take Jeremiah the prophet and punish +<i>him</i>, for what not he but the Lord God had declared. +Nay, they will often peevishly hate the very sight of a good +book, because it reminds them of the sins of which they do not +choose to be reminded, just as the young king Jehoiakim was +childish enough to vent his spite on Jeremiah’s book of +prophecies, by cutting the roll on which it was written with a +penknife, and throwing it into the fire. So do sinners who +are angry with the preacher who warns them, or hate the sight of +good books. But let such foolish and wilful sinners, such +full-grown children—for, after all, they are no +better—hear the word of the Lord which came to Jehoiakim: +“As it is written, he that despiseth Me shall be despised, +saith the Lord.” And let them not fancy that their +shutting their ears will shut the preacher’s mouth, still +less shut up God’s everlasting laws of punishment for +sin. No. God’s word stands true, and it will +happen to them as it did to Jehoiakim. His burning +Jeremiah’s book did not rid him of the book, or save him +from the woe and ruin which was prophesied in it; for we have +Jeremiah’s book here in our Bibles to this day, as a sign +and a warning of what happens to men, be they young or old, be +they kings or labouring men, who fight against God. +Jeremiah’s words were not lost after all; they were all +re-written, and there were added to them also many more like +words; for Jehoiakim, by refusing the Lord’s offer of +pardon, had added to his sins, and therefore the Lord added to +his punishment.</p> +<p>Perhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another +excuse, and the man says to himself, as the Jews did in +Ezekiel’s time: “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, +and the children’s teeth are set on edge. It is not +my own fault that I am living a bad life, but other +people’s. My parents ought to have brought me up +better. I have had no chance. My companions taught me +too much harm. I have too much trouble to get my living; +or, I was born with a bad temper; or, I can’t help running +after pleasure. Why did God make me the sort of man I am, +and put me where I am? God is hard upon me; He is unfair to +me. His ways are unequal; He expects as much of me as He +does of people who have more opportunities. He threatens to +punish me for other people’s sins.”</p> +<p>And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, +and the devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: “God +does not care for me; God hates me. Luck, and everything +else is against me. There seems to be some curse upon +me. Why should I change? Let God change first to me, +and then I will change toward Him. But God will not change; +He is determined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; +for everything goes wrong with me. Then what use in my +repenting? I will just go my own way, and what must be +must. There is no resisting God’s will. If I am +to be saved, I shall be; if I am to be damned, I shall be. +I will put all melancholy thoughts out of my head, and go and +enjoy myself and forget all. At all events, it won’t +last long: ‘Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I +die.’”</p> +<p>Oh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such +thoughts? Then hear the word of the Lord to you: +“When—whensoever—whensoever the wicked man +turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, and +doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul +alive.” “Have I any pleasure in the death of +him that dieth? saith the Lord, and not rather that he should be +converted, and live?” True, most true, that the Lord +is unchangeable: but it is in love and mercy. True, that +God’s will and law cannot alter: but what is God’s +will and law? The soul that sinneth, it shall die? +Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from its sin, it +shall live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that +God hates you. Never believe him when he tells you that God +has been too hard on you, and put you into such temptation, or +ignorance, or poverty, or anything else, that you cannot +mend. No. That font there will give the devil the +lie. That font says: “Be you poor, tempted, ignorant, +stupid, be you what you will, you are God’s +child—your Father’s love is over you, His mercy is +ready for you.” You feel too weak to change; ask +God’s Spirit, and He will give you a strength of mind you +never felt before. You feel too proud to change; ask +God’s Spirit, and He will humble your proud heart, and +soften your hard heart; and you will find to your surprise, that +when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed of +yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel not +worthy to look up to God, that then, instead of pride, will come +a nobler, holier, manlier feeling—self-respect, and a clear +conscience, and the thought that, weak and sinful as you are, you +are in the right way; that God, and the angels of God, are +smiling on you; that you are in tune again with all heaven and +earth, because you are what God wills you to be—not His +proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying yourself strong +enough to go alone, when in reality you are the slave of your own +passions and appetites, and the plaything of the devil: but His +loving, loyal son, strong in the strength which God gives you, +and able to do what you will, because what you will God wills +also.</p> +<h2><a name="page325"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +325</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXII.</span><br /> +PHARAOH’S HEART.</h2> +<blockquote><p>And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did +not let the people go.—<span class="smcap">Exodus</span> +ix. 17.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">What</span> lesson, now, can we draw from +this story? One, at least, and a very important one. +What effect did all these signs and wonders of God’s +sending, have upon Pharaoh and his servants? Did they make +them better men or worse men? We read that they made them +worse men; that they helped to harden their hearts. We read +that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would +not let the children of Israel go. Now, how did the Lord do +that? He did not wish and mean to make Pharaoh more +hard-hearted, more wicked. That is impossible. God, +who is all goodness and love, never can wish to make any human +being one atom worse than he is. He who so loved the world +that He came down on earth to die for sinners, and take away the +sins of the world, would never make any human being a greater +sinner than he was before. That is impossible, and horrible +to think of. Therefore, when we read that the Lord hardened +Pharaoh’s heart, we must be certain that that was +Pharaoh’s own fault; and so, we read, it was +Pharaoh’s own fault. The Lord did not bring all these +plagues on Egypt without giving Pharaoh fair warning. +Before each plague, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that the plague +was coming. The Lord told Pharaoh that He was his Master, +and the Master and Lord of the whole earth; that the children of +Israel belonged to Him, and the Egyptians too; that the river, +light and darkness, the weather, the crops, and the insects, and +the locusts belonged to Him; that all diseases which afflict man +and beast were in His power. And the Lord proved that His +words were true, in a way Pharaoh could not mistake, by changing +the river into blood, and sending darkness, and hailstones, and +plagues of lice and flies, and at last by killing the firstborn +of all the Egyptians. The Lord gave Pharaoh every chance; +He condescended to argue with him as one man would with another, +and proved His word to be true, and proved that He had a right to +command Pharaoh. And therefore, I say, if Pharaoh’s +heart was hardened, it was his own fault, for the Lord was +plainly trying to soften it, and to bring him to reason. +And the Bible says distinctly that it was Pharaoh’s own +fault. For it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, he +and his servants, and therefore they would not let the children +of Israel go. Now how could Pharaoh harden his own heart, +and yet the Lord harden it at the same time?</p> +<p>Just in the same way, my friends, as too many of us are apt to +make the Lord harden our hearts by hardening them ourselves, and +to make, as Pharaoh did, the very things which the Lord sends to +soften us, the causes of our becoming more stubborn; the very +things which the Lord sends to bring us to reason, the means of +our becoming more mad and foolish. Believe me, my friends, +this is no old story with which we have nothing to do. What +happened to Pharaoh’s heart may happen to yours, or mine, +or any man’s. Alas! alas! it does happen to many a +man’s and woman’s heart every day—and may the +Lord have mercy on them before it be too late,—and yet how +can the Lord have mercy on those who will not let Him have mercy +on them?</p> +<p>What do I mean? This is what I mean, my friends; Oh, +listen to it, and take it solemnly to heart, you who are living +still in sin; take it to heart, lest you, like Pharaoh, die in +your sins, and your latter end will be worse than your +beginning.</p> +<p>Suppose a man to be going on in some sinful habit; cheating +his neighbours, grinding his labourers, or getting tipsy, or +living with a woman without being married to her. He comes +to church, and there he hears the word of the Lord, by the Bible, +or in sermons, telling him that God commands him to give up his +sin, that God will certainly punish him if he does not repent and +amend. God sends that message to him in love and mercy, to +soften his heart by the terrors of the law, and turn him from his +sin. But what does the man feel? He feels angry and +provoked; angry with the preacher; ay, angry with the Bible +itself, with God’s words. For he hates to hear the +words which tell him of his sin; he wishes they were not in the +Bible; he longs to stop the preacher’s mouth; and, as he +cannot do that, he dislikes going to church. He says: +“I cannot, and what is more, I will not, give up my sinful +ways, and therefore I shall not go to church to be told of +them.” So he stops away from church, and goes on in +his sins. So that man’s heart is hardened, just as +Pharaoh’s was. Yet the Lord has come and spoken to +that sinful man in loving warnings: though all the effect it has +had is that the Lord’s message has made him worse than he +was before, more stubborn, more godless, more unwilling to hear +what is good. But men may fall into a still worse state of +mind. They may determine to set the Lord at naught; to hear +Him speaking to their conscience, and know that He is right and +they wrong, and yet quietly put the good thoughts and feelings +out of their way, and go in the course which they know to be the +worst. How many a man in business or the world says to +himself, ay, and in his better moments will say to his friend: +“Ah, yes, if one could but be what one would wish to be. . +. . What one’s mother used to say one might be. . . +. But for such a world as this, the gospel ideal is +somewhat too fine and unpractical. One has one’s +business to carry on, or one’s family to provide for, or +one’s party in politics to serve; one must obey the laws of +trade, the usages of society, the interests of one’s +class;” and so forth. And so an excuse is found for +every sin, by those who know in their hearts that they are +sinning; for every sin; and among others, too often, for that sin +of Pharaoh’s, of “<i>not letting the people +go</i>.”</p> +<p>And how many, my friends, when they come to church, harden +their hearts in the same quiet, almost good-humoured way, not +caring enough for God’s message to be even angry with it, +and take the preacher’s warnings as they would a shower of +rain, as something unpleasant which cannot be helped; and which, +therefore, they must sit out patiently, and think about it as +little as possible? And when the sermon is over, they take +their hats and go out into the churchyard, and begin talking +about something else as quickly as possible, to drive the +unpleasant thoughts, if there are a few left, out of their +heads. And thus they let the Lord’s message to them +harden their hearts. For it does harden them, my friends, +if it be taken in this temper. Every time anyone sits +through the service or the sermon in this stupid and careless +mood, he dulls and deadens his soul, till at last he is able +coolly to sit through the most awful warnings of God’s +judgment, the most tender entreaties of God’s love, as if +he were a brute animal without understanding. Ay, he is +able to make the responses to the commandments, and join in the +psalms, and so with his own mouth, before the whole congregation, +confess that God’s curse is on his doings, with no more +sense or care of what the words mean, and of what a sentence he +is pronouncing against himself, than if he were a parrot taught +to speak by rote words which he does not understand. And so +that man, by hardening his own heart, makes the Lord harden it +for him.</p> +<p>But there is a third way, and a worse way still, in which +people’s hearts are hardened by the Lord’s speaking +to them. A man is warned of his sins by the preacher; and +he says to himself: “If the minister thinks that he is +going to frighten me away from church, he is very much +mistaken. He may go his way, and I shall go mine. Let +him preach at me as much as he will; I shall go to church all the +more for that, to show him that I am not afraid.” And +so the Lord’s warnings harden his heart, and provoke him to +set his face like a flint, and become all the more proud and +stubborn.</p> +<p>Now, young people, I speak openly to you as man to man. +Will you tell me that this was not the very way in which some of +you took my sermon last Sunday afternoon, in which I warned you +of the misery which your sinful lives would bring upon you? +Was there not more than one of you, who, as soon as he got +outside the church, began laughing and swaggering, and said to +the lad next him: “Well, he gave it us well in his sermon +this afternoon, did he not? But I don’t care; do +you?”</p> +<p>To which the other foolish fellow answered: “Not +I. It is his business to talk like that; he is paid for it, +and I suppose he likes it. So if he does what he likes, we +shall do what we like. Come along.” And at that +all the other foolish fellows round burst out laughing, as if the +poor lad had said a very clever thing; and they all went off +together, having their hearts hardened by the Lord’s +warning to them, as Pharaoh’s was.</p> +<p>And they showed, I am afraid, that very evening that their +hearts were hardened. For out of a sort of spite and +stubbornness they took a delight in doing what was wrong, just +because they had been told that it was wrong, and because they +were determined to show that they would not be frightened or +turned from what they chose.</p> +<p>And all the while they knew that it was wrong, did those poor +foolish lads. If you had asked one of them openly, +“Do you not know that God has forbidden you to do +this?” they would have either been forced to say, +“Yes,” or else they would have tried to laugh the +matter off, or perhaps held their tongues and looked silly, or +perhaps again answered insolently; showing by each and all of +these ways of taking it, that the Lord’s message had come +home to their consciences, and convinced them of their sin, +though they were determined not to own it or obey it. And +the way they would have put the matter by and excused themselves +to themselves would have been just the way in which Pharaoh did +it. They would have tried to forget that the Lord had +warned them, and tried to make out to themselves that it was all +the preacher’s doing, and to make it a personal quarrel +between him and them. Just so Pharaoh did when he hardened +his heart. He made the Lord’s message a ground for +hating and threatening Moses and Aaron, as if it was any fault of +theirs. He knew in his heart that the Lord had sent them; +but he tried to forget that, and drove them out from his +presence, and told them that if they dared to appear before him +again they should surely die. And just so, my friends, +people will be angry with the preacher for telling them +unpleasant truths, as if it was any more pleasure to him to speak +than for them to hear. Oh, why will you forget that the +words which I speak from this pulpit are not my words, but +God’s? It is not I who warn you of what you are +bringing on yourselves by your sins, it is God Himself. +There it is written in His Bible—judge for +yourselves. Read your Bibles for yourselves, and you will +see that I am not speaking my own thoughts and words. And +as for being angry with me for telling you truth, read the +ordination service which is read whenever a clergyman is +ordained, and judge for yourselves. What is a clergyman +sent into the world for at all, but to say to you what I am +saying now? What should I be but a hypocrite and a traitor +to the blessed Lord who died for me, and saved me from my sins, +and ordained me to preach to sinners, that they too may be saved +from their sins,—what should I be but a traitor to Him, if +I did not say to you, whenever I see you going wrong:</p> +<p>“O come, let us worship, and fall down and kneel before +the Lord our Maker.</p> +<p>“For He is the Lord our God; and we are the people of +His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.</p> +<p>“To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your +hearts,</p> +<p>“Lest He sware in His wrath that you shall not enter +into His rest!”</p> +<p>And now, my friends, I will tell you what will happen to +you. You see that I know something, without having been +told of what has been going on in your hearts. I beseech +you, believe me when I tell you what will go on in them. +God will chastise you for your sins. He will; just because +He loves you, and does not hate you; just because you are His +children, and not dumb animals born to perish. Troubles +will come upon you as you grow older. Of what sort they +will be I cannot tell; but that they will come, I can tell full +well. And when the Lord sends trouble to you, shall it +harden your hearts or soften them? It depends on you, +altogether on you, whether the Lord hardens your hearts by +sending those sorrows, or whether He softens and turns them and +brings them back to the only right place for them—home to +Him. But your trouble may only harden your heart all the +more. The sorrows and sore judgments which the Lord sent +Pharaoh only hardened his heart. It all depends upon the +way in which you take these troubles, my friends. And that +not so much when they come as after they come. Almost all, +let their hearts be right with God or not, seem to take sorrow as +they ought, while the sorrow is on them. Pharaoh did so +too. He said to Moses and Aaron: “I have sinned this +time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are +wicked. Entreat the Lord that there be no more mighty +thunderings and hail; and I will let you go.” What +could be more right or better spoken? Was not Pharaoh in a +proper state of mind then? Was not his heart humbled, and +his will resigned to God? Moses thought not. For +while he promised Pharaoh to pray that the storm might pass over, +yet he warned him: “But as for thee and thy servants, I +know that ye will not yet fear the Lord your God.” +And so it happened; for, “when Pharaoh saw that the rain, +and hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more, and +hardened his heart, he and his servants. Neither would he +let the children of Israel go.” . . . And so, alas! +it happens to many a man and woman nowadays. They find +themselves on a sick-bed. They are in fear of death, in +fear of poverty, in fear of shame and punishment for their +misdeeds. And then they say: “It is God’s +judgment. I have been very wicked. I know God is +punishing me. Oh, if God will but raise me up off this +sick-bed; if He will but help me out of this trouble, I will give +up all my wicked ways. I will repent and +amend.” So said Pharaoh; and yet, as soon as he was +safe out of his distress, he hardened his heart. And so +does many a man and woman, who, when they get safe through their +troubles, never give up one of their sins, any more than Pharaoh +did. They really believe that God has punished them. +They really intend to amend, while they are in the trouble: but +as soon as they are out of it, they try to persuade themselves +that it was not God who sent the sorrow, that it came “by +accident,” or that “people must have trouble in this +life,” or that “if they had taken better care, they +might have prevented it.”—All of them excuses to +themselves for forgetting God in the matter, and, therefore, for +forgetting what they promised to God in trouble; and so, after +all, they go on just as they went on before. And yet not as +they went on before. For every such sin hardens their +hearts; every such sin makes them less able to see God’s +hand in what happens to them; every such sin makes them more bold +and confident in disobeying God, and saying to themselves: +“After all, why should I be so frightened when I am in +trouble, and make such promises to amend my life? For the +trouble goes away, whether I mend my life or not; and nothing +happens to me; God does not punish me for not keeping my promises +to Him. I may as well go on in my own way, for I seem not +the worse off in body or in purse for so doing.” Thus +do people harden their hearts after each trouble, as Pharaoh did; +so that you will see people, by one affliction after another, one +loss after another, all their lives through, warned by God that +sin will not prosper them; and confessing that their sins have +brought God’s punishment on them: and yet going on steadily +in the very sins which have brought on their troubles, and +gaining besides, as time runs on, a heart more and more +hardened. And why?</p> +<p>Because they, like Pharaoh, love to have their own way. +They will not submit to God, and do what He bids them, and +believe that what He bids them must be right—good for them, +and for all around them.</p> +<p>They promised to mend. But they promised as Pharaoh +did. “If God will take away this trouble, then I will +mend”—meaning, though they do not dare to say it: +“And if God will not take away this trouble, of course He +cannot expect me to mend.” In plain English—If +God will not act toward them as they like, then they will not act +toward Him as He likes. My friends, God does not need us to +bargain with Him. We must obey Him whether we like it or +not; whether it seems to pay us or not; whether He takes our +trouble off us or not; we must obey, for He is the Lord; and if +we will not obey, He will prove His power on us, as He did on +Pharaoh, by showing plainly what is the end of those who resist +His will.</p> +<p>What, then, are we to do when our sins bring us, as they +certainly will some day bring us, into trouble?</p> +<p>What we ought to have done at first, my friends. What we +ought to have done in the wild days of youth, and so have saved +ourselves many a dark day, many a sleepless night, many a bitter +shame and heartache. To open our eyes, and see that the +only thing for men and women, whom God has made, is to obey the +God who has made them. He is the Lord. He has made +us. He will have us do one thing. How can we hope to +prosper by doing anything else? It is ill fighting against +God. Which is the stronger, my friends, you or God? +Make up your minds on that. It surely will not take you +long.</p> +<p>But someone may say: “I do wish and long to obey God; +but I am so weak, and my sins have so entangled me with bad +company, or debts, or—, or—.” We all +know, alas! into what a net everyone who gives way to sin gets +his feet: “And therefore I cannot obey God. I long to +do so. I feel, I know, when I look back, that all my sin, +and shame, and unhappiness, come from being proud and +self-willed, and determined to have my own way, and do what I +choose. But I cannot mend.” Do not despair, +poor soul! I had a thousand times sooner hear you say you +cannot mend, than that you can. For those who say they can +mend, are apt to say: “I can mend; and therefore I shall +mend when I choose, and no sooner.” But those who +really feel they cannot mend—those who are really weary and +worn out with the burden of their sins—those who are really +tired out with their own wilfulness, and feel ready to lie down +and die, like a spent horse, and say: “God, take me away, +no matter to what place; I am not fit to live here on earth, a +shame and a torment to myself day and night”—those +who are in that state of mind, are very near—very near +finding out glorious news.</p> +<p>Those who cannot mend themselves and know it, God will +mend. God will mend your lives for you. He knows as +well as you what you have to struggle against; ay, a thousand +times better. He knows—what does He not know? +Pray to Him, and try what He does not know. Cry to Him to +rid you of your bad companions; He will find a way of doing +it. Cry to Him to bring you out of the temptations you feel +too strong for you; He will find a way for doing it. Cry to +Him to teach you what you ought to do, and He will send someone, +and that the right person, doubt it not, to teach you in His own +good time. Above all, cry and pray to Him to conquer the +pride, and self-conceit, and wilfulness in your heart; to take +the hard proud heart of stone out of you, and give you instead a +heart of flesh, loving, and tender, and kindly to every human +creature; and He will do it. Cry to Him to make your will +like His own will, that you may love what He loves, and hate what +He hates, and do what He wishes you to do. And then you +will surely find my words come true: “Those who long to +mend, and yet know that they cannot mend themselves, let them but +pray, and God will mend them.”</p> +<h2><a name="page337"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +337</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXIII.</span><br /> +THE RED SEA TRIUMPH.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>Preached Easter-day Morning</i>, +1852.</p> +<blockquote><p>This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, +for bringing the children of Israel out of the land of +Egypt.—<span class="smcap">Exodus</span> xii. 42.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">You</span> all, my friends, know what is +the meaning of Easter-day—that it is the Day on which The +Lord rose again from the dead. You must have seen that most +of the special services for this day, the Collect, Epistle, and +Gospel, and the second lessons, both morning and evening, +reminded you of Christ’s rising again; and so did the +proper Psalms for this day, though it may seem at first sight +more difficult to see what they have to do with the Lord’s +rising again.</p> +<p>Now the first lessons, both for the morning and evening +services, were also meant to remind us of the very same thing, +though it may seem even more difficult still, at first sight, to +understand how they do so.</p> +<p>Let us see what these two first lessons are about. The +morning one was from the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and told us +what the Passover was, and what it meant. The first lesson +for this afternoon was the fourteenth chapter of Exodus. +Surely you must remember it. Surely the most careless of +you must have listened to that glorious story, how the Jews went +through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, while Pharaoh and +the Egyptian army, trying to follow them, were overwhelmed in the +water. Surely you cannot have heard how the poor Jews +looked back from the farther shore, and hardly believed their own +eyes for joy and wonder, when they saw their proud masters swept +away for ever, and themselves safe and free out of the hateful +land where they had been slaves for hundreds of years. You +cannot surely, my friends, have heard that glorious story, and +forgotten it again already. I hope not; for God knows, that +tale of the Jews coming safe through the Red Sea has a deep and +blessed meaning enough for you, if you could but see it.</p> +<p>But some of you may be saying to yourselves: “No doubt +it is a very noble story; and a man cannot help rejoicing at the +poor Jews’ escape, and at the downfall of those cruel +Egyptians. It is a pleasant thought, no doubt, that if it +were but for that once, God interfered to help poor suffering +creatures, and rid them of their tyrants. But what has that +to do with Easter Day and Christ’s rising again?”</p> +<p>I will try to show you, my friends. The Jews’ +Passover is the same as our Easter-day, as you know +already. But they are not merely alike in being kept on the +same day. They are alike because they are both of them +remembrances and tokens of the Lord Jesus Christ’s +delivering men out of misery and slavery. For never +forget—though, indeed, in these strange times, I ought +rather to say, I beseech you to read your Bibles and +see—that it was Jesus Christ Himself who brought the Jews +out of Egypt. St. Paul tells us so positively, again and +again. In 1 Cor. x. 4 he tells us that it was Christ who +followed them through the wilderness. In verse 9 of the +same chapter, he says that it was Christ Himself whom they +tempted in the wilderness. He was the Angel of the Covenant +who went with them. He was the God of Israel whom the +elders of the Jews saw, a few weeks afterwards, on Mount Sinai, +and under His feet a pavement like a sapphire stone. True, +the Lord did not take flesh upon Him till nearly two thousand +years after. But from the very beginning of all things, +while He was in the bosom of the Father, He was the King of +men. Man was made in His image, and therefore in the image +of the Father, whose perfect likeness He is—“the +brightness of His glory, and the express image of His +person.” It was He who took care of men, guided and +taught them, and delivered them out of misery, from the very +beginning of the world. St. Paul says the same thing, in +many different ways, all through the epistle to the +Hebrews. He says, for instance, that Moses, when he fled +from Pharaoh’s court in Egypt, esteemed the reproach of +Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he endured +as seeing Him who is invisible. The Lord said the same +thing of Himself. He said openly that He was the person who +is called, all through the Old Testament, “The +Lord.” He asked the Pharisees: “What think ye +of Christ? whose son is He? They say unto Him, +David’s son. Christ answered, How then does David in +spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit +thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy +footstool?” So did Christ declare, that He Himself, +who was standing there before them, was the Lord of David, who +had died hundreds of years before. He told them again that +their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and saw it and was +glad; and when they answered, in anger and astonishment, +“Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen +Abraham?” Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, +Before Abraham was, I am.” I am. The Jews had +no doubt whom He meant; and we ought to have none either. +For that was the very name by which God had told Moses to call +Him, when he was sent to the Jews: “Thou shalt say unto +them, I AM hath sent me to you.” The Jews, I say, had +no doubt who Jesus said that He was; that He meant them to +understand, once and for all, that He whom they called the +carpenter’s son of Nazareth, was the Lord God who brought +their forefathers up out of the land of Egypt, on the night of +the first Passover. So they, to show how reverent and +orthodox they were, and how they honoured the name of God, took +up stones to stone Him—as many a man, who fancies himself +orthodox and reverent, would now, if he dared, stone the +preachers who declare that the Lord Jesus Christ is not changed +since then; that He is as able and as willing as ever to deliver +the poor from those who grind them down, and that He will deliver +them, whenever they cry to Him, with a mighty hand and a +stretched-out arm, and that Easter-day is as much a sign of that +to us as the Passover was for the Jews of old.</p> +<p>But, my friends, if Christ the Lord showed His love and power +in behalf of poor oppressed wretches on that first Passover, +surely He showed it a thousand times more on that first +Easter-day. His great love helped the Jews out of slavery; +and that same great love of His at this Easter-tide, moved Him to +die and rise again for the sins of the whole world. In that +first Passover He delivered only one people. On the first +Easter He delivered all mankind. The Jews were under cruel +tyrants in the land of Egypt. So were all mankind over the +world, when Jesus came. The Jews in Egypt were slaves to +worse things than the whip of their task-masters; they had +slaves’ hearts, as well as slaves’ bodies. They +were kept down not only by the Egyptians, but by their own +ignorance, and idolatry, and selfish division, and foul +sins. They were spiritually dead—without a noble, +pure, manful feeling left in them. Their history makes no +secret of that. The Bible seems to take every care to let +us see into what a miserable and brutal state they had +fallen. Christ sent Moses to raise them out of that death; +to take them through the Red Sea, as a sign that all that was +washed away, to be forgiven of God and forgotten by them, and +that from the moment they landed, a free people, on the farther +shore, they were to consider all their old life past and a new +one begun. So they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud +and in the sea, as St. Paul says. And now all was to be +new. They had been fancying that they belonged to the +Egyptians. Now they had found out, and had it proved to +them by signs and wonders which they could not mistake, that they +belonged to the Lord. They had been brutal sinners. +The Lord began to teach them that they were to rise above their +own appetites and passions. They had been worshipping only +what they could see and handle. The Lord began to teach +them to worship Him—a person whom they could not see, +though He was always near them, and watching over them. +They had been living without independence, fellow-feeling, the +sense of duty, or love of order. The Lord began to teach +them to care for each other, to help each other, to know that +they had a duty to perform towards each other, for which they +were accountable to Him. They had owned no master except +the Egyptians, whom they feared and obeyed unwillingly. The +Lord began to teach them to obey Him loyally, from trust, and +gratitude, and love. They had been willing to remain +sinners, and brutes, and slaves, provided they could get enough +to eat and drink. The Lord began to teach them that His +favour, His protection, were better than the flesh-pots of Egypt, +and that He was able to feed them where it seemed impossible to +men; to teach them that “man does not live by bread +alone—cheap or dear, my friends—not by bread alone, +but by <i>every</i> word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, +does man live.” That was the meaning of their being +baptized in the cloud and in the sea. That was the meaning, +and only a very small part of the meaning, of their +Passover. Would you not think, my friends, that I had been +speaking rather of our own Baptism, and of our own Supper of the +Lord, to which you have been all called to-day, and that I had +been telling you the meaning of them?</p> +<p>For when Jesus, the Lord, and King, and Head of mankind, died +and rose again, He took away the sin of the world. He was +the true Passover, the Lamb without spot, slain, as the scripture +tells us, for the sins of the whole world. In the +Jews’ Passover, when the angel saw the lamb’s blood +on the door of the house, he passed by, and spared everyone in +it. So now. The blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, is +upon us; and for His sake, God is faithful and just to forgive us +our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.</p> +<p>But the Lord rose again this day. And when He, the Lord, +the King, and Head of all men, rose, all men rose in Him. +“As in Adam all die,” says St. Paul, “even so +in Christ shall all be made alive.”</p> +<p>Baptism is a sign of that to us, as the going through the Red +Sea, and being baptized to Moses in it, was to the Jews. +The passing of the Red Sea said to the Jews: “You have +passed now out of your old miserable state of slavery into +freedom. The sins which you committed there are blotted +out. You are taken into covenant with God. You are +now God’s people, and nothing can lose you this love and +care, except your own sins, your own unfaithfulness to Him, your +own wilful falling back into the slavish and brutal state from +which He has delivered you.”</p> +<p>And just so, baptism says to us: “Your sins are forgiven +you. You are taken into covenant with God. You are +God’s people, God’s family. You must forget and +cast away the old Adam, the old slavish and savage pattern of +man, which your Lord died to abolish, the guilt of which He bore +for you on His cross; and you must rise to the new Adam, the new +pattern of man, which is created after God in righteousness and +true holiness, which the Lord showed forth in His life, and +death, and rising again. For now God looks on you not as a +guilty and condemned race of beings, but as a redeemed race, His +children, for the sake of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, who takes +away the sins of the world. You have a right to believe +that, as human beings, you are dead with Christ to the old Adam, +the old sinful, brutal pattern of man.” Baptism is +the sign of it to you. Every child, let it or its parents +be who they may, is freely baptized as a sign that all that old +pattern of man is washed away, that they can and must have +nothing to do with it hence-forward, that it is dead and buried, +and they must flee from it and forget it, as they would a +corpse.</p> +<p>And the Lord’s Supper also is a sign to us that, as +human beings, we are risen with Christ, to a new life. A +new life is our birthright. We have a right to live a new +life. We have a duty to live a new life. We have a +power, if we will, to live a new life; such a life as we never +could live if we were left to ourselves; a noble, just, godly, +manful, Christlike, Godlike life, bred and nourished in us by the +Spirit of Christ. That is our right; for we belong to Him +who lived that life Himself, and bought us our share in it with +His own death and resurrection. That is our duty; for if we +share the Lord’s blessings, it can only be in order that we +may become like the Lord. Do you fancy that He died to +leave us all no better than we are? His death would have +had very little effect if that was all. No, says St. Paul; +if you have a share in Christ, prove that you believe in your own +share by becoming like Christ. You belong to His kingdom, +and you must live as His subjects. He has bought for you a +new and eternal life, and you must use that life. “If +ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are +above.” . . . And what are they? Love, +peace, gentleness, mercy, pity, truth, faithfulness, justice, +patience, courage, order, industry, duty, obedience. . . . +All, in short, which is like Jesus Christ. For these are +heavenly things. These are above, where Christ sits at +God’s right hand. These are the likeness of +God. That is God’s character. Let it be your +character likewise.</p> +<p>But again; if it is our right and our duty to be like that, it +is also in our power. God would not have commanded us to +be, what He had not given us the power to be. He would not +have told us to seek those things which are above, if He had not +intended us to find them. Wherefore it is written: +“Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; for if +ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how +much more shall your Heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to +those who ask him?”</p> +<p>This is the meaning of that text; namely, that God will give +us the power of living this new and risen life, which we are +bound to live. This is one of the gifts for men, which the +scripture tells us that Christ received when He rose from the +dead, and ascended up on high. This is one of the powers of +which He spoke, when after His resurrection He said, “That +all power was given to Him in heaven and earth.” The +Lord’s Supper is at once a sign of who will give us that +gift, and a sign that He will indeed give it us. The +Lord’s Supper is the pledge and token to us that we all +have a share in the likeness of Christ, the true pattern of man; +and that if we come and claim our share, He will surely bestow it +on us. He will renew, and change, and purify our hearts and +characters in us, day by day, into the likeness of Himself. +He who is the eternal life of men will nourish us, body, soul, +and spirit, with that everlasting life of His, even as our bodies +are nourished by that bread and wine. And if you ask me +how? When you can tell me why a wheat grain cannot produce +an oak, or an acorn a wheat plant; when you can tell me why our +bodies are, each of them, the very same bodies which they were +ten years ago, though every atom of flesh, and blood, and bone in +them has been changed; when, in short, you, or any other living +man, can tell me the meaning of those three words, body, life, +and growth, then it will be time to ask that question. In +the meantime let us believe that He who does such wonders in the +life and growth of every blade of grass, can and will do far +greater wonders for the life and growth of us, immortal beings, +made in His own likeness, redeemed by His blood, and so believe, +and thank, and obey, and wait till another and a nobler life to +understand. And if we never understand at all—what +matter, provided the thing be true?</p> +<h2><a name="page346"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +346</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXIV.</span><br /> +CHRISTMAS-DAY.</h2> +<blockquote><p>For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is +given; and the government shall be on His shoulder: and His name +shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Father +of an Everlasting age, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase +of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the +throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to +establish it with judgment and with justice henceforth even +forever.—<span class="smcap">Isaiah</span> ix. 6, 7.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the time when the prophet Isaiah +wrote this prophecy, everything round him was exactly opposite to +his words. The king of Judæa, the prophet’s +country, was not reigning in righteousness. He was an +unrighteous and wicked governor. The princes and great men +were not ruling in judgment. They were unjust and covetous; +they took bribes, and sold justice for money. They were +oppressors, grinding down the poor, and defrauding those below +them. So that the weak, and poor, and needy had no one to +right them, no one to take their part. There was no man to +feel for them, and defend them, and be a hiding-place and a +covert for them from their cruel tyrants; no man to comfort and +refresh them as rivers of water refresh a dry place, or the +shadow of a great rock comforts the sunburnt traveller in the +weary deserts.</p> +<p>Neither were these very poor oppressed people of the Jews in a +right state of mind. They were ignorant and stupid, given +to worship false gods. They had eyes, and yet could not use +them to see that, as the psalm told us this morning, the heavens +declared the glory of God, and the firmament showed His +handiwork. They were worshipping the sun, and moon, and +stars, in stead of the Lord God who made them. They were +brutish too, and would not listen to teaching. They had +ears, and yet would not hearken with them to God’s +prophets. They were rash, too, living from hand to mouth, +discontented, and violent, as ignorant poor people will be in +evil times. And they were stammerers—not with their +tongue, but with their minds and thoughts. They were +miserable; but they could not tell why. They were full of +discontent and longings; but they could not put them into +words. They did not know how to pray, how to open their +hearts to God or to man. They knew of no one who could +understand them and their sorrows; they could not understand them +themselves, much less put them into words. They were +altogether confused and stupefied; just in the same state, in a +word, as the poor negro slaves in America, and the heathens ay, +and the Christians too, are in, in all the countries of the world +which do not know the good news of Christmas-day or have +forgotten it and disobeyed it.</p> +<p>But Isaiah had God’s Spirit with him; the Holy Spirit, +the Spirit of holiness, righteousness, justice. And that +Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and of righteousness and of +judgment, as He convinces every man who gives himself up humbly +to God’s teaching.</p> +<p>First, the Spirit convinced Isaiah of sin. He made him +feel that the state of his country was wrong. And He made +him feel why it was wrong; namely, because the men in it were +wrong; because they were thinking wrong notions, feeling wrong +feelings, doing wrong things; and that wrong was sin; and that +sin was falling short of being what a man was made, and what +every man ought to be, namely, the likeness and glory of God; and +that so his countrymen the Jews, one and all, had sinned and come +short of the glory of God.</p> +<p>Next, He convinced Isaiah of righteousness. He made +Isaiah feel and be sure that God was righteous; that God was no +unjust Lord, like the wicked king of the Jews; that such evil +doings as are going on were hateful to Him; that all that +covetousness, oppression, taking of bribes, drunkenness, deceit, +ignorance, stupid rashness and folly, of which the land was full, +were hateful to God. He must hate them, for He was a +righteous and a good God. They ought not to be there. +For man, every man from the king on his throne to the poor +labourer in the field, was meant to be righteous and good as God +is. “But how will it be altered?” thought +Isaiah to himself. “What hope for this poor miserable +sinful world? People are meant to be righteous and good: +but who will make them so? The king and his princes are +meant to be righteous and good, but who will set them a +pattern? When will there be a really good king, who will be +an example to all in authority; who will teach men to do right, +and compel and force them not to do wrong?”</p> +<p>And then the Holy Spirit of God answered that anxious question +of Isaiah’s, and convinced him of judgment.</p> +<p>Yes, he felt sure; he did not know why he felt so sure: but he +did feel sure; God’s Spirit in his heart made him feel +sure, that in some way or other, some day or other, the Lord God +would come to judgment, to judge the wicked princes and rulers of +this world, and cast them out. It must be so. God was +a righteous God. He would not endure these unrighteous +doings for ever. He was not careless about this poor sinful +world, and about all the sinful down-trodden ignorant men, and +women, and children in it. He would take the matter into +His own hands. He would show that He was Lord and +Master. If kings would not reign in righteousness, He would +come and reign in righteousness Himself. He would appoint +princes under Him, who would rule in judgment. And He would +show men what true righteousness was; what the pattern of a true +ruler was; namely, to be able to feel for the poor, and the +afflicted, and the needy, to understand the wants, and sorrows, +and doubts, and fears of the lowest and the meanest; in short, to +be a man, a true, perfect man, with a man’s heart, a +man’s pity, a man’s fellow-feeling in Him. +Yes. The Lord God would show Himself. He would set +His righteous King to govern. And yet Isaiah did not know +how, but he saw plainly that it must be so, that same righteous +King, who was to set the world right, would be a +<i>man</i>. It would be a man who was to be a hiding-place +from the storm and a covert from the tempest. A man who +would understand man, and teach men their duty.</p> +<p>Then the eyes of the blind would see, and the ears of those +who heard should hearken; for they would hear a loving human +voice, the voice of One who knew what was in man, who could tell +them just what they wanted to know, and put His teaching into the +shape in which it would sink most easily and deeply into their +hearts. And then the hearts of the rash would understand +knowledge; and the tongue of the stammerers would speak +plainly. There will be no more confused cries from poor +ignorant brutish oppressed people, like the cries of dumb beasts +in pain; for He who was coming would give them words to utter +their sorrows in. He would teach them how to speak to man +and God. He would teach them how to pray, and when they +prayed to say, “Our Father which art in heaven.”</p> +<p>Then the vile person would be no more called bountiful, or the +churl called liberal: flattery and cringing to the evil great +would be at an end. The people would have sense to see the +truth about right and wrong, and courage to speak it. Men +would then be held for what they really were, and honoured and +despised according to their true merits. Yes, said Isaiah, +we shall be delivered from our wicked king and princes, from the +heathen Assyrian armies, who fancy that they are going to sweep +us out of our own land with fire and sword; from our own sins, +and ignorance, and infidelity, and rashness. We shall be +delivered from them all, for The righteous King is coming. +Nay, He is here already, if we could but see. His +goings-forth have been from everlasting. He is ruling us +now—this wondrous Child, this Son of God. Unto us a +Child is born already, unto us a Son is given already. But +one day or other He will be revealed, and made manifest, and +shown to men as a man; and then all the people shall know who He +is; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the +Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, Isaiah saw all this but dimly and afar +off. He saw as through a glass darkly. He perhaps +thought at times—indeed we can have little doubt that he +thought—that the good young Prince Hezekiah, “The +might of God,” as his name means, who was growing up in his +day to be a deliverer and a righteous king over the Jews, was to +set the world right. No doubt he had Hezekiah in his mind +when he said that a Child was born to the Jews, and a Son given +to them; just as, of course, he meant his own son, who was born +to him by the virgin prophetess, when he called his name +Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us. But he felt that +there was more in both things than that. He felt that his +young wife’s conceiving and bearing a son, was a sign to +him that some day or other a more blessed virgin would conceive +and bear a mightier Son. And so he felt that whether or not +Hezekiah delivered the Jews from their sin, and misery, and +ignorance, God Himself would deliver them. He knew, by the +Spirit of God, that his prophecy would come true, and remain true +for ever. And so he died in faith, not having received the +promises, God having prepared some better King for us, and having +fulfilled the words of His prophet in a way of which, as far as +we can see, he never dreamed.</p> +<p>Yes. Hezekiah failed to save the nation of the +Jews. Instead of being the “father of an everlasting +age,” and having “no end of his family on the throne +of David,” his great-grandchildren and the whole nation of +the Jews were swept away into captivity by the Babylonians, and +no man of his house, as Jeremiah prophesied, has ever since +prospered or sat on the throne of David. But still +Isaiah’s prophecy was true. True for us who are +assembled here this day.</p> +<p>For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; even the +Babe of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord. The government +shall indeed be upon His shoulder; for it has been there +always. For the Father has committed all things to the Son, +that he may be King of kings and Lord of lords for ever. +His name is indeed Wonderful; for what more wondrous thing was +ever seen in heaven or in earth, than that great love with which +He loved us? He is not merely called “The might of +God,” as Hezekiah was,—for a sign and a prophecy; for +He is the mighty God Himself. He is indeed the Counsellor; +for He is the light who lighteth every man who comes into the +world. He is “the Father of an everlasting +age.” There were hopes that Hezekiah would be so; +that he would raise the nation of the Jews again to a reform from +which it would never fall away: but these hopes were +disappointed; and the only one who fulfilled the prophecy is He +who has founded His Church for ever on the rock of everlasting +ages, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. +Hezekiah was to be the prince of peace for a few short years +only. But the Child who is born to us, the Son who is given +to us, is He who gave eternal peace to all who will accept it; +peace which this world can neither give nor take away; and who +will make that peace grow and spread over the whole earth, till +men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears +into pruning-hooks, and the nations shall not learn war any +more. Of the increase of His government and of His peace +there shall be no end, till the earth be full of the knowledge of +the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, and the spirit of God be +poured out on all flesh, to teach kings to reign in +righteousness, after the pattern of the King of kings, the Babe +of Bethlehem; to make the rich and powerful do justice, to teach +the ignorant, to give the rich wisdom, to free the oppressed, to +comfort the afflicted, to proclaim to all mankind the good news +of Christmas Day, the good news that there was a man born into +the world on this day who will be a hiding-place from the storm, +a covert from the tempest, like rivers of water in a dry place, +like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; even the man +Christ Jesus, who is able and willing to save to the uttermost +those who come to God through Him, seeing that he has been +tempted in all things like as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, on that holy table stands the everlasting +sign that Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled to the +uttermost. That bread and that wine declare to us, that to +us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. They declare to +us, in a word, that on this blessed day God was made man, and +dwelt among men, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the +only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.</p> +<p>Oh, come to that table this day, and there claim your share in +the most precious body and blood of the Divine Child of +Bethlehem. Come and ask Him to pour out on you His Spirit, +the Spirit which He poured on Hezekiah of old, “that he +might fulfil his own name and live in the might of +God.” So will you live in the might of God. So +you will be able to govern yourselves, and your own appetites, in +righteousness and freedom, and rule your own households, or +whatsoever God has set you to do, in judgment. So you will +see things in their true light, as God sees them, and be ready +and willing to hear good advice, and understand your way in this +life, and be able to speak your hearts out in prayer to God, as +to a loving and merciful Father. And in all your +afflictions, let them be what they will, you will have a comfort, +and a sure hope, and a wellspring of peace, and a hiding-place +from the tempest, even The Man Christ Jesus, who said: +“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; let not +your heart be troubled, neither be ye afraid.” The +Man Christ Jesus, at whose birth the angels sang: “Glory to +God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward +men.”</p> +<p>Now to Him who on this day was born of the blessed virgin, man +of the substance of His mother, yet God the Son of God, be +ascribed, with the Father and the Spirit, all power, glory, +majesty, and dominion, both now and for ever. Amen.</p> +<h2><a name="page354"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +354</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXV.</span><br /> +NEW YEAR’S DAY.</h2> +<p style="text-align: center">(1853.)</p> +<blockquote><p>But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O +Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have +redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art +mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with +thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when +thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither +shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy +God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy +ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast +precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved +thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy +life.—<span class="smcap">Isaiah</span> xliii. +1–4.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> New Year has now begun; and I +am bound to wish you all a happy New Year. But I am sent +here to do more than that; to teach you how you may make your own +New Year a happy one; or, if not altogether a happy one—for +sorrows may and must come in their turn—yet still something +better than a happy year, namely, a blessed year; a year on which +you will be able to look back this day twelvemonths, and thank +God for it; thank God for the tears which you have shed in it, as +well as for the joy which you have felt; thank God for the dark +days as well as for the light; thank God for what you have lost, +as well as what you have found; and be able to say, “Well, +this last year, if it has not been a happy year for me, at least +it has been a blessed one for me. It has left me a +stronger, soberer, wiser, godlier, better man than it found +me.”</p> +<p>How, then, can you make the New Year a blessed one for +yourselves? I know but one way, my friends. The +ancient way. The Bible way. The way by which Abraham, +and Jacob, and David, and all the holy men of old, and all the +saints, and martyrs, and righteous and godly among men, made +their lives blessed among themselves, in spite of sorrow, and +misfortune, and distress, and persecution, and torture, and death +itself; the one only old way of being blessed, which was from the +beginning, and will last for ever and ever, through all worlds +and eternities; the way of the old saints, which St. Paul sets +forth in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews; and that is, +<i>faith</i>. Faith, which is the substance of what we hope +for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith, of which it is +written, that the just shall live by his faith.</p> +<p>But how can faith give you a blessed New Year? In the +same way in which it gave the old saints blessed years all their +lives through, and is giving them a blessed eternity now and for +ever before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to which may God +in His mercy bring us all likewise.</p> +<p>They trusted in God. They had faith, not in themselves, +like too many; not in their own good works, like too many; not in +their own faith, in their own frames, and feelings, and +assurances, like too many; but they had faith in God. It +was faith in God which made one of them, the great prophet +Isaiah, write the glorious words which I have chosen for my text +this day, to show his countrymen the Jews, even while they were +in the very lowest depths of shame, and poverty, and misfortune, +that God had not forgotten them; that for those who trusted in +Him, a blessed time was surely coming.</p> +<p>And it was faith in God, too, which put it into the minds of +the good men who choose these Sunday lessons out of the Bible, to +appoint such chapters as these to be read year by year, at the +coming in of the new year, for ever. Faith in God, I say, +put that into their minds. For those good men trusted in +God, that He would not change; that hundreds and thousands of +years would make no difference in His love; that the promises +made by His Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet would stand true +for ever and ever. And they trusted in God, too, that what +He had spoken by the mouth of His holy apostles was true; that +after the blessed Lord came down on earth, there was to be no +difference between Jews and Gentiles; that the great and precious +promises made by God to the Jews were made also to all the +nations of the earth; that all things written in the Old +Testament, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last of +Malachi, were written not for the Jews only, but for English, +French, Italians, Germans, Russians—for all the nations of +the world; that we English were God’s people now, just as +much, ay, far more, than the old Jews were, and that, therefore, +the Old Testament promises, as well as the New Testament ones, +were part of our inheritance as members of Christ’s +Church. And therefore they appointed Old Testament lessons +to be read in church, to show us English what our privileges +were, what God’s covenant and promise to us were. We, +as much as the Jews, are called by the name of the Lord who +created us. Were we not baptised into His name at that +font? Has He not loved us? Has He not heaped us +English, for hundreds of years past, with blessings such as He +never bestowed on any nation? Has He not given men for us, +and nations for our life? While all the nations of the +world have been at war, slaying and being slain, has He not kept +this fair land of England free and safe from foreign invaders for +more than eight hundred years? Since the world was made, +perhaps, such a thing was never heard of, such a mercy shown to +any nation; that a great and rich country like this should be +preserved for eight hundred years from invasion of foreign +armies, and all the horrors and miseries of war, which have +swept, from time to time, every other nation in the world with +the besom of desolation.</p> +<p>Ay, and but sixty years ago, in the time of the French war, +when almost every other nation in Europe was made desolate with +fire, and sword, and war, did not God preserve this land of +England, as He never preserved country before, from all the +miseries which were sweeping over other nations? Oh, +strange and wonderful mercy of God, that at the very time that +the gospel was dying out all over Europe, it was being lighted +again in England; and that while the knowledge of God was failing +elsewhere, it was increasing here! Oh, strange and +wonderful mercy of God, who has given to us English, now for one +hundred and sixty years and more, those very equal laws, and +freedom, and rights of conscience, for which so many other +nations of Europe are still crying and struggling in vain, amid +slavery, and oppression, and injustice, and heavy burdens, such +as we here in England should not endure a week! Oh, strange +and wonderful mercy of God, who but three years ago, when all the +other nations of Europe were shaken with wars, and riots, and +seditions, every man’s hand against his neighbour, kept +this land of England in perfect peace and quiet by those just +laws and government, proving to us the truth of His own promises, +that those who seek peace by righteous dealings, shall find it, +and that, as Isaiah says, the fruit of justice is quietness and +assurance for ever! And last, but not least, my friends, is +it not a sign, a sign not to be mistaken, of God’s +good-will and mercy to us, that now, at this very time of all +others, when almost every country in Europe is going to wrack and +ruin through the folly and wickedness of their kings and rulers, +He should have given us here in England a Queen who is a pattern +of goodness and purity, in ruling not only the nation, but her +own household, to every wife and mother, from the highest to the +lowest; and a Prince whose whole heart seems set on doing good, +and on helping the poor, and improving the condition of the +labourers? My friends, I say that we are unthankful and +unfaithful. We do not thank God a hundredth part enough for +the blessings which He has given us. We do not trust Him a +hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has in store for +us. If some of us here could but see and feel for a single +month how people are off abroad; if they could change places with +a French, an Italian, a Russian labourer, it would teach them a +lesson about God’s goodness to England which they would not +soon forget. May God grant that we may never have to learn +that lesson in that way! God grant that we may never, to +cure us of our unthankfulness and want of faith, and godless and +unmanly grumbling and complaining, be brought, for a single week, +into the same state as some hundred millions of our +fellow-creatures are in foreign parts! Oh, my friends, let +us thank God for the mercies of the past year! Most truly +He has fulfilled to England his promise given by the mouth of the +prophet Isaiah: “When thou passest through the waters, I +will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not +overflow thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One, thy +Saviour. Thou hast been precious in my sight, and I have +loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for +thy life.”</p> +<p>Away, then, with discontent and anxiety for the coming +year. Or rather, let us be only discontented with +ourselves. Let us only be anxious about our own +conduct. God cannot change. If anything goes wrong, +it will be not because He has left us, but because we have left +Him. Is it not written that all things work together for +good to those who love God? Then if things do not work +together for good in this coming year, it will be because we do +not love God. Do not let us say, “I am righteous, but +my neighbours are wicked, and therefore I must be +miserable;” neither let us lay the blame of our misfortunes +on our rulers; let us lay it on ourselves.</p> +<p>What was the word of the Lord to the Jews in a like case: +“What means this proverb which you take up, saying, The +fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth +are set on edge? It is not so, O house of Israel. The +son shall not die for the iniquity of his father, nor the father +for the iniquity of the son. The soul that sinneth, it +shall die, saith the Lord.”</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, take this to heart solemnly, in the year to +come. Our troubles, more of them at least than we fancy, +are our own fault, and not our neighbours’, or the +government’s, or anyone’s else. And those which +are not our own fault directly are so in this way, that they are +sent as sharp and wholesome lessons to us; and if we were what we +ought to be, we should not want those lessons. Do not fancy +that that is a sad and doleful thought to begin the new year +with. God forbid! It would be doleful and sad indeed +if any one of us, in spite of all his right-doing, might be +plunged into any hopeless misery, through the fault of other +people, over whom he has no control. But thanks be to the +Lord, it is not so. We are His children, and He cares for +each and every one of us separately. Each and every one of +us has to answer for himself alone, face to face with his God, +day by day; every man must bear his own burden; and to every one +of us who love God, all things will work together for good. +It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well knew, far +from God to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge +of all the earth will do right. None of us who repents and +turns from the sins he sees round him and in him; none of us who +prays for the light and guiding of God’s Spirit; none of us +who struggles day by day to keep himself unspotted from this evil +world, and live as God’s son, without scandal or ill-name +in the midst of a sinful and perverse generation; none of us who +does that, but God’s blessing will rest on him. What +ruins others will only teach and strengthen him; what brings +others to shame, will only bring him to honour, and make his +righteousness plain to be seen by all, that God may be glorified +in His people. Let the coming year be what it may; to the +holy, the humble, the upright, the godly, it will be a blessed +year, fulfilling the blessed promises of the Lord, that those who +trust in Him shall never be confounded.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty +God, who made all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in +Him. And when He bids us, is it not a sin, an insult to +Him, not to trust Him—not to believe His words to us? +“Put thou thy trust in the Lord, and be doing good; dwell +in the land,” working where He has set thee, “and +verily thou shalt be fed.” “Thou shalt not be +afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by +day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten thousand at +thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with +thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the +wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge, no +plague shall come nigh thy dwelling. Thou shalt call upon +me, I will answer thee. Because thou hast set thy love on +me, I will deliver thee; with long life will I satisfy thee, and +show thee my salvation.”</p> +<p>My friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. +Either they are the most cruel words that ever were spoken on +earth to tempt poor wretches into vain security and fearful +disappointment, or they are—what are they?—the sure +and everlasting promise of our Father in heaven to us His +children. We have only to ask for them, and we shall +receive them; to claim them, and they will be fulfilled to +us. “For He who spared not His own Son, but freely +gave Him for us, will He not with Him likewise freely give us all +things,” and make, by His fatherly care, and providence, +and education, all our new years blessed new years, whether or +not they are happy ones?</p> +<h2><a name="page362"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +362</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXVI.</span><br /> +THE DELUGE.</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">My spirit shall not +always strive with man.—<span class="smcap">Genesis</span> +vi. 3.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Last</span> Sunday we read in the first +lesson of the fall. This Sunday we read of the flood, the +first-fruits of the fall.</p> +<p>It is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will +look at it by faith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful +story—a gospel—a good news of salvation—like +every other word in the Bible, from beginning to end. Ay, +and to my mind, the most hopeful words of all in it, are the very +ones which at first sight look most terrible, the words with +which my text begins: “And the Lord said, My Spirit shall +not always strive with man.”</p> +<p>For is it not good news—the good news of all +news—the news which every poor soul who is hungering and +thirsting after righteousness, longs to hear; and when they hear +it, feel it to be the good news—the only news which can +give comfort to fallen and sorrowful men, tied and bound with the +chain of their sins, that God’s Spirit does strive at all +with man? That God is looking after men? That God is +yearning over sinners, as the heart of a father yearns over his +rebellious child, as the heart of a faithful and loving husband +yearns after an unfaithful wife? That God does not take a +disgust at us for all our unworthiness, but wills that none +should perish, but that all should come to repentance? Oh +joyful news! Man may be, as the text says that he was in +the time of Noah, so low fallen that he is but flesh like the +brutes that perish; the imaginations of his heart may be only +evil continually; his spirit may be dead within him, given up to +all low and fleshly appetites and passions, anger, and +greediness, and filth; and yet the pure and holy Spirit of God +condescends to strive and struggle with him, to convince him of +sin, and make him discontented and ashamed at his own +brutishness, and shake and terrify his soul with the wholesome +thought: “I am a sinner—I am wrong—I am living +such a life as God never meant me to live—I am not what I +ought to be—I have fallen short of what God intended me to +be. Surely some evil will come to me from +this.” Then the Holy Spirit convinces man of +righteousness. He shows man that what he has fallen short +of is the glory of God; that man was meant to be, as St. Paul +says, the likeness and glory of God; to show forth God’s +glory, and beauty, and righteousness, and love in his own daily +life; as a looking-glass, though it is not the sun, still gives +an image and likeness of the sun, when the sun shines on it, and +shows forth the glory of the sunbeams which are reflected on +it.</p> +<p>And then, the Holy Spirit convinces man of judgment. He +shows man that God cannot suffer men, or angels, or any other +rational spirits and immortal souls, to be unlike Himself; that +because He is the only and perfect good, whatsoever is unlike Him +must be bad; because He is the only and perfect love, who wills +blessings and good to all, whatsoever is unlike Him must be +unloving, hating, and hateful—a curse and evil to all +around it; because He is the only perfect Maker and Preserver, +whatsoever is unlike Him must be in its very nature hurtful, +destroying, deadly—a disease which injures this good world, +and which He will therefore cut out, burn up, destroy in some way +or other, if it will not submit to be cured. For this, my +friends, is the meaning of God’s judgments on sinners; this +is why He sent a flood to drown the world of the ungodly; this is +why He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; this is why He swept away +the nations of Canaan; this is why He destroyed Jerusalem, His +own beloved city, and scattered the Jews over the face of the +whole earth unto this day; this is why He destroyed heathen Rome +of old, and why He has destroyed, from time to time, in every age +and country, great nations and mighty cities by earthquake, and +famine, and pestilence, and the sword; because He knows that sin +is ruin and misery to all; that it is a disease which spreads by +infection among fallen men; and that He must cut off the corrupt +nation for the sake of preserving mankind, as the surgeon cuts +off a diseased limb, that his patient’s whole body may not +die. But the surgeon will not cut off the limb as long as +there is a chance of saving it: he will not cut it off till it is +mortified and dead, and certain to infect the whole body with the +same death, or till it is so inflamed that it will inflame the +whole body also, and burn up the patient’s life with +fever. Till then he tends it in hope; tries by all means to +cure it. And so does the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the great +Physician, whom His Father has appointed to heal and cure this +poor fallen world. As long as there is hope of curing any +man, any nation, any generation of men, so long will his Spirit +strive lovingly and hopefully with man. For see the blessed +words of the text: “My Spirit shall not always strive with +man. This must end. This must end at some time or +other. This battle between my Spirit and the wicked and +perverse wills of these sinners; this battle between the love and +the justice and the purity which I am trying to teach them, and +the corruption and the violence with which they are filling the +earth.” But there is no passion in the Lord, no +spite, no sudden rage, like the brute passionate anger of weak +man. Our anger, if we are not under the guiding of +God’s Spirit, conquers our wills, carries us away, makes us +say and do on the moment—God forgive us for +it—whatsoever our passion prompts us. The +Lord’s anger does not conquer Him. It does not +conquer His patience, His love, His steadfast will for the good +of all. Even when it shows itself in the flood and the +earthquake; even though it break up the fountains of the great +deep, and destroy from off the earth both man and beast, yet it +is, and was, and ever will be, the anger of The Lamb—a +patient, a merciful, and a loving anger.</p> +<p>Therefore the Lord says: “Yet his days shall be one +hundred and twenty years.” One hundred and twenty +years more he would endure those corrupt and violent sinners, in +the hope of correcting them. One hundred and twenty years +more would God’s Spirit strive with men. One hundred +and twenty years more the long-suffering of God, as St. Peter +says, would wait, if by any means they would turn and +repent. Oh, wonderful love and condescension of God! +God waits for man! The Holy One waits for the unholy! +The Creator waits for the work of His own hands! The +wrathful God, who repents that He has made man upon the earth, +waits one hundred and twenty years for the very creatures whom He +repents having made! Does this seem strange to +us—unlike our notions of God? If it is strange to us, +my friends, its being strange is only a proof of how far we have +fallen from the likeness of God, wherein man was originally +created. If we were more like God, then the accounts of +God’s long-suffering, and mercy, and repentance, which we +read in the Bible, would not be so strange to us. We should +understand what God declares of Himself, by seeing the same +feelings working in ourselves, which He declares to be working in +Himself. And if we were more righteous and more loving, we +should understand more how God’s will was a loving and a +righteous will; how His justice was His mercy, and His mercy His +justice, instead of dividing His substance, who is one God, by +fancying that His mercy and His justice are two different +attributes, which are at times contrary the one to the other.</p> +<p>We read nothing here about God’s absolute purposes, and +fixed decrees, whereof men talk so often, making a god in their +own fallen image, after their own fallen likeness. The +Lord, the Word of God, of whom the Bible tells us, does not think +it beneath his dignity to say: “It repenteth me that I have +made man.” Different, truly, from that false god +which man makes in his own image. Man is proud, and he +fancies that God is proud; man is self-willed and selfish, and he +fancies that God is self-willed and selfish; man is arbitrary and +obstinate, and determined to have his own way just because it is +his own way; and then he fancies that God is arbitrary and +obstinate, and determines to have His own way and will, just +because it is His own way and will. But wilt thou know, oh +vain man, why God will have His own way and will? Because +His way is a good way, and His will a loving will; because the +Lord knows that His way is the only path of life, and joy, and +blessing to man and beast, yes, and to the very hairs of our +head, which are all numbered, and to the sparrows, whereof not +one falls to the ground without our Father’s knowledge; +because His will is a loving will, which wills that none should +perish, but that all should come and be saved in body, soul, and +spirit. He will have His own will done, not because it is +His own will, but because it is good, good for men. And if +men will change and repent, then will He change and repent +also. If man will resist the striving of God’s Spirit +with him, then will the Lord say: “It repenteth me that I +have made that man.” But if a man will repent him of +the evil, then God will repent Him of the evil also. If a +man will let God’s Spirit convince him, and will open his +ears and hear, and open his eyes and see, and open his heart to +take in the loving thoughts and the right thoughts, and the +penitent and humble thoughts, which do come to him—you know +they do come to you all at times—then the Lord will repent +also, as he repents, and repent concerning the evil which He has +declared concerning that man. So said the Lord, who cannot +change, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the same now +that He was in the days of the flood, to Jeremiah the prophet, +when He moved him to go down to the potter’s house, and +watch him there at his work.</p> +<p>And the potter made a vessel—something which would be +useful and good for a certain purpose—but the clay was +marred in the hand of the potter. He was good and skilful; +but there was a fault in the clay. What did he do? +Throw the clay away as useless? No. He made it again +another vessel. He was determined to make, not anything, +but something useful and good. And if the clay, being +faulty, failed him once, he would try again. He would +change his purpose and plan, but not his right will to make good +and useful vessels; them he <i>would</i> make, if not by one way, +then by another. And Jeremiah watched him; and as he +watched, the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and taught him that +that poor potter’s way of working with his clay, was a +pattern and likeness of the Lord’s work on earth. Oh +shame, that this great parable should have been twisted by men to +make out that God is an arbitrary tyrant, who works by a brute +necessity! It taught Jeremiah the very opposite. It +taught him what it ought to teach us, that God does change, +because man changes, that God’s steadfast will is the good +of men, and therefore because men change their weak self-willed +course, and fall, and seek out many inventions, therefore God +changes to follow them, like a good shepherd, tracking and +following the lost and wandering sheep up and down, right and +left, over hill and dale, if by any means He may find him, and +bring him home on His shoulders to the fold, calling upon the +angels of God: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep +which I had lost.”</p> +<p>This is the likeness of God. The good and loving will of +a Father following his wandering children. The likeness of +a loving Father repenting that He hath brought into the world +sinful children, to be a misery to themselves and all around +them, and yet for the same reason loving those children, striving +with their wicked wills to the very last, giving them one last +chance and time for repentance; as the Lord did to those evil men +of the old world, sending to them Noah, a preacher of +righteousness, if by any means they would turn from their sins +and be saved. Ay, not only preaching to their ears by Noah, +but to their hearts by His Spirit; as St. Peter tells us, He +Himself, Christ the Lord, went Himself by His Spirit to those +very sinners before the flood, and strove to bring them to their +reason again. By His Spirit; by the very same one and only +Holy Spirit of God, St. Peter says, by which Christ Himself was +raised from the dead, did He try to raise the souls of those +sinners before the flood, from the death of sin to the life of +righteousness: but they would not. They were +disobedient. Their wills resisted His will to the last; and +then the flood came, and swept them all away.</p> +<p>And so the first work of the heavenly Workman was marred in +the making by no fault of His, but by the fault of what He +made. He made men persons, rational beings with wills, that +they might be willingly like Him: but they used those wills to be +unlike Him, to rebel against Him, and to fill the earth with +violence and corruption. And so, for the good of all +mankind to come, He had to sweep them all away. But of that +same sinful clay He made another vessel, as it seemed good to +Him; even Noah and his Sons, whom He saved that He might carry on +the race of the Sons of God unto this day.</p> +<p>And after that again, my friends, in a day more dark and evil +still, when the earth was again corrupt before God, and filled +with violence; when all flesh had corrupted His way upon the +earth, so that, as St. Paul said of them, there was none that did +good, no not one: then the same Lord, when He saw that all the +world lay in wickedness, and that the clay of human-kind was +marred in the hands of the potter, then did He cast away that +clay as reprobate and useless, and destroy mankind off the face +of the earth? Not so. Then, when there was none to +help, His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness +sustained Him; He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people +there was none with Him. His own righteousness sustained +Him. His perfectly good and righteous will never failed Him +for a moment; man He would save, and man He saved. If none +else could do it, He would do it Himself. He would bring +salvation with His own arm. He would fulfil His +Father’s will, which is that none should perish; He would +be made flesh, and dwell among men, that man might behold the +likeness of God the Father, full of grace and truth, and see what +they were meant to be. Then, in Him, in Jesus who wept over +Jerusalem, was fully revealed and shown the likeness and glory of +the Lord; the Lord in whose image man was made; who walked and +spoke with Adam in the garden; who was not ashamed to say that it +repented Him that He had made man; whom Ezekiel saw upon His +throne, and as it were upon the throne the appearance of the +likeness of a man; whom Daniel saw, and knew him to be the Son of +Man. Not a man, then, of flesh and blood; but the Eternal +Word of God, in whose image man was made, who could be loving and +merciful, long-suffering and repenting Him of the evil, but never +of the good. He came, and He swept away, as He had told the +Apostles that He would do, by such afflictions as man had never +seen since the beginning of the world until then, that Roman +world with all its devilish systems and maxims, whereby the +nations were kept down in slavery and sin; and He founded a new +heaven and a new earth, wherein dwell righteousness, even this +Holy Catholic Church, to which we all belong this day.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there +is a God whose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into +His own likeness. A God who is no dark, obstinate, +inexorable Fate, whose arbitrary decrees must come to pass; but a +loving and merciful God, long-suffering, and who repenteth Him of +the evil; who repents Him of the evil which is in man, and hates +it, and has sworn to Himself to fight against it, till He has put +all enemies under His foot, and cast out of His kingdom all +things which offend. Who repents Him of the evil in man: +but who will never again repent Him of having made man, for then +He would repent of having become man; He would repent of having +been conceived of the Holy Ghost; He would repent of having been +born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent of having been +crucified, dead, and buried; He would repent of having risen from +the dead, and ascended up into heaven in His man’s body, +and soul, and spirit; He would repent of sitting on the right +hand of God; He would repent of coming to judge the quick and the +dead; He would repent of having done His Father’s will on +earth, even as He did it from all eternity in the bosom of the +Father. For He is a man; and even as the reasonable soul +and body are one man, so God and man are one Christ. As +man, He did His Father’s will in Judæa of old; as +man, He will judge the world; as man He rules it now; as man, St. +John saw Him fifty years after He ascended to heaven, and His +eyes were like a flame of fire, and His hair like fine wool, and +He was girt under the bosom with a golden girdle, and His voice +was like the sound of many waters; as man, He said: “Fear +not: I am the first and the last; I am He that liveth, and was +dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the +keys of death and hell.” Yes. This is the +gospel, the good news for fallen man, that there is a Man in the +midst of the throne of God, to whom all power is given in heaven +and earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is +therein—the fate of suns and stars—the fate of kings +and nations—the fate of every publican and harlot, and +heathen and outcast—the fate of all who are in death and +hell, depends alike upon the sacred heart of Jesus; the heart +which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; the heart which +wept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed +Magdalene, the woman who was a sinner: “Go in peace; thy +sins are forgiven thee;” the heart which now yearns after +every sinful and wandering soul in His church, and all over the +earth of God, crying to you all: “Why will ye die? +Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the +Lord, and not rather that he should turn from his wickedness and +live? Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, +and I will give you rest.” Oh, my friends, wonderful +as my words are—as wonderful to me who speak them as they +can be to you who hear them—yet they are true. True; +for on that table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself +said, standing upon this very earth which He Himself had made: +“This is my body which is given for you; this cup is the +new covenant in my blood, which I will give for the life of the +world.”</p> +<h2><a name="page373"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +373</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXVII.</span><br /> +THE KINGDOM OF GOD.</h2> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">The kingdom of God is +within you.—<span class="smcap">Luke</span> xvii. 21.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">These</span> words are in the second +lesson for this morning’s service. Let us think a +little about them.</p> +<p>What they mean must depend on what the kingdom of God means; +for that is the one thing about which they speak.</p> +<p>Now, the kingdom of God is very often spoken of in the New +Testament. Indeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all +others. It was the thing which our Lord went about +preaching. It was the thing of which He spoke in His +parables, likening the kingdom of God first to one thing, then to +another, that He might make men understand what it was like.</p> +<p>Now, it is worth remarking that we—I mean even religious +people—speak very little about the kingdom of God +nowadays. One hears less about it than about any other +words, almost, which stand in the New Testament. Both in +sermons and in religious books, and in the talk of godly people, +one hears the kingdom of God spoken of very seldom. One +hears words about the Church, which are very good and true; but +very little, if anything, about the kingdom of God, though both +St. Paul, and St. John, and the blessed Lord Himself, speak of +the two together, as if they could not be parted; as if one could +not think of the one without thinking of the other. And we +hear words about the gospel, too, some of them very good and +true, and others, I am sorry to say, very bad and false: but, +true or false, they are not often joined now in men’s +minds, or mouths, or books, with the kingdom of God. But +the New Testament joins them almost always. It says that +gospel must be good news. Therefore the gospel must be good +news about something. But about what? We hear all +manner of answers nowadays; but we hear the right one very +seldom. People talk of the gospel as if it only meant the +good news that one man can be saved here, and another man can be +saved there. And that is good news, certainly. It is +good and blessed news to hear that any one poor sinner can be +saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But the holy +scriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel of +the kingdom of God. And I think it best and wisest to call +it oftenest, what the holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to +try and understand, first of all, what that means, what the good +news of the kingdom of God is: and to understand that, we must +first understand what the kingdom of God is.</p> +<p>But some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of +salvation. True, it does, once or twice. But what +does that show? Is that a different gospel from the gospel +of the kingdom of God? Are there two gospels? Surely +not. Else why would holy scripture speak so often of +“the gospel”—“the good news,” by +itself, without any word after to show what it was about? +It says often simply “the gospel;” because there is +but one gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if any man or angel preach +any other than that one, “Let him be anathema.”</p> +<p>Therefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the +gospel of the kingdom of God; and, therefore, it seems to me, +that salvation and the kingdom of God must be one and the same +thing.</p> +<p>Now, do you think so? When I say “The kingdom of +God is salvation,” do you think it is? Have you even +any clear notion of what I mean when I say it? Some of you +have not, I am afraid; you cannot see at first sight what +salvation and the kingdom of God have to do with each +other. And why? You think salvation means being saved +from hell, and going to heaven, when you die. And so it +does: but I trust in God and in God’s holy scripture, that +it means a great deal more; for I think it means being unfit for +hell, and fit for heaven, before we die. At least, so says +the Church Catechism, which teaches every little child to thank +his Heavenly Father for having brought him into such a state of +salvation in this life, even while he is young. Thanks be +to The Spirit of God which taught our fore-fathers to put these +precious words into the Church Catechism, to guard us against +falling into the very same mistake as the Pharisees of old fell +into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom of God was to +come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common enough +to fall into the same mistake.</p> +<p>For what was their mistake? They fancied that the +kingdom of God was not yet come. And do not most of you +think the same? They did not deny, of course, that God was +almighty, and could rule and govern all mankind if He chose so to +do. But they did not believe that He was ruling and +governing all mankind then, because they did not know what His +rule and government were like. Now, St. Paul tells us what +God’s kingdom is like. The kingdom of God, he says, +is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So +wherever there is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy +Spirit, there the kingdom of God is. But His kingdom over +what? Over dumb animals, or over men? Over men, +certainly; for dumb animals cannot have righteousness, or joy in +the Holy Spirit. But over what part of a man? Over +his body or over his spirit, as we call it nowadays? Over +his spirit, certainly; for it is only our spirits which can be +righteous, or peaceful, or joyful in God’s Spirit. +Therefore God’s kingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, is a +kingdom, a government over the souls, the spirits of men. +Now, are our spirits the inward part of us, or our bodies? +Our spirits, certainly. We all say, and say rightly, that +our bodies are the outward part of us, and that our spirits are +within us. Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly with +the blessed Lord’s saying in the text, “Behold, the +kingdom of God is within you”—that is, in your +spirits, because it is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the +Holy Spirit; and these are things which only our souls, not our +bodies at all, can have.</p> +<p>But these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and +hypocritical men. Was the kingdom of God within them? +The blessed Lord said plainly that it was. He said not, +“The kingdom of God is within some people’s +hearts;” or, “The kingdom of God is within the hearts +of believers;” or, “The kingdom of God might be +within you if you liked.” But He said that the +kingdom of God was then and there within the hearts of those +wicked and unbelieving Pharisees.</p> +<p>Now, how could that be? In the same way that some time +before that, as St. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was +present to heal those same Pharisees; and they were for the time +amazed, and glorified God, and were filled with fear at His +mighty works; but not healed. Their souls were not cured of +their sin and folly by any means; for we find in the very next +chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied man on the +Sabbath-day they were filled with madness, and consulted together +how to kill Him.</p> +<p>For, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. +God’s kingdom is within every one of us; but it may make us +worse, as well as make us better. It may fill us with +righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; or it may +fill us, as it filled the Pharisees, with madness, and hatred of +religion and of goodness; as it is written, that the gospel may +be a savour of death unto death to us, as well as a savour of +life unto life. And it depends on us which it shall be.</p> +<p>This is what I mean: God’s kingdom is within each of +us. God is the King of our hearts and souls; our baptism +tells us so; and it tells us truly. And because God is the +King of each of our hearts, He comes everlastingly to take +possession of our hearts, and continues claiming our souls for +His own. He speaks in our hearts day and night; whenever we +have a good thought, He speaks in our hearts, and says to us: +“I am the King of your spirit. It must obey me. +I put this good thought into your hearts, and you are bound to +follow that good thought, because it is a law of my +kingdom.” Or again, God speaks in our hearts, and +says to us: “You have done this wrong thing. You know +that it is wrong. You know that it is an offence against my +law. Why have you rebelled against me?” Or +again, when we see anyone do a good, a loving, or a noble action; +or when we read of the lives of good and noble men and women; +above all, when we read or hear of the character and doings of +the blessed Lord Jesus, then and there God speaks in our hearts, +and stirs us up to love and admire these noble and blessed +examples, and says to us: “That is right. That is +beautiful. That is what men should do. That is what +you should do. Why are you not like that man? Why are +you not like my saints? Why are you not like me, the Lord +Jesus Christ?”</p> +<p>You all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not +mean that you hear a voice speaking to your ears, but that +thoughts and feelings come into your heart, without you putting +them there: ay, often enough, in spite of your trying to drive +them away. Now, those right thoughts are the kingdom of God +within you. They are the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ +speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, and telling you that +He is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; and that obeying +Him means being righteous and good, as He is righteous and good; +and calling on you to give up your own wills and fancies, and to +do His will, and let Him make you holy, even as He is holy. +That, I say, is the kingdom of God showing itself within you, +telling you that God is your King, and telling you how to obey +Him.</p> +<p>But what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a +man rebels proudly against the good thoughts that rise in his +mind, and tries to forget them, and grows angry with them, angry +with the preacher, the Church Service, the Bible itself, because +they <i>will</i> go on reminding him of what he knows in his +heart to be right? What if those good thoughts only make +him the more stubborn and determined to do his own pleasure, and +follow his own interests, and do his own will?</p> +<p>Do you not see that to that man God’s kingdom over his +heart is a savour of death unto death—that his finding out +that God is his Lord only makes him more rebellious—that +God’s Spirit striving with his heart to bring it right, +only stirs up his stubbornness and self-will, and makes him go +the more obstinately wrong?</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can +become worse by God’s loving desire to make him +better! But so it is. So it was with Pharaoh of +old. All God’s pleading with him by the message of +Moses and Aaron, by the mighty plagues which God sent on Egypt, +only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The Lord God spoke to +him, and his message only lashed Pharaoh’s proud and wicked +will into greater fury and rebellion, as a vicious horse becomes +the more unmanageable the more you punish it. Therefore, it +is said plainly in scripture, that <i>The Lord</i> hardened +Pharaoh’s heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord’s +will was to make Pharaoh hard-hearted and wicked. God +forbid. The Lord is the fountain of good only, and not He, +but we and the devil, make evil. But the more the Lord +pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to bend his will, the more +self-willed he became. The more the Lord showed Pharaoh +that the Lord was King, the more he hated the kingdom and will of +God, the more he determined to be king himself, and to obey no +law but his own wicked fancies and pleasures, and asked: +“Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?”</p> +<p>And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out +that the kingdom of God was within them, that God was the King of +their hearts and minds, and was trying to change their feelings +and alter their opinions, it only maddened them. They were +determined not to change. They were determined not to +confess that they had been wrong, and had mistaken the meaning of +holy scripture. They were too proud to confess what Jesus +told them, that they were no better than the poor ignorant common +people whom they despised. And yet they knew in their +hearts that He was right. When the Lord told them the +parable of the vineyard, they answered, “God forbid!” +they felt at once that the parable had to do with them—that +they were the wicked husbandmen on whom He said their master +would take vengeance: but that only maddened them the more, till +they ended by crucifying the Lord of Glory, upon a pretence which +they knew was a false and lying one; and when Judas Iscariot +said, “I have betrayed the innocent blood,” they did +not deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all they answered was, +“What is that to us?” They were determined to +have their own way whether He was innocent or not. They had +seen God’s likeness. They had seen what God was like, +by seeing the conduct of His only begotten Son Jesus +Christ. And when they saw God’s likeness they hated +it, because it was not like themselves. And the more God +strove with their hearts, and tried to make them obey Him, the +more, in short, they felt His kingdom within them, the more they +hated that kingdom of God within them, because it reproved them, +and convinced them of sin. Oh, my friends, young people +especially, beware; beware lest you fall into the same miserable +state of mind. The kingdom of God is within you. The +Holy Spirit, by which you were regenerate in holy baptism, is +stirring and pleading with your hearts, making you happy when you +do right, unhappy when you do wrong. Oh, listen to those +good thoughts and feelings within you! Never fancy that +they are your own thoughts and feelings: else you will fancy that +you can put them away and take them back again when you choose to +change and become religious. Do not let the devil deceive +you into that notion. These good thoughts and feelings are +the Spirit of God. They are the signs that the kingdom of +God is within you; that God is King and Master of your hearts and +minds; and that you cannot keep Him out of them: but that He can +enter into them when He likes, and put right thoughts into +them. But though you cannot prevent God and His kingdom +entering into you, you can refuse to enter into it. Alas! +alas! how many of you shut your ears to God’s voice: try to +drive God’s Spirit out of your own hearts; try to forget +what is right, because it is unpleasant to remember it, and say +to yourselves, “I will have my own way. I will try +and forget what the clergyman said in his sermon, or what I +learnt at school. I am grown up now, and I will do what I +like.” Oh, my friends, is it a wise or a hopeful +battle to fight against the living God? Grieve not the Holy +Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption, +lest He go away from you and leave you to yourselves, spiritually +dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, whose end is to be +burned. Grieve Him not, lest He depart, and with Him both +the Father and the Son. And then you will not know right +from wrong, because God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of right, has +left you. You will not know what a man ought to be or do, +because the Son of Man, the perfect likeness of God, and +therefore the pattern of man, has left you. You will not +know that God the Father is your Father, but only fancy him a +stern taskmaster, reaping where He has not sown, and requiring of +you more than you are bound to pay, because God the Father has +left you.</p> +<p>You may, indeed, keep out ugly thoughts for a time. You +may go on wantonly in sin, and worldliness, and self-will. +And then, by way of falling deeper still, you may take up with +some false sort of religion, which makes people fancy that they +know God, and are one of His elect, while in works they deny Him, +and their sinful heart is unchanged. Then your mouth indeed +may be full of second-hand talk about the gospel. But what +gospel? I call that a devil’s gospel, and not +God’s gospel, which makes men fancy that they may continue +in sin that grace may abound. I call any grace which leaves +men in their sins the devil’s grace, and not God’s +grace. Certainly it is not the gospel of the kingdom of +God; for if it was, it would produce in men the fruits of that +kingdom, righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, +instead of the fruits which we see too often, bigotry and +self-conceit, bitterness, evil-speaking, and hard judgments, and +joy in a most unholy and damnable spirit, not to mention +covetousness and deceitfulness, or even in some cases wantonness +and lust. And yet such men will often fancy that they +belong especially to God, and doubt whether He will have mercy on +any who do not exactly agree with them; while in reality God and +His kingdom have utterly left their hearts, and they are as blind +and dark as the beasts which perish. May God preserve us +from that second death which comes on sinners, when, after a +sinful youth, their terrified souls begin to cry out in fear at +the sight of their sins; and they, instead of casting away their +sins, keep their sins, or change old sins for more respectable +and safe new ones, and drug their souls with false doctrines, as +foolish nurses quiet children’s crying by giving them +poisonous medicines. I know men who have fallen, I really +fear at times, into that state of mind, and are like those +Pharisees of whom our Lord said: “Ye serpents, ye +generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?” Even for them it is not too late: but, let +them recollect, if the kingdom of God is within them, if they +have any feelings of right and wrong left in them, that their +covetousness, and lying, and slandering, and conceit, is fighting +against God; that these are just what God desires to cast out of +them; and that unless they give up their hearts to God, and let +Him cast out their sins, and be converted, and become like little +children, gentle, humble, teachable, friendly, and kind-hearted, +obedient to their heavenly Father, God will cast them out of His +kingdom among the things which offend, and bring a bad name on +religion; among those very profligate and open sinners whom they +are so ready to despise and curse.</p> +<h2><a name="page384"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +384</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXVIII.</span><br /> +THE LIGHT.</h2> +<blockquote><p>But all things that are reproved are made manifest +by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. +Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the +dead, and Christ shall give thee light.—<span +class="smcap">Ephesians</span> v. 13, 14.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">St. Paul</span> has been telling the +Ephesians who they are; that they are God’s dear +children. To whom they belong; to Christ who has given +Himself for them. What they ought to do; to follow +God’s likeness, and live in love. That they are light +in the Lord; and are to walk as children of the light; and have +no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather +reprove them. As much as to say: Do not believe those who +tell you that there is no harm in young people going wrong +together before marriage, provided they intend to marry after +all. Do not believe those who tell you that there is no +harm in filthy words, provided you do not do filthy things; and +no harm in swearing, provided you do not mean the curses which +you speak. Do not believe those who tell you there is no +harm in poaching another man’s game, provided you do not +steal his poultry, or anything except his game. Do not +believe those who tell you that there is no harm in being +covetous, provided you do not actually cheat your neighbours; and +that the sin lies, not in being covetous at all, but in being +more covetous than the law will let you be.</p> +<p>Do not believe those who say to you that you may keep dark +thoughts, spite, suspicion, envy, cunning, covetousness in your +hearts day after day, year after year, provided you do not openly +act on them so as to do your neighbours any great and notorious +injury.</p> +<p>Plenty of people will tell you so, and try to deceive you with +vain words, and give you arguments, and texts of scripture +perhaps, to prove that sin is not sin, and that the children of +light may do the works of darkness. But do not believe +them, says St. Paul. They are deceivers, and their words +are vain. These are the very things which bring down +God’s wrath on His disobedient children. These are +the bad ways which make young people, when they are married, +despise, and distrust, and quarrel with each other, and live +miserable lives together, as children of wrath, peevish, and +wrathful, and discontented with each other, because they feel +that God is angry with them, just as Adam in the garden, when he +felt that he had sinned, and that God was wroth with him, laid +the blame on his wife, and accused her, whom he ought to have +loved, and protected, and excused.</p> +<p>These are the bad ways which make people ashamed when they +meet a good and a respectable person, make them afraid of being +overheard, afraid of being found out, fond of haunting low and +out-of-the-way places where they will not be seen; fond of +prowling and lurching out at night after their own sinful +pleasures, because the darkness hides them from their neighbours, +and seems to hide them from themselves, though it cannot hide +them from God. These are the sins which make men silent, +cunning, dark, sour, double-tongued, afraid to look anyone full +in the face, unwilling to make friends, afraid of opening their +minds to anyone, because they have something on their minds which +they dare not tell their neighbours, which they dare not even +tell themselves, but think about as little as they can +help. Do you not know what I mean? Do you not often +see it in others? Have you never felt it in yourselves when +you have done wrong, that dark feeling within which shows itself +in dark looks? You talk of a “dark-looking +man,” or a “dark sort of person;” and you mean, +do you not, a man whom you cannot make out, who does not wish you +to make him out; who keeps his thoughts and his feelings to +himself, and is never frank or free, except with bad companions, +when the world cannot see him; who goes about hanging down his +head, and looking out of the corners of his eyes, as if he were +afraid of the very sunshine—afraid of the light. We +know that such a man has something dark on his mind. We +call him a “dark sort of man.” And we are +right. We say of him what St. Paul says of him in this very +epistle, when he says, that sin is darkness, and sinful works the +deeds of darkness; and that goodness, and righteousness, and +truth, are light, the very light of God and the Spirit of +God. Our reason, our common sense, which is given us by +God’s Spirit, the Spirit of light, makes us use the right +words, the same words as St. Paul does, and call sin +darkness.</p> +<p>But rather reprove these dark works, says St. Paul; that is, +look at them, and see that they are utterly worthless and +damnable. And how? “All things that are +reproved,” he says, “are made manifest by the +light. For whatsoever makes manifest is light.” +Whatsoever makes manifest, that is, makes plain and clear. +Whatsoever makes you see anything or person in heaven or earth as +it really is; whatsoever makes you understand more about +anything; whatsoever shows you more what you are, where you are, +what you ought to do; whatsoever teaches you any single hint +about your duty to God, or man, or the dumb beasts which you +tend, or the soil which you till, or the business and line of +life which you ought to follow; whatsoever shows you the right +and the wrong in any matter, the truth and the falsehood in any +matter, the prudent course and the imprudent course in any +matter; in a word, whatsoever makes your mind more clear about +any single thing in heaven or earth, is light. For, mind, +St. Paul does not say, whatsoever is light makes things plain; +but whatsoever makes things plain is light. That is saying +a great deal more, thank God; for if he had said, whatsoever is +light makes things clear, we should have been puzzled to know +what was light; we should have been tempted to settle for +ourselves what was light. And, God knows, people in all +ages, and people of all religions, Christians as well as +heathens, have been tempted to say so, and to misread this text, +till they said: “Whatsoever agrees with our doctrine is +light, of course, but all other teaching is darkness, and comes +from the devil;” and so they oftentimes blasphemed against +God’s Holy Spirit by calling good actions bad ones, just +because they were done by people who did not agree with them, and +fell into the same sin as the Pharisees of old, who said that the +Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.</p> +<p>But St. Paul says, whatsoever makes anything clearer to you, +is light. There is the gospel, and there is the good news +of salvation again, coming out, as it does all through St. +Paul’s epistles, at every turn, just where poor, sinful, +dark man least expects it. For, what does St. Paul say in +the very next verse? “Wherefore,” he says, +“arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee +light.” “Christ shall give thee +light!” Oh blessed news! <i>Christ</i> gives us +the light, and therefore we need not be afraid of it, but trust +it, and welcome it. And Christ <i>gives</i> us the light, +therefore we have not to hunt and search after it; for He will +give it us. Let us think over these two matters, and see +whether there is not a gospel and good news in them for all +wretched, ignorant, sinful, dark souls, just as much as for those +who are learned and wise, or bright and full of peace.</p> +<p>Christ gives us the light. This agrees with what St. +John says, that “He is the light who lights every man who +comes into the world.” And it agrees also with what +St. James says: “Be not deceived, my beloved +brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from +above, and cometh down from God, the Father of lights, with whom +is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.” And it +agrees also with what the prophet says, that it is the Spirit of +God which gives man understanding. And it agrees also with +what the Lord Himself promised us when He was on earth, that He +would send down on us the Spirit of God—the Spirit which +proceeds alike from Him and from His Father, to guide us into all +truth. Ay, my friends, if we really believe this, what a +solemn and important thing education would seem to us! If +we really believed that all light, all true understanding of any +matter, came from the Lord Jesus Christ: and if we remember what +the Lord Jesus’ character was; how He came to do good to +all; to teach not merely the rich and powerful, but the poor, the +ignorant, the outcast, the sinful: should we not say to +ourselves, then: “If knowledge comes from Christ, who never +kept anything to Himself, how dare we keep knowledge to +ourselves? If it comes from Him who gave Himself freely for +all, surely He means that knowledge should be given freely to +all. If He and His Father, and our Father, will that all +should come to the knowledge of the truth, how dare we keep the +truth from anyone?” So we should feel it the will of +our heavenly Father, the solemn command of our blessed Saviour, +that our children, and not only they, but every soul around us, +young and old, should be educated in the best possible way, and +in any way whatsoever, rather than in none at all. The +education of the poor would be, in our eyes, the most sacred +duty. A school would be, in our eyes, as necessary and +almost as sacred a thing as a church. And to neglect +sending our children to school, or to leave our servants or +work-people in ignorance, would seem to us an awful sin against +the Father of lights; a rebellion against the Lord Jesus, who +lights every man who comes into the world, and against our Father +in heaven, who willeth not that one of these little ones should +perish.</p> +<p>And this is made still more plain and certain by the next word +in the text: “Christ shall <i>give</i> thee light:” +not sell thee light, or allow thee to find light after great +struggles, and weary years of study: but, <i>give</i> thee +light. Give it thee of His free grace and generosity. +We might have expected that, merely from remembering to whom the +light belongs. The mere fact that light belongs to the Lord +Jesus Christ, who is the express likeness of His Father, might +have made us sure that He would give His light freely to the +unthankful and to the evil, just as His Father makes His sun to +shine alike on the evil and on the good. Therefore this +text does not leave us to find out the good news for +ourselves. It declares to us plainly that He will give it +us, as freely as He gives us all things richly to enjoy.</p> +<p>But, someone will say: You surely cannot mean that we shall +have understanding without study?</p> +<p>You cannot mean that we are to become wise without careful +thought, or that we are to understand books without learning to +read? Of course not, my friends. The text does not +say: “Christ will give thee eyes; Christ will give thee +sense:” but, “Christ will give thee light.” . . +. Do you not see the difference? Of what use would +your eyes be without light? And of what use would light be +if your eyes were shut, and you asleep? In darkness you +cannot see. Your eyes are there, as good as ever; the world +is there, as fair as ever: but you cannot see it, because there +is no light. You can only feel it, by groping about with +your hands, and laying hold of whatsoever happens to be nearest +you. And do you think that though your bodily eyes cannot +see, unless God puts His light in the sky, to shine on +everything, and show it you, yet your minds and souls can see +without any light from God? Not so, my friends. What +the sun is to this earth, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of +God, is to the spirit—that is, the reason and +conscience—of every man who comes into the world. +Now, the good news of holy baptism is, that the light is here; +that God’s Spirit is with us, to teach us the truth about +everything, that we may see it in its true light, as it is, as +God sees it; that the day-spring from on high has visited us, to +give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of +death, to guide our feet into the way of peace; and that we are +children of the light and of the day. But what if those who +sit in darkness like the darkness; and wilfully shut their eyes +tight that they may not see the day-spring from on high, and the +light which God has sent into the world? Then the light +will not profit them, but they will walk on still in darkness, +not knowing whither they are going.</p> +<p>But some may say, wicked men are very wise; although they +rebel against God’s Spirit, and do not even believe in +God’s Spirit, but say that man’s mind can find out +everything for itself, without God’s help, yet they are +very wise. Are they? The Bible tells us again and +again that the wisdom of such men is folly; that God takes such +wise men in their own craftiness. And the Bible speaks +truth. If there is one thing of which I am more certain +than another, my friends, it is that, just in proportion as a man +is bad, just in proportion as he does not believe in a good +Spirit of God who wills to teach him, and gives him light, he is +a fool. If there is one thing more than another which such +men’s books have taught me, it is that they are in +darkness, when they fancy they are in the brightest light; that +they make the greatest mistakes when they intend to say the +cleverest things; and when they least fancy it, fall into +nonsense and absurdities, not merely on matters of religion, but +on points which they profess to have studied, and in cases where, +by their own showing, they ought to have known better. But +our business is rather with ourselves. Our business, in +this time of Lent, is to see whether we have been shutting our +eyes; whether we have been walking in darkness, while God’s +light is all around us. And how shall we know that? +Let St. John tell us: “He that saith he is in the light, +and hateth his brother, is in darkness until now, and knoweth not +whither he goeth, because darkness has blinded his +eyes.” Hating our brother. Covetousness, which +is indeed hating our brother, for it teaches us to prefer our +good to our neighbour’s good, to fatten ourselves at our +neighbour’s expense, to get his work, his custom, his +money, away from him to ourselves; bigotry, which makes men hate +and despise those who differ from them in religion; spite and +malice against those who have injured us; suspicions and dark +distrust of our neighbours, and of mankind in general; +selfishness, which sets us always standing on our own rights, +makes us always ready to take offence, always ready to think that +people mean to insult us or injure us, and makes us moody, dark, +peevish, always thinking about ourselves, and our plans, or our +own pleasures, shut up as it were within ourselves—all +these sins, in proportion as anyone gives way to them, darken the +eyes of a man’s soul. They really and actually make +him more stupid, less able to understand his neighbours’ +hearts and minds, less able to take a reasonable view of any +matter or question whatsoever. You may not believe +me. But so it is. I know it by experience to be +true. I warn you that you will find it true one day; that +all spite, passion, prejudice, suspicion, hard judgments, +contempt, self-conceit, blind a man’s reason, and heart, +and soul, and make him stumble and fall into mistakes, even in +worldly matters, just as surely as shutting our eyes makes us +stumble in broad daylight. He who gives way to such +passions is asleep, while he fancies himself broad awake. +His life is a dream; and like a dreamer, he sees nothing really, +only appearances, fancies, pictures of things in his own selfish +brain. Therefore it is written: “Awake thou that +sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee +life.” You may say: Can I awaken myself? +Perhaps not, unless someone calls you. And therefore Christ +calls on you to awake. He says by my mouth: Awake, thou +sleeper, and I will give thee light; awake, thou dreamer, who +fanciest that the sinful works of darkness can give thee any real +profit, any real pleasure; awake, thou sleep-walker, who art +going about the world in a dream, groping thy way on from day to +day and year to year, only kept from fall and ruin by God’s +guiding and preserving mercy. Open thine eyes, and let in +the great eternal loving light, wherein God beholds everything +which He has made, and behold it is very good. Open thine +eyes, for it is day. The light is here if thou wilt but use +it. “I will guide thee,” saith the Lord, +“and inform thee with mine eye, and teach thee in the way +wherein thou shalt go.” Only believe in the +light. Believe that all knowledge comes from God. +Expect and trust that He will give thee knowledge. Pray to +Him boldly to give thee knowledge, because thou art sure that He +wishes thee to have knowledge. He wishes thee to know thy +duty. He wishes thee to see everything as He sees it. +“If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to +all liberally and upbraideth not, and he shall receive +it.” And when thou hast prayed for knowledge, expect +it to come; as it is written: When thou prayest for anything, +believe that thou wilt receive it, and thou wilt receive +it. If thou dost not believe that thou wilt have it, of +course thou wilt not have it. And why? Because thou +wilt pass by it without seeing it. It will be there ready +for thee in thy daily walks; Wisdom will cry to thee at the head +of every street; God will not deny Himself or break His promise: +but thou wilt go past the place where wisdom is, and miss the +lessons which God is strewing in thy path, because thou art not +looking for them. Wisdom is here, my friends, and +understanding is here, and the Spirit of God is here, if our eyes +were but open to see them. Oh my friends, of all the sins +of which we have to repent in this time of Lent, none ought to +give us more solemn and bitter thoughts of shame than the way in +which we overlook the teaching of God’s Spirit, and shut +our eyes to His light, times without number, every day of our +lives. My friends, if our hearts were what they ought to +be, if we had humble, loving, trustful hearts, full of faith and +hope in God’s promise to lead us into all truth, I believe +that every joy and every sorrow which befell us, every book which +we opened, every walk which we took upon the face of God’s +earth, ay, every human face into which we looked, would teach us +some lesson, whereby we should be wiser, better, more aware of +where we are and what God requires of us as human beings, +neighbours, citizens, subjects, members of His church. All +things would be clear to us; for we should see them in the light +of God’s Spirit. All things would look bright to us, +for we should see them in the light of God’s love. +All things would work together for good to us, for we should +understand each thing as it came before us, and know what it was, +and what God meant it for, and how we were to use it. And +knowing and seeing what was right, we should see how beautiful it +was, and love it, and take delight in doing it, and so we should +walk in the light. Dark thoughts would pass away from our +minds, dark feelings from our hearts, dark looks from our +faces. We should look our neighbours cheerfully and boldly +in the face; for our consciences would be clear of any ill-will +or meanness toward them. We should look cheerfully and +boldly up to God our Father; for we should know that He was with +us, guiding and teaching us, well-pleased with all our endeavours +to see things as He sees them, and to live and work on earth +after His image, and in His likeness. We should look out +cheerfully and boldly on the world around us, trying to get +knowledge from everything we see, expecting the light, and +welcoming it, and trusting it, because we know that it comes from +Him who is true and cannot lie, Him who is love and cannot +injure, Him who is righteous and cannot lead us into temptation: +Jesus Christ, the Light who lighteth every man that cometh into +the world.</p> +<h2><a name="page395"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +395</span><span class="GutSmall">XXXIX.</span><br /> +THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Wherefore I say unto you: All manner of sin and +blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against +the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And +whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be +forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word against the Holy +Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this world, or in +the world to come.—<span class="smcap">Matthew</span> xii. +31, 32.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">These</span> awful words were the +Lord’s answer to the Pharisees, when they said of Him: +“He casts out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the +devils.”</p> +<p>What was it now which made this speech of the Pharisees so +terrible a sin, past all forgiveness?</p> +<p>Of course we all feel that they were very sinful; we shrink +with horror from their words as we read them. But why ought +they to have done the same? We know, thank God, who Jesus +Christ was. But they did not; at that time, when He was +first beginning to preach, they hardly could have known. +And mind, we must not say: “They ought to have known that +He was the Son of God by His having the <i>power</i> of casting +out devils;” for the Lord Himself says that the sons of +these Pharisees used to cast them out also, or that the Pharisees +believed that they did; and only asks them: “Why do you say +of my casting out devils, what you will not say of your +sons’ casting them out?” Pray bear this in +mind; for if you do not—if you keep in your mind the vulgar +and unscriptural notion that the Pharisees’ sin was not +being convinced by the great power of Christ’s miracles, +you will never understand this story, and you will be very likely +to get rid of it altogether as speaking of a sin which does not +concern you, and a sin which you cannot commit. Now, if the +Pharisees did not know that Jesus was the Son of God, the Maker +and King of the world, as we do, why were they so awfully wicked +in saying that He cast out devils by the prince of the +devils? Was it anything more than a mistake of +theirs? Was it as wicked as crucifying the Lord? +Could it be a worse sin to make that one mistake, than to murder +the Lord Himself? And yet it must have been a worse +sin. For the Lord prayed for his murderers: “Father, +forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And +these Pharisees, they knew not what they did: and yet the Lord, +far from praying for them, told them that even He did not see how +such serpents, such a generation of vipers, could escape the +damnation of hell.</p> +<p>It is worth our while to think over this question, and try and +find out what made the Pharisees’ sin so great. And +to do that, it will be wiser for us, first, to find out what the +Pharisees’ sin was; lest we should sit here this morning, +and think them the most wicked wretches who ever trod the earth; +and then go away, and before a week is over, commit ourselves the +very same sin, or one so fearfully like it, that if other people +can see a difference between them, I confess I cannot. And +to commit such a sin, my good friends, is a far easier thing to +do than some people fancy, especially here in England now.</p> +<p>Now, the worst part of the Pharisees’ sin was not, as we +are too apt to fancy, their insulting the Lord: but their +insulting the Holy Spirit. For what does the Lord Himself +say? That all manner of blasphemy as well as sin should be +forgiven; that whosever spoke a word against Him, the Son of Man, +should be forgiven: but that the unpardonable part of their +offence was, that they had blasphemed the Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of +holiness. And what is holiness? What are the fruits +of holiness? For, as the Lord told the Pharisees on this +very occasion, the tree is known by its fruit. What says +St. Paul? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, +long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. +Those who do not show these fruits have not God’s Spirit in +them. Those who are hard, unloving, proud, quarrelsome, +peevish, suspicious, ready to impute bad motives to their +neighbours, have not God’s Spirit in them. Those who +do show these fruits; who are gentle, forgiving, kind-hearted, +ready to do good to others, and believe good of others, have +God’s Spirit in them. For these are good fruits, +which, as our Lord tells us, can only spring from a good +root. Those who have the fruit must have the root, let +their doctrines be what they may. Those who have not the +fruit cannot have the root, let their doctrines be what they +may.</p> +<p>That is the plain truth; and it is high time for preachers to +proclaim it boldly, and take the consequences from the Scribes +and Pharisees of this generation. That is the plain +truth. Let doctrines be what they will, the tree is known +by its fruit. The man who does wrong things is bad, and the +man who does right things is good. It is a simple thing to +have to say, but very few believe it in these days. Most +fancy that the men who can talk most neatly and correctly about +certain religious doctrines are good, and that those who cannot +are bad. That is no new notion. Some people thought +so in St. John’s time; and what did he say of them? +“Little children, let no man deceive you; it is he that +doeth righteousness who is righteous, even as God is +righteous.” And again: “He who says, I know +God, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is +not in him.” St. John was the apostle of love. +He was always preaching the love of God to men, and entreating +men to love one another. His own heart was overflowing with +love. Yet when it came to such a question as that; when it +came to people’s pretending to be religious and orthodox, +and yet neither obeying God nor loving their neighbours, he could +speak sternly and plainly enough. He does not say: +“My dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ from you, +but I am afraid you are mistaken;” he says: “You are +liars, and there is no truth in you.”</p> +<p>Now this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They +had got to think, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a +man’s having God’s Spirit in him, was his agreeing +with them in doctrine. But if he did not agree with them; +if he would not say the words which they said, and did not belong +to their party, and side with them in despising every one who +differed from them, it was no matter to them, as they proved by +their opinion of Jesus Himself, how good he might be, or how much +good he might do; how loving, gentle, patient, benevolent, +helping, and caring for poor people; in short, how like God he +was; all that went for nothing if he was not of their +party. For they had forgotten what God was like. They +forgot that God was love and mercy itself, and that all love and +mercy must come from God; and, that, therefore, no one, let his +creed or his doctrine be what it might, could possibly do a +loving or merciful thing, but by the grace and inspiration of +God, the Father of mercies. And yet their own prophets of +the Old Testament had told them so, when they ascribed the good +deeds of heathens to the inspiration of God, just as much as the +good deeds of Jews, and agreed, as they do in many a text, with +what St. James, himself a Jew, said afterwards: “Be not +deceived; every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, +and cometh down from the Father of lights.” But the +Pharisees, like too many nowadays, did not think so. They +thought that good and perfect gifts might some of them very well +come from below, from the father of darkness and cruelty. +They saw the Lord Jesus Christ doing good things; driving out +evil, and delivering men from the power of it; healing the sick, +cleansing the leper, curing the mad, preaching the gospel to the +poor: and yet they saw in that no proof that God’s Spirit +was working in Him. Of course, if He had been one of their +own party, and had held the same doctrines as they held, they +would have praised Him loudly enough, and held Him up as a great +saint of their school, and boasted of all His good deeds as +proofs of how good their party was, and how its doctrines came +from God. But as long as He was not one of them, His good +works went for nothing. They could not see God’s +likeness in that loving and merciful character. All His +charity and benevolence made them only hate Him the more, because +it made them the more afraid that He would draw the people away +from them. “And of course,” they said to +themselves, “whosoever draws people away from us, must be +on the devil’s side. We know all God’s law and +will. No one on earth has anything to teach us. And +therefore, as for any one who differs from us, if he cast out +devils, it must be because the devil is helping him, for his own +purposes, to do it.”</p> +<p>In one word, then, the sin of these Pharisees, the +unpardonable sin, which ruins all who give themselves up to it, +was bigotry; calling right wrong, because it did not suit their +party prejudices to call it right. They were fancying +themselves very religious and pious, and all the while they did +not know right when they saw it; and when the Lord came doing +right, they called it wrong, because He did not agree with their +doctrines. They fancied they were the only people on earth +who knew how to worship God perfectly; and yet while they +pretended to worship Him, they did not know what He was +like. The Lord Jesus came down, the perfect likeness of +God’s glory, and the express pattern of His character, +helping, and healing, and delivering the souls and bodies of all +poor wretches whom He met; and these Pharisees could not see +God’s Spirit in that; and because it was certainly not +their own spirit, called it the spirit of a devil, and blasphemed +against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Right and Love.</p> +<p>This was bigotry, the flower and crown of all sins into which +man can fall; the worst of all sins, because a man may keep from +every other sin with all his might and main, as the Pharisees +did, and yet be led by bigotry into almost every one of them +without knowing it; into harsh and uncharitable judgment; into +anger, clamour, and railing; into misrepresentation and slander; +and fancying that the God of truth needs the help of their lying; +perhaps, as has often happened, alas! already, into devilish +cruelty to the souls and bodies of men. The worst of all +sins; because a man who has given up his heart to bigotry can +have no forgiveness. He cannot; for how can a man be +forgiven unless he repent? and how can a bigot repent? how can he +confess himself in the wrong, while he fancies himself infallibly +in the right? As the Lord said to these very Pharisees: +“If ye had been blind, ye had had no sin: but now ye say We +see; therefore your sin remaineth.”</p> +<p>How can the bigot repent? for repenting is turning to God; and +how can a man turn to God who does not know where to look for +God, who does not know who God is, who mistakes the devil for +God, and fancies the all-loving Father to be a taskmaster, and a +tyrant, and an accuser, and a respecter of persons, without mercy +or care for ninety-nine hundredths of the souls which He has +made? How can he find God? He does not know whom to +look for.</p> +<p>How can the bigot repent? for to repent means to turn from +wrong to right; and he has lost the very notion of right and +wrong, in the midst of all his religion and his fine +doctrines. He fancies that right does not mean love, mercy, +goodness, patience, but notions like his own; and that wrong does +not mean hatred, and evil-speaking, and suspicion, and +uncharitableness, and slander, and lying, but notions unlike his +own. What he agrees with he thinks is heavenly, and what he +disagrees with is of hell. He has made his own god for +himself out of himself. His own prejudices are his god, and +he worships them right worthily; and if the Lord were to come +down on earth again, and would not say the words which he is +accustomed to say, it would go hard but he would crucify the Lord +again, as the Pharisees did of old.</p> +<p>My friends, there is too much of this bigotry, this blasphemy +against God’s Spirit, abroad in England now. May God +keep us all from it! Pray to Him night and day, to give you +His Spirit, that you may not only be loving, charitable, full of +good works yourselves, but may be ready to praise and enjoy a +good, and loving, and merciful action, whosoever does it, whether +he be of your religion or not; for nothing good is done by any +living man without the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of +the Spirit of God, the Father of lights, from whom comes down +every good and perfect gift. And whosoever tries to escape +from that great truth, when he sees a man whose doctrines are +wrong doing a right act, by imputing bad motives to him, or +saying: “His actions must be evil, however good they may +look, because his doctrines are wrong,”—that man is +running the risk of committing the very same sin as the +Pharisees, and blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, by calling +good evil. And be sure, my friends, that whosoever +indulges, even in little matters, in hard judgments, and +suspicions, and hasty sneers, and loud railing, against men who +differ from him in religion, or politics, or in anything else, is +deadening his own sense of right and wrong, and sowing the seeds +of that same state of mind, which, as the Lord told the +Pharisees, is utterly the worst into which any human being can +fall.</p> +<h2><a name="page403"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +403</span><span class="GutSmall">XL.</span><br /> +THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE.</h2> +<blockquote><p>For ye have not received the spirit of bondage +again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, +whereby we cry Abba, Father.—<span +class="smcap">Romans</span> viii. 15.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> of you here may not understand +this text at all. Some of you, perhaps, may misunderstand +it; for it is not an easy one. Let us, then, begin, by +finding out the meaning of each word in it; and, let us first see +what is the meaning of the spirit of bondage unto fear. +Bondage means slavery; and the spirit of bondage means the spirit +which makes men look up to God as slaves do to their +taskmaster. Now, a slave obeys his master from fear only; +not from love or gratitude. He knows that his master is +stronger than he is, and he dreads being beaten and punished by +him; and therefore, he obeys him only by compulsion, not of his +own good will. This is the spirit of bondage; the slavish, +superstitious spirit in religion, into which all men fall, in +proportion as they are mean, and sinful, and carnal, fond of +indulging themselves, and bearing no love to God or right +things. They know that God is stronger than they; they are +afraid that God will take away comforts from them if they offend +Him; they have been taught that He will cast them into endless +torment if they offend Him; and, therefore, they are afraid to do +wrong. They love what is wrong, and would like to do it; +but they dare not, for fear of God’s punishment. They +do not really fear God; they only fear punishment, misfortune, +death, and hell. That is better, perhaps, than no religion +at all. But it is not the faith which <i>we</i> ought to +have.</p> +<p>In this way the old heathens lived: loving sin and not +holiness, and yet continually tormented with the fear of being +punished for the very sins which they loved; looking up to God as +a stern taskmaster; fancying Him as proud, and selfish, and +revengeful as themselves; trying one day to quiet that wrath of +His which they knew they deserved, by all sorts of flatteries and +sacrifices to Him; and the next day trying to fancy that He was +as sinful as themselves, and was well-pleased to see them sinful +too. And yet they could not keep that lie in their hearts; +God’s light, which lights every man who comes into the +world, was too bright for them, and shone into their consciences, +and showed them that the wages of sin was death. The law of +God, St. Paul tells us, was written in their hearts; and how much +soever, poor creatures, they might try to blot it out and forget +it, yet it would rise up in judgment against them, day by day, +night by night, convincing them of sin. So they in their +terror sold themselves to false priests, who pretended to know of +plans for helping them to escape from this angry God, and gave +themselves up to superstitions, till they even sacrificed their +sons and their daughters to devils, in some sort of confused hope +of buying themselves off from misery and ruin.</p> +<p>And in the same way the Jews lived, for the most part, before +the Lord Jesus came in the flesh of man. Not so viciously +and wickedly, of course, because the law of Moses was holy, and +just, and good; the law which the Lord Himself had given them, +because it was the best for them then; because they were too +sinful, and slavish, and stupid, for anything better. But, +as St. Paul says, Moses’s law could not give them life, any +more than any other law can. That is, it could not make +them righteous and good; it could not change their hearts and +lives; it could only keep them from outward wrong-doing by +threats and promises, saying: “Thou shalt not.” +It could, at best, only show them how sinful their own hearts +were; how little they loved what God commanded; how little they +desired what He promised; and so it made them feel more and more +that they were guilty, unworthy to look up to a holy God, +deserving His anger and punishment, worthy to die for their sins; +and thus by the law came the knowledge of sin, a deeper feeling +of guilt, and shame, and slavish dread of God, as St. Paul sets +forth, with wonderful wisdom, in the seventh chapter of +Romans.</p> +<p>Now, let us consider the latter half of the text. +“But ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we +cry Abba, Father.”</p> +<p>What is this adoption? St. Paul tells us in the +beginning of the fourth chapter of his epistle to the +Galatians. He says: As long as a man’s heir is a +child, and under age, there is no difference in law between him +and a slave. He is his father’s property. He +must obey his father, whether he chooses or not; and he is under +tutors and governors, until the time appointed by his father; +that is, until he comes of age, as we call it. Then he +becomes his own master. He can inherit and possess property +of his own after that. And from that time forth the law +does not bind him to obey his father; if he obeys him it is of +his own free will, because he loves, and trusts, and reverences +his father.</p> +<p>Now, St. Paul says, this is the case with us. When we +were infants, we were in bondage under the elements of the world; +kept straight, as children are, by rules which they cannot +understand, by the fear of punishment which they cannot escape, +with no more power to resist their father than slaves have to +resist their master. But when the fulness of time was come, +God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under a law, that +He might redeem those who were under a law, that we might receive +the adoption of sons.</p> +<p>As much as to say: You were God’s <i>children</i> all +along: but now you are more; you are God’s sons. You +have arrived at man’s estate; you are men in body and in +mind; you are to be men in spirit, men in life. You are to +look up to the great God who made heaven and earth, and know, +glorious thought! that He is as truly your Father as the men +whose earthly sons you call yourselves. And if you do this, +He will give you the Spirit of adoption, and you shall be able to +call Him Father with your hearts, as well as with your lips; you +shall know and feel that He is your Father; that He has been +loving, watching, educating, leading you home to Him all the +while that you were wandering in ignorance of Him, in childish +self-will, and greediness after pleasure and amusement. He +will give you His Spirit to make you behave like His sons, to +obey Him of your own free will, from love, and gratitude, and +honour, and filial reverence. He will make you love what He +loves, and hate what He hates. He will give you clear +consciences and free hearts, to fear nothing on earth or in +heaven, but the shame and ingratitude of disobeying your +Father.</p> +<p>The Spirit of adoption, by which you look up to God as your +Father, is your right. He has given it to you, and nothing +but your own want of faith, and wilful turning back to cowardly +superstition, and to the wilful sins which go before +superstition, and come after it, can take it from you. So +said St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, and so I have a +right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say to every man and woman in +this church this day.</p> +<p>For, my dear friends, if you ask me, what has this to do with +us? Has it not everything to do with us? Whether we +are leading good lives, or middling lives, or utterly bad +worthless lives, has it not everything to do with us? Who +is there here who has not at times said to himself: “God so +holy, and pure, and glorious; while I am so unjust, and unclean, +and mean! And God so great and powerful; while I am so +small and weak! What shall I do? Does not God hate +and despise me? Will He not take from me all which I love +best? Will He not hurl me into endless torment when I +die? How can I escape from Him? Wretched man that I +am, I cannot escape from Him! How, then, can I turn away +His hate? How can I make Him change His mind? How can +I soothe Him and appease Him? What shall I do to escape +hell-fire?”</p> +<p>Did you ever have such thoughts? But, did you find those +thoughts, that slavish terror of God’s wrath, that dread of +hell, made you any <i>better</i> men? I never did. I +never saw them make any human being better. Unless you go +beyond them—as far beyond them as heaven is beyond hell, as +far above them as a free son is above a miserable crouching +slave, they will do you more harm than good. For this is +all that I have seen come of them: That all this spirit of +bondage, this slavish terror, instead of bringing a man nearer to +God, only drove him further from God. It did not make him +hate what was wrong; it only made him dread the punishment of +it. And then, when the first burst of fear cooled down, he +began to say to himself: “I can never atone for my +sins. I can never win back God to love me. What is +done, is done. If I cannot escape punishment, let me be at +least as happy as I can while it lasts. If it does not come +to-day, it will come to-morrow. Let me alone, thou +tormenting conscience. Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow +I die!” And so back rushed the poor creature into all +his wrong-doing again, and fell most probably deeper than ever +into the mire, because a certain feeling of desperation and +defiance rose up in him, till he began to fancy that his terror +was all a dream—a foolish accidental rising up of old +superstitious words which he learnt from his mother or his nurse; +and he tried to forget it all, and did forget it—God help +him!—and his latter end was worse than his first.</p> +<p>How then shall a man escape shame and misery, and an evil +conscience, and rise out of these sins of his? For do it he +must. The wages of sin is death—death to body and +soul; and from sin he must escape.</p> +<p>There is but one way, my friends. There never was but +one way. Believe the text, and therefore believe the +warrant of your Baptism. Believe the message of your +Confirmation.</p> +<p>Your baptism says to you, God does <i>not</i> hate you, be you +the greatest sinner on earth. He does not hate you. +He loves you; for you are His child. He hateth nothing that +He hath made. He willeth not the death of a sinner, but +that <i>all</i> should come to be saved. And your baptism +is the sign of that to you. But God hates everything that +He has not made; for everything which He has not made is bad; and +He has made all things but sin; and therefore He hates sin, and, +loving you, wishes to raise you out of sin; and baptism is the +sign of that also. Man was made originally in the image and +likeness of God, and of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the express +image of God the Father; and therefore everything which is sinful +is unmanly, and everything which is truly manful, and worthy of a +man, is like Jesus Christ; and God’s will is, that you +should rise out of all these unmanly sins, to a truly manful +life—a life like the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of +Man. And baptism is God’s sign of this also. +That is the meaning of the words in the Baptism Service which +tell you that you were baptised into Jesus Christ, that you might +put off the old man—the sinful, slavish, selfish, unmanly +pattern of life, which we all lead by nature; and put on the new +man—the holy and noble, righteous and loving pattern of +life, which is the likeness of the Lord Jesus. That is the +message of your baptism to you; that you are God’s +children, and that God’s will and wish is that you should +grow up to become His <i>sons</i>, to serve Him lovingly, +trustingly, manfully; and that He can and will give you power to +do so—ay, that He has given you that power already, if you +will but claim it and use it. But you must claim it and use +it, because you are meant not merely to be God’s wilful, +ignorant, selfish children, obeying Him from mere fear of the +rod; but to be His willing, loving, loyal sons. And that is +the message which Confirmation brings you. Baptism says: +You are God’s child, whether you know it or not. +Confirmation says: Yes; but now you are to know it, and to claim +your rights as His sons, of full age, reasonable and +self-governing.</p> +<p>Baptism says: You are regenerated and born from above, by +water and the Holy Spirit. Confirmation answers: True, most +true; but there is no use in a child’s being born, if it +never comes to man’s estate, but remains a stunted +idiot.</p> +<p>Baptism says: You may and ought to become more or less such a +man as the Lord Jesus was. Confirmation says: You can +become such; for you are no longer children; you are grown to +man’s estate in body, you can grow to man’s estate in +soul if you will. God’s Spirit is with you, to show +you all things in their true light; to teach you to value them or +despise them as you ought; to teach you to love what He loves, +and hate what He hates. God wishes you no longer to be +merely His children, obeying Him you know not why; still less His +slaves, obeying Him from mere brute coward fear, and then +breaking loose the moment that you forget Him, and fancy that His +eye is not on you: but He wishes you to be His sons; to claim the +right and the power which He has given you to trample your sins +under foot; to rise up by the strength which God your Father will +surely give to those who ask Him; and so to be new men, free men, +true men, who do look boldly up to God, knowing that, however +wicked they may have been, and however weak they are still, +God’s love belongs to them, God’s help belongs to +them, and that those who trust in Him shall never be confounded, +but shall go on from strength to strength to the measure of the +stature of a perfect man, to the noble likeness of the Lord Jesus +Christ Himself.</p> +<p>For this is the message of the blessed sacrament of the body +and blood of Christ, to which you have been all called this +day. That sacrament tells you that in spite of all your +daily sins and failings, you can still look up to God as your +Father; to the Lord Jesus Christ as your life; to the Holy Spirit +as your guide and your inspirer; that though you be prodigal +sons, your Father’s house is still open to you, your +Father’s eternal love ready to meet you afar off, the +moment that you cry from your heart: “Father, I have +sinned;” and that you must be converted and turn back to +God your Father, not merely once for all at Confirmation, or at +any other time, but weekly, daily, hourly, as often as you forget +and disobey Him; and that he will receive you. This is the +message of the blessed sacrament, that though you cannot come +there trusting in your own righteousness, you can come trusting +in His manifold and great mercies; that though you are not worthy +so much as to gather up the crumbs under His table, yet He is the +same Lord whose property is ever to have mercy; that He will, as +surely as He has appointed that sign of the bread and wine, grant +you so to eat and drink that spiritual flesh and blood of the +Lord Jesus Christ, which is the life of the world, that your +sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and your souls +washed in His most precious blood, and that you may dwell in Him, +and He in you, for ever.</p> +<h2><a name="page412"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +412</span><span class="GutSmall">XLI.</span><br /> +THE FALL.</h2> +<blockquote><p>As by one man sin entered into the world, and +death by sin; and so death passed on all men, for that all have +sinned.—<span class="smcap">Romans</span> v. 12.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have been reading the history of +Adam’s fall. With that fall we have all to do; for we +all feel the fruits of it in the sinful corruptions which we +bring into the world with us. And more, every fall which we +have is like Adam’s fall: every time we fall into wilful +sin, we do what Adam did, and act over again, each of us many +times in our lives, that which he first acted in the garden of +Paradise. At least, all mankind suffer for something. +Look at the sickness, death, bloodshed, oppression, spite, and +cruelty, with which the world is so full now, of which it has +been full, as we know but too well from history, ever since +Adam’s time. The world is full of misery, there is no +denying that. How did that come? It must have come +somehow. There must be some reason for all this +sorrow. The Bible tells us a reason for it. If anyone +does not like the Bible reason, he is bound to find a better +reason. But what if the Bible reason, the story of +Adam’s fall, be the only rational and sensible explanation +which ever has been, or ever will be given, of the way in which +death and misery came among men?</p> +<p>Some people will say: What puzzle is there in it? All +animals die, why should not man? All animals fight and +devour each other, why should not man do so too? But why +need we suppose that man is fallen? Why should he not have +been meant by nature to be just what he is? Some scholars +who fancy themselves wise, and think that they know better than +the Bible, will say that now, and pride themselves on having said +a very fine thing; ignorant men, too, often are led into the same +mistake, and are willing enough to say: “What if we are +brutish, and savage, and ignorant, and spiteful, indulging +ourselves, hating and quarrelling with each other? God made +us what we are, and we cannot help it.” But there is +a voice in the heart of every man, and just in proportion as a +man is a man, and not a beast and a savage, that voice cries in +his heart more loudly: No; God did not make you what you +are. You are not meant to be what you are, but something +better. You are not meant to fight and devour each other as +the animals do; for you are meant to be better than they. +You are not meant to die as the animals do; for you feel +something in you which cannot die, which hates death. You +may try to be a mere savage and a beast, but you cannot be +content to be so. And yet you feel ready to fall lower, and +get more and more brutish. What can be the reason? +There must be something wrong about men, something diseased and +corrupt in them, or they would not have this continual discontent +with themselves for being no better than they are; this continual +hankering and longing after some happiness, some knowledge, some +good and noble state which they do not see round them, and never +have felt in themselves. Man must have fallen, fallen from +some good and right state into which he was put at first, and for +which he is hankering and craving now. There must be an +original sin in him; that is, a sin belonging to his origin, his +race, his breed, as we say, which has been handed down from +father to son; an original sin as the church calls it. And +I believe firmly that the heart of man, even among savages, bears +witness to the truth of that doctrine, and confesses that we are +fallen beings, let false philosophers try as they will to +persuade us that we are not.</p> +<p>Then, again, there are another set of people, principally +easy, well-to-do, respectable people, who run into another +mistake, the same into which the Pelagians did in old time. +They think: “Man is not fallen. Every man is born +into the world quite good enough, if he chose to remain +good. Every man can keep God’s laws if he likes, or +at all events keep them well enough.” As for his +having a sinful nature which he got from Adam, they do not +believe that really, though often they might not like to say so +openly. They think: “Adam fell, and he was punished; +and if I fall I shall be punished; but Adam’s sin is +nothing to me, and has not hurt me. I can be just as good +and right as Adam was, if I like.” That is a +comfortable doctrine enough for easy-going well-to-do folks, who +have but few trials, and few temptations, and who love little +because little has been forgiven them. But what comfort is +there in that for poor sinners, who feel sinful and base passions +dragging them down, and making them brutish and miserable, and +yet feel that they cannot conquer their sins of themselves, +cannot help doing wrong, all the while they know that it is +wrong? They feel that they have something more in them than +a will and power to do what they choose. They feel that +they have a sinful nature which keeps their will and reason in +slavery, and makes sin a hard bondage, a miserable prison-house, +from which they cannot escape. In short, they feel and know +that they are fallen. Small comfort, too, to every thinking +man, who looks upon the great nations of savages, which have +lived, and live still, upon God’s earth, and sees how, so +far from being able to do right if they choose, they go on from +father to son, generation after generation, doing wrong, more and +more, whether they like or not; how they become more and more +children of wrath, given up to fierce wars, and cruel revenge, +and violent passions, all their thought, and talk, and study, +being to kill and to fight; how they become more and more +children of darkness, forgetting more and more the laws of right +and wrong, becoming stupid and ignorant, until they lose the very +knowledge of how to provide themselves with houses, clothes, +fire, or even to till the ground, and end in feeding on roots and +garbage, like the beasts which perish. And how, too, long +before they fall into that state, death works in them. How, +the lower they fall, and the more they yield to their original +sin and their corrupt nature, they die out. By wars with +each other; by murdering their own children, to avoid the trouble +of rearing them; by diseases which they know not how to cure, and +which they too often bring on themselves by their own +brutishness; by bad food, and exposure to the weather, they die +out, and perish off the face of the earth, fulfilling the +Lord’s words to Adam: “Thou shalt surely +die.” I do not say that their souls go to hell. +The Bible tells us nothing of where they go to. God’s +mercy is boundless. And the Bible tells us that sin is not +imputed where there is no law, as there is none among them. +So we may have hope for them, and leave them in God’s +hand. But what can we hope for them who are utterly dead in +trespasses and sins? Well for them, if, having fallen to +the likeness of the brutes, they perish with the brutes. I +fancy if you, as some may, ever go to Australia, and there see +the wretched black people, who are dying out there, faster and +faster, year by year, after having fallen lower than the brutes, +then you will understand what original sin may bring a man to, +what it would have brought us to, had not God in His mercy raised +us and our forefathers up from that fearful down-hill course, +when we were on it fifteen hundred years ago.</p> +<p>And another thing which shows that these poor savages are not +as God intended them to be, but are falling, generation after +generation, by the working of original sin, is, that they, almost +all of them, show signs of having been better off long ago. +Many, like the South Sea Islanders, have curious arts remaining +among them in spite of their brutish ignorance, which they could +only have learned when they were far more clever and civilised +than they are now. And almost all of them have some sad +remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept up in songs and +foolish tales, of having been richer, and more prosperous, and +more numerous, a long while ago. They will confess to you, +if you ask them, that they are worse than their +fathers—that they are going down, dying out—that the +gods are angry with them, as they say. The Lord have mercy +upon them! But what is, to my mind, the most awful part of +the matter remains yet to be told—and it is this: That man +may actually fall by original sin too low to receive the gospel +of Jesus Christ, and be recovered again by it. For the +negroes of Africa and the West Indies, though they have fallen +very low, have not fallen too low for the gospel. They have +still understanding left to take it in, and conscience, and sense +of right and wrong enough left to embrace it; thousands of them +do embrace it, and are received unto righteousness, and lead such +lives as would shame many a white Englishman, born and bred under +the gospel.</p> +<p>But the black people in Australia, who are exactly of the same +race as the African negroes, cannot take in the gospel. +They seem to have become too stupid to understand it; they seem +to have lost the sense of sin and of righteousness too completely +to care about it. All attempts to bring them to a knowledge +of the true God have as yet failed utterly. God’s +grace is all-powerful; He is no respecter of persons; and He may +yet, by some great act of His wisdom, quicken the dead souls of +these poor brutes in human shape. But, as far as we can +see, there is no hope for them: but, like the Canaanites of old, +they must perish off the face of the earth, as brute beasts.</p> +<p>I have said so much to show you that man is fallen; that there +is original sin, an inclination to sin and fall, sink down lower +and lower, in man. Now comes the question: What is this +fall of man? I said that the Bible tells us rationally +enough. And I have also made use several times of words, +which may have hinted to some of you already what Adam’s +fall was. I have spoken of the likeness of the beasts, and +of men becoming like beasts by original sin. And this is +why I said it.</p> +<p>If you want to understand what Adam’s fall was, you must +understand what he fell from, and what he fell to. That is +plain.</p> +<p>Now, the Bible tells us, that he fell from God’s grace +to nature.</p> +<p>What is nature? Nature means what is born, and lives, +and dies, and is parted and broken up, that the parts of it may +go into some new shape, and be born and live, and die +again. So the plants, trees, beasts, are a part of +nature. They are born, live, die; and then that which was +them goes into the earth, or into the stomachs of other animals, +and becomes in time part of that animal, or part of the tree or +flower, which grows in the soil into which it has fallen. +So the flesh of a dead animal may become a grain of wheat, and +that grain of wheat again may become part of the body of an +animal. You all see this every time you manure a field, or +grow a crop. Nature is, then, that which lives to die, and +dies to live again in some fresh shape. And, in the first +chapter of Genesis, you read of God creating nature—earth, +and water, and light, and the heavens, and the plants and animals +each after their kind, born to die and change, made of dust, and +returning to the dust again. But after that we read very +different words; we read that when God created man, He said:</p> +<p>“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and +let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the +fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and +over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the +earth.” He was made in God’s likeness; +therefore he could only be right in as far as he was like +God. And he could not be like God if he did not will what +God willed, and wish what God wished. He was to live by +faith in God; he was justified by faith in God, and by that +only.</p> +<p>Never fancy that Adam had any righteousness of his own, any +goodness of which he could say: “This is mine, part of me; +I may pride myself on it.” God forbid. His +righteousness consisted, as ours must, in looking up to God, +trusting Him utterly, believing that he was to do God’s +will, and not his own. His spirit, his soul, as we call it, +was given to him for that purpose, and for none other, that it +might trust in God and obey God, as a child does his +father. He had a free will; but he was to use that will as +we must use our wills, by giving up our will to God’s will, +by clinging with our whole hearts and souls to God.</p> +<p>Adam fell. He let himself be tempted by a beast, by the +serpent. How, we cannot tell: but so we read. He took +the counsel of a brute animal, and not of God. He chose +between God and the serpent, and he chose wrong. He wanted +to be something in himself; to have a knowledge and power of his +own, to use it as he chose. He was not content to be in +God’s likeness; he wanted to be as a god himself. And +so he threw away his faith in God, and disobeyed Him. And +instead of becoming a god, as he expected, he became an animal; +he put on the likeness of the brutes, who cannot look up to God +in trust and love, who do not know God, do not obey Him, but +follow their own lusts and fancies, as they may happen to take +them. Whether the change came on him all at once, the Bible +does not say: but it did come on him; for from him it has been +handed down to all his children even to this day. Then was +fulfilled against him the sentence, In the day thou eatest +thereof, thou shalt surely die. Not that he died that +moment; but death began to work in him. He became like the +branch of a tree cut off from the stem, which may not wither at +the instant it is cut off, but it is yet dead, as we find out by +its soon decaying. He had come down from being a son of +God, and he had taken his place in nature, among the things which +grow only to die; and death began to work in him, and in his +children after him. He handed down his nature to his +children as the animals do; his children inherited his faults, +his weaknesses, his diseases, the seed of death which was in him, +just as the animals pass down to their breed, their defects, and +diseases, and certainty of dying after their appointed life is +past.</p> +<p>For this, my friends, is the lesson which Adam’s fall +teaches us, that in God alone is the life of immortal souls, +whether of men, or of angels, or of archangels; and in God alone +is righteousness; in God alone is every good thing, and all good +in men or angels comes from Him, and is only His pattern, His +likeness; and that the moment either man or angel sets up his +will against God’s, he falls into sin, a lie, and +death. That He has given us reasonable souls for that one +purpose, that with our souls we may look up to Him, with our +souls we may cling to Him, with our souls we may trust in Him, +with our souls we may understand His will, and see that it is a +good, and a right, and a loving will, and delight in it, and obey +it, and find all our delight and glory, even as the Lord Jesus, +the Son of Man, the New Adam, did, in doing not our own will, but +the will of our Father.</p> +<p>For, as St. Augustine says, man may live in two ways, either +according to himself, or according to God; by self-will or by +faith. He may determine to do his own will or to do +God’s will, to be his own master or to let God be his +master, to seek his own glory, and try to be something fine and +grand in himself: or he may seek God’s glory and obey Him, +believing that what God commands is the only good for him, what +makes God to be honoured in the eyes of his neighbours is the +only real honour for him.</p> +<p>But, says St. Augustine, if he tries to live according to +himself, he falls into misery, because he was meant to live +according to God. So he puts himself into a lie, into a +false and wrong state; and because he has cut himself off from +God he falls below what a man should be; and puts on more and +more of the likeness of the beast, and is more and more the slave +of his own lusts, and passions, and fancies, as the dumb animals +are. And, as St. Paul says, the animal man, the carnal man, +understands not the things of God. And we need no one to +tell us that this is the state of nature which we bring into the +world with us. We feel it; from our very childhood, from +the earliest time we can recollect, have we not had the longing +to do what we liked? to please ourselves, to pride ourselves on +ourselves, to set up our own wills against our parents, against +what we learnt out of the Bible? Ay, has not this wilful +will of ours been so strong, that often we would long after a +thing, we would determine to have it, only because we were +forbidden to have it; we might not care about the thing when we +had it, but we would have our own way just because it was our own +way. In short, like Adam, we would be as gods, knowing good +and evil, and choosing for ourselves what we should call good and +what we shall call evil. And, my dear friends, consider: +did not every wrong that we ever did come from this one root of +all sin—determining to have our own way? That +root-sin of self-will first brought death and misery among +mankind; that sin of self-will keeps it up still: that sin of +self-will it is which hinders sinners from giving themselves up +to God; and that sin must be broken through, or religion is a +mockery and a dream.</p> +<p>Oh my friends, say to yourselves once for all, I was made in +God’s likeness; and therefore His will, and not my own, I +must do. I have no wisdom of my own, no strength of mind of +my own, no goodness of my own, no lovingness of my own. God +has them all; God, who is wisdom, strength, goodness, love; and I +have none. And then, when the fearful thought comes over +you: “I have no goodness, and I cannot have any. I +cannot do right. There is no use struggling and trying to +be better. My passions, my lusts, my fancies are too strong +for me. If I am brutish and low, brutish and low I must +remain. If I have fallen in Adam, I must lie in the mire +till I die—”</p> +<p>Then, then, my friends, answer yourselves: “No! +Not so. Man fell in the first Adam: but man rose again in +the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. I belong no more to +the old Adam, who fell in Paradise. I belong to the New +Adam, who was conceived without sin, and born of a pure virgin, +who lived by perfect faith, in perfect obedience, doing His +Father’s will only, even to the death upon the cross, +wherein He took away the sins of the whole world. And now +for His sake my original sin, my fallen, brutish nature, is +forgiven me. God does not hate me for it. He loves +me, because I belong to His Son. My baptism is a witness +and a warrant, a sign and a covenant between me and God, that I +belong not to old Adam of Paradise, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, +who sits at God’s right hand. The cross which was +signed on my forehead when I was baptised is God’s sign to +me that I am to sacrifice myself and give up my own will to do +God’s will, even as the Lord Jesus did when He gave Himself +to die, because it was His Father’s will. And because +I belong to Jesus Christ, because God has called me to be His +child, therefore He will help me. He will help me to +conquer this low, brutish nature of mine. He will put His +Spirit into me, the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ, that I may +trust Him, cry to Him, My Father! that I may love Him; understand +His will, and see how good, and noble, and beautiful, and full of +peace and comfort it is; delight in obeying Him; glory in +sacrificing my own fancies and pleasures for His sake; and find +my only honour, my only happiness, in doing His will on earth as +saints and angels do it in heaven.”</p> +<h2><a name="page423"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +423</span><span class="GutSmall">XLII.</span><br /> +GOD’S COVENANTS.</h2> +<blockquote><p>I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for +a token of a covenant between me and the earth.—<span +class="smcap">Genesis</span> ix. 13.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> text says that God made a +covenant with Noah, and with his seed after him—that is, +with all mankind; with us who sit here, and our children after +us, and with all human beings who will ever live upon the face of +the earth. God made a covenant with them. Now, what +is a covenant? We say that two men make a covenant with +each other when they make a bargain, an agreement; in this way: +If you will do this thing, then I will do that; but if you will +not do this thing, I will not do that. If you do not keep +to our agreement, I am free of it. If I do not do my part +of the agreement, you are free. Is not that what we call a +covenant—a bargain between two parties, which, if either +party breaks it, becomes null and void, and binds neither? +Let us see whether God’s covenants with man are of this +kind.</p> +<p>Does God say to Noah: “If you and your children are +righteous, I will look upon the rainbow, and remember my +covenant: but if you and your children are unrighteous, I will +not look on the rainbow, and I will break my covenant because you +have broken it?” We read no such words; God made no +conditions with Noah and his sons. Whether they forgot the +covenant or not, God would remember it. It was a covenant +of free grace, even as all God’s covenants are. Not a +bargain, but a promise. “By Myself have I sworn, +saith the Lord, that I will not fail David.” By +Himself He sware to Abraham: “Surely blessing I will bless +thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” That is +the form of God’s covenants. God swears by +Himself—by God who cannot change. If God can change, +then His covenant can change. If God can fail Himself, then +can He fail His covenant to which He has sworn by Himself. +If it had been a mere bargain, like men’s bargains, and not +a promise out of His absolute love, His free grace, His boundless +mercy, would He have sworn by Himself? Nay, rather, He +would have sworn by Abraham: “By thy obedience or +disobedience I swear to bless thee or curse thee.” +But He swore by Himself, the absolute, the unchangeable, the +Giver whose name is Love.</p> +<p>Consider now the token of the covenant which God gave to +Noah. It was the rainbow. What is the rainbow? +Sunlight turned back to our eye, through drops of falling +rain. What sign could be more simple? And yet what +sign could be more perfect? Noah’s sons would fear +that another flood was coming, perhaps flood after flood. +The token of the rainbow said to them, No. Floods and rain +are not to be the custom of this earth. Sunshine is to be +the custom of it. Do not fear the clouds and storm and +rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in the very rain +itself. That is a sign that the sun, though you cannot see +it, is shining still. That up above, beyond the cloud, is +still sunlight, and warmth, and cloudless blue sky. Believe +in God’s covenant. Believe that the sun will conquer +the clouds, warmth will conquer cold, calm will conquer storm, +fair will conquer foul, light will conquer darkness, joy will +conquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer destruction and +the devouring floods; because God is light, God is love, God is +life, God is peace and joy eternal and without change, and +labours to give life, and joy, and peace, to man and beast and +all created things. This was the meaning of the +rainbow. Not a sudden or strange token, a miracle, as men +call it, like as some voice out of the sky, or fiery comet, might +have been; but a regular, orderly, and natural sign, to witness +that God is a God of order. Whenever there was a rainy day +there might be a rainbow. It came by the same laws by which +everything else comes in the world. It was a witness that +God who made the world is the friend and preserver of man; that +His promises are like the everlasting sunshine which is above the +clouds, without spot or fading, without variableness or shadow of +turning.</p> +<p>And do you fancy, my friends, that the new covenant, the +covenant which God made with all mankind in the blood of His +only-begotten Son, is narrower or weaker than the covenant which +He made with Noah, Abraham, and David? He asked no +conditions from them. Do you think He asks them from +us? He called them by free grace. Do you think He +calls us by anything less? He swore by Himself to +them. How much more has He sworn by Himself to us? He +who was born, and died, and rose again for us, who now sits at +the right hand of the Father, very Man of the substance of a +human mother, yet very God of very God begotten.</p> +<p>His covenants of old stood true and faithful, however +disobedient and unfaithful men might be; as it is written: +“I have sworn once for all by my holiness, that I will not +fail David.” And those words, the New Testament +declares to us, again and again, are true of the new covenant, +and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose name we are +baptized. Yes; into whose name we are baptized. There +is the sign of the new covenant; of a covenant of free +grace. Therefore we can bring our children to be baptized +as we were baptized ourselves, before they have done either good +or evil, for a sign that God’s love is over them, +God’s kingdom is their inheritance, God’s love their +everlasting portion.</p> +<p>But we may fall from grace; and then what good will our +baptism be to us? We shall be lost, just as if we had never +been baptized.</p> +<p>My friends, if, though the sun was shining in the sky, you +shut your eyes close, and kept out the light, what use would the +sunlight be to you? You would stumble, and fall, and come +to harm, as certainly as in the darkest night. But would +the sun go out of the sky, my friends, because you were unwise +enough to shut your eyes to it? The sun would still be +there, shining as bright as ever. You would have only to be +reasonable and to open your eyes, and you would see your way +again as well as ever.</p> +<p>So it is with holy baptism. In it we were made members +of Christ, children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of +heaven. God’s love is above us and around us, like a +warm, bright, life-giving sun. We may shut our eyes to it, +but it is there still. We may disbelieve our baptism +covenant, but it is true still. We are children of God; and +nothing that we can do, no sin, no unfaithfulness of ours, can +make us anything else. We can no more become not +God’s children, than a child can become not his own +father’s son. But this we can do by sinning, by +disbelieving that we are God’s children, by behaving as the +devil’s children when we are God’s; we can believe +ourselves not God’s children when we are; we can try to be +what we are not; we can enter into a lie, and into the misery to +which all lies lead; we can walk in darkness, and stumble, and +fall, when all the while we are children of the light, and have +only to open our eyes to walk in the light. Ay, we can shut +our eyes to the light so long, that at last we forget that there +is any light at all; and that is the gate of hell. We may +wrap ourselves up in our selfishness, in selfish pleasures, +selfish cunning, selfish covetousness, and selfish pride, till we +forget that there is anything better for us than selfishness, +till we forget that God is love, and that we His children are +meant to be loving even as He is loving; and that also is the +gate of hell. And worst and darkest of all, when in that +stupid, sinful, loveless state of mind, God’s loving Spirit +still strives and pleads with us, and tries to awaken us, and +terrify us with the sight of the everlasting misery and ruin into +which we have thrown ourselves, we may turn those pleadings of +God’s Spirit, by our own evil wills, into a darker curse +than all which have gone before. We may refuse to believe +that God is love, and fancy Him as hard, and cruel, and proud, +and spiteful, and unloving as we ourselves are. We may +refuse, though Scripture, Prayer-book, sacraments, preachers, +assure us of it, that God is our Father still; and deny His +covenant of baptism, and blaspheme His holy name, by fancying Him +our tyrant and taskmaster, who hates us, and willeth the death of +a sinner, and has pleasure in the death of him that dieth. +And then we may behave according to the lie which we ourselves +have invented, and all sorts of inventions of our own to escape +God’s wrath, when, in reality, it is He who is wishing to +turn His wrath away from us; and to win back His favour, when, in +reality, it is not we who are out of favour with Him, but He who +is out of favour with us, who dread Him and shrink from Him; we +may try to deliver ourselves from Him, when all the while it is +He, the very God whom we are dreading and flying from, who alone +is able and willing to deliver us; and with all our fears, and +self-tormentings, and faithless terrors, and blasphemings of God +by fancying Him the very opposite to what He has declared +Himself, we shall get no peace of conscience, no deliverance from +sins, or from the fear of punishment, but only a fearful and +fiery looking forward to judgment, which is hell. That is +superstition; hell on earth; when men have so utterly forgotten +the likeness of God, which He manifested in His Son Jesus Christ, +that they look on Him as a stern and dreadful taskmaster, a +tyrant, and not a deliverer. Hell on earth, which may and +must lead to hell hereafter; a hell of fear, and doubt, and +hatred of Him who is all lovely; the hell whereof it is written, +that its worst torment is being cast out from the sight of God: +unless the hapless sinner opens his eye and believes the covenant +of his baptism, and sees that God cannot lie, God cannot change, +cannot break His covenant, cannot alter His love; that though he +have left his Father’s house, and wandered into far +countries, and wasted his Father’s substance in riotous +living, he is still his Father’s son, his Father’s +house is still where it was from the beginning, his +Father’s heart still what it was from the beginning; and so +arises and goes back to his Father’s house, confessing that +he is no more worthy to be called His son, willing to be only as +one of His hired servants; and then—sees not the stern +countenance, the cruel punishments which he dreaded: +but—“While he was yet afar off, his Father saw him, +and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him!”</p> +<p>And if, in our sins, our only hope of comfort, and peace, and +strength, lies in remembering our baptismal covenant, and being +sure and certain that though we have changed, God has not; that +though we are dark, God’s love shines bright and clear for +ever, how much more when the dark day of affliction comes? +Why should I speak of this and that affliction? Each heart +knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each +man’s life has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all +his joys seem flown away by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and +the desire of his eyes is taken from him, and all his hopes and +plans, all which he intended to do or to enjoy, are hid with +blinding mist, so that he cannot see his way before him, and +knows not whither to go, and whither to flee for help; when faith +in God seems broken up for the moment, when he feels no strength, +no will, no purpose, and knows not what to determine, what to do, +what to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems +reeling under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken +up: then let him think of God’s covenant, and take heart; +let him think of his baptism, and be at peace. Is the +sun’s warmth perished out of the sky, because the storm is +cold with hail and bitter winds? Is God’s love +changed, because we cannot feel it in our trouble? Is the +sun’s light perished out of the sky, because the world is +black with cloud and mist? Has God forgotten to give light +to suffering souls, because we cannot see our way for a few short +days of perplexity?</p> +<p>For this is the gospel, this is the message which we have +received from God, to preach to every sad and desolate heart on +earth, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. +That God is love, and in Him there is no cruelty at all. +That God is one, and in Him there is no change at all. And +therefore, we all, the most ignorant of us as well as the wisest, +the most sinful of us as well as the holiest, the saddest and +most wretched of us as well as the happiest, have a right to join +in that Litany which is offered up here thrice every week during +the time of Lent, and to call upon God to deliver us and all +mankind, not merely because we wish to be delivered from evil, +but because God wishes to deliver us from evil. If we pray +that Litany in any dark dread of God, in doubt of His love and +goodwill towards us, like terrified slaves crying out to a hard +taskmaster, and entreating him not to torment them, we do not +pray that Litany aright; we do not pray it at all. For it +asks God not to leave us alone, but to come to us; not to stop +punishing us, but actually Himself to deliver us, to defend us, +to set us free. Therefore it begins by calling on God the +Father, because He is our Father; on God the Son, because He has +already redeemed and bought us for His own; on God the Holy +Spirit, because He has been striving with our wilful hearts from +our youth up till now, lovingly desiring to teach us, to change +us, to sanctify us. Therefore it calls on the holy, +blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God, because +the Son does not love us better than the Father does, or than the +Holy Spirit does, but in the life and death of the Man Christ +Jesus, whom we call on to deliver us by His birth, His baptism, +His death, His resurrection, by all that His manhood did and +suffered here on earth, in His life and death, I say, were shown +forth bodily the glory, and condescension, and love, and goodwill +of the fulness of the Godhead, of all three Persons of the one +and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. +Therefore we may pray boldly to Him to spare us, because we know +that we are already His people, already redeemed with his most +precious blood, already declared by holy baptism to be bound to +Him in an everlasting covenant. Therefore we may pray +boldly to Him not to be angry with us for ever, because we know +that He desires to bless us for ever, if we will only let Him; if +we will only let His love have free course, and not shut our +hearts to it, and turn our backs upon it. Therefore we can +ask Him to deliver us in all time of our tribulation and misery; +in all time of the still more dangerous temptations which wealth +and prosperity bring with them; in the hour of death, whether of +our own death or the death of those we love; in the day of +judgment, whereof it is written: “It is God who justifieth +us, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea +rather who is risen again, who even now maketh intercession for +us.” To that boundless love of God which He showed +forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that utter and perfect will +to deliver us, which God showed forth in the death of Christ +Jesus, when the Father spared not His only-begotten Son, but +freely gave Him for us; to that boundless love we may trust +ourselves, our fortunes, our families, our bodies, our souls, the +souls of those we love. Trusting in that great love, we may +pray in that Litany for deliverance; to be delivered from +distress and accidents, from all sins which drag us down, and +make us miserable, ashamed, confused, terrified, selfish, +hateful, and hating each other. We may pray to be delivered +from evil, because God is righteousness, and hates evil. We +may pray to be delivered from our sins, because God is +righteousness, and hates our sins. We may pray for the +Queen, her ministers, her parliament, because God’s love +and care is over them; for all orders and ranks of men, whether +laymen or clergymen, high or low, in God’s holy church; for +all who are afflicted and desolate; for all who are wandering in +ignorance, and mistakes, and sin; ay, for all mankind, for God +loves them all, the Son of God has bought them all with His most +precious blood. And however dark, and sad, and sinful the +world may seem around us; however dark, and sad, and sinful our +own hearts may be within us, we may find comfort in that Litany, +and pour out in it our sorrows and our fears, if we begin only as +it begins, with the thought of God who is righteousness, God who +is love, God who is the Deliverer. And then, as the rainbow +reflects the sunbeams for a sign and token that the sun is +shining, though we see it not; so will that blessed Litany, with +its sacred name of God, its calls to Him who was born of the +Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate; its entreaties +to God to deliver us, because He is a deliverer; to hear us, and +send us good, because He is a good Lord Himself; its remembrances +of the noble works which God did in our fathers’ days, and +in the old time before them; its noble declaration that God does +not despise the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of a +humble spirit, and that it is the very glory of His name to turn +from us those evils which we most justly have deserved—that +Litany, I say, will be like a rainbow declaring to our dark and +stormy hearts that the sun is shining still above the clouds; +that over and above us, and all mankind, and all the changes and +chances of this mortal life, is the still bright sunshine, the +life-giving warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, the absolute +eternal love of our Father who is in heaven, who, as he has +declared by the mouth of His only-begotten Son, is perfect in +this, that He does not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us +according to our iniquities, but is good to the unthankful and +the evil, sending His rain alike upon the just and on the unjust, +and making His sun to shine alike upon the evil and the good.</p> +<h2><a name="page433"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +433</span><span class="GutSmall">XLIII.</span><br /> +THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Great is the mystery of godliness: God was +manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, +preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up +into glory.—1 <span class="smcap">Timothy</span> iii. +16.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">St. Paul</span> here sums up in one verse +the whole of Christian truth. He gives us in a few words +what he says is the great mystery of godliness.</p> +<p>Now, men had been inventing for themselves all kinds of +mysteries of godliness; all sorts of mysterious and wonderful +notions about God; all sorts of mysterious and strange +ceremonies, and ways of pleasing God, or turning away His +anger.</p> +<p>And Christian men are apt to do so also, as well as those old +heathens. They feel that they are very mysterious and +wonderful beings themselves, simply because they are men. +They say to themselves: “How strange that I should have a +body of flesh and blood, and appetites and passions, like the +animals, and yet that I should have an immortal spirit in +me. How strange this notion of duty which I have, and which +the other animals have not; this notion of its being right to do +some things, and wrong to do others! From whence did that +notion come? And again, this strange notion which I have, +and cannot help having, that I ought to be like God: and yet I do +not know what God is like. From whence did that notion +come?”</p> +<p>Again: “I fancy that God ought to be good. But how +do I know that He really is good? I see the world full of +injustice, and misery, and death. How do I know that this +is not God’s doing, God’s fault in some +way?”</p> +<p>Again, says a man to himself: “I have a fair right to +believe that mankind are not the only persons in the +universe—that there are other beings beside God whom I +cannot see. I call them angels. I hardly know what I +mean by that. The really important question about them to +me is: Will they do me harm? Can they do me good? Are +they stronger than I?—Ought I not to fear them, to try to +please them, to keep them favourable to me?”</p> +<p>Again, he asks: “Does God care whether I know what is +right? Does God care to teach me about Himself? Is +God desirous that I should do my duty? For if He does not +care about my being good, why should I care about it?”</p> +<p>Again, he asks: “But if I knew my duty, might I not find +it something too far-fetched, too difficult, for poor simple folk +to do: so that I should be forced to leave a right life to great +scholars, and to rich people, or to people of a very devout +delicate temper of mind, who have a natural turn that +way?”</p> +<p>And last of all: “Even if I did struggle to do right; +even if I gave up everything for the sake of doing right; how do +I know that it will profit me to do so? I shall die as +every man dies, and then what will become of me? Shall I be +a man still, or only—horrible thought!—some sort of +empty ghost, a spirit without body, of which I dream, and shudder +while I dream of it?”</p> +<p>Men in all ages, heathens and Christians, have been puzzled by +such thoughts as these, as soon as they began to feel that there +was a world which they could not see, as well as a world which +they could see; a spiritual world, wherein God the Spirit, and +their own spirits, and spiritual things, such as right, wrong, +duty, reason, love, dwell for ever; and a strange hidden duty on +all men to obey that unseen God, and the laws of that spiritual +world; in short a mystery of godliness.</p> +<p>Then they have tried to answer these questions for themselves; +and have run thereby into all manner of follies and +superstitions, and often, too, into devilish cruelties, in the +hope of pleasing God according to some mystery of godliness of +their own invention.</p> +<p>But to each of these puzzles St. Paul gives an answer in the +text. Let us take them each in its order, and you will see +what I mean.</p> +<p>The first puzzle was: How is it that while I am like the +animals in some things, and yet feel as if I ought to be, and can +be, like God in other things? How is it that I feel two +powers in me; one dragging me downward to make me lower than the +beasts, the other lifting me upwards—I dare not think +whither? It seems to me to be my body, my bodily appetites +and tempers which drag me down. Is my body me, part of me, +or a thing I should be ashamed of, and long to be rid of? I +fancy that I can be like God. But can my body be like +God? Must I not crush it, neglect it, get rid of it before +I can follow the good instinct which draws me upward?</p> +<p>To which St. Paul told Timothy to answer: God was manifest in +the flesh. God sent down His only-begotten Son, co-equal +and co-eternal with Himself, very God of very God, the very same +person who had been putting into men’s minds those two +notions of which we spoke, that there is a right and a wrong, and +that men ought to be like God; Him the Father sent into the world +that He might be born, and live, and die, and rise again, as a +man; that so men might see from His example, manifestly and +plainly, what God was like, and what man ought to be like. +And so Jesus Christ was God, manifested in the flesh.</p> +<p>Now we do know what God is like. We know that He is so +like man, that He can take upon Him man’s flesh and blood +without changing, or lowering, or defiling Himself. That +proves that man must have been originally made in God’s +likeness; that man’s being fallen, means man’s +falling from the likeness of God, and taking up instead with the +likeness of the brutes which perish; that the fault cannot be in +our bodies, but in our spirits which have yielded to our bodies, +and become their slaves instead of their masters, as +Christ’s Spirit was master of His body. But the Son +of God, by being born and living as a man, showed us that we are +not fallen past hope, not fallen so low that we cannot rise +again. He showed that though mankind are sinful, yet they +need not be sinful; for He was a man as exactly, and perfectly, +and entirely as we are, and yet in Him was no sin. So He +showed that brutishness and sinfulness is not our proper state, +but our disease and our fall; and a disease of which we can be +cured, a fall out of which we can rise and be renewed into the +true and real pattern of mankind, the new Adam, Jesus the sinless +Son of Man and Son of God.</p> +<p>The next question, I said, that rose in men’s mind was: +“How do I know that God is good, as I fancy sometimes that +He must be? I see the world full of sin, and injustice, and +misery, and death. Perhaps that is God’s doing, +God’s fault.” That is a common puzzle enough, +and a sad and fearful one. The sin and the misery and the +death are here. If God did not bring it here, yet why did +He let it come here? He could have stopped if He would, and +kept out all this wretchedness: why did He not? Was He just +or loving in letting sin into the world?</p> +<p>To all which St. Paul answers: “God was justified in the +Spirit.”</p> +<p>You do not see what that has to do with it? Then let me +show you.</p> +<p>To be justified means to be shown and proved to be just, +righteous. Now what justified God to man was the Spirit of +God, as He showed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. For +when God became man and dwelt among men, what sort of works were +His? What was His conduct, His character; of what sort of +spirit did He show Himself to be? He went, we read, doing +good, for God was with Him. Not of His own will, but to do +His Father’s will, and because He was filled without +measure by the Spirit of God, He did good, He healed the sick, He +rebuked the proud and self-conceited hypocrite, He proclaimed +pardon and mercy to the broken-hearted sinner, wearied and worn +out by the burden of his sins. Thus, in every action of His +life, He was fighting against evil and misery, and conquering it; +and so showing that God hates evil and misery, and that the evil +and the misery in the world are here against God’s +will. Strange as it may seem to have to say it, so it +is. Jesus Christ showed that howsoever sin and sorrow came +into the world, it is God’s will and purpose to root them +out of the world, and that He is righteous, He is loving, He is +merciful, He does and will fight against evil, for those who are +crushed by it; and help poor sufferers always when they call upon +Him, and often, often, of His most undeserved condescension and +free grace, when they are forgetting and disobeying Him. +And so by the good, and loving, and just spirit which Jesus +showed, God was justified before men, and showed to be a God of +goodness and justice.</p> +<p>The next puzzle, I said, was about angels and spirits, whether +we need to pray to them to help us, and not to hurt us. St. +Paul answers: God, when He was manifested in the flesh of a man, +was seen by these angels. And that is enough for us. +They saw the Lord God condescend to be born in a stable, to live +as a poor man, to die on the cross. They saw that His will +to man was love. And they do His will. And therefore +they love men, they help men, they minister to men, because they +follow the Lord’s example, and do the will of their Father +in Heaven, even as we ought to do it on earth. Therefore we +have no need to fear them, for they love us already. And, +on the other hand, we have no need to pray to them to help us, +for they know already that it is their duty to help us. +They know that the Son of God has put on us a higher honour than +He ever put on them; for He took not on Him the nature of angels, +He took on Him the nature of man; and thus, though man was made a +little lower than the angels, yet by Christ’s taking +man’s nature, man is crowned with a glory and honour higher +than the angels. Know ye not, says St. Paul, that we shall +judge angels? And the angels, as they told St. John, are +our fellow-servants, not our masters; and they know that; for +they saw the Son of God doing utterly His Father’s will, +and therefore they know that their duty is to do their +Father’s will also; not to do their own wills, and set +themselves up as our masters, to be pleaded with by us. +They saw the Son of God take our nature on Him, when they sang to +the shepherds on the first Christmas night: “Peace on +earth, and good-will toward men;” and therefore they look +on us with love and honour, because we wear the human nature +which Christ their Master wore, and are partakers of the Holy +Spirit of God, even as they are. For no angel or archangel +could do a right thing, any more than we, except by the Holy +Spirit of God. And that Holy Spirit is bestowed on the +poorest man who asks for it, as freely as upon the highest of the +heavenly host.</p> +<p>And this leads us on to the next puzzle of which I spoke: Men +were apt, and are apt now, to say to themselves: Does God care +whether I know what is right? Does God care to teach me +about Himself? Is God desirous that I should do my +duty? For if He does not care about my being good, why +should I care about it?</p> +<p>To this St. Paul answers: “God, who was manifest in the +flesh, was preached to the Gentiles.”</p> +<p>God does care that men should know about God; for He loves +them. He yearns after them as a father after his children, +and He knows that to know God, to know the truth about God, is +the beginning of all wisdom, the root of all safety and honour +and happiness. He willeth not that any should perish, but +that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. And, +therefore, when the Son of God died for our sins, He did not stop +at that great deed of love; but He ordained Apostles, and put +upon them especially and above all men, His Holy Spirit, that +they might go and preach to all nations the good news that God +had become flesh, and dwelt among men, and borne their sorrows +and infirmities, and to baptize them into the very name of God +itself, into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the +Holy Ghost; that so, instead of fancying now that God did not +care for them, they might be sure that God so longed to teach +them, that He called every child, even from its cradle, to come +into His kingdom, and be taught the whole mystery of +godliness.</p> +<p>The next puzzle I mentioned was: “But this right life, +this mystery of godliness, is it not something very strange and +difficult, and past the understanding of simple men who are not +extraordinarily clever and learned scholars or deep +philosophers?” To that St. Paul answers: No. It +is not past any man. It is not too deep or too difficult +for the simplest, the most unlearned countryman. For, says +St. Paul in the text, we Apostles have had proof of that; we have +tried it; we Apostles preached the mystery of godliness, and it +was believed on in the world. People of the world, plain +working men and women going about their worldly business, who had +no time to be great readers, or great thinkers, or to shut +themselves up in monasteries to meditate on heavenly things, but +had to live and work in the commonplace, busy, workday +world—they believed our message. We Apostles told +them that the Son of God had showed Himself in the likeness of +man, and called on every man to repent, and to be such a man as +He was. And worldly people believed us, and tried, and +found that without giving up their worldly work, or deserting the +station in which God had put them, they could live godlike lives, +and become the sons of God without rebuke. They saw that +scholarship was not wanted, leisure was not wanted, but only the +humble heart which hungers and thirsts after righteousness. +About their daily work, by their cottage firesides, among their +poor neighbours, the Spirit of Almighty God gave them strength to +live as Jesus their pattern lived; He filled them with all holy, +pure, noble, brave, loving thoughts and feelings, fit for angels +and archangels. He enabled them to rise out of their sins, +to trample their temptations under foot, to leave their old low +brutish sinful way of life behind them, and become new men, and +persevere in every word, and thought, and action, in virtues such +as the greatest heathen sages could not copy; ay, even to shed +their life-blood freely and boldly in martyrdom, for the sake of +God and the truth of God. They, these plain simple people, +living in the world, could still live the life of God, and die +like heroes for the sake of God.</p> +<p>And this again brings us to the last puzzle of which I spoke: +“But what became of those holy and godlike people when they +died? What reward did they receive for all they had done, +and given up, and suffered? What will become of us after we +die? What will the next world be like? What is heaven +like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? Shall I be a man +there, or only a ghost, a spirit without a body?”</p> +<p>To this St. Paul answers: That Christ, the Son of God, after +He was manifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. +He does not tell us what heaven is like; for though he had been +caught up into the third heaven, yet what he saw there, he says, +was unspeakable. He neither ought to tell, or could tell, +what he saw. Neither does St. Paul tell us what the next +life will be like; for as far as we can find, God had not told +him. All he says is: The man Christ Jesus, who walked this +earth like other men, was received up into glory; and He did not +leave His man’s mind, His man’s heart, even His +man’s body, behind Him. He carried up into heaven +with Him His whole manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even to the +print of the nails in His hands and in His most holy feet, and +the wound of the spear in His most holy side. And that is +enough for us. Because the man Christ Jesus is in heaven, +we as men may ascend to heaven. Where He is we shall +be. And what He is, in as far as He is man, we shall +be. What we shall be we know not; but this we know, that we +shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And He is +a man still; for it is written: “There is one Mediator +between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” And He +will be a man at the day of judgment; for it is written that: +“God hath ordained a day in which He will judge the world +by a man whom He hath chosen.” And He will be a man +for ever; for it is written: “This man abideth for +ever.” And He Himself said to His disciples: “I +will not drink of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it new +with you in the kingdom of my Father.” And again He +declared, even when he was on earth, that He was the Son of Man +who is in heaven. And in heaven nothing can grow +less. But if Christ were not man for ever as well as God, +He would become less; for He is now God and man also at once; but +if He laid down His manhood, and so became not man any more, but +God only, He would become less, which is not to be believed of +Him of whom it is written: That Jesus Christ is the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For, as the Athanasian +creed teaches us, He is not God alone, nor man alone, but God and +man is one Christ; and therefore, when St. John declares that +Christ shall reign for ever and ever, he declares that He shall +reign not only as God, but as man also. Therefore whatever +we do not know about the next life, we know this, that we shall +be men there; not sinful, weak, and mortal, as we are here, but +holy, strong, immortal, after the likeness of our Lord, the +firstborn from the dead, who has ascended up on high and raised +our human nature to the heaven of heavens, and is gone to prepare +a place for us, into which we too shall enter in that day when He +shall change these mortal and fallen bodies which we now wear, +the bodies of our humiliation, the bodies by wearing which we are +now a little lower than the angels; them the Lord will change, +that they may be made like unto His glorious body, according to +the mighty working whereby He subdueth all things unto Himself, +that we may see Him face to face, and dwell with Him in the glory +of God the Father for ever.</p> +<p>Oh my friends, who is sufficient for these things? What +shall we say of man? Is he not indeed fearfully and +wonderfully made? Here we are, weak creatures, more liable +to disease and death than the dumb beasts round us; full of +poverty, and adversity, and longings which are never satisfied; +our minds full of mistakes, our hearts full of false conceit, +full of spite and folly, struggles, murmurings, quarrellings; our +consciences full of the remembrance of sins without number. +The greatest of all heathen poets said, that there was not a more +miserable and pitiable animal upon the earth than man. He +knew no better. He could not know better. How could +he, when God had not yet been manifest in the flesh? How +could he dream that the Lord God would condescend to be made +flesh, and dwell among us, and show man His glory, the glory of +the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and +truth—how could he dream that? And more than all, how +could he dream that God, instead of throwing away our human +nature when He rose again, as if it was too great a degradation +for Him to be a man one moment more, should condescend to take up +His human nature, His man’s body, soul, and spirit, with +Him into everlasting glory, that He might feed with it for ever +the bodies and souls of those who trust in Him, so as to make +them fit for us at the last day, to share in His everlasting +life? The old heathen poet knew as well as you or I that +there was an everlasting life beyond the grave; that men’s +souls were immortal, and could not die: but the thought of it was +all dark, and dreary, and uncertain to him and to all mankind, +till the Son of God brought life and immortality to light, when +He was manifest in the flesh.</p> +<p>Wonderful mystery of godliness! Wonderful love of God to +man! Wonderful condescension of God to man! Still +more wonderful patience of God to man!</p> +<p>Oh you who live still in sin, when the Son of God died and +rose again to make you righteous; you who defile your bodies with +sins worse than the brutes, when the Son of God offers to raise +those bodies of yours to be equal with the angels; how shall you +escape if you neglect so great salvation; if you despise this +unspeakable love; if you trample under foot, like swine, the +everlasting glory and happiness which God offers you freely, +without fee or price, for the sake of His only-begotten Son, +Jesus Christ, who died to buy them for you?</p> +<h2><a name="page445"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +445</span><span class="GutSmall">XLIV.</span><br /> +THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT.</h2> +<blockquote><p>If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto +you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He +is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, +and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me: of +righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more: +of judgment, because the prince of this world is +judged.—<span class="smcap">John</span> xvi. +7–11.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>I <span class="smcap">do</span> not pretend to be able to +explain to you the whole meaning of this text, or even more than +a very small part of it. For it speaks of God; of God the +Holy Spirit. And God is boundless; and, therefore, every +text which speaks of God is boundless too, as God is. No +man can ever see the whole meaning of it, or do more than +understand dimly a little of its truth. But what we can +see, we must think over and make use of. What can we see, +now, from this text? First, we may see that the Holy +Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, is a person. Not a +mere thing, or a state of our own hearts, or a feeling in us, or +a power, like the powers and laws by which the trees and plants +grow, and the sun and moon move in their courses; but a person, +just as each of us is a person. He, the Holy Spirit, gives +life to trees and plants, sun and moon: but He is not their +life. He gives them their life; and, therefore, that life +of theirs is not He, or He could not give it; for you can only +give something which is not you.</p> +<p>The Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit, not as it, but as He; +as a person, and not as a thing; as a person who can speak to +men’s souls, guide and teach them.</p> +<p>“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide +you into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself.”</p> +<p>But we may see also that the Holy Spirit is neither God the +Father, nor the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord speaks of +Him, the Holy Spirit, as a different person either from Him or +from the Father. “The Spirit,” He says, +“shall glorify me; for He shall receive of mine, and shall +show it unto you.”</p> +<p>But we may see also that there is no difference in will, or +opinion, or love, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the +Son. For the Spirit does not speak of Himself; there is no +self-will in Him. There is not one will of the Father, and +another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; or, one love +of the Father, another love of the Son, and another of the Holy +Ghost; or, one righteousness of the Father, another of the Son, +another of the Holy Ghost: or, one mercy and grace of the Father, +another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost. For then +there would be three Gods and three Lords; and the substance of +God would be divided. But they have all one will, and one +love, and one righteousness, and one mercy. And such as the +Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p>And remember always, that the Holy Spirit is very and indeed +God. For He is the Spirit of holiness itself, of +righteousness itself, of goodness itself, of love itself, of +truth itself; and, therefore, He is the Spirit of God, who is the +perfect holiness, and righteousness, and truth, and love. +All other holiness, and righteousness, and truth, and love, are +only pictures and patterns of God, just as the sun’s +reflection in water, or in a glass, is a picture and pattern of +the sun. As the Epistle for to-day tells us: “Every +good gift and every perfect is from above, and cometh down from +the Father of lights.”</p> +<p>But the Spirit of God must be God. For else what do the +words mean? Is not the spirit of a man, a man? Is not +your spirit, what you call your soul, you? Is not your soul +you, just as much as your body is you; ay, a hundred times +more? Just so, the Spirit of God is God, God Himself; and +the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Ghost, is all +one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.</p> +<p>This, then, is the glorious promise made to you, and to me, +and to all who believe and are baptized into the name of the +Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; that that Spirit will come +to us, and take charge of our spirits, and work in them, and +teach them. We cannot see Him with our eyes, or hear Him +with our ears; we cannot even feel Him at work in our hearts and +thoughts. For He is a Spirit; and His likeness, the thing +in this world which is a pattern of Him, is the wind; as indeed +the name Spirit means. You cannot see the wind, you cannot +even really feel the wind or hear it: you only know it by its +effects, by what it does: by the noise among the branches, the +force against your faces, the bending boughs, and flying +dust. The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest +the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, or +whither it goeth; even so is every one who is born of the +Spirit. On him the Spirit of God will work unseen, and +unfelt, only to be discovered by the change which He makes in the +man’s heart and thoughts; and first by the way in which He +convinces him of sin, because men believe not on Jesus +Christ.</p> +<p>The Holy Spirit shows men that the sins of the world, the sin +of all sins, the sin which is the root of all other sins, is not +believing on the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was because they +would not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they had been +falling into every other sort of sin.</p> +<p>But you may say: “How could they believe on Him before +He came, and was born in Judæa of the Virgin Mary? +How could they believe on Him when He was not there?” +Ah! my friends, who told you that the Lord Jesus Christ was not +there in the world all along? Not the Bible, +certainly. For the Bible tells us that He is the Light who +lights every man who cometh into the world; that from Him came, +and have come, all the right thoughts and feelings which ever +arose in the heart of every human being. The Bible tells us +that when God created the world, He was daily rejoicing in the +habitable parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons +of men. The Bible tells us that He was in the world, and +the world knew Him not; that all along, through the dark times of +heathendom, the Lord Jesus Christ was a light shining in +darkness, which the darkness could not close round, and hide and +quench.</p> +<p>Not merely to the Jews, but to all heathens who hungered and +thirsted after righteousness, did the Lord Jesus show something +of His truth; as it is written, God is no acceptor of persons; +that is, no shower of partiality, or unjust favour: but in every +nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted +of Him.</p> +<p>But at the time that the Lord Jesus sent down His Holy Spirit, +men were not working righteousness. There was not one who +did good, no not one. For men had forgotten what +righteousness was like, what a righteous man ought to do and +be. Men are ready to forget it every day. You and I +are ready to forget it, and invent some false righteousness of +our own, not like Jesus Christ, but like what we in our private +fancies think is most graceful, or most agreeable, or most easy; +or most grand, and far-fetched, and difficult. But the Holy +Spirit came to convince men of righteousness; to show them what +true righteousness was like.</p> +<p>And how? In the same way that He must convince us of +righteousness, if we are ever to know what righteousness is, or +are ever to be righteous ourselves. He must show us +goodness; or we shall never see it, or receive it, or copy +it.</p> +<p>And where is this righteousness, this perfect goodness of +which the Holy Spirit will convince us? Where, but in the +Lord Jesus Christ? In the Lord Jesus’s character, the +Lord Jesus’s good works; His love, His patience, His +perfect obedience, His life, His death. The Holy Spirit, if +we give up our hearts to be taught by Him, will make us believe, +and be sure, and feel in our very inmost hearts, how noble, how +beautiful, how holy, how perfectly Godlike, was He who was born +of a poor virgin, who walked this earth for thirty-three years in +toil and sorrow, who gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks +to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not His face from +shame and spitting, who died upon a cross between two +thieves. And the Holy Spirit will convince us of +righteousness, by making us feel what the Lord Jesus’s +righteousness consisted in; what was the root of all His goodness +and holiness, namely His perfect obedience to His Father and our +Father in heaven. That is the righteousness, which is not +our own, but God’s; the righteousness which comes by faith; +not to trust in ourselves, but in God; not to please ourselves, +but God; not to do our own will, but God’s will. That +is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God set His seal on +and approved, when He exalted Him far above all principality and +powers, and set Him at His own right hand for a sign to all men, +and angels, and archangels; that righteousness means to trust and +to obey God even to the death.</p> +<p>3. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is +judged.</p> +<p>This may seem a puzzling speech at first. We shall +understand it best, I think, by considering who the prince of +this world was in our Lord’s time, and what he was +like. A little before our Lord’s time the Roman +emperor had conquered almost the whole world which was then +known, and kept all nations in slavery, careless about their +doing right, provided they obeyed him and paid him tribute; nay, +forcing them and tempting them into all brutal and foul sin and +ignorance, that he might keep up his own power over man.</p> +<p>But now the Lord of all the earth, and the Prince of +men’s hearts and thoughts, was come to visit that poor +enslaved and sinful world. He came; the princes of this +world knew Him not, and crucified the Lord of Glory. They +crucified the righteous and the just One; and so they were +judged. They judged themselves; they condemned +themselves. For they showed that what they admired and what +they wanted was not righteousness and love, but wealth and +power. They showed that no doing of good, no healing of the +sick, or giving of sight to the blind, or preaching the gospel to +the poor, no holiness, no love, not the perfect likeness of +God’s own goodness, which shone forth in the spotless +Jesus, was anything to them; was any reason why they should not +put Him to death with the most cruel torments, because they were +afraid of His taking away their power. He said He was a +King; and therefore they crucified Him, lest His kingdom should +interfere with theirs; and for the same reason these same Roman +emperors and their magistrates, for hundreds of years afterwards, +persecuted the Christians, and hunted them down like wild beasts, +and put them to death by all horrible tortures, for the same +reason that Cain slew Abel; became his brother’s deeds were +righteous, and his own wicked.</p> +<p>So these Roman emperors, and their magistrates and generals +were judged. They had shown what was in their evil +hearts. They had been tried in God’s balances, and +found wanting. The sentence of the Lord God had gone forth +against them. The man Christ Jesus, whom they rejected, God +accepted, and raised to His own right hand. They crucified +Him; but God gave Him all power in heaven and earth: and the Lord +Jesus used His power; yea, and uses it still. He gave His +saints and martyrs strength to defy those Roman tyrants, and to +witness to all the earth that the righteous Son of God was the +King of heaven and earth, and that the princes of this world, who +wished to break His yoke off their necks, and crush all nations +to powder for their own pleasure, and fatten themselves upon the +plunder of all the earth, would surely come to naught, as it is +written in the second Psalm: “The kings of the earth set +themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the +Lord and His Anointed. Yet have I set my King upon my holy +hill of Zion. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: +thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s +vessel.”</p> +<p>And they did come to naught. That great Roman empire +rotted away miserably after years of such distress as had never +been seen on the earth before; and the emperors came, one after +another, to shameful or dreadful deaths. And all the while +the gospel spread, and the Church grew, till all the kingdoms of +the Roman empire had become the kingdoms of God and of His +Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in men’s +hearts, and showing them, as our Lord said He would, that Jesus +of Nazareth was both Lord and King. And so was fulfilled +the Lord’s words in the gospel for to-day: “The Holy +Spirit shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall +show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; +therefore said I that He should take of mine, and show it unto +you.”</p> +<p>Oh my friends, pray for yourselves, and join me while I pray +for you, that the holy and righteous Spirit of God may convince +you, and me, and all mankind, more and more, day by day, of sin, +of righteousness, and of judgment.</p> +<p>Pray to that Holy Spirit to convince you of sin day by day, +whensoever you do the least wrong thing. Pray to Him to +keep your consciences tender and quick, that you may feel +instantly, and lament deeply, every wrong thing you do.</p> +<p>Pray to Him to give you, every time you do wrong, that godly +sorrow which brings peace and health, that heart-repentance never +to be repented of. Pray to Him to convince you more and +more, as you grow older, that all sin comes from not believing in +Jesus Christ, not believing that He is near you, with you, in +you, putting into your hearts all right thoughts and good +desires, and willing, if you will, to help you to put those +thoughts and desires into good practice.</p> +<p>Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of +righteousness; to make you see what righteousness is; that it is +the very character and likeness of God the Father, because it is +the character and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the +brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of +His person. Pray to Him to make you see the beauty of +holiness: how fair, and noble, and glorious a thing goodness is; +how truly Solomon says: “that all the things that may be +desired are not to be compared to it.”</p> +<p>Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of +judgment, and to make you sure that the Lord is King, a righteous +Judge, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, whose fan is in His +hand, who thoroughly purges His floor, who comes quickly, and His +reward is with Him, and who surely casts out of His kingdom, +sooner or later, all things that offend, and whosoever loveth and +maketh a lie. Pray to Him to make you sure by faith, though +you cannot see it, that the prince of this world is judged; that +evil doing, oppression, tyranny, injustice, cheating, neglect of +man by man, cannot and will not prosper upon the face of +God’s earth; for the everlasting sentence and wrath of God +is revealed forth every moment against all unrighteousness of +men, which He will surely punish, yea, and does hourly punish by +Him by whom He judges the world, Jesus Christ, the Lord, who is +exalted high above all principalities and powers, and has all +power given to Him in heaven and earth, which He uses, as He used +it in Judæa of old, utterly and always for the good of all +mankind, whom He hath redeemed with His most precious blood.</p> +<h2><a name="page453"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +453</span><span class="GutSmall">XLV.</span><br /> +THE GOSPEL.</h2> +<blockquote><p>Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel +which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and +wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in +memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain: +for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, +how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; +and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day +according to the scriptures.—1 <span +class="smcap">Corinthians</span> xv. 1–4.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">This</span> is St. Paul’s account of +the gospel; the good news which he preached to the sinful and +profligate Corinthians, when they were sunk lower than the beasts +which perish. And because they believed this good news, he +said, they were saved then and there, and would be safe only as +long as they believed that good news, and kept it in their +memories. Now, from what did this good news save +them? From their sins. There was something in St. +Paul’s good news which made them hate their sins, and +repent of them, and throw them away, and rise up to be new men +and women, living new lives in godliness and purity and justice, +such as they had never lived before. Now mind, it was not +bad news which made the Corinthians repent of their sins; it was +good news. It was not that St. Paul told them that God was +going to cast them into endless torment for their sins, and that +therefore they were terrified and afraid, and so repented. +Doubtless St. Paul told them, as he told other heathens, that the +wrath of God was revealed from heaven against all +unrighteousness; that tribulation and anguish was laid up in +store for every soul of man who worketh evil. But still, +St. Paul says plainly here, that what saved the Corinthians was +not that or any other fearful and terrifying news, but a +gospel—good news. And he says that this good news did +not merely, as some would wish it to do, make them comfortable in +their minds while they went on in their old wicked ways. +No. He says that it made them stand. That is, made +them upright, strong-minded, righteous, self-restraining people; +and that they were saved by it from those sins which had been +dragging them down, and keeping them diseased in soul, weak, +miserable, the slaves of their own passions and foul +pleasures.</p> +<p>What wonderful good news was this, then, which could work so +strange a change in these poor heathens, and how could it change +them?</p> +<p>Let us see, first, what it was.</p> +<p>“That Christ died for our sins, according to the +scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the +third day according to the scriptures; and that He was seen of +Peter, then of the twelve; after that He was seen of above five +hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remained unto +this day, but some are fallen asleep. After that He was +seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And last of all He +was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”</p> +<p>You see here, that St. Paul, for some good reason, says much +more about the Lord’s rising again than even about His most +precious death and passion on the cross, while about His +ascending into heaven he says nothing. And you will find in +the New Testament that the Apostles often did the same. +They spoke of the Lord rising again as if that was the great +wonder, the great glory, the great good news; and as if His most +precious death was not perfect without that. They said that +the especial office for which the Lord had ordained them, was to +be witnesses of His resurrection. They said that the Lord +rose again for our justification. They said: “If thou +shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in +thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be +saved.” Here again, just as in the text, believing in +the Lord’s resurrection is made the great article of +faith. Why is this? Because that last verse which I +quoted may tell us, if we consider it carefully.</p> +<p>What does confessing the Lord Jesus with our mouth mean? +It means what we ought to mean when we say, in the +Apostles’ Creed, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, +our Lord. Not merely, I believe that there is an only Son +of God: but I believe in a certain man, with a certain character, +who is that only Son of God.</p> +<p>And what, you will ask, does that mean?</p> +<p>To know that, I fear, we must go back many many hundred years, +to the times when the old martyrs confessed the Lord Jesus Christ +before the heathen. Those were times in which it was not +enough to say the Apostles’ Creed in church. Men, ay, +and tender women, and little children, had to stand by it through +terror and shame, and to die in torments unspeakable, because +they chose to say: “I believe in Jesus Christ, our +Lord.” Now, what was it which made the heathen hate +and persecute and torture, and murder them for saying that? +What was there in those plain words of the Apostles’ Creed +which made the great heathen emperors of Rome, and their officers +and judges hunt the Christians down like wild beasts for 300 +years, and declare that they were not fit to live? I will +tell you. When the Christians were brought before the +emperor’s judges for being Christians, they did not merely +say: “I believe that Jesus Christ’s blood will save +my soul after death.” They said that: but they said a +great deal more than that. If that had been all that the +Christians said, the judge would have answered: “What care +I for your souls, or for your notions about what will happen to +them when you are dead? Go your way. You may be of +what religion you like, and talk and think about your own souls +as much as you like, provided you do not trouble the Roman +emperor’s power.” But the heathen judge did not +make that answer; because he knew well enough that what the +Christians believed was not a mere religion about what would +happen to their souls after death; but something which, if it +gained ground, would utterly destroy the Roman emperor’s +power. He used generally to say to the Christians only +this: “Will you burn those few grains of incense in honour +of the emperor of Rome?” And he knew, and the +Christians knew well enough, that those words meant: “Will +you confess with your mouth the emperor of Rome? Will you +confess that he is the only lord and king of this whole earth, +and of your bodies and souls, and that there is no power or +authority but of him, for the gods have delivered all things into +his hands?” And then came out what confessing the +Lord Jesus really means. For the Christians used to answer: +“No. The emperor of Rome is the lord and master of +our bodies, and we will obey his laws so far as we can without +doing wrong: but we cannot obey them when they are contrary to +the laws of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For the Lord +Jesus Christ, who was crucified and rose again the third day, He, +and not the emperor of Rome at all, is the Lord and King of the +whole earth, and of our bodies and souls; and we must obey Him +before we obey anyone else. Power and authority come not +from the emperor of Rome, but from the Lord Jesus Christ; and the +emperor is only His servant and steward, and must obey Him just +as much as we, or the Lord will punish him as surely and easily +as He will the meanest slave. For God has delivered all +things, and the emperor of Rome among the rest, into the hand of +His Son Jesus Christ, who sits a King over all, God blessed for +ever.” That was confessing Christ.</p> +<p>And to that the heathen judges used to make but one +answer—for there was but one to make. Those heathen +judges’ guilty consciences, as well as their worldly +cunning, told them plainly enough exactly what St. Paul told the +Christians; that those Christians, by confessing Christ, were not +fighting against flesh and blood, and setting up their selfish +interests against other people’s selfish interests: but +that the battle they were fighting was a much deeper and more +terrible one; that by saying that One who had walked the earth as +a poor man, and yet a perfectly righteous and loving man, doing +nothing but good, and sacrificing Himself utterly for poor fallen +creatures, they were fighting against the whole state of things +all over the world; against the government, and principles, and +religion of that whole unjust and tyrannical Roman empire, and +all its rulers, and generals, and judges; against principalities, +against powers, against the world-rulers of the darkness of those +times; against spiritual wickedness in heavenly things. For +if Jesus Christ’s life was the right life, those rulers +must be utterly wrong; for it was exactly opposite to His.</p> +<p>If Jesus Christ was really the Governor of the earth, there +was no hope for them; for their way of governing was exactly +opposite to His. So as I say, they made but one answer; +because there was but one to make: “You say that Jesus +Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. I say the +emperor of Rome is. You say you must obey Christ first, and +the emperor of Rome afterwards. I say that you must obey +the emperor first, and Christ afterwards. At all events, if +you do not, you have no right on this earth of the +emperor’s; either the emperor’s power must fall, or +your notion about Jesus Christ’s power must. And we +will see whether your heavenly King of whom you talk can deliver +you out of the emperor’s hand.” And then came +the scourge, and the red-hot iron, and the wild beasts, and the +cross, and all devilish tortures which man’s evil will +could invent, brought to bear without shame or mercy upon aged +men, and tender girls, and even little children, just to make +them say that the earth belonged to the emperor, and not to Jesus +Christ. Those who died bravely under those tortures without +denying Christ were called martyrs, which means +witnesses—people who bore witness before God and man that +Jesus Christ was King and Lord. Those who did not die under +the tortures, but escaped after all, were called +confessors—people who had confessed with their mouths that +Jesus Christ was King and Lord, in spite of their terror and +agony. . . . That was what confessing Jesus Christ meant in +the old times. And that was what it ought to mean now, even +though there is no persecution or torture for Christians in these +happier times.</p> +<p>And now, we may see perhaps why St. Paul spoke so much of our +Lord’s rising again as the most important part of the +gospel.</p> +<p>Because he wanted Christians to believe, not merely in a +Christ who once died, but in Him who died and is alive for +evermore; in a Christ who rose again, body, soul, and spirit, and +sat at God’s right hand, praying for poor creatures when +they were tempted, and persecuted, and tormented for +righteousness’ sake. St. Paul knew well that such +fearful times as those of which I have been speaking were coming +on the people to whom he wrote. And he knew equally well +that the only thought which could save them, when the heathen +judges commanded them to deny the Lord Jesus, was the thought +that He was really risen. The only thought which could make +them bold enough to face all the horrors of death, was the +thought that the Lord Jesus had not merely tasted death, but +conquered it, and risen again from it. And therefore it is +that St. Paul speaks so often of Christ’s resurrection, and +that in the text he takes so much pains to prove that Christ had +really risen, by telling them how many persons, well known to him +who wrote to them, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ after He rose, +and talked with Him, and were sure that He was the very same +person still, with the same countenance, and body, and soul, and +spirit, as He had when He was nailed to the cross, and laid in +the sepulchre.</p> +<p>What a thought for a poor creature in the last agony of fear +and shame, expecting presently to be torn in pieces, or burnt +alive: “Death, this horrible death, cannot conquer me, weak +and fearful as I am; for my Lord and Master, for whom I am going +to suffer, has conquered death, and He will not let it conquer +me. He is stronger than death and hell, and He will not +suffer me at my last hour for any pains of death to fall from +Him. He is King of heaven and earth, and He will take care +of His own!” What a comfortable thought to be able to +say: “Ay, I am torn from wife and child, and all which I +love on earth. But not for ever, not for ever. For +Christ rose from the dead. And I who belong to Christ, +shall rise as He did. This poor flesh of mine may be burnt +in flames, devoured by ravenous beasts. What matter? +Christ the King of men, has risen from the dead, and become the +first-fruits of them that slept. That same Spirit of His, +which brought back His body from the grave and hell, will bring +our bodies also from the grave and hell, to a nobler, happier +life with Him in glory unspeakable. Christ is risen, and I +shall rise with Him at the last day. Christ sits at +God’s right hand, watching me, pitying me, and blessing me, +holding out to me a crown of glory which shall never fade +away!” That was the thought which gave Stephen +courage to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, amid to die in peace +and the murderous blows of the Jews. For by faith he saw, +as he said, the heavens opened, and Jesus sitting at the right +hand of God. He knew that his Lord was risen, and that He +would hear his dying cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my +spirit.”</p> +<p>And so with us, my friends; we have no martyrdom to go +through, thank God; but it is just as true of us as it was of the +blessed martyrs and confessors, that there is no other name under +heaven by which we can be saved but the name of the Lord Jesus +Christ. Saved; not only from hell, but from sin, from +giving way to temptation, from denying Christ. Oh, pray for +faith. Pray for faith. Pray to be able really to +confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Pray to believe +with your hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. +Then when you are tempted to do wrong, you, like Stephen, will +see, not with your bodily eyes, but by faith, the Lord Jesus +sitting at God’s right hand, and be able to say to Him: +“Lord Jesus, who hast conquered all temptation, help me to +conquer this. Thine eye is on me; how can I do this great +wickedness and sin against Thee?” When you are in +terror, and trouble, and affliction, and know not where to turn, +that same blessed thought—“Christ is risen from the +dead”—will be a shield and a strength to you which no +other thought can give. “My Lord is risen; He is here +still—a man, with His man’s body, and His man’s +spirit—His man’s love and tenderness; He has taken +them all up to heaven with Him. He is a man still, though +He is very God of very God. He rose from the dead as a man, +and therefore He can understand me, and feel for me still, now, +here in England in this very year, 1852, just as much as He could +when He was walking upon earth in Judæa of old.”</p> +<p>Ay, and in the black jaws of death, when this world is +vanishing from our eyes, and we are going we know not whither, +leaving behind us all we know, and love, and understand; then +that thought of all thoughts—“Christ is risen from +the dead”—is the only one which will save us from +dark sad thoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid +carelessness, and the death of a brute beast, such as too many +die. “Christ is risen and I shall rise. Christ +has conquered death for Himself, and He will conquer it for +me. Christ took His man’s body and soul with Him from +the tomb to God’s right hand, and He will raise my +man’s body and soul at the last day, that I may be with Him +for ever, and see Him where He is.” In life and in +death this is the only thing which shall save us from sin, from +terror, and from the dread of death; the same good news which St. +Paul preached to the Corinthians; the same good news which made +St. Stephen, and the martyrs and confessors of old brave to +endure all misery for the sake of the good and blessed news, that +God had raised His Son Jesus from the dead.</p> +<h2><a name="page463"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +463</span><span class="GutSmall">XLVI.</span><br /> +GOD’S WAY WITH MAN.</h2> +<blockquote><p>And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have +wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your +wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of +Israel, saith the Lord God.—<span +class="smcap">Ezekiel</span> xx. 44.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> this chapter the prophet Ezekiel +argues with his sinful and rebellious countrymen, and puts them +in mind of all that God has done for them and with them, from the +time when He brought them out of Egypt to that day.</p> +<p>And now comes the old question, What has this to do with +us! St. Paul tells us that all things which happened to the +old Jews happened for our example. What example can we +learn from this chapter?</p> +<p>This, I think, we may learn: Is not the way in which God +taught these Jews the same way in which He teaches many a +man—perhaps every man? Which of us, when we were +young, has not had his teaching from God? The old Catechism +which our mothers taught us, was not that a word from God Himself +to us? The voice of conscience, which made us happy when we +had done right, and uneasy and ashamed when we had gone wrong; +was not that a word from God to us? Yes, my friends, those +child’s feelings of ours about right and wrong, were none +other than the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, +the Light which lightens every man who comes into the +world. I tell you, every right thought and wish, every +longing to be better than you were, which ever came into any one +of your hearts, came from Him, the Lord Jesus. It was His +word, His voice, His Spirit, speaking to your spirit, just as +really as He spoke to His prophet Ezekiel, of whom we have been +reading. Think of that. Recollect, never, never +forget, that all your good thoughts and feelings are not your +own, not your own at all, but the Lord’s; that without His +light your hearts are nothing but darkness, blind ignorance, and +blind selfishness, and blind passions and lusts; that it is He, +he Himself, who has been fighting against the darkness in you all +your life long. Oh think, then, what your sin has been in +putting aside those good thoughts and longings! You were +turning your back, you were shutting your doors to the Lord God +Himself, very God of very God begotten, by whom all things were +made. The Creator came to visit His creature, and His +creature shut Him out. The Almighty God pleaded with mortal +man, and mortal man bade God go, and come back at a more +convenient season! A voice in your heart seemed to say: +“Oh, if I could but be a better man! How I wish that +I could but give up these bad habits, and mend! I hate and +despise myself for being so bad.” And then you +fancied that that voice was your own voice, that those good +thoughts were your own thoughts. If you had really known +whose they were; if you had really known, as the Bible tells you, +that they were the Word of the Lord, the only-begotten Son of the +Father, speaking to your heart, I hardly think that you would +have been so ready to say yourself: “Well, then, I will +mend; but not just now: some day or other; somehow or other, I +hope, I shall be a better man. It will be time enough to +make my peace with God when I am growing old.” You +would not have dared to thrust away the good thoughts, and keep +them waiting, while you took your pleasure in a few more +years’ sin; if you had guessed <i>whom</i> you were +thrusting away; if you had guessed whom you were keeping +waiting.</p> +<p>And, my good friends, has not God been saying to us many a +time from our youth up, as He did to the Jews of old: “Do +not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor defile yourselves +with their idols?” Do you ask me how? Why, +thus. Have you never said to yourself: “How ill my +father prospered, because he would do wrong!” Or, +again: “See how evil doing brings its own punishment. +There is so and so growing rich, by his cheating and his +covetousness, and yet, for all his money, I would not change +places with him. God forbid that I should have on my mind +what he has on his mind!” Why should I make a long story of +so simple a matter? Which of us has not felt at times that +thought? How much misery has come in this very parish from +the ill-doing of the generation who are gone to their account, +and from the ill-training which they gave their children?</p> +<p>And what was that but the Word of the Lord Himself speaking to +our hearts, and saying to us: “Do not defile yourselves +with their idols; do not hurt your souls by hunting after the +things which they loved better than they loved Me: money, +pleasure, drink, fighting, smuggling, poaching, wantonness, and +lust; I am the Lord your God?”</p> +<p>And yet, young people will not listen to that warning voice of +God. They see other people, even their own fathers and +mothers, punished for their sins; perhaps made poor by their +sins, perhaps made unhealthy by their sins, perhaps made +miserable and ill-tempered by their sins: and yet they go and +fall into, or rather walk open-eyed into, the very same sins +which made their parents wretched. Oh, how many a young +person sees their home made a complete hell on earth by +ungodliness, and the ill-temper and selfishness which come from +ungodliness; and, then, as soon as they have a home of their own, +set to work to make their own family as miserable as their +father’s was before them.</p> +<p>But people say often: “How could we help it? We +had no chance; we were brought up in bad ways; we had a bad +example set us; how can you expect us to be better than our +fathers and mothers, and our elder brothers and sisters? If +we had had a fair chance, we might have been different: but we +had none; and we could not help going the bad way, for we were +set in it the day we were born.”</p> +<p>Well, my dear friends, God shall judge you, not I. If +little is given to a man little is required of him. But not +nothing at all; because more than nothing was given him. A +little is given to every man; and, therefore, a little is +required of every man. And so, he who knew not his +Master’s will shall be beaten with few stripes. But +he will be beaten with some stripes, because he ought to have +known something, at least of his Master’s will. If +you were dumb animals, which can only follow their own lusts and +passions, and must be what nature has made them, then your excuse +would be good enough; but your excuse is not good now, just +because you are men and women, and not dumb beasts, and, +therefore, can rise above your natures, and conquer your lusts +and passions, as they cannot, and can do what you do not like, +because, though you dislike it, you know that it is right. +And, therefore, God does not take that excuse which sinners make, +that they have had no teaching. But what does he do to +them?</p> +<p>Suppose, now, that you had a dog which would not be taught, or +broken in, or cured of biting, or made useful, or bearable in any +way, what would you do to that dog? I suppose that you +would kill it; you would say: “It is an ill-conditioned +animal, and there is no making it any better; so the only thing +is to put it out of the way, and not let it eat food which might +be better spent.” Now, does God deal so with +sinners? When young people rush headlong into sin, and +become a nuisance to themselves and their neighbours, does God +kill them at once, that better men may step into their +place? No. And why? Just because they are not +dumb animals, which cannot be made better, but God’s +children, who can be made better. If there were really no +hope of a sinner repenting and amending, I think God would not +leave him long alive to cumber the ground. But there is +hope for every one; because God the Father loves all; the loving +heart of the Lord Jesus Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, +which proceeds from the Father and the Son, strives with the +hearts of all; therefore God, in His patience and tender mercy, +tries to bring his foolish children to their senses. And +how? Often in the very same way, in which Ezekiel says He +tried to bring the Jews to their senses, by letting them go on in +the road of sin, till they see what an ugly pit that same road +ends in. If your child would not believe you when you +warned and assured him that the fire would burn him, would it not +be the very best way of bringing him to his senses, to tell him: +“Very well; go your own way; put your hand into the fire, +and see what comes of it; you will not believe me; you will +believe your own feelings, when your hand is burnt.” +So did the Lord to those rebellious Jews when they would go after +their fathers’ sins. He gave them statutes which were +not good, and judgments by which they could not live, to the end +that they might know that He was the Lord. God did not make +them commit any sins. God forbid! He only took away +His Spirit, His light and teaching, from them, and let them go on +in the light of their own foolish and bewildered hearts, till +their sin bred misery and shame to them, and they were filled +with the fruit of their own devices. Then, after all their +wealth was gone, and their land was wasted by cruel enemies, and +they themselves were carried away captive into Babylon, they +began to awake, and say to themselves: “We were wrong after +all, and the Lord was right. He knew what was really good +for us better than we did. We thought that we could do +without Him, disobey Him. But He is the Lord after +all. He has been too strong for us; He has punished +us. If we had listened to His warnings years ago, we might +have been saved all this misery.”</p> +<p>Ah, how many a poor foolish creature, in misery and shame, +with a guilty conscience and a sad heart, sits down, like the +prodigal son, among the swinish bad company into which his sins +have brought him, longing to fill his belly with the husks which +the swine eat! but he cannot. He tries to forget his sorrow +by drinking, by bad company, by gambling, by gossiping, like the +fools around him: but he cannot. He finds no more pleasure +in sin. He is sick and tired of it. He has had enough +of it and too much. He is miserable, and he hardly knows +why. But miserable he is. There is a longing, and +craving, and hunger at his heart after something better; at least +after something different. Then he begins to remember his +heavenly Father’s house. Old words which he learnt at +his mother’s knee, good old words out of his Catechism and +his Bible, start up strangely in his mind. He had forgotten +them, laughed at them, perhaps, in his wild days. But now +they come up, he does not know where from, like beautiful ghosts +gliding in. And he is ashamed of them; they reproach him, +the dear old lessons; and yet they seem pleasant to him, though +they make him blush. And at last he says to himself: +“Would God that I were a little child again; once more an +innocent little child at my mother’s knee! I thought +myself clever and cunning. I thought I could go my own way +and enjoy myself. But I cannot. Perhaps I have been a +fool; and the old Sunday books were right after all. At +least I am miserable. I thought I was my own master. +But perhaps He about whom I used to read in the Sunday books is +my Master after all. At least I am not my own master; I am +a slave. Perhaps I have been fighting against Him, against +the Lord God, all this time, and now He has shown me that He is +the stronger of the two. . . . ” And so the poor man +learns in trouble and shame to know, like the Jews of old, who is +the Lord.</p> +<p>And when the Lord has drawn a man thus far, does He +stop? Not so. He does not leave His work half +done. If the work is half done, it is that we stop, not +that He stops. Whosoever comes to Him, howsoever +confusedly, or clumsily, or even lazily they may come, He will in +no wise cast out. He may afflict them still more to cure +that confusion and laziness; but He is a physician who never +sends a willing patient away, or keeps him waiting for a single +hour.</p> +<p>How then does the Lord deal with such a man? Does He +drive him further? Not if he will go without being +driven. You would call it cruel to drive a beast on with +blows, when it was willing to be led peaceably. And be sure +God is not more cruel than man. As soon as we are willing +to be led, He will take His rod off from us, and lead us tenderly +enough. For I have known God do this to a man, and a sinful +man as ever trod this earth. I have known such a man +brought into utter misery and shame of heart, and heavy +affliction in outward matters, till his spirit was utterly +broken, and he was ready to say: “I am a beast and a +fool. I am not worth the bread I eat. Let me lie down +and die.” And then, when the Lord had driven that man +so far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, how the Lord turned +and looked on that man as he turned and looked on Peter, and +brought his poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter’s, +by a loving smile, and not an angry frown. I have seen the +Lord heap that man with all manner of unexpected blessings, and +pay him back sevenfold for all his affliction, and raise him up, +body and soul, and satisfy him with good things, so that his +youth was renewed like the eagle’s. And so the +man’s conversion to God, though it was begun by God’s +chastisements and afflictions, was brought to perfection by +God’s mercy and bounty; and it happened to that man, as +Ezekiel prophesied that it would happen to the Jews, that not +fear and dread, but honour, gratitude, and that noble shame of +which no man need be ashamed, brought him home to God at +last. “And you shall remember your ways, and all your +doings wherein ye have been defiled: and you shall loathe +yourselves in your own sight for all the evils which you have +committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I +have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to +your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house +of Israel, saith the Lord God.”</p> +<p>You see that God’s mercy to them would not make them +conceited or careless. It would increase their shame and +confusion when they found out what sort of a Lord He was against +whom they had been rebellious; long-suffering and of tender +mercy, returning good for evil to His disobedient children. +That feeling would awake in them more shame and more confusion +than ever: but it would be a noble shame, a happy confusion, and +tears of joy and gratitude, not of bitterness. Such a +shame, such a confusion, such tears, as the blessed +Magdalene’s when she knelt at the Lord’s feet, and +found that, instead of bating her and thrusting her away for all +her sins, He told her to go in peace, pardoned and happy. +Then she knew the Lord; she found out His character—His +name; for she found out that His name was love. Oh, my +friends, this is the great secret; the only knowledge worth +living for, because it is the only knowledge which will enable +you to live worthily—to know the Lord. That knowledge +will enable you to live a life which will last, and grow, and +prosper for ever, beyond the grave, and death, and judgment, and +eternities of eternities. As the Lord Himself said, when He +was upon earth, “This is eternal life, to know Thee, the +only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” +Therefore there is no use my warning you against sin, and telling +you, do not do this, and do not do that, unless I tell you at the +same time who is the Lord. For till you know that The Good +God is the Lord, you will have no real, sound, heartfelt reason +for giving up your sins; and what is more, you will not be able +to give them up. You may alter your sort of sins from fear +of this and that; but the root of sin will be there still; and if +it cannot bear one sort of fruit it will bear another. If +you dare not drink or riot, you may become covetous and griping; +if you dare not give way to young men’s sins, you will take +to old men’s sins instead; if you dare not commit open sins +you will commit secret ones in your thoughts. Sin is much +too stout a plant to be kept from bearing some sort of +fruit. As long as it is not rooted up the root will breed +death in you of some sort or other; and the only feeling which +can root up sin is to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is +your Lord, and that your Lord condescended to die upon the cross +for you; that you must be the Lord’s, and are not your own, +but bought with the price of His most precious blood, that you +may glorify God with your body and your soul, which are His.</p> +<p>Just so, the blessed St. Augustine found that he could never +conquer his own sins by arguing with himself, or by any other +means, till he got to know God, and to see that God was the +Lord. And when his spirit was utterly broken; when he saw +himself, in spite of all his wonderful cleverness and learning, +to have been a fool and blind all along, though people round him +were flattering him, and running after him to hear his learning; +then the old words which he learnt at his mother’s knee +came up in his mind, and he knew that God was the Lord after all, +and that God had been watching him, guiding him, letting him go +wrong only to show him the folly of going wrong, caring for him +even when He left him to himself and his sins, and the sad ways +of his sins; bearing with him, pleading with his conscience, +alluring him back to the only true happiness, as a loving father +with a rebellious and self-willed child. And then, when St. +Augustine had found out at last that God was his Lord, who had +been taking the charge of him all through his heathen youth, he +became a changed man. He was able to conquer his sins; for +God conquered them for him. He was able to give up the +profligate life which he had been leading; not from fear of +punishment, but from the Spirit of God—the spirit of +gratitude, honour, trust, and love toward God, which made him +abide in God, and God abide in him. To that blessed state +may God of His great mercy bring us all. To it He will +bring us all unless we rebel and set up our foolish and selfish +will against His loving and wise will. And if He does bring +us to it, it is little matter whether He brings us to it through +joy or through sorrow, through honour or through shame, through +the garden of Eden, or through the valley of the shadow of +death. For, my dear friends, what matter how bitter the +medicine is, if it does but save our lives?</p> +<h2><a name="page474"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +474</span><span class="GutSmall">XLVII.</span><br /> +THE MARRIAGE AT CANA.</h2> +<blockquote><p>There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the +mother of Jesus was there. And both Jesus was called, and +His disciples, to the marriage.—<span +class="smcap">John</span> ii. 1, 2.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is, I think, in the first place, +an important, as well as a pleasant thing, to know that the +Lord’s glory, as St. Paul says, was first shown forth at a +wedding, at a feast. Not at a time of sorrow, but of +joy. Not about some strange affliction or disease, such as +is the lot of very few, but about a marriage, that which happens +in the ordinary lot of all mankind. Not in any fearful +judgment or destruction of sinners, but in blessing wedlock, by +which, whether among saints or sinners, mankind is +increased. Not by helping some great philosopher to think +more deeply, or some great saint to perform more wonderful acts +of holiness, but in giving the simple pleasure of wine to simple +commonplace people, of whom we neither read that they were rich +or righteous. We do not even read whether the master of the +feast ever found out that Jesus had worked a miracle, or whether +any of the company ever believed in Him, on the strength of that +miracle, except His mother and the disciples, and the servants, +who were probably the poor slaves of people in a low or middling +class of life. But that is the way of the Lord. He is +no respecter of persons. Rich and poor are alike in His +sight; and the poor need Him most, and therefore He began his +work with the poor in Cana, as He did in St. James’s time, +when the poor of this world were rich in faith, and the rich of +this world were oppressors and taskmasters. So He does in +every age. Though no one else cares for the poor, He cares +for them. With their hearts He begins His work, even as He +did in England sixty years ago, by the preaching of Whitfield and +Wesley. Do you wish to know if anything is the Lord’s +work? See if it is a work among the poor. Do you wish +to know whether any preaching is the true gospel of the +Lord? See whether it is a gospel, a good news to the +poor. I know no other test than that. By doing that, +by preaching the gospel to the poor, by working miracles for the +poor, He has showed forth His glory, and proved Himself the true, +and just, and loving Lord of all.</p> +<p>But again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He +does not demand from us: He gives to us. He had been giving +from the foundation of the world. Corn and wine, rain and +sunshine, and fruitful seasons had been his sending. And +now He was come to show it. He was come to show men who it +was who had been filling their heart with joy and gladness; who +had been bringing out of the earth and air, by His unseen +chemistry, the wine which maketh glad the heart of man. In +every grape that hangs upon the vine, water is changed into wine, +as the sap ripens into rich juice. He had been doing that +all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that was His +glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil +of custom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had +seen the grapes ripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, +as every one of us is tempted now: “It is the sun and the +air, the nature of the vine, and the nature of the climate, which +makes the wine.” Jesus comes and answers: “Not +so. I make the wine; I have been making it all along. +The vines, the sun, the weather, are only my tools wherewith I +worked, turning rain and sap into wine; and I am greater than +they; I made them; I do not depend on them; I can make wine from +water without vines or sunshine. Behold, and drink, and see +my glory <i>without</i> the vineyard, since you had forgotten how +to see it <i>in</i> the vineyard! For I am now, even as I +was in Paradise, The Word of the Lord God; and now, even as in +Paradise, I walk among the trees of the garden, and they know me +and obey me, though the world knows me not. I have been all +along in the world, and the world knows me not. Know me +now, lest you lose the knowledge of me for ever!”</p> +<p>Those of the Jews who received that message, as the disciples +did, found out their ancient Lord, and clung to Him, and know +now, in the world of spirits, that His message was indeed a true +one. Those who did not, lost sight of Him; to this day +their eyes are blinded; to this day they have utterly forgotten +that they have a Lord and Ruler, who is the Word and Son of +God. Their faith is no more like the faith of David than +their understanding of the Scriptures is like his. The +Bible is a dead letter to them. The kingdom and government +of God is forgotten by them. Of all God-worshipping people +in the world, the Jews are the least godly, the most given up to +the worship of this world, and the things which they can see, and +taste, and handle, and, therefore, to covetousness, cheating, +lying, tyranny, and all the sins which spring from forgetting +that this world belongs to the Lord and that He rules and guides +it, that its blessings are His gifts, and we His stewards, to use +them for the good of all. May God help, and forgive, and +convert them! Doubt not that He will do so in His good +time. But let us beware, my friends, lest we fall into the +same sin. Do not fancy that we are not in just the same +danger. It would be a cowardly thing of a preacher to call +Jews, or heathens, or any other absent persons hard names, unless +their mistakes and their sins were such as his own people wanted +warnings against, ay, perhaps, had the very root of them in their +hearts already. And we have the root of the Jews’ sin +in our own hearts. Why is this one miracle read in our +churches to this day, if we do not stand just as much in need of +the lesson as those for whom it was first worked? We, as +well as they, are in danger of forgetting who it is that sends us +corn and wine, and fruitful seasons, love and marriage, and all +the blessings of this life. We, as well as the Jews, are +continually fancying that these outward earthly things, as we +call them in our shallow carnal conceits, have nothing to do with +Jesus or His kingdom, but that we may compete, and scrape, even +cheat and lie to get them, and when we have them, misuse them +selfishly, as if they belonged to no one but ourselves, as if we +had no duty to perform about them, as if we owed God no service +for them.</p> +<p>And again, we are, just as much as the Jews were, in danger of +spiritual pride; in danger of fancying that because we are +religious, and have, or fancy we have, deep experiences and +beautiful thoughts about God and Christ and our own souls, +therefore we can afford to despise those who do not know as much +as ourselves; to despise the common pleasures and petty sorrows +of poor creatures, whose souls and bodies are grovelling in the +dust, busied with the cares of this world, at their wits’ +end to get their daily bread; to despise the merriment of young +people, the play of children, and all those everyday happinesses +which, though we may turn from them with a sneer, are precious in +the sight of Him who made heaven and earth. All such proud +thoughts, all such contempt of those who do not seem as spiritual +as we fancy ourselves, is evil. It is from the devil, and +not from God. It is the same vile spirit which made the +Pharisees of old say: “This people—these poor worldly +drudging wretches—who know not the law, are +accursed.” And mind, this is not a sin of rich, and +learned, and highborn men only. They may be more tempted to +it than others; but poor men, when they become, by the grace of +God, wiser, more spiritual, more holy than others, are tempted, +just as much as the rich, to despise their poor neighbours to +whom God has not given the same light as themselves; and surely +in them it shows ugliest of all. A learned and high-born +man may be excused for looking down upon the sinful poor, because +he does not understand their temptations, because he never has +been ignorant and struggling as they are. But a poor man +who despises the poor—he has no excuse. He ought +above all men to feel for them, for he has been tempted even as +they are. He knows their sorrows; he has been through their +dark valley of bad food, bad lodging, want of work, want of +teaching, low cares which drag the soul to earth. Surely a +poor man who has tasted God’s love and Christ’s +light, ought, above all others, instead of turning his back on +his class, to pity them, to make common cause with them, to teach +them, guide them, comfort them, in a way no rich man can. +Yes; after all, it is the poor must help the poor; the poor must +comfort the poor; the poor must teach and convert the poor.</p> +<p>See, in the epistle for this day, St. Paul makes no +distinction between rich and poor. This epistle is joined +with the gospel for the day, to show us what ought to be the +conduct of Christians, who believe in the miracle of Cana; what +men should do who believe that they have a Lord in heaven, by +whose command suns shine, fruits ripen, men enjoy the blessings +of harvest, of marriage, of the comforts which the heathen and +the savage, as well as the Christian man, partake; what men +should do who believe that they have a Lord in heaven who entered +into the common joys and sorrows of lowly men, who was once +Himself a poor villager, who ate with publicans and sinners, who +condescended to join in a wedding feast, and increase the mere +animal enjoyment of the guests. And what is St. +Paul’s command to poor as well as rich? Read the +epistle for this day and see.</p> +<p>You see at once that this epistle is written in the same +spirit as our Lord’s words: by God’s Spirit, in +short; the Spirit which brought the Lord Jesus so condescendingly +to the wedding feast; the Spirit which made Him care so heartily +for the common pleasures of those around Him. My friends, +these are not commands to one class, but to all. Poor as +well as rich may show mercy with cheerfulness, and love without +dissimulation. Poor as well as rich may minister to others +with earnestness, and condescend to those of low estate. +Not a word in this whole epistle which does not apply equally to +every rank, and sex, and age.</p> +<p>Neither are these commands to each of us by ourselves, but to +all of us together, as members of a family. If you will +look through them they are not things to be done to ourselves, +but to our neighbours; not experiences to be felt about our own +souls: but rules of conduct to our fellow-men. They are all +different branches and flowers from that one root: “Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”</p> +<p>Do we live thus, rich or poor? Can we look each other in +the face this afternoon and say, each man to his neighbour: +“I have behaved like a brother to you. I have +rejoiced at your good fortune, and grieved at your sorrow. +I have preferred you to myself. I have loved you without +dissimulation. I have been earnest in my place and duty in +the parish for the sake of the common good of all. I have +condescended to those of lower rank than myself. I +have—” Ah, my dear friends, I had better not go +on with the list. God forgive us all! The less we try +to justify ourselves on this score the better. Some of us +do indeed try to behave like brothers and sisters to their +neighbours; but how few of us; and those few how little! +And yet we are brothers. We are members of one family, sons +of one Father, joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who sat +eating and drinking at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and +mixed freely in the joys and the sorrows of the poorest and +meanest. Joint-heirs with Christ; yet how unlike Him! +My friends, we need to repent and amend our ways; we need to +confess, every one of us, rich and poor, the pride, the +selfishness, the carelessness about each other, which keeps us so +much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so little +for each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of +you. Those who have behaved most like brothers, will be +most ready to confess how little they have behaved like +brothers. Confess: “Father, I have sinned against +heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy +son, for I have not loved, cared for, helped my brothers and +sisters round, who are just as much thy children as I +am.” Pray for the spirit of Jesus, the spirit of +condescension, love, fellow-feeling; that spirit which rejoices +simply and heartily with those who are happy, and feels for +another’s sorrows as if they were its own. Pray for +it; for till it comes, there will be no peace on earth. +Pray for it; for when it comes and takes possession of your +hearts, and you all really love and live like brothers, children +of one Father, the kingdom of God will be come indeed, and His +will be done on earth as it is in heaven.</p> +<h2><a name="page482"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +482</span><span class="GutSmall">XLVIII.</span><br /> +PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE.</h2> +<blockquote><p>And He put forth a parable to those which were +bidden, when He marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying +unto them, when thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not +down in the highest room, lest a more honourable man than thou be +bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to +thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the +lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in +the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say +unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in +the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For +whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth +himself shall be exalted.—<span class="smcap">Luke</span> +xiv. 7–11.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><span class="smcap">We</span> heard in the gospel for to-day +how the Lord Jesus put forth a parable to those who were invited +to a dinner with Him at the Pharisee’s house. A +parable means an example of any rules or laws; a story about some +rule, by hearing which people may see how the rule works in +practice, and understand it. Now, our Lord’s parables +were about the kingdom of God. They were examples of the +rules and laws by which the kingdom of God is governed and +carried on. Therefore He begins many of His parables by +saying, The kingdom of God is like something—something +which people see daily, and understand more or less. +“The kingdom of God is like a field;” “The +kingdom of God is like a net;” “The kingdom of God is +like a grain of mustard seed;” and so forth. And even +where He did not begin one of His parables by speaking of the +kingdom of God, we may be still certain that it has to do with +the kingdom of God. For the one great reason why the Lord +was made flesh and dwelt among us, was to preach the kingdom of +God, His Father and our Father, and to prove to men that God was +their King, even at the price of his most precious blood. +And, therefore, everything which He ever did, and everything +which He ever spoke, had to do with this one great work of +His. This parable, therefore, which you heard read in the +gospel for to-day, has to do with the kingdom of God, and is an +example of the laws of it.</p> +<p>Now, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while +to consider. For at baptism we were declared members of the +kingdom of God; we were to renounce the world, and to live +according to the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is +simply the way in which God governs men; and the world is the way +in which men try to manage without God’s help or +leave. That is the difference between them; and a most +awful difference it is. Men fancy that they can get on well +enough without God; that the ways of the world are very +reasonable, and useful, and profitable, and quite good enough to +live by, if not to die by. But all the while God is King, +let them fancy what they like; and this earth, and everything on +it, from the king on his throne to the gnat in the sunbeam, is +under His government, and must obey His laws or die. We are +in God’s kingdom, my good friends, every one of us, whether +we like it or not, and we shall be there for ever and ever. +And our business is, therefore, simply to find out what are the +laws of that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as +possible, and live for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and +get in their way, they should grind us to powder.</p> +<p>Now, here is one of the laws of God’s kingdom: +“Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever +abaseth himself shall be exalted.” That is, +whosoever, in any way whatsoever, sets himself up, will be pulled +down again: while he who is contented to keep low, and think +little of himself, will be raised up and set on high. Now +the world’s rule is the exact opposite of this. The +world says, Every man for himself. The way of the world is +to struggle and strive for the highest place; to be a pushing +man, and a rising man, and a man who will stand stiffly by his +rights, and give his enemy as good as he brings, and beat his +neighbour out of the market, and show off himself to the best +advantage, and try to make the most of whatever wit or money he +has to look well in the world, that people may look up to him and +flatter him and obey him; and so the world has no objection to +people’s pretending to be better than they are. Every +man must do the best he can for himself, the world says, and +never mind his neighbours: they must take care of themselves; and +if they are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the worse for +them. So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, +when he has anything to sell, making it out better than it really +is, and hiding the fault in it as far as he can. When a +tradesman or manufacturer sends about “puffs” of his +goods, and pretends that they are better and cheaper than other +people’s, just to get custom by it, the world does not call +that what it is—boasting and lying. It says: +“Of course a man must do the best he can for himself. +If a man does not praise himself, nobody else will praise him; he +cannot expect his neighbours to take him for better than his own +words.” So again, if a man wants a place or +situation, the world thinks it no harm if he gives the most showy +character of himself, and gets his friends to say all the good of +him they can, and a great deal more, and to say none of the +harm—in short, to make himself out a much better, or +shrewder, or worthier man than he really is. The world does +not call that either what it is—boasting, and lying, and +thrusting oneself into callings to which God has not called +us. The world says: “Of course a man must turn his +best side outwards. You cannot expect a man to tell tales +on himself.”</p> +<p>And, my friends, the world would be quite right, and +reasonable, and prudent, in telling us to push, and boast, and +lie, and puff ourselves and our goods, if it were not for one +thing which the foolish blind world is always forgetting, and +that is, that there is a God who judges the earth. If God +were not our King; if He took no care of us men and our doings; +if mankind had it all their own way on earth, and were forced to +shift for themselves without any laws of God to guide them, then +the best thing every man could do would be to fight for himself; +to get all he could for himself, and leave as little as he could +for his neighbours; to make himself out as great, and wise, and +strong, as he could, and try to make his neighbours buy him at +his own price. That would be the best plan for every man, +if God was not King; and therefore the world says that that is +the best plan for every man, because the world does not believe +that God is King, and hates the notion that God is King, and +laughs at and persecutes, as Jesus Christ said it would, those +who preach the kingdom of God, and tell men, as I tell you in +God’s name: “You were not made to be selfish; you +were not meant to rise in the world by boasting and pushing down +and deceiving your neighbours. For you are subjects of +God’s kingdom; and to do so is to break his laws, and to +put yourselves under His curse; and however worldly-wise all this +selfishness and boasting may seem, it is sin, whose wages are +death and ruin.”</p> +<p>For, my friends, let the world try to forget God as it will, +He does not forget the world. Let men try to make rules and +laws for themselves, rules about religion, rules about +government, rules about trade, rules about morals and what they +fancy is just and fair; let them make as many rules as they like, +they are only wasting their time; for God has made His rules +already, and revealed them to us in the Bible, and told us that +the earth and mankind are governed in His way, and not in ours, +and that He will not alter His everlasting rules to suit our new +ones. As David says: “Let the people be never so +unquiet, still the Lord is King.”</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, it is very easy to say all this, but it is not +so easy to believe it. Every one, every respectable person +at least, is ready enough to talk about God, and God’s +will, and so forth. But when it comes to practice; when it +comes to doing God’s will, and not our own; when it comes +to obeying His direct and plain commands, and not the fashions +and maxims which men have invented for themselves; when it comes +to giving up what we long for, because He has said that if we try +after it in our own way, and not in His, we shall never have it +at all, then comes the trial; then comes the time to see whether +we believe that God is the King of the earth or not; then comes +the time to see whether we have renounced the world, and +determined to live as God’s sons in God’s kingdom, or +whether our religion is some form of words, or way of thinking +and feeling which we hope may save our souls from hell, but which +has nothing to do with our daily life and conduct, and leaves us +just as worldly as any heathen, in all our dealings with our +fellow-men, from Monday morning to Saturday night. Then +comes the time to try our faith in God.</p> +<p>And then, alas! it comes out, in these evil, and godless, and +hypocritical times in which we live, that many a man who fancies +himself religious, and respectable, and blameless, and what not, +no more really believes that he is living in God’s kingdom +than the heathen do. And if you ask him, you will find out +most probably that he fancies that God’s kingdom is not on +earth now, but that it will be on earth some day. A cunning +delusion of the devil, that, my friends! To make us go his +way while we fancy that we are going our own way. To make +us say to ourselves: “Ah! it is very unfortunate that God +is not King of the earth now. Of course He will be after +the resurrection, in the new heaven and the new earth, where +there will be no sin. But He is not King now; this world is +given over to sin and the devil, so fallen and ruined and corrupt +that—that—that, in short, we cannot be expected to +behave like God’s children in it, but must just follow the +ways of the world, and live by ambition, and selfishness, and +cunning, and boasting, and competing in this life; a life of +love, and justice, and humbleness, and fellow-help, and mercy, +and self-sacrifice is impossible in such a world as this; we +cannot live like angels, till we get to heaven!” So +say nine people out of ten; the devil deceiving them, and their +own hearts, alas! being but too glad to catch at the excuse for +sin which the devil gives them, when he tells them that this +present earth is not God’s kingdom; and so they go and act +accordingly, selfish, grudging, pushing, boastful, every +man’s hand against his neighbour and for himself, till they +succeed too often in making this earth as fearfully like the +devil’s kingdom as it is possible for God’s kingdom +to be made.</p> +<p>But what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that +he who sets himself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself +low shall be set up? What has it to do with the text? +It has everything to do with the text. If people really +believed that they were God’s subjects and children in +God’s kingdom, they would not need to ask that question +long.</p> +<p>If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in +anyone setting up himself. If God is really the King of the +earth, those who set up themselves must be certain to be brought +down from their high thoughts and high assumptions sooner or +later. For if God is really the King of the earth, He must +be the one to set people up, and not they themselves. Look +again at the parable. The man who asks the guests to dine +with him has surely a right to place each of them where he +likes. The house is his, the dinner is his. He has a +right to invite whom he likes; and he has a right to settle where +they shall sit. If they choose their own places—if +any guest takes upon himself to seat himself at the head of the +table, because he thinks it his right, he offends against all +rules of right feeling and propriety toward the man who has +invited him. All he has a right to expect is, that his host +will not put him in the wrong place, that he will settle all +places at his table according to people’s real rank and +deserts, and as our Testaments say, put “the worthiest man +in the highest room.” And if people really believed +in God, which very few do, they would surely expect no less of +God. What gentleman, farmer, or labourer is there, with +common sense and good feeling, who would not show most respect to +the most respectable persons who came into his house, and send +his best and trustiest workmen about his most important +errands? True, he might make mistakes, and worse. +Being a weak man, he might be tempted to put the rich sinner in a +higher place than the poor saint: or he might, from private +fancy, be blinded about his workmen’s characters, and so +send a worse man, because he was his favourite, to do what +another man whom he did not fancy as well might do a great deal +better. But you cannot suspect God of that. He is no +respecter of persons—whether a man be rich or poor, no +matter to God: all which He inquires into is—Is he +righteous or unrighteous, wise or foolish, able to do his work or +unable? And God can make no mistakes about people’s +characters. As St. Paul says of the Lord Jesus: “The +Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing through +to the dividing of the very joints and marrow, so that all things +are naked and open in the sight of Him with whom we have to +do.” There is no blinding God, no hiding from God, no +cheating God, just as there is no flattering God. He knows +what each and every one of us is fit for. He knows what +each and every one of us is worth; and what is more, He knows +what we ought to know, that each and every one of us is worth +nothing without Him. Therefore there is no use pretending +to be better than we are. God knows just how good we are, +and will reward us, even in this life only according as we +deserve, in spite of all our boasting. There is no use +pretending to be wiser than we are. For all the wisdom we +have comes from God; and if we pretend to have more than we have, +and by that greatest act of folly, show that we have no wisdom at +all, He will take from us even what we have, and make all our +cunning plans come to nothing, and prove us fools, just when we +fancy ourselves most clever. There is no use being +ambitious and pushing, and trying to scramble up on our +neighbours’ shoulders. For we were not sent into this +world to do what we like, but what God likes; not to work for +ourselves, but to work for God; and God knows exactly how much +good each of us can do, and what is the best place for us to do +it in, and how to teach and enable us to do it; and if we choose +to be taught, He will teach us; and if we choose to go His way, +and do His work, He will help us to it. But if we will not +have his way, He will not let us have our own way—not at +first, at least. He will bring our plans to nothing, and +let us make fools of ourselves, and bring in sudden accidents of +which we never dreamed, just to show us that we are not our own +masters, and cannot cut out our own roads through life. And +if we take His lesson, and go to Him to teach and strengthen +us—well: and if not—then perhaps—which is the +most awful misery which can happen to any man in earth—God +may give up teaching us during this life, and let us have our own +way, and be filled with the fruit of our own devices; from which +worst of punishments may He in His mercy, save you, and me, and +all belonging to us, in this life and in the life to come.</p> +<p>But some of you may say: “We understand the first half +of the text very well, and like it very well; we all think it +just that those who set themselves up should have a fall, and we +are very glad to see them have a fall: but we do not see why he +who abases himself should have any right to be +exalted.” Ah, my friends, it is much easier, and +needs much less knowledge of God, and much less of the likeness +of Christ, to see what is wrong, than to see what is right. +Every man knows when a bone is broken, but it is not every one +who can set it again. Nevertheless, there is a sort of +left-handed reason in that argument. For a man has no more +right to make himself out worse than he is, than he has to make +himself out better than he is. A man should confess to +being just what he is, neither more nor less. Nevertheless, +he who humbles himself shall be exalted.</p> +<p>Of course I do not mean those who, like some I know, make a +fawning humble way of talking a cloak for their own self-conceit; +who call themselves miserable sinners all the time that they are +fancying that they are almost the only people in the world who +are sure of being saved, whatever they do; who, as some do, +actually pride themselves on their own convictions of sin, and +glory in their own shame, and despise those who will not slander +themselves as they do.</p> +<p>They are equally hateful to God and to God’s +enemies. If you and I are disgusted at such hypocritical +self-conceit, be sure the Lord Jesus is far more pained at it +than we are; for as a wise man says: “The devil’s +darling sin is the pride that apes humility.”</p> +<p>But let a man really be convinced of sin; let a man really +believe in the Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement; let a man +really believe in the Holy Spirit; and that man will have little +need to ask why he should humble himself more than he deserves, +and little wish to boast of himself, and push himself forward, +and get praise, or riches, or power in the world. For that +man would say to himself: “I, sinner as I am; I, who know +that I do so many wrong things daily; things so wrong that it +required the blood of the Son of God to wash out the guilt of +them—who am I to set myself up? I cannot be faithful +in a little—why should I try to be ruler over much? I +cannot use properly the blessings and the power which God does +give me—must I not take for granted that, if I had more +riches, more power, I should use them still worse? I know +well enough of a thousand sins, and weaknesses and ignorances in +myself which my neighbours never see. I believe, therefore, +my neighbours have much too good an opinion of me, and not too +bad a one; and therefore I am not going to boast or puff myself +to them. I can only thank God they do not see the inside of +this foolish heart of mine as well as He does! In short, I +am not going to set myself up, and try to get a higher place +among men than I have already, because I am certain that I have +already a ten times better one than I deserve.”</p> +<p>Or again, if a man really believed in the Holy Ghost, which is +much the same as really believing in the kingdom of God; if he +really believed that God was the King and Master of his heart and +soul; if he really believed that everything good, and right, and +wise in him came from God’s Holy Spirit, and that +everything wrong and foolish in him came from himself and the +devil; then he would surely say to himself: “Who am I to +try to set myself up above my neighbours, and get power over +them; what have I that I did not receive? Whatever money, +or station, or cleverness, or power of mind I have, God has given +me, and without Him I should be nothing. Therefore, He only +gave me these talents to use for Him, and if I use them for my +own ends, I shall be misusing them, and trying to rob God of His +own. I am His child, His subject, His steward; He has put +me just in that place in His earth which is most fit for me, and +my business is, not to try to desert my post, and to wander out +of the place here He has put me, but to see that I do the duty +which lies nearest me, so that I shall be able to give an account +to Him. It is only if I am faithful in a few things, that I +can expect God to make me ruler over many things.” +Ah, my friends, if we could but see ourselves, not as we fancy we +are, nor as others fancy we are, but just as we really are, then, +instead of pushing, and boasting, and standing stiffly by our +rights, and fancying that God and man are unjust to us, we should +be crying out all day long with the prodigal son: “Father, +I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more +worthy to be called thy son.” We should say with St. +Paul—who, after all, remember, was the wisest, and most +learned, and noblest-hearted of all the Apostles—that we +are at best the chief of sinners. We should feel like the +dear and blessed Magdalene of old, the pattern for ever of all +true penitents, that it was quite honour enough to be allowed to +wash Christ’s feet with our tears, while every one round us +sneered at us and looked down upon us—as, after all, we +deserve. And so, believe me, we should be exalted. It +would pay us, if payment is what we want. For so we should +be in a more right, more true, more healthy, more wise, more +powerful state of mind; more like Jesus Christ, and therefore +more likely to be sent to do Christ’s work, and share +Christ’s reward. For this is the great law of the +kingdom of God in which we live, that man is nothing, and God is +everything; and that we are strong and wise, and something, only +when we find out that we are weak and foolish, and nothing, and +go to our Father in heaven for strength, and wisdom, and +spiritual eternal life. And then we find out how true it is +that he who humbles himself, as he deserves, will be raised up; +how he who loses his life will save it; how blessed are the poor +in spirit, those who feel that they have nothing but what God +chooses to give them; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! +How blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; +who feel that they are not doing right, and yet cannot rest till +they do right; for they shall be filled! How blessed are +the meek, who do not set up themselves, or try to fight their own +battles, and compete with their neighbours in the great scramble +and struggle of this world; for they—just the last persons +whom the world would expect to do it—shall inherit the +earth! Choose, my friends, choose! The world says: +“Push upwards, praise yourself, help yourself, put your +best side outwards.” The great God who made heaven +and earth says: “Know that you are weak, and foolish, and +sinful in yourself. Know that whatever wisdom you have, I +the Lord lent you; and I the Lord expect the interest of my +loan. Know that you are my child in my Kingdom. Stay +where I have put you, and when I want you for something better, I +will call you; and if you try to rise without my calling you, I +will only drive you back again.” So the only way to +be ruler over much, is first to be faithful in a little. My +friends, which of the two do you think is likely to know best, +man or God?</p> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> +<p><a name="footnote217"></a><a href="#citation217" +class="footnote">[217]</a> In 1848–49.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 8202-h.htm or 8202-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/8/2/0/8202 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Sermons on National Subjects + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8202] +[This file was first posted on July 1, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS *** + + + + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS + + + + +I--THE KING OF THE EARTH + + + +FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. +[Preached in 1849.] + +Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.--MATTHEW xxi. 4. + +This Sunday is the first of the four Sundays in Advent. During those +four Sundays, our forefathers have advised us to think seriously of +the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ--not that we should neglect to +think of it at all times. As some of you know, I have preached to +you about it often lately. Perhaps before the end of Advent you will +all of you, more or less, understand what all that I have said about +the cholera, and public distress, and the sins of this nation, and +the sins of the labouring people has to do with the coming of our +Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend, especially in my next four sermons, +to speak my whole mind to you about this matter as far as God has +shown it to me; taking the Collect, Epistle, and Gospels, for each +Sunday in Advent, and explaining them. I am sure I cannot do better; +for the more I see of those Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and the +way in which they are arranged, the more I am astonished and +delighted at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the wise order in +which they follow each other, and fit into each other. It is very +fit, too, that we should think of our Lord's coming at this season of +the year above all others; because it is the hardest season--the +season of most want, and misery, and discontent, when wages are low, +and work is scarce, and fuel is dear, and frosts are bitter, and +farmers and tradesmen, and gentlemen, too, are at their wits' end to +square their accounts, and pay their way. Then is the time that the +evils of society come home to us--that our sins, and our sorrows, +which, after all, are the punishment of our sins, stare us in the +face. Then is the time, if ever, for men's hearts to cry out for a +Saviour, who will deliver them out of their miseries and their sins; +for a Heavenly King who will rule them in righteousness, and do +justice and judgment on the earth, and see that those who are in need +and necessity have right; for a Heavenly Counsellor who will guide +them into all truth--who will teach them what they are, and whither +they are going, and what the Lord requires of them. I say the hard +days of winter are a fit time to turn men's hearts to Christ their +King--the fittest of all times for a clergyman to get up in his +pulpit, as I do now, and tell his people, as I tell you, that Jesus +Christ your King has not forgotten you--that He is coming speedily to +judge the world, and execute justice and judgment for the meek of the +earth. + +Now do not be in a hurry, and fancy from what I have just said, that +I am one of those who think the end of the world is at hand. It may +be, for aught I know. "Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, not +even the angels of God, nor the Son, but the Father only." If you +wish for my own opinion, I believe that what people commonly call the +end of the world, that is, the end of the earth and of mankind on it, +is not at hand at all. As far as I can judge from Scripture, and +from the history of all nations, the earth is yet young, and mankind +in its infancy. Five thousand years hence, our descendants may be +looking back on us as foolish barbarians, in comparison with what +they know: just as we look back upon the ignorance of people a +thousand years ago. And yet I believe that the end of this world, in +the real Scripture sense of the word "world," is coming very quickly +and very truly--The end of this system of society, of these present +ways in religion, and money-making, and conducting ourselves in all +the affairs of life, which we English people have got into nowadays. +The end of it is coming. It cannot last much longer; for it is +destroying itself. It will not last much longer; for Christ and not +the devil is the King of the earth. As St. Paul said to his people, +so say I to you, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." + +These may seem strange words, but almost every one is saying them, in +his own way. One large party among religious people in these days is +complaining that Christ has left His Church, and that the cause of +Christianity will be ruined and lost, unless some great change takes +place. Another large party of religious people say, that the +prophecies are on the point of being all fulfilled that the 1260 +days, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, are just coining to an end; +and that Christ is coming with His saints, to reign openly upon earth +for a thousand years. The wisest philosophers and historians of late +years have been all foretelling a great and tremendous change in +England, and throughout all Europe; and in the meantime, +manufacturers and landlords, tradesmen and farmers, artisans and +labourers, all say, that there MUST be a change and will be a change. +I believe they are all right, every one of them. They put it in +their words; I think it better to put it in the Scripture words, and +say boldly, "Jesus Christ, the King of the earth, is coming." + +But you will ask, "What right have you to stand up and say anything +so surprising?" My friends, the world is full of surprising things, +and this age above all ages. It was not sixty years ago, that a +nobleman was laughed at in the House of Lords for saying that he +believed that we should one day see ships go by steam; and now there +are steamers on every sea and ocean in the world. Who expected +twenty years ago to see the whole face of England covered with these +wonderful railroads? Who expected on the 22nd of February last year, +that, within a single month, half the nations of Europe, which looked +so quiet and secure, would be shaken from top to bottom with +revolution and bloodshed--kings and princes vanishing one after the +other like a dream--poor men sitting for a day as rulers of kingdoms, +and then hurled down again to make room for other rulers as +unexpected as themselves? Can anyone consider the last fifty years?-- +can anyone consider that one last year, 1848, and then not feel that +we do live in a most strange and awful time? a time for which nothing +is too surprising--a time in which we all ought to be prepared, from +the least to the greatest, to see the greatest horrors and the +greatest blessings come suddenly upon us, like a thief in the night? +So much for Christ's coming being too wonderful a thing to happen +just now. Still you are right to ask: "What do you mean by Christ's +being our King? what do you mean by His coming to us? What reason +have you for supposing that He is coming NOW, rather than at any +other time? And if He be coming, what are we to do? What is there +we ought to repent of? what is there we ought to amend?" + +Well, my friends--it is just these very questions which I hope and +trust God will help me to answer to you, in my next few sermons--I am +perfectly convinced that we must get them answered and act upon them +speedily. I am perfectly convinced that if we go on as most of us +are going in England now, the Lord of us all will come in an hour +when we are not aware, and cut us asunder in the deepest and most +real sense, as He came and cut asunder France, Germany, and Austria +only last year, and appoint us our portion with the unbelievers. And +I believe that our punishment will be seven times as severe as that +of either France, Germany, or Austria, because we have had seven +times their privileges and blessings, seven times their Gospel light +and Christian knowledge, seven times their freedom and justice in +laws and constitution; seven times their wealth, and prosperity, and +means of employing our population. Much has been given to England, +and of her much will be required. And if you could only see the +state of mankind over the greatest part of the globe, how infinitely +fewer opportunities they have of knowing God's will than you have, +you would feel that to you, poor and struggling as some of you are-- +to you much has been given, and of you much will be required. + +Now first, what do I mean by Christ being our king? I daresay there +are some among you who are inclined to think that, when we talk of +Christ being a king, that the word king means something very +different from its common meaning--and, God knows, that that is true +enough. Our blessed Lord took care to make people understand that-- +how He was not like one of the kings of the nations, how His kingdom +was not of this world. But yet the Bible tells us again and again +that all good kings, all real kings, are patterns of Christ; and, +therefore, that when we talk of Christ being a king, we mean that He +is a king in everything that a king ought to be; that He fulfils +perfectly all the duties of a king; that He is the pattern which all +kings ought to copy. Kings have been in all ages too apt to forget +that, and, indeed, so have the people too. We English have forgotten +most thoroughly in these days, that Christ is our king, or even a +king at all. We talk of Christ being a "spiritual" king, and then we +say that that merely means that He is king of Christians' hearts. +And when anyone asks what that means, it comes out, that all we mean +is, that Christ has a very great influence over the hearts of +believing Christians--when He can obtain it; or else that it means +that He is king of a very small number of people called the elect, +whom He has chosen out, but that He has absolutely nothing to do with +the whole rest of the world. And then, when anyone stands up with +the Bible in his hand, and says, in the plain words of Scripture: +"Christ is not only the king of believers, He is the king of the +whole earth; the king of the clouds and the thunder, the king of the +land and the cattle, and the trees, and the corn, and to whomsoever +He will He giveth them. Christ is not only the king of believers--He +is the king of all--the king of the wicked, of the heathen, of those +who do not believe Him, who never heard of Him. Christ is not only +the king of a few individual persons, one here and one there in every +parish, but He is the king of every nation. He is the king of +England, by the grace of God, just as much as Queen Victoria is, and +ten thousand times more." If any man talks in this way, people +stare--think him an enthusiast--ask him what new doctrine this is, +and call his words unscriptural, just because they come out of +Scripture and not out of men's perversions and twistings of +Scripture. Nevertheless Christ is King; really and truly King of +Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will make men know it. What He was, +that He is and ever will be; there is no change in Him; His kingdom +is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endureth throughout all +ages, and woe unto those, small or great, who rebel against Him! + +But what sort of a king is He? He is a king of law, and order, and +justice. He is not selfish, fanciful, self-willed. He said himself +that He came not to do His own will, but His Father's. He is a king +of gentleness and meekness too: but do not mistake that. There is +no weak indulgence in Him. A man may be very meek, and yet stern +enough and strong enough. Moses was the meekest of men, we read, and +yet He made those who rebelled against him feel that he was not to be +trifled with. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram found that to their cost. +He would not even spare his own brother Aaron, his own sister Miriam, +when they rebelled. And he was right. He showed his love by it; +indulgence is not love. It is no sign of meekness, but only of +cowardice and carelessness, to be afraid to rebuke sin. Moses knew +that he was doing God's work, that he was appointed to make a great +nation of those slavish besotted Jews, his countrymen; that he was +sent by God with boundless blessings to them; and woe to whoever +hindered him from that. Because he loved the Jews, therefore he +dared punish those who tempted them to forget the promised land of +Canaan, or break God's covenant, in which lay all their hope. + +And such a one is our King, my friends; Jesus Christ the Son of God. +Like Moses, says St. Paul, He is faithful in all His office. +Therefore He is severe as well as gentle. He was so when on earth. +With the poor, the outcast, the neglected, those on whom men +trampled, who was gentler than the Lord Jesus? To the proud +Pharisee, the canting Scribe, the cunning Herodian, who was sterner +than the Lord Jesus? Read that awful 23rd chapter of St. Matthew, +and then see how the Saviour, the lamb dumb before His shearers, He +of whom it was said "He shall not strive nor cry, nor shall His voice +be heard in the streets"--how He could speak when He had occasion. . +. . "Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" "Ye serpents, +ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" + +My friends, those were the words of our King; of Him in whom was +neither passion nor selfishness; who loved us even to the death, and +endured for us the scourge, the cross, the grave. And believe me, +such are His words now; though we do not hear Him, the heaven and the +earth hear Him and obey Him. His message is pardon, mercy, +deliverance to the sorrowful, and the oppressed, and the neglected; +and to the proud, the tyrannical, the self-righteous, the +hypocritical, tribulation and anguish, shame and woe. + +Because He is the Saviour, therefore He is a consuming fire to all +those who try to hinder Him from saving men. Because He is the Son +of God, He will sweep out of His Father's kingdom all who offend, and +whosoever maketh and loveth a lie. Because He is boundless mercy and +love, therefore He will show no mercy to those who try to stop His +purposes of love. Because He is the King of men, the enemies of +mankind are His enemies; and He will reign till He has put them all +under His feet. + + + +II--HOLY SCRIPTURE + + + +SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + +Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our +example, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, +might have hope.--ROMANS xv. 4. + +"Whatsoever was written aforetime." There is no doubt, I think, that +by these words St. Paul means the Bible; that is, the Old Testament, +which was the only part of the Bible already written in his time. +For it is of the Psalms which he is speaking. He mentions a verse +out of the 69th Psalm, "The reproaches of Him that reproached thee +fell on me;" which, he says, applies to Christ just as much as it did +to David, who wrote it. Christ, he says, pleased not Himself any +more than David, but suffered willingly and joyfully for God's sake, +because He knew that He was doing God's work. And we, he goes on to +say, must do the same; do as Christ did; we must not please +ourselves, but every one of us please our brother for his good and +edification; that is, in order to build him up, strengthen him, make +him wiser, better, more comfortable. For, he says, Christ pleased +not Himself, but like David, lived only to help others; and therefore +this verse out of David's Psalms, "The reproaches of them that +reproached thee fell on me," is a lesson to us; a pattern of what we +ought to feel, and do, and suffer. "For whatsoever was written +aforetime," all these ancient psalms and prophets, and histories of +men and nations who trusted in God, "were written for our example, +that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have +hope." + +Yes, my friends, this is true; and the longer you live a life of +faith and godliness, the longer you read and study that precious Book +of books which God has put so freely into your hands in these days, +the more true you will find it. And if it was true of the Old +Testament, written before the Lord came down and dwelt among men, how +much more must it be true of the New Testament, which was written +after His coming by apostles and evangelists, who had far fuller +light and knowledge of the Lord than ever David or the old prophets, +even in their happiest moments, had. Ah, what a treasure you have, +every one of you, in those Bibles of yours, which too many of you +read so little! From the first chapter of Genesis to the last of +Revelations, it is all written for our example, all profitable for +teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in +righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly +furnished for all good works. Ah! friends, friends, is not this the +reason why so many of you do not read your Bibles, that you do not +wish to be furnished for good works?--do not wish to be men of God, +godly and godlike men, but only to be men of the world, caring only +for money and pleasure?--some of you, alas! not wishing to be men and +women at all, but only a sort of brute beasts with clothes on, given +up to filth and folly, like the animals that perish, or rather worse +than the animals, for they could be no better if they tried, but you +might be. Oh! what might you not be, what are you not already, if +you but knew it! Members of Christ, children of God, heirs of the +kingdom of heaven, heirs of a hope undying, pure, that will never +fade away, having a right given you by the promise and oath of +Almighty God himself, to hope for yourselves, for your neighbours, +for this poor distracted world, for ever and ever; a right to believe +that there is an everlasting day of justice, and peace, and happiness +in store for the whole world, and that you, if you will, may have +your share in that glorious sunrise which shall never set again. You +may have your share in it, each and every one of you; and if you ask +why, go to the Scriptures, and there read the promises of God, the +grounds of your just hope, for all heaven and earth. + +First, of hope for yourselves.--I say first for yourselves, not +because a man is right in being selfish, and caring only for his own +soul, but because a man must care for his own soul first, if he ever +intends to care for others; a man must have hope for himself first, +if he is to have hope for others. He may stop there, and turn his +religion into a selfish superstition, and spend his life in asking +all day long, "Shall I be saved, shall I be damned?" or worse still, +in chuckling over his own good fortune, and saying to himself, "I +shall be saved, whoever else is damned;" but whether he ends there or +not, he must begin there; begin by trying to get himself saved. For +if he does not know what is right and good for himself, how can he +tell what is right and good for others? If he wishes to bring his +neighbours out of their sins, he must surely first have been brought +out of his own sins, and so know what forgiveness and sanctification +means. If he wishes to make others at peace with God, he must first +be at peace with God himself, to know what God's peace is. If he +wants to teach others their duty, he must first know his own duty, +for all men's duty is one and the same. If he wishes to have hope +for the world, he must first have hope for himself, for he is in the +world, a part of it, and he must learn what blessings God intends for +him, and they will teach him what blessings God has in store for the +earth. Faith and hope, like charity, must begin at home. By +learning the corruption of our own hearts, we learn the corruption of +human nature. By learning what is the only medicine which can cure +our own sick hearts, we learn what is the only medicine which can +cure human nature. We learn by our own experience, that God is all- +forgiving love; that His peace shines bright upon the soul which +casts itself utterly on Jesus Christ the Lord for pardon, strength, +and safety; that God's Spirit is ready and able to raise us out of +all our sin, and sottishness, and weakness, and wilfulness, and +selfishness, and renew us into quite new men, different characters +from what we used to be; and so, by having hope for ourselves, we +learn step by step and year by year to have hope for our friends, for +our neighbours, and for the whole world. + +For that is another great lesson which the Bible teaches us--hope for +the world. Men say to us, "This world has always gone on ill, and +will always go on so. Tyrants and knaves and hypocrites have always +had the power in it; idlers have always had the enjoyment of it; +while the humble, and industrious, and godly, who would not foul +their hands with the wicked ways of the world, have been always +laughed at, neglected, oppressed, persecuted. The world," they say, +"is very bad, and we cannot live in it without giving way a little to +its badness, and going the old road." + +But he who, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, has hope, +can answer "Yes--and yet no." "Yes--we agree that the world has gone +on badly enough: perhaps we think the world worse than it thinks +itself; for God's Spirit has taught us to see sin, and shame, and +ruin, in many a thing which the world thinks right and reasonable. +And yet," says the true Christian man, "although we think the world +worse than anyone else thinks it, and are more unhappy than anyone +else about all the sin, and injustice, and misery we see in it, we +have the very strongest faith--we are perfectly certain--we are as +sure as if we saw it coming to pass here before us, that the world +will come right at last. For the Bible tells us that the Son of God +is the king of the world; that He has been the master and ruler of it +from the beginning. He, the Bible tells us, condescended to come +down on earth and be born in the likeness of a poor man, and die on +the cross for this poor world of His, that He might take away the +sins of it." "Behold the Lamb of God," said John the Baptist, "who +takes away the sin of the world." How dare we, who call ourselves +Christians, we who have been baptized into His name, we who have +tasted of His mercy, we who know the might of His love, the +converting and renewing power of His Spirit--how dare we doubt but +that He WILL take away the sins of the world? Ay; step by step, +nation by nation, year by year, the Lord shall conquer; love, and +justice, and wisdom shall spread and grow; for He must reign till He +has put all enemies under His feet. He has promised to take away the +sins of the world, and He is God, and cannot lie. There is the +Christian's hope: let him leave infidels to say "The world always +was bad, and it must remain so to the end;" the Christian ought to be +able to answer, "The world was bad, and is bad; but for that very +reason it will NOT remain so to the end: for the Lord and king of +the earth is boundless love, justice, goodness itself, and He will +thoroughly purge His floor, and cast out of His kingdom all things +that offend, and make in His good time the kingdoms of this world, +the kingdoms of God and of His Christ." + +"Ah but," someone may say, "that, if it ever happens at all, will not +happen till we are dead, and what part or lot shall WE have in it? we +who die in the midst of all this sin, and injustice, and distress?" +There again the Bible gives us hope: "I believe," says the Creed, +"in the resurrection of the flesh." The Bible teaches us to believe, +that we, each of us, as human beings, men and women, shall have a +share in that glorious day; not merely as ghosts, and disembodied +spirits--of which the Bible, thanks be to God, says little or +nothing, but as real live human beings, with new bodies of our own, +on a new earth, under a new heaven. "Therefore," says David, "my +flesh shall rest in hope;" not merely my soul, my ghost, but my +flesh. For the Lord, who not only died, but rose again with His +body, shall raise our bodies, according to the mighty working by +which He subdues all things to Himself; and then the whole manhood of +each of us, body, soul, and spirit, shall have one perfect +consummation and bliss, in His eternal and everlasting glory.--That +is our hope. If that is not a gospel, and good news from heaven to +poor distressed creatures in hovels, and on sick beds, to people +racked with life-long pain and disease, to people in crowded cities, +who never from week's end to week's end look on the green fields and +bright sky--if that is not good news, and a dayspring of boundless +hope from on high for them, what news can be? + +But how are we to get this hope? The text tells us; through comfort +of the Scriptures; through the strengthening and comforting promises, +and examples, and rules of God's gracious dealings which we find +therein. Through comfort of the Scriptures, but also through +patience. Ah, my friends, of that too we must think; we must, as St. +James says, "let patience have her perfect work," or else we shall +not be perfect ourselves. If we are hasty, self-conceited, covetous, +ready to help ourselves by the first means that come to hand; if we +are full of hard judgments about our neighbours, and doubts about +God's good purpose toward the world; in short, if we are not PATIENT, +the Bible will teach us little or nothing. It may make us +superstitious, bigoted, fanatical, conceited, pharisaical, but like +Jesus Christ the Lord it will not make us, unless we have patience. + +And where are we to get patience? God knows it is hard in such a +world as this for poor creatures to be patient always. But faith can +breed patience, though patience cannot breed itself;--and faith in +whom? Faith in our Father in heaven, even in the Almighty God +Himself. He calls Himself "the God of Patience and Consolation." +Pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will make you patient; pray for His +Holy Spirit, and He will console and comfort you. He has promised +That Spirit of His, The Spirit of love, trust, and patience--The +Comforter--to as many as ask Him. Ask Him now, this day--come to His +holy table this day, and ask Him to make you patient; ask Him to take +all the hastiness, and pride, and ill-temper, and self-will, and +greediness out of you, and to change your wills into the likeness of +His will. Then your eyes will be opened to understand His law. Then +you will see in the Scriptures a sure promise of hope and glory and +redemption for yourself and all the world. Then you will see in the +blessed sacrament of the Lord's body and blood, a sure sign and +warrant, handed down from land to land, and age to age, from year to +year, and from father to son, that these promises shall come true; +that hope shall become fact; that not one of the Lord's words shall +fail, or pass away, till all be fulfilled. + + + +III--THE KINGDOM OF GOD + + + +THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + +The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to +preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the +broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening +of the prison to them that are bound.--ISAIAH lxi. 1. + +My friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good +from this sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not that +I have to complain of you in general for not attending to me. I +thank God, and thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this +pulpit. But there are many people who have a bad trick of minding +the preacher carefully enough for a minute or two, and then letting +their wits wander, and think about something else; and then if any +word in the sermon strikes them, waking up suddenly, and thinking +again for a little, and then letting their thoughts run wild again; +and so on. Whereby it happens that they only recollect a few scraps +of the sermon, a word here, and a sentence there, and get into their +heads all sorts of mistakes and false notions about the preacher's +meaning. + +That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that +is only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and women +should listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, will +they be able to judge of the message which the preacher brings them. +Listen to me, therefore, all through this sermon, and may God give +you grace to understand it and lay it to heart, for it is the good +news of the kingdom of God. + +You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord +Jesus Christ's words would never pass away; that His prophecies are +continually coming true, and being fulfilled over and over again. +Now this text is not one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy +about Him; one which He fulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling +again and again. He is fulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever, +now in these very days. + +If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this +prophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first, +that Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, "That the Spirit of +the Lord was upon HIM"--Isaiah--"because the Lord had appointed HIM +to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, +and deliverance to the captives, to preach the acceptable year of the +Lord." Isaiah must have spoken truly about himself. He could not +have meant to tell a falsehood, to say a thing was true of himself +which was only true of Jesus, who did not come till 800 years +afterwards. And he did speak the truth: you cannot read his +prophecies without seeing that the Spirit of the Lord was indeed upon +him; that the words which he spoke must have comforted all those who +were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the nation in their +time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came true; that the +Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of Judaea to +Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah prophesied, +and the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and prosperity, +and happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800 years +afterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and said, +that HE fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish +synagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the +congregation, "This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears." +And again, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the +Baptist sent to ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of +another prophecy of Isaiah, and told John's disciples that He WAS the +Christ, because He was fulfilling that prophecy; because He WAS +making the deaf hear, and the blind see, and preaching the gospel to +the poor. Now, how is that? Could Isaiah be right in applying those +words to himself, and yet Christ be right in applying them to +Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice over? + +No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No prophecy +of Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. That is, +it does not apply to any one private, particular thing that is to +happen. Every prophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself more +and more, as time rolls on and the world grows older. St. Peter +tells us the reason why. No prophecy of Scripture is of private +interpretation; because it does not come from the will of man, from +any invention or discovery of poor short-sighted human beings, who +can only judge by what they see around them in their own times: but +holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. And who +is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the everlasting Spirit; the +Spirit who cannot change, for He IS God. The Spirit who searcheth +the deep things of God, and teaches them to men. And what are the +deep things of God? They are eternal as God is. Eternal laws; +everlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the meaning of it all. +The Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches men the laws of God; +the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which He governs all heaven +and earth, and men, and nations; the laws which come into force, not +once only, but always; the laws of God which are working round us +now, just as much as they were eighteen hundred years ago, just as +much as they were in Isaiah's time. Therefore it is, that I said +that these old Jewish prophecies, which were inspired by the Holy +Spirit, are coming true now, and will keep on coming true, time after +time, in their proper place and order, and whensoever the times are +fit for them, even to the end of the world. + +But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of +Christ, and shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ? +They must be eternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is +unchangeable--Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. +He is over all, God blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in +heaven and earth. He reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is +less a Saviour now, than He was when He spoke those things to John's +disciples? Do you think He is less able to hear and to help than He +was in John's time? Do you think He used to care about people's +bodies then, but that He only cares about their souls now? Do you +think that He is less compassionate, and less merciful, as well as +less powerful, than He was when He made the blind see, and the lame +walk, and the deaf hear, in Judaea of old? + +Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected that +Christ was MORE powerful, MORE compassionate, if that were possible. +At least one would expect that His power and compassion would show +itself more and more, and make itself felt more and more, year by +year, and age by age; more and more healing disease; more and more +comforting sorrow; more and still more casting out cunning and evil +spirits, till He had put all under His feet. He Himself said it +should be so. He always spoke of His own kingdom as a thing which +was to grow and increase by laws of its own, men knew not how, but He +knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His kingdom was, He said, at +first the smallest of all seeds; but it was to grow, and take root, +and spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the very birds in the +air lodged in the branches of it; and David's words should be +fulfilled, "Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast." And does not +St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom which +should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies under +His feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the earth +on which we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. Paul +says, the whole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to be +raised into a higher state. And it shall be raised. The whole +creation shall be set free into the glorious liberty of the children +of God. + +What does that mean? How can I tell you? + +This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was +merciful enough to heal people's bodies at first, but that He has +given up doing it now, and will never do it again. "Well, but," some +would say, "what does all this come to? You are merely telling us +what we knew before--that if any of us are cured from disease, or +raised up from a sick bed, it is all the Lord's doing." If you do +believe that, really, my friends, happy are you! Many of you, I +think, do believe it. The poor are more inclined to believe it, I +think, than the rich. But even in the mouths of the poor one often +hears words which make one suspect that they do NOT believe it. I am +very much afraid that a great many have got into the trick of saying +that it was God's mercy that they were cured, and that it pleased the +Lord to raise them up from a sick bed, very much as a piece of cant. +They say the words by rote, because they have been accustomed to hear +them said by others, without thinking of the meaning of them; just +as, on the other hand, a great many people curse and swear without +thinking of the awful oaths they use. Ay, and often enough the very +same persons will say that it was the Lord's mercy they were cured of +their sickness; and then, if they get into a passion, pray the very +same Lord to do that to the bodies and souls of their neighbours +which it is a shame to speak of here. Out of the same mouth proceed +blessings and cursings: showing that whether or not they are in +earnest in cursing, they are not earnest in blessing. + +Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ +who cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got +well, more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. They +would show forth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but in +their lives. You who believe--you who say--that Christ has cured +your sicknesses, show your faith by your works. Live like those who +are alive again from the dead; who are not your own, but bought with +a price, and bound to work for God with your bodies and your spirits, +which are His--then, and then only, can either God or man believe +you. + +Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people +do not mean what they say about this matter. I think too many say, +"It has pleased God," merely as an empty form of words, when all they +mean is, "What must be, must, and it cannot be helped." Else, why do +they say, "It has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?" What is the +use of saying, "It has pleased the Lord to cure me," when you say in +the same breath, "It has pleased the Lord to make me ill?" I know +you will say that, "Of course, whatever happens must be the Lord's +will; if it did not please Him it would not happen." I do not care +for such words; I will have nothing to do with them. I will neither +entangle you nor myself in those endless disputings and questions +about freewill and necessity, which never yet have come to any +conclusion, and never will, because they are too deep for poor short- +sighted human beings like us. "To the law and to the testimony," say +I. I will hold to the words of the Bible; what it says, I will say; +what it does not say I will not say, to please any man's system of +doctrines. And I say from the Bible that we have no more right to +say, "It has pleased the Lord to make me sick," than, "It has pleased +the Lord to make me a sinner." Scripture everywhere speaks of +sickness as a real evil and a curse--a breaking of the health, and +order, and strength, and harmony of God's creation. It speaks of +madmen as possessed with evil spirits; did THAT please God? The +woman who was bowed with a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift +herself up--did our Lord say that it had pleased God to make her a +wretched cripple? No; he spoke of her as this daughter of Israel, +whom Satan had bound, and not God, this eighteen years; and that was +His reason for healing her, even on the sabbath-day, because her +disease was not the work of God, but of the cruel, disordering, +destroying evil spirit which is at enmity with God. That was why +Christ cured her. And THAT--for this is the point I have been coming +to, step by step--that was the reason why, when John the Baptist sent +to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: "Go and show John +again those things which ye do see and hear: the blind receive their +sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, +the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to +them." + +Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant +merely: "Tell John what wonderful miracles I am working." If He had +meant that why would He have put in as the last proof that He was the +Christ, that He was preaching the gospel to the poor? What wonderful +miracle was there in THAT? No: it was as if He had said: "Go and +tell John that I am the Christ, because I am the great physician, the +healer and deliverer of body and soul: one who will and can cure the +loathsome diseases, the uselessness, the misery, the ignorance of the +poorest and meanest." He has proved Himself the Christ by showing +not only His boundless power, but His boundless love and mercy; and +THAT, not only to men's souls, but to their bodies also. To prove +Himself the Christ by wonderful and astonishing miracles was exactly +what He would not do. He refused, when the Scribes and Pharisees +came and asked of Him a sign from heaven to prove that He was Christ-- +wanting Him, I suppose, to bring some apparition, or fiery comet, or +great voice out of the sky, to astonish them with His power; He told +them peremptorily that He would give them no such thing: and yet He +said that His mighty works did prove Him to be Christ; He pronounced +woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida for not believing Him on account +of His mighty works: He told the Scribes and Pharisees that they +ought to believe on Him merely for His works' sake. And why would +they not believe on Him? Just because they could not see that God's +power was shown more in healing and delivering sufferers, than in +astonishing and destroying. They could not see that God's perfect +likeness shone out in Christ--that He was the express image of the +Father, just because He went about doing good, and healing all manner +of sicknesses and all manner of infirmities among the people. But so +it is, my friends! Jesus is the Saviour, the deliverer, the great +physician, the healer of soul and body. Not a pang is felt or a tear +shed on earth, but He sorrows over it. Not a human being on earth +dies young, but He, as I believe, sorrows over it. What it is which +prevents Him healing every sickness, soothing every sorrow, wiping +away every tear NOW, we cannot tell. But this we can tell, that it +is His will that none should perish. This we CAN tell; that He is +willing as ever to heal the sick, to cleanse the leper, to cast out +devils, to teach the ignorant, to bind up the broken-hearted. This +we CAN tell; that He will go on doing so more and more, year by year, +and age by age. This we CAN tell, from Scripture, that Christ is +stronger than the devil. This we can tell; that Christ, and all good +men, the spirits of just men made perfect, the wise and the great in +God's sight, who have left us their books, their sayings, their +writings, as precious health-giving heirlooms--have been fighting, +and are fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil, and +sin, and oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which +spoils and darkens the face of God's good earth. And this we CAN +tell; that they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger +than the devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than +darkness; God's Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is +stronger than all the evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness, +and cruelty, and superstition, which makes miserable the lives and, +as far as we can see, destroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say, +Christ's kingdom is a kingdom of health and deliverance for body and +soul; and it will conquer, and it will spread, and it will grow, till +the nations of the world have become the kingdoms of God and of His +Christ. Christ reigns, and Christ will reign till He has put all His +enemies under His feet; and the last of His enemies which shall be +destroyed is DEATH. Death is His enemy. He has conquered death by +rising from the dead. And the day will come when death will be no +more--when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and God shall wipe +away tears from all eyes. I say it again--never forget it--Christ is +King, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, and life, and +deliverance from all evil. It always has been so, from the first +time our Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be so to the end of +the world. And, therefore--to come back to the very place from which +I started at the beginning of my sermon--therefore, whenever one of +the days of the Lord is at hand, whenever God's kingdom makes a great +step forward, this same prophecy in our text is fulfilled in some +striking and wonderful way. And I say it is fulfilled now in these +days more than it ever has been. Christ is healing the sick, +cleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead, and +preaching the gospel to the poor, seven times more in these days in +which we live than He did when He walked upon earth in Judaea. + +Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure of +all diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, how +many more diseases are cured now than were formerly. One may say +that the knowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old. +Nothing, my friends, makes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and +blessed time we live in, and how Christ is showing forth mighty works +among us, than this same sudden miraculous improvement in the art of +healing, which has taken place within the memory of man. Any country +doctor now knows more, thank God, or ought to know, than the greatest +London physicians did two generations ago. New cures for deafness, +blindness, lameness, every disease that flesh is heir to, are being +discovered year by year. Oh, my friends! you little know what Christ +is doing among you, for your bodies as well as for your souls. There +is not a parish in England now in which the poorest as well as the +richest are not cured yearly of diseases, which, if they had lived a +hundred years ago, would have killed them without hope or help. And +then, when one looks at these great and blessed plans for what is +called sanitary reform, at the sickness and the misery which has been +done away with already by attending to them, even though they have +only just begun to be put in practice--our hearts must be hard indeed +if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of healing +far more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first +apostles. + +But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days. +Oh, my friends! which shows Christ's mercy most, to raise those who +are already dead, or to save those alive who are about to die? Those +in this church who have read history know as well as I, how in our +forefathers' time people died in England by thousands of diseases +which are scarcely ever deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now +actually vanished out of the land, before the new light of medicine +and of civilisation which Christ has revealed to us in these days. +For one child who lived and grew up in old times, two live and grow +up now. In London alone there are not half as many deaths in +proportion to the number of people as there were a hundred years ago. +And is not that a mightier work of Christ's power and love than if He +had raised a few dead persons to life? + +And now for the last part of our Lord's witness about Himself. To +the poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not THAT coming +true in our days as it never came true before? Look back only fifty +years, and consider the difference between the doctrines which were +preached to the poor and the doctrines which are preached to them +now. Look round you and see how everywhere earnest and godly +ministers have sprung up, of all sects and opinions, as well as of +the Church of England, not only to preach the gospel in the pulpit, +but to carry it to the sick bedside of the lonely cottage, to the +prison, and to those fearful sties, worse than prisons, where in our +great cities the heathen poor live crowded together. Look at the +teaching which the poor man can get now, compared to what he used to-- +the sermons, the Bibles, the tracts, the lending libraries, the +schools--just consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds which are +subscribed every year to educate the children of the poor, and then +say whether Christ is not working a mighty work among us in these +days. I know that not half as much is done as ought to be done in +that way; not half as much as will be done; and what is done will +have to be done better than it has been done yet; but still, can +anyone in this church who is fifty years old deny that there is a +most enormous and blessed improvement which is growing and spreading +every year? Can anyone deny that the gospel is preached to the poor +now in a way that it never was before within the memory of man? + +Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon--a sermon which +proclaims to you that Christ is COME; yes, He is come--come never to +leave mankind again! Christ reigns over the earth, and will reign +for ever. At certain great and important times in the world's +history, like this present time, times which He Himself calls "days +of the Lord," He shows forth His power, and the mightiness and mercy +of His kingdom, more than at others. But still He is always with us; +we have no need to run up and down to look for Christ: to say, Who +shall ascend into heaven to bring Him down? Who shall descend into +the deep to bring Him up? For the kingdom of God, as He told us +Himself, is among us, and within us. Yes, within us. All these +wonderful improvements and discoveries, all things beneficial to men +which are found out year by year, though they seem to be of men's +invention, are really of Christ's revealing, the fruits of the +kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who is teaching men, +though they too often will not believe it; though they disclaim God's +Spirit and take all the glory to themselves. Truly Christ is among +us; and our eyes are held, and we see Him not. That is our English +sin--the sin of unbelief, the root of every other sin. Christ works +among us, and we will not own Him. Truly, Jesus Christ may well say +of us English at this day, There were ten cleansed, but where are the +nine? How few are there, who return to give glory to God! Oh, +consider what I say; the kingdom of God is among us now; its +blessings are growing richer, fuller among us every day. Beware, +lest if we refuse to acknowledge that kingdom and Christ the King of +it, it be taken away from us, and given to some other nation, who +will bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and brotherly +kindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit of +God. + + + +IV--A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS + + + +FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT. + +Rejoice in the Lord always.--PHILIPPIANS iv. 4. + +This is the beginning of the Epistle for to-day, the Sunday before +Christmas. We will try to find out why it was chosen for to-day, and +what lesson we may learn from it. + +Now Christmas-time was always a time of rejoicing among many heathen +nations, and long before the Lord Jesus Christ came. That was +natural and reasonable enough, if you will consider it. For now the +shortest day is past. The sun is just beginning to climb higher and +higher in the sky each day, and bring back with him longer sunshine, +and shorter darkness, and spring flowers, and summer crops, and a +whole new year, with new hopes, new work, new lessons, new blessings. +The old year, with all its labours and all its pleasures, and all its +sorrows and all its sins, is dying, all but gone. It lies behind us, +never to return. The tears which we shed, we never can shed again. +The mistakes we made, we have a chance of mending in the year to +come. And so the heathens felt, and rejoiced that another year was +dying, another year going to be born. + +And Christmas was a time of rejoicing too, because the farming work +was done. The last year's crop was housed; the next year's wheat was +sown; the cattle were safe in yard and stall; and men had time to +rest, and draw round the fire in the long winter nights, and make +merry over the earnings of the past year, and the hopes and plans of +the year to come. And so over all this northern half of the world +Christmas was a merry time. + +But the poor heathens did not know the Lord. They did not know who +to thank for all their Christmas blessings. And so some used to +thank the earth for the crops, and the sun for coming back again to +lengthen the days, as if the earth and sun moved of themselves. And +some used to thank false gods and ancient heroes, who, perhaps, never +really lived at all. And some, perhaps the greater number, thanked +nothing and no one, but just enjoyed themselves, and took no thought, +as too many do now at Christmas-time. So the world went on, +Christmas after Christmas; and the times of that ignorance, as St. +Paul says, God winked at. But when the fulness of time was come, He +sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to be the judge and ruler of the +world; and commanded all men everywhere to repent, and turn from all +their vanities to serve the living God, who had made heaven and +earth, and all things in them. + +He did not wish them to give up their Christmas mirth. No: all +along He had been trying to teach them by it about His love to them. +As St. Paul told them once, God had not left Himself without witness, +in that He gave them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts +with joy and gladness. + +God did not wish them, or us, to give up Christmas mirth. The +apostles did not wish it. The great men, true followers of the +apostles, who shaped our Prayer-book for us, and sealed it with their +life-blood, did not wish it. They did not wish farmers, labourers, +servants, masters, to give up one of the old Christmas customs; but +to remember who made Christmas, and its blessings; in short, to +rejoice in The Lord. Our forefathers had been thanking the wrong +persons for Christmas. Henceforward we were to thank the right +person, The Lord, and rejoice in Him. Our forefathers had been +rejoicing in the sun, and moon, and earth; in wise and valiant kings +who had lived ages before; in their own strength, and industry, and +cunning. Now they were to rejoice in Him who made sun, and moon, and +earth; in Him who sent wise and valiant kings and leaders; in Him who +gives all strength, and industry, and cunning; by whose inspiration +comes all knowledge of agriculture, and manufacture, and all the arts +which raise men above the beasts that perish. So their Christmas +joys were to go on, year by year while the world lasted: but they +were to go on rightly, and not wrongly. Men were to rejoice in The +Lord, and then His blessing would be on them, and the thanks and +praise which they offered Him, He would return with interest, in +fresh blessings for the coming year. + +Therefore, I think, this Epistle was chosen for to-day, the Sunday +before Christmas, to show us in whom we are to rejoice; and, +therefore, to show us how we are to rejoice. For we must not take +the first verse of the Epistle and forget the rest. That would +neither be wise nor reverent toward St. Paul, who wrote the whole, +and meant the whole to stand together as one discourse; or to the +blessed and holy men who chose it for our lesson on this day. Let us +go on, then, with the Epistle, line by line, throughout. + +"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice." As much as +to say, you cannot rejoice too much, you cannot overdo your +happiness, thankfulness, merriment. You do not know half--no, not +the thousandth part of God's love and mercy to you, and you never +will know. So do not be afraid of being too happy, or think that you +honour God by wearing a sour face, when He is heaping blessings on +you, and calling on you to smile and sing. But "let your moderation +be known unto all men." There is a right and a wrong way of being +merry. There is a mirth, which is no mirth; whereof it is written, +in the midst of that laughter there is a heaviness, and the end +thereof is death. Drunkenness, gluttony, indecent words and jests +and actions, these are out of place on Christmas-day, and in the +merriment to which the pure and holy Lord Jesus calls you all. They +are rejoicing in the flesh and the devil, and not in the Lord at all; +and whosoever indulges in them, and fancies them merriment, is +keeping the devil's Christmas, and not Jesus Christ's. So let your +moderation be known to all men. Be MERRY AND WISE. The fool lets +his mirth master him, and carry him away, till he forgets himself, +and says and does things of which he is ashamed when he gets up next +morning, sick and sad at heart. The wise man remembers that, let the +occasion be as joyful a one as it may, "the Lord is at hand." +Christ's eye is on him, while he is eating, and drinking, and +laughing. He is not afraid of Christ's eye, because, though it is +Divine it is a human, loving, smiling eye; rejoicing in the happiness +of His poor, hard-worked brothers here below. But he remembers that +it is a holy eye, too; an eye which looks with sadness and horror on +anything which is wrong; on all drunkenness, quarrelling, indecency; +and so on in all his merriment, he is still master of himself. He +remembers that his soul is nobler than his body; that his will must +be stronger than his appetite; and so he keeps himself in check; he +keeps his tongue from evil, and his stomach from sottishness, and +though he may be, and ought to be, the merriest of the whole party, +yet he takes care to let his moderation, his sobriety, be known and +plain to everyone, remembering that the Lord is at hand. + +And that man--I will stand surety for him--will be the one who will +rise from his bed next morning, best able to carry out the next verse +of the Epistle, and "be careful for nothing." + +Now that is no easy matter here in England; to rich and poor, +Christmas is the time for settling accounts and paying debts. And +therefore in England, where living is dear, and everyone, more or +less, struggling to pay his way, Christmas is often a very anxious, +disturbing time of year. Many a family, for all their economy, +cannot clear themselves at the year's end; and though they are able +to forget that now and then, thank God, through great part of the +year, yet they cannot forget it at Christmas. But, as I said, the +man who at Christmas-time will be most able to be careful for +nothing, will be the man whose moderation has been known to everyone; +for he will, if he has lived the year through in the same temper in +which he has spent Christmas, have been moderate in his expenses; he +will have kept himself from empty show, and pretending to be richer +than he is. He will have kept himself from throwing away his money +in drink, and kept his daughters from throwing away money in dress, +which is just what too many, in their foolish, godless, indecent +hurry to get rid of their own children off their hands do not do. + +And he will be the man who will be in the best humour, and have the +clearest brain, to kneel down when he gets up to his daily work, and +"in everything, by prayer and supplication, make his requests known +to God." And then, whether he can make both ends meet or not, +whether he can begin next year free from debt or not, still "the +peace of God will keep his heart." He may be unable to clear +himself, but still he will know that he has a loving and merciful +Father in heaven, who has allowed distress and difficulty to come on +him only as a lesson and an education. That this distress came +because God chose, and that when God chooses it will go away--and +that till then--considering that the Lord God sent it--it had better +NOT go away. He will believe that God's gracious promises stand +true--that the Lord will never let those who trust in Him be +confounded and brought to shame--that He will let none of us be +tempted beyond what we are able, but will always with the temptation +make a way for us to escape, that we may be able to bear it. And so +the peace of God which passes understanding, will keep that man's +mind. And in whom? "In Jesus Christ." Now what did St. Paul mean +by putting in the Lord Jesus Christ's name there? what is the meaning +of "in Jesus Christ"? This is what it means; it means what +Christmas-day means. A man may say, "Your sermon promises fine +things, but I am miserable and poor; it promises a holy and noble +rejoicing to everyone, but I am unholy and mean. It promises peace +from God, and I am sure I am not at peace: I am always fretting and +quarrelling; I quarrel with my wife, my children, and my neighbours, +and they quarrel with me; and worst of all," says the poor man, "I +quarrel with myself. I am full of discontented, angry, sulky, +anxious, unhappy thoughts; my heart is dark and sad and restless +within me--would God I were peaceful, but I am not: look in my face +and see!" + +True, my friend, but on Christmas-day the Son of God was born into +the world, a man like you. + +"Well," says the poor man, "but what has that to do with my anxiety +and my ill-temper?" + +It would take the whole year through, my friend, to show you all that +it has to do with you and your unhappiness. All the Lessons, +Epistles, and Gospels of the year are set out to show you what it has +to do with you. But in the meanwhile, before Christmas-day comes, +consider this one thing: Why are you anxious? Because you do not +know what is to happen to you? Then Christmas-day is a witness to +you, that whatsoever happens to you, happens to you by the will and +rule of Jesus Christ, The perfect man; think of that. THE PERFECT +MAN--who understands men's hearts and wants, and all that is good for +them, and has all the wisdom and power to give us what is good, which +we want ourselves. And what makes you unhappy, my friends? Is it +not at heart just this one thing--you are unhappy because you are not +pleased with yourselves? And you are not pleased with yourselves +because you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves; and you +know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves, because you know, +in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased with you? What +cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we find?--This. + +The child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew up in +poverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through all shame +and sorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the poor child of +Bethlehem, is Lord and King of heaven and earth. He will feel for +us; He will understand our temptations; He has been poor himself, +that He might feel for the poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He +might feel for those whose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the +sins and felt the miseries of the whole world, that He might feel for +us when we are wearied with the burden of life, and confounded by the +remembrance of our own sins. + +Oh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on +Christmas-day; and that thought alone will be enough to fill you with +rejoicing and hope for yourselves and all the world, and with the +peace of God which passes understanding, the peace which the angels +proclaimed to the shepherds on the first Christmas night--"On earth +peace, and good will toward men"--and if God wills us good, my +friend; what matter who wishes us evil? + + + +V--CHRISTMAS-DAY + + + +He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a +slave.--PHILIPPIANS ii. 7. + +On Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, if we had been at Rome, the great +capital city, and mistress of the whole world, we should have seen a +strange sight--strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts of law were +shut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no criminals punished. +The sorrow and the strife of that great city had stopped, in great +part, for three days, and all people were giving themselves up to +merriment and good cheer--making up quarrels, and giving and +receiving presents from house to house. And we should have seen, +too, a pleasanter sight than that. For those three days of +Christmas-time were days of safety and merriment for the poor slaves-- +tens of thousands of whom--men, women, and children--the Romans had +brought out of all the countries in the world--many of our +forefathers and mothers among them--and kept them there in cruel +bondage and shame, worked and fed, bought and sold, like beasts, and +not like human beings, not able to call their lives or their bodies +their own, forced to endure any shame or sin which their tyrants +required of them, and liable any moment to be beaten, tortured, or +crucified at the mercy of cruel and foul masters and mistresses. But +on that Christmas-day, according to an old custom, they were allowed +for once in the whole year to play at being free, to dress in their +masters' and mistresses' clothes, to say what they thought of them +boldly, without fear of punishment, and to eat and drink at their +masters' tables, while their masters and mistresses waited on them. +It was an old custom, that, among the heathen Romans, which their +forefathers, who were wiser and better than they, had handed down to +them. They had forgotten, perhaps, what it meant: but still we may +see what it must have meant: That the old forefathers of the Romans +had intended to remind their children every year by that custom, that +their poor hard-worked slaves were, after all, men and women as much +as their masters; that they had hearts and consciences, and sense in +them, and a right to speak what they thought, as much as their +masters; that they, as much as their masters, could enjoy the good +things of God's earth, from which man's tyranny had shut them out; +and to remind those cruel masters, by making them once every year +wait on their own slaves at table, that they were, after all, equal +in the sight of God, and that it was more noble for those who were +rich, and called themselves gentlemen, to help others, than to make +others slave for them. + +I do not mean, of course, that those old heathens understood all this +clearly. You will see, by the latter part of my sermon, why they +could not understand it clearly. But there must have been some sort +of dim, confused suspicion in their minds that it was wrong and cruel +to treat human beings like brute beasts, which made them set up that +strange old custom of letting their slaves play at being free once +every Christmas-tide. + +But if on this same day, 1851 years ago, instead of being in the +great city of Rome, we had been in the little village of Bethlehem in +Judaea, we might have seen a sight stranger still; a sight which we +could not have fancied had anything to do with that merrymaking of +the slaves at Rome, and yet which had everything to do with it. + +We should have seen, in a mean stable, among the oxen and the asses, +a poor maiden, with her newborn baby laid in the manger, for want of +any better cradle, and by her her husband, a poor carpenter, whom all +men thought to be the father of her child. . . . There, in the +stable, amid the straw, through the cold winter days and nights, in +want of many a comfort which the poorest woman, and the poorest +woman's child would need, they stayed there, that young maiden and +her newborn babe. That young maiden was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and +that poor baby was the Son of God. The Son of God, in whose likeness +all men were made at the beginning; the Son of God, who had been +ruling the whole world all along; who brought the Jews out of +slavery, a thousand years before, and destroyed their cruel tyrants +in the Red Sea; the Son of God, who had been all along punishing +cruel tyrants and oppressors, and helping the poor out of misery, +whenever they called on Him. The Light which lightens every man who +comes into the world, was that poor babe. It was He who gives men +reason, and conscience, and a tender heart, and delight in what is +good, and shame and uneasiness of mind when they do wrong. It was He +who had been stirring up, year by year, in those cruel Romans' +hearts, the feeling that there was something wrong in grinding down +their slaves, and put into their minds the notion of giving them +their Christmas rest and freedom. He had been keeping up that good +old custom for a witness and a warning that all men were equal in His +sight; that all men had a right to liberty of speech and conscience; +a right to some fair share in the good things of the earth, which God +had given to all men freely to enjoy. But those old Romans would not +take the warning. They kept up the custom, but they shut their eyes +to the lesson of it. They went on conquering and oppressing all the +nations of the earth, and making them their slaves. And now He was +come--He Himself, the true Lord of the earth, the true pattern of +men. He was come to show men to whom this world belonged: He was +come to show men in what true power, true nobleness consisted--not in +making others minister to us, but in ministering to them: He was +come to set a pattern of what a man should be; He was the Son of Man-- +THE MAN of all men--and therefore He had come with good news to all +poor slaves, and neglected, hard-worked creatures: He had come to +tell them that He cared for them; that He could and would deliver +them; that they were God's children, and His brothers, just as much +as their Roman masters; and that He was going to bring a terrible +time upon the earth--"days of the Son of Man," when He would judge +all men, and show who were true men and who were not--such a time as +had never been before, or would be again; when that great Roman +empire, in spite of all its armies, and its cunning, and its riches, +plundered from every nation under heaven, would crumble away and +perish shamefully and miserably off the face of the earth, before +tribes of poor, untaught, savage men, the brothers and countrymen of +those very slaves whom the Romans fancied were so much below them, +that they had a right to treat them like the beasts which perish. + +That was the message which that little child lying in the manger +there at Bethlehem, had been sent out from God to preach. Do you not +see now what it had to do with that strange merrymaking of the poor +slaves in Rome, which I showed you at the beginning of my sermon? + +If you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke says, +the shepherds in Judaea heard the angels sing, on this night 1851 +years ago. That song tells us the meaning of that babe's coming. +That song tells us what that babe's coming had to do with the poor +slaves of Rome, and with all poor creatures who have suffered and +sorrowed on this earth, before or since. + +"Glory to God in the highest," they sang, "and on earth peace, good +will to men." + +Glory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in the manger +among the cattle, was showing what was the very highest glory of the +great God who had made heaven and earth. Not to show His power and +His majesty, but to show His condescension and His love. To stoop, +to condescend, to have mercy, to forgive, that is the highest glory +of God. That is the noblest, the most Godlike thing for God or man. +And God showed that when He sent down His only-begotten Son--not to +strike the world to atoms with a touch, not to hurl sinners into +everlasting flame, but to be born of a village maiden, to take on +Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow, to which man is heir, +even to death itself; to make Himself of no reputation, and take on +Himself the form of a slave, and forgive sinners, and heal the sick, +and comfort the outcast and despised, that He might show what God was +like--show forth to men, as a poor maiden's son, the brightness of +God's glory, and the express likeness of His person. + +"And on earth peace" they sang. Men had been quarrelling and +fighting then, and men are quarrelling and fighting now. That little +babe in the manger was come to show them how and why they were all to +be at peace with each other. For what causes all the war and +quarrelling in the world, but selfishness? Selfishness breeds pride, +passion, spite, revenge, covetousness, oppression. The strong care +for themselves, and try to help themselves at the expense of the +weak, by force and tyranny; the weak care for themselves in their +turn, and try to help themselves at the expense of the strong, by +cunning and cheating. No one will condescend, give way, sacrifice +his own interest for his neighbour's, and hence come wars between +nations, quarrels in families, spite and grudges between neighbours. +But in the example of that little child of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ +the Lord, God was saying to men, "Acquaint yourselves with Me, and be +at peace." God is not selfish; it is our selfishness which has made +us unlike God. God so loved the sinful world, that He gave His only- +begotten Son for it. Is that an action like ours? The Son of God so +obeyed His Father, and so loved this world, that He made Himself of +no reputation, and took on Him the likeness of a slave, and became +obedient to death, even to the most fearful and shameful of all +deaths, the death of the cross; not for Himself, but for those who +did not know Him, hated Him, killed Him. In short, He sacrificed +Himself for us. That is God's likeness. Self-sacrifice. Jesus +Christ, the babe of Bethlehem, proved Himself the Son of God, and the +express likeness of the Father, by sacrificing Himself for us. +Sacrifice yourselves then for each other! Give up your own pride, +your own selfishness, your own interest for each other, and you will +be all at peace at once. + +But the angels sang, "Good will toward men." Without that their song +would not have been complete. For we are all ready to say, at such +words as I have been speaking, "Ah! pleasant enough, and pretty +enough, if they were but possible; but they are not possible. It is +in the nature of man to be selfish. Men have gone on warring, +grudging, struggling, competing, oppressing, cheating from the +beginning, and they will do so to the end." + +Yes, it is not in the NATURE of man to do otherwise. In as far as +man yields to his nature, and is like the selfish brute beasts, it is +not possible for him to do anything but go on quarrelling, and +competing, and cheating to the last. But what man's nature cannot +do, God's grace can. God's good will is toward you. He loves you, +He wills--and if He wills, what is too hard for Him?--He wills to +raise you out of this selfish, quarrelsome life of sin, into a +loving, brotherly, peaceful life of righteousness. His spirit, the +spirit of love by which He made and guides all heaven and earth, the +spirit of love in which He gave His only Son for you, the spirit of +love in which His Son Jesus Christ sacrificed Himself for you, and +took on Himself a meaner state than any of you can ever have--the +likeness of a slave--that spirit is promised to you, and ready for +you. That little baby in the manger at Bethlehem--God sacrificing +Himself for you in the spirit of love--is a sign that that spirit of +love is the spirit of God, and therefore the only right spirit for +you and me, who are men and women made in the image of God. That +babe in the manger at Bethlehem is a sign to you and me, that God +will freely give us that spirit of love if we ask for it. For He +would not have set us that example, if He had not meant us to follow +it, and He would not ask us to follow it, if He did not intend to +give us the means of following it. Therefore, my friends, it is +written, Ask and ye shall receive. If your heavenly Father spared +not His own Son, but freely gave Him for you, will He not with Him +likewise freely give you all things? Oh! ask and you shall receive. +However poor, ignorant, sinful you may be, God's promises are ready +for you, signed and sealed by the bread and wine on that table, the +memorial of Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem. Ask, and you shall +receive! Comfort from sorrow, peaceful assurance of God's good will +toward you, deliverance from your sins, and a share in the likeness +of Him who on this day made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him +the form of a slave. + + + +VI--TRUE ABSTINENCE + + + +FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT. + +I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.--1 COR. ix. 27. + +In the Collect for this day we have just been praying to God, to give +us grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to our +spirit, we may follow His godly motions. + +Now we ought to have meant something when we said these words. What +did we mean by them? Perhaps some of us did not understand them. +They could not be expected to mean anything by them. But it is a sad +thing, a very sad thing, that people will come to church Sunday after +Sunday, and repeat by rote words which they do not understand, words +by which they therefore mean nothing, and yet never care or try to +understand them. + +What are the words there for, except to be understood? All of you +call people foolish, who submit to have prayers read in their +churches in a foreign language, which none, at least of the poor, can +understand. But what right have you to call them foolish, if you, +whose Prayer-books are written in English, take no trouble to find +out the meaning of them? Would to Heaven that you would try to find +out the meaning of the Prayer-book! Would to Heaven that the day +would come, when anyone in this parish who was puzzled by any +doctrine of religion, or by any text in the Bible, or word in the +Prayer-book, would come confidently to me, and ask me to explain it +to him! God knows, I should think it an honour and a pleasure, as +well as a duty. I should think no time better spent than in +answering your questions. I do beseech you to ask me, every one of +you, when and where you like, any questions about religion which come +into your minds. Why am I put in this parish, except to teach you? +and how can I teach you better, than by answering your questions? As +it is, I am disheartened, and all but hopeless, at times, about the +state of this parish, and the work I am trying to do here; because, +though you will come and hear me, thank God, willingly enough, you do +not seem yet to have gained confidence enough in me, or to have +learnt to care sufficiently about the best things, to ask questions +of me about them. My dear friends, if you wanted to get information +about anything you really cared for, you would ask questions enough. +If you wanted to know some way to a place on earth you would ask it; +why not ask your way to things better than this earth can give? But +whether or not you will question me I must go on preaching to you, +though whether or not you care to listen is more, alas! than I can +tell. + +But listen to me, now, I beseech you, while I try to explain to you +the meaning of the words which you have been just using in this +Collect. You have asked God to give you grace to use abstinence. +Now what is the meaning of abstinence? Abstinence means abstaining, +refraining, keeping back of your own will from doing something which +you might do. Take an example. When a man for his health's sake, or +his purse's sake, or any other good reason, drinks less liquor than +he might if he chose, he abstains from liquor. He uses abstinence +about liquor. There are other things in which a man may abstain. +Indeed, he may abstain from doing anything he likes. He may abstain +from eating too much; from lying in bed too long; from reading too +much; from taking too much pleasure; from making money; from spending +money; from right things; from wrong things; from things which are +neither right nor wrong; on all these he may use abstinence. He may +abstain for many reasons; for good ones, or for bad ones. A miser +will abstain from all sorts of comforts to hoard up money. A +superstitious man may abstain from comforts, because he thinks God +grudges them to him, or because he thinks God is pleased by the +unhappiness of His creatures, or because he has been taught, poor +wretch, that if he makes himself uncomfortable in this life, he shall +have more comfort, more honour, more reason for pride and self- +glorification, in the life to come. Or a man may abstain from one +pleasure, just to be able to enjoy another all the more; as some +great gamblers drink nothing but water, in order to keep their heads +clear for cheating. All these are poor reasons; some of them base, +some of them wicked reasons for abstaining from anything. Therefore, +abstinence is not a good thing in itself; for if a thing is good in +itself, it can never be wrong. Love is good in itself, and, +therefore, you cannot love anyone for a bad reason. Justice is good +in itself, pity is good in itself, and, therefore, you can never be +wrong in being just or pitiful. + +But abstinence is not a good thing in itself. If it were, we should +all be bound to abstain always from everything pleasant, and make +ourselves as miserable and uncomfortable as possible, as some +superstitious persons used to do in old times. Abstinence is only +good when it is used for a good reason. If a man abstains from +pleasure himself, to save up for his children; if he abstains from +over eating and over drinking, to keep his mind clear and quiet; if +he abstains from sleep and ease, in order to have time to see his +business properly done; if he abstains from spending money on +himself, in order to spend it for others; if he abstains from any +habit, however harmless or pleasant, because he finds it lead him +towards what is wrong, and put him into temptation; then he does +right; then he is doing God's work; then he may expect God's +blessing; then he is trying to do what we all prayed God to help us +to do, when we said, "Give us grace to use such abstinence;" then he +is doing, more or less, what St. Paul says he did, "Keeping his body +under, and bringing it into subjection." + +For, see, the Collect does not say, "Give us grace to use +abstinence," as if abstinence were a good thing in itself, but "to +use such abstinence, that"--to use a certain kind of abstinence, and +that for a certain purpose, and that purpose a good one; such +abstinence that our flesh may be subdued to our spirit; that our +flesh, the animal, bodily nature which is in us, loving ease and +pleasure, may not be our master, but our servant; so that we may not +follow blindly our own appetites, and do just what we like, as brute +beasts which have no understanding. And our flesh is to be subdued +to our spirit for a certain purpose; not because our flesh is bad, +and our spirit good; not in order that we may puff ourselves up and +admire ourselves, and say, as the philosophers among the heathen +used, "What a strong-minded, sober, self-restraining man I am! How +fine it is to be able to look down on my neighbours, who cannot help +being fond of enjoying themselves, and cannot help caring for this +world's good things. I am above all that. I want nothing, and I +feel nothing, and nothing can make me glad or sorry. I am master of +my own mind, and own no law but my own will." The Collect gives us +the true and only reason, for which it is right to subdue our +appetites; which is, that we may keep our minds clear and strong +enough to listen to the voice of God within our hearts and reasons; +to obey the motions of God's Spirit in us; not to make our bodies our +masters, but to live as God's servants. + +This is St. Paul's meaning, when he speaks of keeping under his body, +and bringing it into subjection. The exact word which he uses, +however, is a much stronger one than merely "keeping under;" it means +simply, to beat a man's face black and blue; and his reason for using +such a strong word about the matter is, to show us that he thought no +labour too hard, no training too sharp, which teaches us how to +restrain ourselves, and keep our appetites and passions in manful and +godly control. + +Now, a few verses before my text, St. Paul takes an example from +foot-racers. "These foot-racers," he says, "heathens though they +are, and only trying to win a worthless prize, the petty honour of a +crown of leaves, see what trouble they take; how they exercise their +limbs; how careful and temperate they are in eating and drinking, how +much pain and fatigue they go through to get themselves into perfect +training for a race. How much more trouble ought we to take to make +ourselves fit to do God's work? For these foot-racers do all this +only to gain a garland which will wither in a week; but we, to gain a +garland which will never fade away; a garland of holiness, and +righteousness, and purity, and the likeness of Jesus Christ." + +The next example of abstinence which St. Paul takes, is from the +prize-fighters, who were very numerous and very famous, in the +country in which the Corinthians lived. "I fight," he says, "not +like one who beats the air;" that is, not like a man who is only +brandishing his hands and sparring in jest, but like a man who knows +that he has a fight to fight in hard earnest; a terrible lifelong +fight against sin, the world, and the devil; "and, therefore," he +says, "I do as these fighters do." They, poor savage and brutal +heathens as they are, go through a long and painful training. Their +very practice is not play; it is grim earnest. They stand up to +strike, and be struck, and are bruised and disfigured as a matter of +course, in order that they may learn not to flinch from pain, or lose +their tempers, or turn cowards, when they have to fight. "And so do +I," says St. Paul; "they, poor men, submit to painful and +disagreeable things to make them brave in their paltry battles. I +submit to painful and disagreeable things, to make me brave in the +great battle which I have to fight against sin, and ignorance, and +heathendom." "Therefore," he says, in another place, "I take +pleasure in afflictions, in persecutions, in necessities, in +distresses;" and that not because those things were pleasant, they +were just as unpleasant to him as to anyone else; but because they +taught him to bear, taught him to be brave; taught him, in short, to +become a perfect man of God. + +This is St. Paul's account of his own training: in the Epistle for +to-day we have another account of it; a description of the life which +he led, and which he was content to lead--"in much suffering, in +stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watching, in +fastings"--and an account, too, of the temper which he had learnt to +show amid such a life of vexation, and suffering, and shame, and +danger--"approving himself in all things the minister of God, by +pureness, by wisdom, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the spirit of +holiness, by love unfeigned;" "as dying, and behold we live; as +chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as +poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all +things."--In all things proving himself a true messenger from God, by +being able to dare and to endure for God's sake, what no man ever +would have dared and endured for his own sake. + +"But"--someone may say--"St. Paul was an apostle; he had a great work +to do in the world; he had to turn the heathen to God; and it is +likely enough that he required to train himself, and keep strict +watch over all his habits, and ways of thinking and behaving, lest he +should grow selfish, lazy, cowardly, covetous, fond of ease and +amusement. He had, of course, to lead a life of strange suffering +and danger; and he had therefore to train himself for it. But what +need have we to do as St. Paul did?" + +Just as much need, my good friends, if you could see it. + +Which of us has not to lead a life of suffering? We shall each and +all of us, have our full share of trouble before we die, doubt it +not. + +And which of us has not to lead a life of danger? I do not mean +bodily danger; of that, there is little enough--perhaps too little-- +in England now; but of danger to our hearts, minds, characters? Oh, +my friends, I pity those who do not think themselves in danger every +day of their lives, for the less danger they see around them, the +more danger there is. There is not only the common danger of +temptation, but over and above it, the worse danger of not knowing +temptation when it comes. Who will be most likely to walk into pits +and mires upon the moor--the man who knows that they are there around +him, or the man who goes on careless and light of heart, fancying +that it is all smooth ground? Woe to you, young people, if you fancy +that you are to have no woe! Danger to you, young people, if you +fancy yourselves in no danger! + +"This is sad and dreary news"--some of you may say. Ay, my friends, +it would be sad and dreary news indeed; and this earth would be a +very sad and dreary place; and life with all its troubles and +temptations, would not be worth having, if it were not for the +blessed news which the Gospel for this day brings us. That makes up +for all the sadness of the Epistle; that gives us hope; that tells us +of one who has been through life, and through death too, yet without +sin. That tells us of one who has endured a thousand times more +temptation than we ever shall, a thousand times more trouble than we +ever shall, and yet has conquered it all; and that He who has thus +been through all our temptations, borne all our weaknesses, is our +King, our Saviour, who loves us, who teaches us, who has promised us +His Holy Spirit, to make us like Himself, strong, brave, and patient, +to endure all that man or devil, or our own low animal tempers and +lusts, can do to hurt us. The Gospel for this day tells us how He +went and was alone in the wilderness with the wild beasts, and yet +trusted in God, His Father and ours, to keep Him safe. How He went +without food forty days and nights, and yet in His extreme hunger, +refused to do the least self-willed or selfish thing to get Himself +food. Is that no lesson, no message of hope for the poor man who is +tempted by hunger to steal, or tempted by need to do a mean and +selfish thing, to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore need and +hunger far worse than his, understands all his temptations, and feels +for him, and pities him, and has promised him God's Spirit to make +him strong, as He himself was? + +Is it no comfort to young people who are tempted to vanity, and +display, and self-willed conceited longings, tempted to despise the +advice of their parents and elders, and set up for themselves, and +choose their own way--Is it no good news, I say, for them to hear +that their Lord and Saviour was tempted to it also, and conquered +it?--That He will teach them to answer the temptation as He did, when +He refused even to let angels hold Him over the temple, up between +earth and heaven, for a sign and a wonder to all the Jews, because +God His Father had not bidden Him to do it, and therefore He would +not tempt the Lord His God? + +Is it no good news, again, to those who are tempted to do perhaps one +little outward wrong thing, to yield on some small point to the ways +of the world, in order to help themselves on in life, to hear that +their Lord and Saviour conquered that temptation too?--That he +refused all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, when +the devil offered them, because he knew that the devil could not give +them to Him; that all wealth, and power, and glory belonged to God, +and was to be got only by serving Him? + +Oh do you all, young people especially, think of this. As you grow +up and go out into life, you will be tempted in a hundred different +ways, by things which are pleasant--everyone knows that they are +pleasant enough--but wrong. One will be tempted to be vain of dress; +another to be self-conceited; another to be lazy and idle; another to +be extravagant and roving; another to be over fond of amusement; +another to be over fond of money; another to be over fond of liquor; +another to go wrong, as too many young men and young women do, and +bring themselves, and those with whom they keep company, and whom +they ought, if they really love them, to respect and honour, down +into sin and shame. You will all be tempted, and you will all be +troubled; one by poverty, one by sickness, one by the burden of a +family, one by being laughed at for trying to do right. But +remember, oh remember, whenever a temptation comes upon you, that the +blessed Jesus has been through it all, and conquered all, and that +His will is, that you shall be holy and pure like Him, and that, +therefore, if you but ask Him, He will give you strength to keep +pure. When you are tempted, pray to Him: the struggle in your own +minds will, no doubt, be very great; it will be very hard work for +you--sin looks so pleasant on the outside! Poor souls, it is a sad +struggle for you! Many a poor young fellow, who goes wrong, deserves +rather to be pitied than to be punished. Well then, if no man else +will pity him, Jesus, the Man of all men, will. Pray to Him! Cry +aloud to Him! Ask Him to make you stout-hearted, patient, really +manful, to fight against temptation. Ask Him to give you strength of +mind to fight against all bad habits. Ask Him to open your eyes to +see when you are in danger. Ask Him to help you to keep out of the +way of temptation. Ask Him, in short, to give you grace to use such +abstinence that your flesh may be subdued to your spirit. And then +you will not follow, as the beasts do, just what seems pleasant to +your flesh; no, you will be able to obey Christ's godly motions, that +is, to do, as well as to love, the good desires which He puts into +your hearts. You will do not merely what is pleasant, but what is +right; you will not be your own slaves, you will be your own masters, +and God's loyal and obedient sons; you will not be, as too many are, +mere animals going about in the shape of men, but truly men at heart, +who are not afraid of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or death itself, +when they are in the right path, about the work to which God has +called them. + +But if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you must +believe that He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him to help +you, you must believe that He will and does help you--you must +believe that it is He Himself who has put into your hearts the very +desire of being holy and strong at all; and therefore you must +believe that you can help yourselves. Help yourselves, and He will +help you. If you ask for His help, He will give it. But what is the +use of His giving it, if you do not use it? To him who has shall be +given, and he shall have more; but from him who has not shall be +taken away even what he seems to have. Therefore do not merely pray, +but struggle and try YOURSELVES. Train yourselves as St. Paul did; +train yourselves to keep your temper; train yourselves to bear +unpleasant things for the sake of your duty; train yourselves to keep +out of temptation; train yourselves to be forgiving, gentle, thrifty, +industrious, sober, temperate, cleanly, as modest as little children +in your words, and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when He sees you +trying to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be hard to +educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at best--you will find +it a thousand times harder, though, if you are slaves to your own +fleshly sins. But the more you struggle against sin, the less hard +you will find it to fight; the more you resist the devil, the more he +will flee from you; the more you try to conquer your own bad +passions, the more God will help you to conquer them; it may be a +hard battle, but it is a sure one. No fear but that everyone can, if +he will, work out his own salvation, for it is God Himself who works +in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. All you have to do is +to give yourselves up to Him, to study His laws, to labour as well as +long to keep them, and He will enable you to keep them; He will teach +you in a thousand unexpected ways; He will daily renew and strengthen +your hearts by the working of His Spirit, that you may more and more +know, and love, and do, what is right; and you will go on from +strength to strength, to the height of perfect men, to the likeness +of Jesus Christ the Lord, who conquered all human temptations for +your sake, that He might be a high-priest who can be touched with the +feeling of our infirmities, because He was tempted in all points like +as we are, yet without sin. + + + +VII--GOOD FRIDAY + + + +In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His +presence saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; +and He bare them and carried them all the days of old.--ISAIAH lxiii. +9. + +On this very day, at this very hour, 1817 years ago, hung one nailed +to a cross; bruised and bleeding, pierced and naked, dying a felon's +death between two thieves; in perfect misery, in utter shame, mocked +and insulted by all the great, the rich, the learned of His nation; +one who had grown up as a man of low birth, believed by all to be a +carpenter's son; without scholarship, money, respectability; even +without a home wherein to lay His head--and here was the end of His +life! True, He had preached noble words, He had done noble deeds: +but what had they helped Him? They had not made the rich, the +learned, the respectable, the religious believe on Him; they had not +saved Him from persecution, and insult, and death. The only mourners +who stood by to weep over His dying agonies were His mother, a poor +countrywoman; a young fisherman; and one who had been a harlot and a +sinner. There was an end! + +Do you know who that Man was? He was your King; the King of rich and +poor; and He was your King, not in spite of His suffering all that +shame and misery, but just because He suffered it; because He chose +to be poor, and miserable, and despised; because He endured the +cross, despising the shame; because He took upon Himself to fulfil +His Father's will, all ills which flesh is heir to--therefore He is +now your King, the Saviour of the world, the poor man's friend, the +Lord of heaven and earth. Is He such a King as YOU wish for? + +Is He the sort of King you want, my friends? Does He fulfil your +notions of what the poor man's friend should be? Do you, in your +hearts, wish He had been somewhat richer, more glorious, more +successful in the world's eyes--a wealthy and prosperous man, like +Solomon of old? Are any of you ready to say, as the money-blinded +Jews said, when they demanded their true King to be crucified, "We +have no king but Caesar?--Provided the law-makers and the authorities +take care of our interests, and protect our property, and do not make +us pay too many rates and taxes, that is enough for us." Will you +have no king but Caesar? Alas! those who say that, find that the law +is but a weak deliverer, too weak to protect them from selfishness, +and covetousness, and decent cruelty; and so Caesar and the law have +to give place to Mammon, the god of money. Do we not see it in these +very days? And Mammon is weak, too. This world is not a shop, men +are not merely money-makers and wages-earners. There are more things +in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in that sort of philosophy. +Self-interest and covetousness cannot keep society orderly and +peaceful, let sham philosophers say what they will. And then comes +tyranny, lawlessness, rich and poor staining their hands in each +other's blood, as we saw happen in France two years ago; and so, +after all, Mammon has to give place to Moloch, the fiend of murder +and cruelty; and woe to rich and poor when he reigns over them! Ay, +woe--woe to rich and poor when they choose anyone for their king but +their real and rightful Lord and Master, Jesus, the poor man, +afflicted in all their afflictions, the Man of sorrows, crucified on +this day. + +Is He the kind of King you like? Make up your minds, my friends-- +make up your minds! For whether you like Him or not, your King He +was, your King He is, your King He will be, blessed be God, for ever. +Blessed be God, indeed! If He were not our King; if anyone in heaven +or earth was Lord of us, except the Man of sorrows, the Prince of +sufferers, what hope, what comfort would there be? What a horrible, +black, fathomless riddle this sad, diseased, moaning world would be! +No king would suit us but the Prince of sufferers--Jesus, who has +borne all this world's griefs, and carried all its sorrows--Jesus, +who has Himself smarted under pain and hunger, oppression and insult, +treachery and desertion, who knows them all, feels for them all, and +will right them all, in His own good time. + +Believing in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish after +another, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the labourer who +tills the land worse housed than the horse he drives, worse clothed +than the sheep he shears, worse nourished than the hog he feeds--and +yet not despair: for the Prince of sufferers is the labourer's +Saviour; He has tasted hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, +oppression, and neglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the +moorside is His brother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world +has shared, when the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had +nests, while the Son of God had not where to lay His head. He is the +King of the poor, firstborn among many brethren; His tenderness is +Almighty, and for the poor He has prepared deliverance, perhaps in +this world, surely in the world to come--boundless deliverance, out +of the treasures of His boundless love. + +Believing in Jesus, we can pass by mines, and factories, and by +dungeons darker and fouler still, in the lanes and alleys of our +great towns and cities, where thousands and tens of thousands of +starving men, and wan women, and children grown old before their +youth, sit toiling and pining in Mammon's prison-house, in worse than +Egyptian bondage, to earn such pay as just keeps the broken heart +within the worn-out body;--ay, we can go through our great cities, +even now, and see the women, whom God intended to be Christian wives +and mothers, the slaves of the rich man's greed by day, the +playthings of his lust by night--and yet not despair; for we can cry, +No! thou proud Mammon, money-making fiend! These are not thine, but +Christ's; they belong to Him who died on the cross; and though thou +heedest not their sighs, He marks them all, for He has sighed like +them; though there be no pity in thee, there is in Him the pity of a +man, ay, and the indignation of a God! He treasures up their tears; +He understands their sorrows; His judgment of their guilt is not like +thine, thou Pharisee! He is their Lord, who said, that to those to +whom little was given, of them shall little be required. Generation +after generation, they are being made perfect by sufferings, as their +Saviour was before them; and then, woe to thee! For even as He led +Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and +signs and wonders, great and terrible, so shall He lead the poor out +of their misery, and make them households like a flock of sheep; even +as He led Israel through the wilderness, tender, forbearing, knowing +whereof they were made, having mercy on all their brutalities, and +idolatries, murmurings, and backslidings, afflicted in all their +afflictions--even while He was punishing them outwardly, as He is +punishing the poor man now--even so shall He lead this people out in +His good time, into a good land and large, a land of wheat and wine, +of milk and honey; a rest which He has prepared for His poor, such as +eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart +of man to conceive. He can do it; for the Almighty Deliverer is His +name. He will do it; for His name is Love. He knows how to do it; +for He has borne the griefs, and carried the sorrows of the poor. + +Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! Look to the +cross this day! There hung your king! The King of sorrowing souls, +and more, the King of sorrows. Ay, pain and grief, tyranny and +desertion, death and hell, He has faced them one and all, and tried +their strength, and taught them His, and conquered them right +royally! And, since He hung upon that torturing cross, sorrow is +divine, god-like, as joy itself. All that man's fallen nature dreads +and despises, God honoured on the cross, and took unto Himself, and +blessed, and consecrated for ever. And now, blessed are the poor, if +they are poor in heart, as well as purse; for Jesus was poor, and +theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the hungry, if they +hunger for righteousness as well as food; for Jesus hungered, and +they shall be filled. Blessed are those who mourn, if they mourn not +only for their afflictions, but for their sins, and for the sins they +see around them; for on this day, Jesus mourned for our sins; on this +day He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; and they shall be +comforted. Blessed are those who are ashamed of themselves, and hate +themselves, and humble themselves before God this day; for on this +day Jesus humbled Himself for us; and they shall be exalted. Blessed +are the forsaken and the despised.--Did not all men forsake Jesus +this day, in His hour of need? and why not thee, too, thou poor +deserted one? Shall the disciple be above his Master? No; everyone +that is perfect, must be like his master. The deeper, the bitterer +your loneliness, the more are you like Him, who cried upon the cross, +"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He knows what that +grief, too, is like. He feels for thee, at least. Though all +forsake thee, He is with thee still; and if He be with thee, what +matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, blessed are those that +weep now, for they shall laugh. It is those whom the Lord loveth +that He chasteneth. And because He loves the poor, He brings them +low. All things are blessed now, but sin; for all things, excepting +sin, are redeemed by the life and death of the Son of God. Blessed +are wisdom and courage, joy, and health, and beauty, love and +marriage, childhood and manhood, corn and wine, fruits and flowers, +for Christ redeemed them by His life. And blessed, too, are tears +and shame, blessed are weakness and ugliness, blessed are agony and +sickness, blessed the sad remembrance of our sins, and a broken +heart, and a repentant spirit. Blessed is death, and blessed the +unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection day, for Christ +redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things, weak, as well as +strong. Blessed are all days, dark, as well as bright, for all are +His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are His, for ever. + +Therefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own sadness; ache +on, ye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own sorrows. Rejoice that +you are made free of the holy brotherhood of mourners, that you may +claim your place, too, if you will, among the noble army of martyrs. +Rejoice that you are counted worthy of a fellowship in the sufferings +of the Son of God. Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall come +joy. Trust on; for in man's weakness God's strength shall be made +perfect. Trust on, for death is the gate of life. Endure on to the +end, and possess your souls in patience for a little while, and that, +perhaps, a very little while. Death comes swiftly; and more swiftly +still, perhaps, the day of the Lord. The deeper the sorrow, the +nearer the salvation: + + +The night is darkest before the dawn; +When the pain is sorest the child is born; +And the day of the Lord is at hand. + + +Ay, if the worst should come; if neither the laws of your country nor +the benevolence of the righteous were strong enough to defend you; if +one charitable plan after another were to fail; if the labour-market +were getting fuller and fuller, and poverty were spreading wider and +wider, and crime and misery were breeding faster and still faster +every year than education and religion; all hope for the poor seemed +gone and lost, and they were ready to believe the men who tell them +that the land is over-peopled--that there are too many of us, too +many industrious hands, too many cunning brains, too many immortal +souls, too many of God's children upon God's earth, which God the +Father made, and God the Son redeemed, and God the Holy Spirit +teaches: then the Lord, the Prince of sufferers, He who knows your +every grief, and weeps with you tear for tear, He would come out of +His place to smite the haughty ones, and confound the cunning ones, +and silence the loud ones, and empty the full ones; to judge with +righteousness for the meek of the earth, to hearken to the prayer of +the poor, whose heart he has been preparing, and to help the +fatherless and needy to their right, that the man of the world may be +no more exalted against them. + +In that day men will find out a wonder and miracle. They will see +many that are first last, and many that are last first. They will +find that there were poor who were the richest after all; the simple +who were wisest, and gentle who were bravest, and weak who were +strongest; that God's ways are not as men's ways, nor God's thoughts +as men's thoughts. Alas, who shall stand when God does this? At +least He who will do it is Jesus, who loved us to the death; +boundless love and gentleness, boundless generosity and pity; who was +tempted even as we are, who has felt our every weakness. In that +thought is utter comfort, that our Judge will be He who died and rose +again, and is praying for us even now, to His Father and our Father. +Therefore fear not, gentle souls, patient souls, pure consciences and +tender hearts. Fear not, you who are empty and hungry, who walk in +darkness and see no light; for though He fulfil once more, as He has +again and again, the awful prophecy before the text; though He tread +down the people in His anger, and make them drunk in His fury, and +bring their strength to the earth; though kings with their armies may +flee, and the stars which light the earth may fall, and there be +great tribulation, wars, and rumours of wars, and on earth distress +of nations with perplexity--yet it is when the day of His vengeance +is at hand, that the year of His redeemed is come. And when they see +all these things, let them rejoice and lift up their heads, for their +redemption draweth nigh. + +Do you ask how I know this? Do you ask for a sign, for a token that +these my words are true? I know that they are true. But, as for +tokens, I will give you but this one, the sign of that bread and that +wine. When the Lord shall have delivered His people out of all their +sorrows, they shall eat of that bread and drink of that wine, one and +all, in the kingdom of God. + + + +VIII--EASTER-DAY + + + +If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, +where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God--COLOSSIANS iii. 1. + +I know no better way of preaching to you the gospel of Easter, the +good news which this day brings to all men, year after year, than by +trying to explain to you the Epistle appointed for this day, which we +have just read. + +It begins, "If ye then be risen with Christ." Now that does not mean +that St. Paul had any doubt whether the Colossians, to whom he was +speaking, were risen with Christ or not. He does not mean, "I am not +sure whether you are risen or not; but perhaps you are not; but if +you are, you ought to do such and such things." He does not mean +that. He was quite sure that these Colossians were risen with +Christ. He had no doubt of it whatsoever. If you look at the +chapter before, he says so. He tells them that they were buried with +Christ in baptism, in which also they were risen with Christ, through +faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead. + +Now what reason had St. Paul to believe that these Colossians were +risen with Jesus Christ? Because they had given up sin and were +leading holy lives? That cannot be. The Epistle for this day says +the very opposite. It does not say, "You are risen, because you have +left off sinning." It says, "You must leave off sinning, because you +are risen." Was it then on account of any experiences, or inward +feeling of theirs? Not at all. He says that these Colossians had +been baptized, and that they had believed in God's work of raising +Jesus Christ from the dead, and that therefore they were risen with +Christ. In one word, they had believed the message of Easter-day, +and therefore they shared in the blessings of Easter-day; as it is +written in another place, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the +Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thy heart that God has raised Him +from the dead, thou shalt be saved." + +Now these seem very wide words, too wide to please most people. But +there are wider words still in St. Paul's epistles. He tells us +again and again that God's mercy is a free gift; that He has made to +us a free present of His Son Jesus Christ. That He has taken away +the effect of all men's sin, and more than that, that men are God's +children; that they have a right to believe that they are so, because +they are so. For, He says, the free gift of Jesus Christ is not like +Adam's offence. It is not less than it, narrower than it, as some +folks say. It is not that by Adam's sin all became sinners, and by +Jesus Christ's salvation an elect few out of them shall be made +righteous. If you will think a moment, you will see that it cannot +be so. For Jesus Christ conquered sin and death and the devil. But +if, as some think, sin and death and the devil have destroyed and +sent to hell by far the greater part of mankind, then they have +conquered Christ, and not Christ them. Mankind belonged to Christ at +first. Sin and death and the devil came in and ruined them, and then +Christ came to redeem them; but if all that He has been able to do is +to redeem one out of a thousand, or even nine out of ten, of them, +then the devil has had the best of the battle. He, and not Christ, +is the conqueror. If a thief steals all the sheep on your farm, and +all that you can get back from him is a part of the whole flock, +which has had the best of it, you or the thief? If Christ's +redemption is meant for only a few, or even a great many elect souls +out of all the millions of mankind, which has had the best of it, +Christ, the master of the sheep, or the devil, the robber and +destroyer of them? Be sure, my friends, Christ is stronger than +that; His love is deeper than that; His redemption is wider than +that. How strong, how deep, how wide it is, we never shall know. +St. Paul tells us that we never shall know, for it is boundless; but +that we shall go on knowing more and more of its vastness for ever, +finding it deeper, wider, loftier than our most glorious dreams could +ever picture it. But this, he says, we do know, that we have gained +more than Adam lost. For if by one man's offence many were made +sinners, much more shall they who receive abundance of grace and of +the gift of righteousness reign in life by one even Jesus Christ. +For, he says, where sin abounded, God's grace and free gift has much +more abounded. Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came +upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the +free gift came upon all men to justification of life. Upon all men, +you see. There can be no doubt about it. Upon you and me, and +foreigners, and gipsies, and heathens, and thieves, and harlots--upon +all mankind, let them be as bad or as good, as young or as old, as +they may, the free gift of God has come to justification of life; +they are justified, pardoned, and beloved in the sight of Almighty +God; they have a right and a share to a new life; a different sort of +life from what they are inclined to lead, and do lead, by nature--to +a life which death cannot take away, a life which may grow, and +strengthen, and widen, and blossom, and bear fruit for ever and ever. +They have a share in Christ's resurrection, in the blessing of +Easter-day. They have a share in Christ, every one of them whether +they claim that share or not. How far they will be punished for not +claiming it, is a very different matter, of which we know nothing +whatsoever. And how far the heathen who have never heard of Christ, +or of their share in Him, will be punished, we know not--we are not +meant to know. But we know that to their own Master they stand or +fall, and that their Master is our Master too, and that He is a just +Master, and requires little of him to whom He gives little; a just +and merciful Master, who loved this sinful world enough to come down +and die for it, while mankind were all rebels and sinners, and has +gone on taking care of it, and improving it, in spite of all its sin +and rebellion ever since, and that is enough for us. + +St. Paul knew no more. It was a mystery, he says, a wonderful and +unfathomable matter, which had been hidden since the foundation of +the world, of which he himself says that he saw only through a glass +darkly; and we cannot expect to have clearer eyes than he. But this +he seems to have seen, that the Lord, when He rose again, bought a +blessing even for the dumb beasts and the earth on which we live. +For he says, the whole creation is now groaning in the pangs of +labour, being about to bring forth something; and the whole creation +will rise again; how, and when, and into what new state, we cannot +tell. But St. Paul seems to say that when the Lord shall destroy +death, the last of his enemies, then the whole creation shall be +renewed, and bring forth another earth, nobler and more beautiful +than this one, free from death, and sin, and sorrow, and redeemed +into the glorious liberty of the children of God. + +But this, on the other hand, St. Paul did see most clearly, and +preached it to all to whom he spoke, that the ground and reason of +this great and glorious mystery was the thing which happened on the +first Easter-day, namely, the Lord Jesus rising from the dead. About +that, at least, there was no doubt at all in his mind. We may see it +by the Easter anthem, which we read this morning, taken out of the +fifteenth chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians: + +"Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them +that slept. + +"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of +the dead. + +"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." + +Now he is not talking here merely of the rising again of our bodies +at the last day. That was in his mind only the end, and outcome, and +fruit, and perfecting, of men's rising from the dead in this life. +For he tells these same Corinthians, and the Colossians, and others +to whom he wrote, that life, the eternal life which would raise their +bodies at the last day, was even then working in them. + +Neither is he speaking only of a few believers. He says that, owing +to the Lord's rising on this day, all shall be made alive--not merely +all Christians, but all men. For he does not say, as in Adam all +Christians die, but all men; and so he does not say, all Christians +shall be made alive, but all men. For here, as in the sixth chapter +of Romans, he is trying to make us understand the likeness between +Adam and Jesus Christ, whom he calls the new Adam. The first Adam, +he says, was only a living soul, as the savages and heathens are; but +the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, the true pattern of men, is a +quickening, life-giving spirit, to give eternal life to every human +being who will accept His offer, and claim his share and right as a +true man, after the likeness of the new Adam, Jesus Christ. + +We then, every one of us who is here to-day, have a right to believe +that we have a share in Christ's eternal life: that our original +sin, that is, the sinfulness which we inherited from our forefathers, +is all forgiven and forgotten, and that mankind is now redeemed, and +belongs to the second Adam, the true and original head and pattern of +man, Jesus Christ, in whom was no sin; and that because mankind +belongs to him, God is well pleased with them, and reconciled to +them, and looks on them not as a guilty, but as a pardoned and +beloved race of beings. + +And we have a right to believe also, that because all power is given +to Christ in heaven and earth, there is given to Him the power of +making men what they ought to be--like His own blessed, and glorious, +and perfect self. Ask him, and you shall receive; knock at the gate +of His treasure-house, and it shall be opened. Seek those things +that are above, and you shall find them. You shall find old bad +habits die out in you, new good habits spring up in you; old +meannesses become weaker, new nobleness and manfulness become +stronger; the old, selfish, covetous, savage, cunning, cowardly, +brutal Adam dying out, the new, loving, brotherly, civilised, wise, +brave, manful Adam growing up in you, day by day, to perfection, till +you are changed from grace to grace, and glory to glory into the +likeness of the Lord of men. + +"These are great promises," you may say, "glorious promises; but what +proof have you that they belong to us? They sound too good to be +true; too great for such poor creatures as we are; give us but some +proof that we have a right to them; give us but a pledge from Jesus +Christ; give us but a sign, an assurance from God, and we may believe +you then." + +My friends, I am certain--and the longer I live I am the more +certain--that there is no argument, no pledge, no sign, no assurance, +like the bread and the wine upon that table. Assurances in our own +hearts and souls are good, but we may be mistaken about them; for, +after all, they are our own thoughts, notions in our own souls, these +inward experiences and assurances; delightful and comforting as they +are at times, yet we cannot trust them--we cannot trust our own +hearts, they are deceitful above all things, who can know them? Yes: +our own hearts may tell us lies; they may make us fancy that we are +pleasing God, when we are doing the things most hateful to Him. They +have made thousands fancy so already. They may make us fancy we are +right in God's sight, when we are utterly wrong. They have made +thousands fancy so already. These hearts of ours may make us fancy +that we have spiritual life in us; that we are in a state higher and +nobler than the sinners round us, when all the while our spirits are +dead within us. They made the Pharisees of old fancy that their +souls were alive, and pure, and religious, when they were dead and +damned within them; and they may make us fancy so too. No: we +cannot trust our hearts and inward feelings; but that bread, that +wine, we can trust. Our inward feelings are a sign from man; that +bread and wine are a sign from God. Our inward feelings may tell us +what we feel toward God: that bread, that wine, tell us something +ten thousand times more important; they tell us what God feels +towards us. And God must love us before we can love Him; God must +pardon us before we can have mercy on ourselves; God must come to us, +and take hold of us, before we can cling to Him; God must change us, +before we can become right; God must give us eternal life in our +hearts before we can feel and enjoy that new life in us. Then that +bread, that wine, say that God has done all that for us already; they +say: "God does love you; God has pardoned you; God has come to you; +God is ready and willing to change and convert you; God has given you +eternal life; and this love, this mercy, this coming to find you out +while you are wandering in sin, this change, this eternal life, are +all in His Son Jesus Christ; and that bread, that wine, are the signs +of it. It is for the sake of Jesus' blood that God has pardoned you, +and that cup is the new covenant in His blood. Come and drink, and +claim your pardon. It is simply because Jesus Christ was man, and +you, too, are men and women, wearing the flesh and blood which Christ +wore; eating and drinking as Christ ate and drank, and not for any +works or faith of your own, that God loves you, and has come to you, +and called you into His family. This is the Gospel, the good news of +Christ's free grace, and pardon, and salvation; and that bread, that +wine, the common food of all men, not merely of the rich, or the +wise, or the pious, but of saints and penitents, rich and poor. +Christians and heathens, alike--that plain, common, every-day bread +and wine--are the signs of it. Come and take the signs, and claim +your share in God's love, in God's family. And it is in Jesus +Christ, too, that you have eternal life. It is because you belong to +Jesus Christ, to mankind, of which He is the head and king, that God +will change you, strengthen your soul to rise above your sins, raise +you up daily more and more out of spiritual death, out of +brutishness, and selfishness, and ignorance, and malice, into an +eternal life of wisdom, and love, and courage, and mercifulness, and +patience, and obedience; a life which shall continue through death, +and beyond death, and raise you up again for ever at the last day, +because you belong to Christ's body, and have been fed with Christ's +eternal life. And that bread, that wine are the signs of it. "Take, +eat," said Jesus, "this is my body; drink, this is my blood." Those +are the signs that God has given you eternal life, and that this life +is in His Son. What better sign would you have? There is no +mistaking their message; they can tell you no lies. And they can, +and will, bring your own Gospel-blessings to your mind, as nothing +else can. They will make you feel, as nothing else can, that you are +the beloved children of God, heirs of all that your King and Head has +bought for you, when He died, and rose again upon this day. He gave +you the Lord's Supper for a sign. Do you think that He did not know +best what the best sign would be? He said: "Do this in remembrance +of me." Do you think that He did not know better than you, and me, +and all men, that if you did do it, it would put you in remembrance +of Him? + +Oh! come to His table, this day of all days in the year; and claim +there your share in His body and His blood, to feed the everlasting +life in you; which, though you see it not now, though you feel it not +now, will surely, if you keep it alive in you by daily faith, and +daily repentance, and daily prayer, and daily obedience, raise you +up, body and soul, to reign with Him for ever at the last day. + + + +IV--THE COMFORTER + + + +FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER. + +If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I +depart, I will send Him unto you--JOHN xvi. 7. + +We are now coming near to two great days, Ascension-day and Whit- +Sunday, which our forefathers have appointed, year by year, to put us +continually in mind of two great works, which the Lord worked out for +us, His most unworthy subjects, and still unworthier brothers. + +On Ascension-day He ascended up into Heaven, and received gifts for +men, even for His enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them; +and on Whit-Sunday, He sent down those gifts. The Spirit of God came +down to dwell in the hearts of men, to be the right of everyone who +asks for it, white or black, young or old, rich or poor, and never to +leave this earth as long as there is a human being on it. And +because we are coming near to these two great days, the Prayer-book, +in the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, tries to put us in mind of +those days, and to make us ready to ask for the blessings of which +they are the yearly signs and witnesses. The Gospel for last Sunday +told us how the Lord told His disciples just before His death, that +for a little while they should not see Him; and again a little while +and they should see Him, because he was going to the Father, and that +they should have great sorrow, but that their sorrow should be turned +into joy. And the Gospel for to-day goes further still, and tells us +why He was going away--that He might send to them the Comforter, His +Holy Spirit, and that it was expedient--good for them, that He should +go away; for that if He did not, the Comforter would not come to +them. Now, in these words, I do not doubt He was speaking of +Ascension-day, and of Whit-Sunday; and therefore it is that these +Gospels have been chosen to be read before Ascension-day and Whit- +Sunday; and in proportion as we attend to these Gospels, and take in +the meaning of them, and act accordingly, Ascension-day and Whit- +Sunday will be a blessing and a profit to us; and in proportion as we +neglect them, or forget them, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be +witnesses against our souls at the day of judgment, that the Lord +Himself condescended to buy for us with His own blood, blessings +unspeakable, and offer them freely unto us, in spite of all our sins, +and yet we would have none of them, but preferred our own will to +God's will, and the little which we thought we could get for +ourselves, to the unspeakable treasures which God had promised to +give us, and turned away from the blessings of His kingdom, to our +own foolish pleasure and covetousness, like "the dog to his vomit, +and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." + +I said that God had promised to us an unspeakable treasure: and so +He has; a treasure that will make the poorest and weakest man among +us, richer than if he had all the wealth gathered from all the +nations of the world, which everyone is admiring now in that Great +Exhibition in London, and stronger than if he had all the wisdom +which produced that wealth. Let us see now what it is that God has +promised us--and then those to whom God has given ears to hear, and +hearts to understand, will see that large as my words may sound, they +are no larger than the truth. + +Christ said, that if He went away, He would send down the Comforter, +the Holy Spirit of God. The Nicene Creed says, that the Holy Spirit +of God is the Lord and Giver of life; and so He is. He gives life to +the earth, to the trees, to the flowers, to the dumb animals, to the +bodies and minds of men; all life, all growth, all health, all +strength, all beauty, all order, all help and assistance of one thing +by another, which you see in the world around you, comes from Him. +He is the Lord and Giver of life; in Him, the earth, the sun and +stars, all live and move and have their being. He is not them, or a +part of them, but He gives life to them. But to men He is more than +that--for we men ourselves are more than that, and need more. We +have immortal spirits in us--a reason, a conscience, and a will; +strange rights and duties, strange hopes and fears, of which the +beasts and the plants know nothing. We have hearts in us which can +love, and feel, and sorrow, and be weak, and sinful, and mistaken; +and therefore we want a Comforter. And the Lord and Giver of life +has promised to be our Comforter; and the Father and the Son, from +both of whom He proceeds, have promised to send Him to us, to +strengthen and comfort us, and give our spirits life and health, and +knit us together to each other, and to God, in one common bond of +love and fellow-feeling even as He the Spirit knits together the +Father and the Son. + +I said that we want a Comforter. If we consider what that word +Comforter means, we shall see that we do want a Comforter, and that +the only Comforter which can satisfy us for ever and ever, must be +He, the very Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver of life. + +Now Comforter means one who gives comfort; so the meaning of it will +depend upon what comfort means. Our word comfort, comes from two old +Latin words, which mean WITH and TO STRENGTHEN. And, therefore, a +Comforter means anyone who is with us to strengthen us, and do for us +what we could not do for ourselves. You will see that this is the +proper meaning of the word, when you remember what bodily things we +call comforts. You say that a person is comfortable, or lives in +comfort, if he has a comfortable income, a comfortable house, +comfortable clothes, comfortable food, and so on. Now all these +things, his money, his house, his clothes, his food, are not himself. +They make him stronger and more at ease. They make his life more +pleasant to him. But they are not HIM; they are round him, with him, +to strengthen him. So with a person's mind and feelings; when a man +is in sorrow and trouble, he cannot comfort himself. His friends +must come to him and comfort him; talk to him, advise him, show their +kind feeling towards him, and in short, be with him to strengthen him +in his afflictions. And if we require comfort for our bodies, and +for our minds, my friends, how much more do we for our spirits--our +souls, as we call them! How weak, and ignorant, and self-willed, and +perplexed, and sinful they are--surely our souls require a comforter +far more than our bodies or our minds do! And to comfort our +spirits, we require a spirit; for we cannot see our own spirits, our +own souls, as we can our bodies. We cannot even tell by our feelings +what state they are in. We may deceive ourselves, and we do deceive +ourselves, again and again, and fancy that our souls are strong when +they are weak--that they are simple and truthful when they are full +of deceit and falsehood--that they are loving God when they are only +loving themselves--that they are doing God's will when they are only +doing their own selfish and perverse wills. No man can take care of +his own spirit, much less give his own spirit life; "no man can +quicken his own soul," says David, that is, no man can give his own +soul life. And therefore we must have someone beyond ourselves to +give life to our spirits. We must have someone to teach us the +things that we could never find out for ourselves, someone who will +put into our hearts the good desires that could never come of +themselves. We must have someone who can change these wills of ours, +and make them love what they hate by nature, and make them hate what +they love by nature. For by nature we are selfish. By nature we are +inclined to love ourselves, rather than anyone else; to take care of +ourselves, rather than anyone else. By nature we are inclined to +follow our own will, rather than God's will, to do our own pleasure, +rather than follow God's commandments, and therefore by nature our +spirits are dead; for selfishness and self-will are SPIRITUAL DEATH. +Spiritual life is love, pity, patience, courage, honesty, truth, +justice, humbleness, industry, self-sacrifice, obedience to God, and +therefore to those whom God sends to teach and guide us. THAT is +spiritual life. That is the life of Jesus Christ; His character, His +conduct, was like that--to love, to help, to pity, all around--to +give up Himself even to death--to do His Father's will and not His +own. That was His life. Because He was the Son of God He did it. +In proportion as we live like Him, we shall he living like sons of +God. In proportion as we live like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our +spirits will be alive. For he that hath Jesus Christ the Son of God +in him, hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not +life, says St. John. But who can raise us from the death of sin and +selfishness, to the life of righteousness and love? Who can change +us into the likeness of Jesus Christ? Who can even show us what +Jesus Christ's likeness is, and take the things of Christ and show +them to us; so that by seeing what He was, we may see what we should +be? And who, if we have this life in us, will keep it alive in us, +and be with us to strengthen us? Who will give us strength to force +the foul and fierce and false thoughts out of our mind, and say, "Get +thee behind me, Satan?" Who will give our spirits life? and who will +strengthen that life in us? + +Can we do it for ourselves? Oh! my friends, I pity the man who is so +blind and ignorant, who knows so little of himself, upon whom the +lessons which his own mistakes, and sins, and failings should have +taught him, have been so wasted that he fancies that he can teach and +guide himself without any help, and that he can raise his own soul to +life, or keep it alive without assistance. Can his body do without +its comforts? Then how can his spirit? If he left his house, and +threw away his clothes, and refused all help from his fellow-men, and +went and lived in the woods like a wild beast, we should call him a +madman, because he refused the help and comfort to his body which God +has made necessary for him. But just as great a madman is he who +refuses the help and the strengthening which God has made necessary +for his spirit--just as great a madman is he who fancies that his +soul is any more able than his body is, to live without continual +help. It is just because man is nobler than the beast that he +requires help. The fox in the wood needs no house, no fire; he needs +no friends; he needs no comforts, and no comforters, because he is a +beast--because he is meant to live and die selfish and alone; +therefore God has provided him in himself with all things necessary +to keep the poor brute's selfish life in him for a few short years. +But just because man is nobler than that; just because man is not +intended to live selfish and alone; just because his body, and his +mind, and his spirit are beautifully and delicately made, and +intended for all sorts of wonderful purposes, therefore God has +appointed that from the moment he is born to all eternity he cannot +live alone; he cannot support himself; he stands in continual need of +the assistance of all around him, for body, and soul, and spirit; he +needs clothes, which other men must make; houses, which other man +must build; food, which other men must produce; he has to get his +livelihood by working for others, while others get their livelihood +in return by working for him. As a child he needs his parents to be +his comforters, to take care of him in body and mind. As he grows up +he needs the care of others; he cannot exist a day without his +fellow-men: he requires school-masters to educate him; books and +masters to teach him his trade; and when he has learnt it, and +settled himself in life, he requires laws made by other men, perhaps +by men who died hundreds of years before he was born, to secure to +him his rights and property, to secure to him comforts, and to make +him feel comfortable in his station; he needs friends and family to +comfort him in sorrow and in joy, to do for him the thousand things +which he cannot do for himself. In proportion as he is alone and +friendless he is pitiable and miserable, let him be as rich as +Solomon himself. From the moment, I say, he is born, he needs +continual comforts and comforters for his body, and mind, and heart. +And then he fancies that, though his body and his mind cannot exist +safely, or grow up healthily, without the continual care and +comforting of his fellow-men, that yet his soul, the part of him +which is at once the most important and the most in danger; the part +of him of which he knows least; the part of him which he understands +least; the part of him of which his body and mind cannot take care, +because it has to take care of them, can live, and grow, and prosper +without any help whatsoever! + +And if we cannot strengthen our own souls no man can strengthen them +for us. No man can raise our bodies to life, much less can he raise +our souls. The physician himself cannot cure the sicknesses of our +bodies; he can only give us fit medicines, and leave them to cure us +by certain laws of nature, which he did not make, and which he cannot +alter. And though the physician can, by much learning, understand +men's bodies somewhat, who can understand men's souls? We cannot +understand our own souls; we do not know what they are, how they +live; whence they come, or whither they go. We cannot cure them +ourselves, much less can anyone cure them for us. The only one who +can cure our souls is He that made our souls; the only one who can +give life to our souls is He who gives life to everything. The only +one who can cure, and strengthen, and comfort our spirits, is He who +understands our spirits, because He himself is the Spirit of all +spirits, the Spirit who searcheth all things, even the deep things of +God; because He is the Spirit of God the Father, who made all heaven +and earth, and of Jesus Christ the Son, who understands the heart of +man, who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and +hath been tempted in all things, just as we are, yet without sin. + +He is the Comforter which God has promised to our spirits, the only +Comforter who can strengthen our spirits; and if we have Him with us, +if He is strengthening us, if He is leading us, if He is abiding with +us, if He is changing us day by day, more and more into the likeness +of Jesus Christ, are we not, as I said at the beginning of my sermon, +richer than if we possessed all the land of England, stronger than if +we had all the armies of the world at our command? For what is more +precious than--God Himself? What is stronger than--God Himself? The +poorest man in whom God's Spirit dwells is greater than the greatest +king in whom God's Spirit does not dwell. And so he will find in the +day that he dies. Then where will riches be, and power? The rich +man will take none of them away with him when he dieth, neither shall +his pomp follow him. Naked came he into this world, and naked shall +he return out of it, to go as he came, and carry with him none of the +comforts which he thought in this life the only ones worth having. +But the Spirit of God remains with us for ever; that treasure a man +shall carry out of this world with him, and keep to all eternity. +That friend will never forsake him, for He is the Spirit of Love, +which abideth for ever. That Comforter will never grow weak, for He +is Himself the very eternal Lord and Giver of Life; and the soul that +is possessed by Him must live, must grow, must become nobler, purer, +freer, stronger, more loving, for ever and ever, as the eternities +roll by. That is what He will give you, my friends; that is His +treasure; that is the Spirit-life, the true and everlasting life, +which flows from Him as the stream flows from the fountain-head. + + + +X--WHIT-SUNDAY + + + +The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, +gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance--against such there +is no law.--GALATIANS v. 22, 23. + +In all countries, and in all ages, the world has been full of +complaints of Law and Government. And one hears the same complaints +in England now. You hear complaints that the laws favour one party +and one rank more than another, that they are expensive, and harsh, +and unfair, and what not?--But I think, my friends, that for us, and +especially on this Whit-Sunday, it will be much wiser, instead of +complaining of the laws, to complain of ourselves, for needing those +laws. For what is it that makes laws necessary at all, except man's +sinfulness? Adam required no laws in the garden of Eden. We should +require no laws if we were what we ought to be--what God has offered +to make us. We may see this by looking at the laws themselves, and +considering the purposes for which they were made. We shall then +see, that, like Moses' Laws of old, the greater part of them have +been added because of transgressions.--In plain English--to prevent +men from doing things which they ought not to do, and which, if they +were in a right state of mind, they would not do. How many laws are +passed, simply to prevent one man, or one class, from oppressing or +ill-using some other man or class? What a vast number of them are +passed simply to protect property, or to protect the weak from the +cruel, the ignorant from the cunning! It is plain that if there was +no cruelty, no cunning, no dishonesty, these laws, at all events, +would not be needed. Again, one of the great complaints against the +laws and the government, is that they are so expensive, that rates +and taxes are heavy burdens--and doubtless they are: but what makes +them necessary except men's sin? If the poor were more justly and +mercifully treated, and if they in their turn were more thrifty and +provident, there would be no need of the expenses of poor rates. If +there was no love of war and plunder, there would be no need of the +expense of an army. If there was no crime, there would be no need of +the expense of police and prisons. The thing is so simple and self- +evident, that it seems almost childish to mention it. And yet, my +friends, we forget it daily. We complain of the laws and their +harshness, of taxes and their expensiveness, and we forget all the +while that it is our own selfishness and sinfulness which brings this +expense upon us, which makes it necessary for the law to interfere +and protect us against others, and others against us. And while we +are complaining of the government for not doing its work somewhat +more cheaply, we are forgetting that if we chose, we might leave +government very little work to do--that every man if he chose, might +be his own law-maker and his own police--that every man if he will, +may lead a life "against which there is no law." + +I say again, that it is our own fault, the fault of our sinfulness, +that laws are necessary for us. In proportion as we are what +Scripture calls "natural men," that is, savage, selfish, divided from +each other, and struggling against each other, each for his own +interest; as long as we are not renewed and changed into new men, so +long will laws, heavy, severe, and burdensome, be necessary for us. +Without them we should be torments to ourselves, to our neighbours, +to our country. But these laws are only necessary as long as we are +full of selfishness and ungodliness. The moment we yield ourselves +up to God's law, man's laws are ready enough to leave us alone. +Take, for instance, a common example; as long as anyone is a faithful +husband and a good father, the law does not interfere with his +conduct towards his wife and children. But it is when he is +unfaithful to them, when he ill-treats them, or deserts them, that +the law interferes with its "Thou shalt not," and compels him to +behave, against his will, in the way in which he ought to have +behaved of his own will. It was free to the man to have done his +duty by his family, without the law--the moment he neglects his duty, +he becomes amenable to it. + +But the law can only force a man's actions: it cannot change his +heart. In the instance which I have been just mentioning, the law +can say to a man, "You shall not ill-treat your family; you shall not +leave them to starve." But the law cannot say to him "You shall love +your family." The law can only command from a man outward obedience; +the obedience of the heart it cannot enforce. The law may make a man +do his duty, it cannot make a man LOVE his duty. And therefore laws +will never set the world right. They can punish persons after the +wrong is done, and that not certainly nor always: but they cannot +certainly prevent the wrongs being done. The law can punish a man +for stealing: and yet, as we see daily, men steal in the face of +punishment. Or even if the law, by its severity, makes persons +afraid to commit certain particular crimes, yet still as long as the +sinful heart is left in them unchanged, the sin which is checked in +one direction is sure to break out in another. Sin, like every other +disease, is sure, when it is driven onwards, to break out at a fresh +point, or fester within some still more deadly, because more hidden +and unsuspected, shape. The man who dare not be an open sinner for +fear of the law, can be a hypocrite in spite of it. The man who dare +not steal for fear of the law, can cheat in spite of it. The selfish +man will find fresh ways of being selfish, the tyrannical man of +being tyrannical, however closely the law may watch him. He will +discover some means of evading it; and thus the law, after all, +though it may keep down crime, multiplies sin; and by the law, as St. +Paul says, is the knowledge of sin. + +What then will do that for this poor world which the law cannot do-- +which, as St. Paul tells us, not even the law of God given on Mount +Sinai, holy, just, good as it was, could do, because no law can give +life? What will give men a new heart and a new spirit, which shall +love its duty and do it willingly, and not by compulsion, everywhere +and always, and not merely just as far as it commanded? The text +tells us that there is a Spirit, the fruit of which is love, joy, +peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, +temperance; a character such as no laws can give to a man, and which +no law dare punish in a man. Look at this character as St. Paul sets +it forth--and then think what need would there be of all these +burdensome and expensive laws, if all men were but full of the fruits +of that Spirit which St. Paul describes? + +I know what answer will be ready, in some of your minds at least, to +all this. You will be ready to reply, almost angrily, "Of course if +everyone was perfect, we should need no laws: but people are not +perfect, and you cannot expect them to be." My friends, whether or +not WE expect baptized people, living in a Christian country, to be +perfect, God expects them to be perfect; for He has said, by the +mouth of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, "Be ye therefore perfect, as +our Father which is in heaven is perfect." And He has told us what +being perfect is like; you may read it for yourselves in His sermon +on the Mount; and you may see also that what He commands us to do in +that sermon, from the beginning to the end, is the exact opposite and +contrary of the ways and rules of this world, which, as I have shown, +make burdensome laws necessary to prevent our devouring each other. +Now, do you think that God would have told us to be perfect, if He +knew that it was impossible for us? Do you think that He, the God of +truth, would have spoken such a cruel mockery against poor sinful +creatures like us, as to command us a duty without giving us the +means of fulfilling it? Do you think that He did not know ten +thousand times better than I what I have been just telling you, that +laws could not change men's hearts and wills; that commanding a man +to love and like a thing will not make him love and like it; that a +man's heart and spirit must be changed in him from within, and not +merely laws and commandments laid on him from without? Then why has +He commanded us to love each other, ay, to love our enemies, to bless +those who curse us, to pray for those who use us spitefully? Do you +think the Lord meant to make hypocrites of us; to tell us to go +about, as some who call themselves religious do go about, with their +lips full of meek, and humble, and simple, and loving words, while +their hearts are full of pride, and spite, and cunning, and hate, and +selfishness, which are all the more deadly for being kept in and +plastered over by a smooth outside? God forbid! He tells us to love +each other, only because He has promised us the spirit of love. He +tells us to be humble, because He can make us humble-hearted. He +tells us to be honest, because He can make us love and delight in +honesty. He tells us to refrain ourselves from foul thoughts as well +as from foul actions, because He can take the foul heart out of us, +and give us instead the spirit of purity and holiness. He tells us +to lead new lives after the new pattern of Himself, because He can +give us new hearts and a new spring of life within us; in short, He +bids us behave as sons of God should behave, because, as He said +Himself, "If we, being evil, know how to give our children what is +good for them, much more will our heavenly Father give His Holy +Spirit to those who ask him." If you would be perfect, ask your +Father in heaven to make you perfect. If you feel that your heart is +wrong, ask Him to give you a new and a right heart. If you feel +yourselves--as you are, whether you feel it or not--too weak, too +ignorant, too selfish, to guide yourselves, ask Him to send His +Spirit to guide you; ask for the Spirit from which comes all love, +all light, all wisdom, all strength of mind. Ask for that Spirit, +and you SHALL receive it; seek for it, and you shall find it; knock +at the gate of your Father's treasure-house, and it shall be surely +opened to you. + +But some of you, perhaps, are saying to yourselves, "How will my +being changed and renewed by the Spirit of God, render the laws less +burdensome, while the crime and sin around me remain unchanged? It +is others who want to be improved as much, and perhaps more than I +do." It may be so, my friends; or, again, it may not; those who +fancy that others need God's Spirit more than they do, may be the +very persons who need it really the most; those who say they see, may +be only proving their blindness by so saying; those who fancy that +their souls are rich, and are full of all knowledge, and understand +the whole Bible, and want no further teaching, may be, as they were +in St. John's time, just the ones who are wretched, and miserable, +and poor, and blind, and naked in soul, and do not know it. But at +all events, if you think others need to be changed by God's Spirit, +PRAY that God's Spirit may change them. For believe me, unless you +pray for God's Spirit for each other, ay, for the whole world, there +is no use asking for yourselves. This, I believe, is one of the +reasons, perhaps the chief reason, why the fruits of God's Spirit are +so little seen among us in these days; why our Christianity is become +more and more dead, and hollow, and barren, while expensive and +intricate laws and taxes are becoming more and more necessary every +year; because our religion has become so selfish, because we have +been praying for God's Spirit too little for each other. Our prayers +have become too selfish. We have been looking for God's Spirit not +so much as a means to enable us to do good to others, but as some +sort of mysterious charm which was to keep us ourselves from the +punishment of our sins in the next life, or give us a higher place in +heaven; and, therefore, St. James's words have been fulfilled to us, +even in our very prayers for God's Spirit, "Ye ask and have not, +because ye ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts"--save our +selfish souls from the pains of hell; to give our selfish souls +selfish pleasures and selfish glorification in the world to come: +but not to spread God's kingdom upon earth, not to make us live on +earth such lives as Christ lived; a life of love and self-sacrifice, +and continual labour for the souls of others. Therefore it is, that +God's Spirit is not poured out upon us in these days; for God's +Spirit is the spirit of love and brotherhood, which delivers a man +from his selfishness; and if we do not desire to be delivered from +our selfishness, we do not desire the Spirit of God, and the Spirit +of God will not be bestowed upon us. And no man desires to be +delivered from his own selfishness, who in his very prayers, when he +ought to be thinking least about himself alone, is thinking about +himself most of all, and forgetting that he is the member of a +family--that all mankind are his brethren--that he can claim nothing +for himself to which every sinner around him has an equal right--that +nothing is necessary for him, which is not equally necessary for +everyone around him; that he has all the world besides himself to +pray for, and that his prayers for himself will be heard only +according as he prays for all the world beside. Baptism teaches us +this, when it tells us that our old selfish nature is to be washed +away, and a new character, after the pattern of Christ, is to live +and grow up in us; that from the day we are baptized, to the day of +our death, we should live not for ourselves, but for Jesus, in whom +was no selfishness; when it teaches us that we are not only children +of God, but members of Christ's Family, and heirs of God's kingdom, +and therefore bound to make common cause with all other members of +that Family, to live and labour for the common good of all our +fellow-citizens in that kingdom. The Lord's prayer teaches us this, +when He tells us to pray, not "My Father," but "Our Father;" not "my +soul be saved," but "Thy kingdom come;" not "give ME," but "give US +our daily bread;" not "forgive ME," but "forgive US our trespasses," +and that only as we forgive others; not "lead ME not," but "lead US +not into temptation;" not "deliver ME," but "deliver US from evil." +After THAT manner the Lord told us to pray; and, in proportion as we +pray in that manner, asking for nothing for ourselves which we do not +ask for everyone else in the whole world, just so far and no farther +will God HEAR our prayers. He who asks for God's Spirit for himself +only, and forgets that all the world need it as much as he, is not +asking for God's Spirit at all, and does not know even what God's +Spirit is. The mystery of Pentecost, too, which came to pass on this +day 1818 years ago, teaches us the same thing also. Those cloven +tongues of fire, the tokens of God's Spirit, fell not upon one man, +but upon many; not when they were apart from each other, but when +they were together; and what were the fruits of that Spirit in the +Apostles? Did they remain within that upper room, each priding +himself upon his own gifts, and trying merely to gain heaven for his +own soul? If they had any such fancies, as they very likely had +before the Spirit fell upon them, they had none such afterwards. The +Spirit must have taken all such thoughts from them, and given them a +new notion of what it was to be devout and holy: for instead of +staying in that upper room, they went forth instantly into the public +place to preach in foreign tongues to all the people. Instead of +keeping themselves apart from each other in silence, and fancying, as +some have done, and some do now, that they pleased God by being +solitary, and melancholy, and selfish--what do we read? the fruit of +God's Spirit was in them; that they and the three thousand souls who +were added to them, on the first day of their preaching, "were all +together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions, and +goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need, and +continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread +from house to house, did eat their bread in gladness and singleness +of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people." Those +were the fruits of God's Spirit in THEM. Till we see more of that +sort of life and society in England, we shall not be able to pride +ourselves on having much of God's Spirit among us. + +But above all, if anything will teach us that the strength of God's +Spirit is not a strength which we must ask for for ourselves alone; +that the blessings of God's kingdom are blessings which we cannot +have in order to keep them to ourselves, but can only enjoy in as far +as we share them with those around us; if anything, I say, ought to +teach us that lesson, it is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Just +consider a moment, my friends, what a strange thing it is, if we will +think of it, that the Lord's Supper, the most solemn and sacred thing +with which a man can have to do upon earth, is just a thing which he +cannot transact for himself, or by himself. Not alone in secret, in +his chamber, but, whether he will or not, in the company of others, +not merely in the company of his own private friends, but in the +company of any or everyone, rich or poor, who chooses to kneel beside +him; he goes with others, rich and poor alike, to the Lord's Table, +and there the same bread, and the same wine, is shared among all by +the same priest. If that means anything, it means this--that rich +and poor alike draw life for their souls from the same well, not for +themselves only, not apart from each other, but all in common, all +together, because they are brothers, members of one family, as the +leaves are members of the same tree; that as the same bread and the +same wine are needed to nourish the bodies of all, the same spirit of +God is needed to nourish the souls of all; and that we cannot have +this spirit, except as members of a body, any more than a man's limb +can have life when it is cut off and parted from him. This is the +reason, and the only reason, why Protestant clergymen are forbidden, +thank God! to give the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, to any +one person singly. If a clergyman were to administer the Lord's +Supper, to himself in private, without any congregation to partake +with him, it would not be the Lord's Supper, it would be nothing, and +worse than nothing; it would be a sham and a mockery, and, I believe, +a sin. I do not believe that Christ would be present, that God's +Spirit would rest on that man. For our Lord says, that it is where +two or three are gathered together in His name, that He is in the +midst of them. And it was at a supper, at a feast, where all the +Apostles were met together, that our Lord divided the bread amongst +them, and told them to share the cup amongst themselves, just as a +sign that they were all members of one body--that the welfare of each +of them was bound up in the welfare of all the rest that God's +blessing did not rest upon each singly, but upon all together. And +it is just because we have forgotten this, my friends--because we +have forgotten that we are all brothers and sisters, children of one +family, members of one body--because in short, we have carried our +selfishness into our very religion, and up to the altar of God, that +we neglect the Lord's Supper as we do. People neglect the Lord's +Supper because they either do not know or do not like that, of which +the Lord's Supper is the token and warrant. It is not merely that +they feel themselves unfit for the Lord's Supper, because they are +not in love and charity with all men. Oh! my dear friends, do not +some of your hearts tell you, that the reason why you stay away from +the Lord's Supper is because you do not WISH to be fit for the Lord's +Supper--because you do not like to be in love and charity with all +men--because you do not wish to be reminded that you are equals in +God's sight, all equally sinful, all equally pardoned--and to see +people whom you dislike or despise, kneeling by your side, and +partaking of the same bread and wine with you, as a token that God +sees no difference between you and them; that God looks upon you all +as brothers, however little brotherly love or fellow-feeling there +may be, alas! between you? Or, again, do not some of you stay away +from the Lord's Supper, because you see no good in going? because it +seems to make those who go no better than they were before? Shall I +tell you the reason of that? Shall I tell you why, as is too true, +too many do come to the Lord's Supper, and so far from being the +better for it, seem only the worse? Because they come to it in +selfishness. We have fallen into the same false and unscriptural way +of looking at the Lord's Supper, into which the Papists have. People +go to the Lord's Supper nowadays too much to get some private good +for their own souls, and it would not matter to many of them, I am +afraid, if not another person in the parish received it, provided +they can get, as they fancy, the same blessing from it. Thus they +come to it in an utterly false and wrong temper of mind. Instead of +coming as members of Christ's body, to get from Him life and +strength, to work, in their places, as members of that body, they +come to get something for themselves, as if there was nobody else's +soul in the world to be saved but their own. Instead of coming to +ask for the Spirit of God to deliver them from their selfishness, and +make them care less about themselves, and more about all around them, +they come to ask for the Spirit of God because they think it will +make themselves higher and happier in heaven. And of course they do +not get what they come for, because they come for the wrong thing. +Thus those who see them, begin to fancy that the Lord's Supper is +not, after all, so very important for the salvation of their souls; +and not finding in the Bible actually written these words, "Thou +shalt perish everlastingly unless thou take the Lord's Supper," they +end by staying away from it, and utterly neglecting it, they and +their children after them; preferring their own selfishness, to God's +Spirit of love, and saying, like Esau of old, "I am hungry, and I +must live. I must get on in this selfish world by following its +selfish ways; what is the use of a spirit of love and brotherhood to +me? If I were to obey the Gospel, and sacrifice my own interest for +those around me, I should starve; what good will my birthright do +me?" + +Oh! my friends, I pray God that some of you, at least, may change +your mind. I pray God that some of you may see at last, that all the +misery and the burdens of this time, spring from one root, which is +selfishness; and that the reason why we are selfish, is because we +have not with us the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of +brotherhood and love. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to take +that selfishness out of all our hearts. Let us pray God now, and +henceforth, to pour upon us, and upon all our countrymen, ay, and +upon the whole world, the spirit of friendship and fellow-feeling, +the spirit which when men have among them, they need no laws to keep +them from supplanting, and oppressing, and devouring each other, +because its fruits are love, cheerfulness, peace, long suffering, +gentleness, goodness, honesty, meekness, temperance Then there will +be no need, my friends, for me to call you to the Supper of the Lord. +You will no more think of staying away from it, than the Apostles +did, when the Spirit was poured out on them. For what do we read +that they did after the first Whit-Sunday? That altogether with one +accord, they broke bread daily; that is, partook of the Lord's Supper +every day, from house to house. They did not need to be told to do +it. They did it, as I may say, by instinct. There was no question +or argument about it in their minds. They had found out that they +were all brothers, with one common cause in joy and sorrow--that they +were all members of one body--that the life of their souls came from +one root and spring, from one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the +light and the life of men, in whom they were all one, members of each +other; and therefore, they delighted in that Lord's Supper, just +because it brought them together; just because it was a sign and a +token to them that they did belong to each other, that they had one +Lord, one faith, one interest, one common cause for this life, and +for all eternity. And therefore the blessing of that Lord's Supper +did come to them, and in it they did receive strength to live like +children of God and members of Christ, and brothers to each other and +to all mankind. They proved by their actions what that Communion +Feast, that Sacrament of Brotherhood, had done for them. They proved +it by not counting their own lives dear to them, but going forth in +the face of poverty and persecution, and death itself, to preach to +the whole world the good news that Christ was their King. They +proved it by their conduct to each other when they had all things in +common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, +as every man had need. They proved it by needing no laws to bind +them to each other from without, because they were bound to each +other from within, by the love which comes down from God, and is the +very bond of peace, and of every virtue which becomes a man. + + + +XI--ASCENSION-DAY + + + +And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his +hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, +he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they +worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy; and were +continually in the temple, praising and blessing God--LUKE xxiv. 50- +53. + +On this day it is fit and proper for us--if we have understood, and +enjoyed, and profited by the wonder of the Lord's Ascension into +Heaven--to be in the same state of mind as the Apostles were after +His Ascension: for what was right for them is right for us and for +all men; the same effects which it produced on them it ought to +produce on us. And we may know whether we are in the state in which +Christian men ought to be, by seeing how far we are in the same state +of mind as the Apostles were. Now the text tells us in what state of +mind they were; how that, after the Lord Jesus was parted from them, +and carried up into Heaven, they worshipped Him, and returned to +Jerusalem, with great joy, and were continually in the temple, +praising and blessing God. It seems at first sight certainly very +strange that they should go back with great joy. They had just lost +their Teacher, their Master--One who had been more to them than all +friends and fathers could be; One who had taken them, poor simple +fishermen, and changed the whole course of their lives, and taught +them things which He had taught to no one else, and given them a +great and awful work to do--the work of changing the ways and +thoughts and doings of the whole world. He had sent them out--eleven +unlettered working men--to fight against the sin and the misery of +the whole world. And He had given them open warning of what they +were to expect; that by it they should win neither credit, nor +riches, nor ease, nor anything else that the world thinks worth +having. He gave them fair warning that the world would hate them, +and try to crush them. He told them, as the Gospel for to-day says, +that they should be driven out of the churches; that the religious +people, as well as the irreligious, would be against them; that the +time would come when those who killed them would think that they did +God service; that nothing but labour, and want, and persecution, and +slander, and torture, and death was before them--and now He had gone +away and left them. He had vanished up into the empty air. They +were to see His face, and hear His voice no more. They were to have +no more of His advice, no more of His teaching, no more of His tender +comfortings; they were to be alone in the world--eleven poor working +men, with the whole world against them, and so great a business to do +that they would not have time to get their bread by the labour of +their hands. Is it not wonderful that they did not sit down in +despair, and say, "What will become of us?" Is it not wonderful that +they did not give themselves up to grief at losing the Teacher who +was worth all the rest of the world put together? Is it not +wonderful that they did not go back, each one to his old trade, to +his fishing and to his daily labour, saying, "At all events we must +eat; at all events we must get our livelihood;" and end, as they had +begun, in being mere labouring men, of whom the world would never +have heard a word? And instead of that we read that they went back +with great joy not to their homes but to Jerusalem, the capital city +of their country, and "were continually in the temple blessing and +praising God." Well, my friends, and if it is possible for one man +to judge what another man would have done--if it is possible to guess +what we should have done in their case--common-sense must show us +this, that if He was merely their Teacher, they would have either +given themselves up to despair, or gone back, some to their plough, +some to their fishing-nets, and some, like Matthew, to their +counting-houses, and we should never have heard a word of them. But +if you will look in your Bibles, you will find that they thought Him +much more than a teacher--that they thought Him to be the Lord and +King of the whole world; and you will find that the great joy with +which the disciples went back, after He ascended into heaven, came +from certain very strange words that He had been speaking to them +just before He ascended--words about which they could have but two +opinions: either they must have thought that they were utter +falsehood, and self-conceit, and blasphemy; and that Jesus, who had +been all along speaking to them such words of wisdom and holiness as +never man spake before, had suddenly changed His whole character at +the last, and become such a sort of person as it is neither fit for +me to speak of, or you to hear me speak of, in God's church, and in +Jesus Christ's hearing, even though it be merely for the sake of +argument; or else they must have thought THIS about His words, that +they were the most joyful and blessed words that ever had been spoken +on the earth; that they were the best of all news; the most complete +of all Gospels for this poor sinful world; that what Jesus had said +about Himself was true; and that as long as it was true, it did not +matter in the least what became of them; it did not matter in the +least what difficulties stood in their way, for they would be certain +to conquer them all; it did not matter in the least how men might +persecute and slander them, for they would be sure to get their +reward; it did not matter in the least how miserable and sinful the +world might be just then, for it was certain to be changed, and +converted, and brought to God, to righteousness, to love, to freedom, +to light, at last. + +If you look at the various accounts, in the four gospels, of the +Lord's last words on earth, you will see, surely, what I mean. Let +us take them one by one. + +St. Matthew tells us that, a few days before the Lord's ascension, He +met His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where he had appointed +them to await him; and there told them, that all power was given to +Him in heaven and earth. Was not that blessed news--was not that a +gospel? That all the power in heaven and earth belonged to HIM? To +Him, who had all His life been doing good? To Him, in whom there had +never been one single stain of tyranny or selfishness? To Him, who +had been the friend of publicans and sinners? To Him, who had +rebuked the very richest, and loved the very poorest? To him, who +had shown that He had both the power and the will to heal every kind +of sickness and disease? To Him, who had conquered and driven out, +wherever He met them, all the evil spirits which enslave and torment +poor sinful men? To Him, who had shown by rising from the dead, that +He was stronger than even death itself? To Him, who had declared +that He was the Son of God the Father, that the great God who had +made heaven and earth, and all therein, was perfectly pleased and +satisfied with Him, that He was come to do His Father's will, and not +His own; that He was the ancient Lord of the earth, the I AM who was +before Abraham? And He was now to have all power in heaven and +earth! Everything which was done right in the world henceforth, was +to be His doing. The kingdom and rule over the whole universe, was +to be His. So He said; and His disciples believed Him; and if they +believed Him, how could they but rejoice? How could they but rejoice +at the glorious thought that He, the son of the village maiden, the +champion of the poor and the suffering, was to have the government of +the world for ever? That He, who all the while He had been on earth +had showed that He was perfect justice, perfect love, perfect +humanity, was to reign till He had put all His enemies under His +feet? How could the world but prosper under such a King as that? +How could wickedness triumph, while He, the perfectly righteous one, +was King? How could misery triumph, while He, the perfectly merciful +one, was King? How could ignorance triumph, while He, the perfectly +wise one, who had declared that God the Father hid nothing from Him, +was King? Unless the disciples had been more dull and selfish than +the dumb beasts around them, what could they do but rejoice at that +news? What matter to them if Jesus were taken out of their sight, as +long as all power was given to Him in heaven and earth? + +But He had told them more. He had told them that they were not to +keep this glorious secret to themselves. No: they were to go forth +and preach the gospel of it, the good news of it, to every creature-- +to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. The good news that God +was the King of men, after all; that cruel tyrants and oppressors, +and conquerors, were not their kings; that neither the storms over +their heads, nor the earth under their feet, nor the clouds and the +rivers whom the heathens used to worship in the hope of persuading +the earth and the weather to be favourable to them, and bless their +harvests, were their kings; that idols of wood and stone, and evil +spirits of lust, and cruelty, and covetousness, were not their kings; +but that God was their King; that He loved them, He pitied them in +spite of all their sins; that He had sent His only begotten Son into +the world to teach them, to live for them--to die for them--to claim +them for His own. And, therefore, they were to go and baptize all +nations, as a sign that they were to repent, and change, and put away +all their old false and evil heathen life, and rise to a new life, +they and their children after them, as God's children, God's family, +brothers of the Son of God. And they were to baptize them into a +name; showing that they belonged to those into whose name they were +baptized; into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy +Spirit. They were to be baptized into the name of the Father, as a +sign that God was their Father, and they His children. They were to +be baptized into the name of the Son, as a sign that the Son, Jesus +Christ, was their King and head; and not merely their King and head, +but their Saviour, who had taken away the sin of the world, and +redeemed it for God, with His own most precious blood; and not merely +their Saviour, but their pattern; that they might know that they were +bound to become as far as is possible for mortal man such sons of God +as Jesus himself had been, like Him obedient, pure, forgiving, +brotherly, caring for each other and not for themselves, doing their +heavenly Father's will and not their own. And they were to baptize +all nations into the name of the Holy Spirit, for a sign that God's +Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, would be with them, to give them +new life, new holiness, new manfulness; to teach, and guide, and +strengthen them for ever. That was the gospel which they had to +preach. The good news that the Son of God was the King of men. That +was the name into which they were to baptize all nations--the name of +children of God, members of Christ, heirs of a heavenly and spiritual +kingdom, which should go on age after age, for ever, growing and +spreading men knew not how, as the grains of mustard-seed, which at +first the least of all seeds, grows up into a great tree, and the +birds of the air come and lodge in the branches of it--to go on, I +say, from age to age, improving, cleansing, and humanising, and +teaching the whole world, till the kingdoms of the earth became the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ. That was the work which the +Apostles had given them to do. Do you not see, friends, that unless +those Apostles had been the most selfish of men, unless all they +cared for was their own gain and comfort, they must have rejoiced? +The whole world was to be set right--what matter what happened to +them? And, therefore, I said at the beginning of my sermon, that a +sure way to know whether our minds were in a right state, was to see +whether we felt about it as the Apostles felt. The Bible tells us to +rejoice always, to praise and give thanks to God always. If we +believe what the Apostles believed, we shall be joyful; if we do not, +we shall not be joyful. If we believe in the words which the Lord +spoke before He ascended on high, we shall be joyful. If we believe +that all power in heaven and earth is His, we shall be joyful. If we +believe that the son of the village maiden has ascended up on high, +and received gifts for men, we shall be joyful. If we believe that, +as our baptism told us, God is our Father, the Son of God our +Saviour, the Spirit of God ready to teach and guide us, we shall be +joyful. Do you answer me, "But the world goes on so ill; there is so +much sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty in it; how can we be +joyful?" I answer: There was a hundred times as much sin, and +misery, and folly, and cruelty, in the Apostles' time, and yet they +were joyful, and full of gladness, blessing and praising God. If you +answer, "But we are so slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, +and hard-worked, and ill-treated; we have no time to enjoy ourselves, +or do the things which we should like best. How can we be joyful?" I +answer: So were the Apostles. They knew that they would be a +hundred times as much slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, as +you can ever be; that they would have far less time to enjoy +themselves, far less opportunity of doing the things which they liked +best, than you can ever have; they knew that misery, and persecution, +and a shameful death were before them, and yet they were joyful and +full of gladness, blessing and praising God. And why should you not +be? For what was true for them is true for you. They had no +blessing, no hope, but what you have just as good a right to as they +had. They were joyful, because God was their Father, and God is your +Father. They were joyful because they and all men belonged to God's +family; and you belong to it. They were joyful, because God's Spirit +was promised to them, to make them like God; and God's Spirit was +promised to you. They were joyful, because a poor man was king of +heaven and earth; and that poor man, Jesus Christ, who was born at +Bethlehem, is as much your King now as He was theirs then. They were +joyful, because the whole world was going to improve under His rule +and government; and the whole world is improving, and will go on +improving for ever. They were joyful, because Jesus, whom they had +known as a poor, despised, crucified man on earth, had ascended up to +heaven in glory; and if you believe the same, you will be joyful too. +In proportion as you believe the mystery of Ascension-day; if you +believe the words which the Lord spoke before He ascended, you will +have cheerful, joyful, hopeful thoughts about yourselves, and about +the whole world; if you do not, you will be in continual danger of +becoming suspicious and despairing, fancying the world still worse +than it is, fancying that God has neglected and forgotten it, +fancying that the devil is stronger than God, and man's sins wider +than Christ's redemption till you will think it neither worth while +to do right yourselves, nor to make others do right towards you. + + + +XII--THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE + + + +(A Sermon Preached at St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, May 4th, +1851, in behalf of the Westminster Hospital.) + +When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received +gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, that the Lord God might +dwell among them.--PSALM lxviii. 18, and EPHESIANS iv. 8. + +If, a thousand years ago, a congregation in this place had been +addressed upon the text which I have chosen, they would have had, I +think, little difficulty in applying its meaning to themselves, and +in mentioning at once innumerable instances of those gifts which the +King of men had received for men, innumerable signs that the Lord God +was really dwelling amongst them. But amongst those signs, I think, +they would have mentioned several which we are not now generally +accustomed to consider in such a light. They would have pointed not +merely to the building of churches, the founding of schools, the +spread of peace, the decay of slavery; but to the importation of +foreign literature, the extension of the arts of reading, writing, +painting, architecture, the improvement of agriculture, and the +introduction of new and more successful methods of the cure of +diseases. They might have expressed themselves on these points in a +way that we consider now puerile and superstitious. They might have +attributed to the efficacy of prayer, many cures which we now +attribute--shall I say? to no cause whatsoever. They may have quoted +as an instance of St. Cuthbert's sanctity, rather than of his shrewd +observations, his discovery of a spring of water in the rocky floor +of his cell, and his success in growing barley upon the barren island +where wheat refused to germinate; and we might have smiled at their +superstition, and smiled, too, at their seeing any consequence of +Christianity, any token that the kingdom of God was among them, in +Bishop Wilfred's rescuing the Hampshire Saxons from the horrors of +famine, by teaching them the use of fishing-nets. But still so they +would have spoken--men of a turn of mind no less keen, shrewd, and +practical than we, their children; and if we had objected to their +so-called superstition that all these improvements in the physical +state of England were only the natural consequences of the +introduction of Roman civilisation by French and Italian +missionaries, they would have smiled at us in their turn, not perhaps +without some astonishment at our stupidity, and asked: "Do you not +see, too, that THAT is in itself a sign of the kingdom of God--that +these nations who have been for ages selfishly isolated from each +other, except for purposes of conquest and desolation, should be now +teaching each other, helping each other, interchanging more and more, +generation by generation, their arts, their laws, their learning +becoming fused down under the influence of a common Creed, and +loyalty to one common King in Heaven, from their state of savage +jealousy and warfare, into one great Christendom, and family of God?" +And if, my friends, as I think, those forefathers of ours could rise +from their graves this day, they would be inclined to see in our +hospitals, in our railroads, in the achievements of our physical +Science, confirmation of that old superstition of theirs, proofs of +the kingdom of God, realisations of the gifts which Christ received +for men, vaster than any of which they had ever dreamed. They might +be startled at God's continuing those gifts to us, who hold on many +points a creed so different from theirs. They might be still more +startled to see in the Great Exhibition of all Nations, which is our +present nine-days' wonder, that those blessings were not restricted +by God even to nominal Christians, but that His love, His teaching, +with regard to matters of civilisation and physical science, were +extended, though more slowly and partially, to the Mahometan and the +Heathen. And it would be a wholesome lesson to them, to find that +God's grace was wider than their narrow theories; perhaps they may +have learnt it already in the world of spirits. But of its BEING +God's grace, there would be no doubt in their minds. They would +claim unhesitatingly, and at once, that great Exhibition established +in a Christian country, as a point of union and brotherhood for all +people, for a sign that God was indeed claiming all the nations of +the world as His own--proving by the most enormous facts that He had +sent down a Pentecost, gifts to men which would raise them not merely +spiritually, but physically and intellectually, beyond anything which +the world had ever seen, and had poured out a spirit among them which +would convert them in the course of ages, gradually, but most surely +and really, from a pandemonium of conquerors and conquered, devourers +and devoured, into a family of fellow-helping brothers, until the +kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. + +But I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple old +Saxon faith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it makes +the preacher this day, that the time of real brotherhood and peace is +still but too far off; and that the achievements of our physical +science, the unity of this great Exhibition, noble as they are, are +still only dim forecastings and prophecies, as it were, of a higher, +nobler reality. And they would say sadly to us, their children: +"Sons, you ought to be so near to God; He seems to have given you so +much and to have worked among you as He never worked for any nation +under heaven. How is it that you give the glory to yourselves, and +not to Him?" + +For do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, in any +real, honest, and practical sense? There may be some official and +perfunctory talk of God's blessing on our endeavours; but there seems +to be no real belief in us that God, the inspiration of God, is the +very fount and root of the endeavours themselves; that He teaches us +these great discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this wondrous +wealth; that He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. +True, we keep up something of the form and tradition of the old talk +about such things; we join in prayer to God to bless our great +Exhibition, but we do not believe--we do not believe, my friends-- +that it was God who taught us to conceive, build, and arrange that +Great Exhibition; and our notion of God's blessing it, seems to be +God's absence from it; a hope and trust that God will leave it and us +alone, and not "visit" it or us in it, or "interfere" by any "special +providences," by storms, or lightning, or sickness, or panic, or +conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that we could manage it all +perfectly well without God, but that as He exists, and has some power +over natural phenomena, which is not very exactly defined, we must +notice His existence over and above our work, lest He should become +angry and "visit" us . . . And this in spite of words which were +spoken by one whose office it was to speak them, as the +representative of the highest and most sacred personage in these +realms; words which deserve to be written in letters of gold on the +high places of this city; in which he spoke of this Exhibition as an +"approach to a more complete fulfilment of the great and sacred +mission which man has to perform in the world;" when he told the +English people that "man's reason being created in the image of God, +he has to discover the laws by which Almighty God governs His +creations, and by making these laws the standard of his action, to +conquer nature to his use, himself a divine instrument;" when he +spoke of "thankfulness to Almighty God for what he has already +GIVEN," as the first feeling which that Exhibition ought to excite in +us; and as the second, "the deep conviction that those blessings can +only be realised in proportion to"--not, as some would have it, the +rivalry and selfish competition--but "in proportion to the HELP which +we are prepared to render to each other; and, therefore, by peace, +love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals, but between +all nations of the earth." We read those great words; but in the +hearts of how few, alas! to judge from our modern creed on such +matters, must the really important and distinctive points of them +find an echo! To how few does this whole Exhibition seem to have +been anything but a matter of personal gain or curiosity, for +national aggrandisement, insular self-glorification, and selfish--I +had almost said, treacherous--rivalry with the very foreigners whom +we invited as our guests? + +And so, too, with our cures of diseases. We speak of God's blessing +the means, and God's blessing the cure. But all we really mean by +blessing them, is permitting them. Do not our hearts confess that +our notion of His blessing the means, is His leaving the means to +themselves and their own physical laws--leaving, in short, the cure +to us and not preventing our science doing its work, and asserting +His own existence by bringing on some unexpected crisis, or +unfortunate relapse--if, indeed, the old theory that He does bring on +such, be true? + +Our old forefathers, on the other hand, used to believe that in +medicine, as in everything else, God taught men all that they knew. +They believed the words of the Wise Man when he said that "the Spirit +of God gives man understanding." The method by which Solomon +believed himself to have obtained all his physical science and +knowledge of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which +groweth on the wall, was in their eyes the only possible method. +They believed the words of Isaiah when he said of the tillage and the +rotation of crops in use among the peasants of his country, that +their God instructed them to discretion and taught them; and that +even the various methods of threshing out the various species of +grain came "forth from the Lord of hosts, who is excellent in +counsel, and wonderful in working." + +Such a method, you say, seems to you now miraculous. It did not seem +to our forefathers miraculous that God should teach man; it seemed to +them most simple, most rational, most natural, an utterly every-day +axiom. They thought it was because so few of the heathen were taught +by God that they were no wiser than they were. They thought that +since the Son of God had come down and taken our nature upon Him, and +ascended up on high and received gifts for men, that it was now the +right and privilege of every human being who was willing to be taught +of God, as the prophet foretold in those very words; and that baptism +was the very sign and seal of that fact--a sign that for every human +being, whatever his age, sex, rank, intellect, or race, a certain +measure of the teaching of God and of the Spirit of God was ready, +promised, sure as the oath of Him that made heaven and the earth, and +all things therein. That was Solomon's belief. We do not find that +it made him a fanatic and an idler, waiting with folded hands for +inspiration to come to him he knew not how nor whence. His belief +that wisdom was the revelation and gift of God did not prevent him +from seeking her as silver, and searching for her as hid treasures, +from applying his heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning +all things that are done under heaven; and we do not find that it +prevented our forefathers. Ceadmon's belief that God inspired him +with the poetic faculty, did not make him the less laborious and +careful versifier. Bishop John's blessing the dumb boy's tongue in +the name of Him whom he believed to be Word of God and the Master of +that poor dumb boy, did not prevent his anticipating some of the +discoveries of our modern wise men, in setting about a most practical +and scientific cure. Alfred's continual prayers for light and +inspiration made him no less a laborious and thoughtful student of +war and law, of physics, language, and geography. These old Teutons, +for all these superstitions of theirs, were perhaps as businesslike +and practical in those days as we their children are in these. But +that did not prevent their believing that unless God showed them a +thing, they could not see it, and thanking Him honestly enough for +the comparative little which He did show them. But we who enjoy the +accumulated teaching of ages--we to whose researches He is revealing +year by year, almost week by weeks wonders of which they never +dreamed--we whom He has taught to make the lame to walk, the dumb to +speak, the blind to see, to exterminate the pestilence and defy the +thunderbolt, to multiply millionfold the fruits of learning, to +annihilate time and space, to span the heavens, and to weigh the sun-- +what madness is this which has come upon us in these last days, to +make us fancy that we, insects of a day, have found out these things +for ourselves, and talk big about the progress of the species, and +the triumphs of intellect, and the all-conquering powers of the human +mind, and give the glory of all this inspiration and revelation, not +to God, but to ourselves? Let us beware, beware--lest our boundless +pride and self-satisfaction, by some mysterious yet most certain law, +avenge itself--lest like the Assyrian conqueror of old, while we +stand and cry, "Is not this great Babylon which I have built?" our +reason, like his, should reel and fall beneath the narcotic of our +own maddening self-conceit, and while attempting to scale the heavens +we overlook some pitfall at our feet, and fall as learned idiots, +suicidal pedants, to be a degradation, and a hissing, and a shame. + +However strongly you may differ from these opinions of our own +forefathers with regard to the ground and cause of physical science, +and the arts of healing, I am sure that the recollection of the +thrice holy ground upon which we stand, beneath the shadow of +venerable piles, witnesses for the creeds, the laws, the liberties, +which those our ancestors have handed down to us, will preserve you +from the temptation of dismissing with hasty contempt their thoughts +upon any subject so important; will make you inclined to listen to +their opinion with affection, if not with reverence; and save, +perhaps, the preacher from a sneer when he declares that the doctrine +of those old Saxon men is, in his belief, not only the most +Scriptural, but the most rational and scientific explanation of the +grounds of all human knowledge. + +At least, I shall be able to quote in support of my own opinion a +name from which there can be no appeal in the minds of a congregation +of educated Englishmen--I mean Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, the +spiritual father of the modern science, and, therefore, of the +chemistry and the medicine of the whole civilised world. If there is +one thing which more than another ought to impress itself on the mind +of a careful student of his works, it is this--that he considered +science as the inspiration of God, and every separate act of +induction by which man arrives at a physical law, as a revelation +from the Maker of those laws; and that the faith which gave him +daring to face the mystery of the universe, and proclaim to men that +they could conquer nature by obeying her, was his deep, living, +practical belief that there was One who had ascended up on high and +led captive in the flesh and spirit of a man those very idols of +sense which had been themselves leading men's minds captive, +enslaving them to the illusions of their own senses, forcing them to +bow down in vague awe and terror before those powers of Nature, which +God had appointed, not to be their tyrants, but their slaves. I will +not special-plead particulars from his works, wherein I may consider +that he asserts this. I will rather say boldly that the idea runs +through every line he ever wrote; that unless seen in the light of +that faith, the grounds of his philosophy ought to be as inexplicable +to us, as they would, without it, have been impossible to himself. +As has been well said of him: "Faith in God as the absolute ground +of all human as well as of all natural laws; the belief that He had +actually made Himself known to His creatures, and that it was +possible for them to have a knowledge of Him, cleared from the +phantasies and idols of their own imaginations and understandings; +this was the necessary foundation of all that great man's mind and +speculations, to whatever point they were tending, and however at +times they might be darkened by too close a familiarity with the +corruptions and meannesses of man, or too passionate an addiction to +the contemplation of Nature. Nor should it ever be forgotten that he +owed all the clearness and distinctness of his mind to his freedom +from that Pantheism which naturally disposes to a vague admiration +and adoration of Nature, to the belief that it is stronger and nobler +than ourselves; that we are servants, and puppets, and portions of +it, and not its lords and rulers. If Bacon had in anywise confounded +Nature with God--if he had not entertained the strongest practical +feeling that men were connected with God through One who had taken +upon Him their nature, it is impossible that he could have discovered +that method of dealing with physics which has made a physical science +possible." + +No really careful student of his works, but must have perceived this, +however glad, alas! he may have felt at times to thrust the thought +of it from him, and try to think that Francis Bacon's Christianity +was something over and above his philosophy--a religion which he left +behind him at the church-door--or only sprinkled up and down his +works so much of it as should shield him in a bigoted age from the +suspicion of materialism. A strange theory, and yet one which so +determined is man to see nothing, whether it be in the Bible or in +the Novum Organum, but what each wishes to see, has been deliberately +put forth again and again by men who fancy, forsooth, that the +greatest of English heroes was even such an one as themselves. One +does not wonder to find among the general characteristics of those +writers who admire Bacon as a materialist, the most utter incapacity +of philosophising on Bacon's method, the very restless conceit, the +hasty generalisation, the hankering after cosmogonic theories, which +Bacon anathematises in every page. Yes, I repeat it, we owe our +medical and sanitary science to Bacon's philosophy; and Bacon owed +his philosophy to his Christianity. + +Oh! it is easy for us, amid the marvels of our great hospitals, now +grown commonplace in our eyes from very custom, to talk of the empire +of mind over matter; for us--who reap the harvest whereof Bacon sowed +the seed. But consider, how great the faith of that man must have +been, who died in hope, not having received the promises, but seeing +them afar off, and haunted to his dying day with glorious visions of +a time when famine and pestilence should vanish before a scientific +obedience--to use his own expression--to the will of God, revealed in +natural facts. Thus we can understand how he dared to denounce all +that had gone before him as blind and worthless guides, and to +proclaim himself to the world as the one restorer of true physical +philosophy. Thus we can understand how he, the cautious and patient +man of the world, dared indulge in those vast dreams of the +scientific triumphs of the future. Thus we can understand how he +dared hint at the expectation that men would some day even conquer +death itself; because he believed that man had conquered death +already, in the person of its King and Lord--in the flesh of Him who +ascended up on high, and led captivity captive, and received gifts +for men. The "empire of mind over matter?" What practical proof had +he of it amid the miserable alternations of empiricism and magic +which made up the pseudo-science of his time; amid the theories and +speculations of mankind, which, as he said, were "but a sort of +madness--useless alike for discovery or for operation." What right +had he, more than any other man who had gone before him, to believe +that man could conquer and mould to his will the unseen and +tremendous powers which work in every cloud and every flower? that he +could dive into the secret mysteries of his own body, and renew his +youth like the eagle's? This ground he had for that faith--that he +believed, as he says himself, that he must "begin from God; and that +the pursuit of physical science clearly proceeds from Him, the Author +of good, and Father of light." This gave him faith to say that in +this as in all other Divine works, the smallest beginnings lead +assuredly to some result, and that the "remark in spiritual matters, +that the kingdom of God cometh without observation, is also found to +be true in every great work of Divine Providence; so that everything +glides on quietly without confusion or noise, and the matter is +achieved before men either think or perceive that it is commenced." +This it was which gave him courage to believe that his own philosophy +might be the actual fulfilment of the prophecy, that in the last days +many should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased--words +which, like hundreds of others in his works, sound like the +outpourings of an almost blasphemous self-conceit, till we recollect +that he looked on science only as the inspiration of God, and man's +empire over nature only as the consequence of the redemption worked +out for him by Christ, and begin to see in them the expressions of +the deepest and most divine humility. + +I doubt not that many here will be far more able than I am +practically to apply the facts which I have been adducing to the +cause of the hospital for which I am pleading. But there is one +consequence of them to which I must beg leave to draw attention more +particularly, especially at the present era of our nation. If, then, +these discoveries of science be indeed revelations and inspirations +from God, does it not follow that all classes, even the poorest and +the most ignorant, the most brutal, have an equal right to enjoy the +fruits of them? Does it not follow that to give to the poor their +share in the blessings which chemical and medical science are working +out for us, is not a matter of charity or benevolence, but of DUTY, +of indefeasible, peremptory, immediate duty? For consider, my +friends; the Son of God descends on earth, and takes on Him not only +the form, but the very nature, affections, trials, and sorrows of a +man. He proclaims Himself as the person who has been all along +ruling, guiding, teaching, improving men; the light who lighteth +every man who cometh into the world. He proclaims Himself by acts of +wondrous power to be the internecine foe and conqueror of every form +of sorrow, slavery, barbarism, weakness, sickness, death itself. He +proclaims Himself as One who is come to give His life for His sheep-- +One who is come to restore to men the likeness in which they were +originally created, the likeness of their Father in Heaven, who +accepteth the person of no man--who causeth His sun to shine on the +evil and on the good, who sendeth His rain on the just and on the +unjust, in whose sight the meanest publican, if his only +consciousness be that of his own baseness and worthlessness, is more +righteous than the most learned, respectable, and self-satisfied +pharisee. He proclaims Himself the setter-up of a kingdom into which +the publican and the harlot will pass sooner than the rich, the +mighty, and the noble; a kingdom in which all men are to be brothers, +and their bond of union loyalty to One who spared not His own life +for the sheep, who came not to do His own, but the will of the Father +who had sent Him, and who showed by His toil among the poor, the +outcast, the ignorant, and the brutal, what that same will was like. +With His own life-blood He seals this Covenant between God and man. +He offers up His own body as the first-fruits of this great kingdom +of self-sacrifice. He takes poor fishermen and mechanics, and sends +them forth to acquaint all men with the good news that God is their +King, and to baptize them as subjects of that kingdom, bound to rise +in baptism to a new life, a life of love, and brotherhood, and self- +sacrifice, like His own. He commands them to call all nations to +that sacred Feast wherein there is neither rich nor poor, but the +same bread and the same wine are offered to the monarch and to the +slave, as signs of their common humanity, their common redemption, +their common interest--signs that they derive their life, their +health, their reason, their every faculty of body, soul, and spirit, +from One who walked the earth as the son of a poor carpenter, who ate +and drank with publicans and sinners. He sends down His Spirit on +them with gifts of language, eloquence, wisdom, and healing, as mere +earnests and first-fruits; so they said, of that prophecy that He +would pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, even upon slaves and +handmaids. And these poor fishermen feel themselves impelled by a +divine and irresistible impulse to go forth to the ends of the world, +and face persecution, insult, torture, and death--not in order that +they may make themselves lords over mankind, but that they may tell +them that One is their Master, even Jesus Christ, both God and man-- +that HE rules the world, and will rule it, and CAN rule it, that in +His sight there is no distinction of race, or rank, or riches, +neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. And, as a +fact, their message has prevailed and been believed; and in +proportion as it has prevailed, not merely individual sanctity or +piety, but liberty, law, peace, civilisation, learning, art, science, +the gifts which he bought for men with His blood, have followed in +its train: while the nations who have not received that message that +God was their King, or having received it have forgotten it, or +perverted it into a superstition and an hypocrisy, have in exactly +that proportion fallen back into barbarism and bloodshed, slavery and +misery. My friends, if this philosophy of history, this theory of +human progress, or as I should call it, this Gospel of the Kingdom of +God mean anything--does it not mean this? this which our forefathers +believed, dimly and inconsistently perhaps, but still believed it, +else we had not been here this day--that we are not our own, but the +servants of Jesus Christ, and brothers of each other--that the very +constitution and ground-law of this human species which has been +redeemed by Christ, is the self-sacrifice which Christ displayed as +the one perfection of humanity--that all rank, property, learning, +science, are only held by their possessors in trust from that King +who has distributed them to each according as He will, that each +might use them for the good of all, certain--as certain as God's +promise can make man--that if by giving up our own interest for the +interest of others, we seek first the kingdom of God, and the +righteousness between man and man, which we call MERCY, according to +which it is constituted, all other things, health, wealth, peace, and +every other blessing which humanity can desire, shall be added unto +us over and above, as the natural and necessary fruits of a society +founded according to the will of God, and declared in his Son Jesus +Christ, and therefore according to those physical laws, whereof He is +at once the Creator, the Director, and the Revealer? + +This was the faith of our forefathers, both laity and clergy--that +the Lord was King, be the people never so unquiet; that men were His +stewards and His pupils only, and not His vicars; that they were +equal in His sight, and not the slaves and tyrants of each other; and +that the help that was done upon earth, He did it all Himself. +Dimly, doubtless, they saw it, and inconsistently: but they saw it, +and to their faith in that great truth we owe all that has made +England really noble among the nations. Of the fruits of that faith +every venerable building around us should remind us. To that faith +in the laity, we owe the abolition of serfdom, the freedom of our +institutions, the laws which provide equal justice between man and +man; to that faith in the clergy, and especially in the monastic +orders, we owe the endowment of our schools and universities, the +improvement of agriculture, the preservation and the spread of all +the liberal arts and sciences, as far as they were then discovered; +so that every one of those abbeys which we now revile so ignorantly, +became a centre of freedom, protection, healing, and civilisation, a +refuge for the oppressed, a well-spring of mercy for the afflicted, a +practical witness to the nation that property and science were not +the private and absolute possession of men, but only held in trust +from God for the benefit of the common weal: and just in proportion +as in the 14th and 15th centuries those institutions fell from their +first estate, and began to fancy that their wealth and wisdom was +their own, acquired by their own cunning, to be used for their own +aggrandizement, they became an imposture and imbecility, an +abomination and a ruin. And it was this faith, too, in a still +nobler and clearer form, which at the Reformation inspired the age +which could produce a Ridley, a Latimer, an Elizabeth, a Shakspeare, +a Spenser, a Raleigh, a Bacon, and a Milton; which knit together, in +spite of religious feuds and social wrongs, the nation of England +with a bond which all the powers of hell endeavoured in vain to +break. Doubtless, there too there was inconsistency enough. +Elizabeth may have mixed up ambitious dynastic dreams with her +intense belief that God had given her her wisdom, her learning, her +mighty will, only to be the servant of His servants and defender of +the faith. Men like Drake and Raleigh, while they were believing +that God had sent them forth to smite with the sword of the Lord the +devourers of the earth, the destroyers of religion, freedom, +civilisation, and national life, may have been unfaithful to what +they believed their divine mission, and fancied that they might use +their wisdom and valour that God gave them for their selfish ends, +till they committed (as some say) acts of rapacity and cruelty worthy +of the merest buccaneer. But THAT was not what made them conquer-- +that was not what made the wealth and the might of Spain melt away +before their little bands of heroes; but the same old faith, shining +out in all their noblest acts and words, that "the Lord WAS King, and +that the help that was done upon earth, He did it all Himself?" So +again, Bacon may have fancied, and did fancy in his old age, that he +might use his deep knowledge of mankind for his own selfish ends-- +that he might indulge himself in building himself up a name that +might fill all the earth, that he who had done so much for God and +for mankind, might be allowed to do at last somewhat for himself, and +tempted, by a paltry bribe, fall for awhile, as David did before him, +that God, and not he, might have the glory of all his wisdom. But +then he was less than himself; then he had but lost sight of his +lode-star. Then he had forgotten, but only for awhile, that he owed +all to the teaching of that God who had given to the young and +obscure advocate the mission of affecting the destinies of nations +yet unborn. + +And believe me, my friends, even as it has been with our forefathers, +so it will be with us. According to our faith will it be unto us, +now as it was of old. In proportion as we believe that wealth, +science, and civilisation are the work and property of man, in just +that proportion we shall be tempted to keep them selfishly and +exclusively to ourselves. The man of science will be tempted to hide +his discoveries, though men may be perishing for lack of them, till +he can sell them to the highest bidder; the rich man will be tempted +to purchase them for himself, in order that he may increase his own +comfort and luxury, and feel comparatively lazy and careless about +their application to the welfare of the masses; he will be tempted to +pay an exorbitant price for anything that can increase his personal +convenience, and yet when the question is about improving the supply +of necessaries to the poor, stand haggling about considerations of +profitable investment, excuse himself from doing the duty which lies +nearest to him by visions of distant profit, of which a thousand +unexpected accidents may deprive him after all, and make his boasted +scientific care for the wealth of the nation an excuse for leaving +tens of thousands worse housed and worse fed than his own beasts of +burden. The poor man will be tempted franctically to oppose his +selfishness and unbelief to the selfishness and unbelief of the rich, +and clutch from him by force the comfort which really belong to +neither of them, in order that he may pride himself in them and +misuse them in his turn; and the clergy will be tempted, as they have +too often been tempted already, to fancy that reason is the enemy, +and not the twin sister of faith; to oppose revelation to science, as +if God's two messages could contradict each other; to widen the +Manichaean distinction between secular and spiritual matters, so +pleasant to the natural atheism of fallen man; to fancy that they +honour God by limiting as much as possible His teaching, His +providence, His wisdom, His love, and His kingdom, and to pretend +that they are defending the creeds of the Catholic Church, by denying +to them any practical or real influence on the economic, political, +and physical welfare of mankind. But in proportion as we hold to the +old faith of our forefathers concerning science and civilisation, we +shall feel it not only a duty, but a glory and a delight, to make all +men sharers in them; to go out into the streets and lanes of the city +and call in the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, that they may +sit down and take their share of the good things which God has +provided in His kingdom for those who obey Him. Every new discovery +will be hailed by us as a fresh boon from God to be bestowed by the +rain and the sunshine freely upon us all. The sight of every +sufferer will make us ready to suspect and to examine ourselves lest +we should be in some indirect way the victim of some neglect or +selfishness of our own. Every disease will be a sign to us that in +some respect or other, the physical or moral laws of human nature +have been overlooked or broken. The existence of an unhealthy +locality, the recurrence of an epidemic, will be to us a subject of +public shame and self-reproach. Men of science will no longer go up +and down entreating mankind in vain to make use of their discoveries; +the sanitary reformer will be no longer like Wisdom crying in the +streets and no man regarding her; and in every ill to which flesh is +heir we shall see an enemy of our King and Lord, and an intruder into +His Kingdom, against which we swore at our baptism to fight with an +inspiring and delicious certainty that God will prosper the right; +that His laws cannot change; that nature, and the disturbances and +poisons, and brute powers thereof, were meant to be the slaves, and +not the tyrants of a race whose head has conquered the grave itself. + +This is no speculative dream. The progress of science is daily +proving it to be an actual truth; proving to us that a large +proportion of diseases--how large a proportion, no man yet dare say-- +are preventible by science under the direction of that common justice +and mercy which man owes to man. The proper cultivation of the soil, +it is now clearly seen, will exterminate fevers and agues, and all +the frightful consequences of malaria. An attention to those simple +decencies and cleanlinesses of life of which even the wild animals +feel the necessity, will prevent the epidemics of our cities, and all +the frightful train of secondary diseases which follow them, or +supply their place. The question which is generally more and more +forcing itself on the minds of scientific men is not how many +diseases are, but how few are not, the consequences of man's +ignorance, barbarism, and folly. The medical man is felt more and +more to be as necessary in health as he is in sickness, to be the +fellow-workman not merely of the clergyman, but of the social +reformer, the political economist, and the statesman; and the first +object of his science to be prevention, and not cure. But if all +this be true, as true it is, we ought to begin to look on hospitals +as many medical men I doubt not do already, in a sadder though in a +no less important light. When we remember that the majority of cases +which fill their wards are cases of more or less directly preventible +diseases, the fruits of our social neglect, too often of our neglect +of the sufferers themselves, too often also our neglect of their +parents and forefathers; when we think how many a bitter pang is +engendered and propagated from generation to generation in the +noisome alleys and courts of this metropolis, by foul food, foul +bedrooms, foul air, foul water, by intemperance, the natural and +almost pardonable consequence of want of water, depressing and +degrading employments, and lives spent in such an atmosphere of filth +as our daintier nostrils could not endure a day: then we should +learn to look upon these hospitals not as acts of charity, +supererogatory benevolences of ours towards those to whom we owe +nothing, but as confessions of sin, and worthy fruits of penitence; +as poor and late and partial compensation for misery which we might +have prevented. And when again, taking up scientific works, we find +how vast a proportion of the remaining cases of disease are produced +directly or indirectly by the unhealthiness of certain occupations, +so certainly that the scientific man can almost prophesy the average +shortening of life, and the peculiar form of disease, incident to any +given form of city labour--when we find, to quote a single instance, +that a large proportion--one half, as I am informed--of the female +cases in certain hospitals, are those of women-servants suffering +from diseases produced by overwork in household labour, especially by +carrying heavy weights up the steep stairs of our London houses--when +we consider the large proportion of accident cases which are the +result, if not always of neglect in our social arrangements, still of +danger incurred in labouring for us, we shall begin to feel that our +debts towards the poorer classes, for whom this and other hospitals +are instituted, swells and mounts up to a burden which ought to be +and would be intolerable to us, if we had not some such means as this +hospital affords of testifying our contrition for neglect for which +we cannot atone, and of practically claiming in the hospital our +brotherhood with those masses whom we pass by so carelessly in the +workshop and the street. What matters it that they have undertaken a +life of labour from necessity, and with a full consciousness of the +dangers they incur in it? For whom have they been labouring, but for +us? Their handiwork renders our houses luxurious. We wear the +clothes they make. We eat the food they produce. They sit in +darkness and the shadow of death that we may enjoy light and life and +luxury and civilisation. True, they are free men, in name, not free +though from the iron necessity of crushing toil. Shall we make their +liberty a cloak for our licentiousness? and because they are our +brothers and not our slaves, answer with Cain, "Am I my brother's +keeper?" What if we have paid them the wages which they ask? We do +not feed our beasts of burden only as long as they are in health, and +when they fall sick leave them to cure themselves and starve--and +these are not our beasts of burden; they are members of Christ, +children of God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Prove it to +them, then, for they are in bitter danger of forgetting it in these +days. Prove to them, by helping to cure their maladies, that they +are members of Christ, that they do indeed belong to Him who without +fee or payment freely cured the sick of Judaea in old time. Prove to +them that they are children of God by treating them as such--as +children of Him without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, +children of Him whose love is over all His works, children of Him who +defends the widow and the fatherless, and sees that those who are in +need or necessity have right, and who maketh inquiry for the blood of +the innocent. Prove to them that they are inheritors of the Kingdom +of Heaven, by proving to them first of all that the Kingdom of Heaven +exists, that all, rich and poor alike, are brothers, and One their +Master, He who ascended up on high and led captivity captive, and +received gifts for men, the gifts of healing, the gifts of science, +the gifts of civilisation, the gifts of law, the gifts of order, the +gifts of liberty, the gifts of the spirit of love and brotherhood, of +fellow-feeling and self-sacrifice, of justice and humility, a spirit +fit for a world of redeemed and pardoned men, in which mercy is but +justice, and self-sacrifice the truest self-interest; a world, the +King and Master of which is One who poured out his own life-blood for +the sake of those who hated him, that men should henceforth live not +for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again, and ascended up +on high and received gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell +among them. + +And because all general truths can only be verified in particular +instances, verify your general faith in that Christianity which you +profess in this particular instance, by doing the duty which lies +nearest to you, and GIVING, AS IT IS CALLED, to this hospital for +which I now plead. + +Thanks to the spirit and the attainments of the average of English +medical men and chaplains, to praise the management of any hospital +which is under their care, is a needless impertinence. Do you find +funds, there will be no fear as to their being well employed; and no +fear, alas! either of their services being in full demand, while the +sanitary state of vast streets of South London, lying close to this +hospital, are in a state in which they are, and in which private +cupidity and neglect seem willing to compel them to remain. It is on +account of its contiguity to these neglected, destitute, and +poisonous localities, that this hospital seems to me especially +valuable. But though situated in a part of London where its presence +is especially needed, it has not, from various causes which have +arisen from no fault of its own, attracted as much public notice as +some other more magnificent foundations; while it possesses one +feature, peculiar I believe to it, among our London hospitals, which +seems to me to render it especially deserving of support: I speak of +the ward for incurable patients, in which, instead of ending their +days in the melancholy wards of a workhouse, or amid those +pestilential and crowded dwellings which have perhaps produced their +maladies, and which certainly will aggravate them, they may have +their heavy years of hopeless suffering softened by a continued +supply of constant comforts, and constant medical solicitude, such as +the best-conducted workhouse, or the most laborious staff of parish +surgeons, and district visitors, ay, not even the benevolence and +self-sacrifice of friends and relations, can possibly provide. I +beseech you, picture to yourselves the amount of mere physical +comfort, not to mention the higher blessings of spiritual teaching +and consolation, accruing to some poor tortured cripple, in the wards +of this hospital; compare it with the very brightest lot possible for +him in the dwellings of the lower, or even of the middle classes of +the metropolis; then recollect that these hospital luxuries, which +would be unattainable by him elsewhere, are but a tithe of those +which you, in his situation, would consider absolute necessaries, +without which a life of suffering, ay, even of health, were +intolerable--and do unto others this day, as you would that others +should do unto you! + +I might have taken some other and more popular method of drawing your +attention to this institution. + +I might have tried to excite your feelings and sympathies by attempts +at pathetic or picturesque descriptions of suffering. But the +minister of a just God is bound to proclaim that God demands not +SENTIMENT, but JUSTICE. The Bible knows nothing of the "religious +sentiments and emotions," whereof we hear so much talk nowadays. It +speaks of DUTY. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we OUGHT to love one +another." + +I might also have attempted to flatter you into giving, by +representing this as a "GOOD WORK," a work of charity and piety, well +pleasing to God; a sort of work of Protestant supererogation, fruits +of faith which we may show, if we like, up to a certain not very +clearly defined point of benevolence, but the absence of which +probably will not seriously affect our eternal salvation, still less +our right to call ourselves orthodox, Protestants, churchmen, worthy, +kind-hearted, respectable, blameless. The Bible knows nothing of +such a religion; it neither coaxes nor flatters, it COMMANDS. It +demands mercy, because mercy is justice; and declares with what +measure we mete to others, it shall be surely measured to us again. +If therefore my words shall seem to some here, to be not so much a +humble request as a peremptory demand, I cannot help it. I have +pleaded the cause of this hospital on the only solid ground of which +I am aware, for doing anything but evil to everyone around us who is +not a private friend, or a member of one's own family. I ask you to +help the poor to their share in the gifts which Christ received for +men, because they are His gifts, and neither ours nor any man's. +Among these venerable buildings, the signs and witnesses of the +Kingdom of God, and the blessings of that Kingdom which for a +thousand years have been spreading and growing among us--I ask it of +you as citizens of that Kingdom. Prove your brotherhood to the poor +by restoring to them a portion of that wealth which, without their +labour, you could never have possessed. Prove your brotherhood to +them in a thousand ways--in every way--in this way, because at this +moment it happens to be the nearest and the most immediate, and +because the necessity for it is nearer, more immediate, to judge by +the signs of the times, and most of all by their self-satisfied +unconsciousness of danger, their loud and shallow self-glorification, +than ever it was before. Work while it is called to-day, lest the +night come wherein no man can work, but only take his wages. + +Again I say, I may seem to some here to have pleaded the cause of +this hospital in too harsh and peremptory a tone. . . . And yet I +have a ground of hope, in the English love of simple justice, in the +noble instances of benevolence and self-sacrifice among the wealthy +and educated, which are, thank God! increasing in number daily, as +the need of them increases--in these, I say, I have a ground of hope +that there are many here to-day who would sooner hear the language of +truth than of flattery; who will be more strongly moved toward a +righteous deed by being told that it is their duty toward God, their +country, and their fellow-citizens, than by any sentimental baits for +personal sympathy, or for the love of Pharisaic ostentation. + + + +XIII--FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA + + + +(Sunday Morning, September 27th, 1849.) + +God's judgments are from above, out of the sight of the wicked.-- +PSALM X. 5. + +We have just been praying to God to remove from us the cholera, which +we call a judgment of God, a chastisement; and God knows we have need +enough to do so. But we can hardly expect God to withdraw His +chastisement unless we correct the sins for which He chastised us, +and therefore unless we find out what particular sins have brought +the evil on us. For it is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to +tell God, in a general way, that we believe He is punishing us for +our sins, and then to avoid carefully confessing any particular sin, +and to get angry with anyone who tells us boldly WHICH sin God is +punishing us for. But so goes the world. Everyone is ready to say, +"Oh! yes, we are all great sinners, miserable sinners!" and then if +you charge them with any particular sin, they bridle up and deny THAT +sin fiercely enough, and all sins one by one, confessing themselves +great sinners, and yet saying that they don't know what sins they +have committed. No man really believes himself a sinner, no man +really confesses his sins, but the man who can honestly put his +finger on THIS sin or THAT sin which he has committed, and is not +afraid to confess to God, "THIS sin and THAT sin have I done--THIS +bad habit and THAT bad habit have I cherished within me." Therefore, +I say, it is no use for us Englishmen to dream that we can flatter +and persuade the great God of Heaven and earth into taking away the +cholera from us, unless we find out and confess openly what we have +done to bring on the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth +fruits worthy of repentance, by amending our habits on that point, +and doing everything for the future which shall not bring on the +cholera, but keep it off. + +Do not let us believe this time, my friends, in the pitiable, +insincere way in which all England believed when the cholera was here +sixteen years ago. When they saw human beings dying by thousands, +they all got frightened, and proclaimed a Fast and confessed their +sins and promised repentance in a general way. But did they repent +of and confess those sins which had caused the cholera? Did they +repent of and confess the covetousness, the tyranny, the +carelessness, which in most great towns, and in too many villages +also, forces the poor to lodge in undrained stifling hovels, unfit +for hogs, amid vapours and smells which send forth on every breath +the seeds of rickets and consumption, typhus and scarlet fever, and +worse and last of all, the cholera? Did they repent of their sin in +that? Not they. Did they repent of the carelessness and laziness +and covetousness which sends meat and fish up to all our large towns +in a half-putrid state; which fills every corner of London and the +great cities with slaughter-houses, over-crowded graveyards, +undrained sewers? Not they. To confess their sins in a general way +cost them a few words; to confess and repent of the real particular +sins in themselves, was a very different matter; to amend them would +have touched vested interests, would have cost money, the +Englishman's god; it would have required self-sacrifice of pocket, as +well as of time. It would have required manful fighting against the +prejudices, the ignorance, the self-conceit, the laziness, the +covetousness of the wicked world. So they could not afford to repent +and amend of all THAT. And when those great and good men, the +Sanitary Commissioners, proved to all England fifteen years ago, that +cholera always appeared where fever had appeared, and that both fever +and cholera always cling exclusively to those places where there was +bad food, bad air, crowded bedrooms, bad drainage and filth--that +such were the laws of God and Nature, and always had been; they took +no notice of it, because it was the poor rather than the rich who +suffered from those causes. So the filth of our great cities was +left to ferment in poisonous cesspools, foul ditches and marshes and +muds, such as those now killing people by hundreds in the +neighbourhood of Plymouth; for one house or sewer that was improved, +a hundred more were left just as they were in the first cholera; as +soon as the panic of superstitious fear was past, carelessness and +indolence returned. Men went back, the covetous man to his +covetousness, and the idler to his idleness. And behold! sixteen +years are past, and the cholera is as bad as ever among us. + +But you will say, perhaps, it is presumptuous to say that Englishmen +have brought the cholera on themselves, that it is God's judgment, +and that we cannot explain His inscrutable Providence. Ah! my +friends, that is a poor excuse and a common one, for leaving a great +many sins as they are! When people do not wish to do God's will, it +is a very pleasant thing to talk about God's will as something so +very deep and unfathomable, that poor human beings cannot be expected +to find it out. It is an old excuse, and a great favourite with +Satan, I have no doubt. Why cannot people find out God's will?-- +Because they do not LIKE to find it out, lest it should shame them +and condemn them, and cost them pleasure or money--because their eyes +are blinded with covetousness and selfishness, so that they cannot +see God's will, even when they DO look for it, and then they go and +cant about God's judgments; while those judgments, as the text says, +are far above out of their mammon-blinded and prejudice-blinded +sight. What do they mean by that word? Come now, my friends! let us +face the question like men. What do you mean really when you call +the cholera, or fever, or affliction at all, God's judgment? Do you +merely mean that God is punishing you, you don't know for what, and +you can't find out for what? but that all which He expects of you is +to bear it patiently, and then go and do afterwards just what you did +before? Dare anyone say that who believes that God is a God of +justice, much less a God of love? What would you think of a father +who punished his children, and then left them to find out as they +could what they were punished for? And yet that is the way people +talk of pestilence and of great afflictions, public and private. +They are not ashamed to accuse God of a cruelty and an injustice +which they would be ashamed to confess themselves! How can men, even +religious men often, be so blasphemous? Mainly, I think, because +they do not really believe in God at all, they only believe about +Him--they believe that they ought to believe in Him. They have no +living personal faith in God or Christ; they do not know God; they do +not know God's character, and what to believe of Him, and what to +expect of Him; or what they ought to say of Him; because they do not +know, they have not studied, they have not loved the character of +Christ, who is the express image and likeness of God. Therefore +God's judgments are far away out of their sight; therefore they make +themselves a God in their own image and after their own likeness, +lazy, capricious, revengeful; therefore they are not afraid or +ashamed to say that God sends pestilence into a country without +showing that country why it is sent. But another great reason, I +believe, why God's judgments in this and other matters are far above +out of our sight, is the careless, insincere way of using words which +we English have got into, even on the most holy and awful matters. I +suppose there never was a nation in the world so diseased through and +through with the spirit of cant, as we English are now: except +perhaps the old Jews, at the time of our Lord's coming. You hear men +talking as if they thought God did not understand English, because +they cling superstitiously to the letter of the Bible in proportion +as they lose its spirit. You hear men taking words into their mouths +which might make angels weep and devils tremble, with a coolness and +oily, smooth carelessness which shows you that they do not feel the +force of what they are saying. You hear them using the words of +Scripture, which are in themselves stricter and deeper than all the +books of philosophy in the world, in such a loose unscriptural way, +that they make them mean anything or nothing. They use the words +like parrots, by rote, just because their forefathers used them +before them. They will tell you that cholera is a judgment for our +sins, "in a sense," but if you ask them for what sins, or in what +sense, they fly off from that HOME question, and begin mumbling +commonplaces about the inscrutable decrees of Providence, and so on. +It is most sad, all this; and most fearful also. + +Therefore, I asked you, my friends, what is the meaning of that word +judgment? In common talk, people use it rightly enough, but when +they begin to talk of God's judgments, they speak as if it merely +meant punishments. Now judgment and punishment are two things. When +a judge gives judgment, he either acquits or condemns the accused +person; he gives the case for the plaintiff, or for the defendant: +the punishment of the guilty person, if he be guilty, is a separate +thing, pronounced and inflicted afterwards. His judgment, I say, is +his OPINION about the person's guilt, and even so God's judgments are +the expression of His opinion about our guilt. But there is this +difference between man and God in this matter--a human judge gives +his opinion in words, God gives His in events: therefore there is no +harm for a human judge when he has told a person why he must punish, +to punish him in some way that has nothing to do with his crime--for +instance, to send a man to prison because he steals, though it would +be far better if criminals could be punished in kind, and if the man +who stole could be forced either to make restitution, or work out the +price of what he stole in hard labour. For this is God's plan--God +always pays sinners back in kind, that He may not merely punish them, +but CORRECT them; so that by the kind of their punishment, they may +know the kind of their sin. God punishes us, as I have often told +you, not by His caprice, but by His laws. He does not BREAK HIS LAWS +to harm us; the laws themselves harm us, when we break them and get +in their way. It is always so, you will find, with great national +afflictions. I believe, when we know more of God and His laws, we +shall find it true even in our smallest private sorrows. God is +unchangeable; He does not lose His temper, as heathens and +superstitious men fancy, to punish us. He does not change His order +to punish us. WE break His order, and the order goes on in spite of +us and crushes us: and so we get God's judgment, God's opinion of +our breaking His laws. You will find it so almost always in history. +If a nation is laid waste by war, it is generally their own fault. +They have sinned against the law which God has appointed for nations. +They have lost courage and prudence, and trust in God, and fellow- +feeling and unity, and they have become cowardly and selfish and +split up into parties, and so they are easily conquered by their own +fault, as the Bible tells us the Jews were by the Chaldeans; and +their ruin is God's judgment, God's opinion plainly expressed of what +He thinks of them for having become cowardly and selfish, and +factious and disinterested. So it is with famine again. Famines +come by a nation's own fault--they are God's plainly spoken opinion +of what HE thinks of breaking His laws of industry and thrift, by +improvidence and bad farming. So when a nation becomes poor and +bankrupt, it is its own fault; that nation has broken the laws of +political economy which God has appointed for nations, and its ruin +is God's judgment, God's plain-spoken opinion again of the sins of +extravagance, idleness, and reckless speculation. + +So with pestilence and cholera. They come only because we break +God's laws; as the wise poet well says: + + +Voices from the depths OF NATURE borne +Which vengeance on the guilty head proclaim. + + +--"Of nature;" of the order and constitution which God has made for +this world we live in, and which if we break them, though God in his +mercy so orders the world that punishment comes but seldom even to +our worst offences, yet surely do bring punishment sooner or later if +broken, in the common course of nature. Yes, my friends, as surely +and naturally as drunkenness punishes itself by a shaking hand and a +bloated body, so does filth avenge itself by pestilence. Fever and +cholera, as you would expect them to be, are the expression of God's +judgment, God's opinion, God's handwriting on the wall against us for +our sins of filth and laziness, foul air, foul food, foul drains, +foul bedrooms. Where they are, there is cholera. Where they are +not, there is none, and will be none, because they who do not break +God's laws, God's laws will not break them. Oh! do not think me +harsh, my friends; God knows it is no pleasant thing to have to speak +bitter and upbraiding words; but when one travels about this noble +land of England, and sees what a blessed place it might be, if we +would only do God's will, and what a miserable place it is just +because we will not do God's will, it is enough to make one's soul +boil over with sorrow and indignation; and then when one considers +that other men's faults are one's own fault too, that one has been +adding to the heap of sins by one's own laziness, cowardice, +ignorance, it is enough to break one's heart--to make one cry with +St. Paul, "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the +body of this death?" Ay, my friends, the state of things in England +now is enough to drive an earnest man to despair, if one did not know +that all our distresses, and this cholera, like the rest, are indeed +GOD'S judgments; the judgments and expressed opinions, not of a +capricious tyrant, but of a righteous and loving Father, who chastens +us just because He loves us, and afflicts us only to teach us His +will, which alone is life and happiness. Therefore we may believe +that this very cholera is meant to be a blessing; that if we will +take the lesson it brings, it will be a blessing to England. God +grant that all ranks may take the lesson--that the rich may amend +their idleness and neglect, and the poor amend their dirt and stupid +ignorance; then our children will have cause to thank God for the +cholera, if it teaches us that cleanliness is indeed next to +holiness, if it teaches us, rich and poor, to make the workman's home +what it ought to be. And believe me, my friends, that day will +surely come; and these distresses, sad as they are for the time, are +only helping to hasten it--the day when the words of the Hebrew +prophets shall be fulfilled, where they speak of a state of comfort +and prosperity, and civilisation, such as men had never reached in +their time--how the wilderness shall blossom like the rose, and there +shall be heaps of corn high on the mountain-tops, and the cities +shall be green as grass on the earth, instead of being the smoky, +stifling hot-beds of disease which they are now--and how from the +city of God streams shall flow for the healing of the nations: +strange words, those, and dim; too deep to be explained by any one +meaning, or many meanings, such as our small minds can give them; but +full of blessed cheering hope. For of whatever they speak, they +speak at least of this--of a time when all sorrow and sighing shall +be done away, when science and civilisation shall go hand in hand +with godliness--when God shall indeed dwell in the hearts of men, and +His kingdom shall be fulfilled among them, when "His ways shall be +known upon earth at last, and His saving health among all nations"-- +of a time when all shall know Him, from the least unto the greatest, +and be indeed His children, doing no sin, because they will have +given up themselves, their selfishness and cruelty and covetousness, +and stupidity and laziness, to be changed and renewed into God's +likeness. Then all these distresses and pestilences, which, as I +have shown you, come from breaking the will of God, will have passed +away like ugly dreams, and all the earth shall be blessed, because +all the earth shall at last be fulfilling the words of the Lord's +Prayer, and God's will shall be done on earth, even as it is done in +heaven. Oh! my friends, have hope. Do you think Christ would have +bid us pray for what would never happen? Would He have bid us all to +pray that God's will might be done unless He had known surely that +God's will would one day be done by men on earth below even as it is +done in heaven? + + + +XIV--SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA + + + +Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children.--EXODUS xx. 5. + +In my sermon last Sunday I said plainly that cholera, fever, and many +more diseases were man's own fault, and that they were God's +judgments just because they were man's own fault, because they were +God's plainspoken opinion of the sin of filth and of habits of living +unfit for civilised Christian men. + +But there is an objection which may arise in some of your minds, and +if it has not risen in YOUR minds, still it has in other people's +often enough; and therefore I will state it plainly, and answer it as +far as God shall give me wisdom. For it is well to get to the root +of all matters, and of this matter of Pestilence among others; for if +we do believe this Pestilence to be God's judgment, then it is a +spiritual matter most proper to be spoken of in a place like this +church, where men come as spiritual beings to hear that which is +profitable for their souls. And it IS profitable for their souls to +consider this matter; for it has to do, as I see more and more daily, +with the very deepest truths of the Gospel; and accordingly as we +believe the Gospel, and believe really that Jesus Christ is our +Saviour and our King, the New Adam, the firstborn among many +brethren, who has come down to proclaim to us that we are all +brothers in Him--in proportion as we believe THAT, I say, shall we +act upon this very matter of public cleanliness. + +The objection which I mean is this: people say it is very hard and +unfair to talk of cholera or fever being people's own fault, when you +see persons who are not themselves dirty, and innocent little +children, who if they are dirty are only so because they are brought +up so, catch the infection and die of it. You cannot say it is their +fault. Very true. I did not say it was their fault. I did not say +that each particular person takes the infection by his own fault, +though I do say that nine out of ten do. And as for little children, +of course it is not their fault. But, my friends, it must be +someone's fault. No one will say that the world is so ill made that +these horrible diseases must come in spite of all man's care. If it +was so, plagues, pestilences, and infectious fevers would be just as +common now in England, and just as deadly as they were in old times; +whereas there is not one infectious fever now in England for ten that +there used to be five hundred years ago. In ancient times fevers, +agues, plague, smallpox, and other diseases, whose very names we +cannot now understand, so completely are they passed away, swept +England from one end to the other every few years, killing five +people where they now kill one. Those diseases, as I said, have many +of them now died out entirely; and those which remain are becoming +less and less dangerous every year. And why? Simply because people +are becoming more cleanly and civilised in their habits of living; +because they are tilling and draining the land every year more and +more, instead of leaving it to breed disease, as all uncultivated +land does. It is not merely that doctors are becoming wiser: we +ourselves are becoming more reasonable in our way of living. For +instance, in large districts both of Scotland and of the English +fens, where fever and ague filled the country and swept off hundreds +every spring and fall thirty years ago, fever and ague are now almost +unknown, simply because the marshes have all been drained in the +meantime. So you see that people can prevent these disorders, and +therefore it must be someone's fault if they come. Now, whose fault +is it? You dare not lay the blame on God. And yet you do lay the +fault on God if you say that it is no MAN'S fault that children die +of fever. But I know what the answer to that will be: "We do not +accuse God--it is the fault of the fall, Adam's curse which brought +death and disease into the world." That is a common answer, and the +very one I want to hear. What? is it just to say, as many do, that +all the diseases which ever tormented poor little innocent children +all over the world, came from Adam's sinning six thousand years ago, +and yet that it is unfair to say that one little child's fever came +from his parents' keeping a filthy house a month ago? That is +swallowing a camel and straining at a gnat--that God should be just +in punishing all mankind for Adam's sin, and yet unjust in punishing +one little child for its parents' sin. If the one is just the other +must be just too, I think. If you believe the one, why not believe +the other? Why? Because Adam's curse and "original" sin, as people +call it, is a good and pleasant excuse for laying our sins and +miseries at Adam's door; but the same rule is not so pleasant in the +case of filth and fever, when it lays other people's miseries at our +door. + +I believe that all the misery in the world sprung from Adam's +disobedience and falling from God. "By one man sin entered the +world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men, even on +those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression." +So says the Bible, and I believe it says so truly. For this is the +law of the earth, God's law which He proclaimed in the text. He does +visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and +fourth generation of those who hate Him. It is so. You see it +around you daily. No one can deny it. Just as death and misery +entered into the world by one man, so we see death and misery +entering into many a family. A man or woman is a drunkard, or a +rogue, or a swearer: how often their children grow up like them! We +have all seen that, God knows, in this very parish. How much more in +great cities, where boys and girls by thousands--oh, shame that it +should be so in a Christian land!--grow up thieves from the breast, +and harlots from the cradle. And why? Why are there, as they say, +and I am afraid say too truly, in London alone upwards of 10,000 +children under sixteen who live by theft and harlotry? Because the +parents of these children are as bad as themselves--drunkards, +thieves, and worse--and they bring up their children to follow their +crimes. If that is not the fathers' sins being visited on the +children, what is? + +How often, again, when we see a wild young man, we say, and justly: +"Poor fellow! there are great excuses for him, he has been so badly +brought up." True, but his wildness will ruin him all the same, +whether it be his father's fault or his own that he became wild. If +he drinks he will ruin his health; if he squanders his money he will +grow poor. God's laws cannot stop for him; he is breaking them, and +they will avenge themselves on him. You see the same thing +everywhere. A man fools away his money, and his innocent children +suffer for it. A man ruins his health by debauchery, or a woman hers +by laziness or vanity or self-indulgence, and her children grow up +weakly and inherit their parents' unhealthiness. How often again, do +we see passionate parents have passionate children, stupid parents +stupid children, mean and lying parents mean and lying children; +above all, ignorant and dirty parents have ignorant and dirty +children. How can they help being so? They cannot keep themselves +clean by instinct; they cannot learn without being taught: and so +they suffer for their parents' faults. But what is all this except +God's visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children? Look again +at a whole parish; how far the neglect or the wickedness of one man +may make a whole estate miserable. There is one parish in this very +union, and the curse of the whole union it is, which will show us +that fearfully enough. See, too, how often when a good and generous +young man comes into his estate, he finds it so crippled with debts +and mortgages by his forefathers' extravagance, that he cannot do the +good he would to his tenants, he cannot fulfil his duty as landlord +where God has placed him, and so he and the whole estate must suffer +for the follies of generations past. If that is not God visiting the +sins of the fathers on the children, what is it? + +Look again at a whole nation; the rulers of two countries quarrel, or +pretend to quarrel, and go to war--and some here know what war is-- +just because there is some old grudge of a hundred years standing +between two countries, or because rulers of whose names the country +people, perhaps, never heard, have chosen to fall out, or because +their forefathers by cowardice, or laziness, or division, or some +other sin, have made the country too weak to defend itself; and for +that poor people's property is destroyed, and little infants +butchered, and innocent women suffer unspeakable shame. If that is +not God visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, what is it? + +It is very awful, but so it is. It is the law of this earth, the law +of human kind, that the innocent often suffer for other's faults, +just as you see them doing in cholera, fever, ague, smallpox, and +other diseases which man can prevent if he chooses to take the +trouble. There it is. We cannot alter it. Those who will may call +God unjust for it. Let them first see, whether He is not only most +just, but most merciful in making the world so, and no other way. I +do not merely mean that whatever God does must be right. That is +true, but it is a poor way of getting over the difficulty. God has +taught us what is right and wrong, and He will be judged by His own +rules. As Abraham said to Him when Sodom was to be destroyed: "That +be far from Thee, to punish the righteous with the wicked. Shall not +the Judge of all the earth do right?" Abraham knew what was right, +and he expected God not to break that law of right. And we may +expect the same of God. And I may be able, I hope, in my sermon next +Sunday, to show you that in this matter God does break the law of +right. Nevertheless, in the meantime, this is His way of dealing +with men. When Sodom was destroyed He brought righteous Lot out of +it. But Sodom was destroyed, and in it many a little infant who had +never known sin. And just so when Lisbon was swallowed up by an +earthquake, ninety years ago, the little children perished as well as +the grown people--just as in the Irish famine fever last year, many a +doctor and Roman Catholic priest, and Protestant clergyman, caught +the fever and died while they were piously attending on the sick. +They were acting like righteous men doing their duty at their posts; +but God's laws could not turn aside for them. Improvidence, and +misrule, which had been working and growing for hundreds of years, +had at last brought the famine fever, and even the righteous must +perish by it. They had their sins, no doubt, as we all have; but +then they were doing God's work bravely and honestly enough, yet the +fever could not spare them any more than it could spare the children +of the filthy parents, though they had not kept pigsties under their +windows, nor cesspools at their doors. It could not spare them any +more than it can spare the tenants of the negligent or covetous +house-owner, because it is his fault and not theirs that his houses +are undrained, overcrowded, destitute--as whole streets in many large +towns are--of the commonest decencies of life. It may be the +landlord's fault, but the tenants suffer. God visits the sins of the +fathers upon the children, and landlords ought to be fathers to their +tenants, and must become fathers to them some day, and that soon, +unless they intend that the Lord should visit on them all their sins, +and their forefathers' also, even unto the third and fourth +generation. + +For do not fancy that because the innocent suffer with the guilty +that therefore the guilty escape. Seldom do they escape in this +world, and in the world to come never. The landlord who, as too many +do, neglects his cottages till they become man-sties, to breed +pauperism and disease--the parents whose carelessness and dirt poison +their children and neighbours into typhus and cholera--their +brother's blood will cry against them out of the ground. It will be +required at their hands sooner or later, by Him who beholds iniquity +and wrong, and who will not be satisfied in the day of His vengeance +by Cain's old answer, "Am I my brother's keeper?" + +We are every one of us our brother's keeper; and if we do not choose +to confess that, God will prove it to us in a way that we cannot +mistake. A wise man tells a story of a poor Irish widow who came to +Liverpool and no one would take her in or have mercy on her, till, +from starvation and bad lodging, as the doctor said, she caught +typhus fever, and not only died herself, but gave the infection to +the whole street, and seventeen persons died of it. "See," says the +wise man, "the poor Irish widow was the Liverpool people's sister +after all. She was of the same flesh and blood as they. The fever +that killed her killed them, but they would not confess that they +were her brothers. They shut their doors upon her, and so there was +no way left for her to prove her relationship, but by killing +seventeen of them with fever." A grim jest that, but a true one, +like Elijah's jest to the Baal priests on Carmel. A true one, I say, +and one that we have all need to lay to heart. + +And I do earnestly trust in you that you will lay it to heart. We +have had our fair warning here. We have had God's judgment about our +cleanliness; His plain spoken opinion about the sanitary state of +this parish. We deserve the fever, I am afraid; not a house in which +it has appeared but has had some glaring neglect of common +cleanliness about it; and if we do not take the warning God will +surely some day repeat it. It will repeat itself by the necessary +laws of nature; and we shall have the fever among us again, just as +the cholera has reappeared in the very towns, and the very streets, +where it was seventeen years ago, wherever they have not repented of +and amended their filth and negligence. And I say openly, that those +who have escaped this time may not escape next. God has made +examples, and by no means always of the worst cottages. God's plan +is to take one and leave another by way of warning. "It is expedient +that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation +perish not" is a great and a sound law, and we must profit by it. So +let not those who have escaped the fever fancy that they must needs +be without fault. "Think ye that those sixteen on whom the tower of +Siloam fell and slew them, were sinners above all those that dwelt at +Jerusalem? I say unto you, Nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all +likewise perish." + +And I say again, as I said last Sunday, that this is a spiritual +question, a Gospel sermon; for by your conduct in this matter will +your faith in the Gospel be proved. If you really believe that Jesus +Christ came down from heaven and sacrificed Himself for you, you will +be ready to sacrifice yourselves in this matter for those for whom He +died; to sacrifice, without stint, your thought, your time, your +money, and your labour. If you really believe that He is the sworn +enemy of all misery and disease, you will show yourselves too the +sworn enemies of everything that causes misery and disease, and work +together like men to put all pestilential filth and damp out of this +parish. If you really believe that you are all brothers, equal in +the sight of God and Christ, you will do all you can to save your +brothers from sickness and the miseries which follow it. If you +really believe that your children are God's children, that at baptism +God declares your little ones to be His, you will be ready to take +any care or trouble, however new or strange it may seem, to keep your +children safe from all foul smells, foul food, foul water, and foul +air, that they may grow up healthy, hearty, and cleanly, fit to serve +God as christened, free, and civilised Englishmen should in this +great and awful time, the most wonderful time that the earth has ever +seen, into which it has pleased God of His great mercy to let us all +be born. + + + +XV--THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA + + + +I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the +Fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of +them that hate me.--EXODUS xx. 6. + +Many of you were perhaps surprised and puzzled by my saying in my +last sermon that God's visiting the sins of the fathers on the +children, and letting the innocent suffer for the guilty, was a +blessing and not a curse--a sign of man's honour and redemption, not +of his shame and ruin. But the more I have thought of those words, +the more glad I am that I spoke them boldly, the more true I find +them to be. + +I say that there is in them the very deepest and surest ground for +hope. "Yes," some of you may say, "to be sure when we see the +innocent suffering for the guilty, it is a plain proof that another +world must come some day, in which all that unfairness shall be set +right." Well, my friends, it does prove that, but I should be very +sorry if it did not prove a great deal more than that--this suffering +of the innocent for the guilty. I have no heart to talk to you about +the next life, unless I can give you some comfort, some reason for +trusting in God in this life. I never saw much good come of it. I +never found it do my own soul any good, to be told: "THIS life and +THIS world in which you now live are given up irremediably to misrule +and deceit, poverty and pestilence, death and the devil. You cannot +expect to set this world right--you must look to the next world. +Everything will be set right there." That sounds fine and resigned; +and there seems to be a great deal of trust in God in it; but, as I +think, there is little or none; and I say so from the fruits I see it +bear. If people believe that this world is the devil's world, and +only the next world God's, they are easily tempted to say: "Very +well, then, we must serve the devil in this world, and God in the +next. We must, of course, take great care to get our souls saved +when we die, that we may go to heaven and live for ever and ever; but +as to this world and this life, why, we must follow the ways of the +world. It is not our fault that they have nothing to do with God. +It is not our fault that society and the world are all rotten and +accursed; we found them so when we were born, and we must make the +best of a bad matter and sail as the world does, and be covetous and +mean and anxious--how can we help it?--and stand on our own rights, +and take care of number one; and even do what is not quite right now +and then--for how can we help it?--or how else shall we get on in +this poor lost, fallen, sinful world!" + +And so it comes, my friends, that you see people professing--ay, and +believing, Gospel doctrines, and struggling and reading, and, as they +fancy, praying, morning, noon, and night, to get their own souls +saved--who yet, if you are to judge by their conduct, are little +better than rogues and heathens; whose only law of life seems to be +the fear of what people will say of them; who, like Balaam the son of +Bosor, are trying daily to serve the devil without God finding it +out, worshipping the evil spirit, as that evil spirit wanted our +blessed Lord to do, because they believed his lie, which Christ +denied--that the glory of this world belongs to the evil one; and +then comforting themselves like Balaam their father, in the hope that +they shall die the death of the righteous, and their last end be like +his. + +Now I say my friends that this is a lie, and comes from the father of +lies, who tempts every man, as he tempted our Lord, to believe that +the power and glory of this world are his, that man's flesh and body, +if not his soul, belongs to him. I say, it is no such thing. The +world is God's world. Man is God's creature, made in God's image, +and not in that of a beast or a devil. The kingdom, the power, and +the glory, ARE God's now. You say so every day in the Lord's Prayer-- +believe it. St. James tells you not to curse men, because they are +made in the likeness of God now--not WILL be made in God's likeness +after they die. Believe that; do not be afraid of it, strange as it +may seem to understand. It is in the Bible, and you profess to +believe that what is in the Bible is true. And I say that this +suffering of the innocent for the guilty is a proof of that. If man +was not made so that the innocent could suffer for the guilty, he +could not have been redeemed at all, for there would have been no use +or meaning in Christ's dying for us, the just for the unjust. And +more, if the innocent could not suffer for the guilty we should be +like the beasts that perish. + +Now, why? Because just in proportion as any creature is low--I mean +in the scale of life--just in that proportion it does without its +fellow-creatures, it lives by itself and cares for no other of its +kind. A vegetable is a meaner thing than an animal, and one great +sign of its being meaner is, that vegetables cannot do each other any +good--cannot help each other--cannot even hurt each other, except in +a mere mechanical way, by overgrowing each other or robbing each +other's roots; but what would it matter to a tree if all the other +trees in the world were to die? So with wild animals. What matters +it to a bird or a beast, whether other birds and beasts are ill off +or well off, wise or stupid? Each one takes care of itself--each one +shifts for itself. But you will say "Bees help each other and depend +upon each other for life and death." True, and for that very reason +we look upon bees as being more wise and more wonderful than almost +any animals, just because they are so much like us human beings in +depending on each other. You will say again, that among dogs, a +riotous hound will lead a whole pack wrong--a staunch and well-broken +hound will keep a whole pack right; and that dogs do depend upon each +other in very wonderful ways. Most true, but that only proves more +completely what I want to get at. It is the TAME dog, which man has +taken and broken in, and made to partake more or less of man's wisdom +and cunning, who depends on his fellow-dogs. The wild dogs in +foreign countries, on the other hand, are just as selfish, living +every one for himself, as so many foxes might be. And you find this +same rule holding as you rise. The more a man is like a wild animal, +the more of a SAVAGE he is, so much more he depends on himself, and +not on others--in short, the less civilised he is; for civilised +means being a citizen, and learning to live in cities, and to help +and depend upon each other. And our common English word "civil" +comes from the same root. A man is "civil" who feels that he depends +upon his neighbours, and his neighbours on him; that they are his +fellow-citizens, and that he owes them a duty and a friendship. And, +therefore, a man is truly and sincerely civil, just in proportion as +he is civilised; in proportion as he is a good citizen, a good +Christian--in one word, a GOOD MAN. + +Ay, that is what I want to come to, my friends--that word MAN, and +what it means. The law of man's life, the constitution and order on +which, and on no other, God has made man, is THIS--to depend upon his +fellow-men, to be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; for we are +brothers to each other. God made of one blood all nations to dwell +on the face of the earth. The same food will feed us all alike. The +same cholera will kill us all alike. And we can give the cholera to +each other; we can give each other the infection, not merely by our +touch and breath, for diseased beasts can do that, but by housing our +families and our tenants badly, feeding them badly, draining the land +around them badly. This is the secret of the innocent suffering for +the guilty, in pestilences, and famines, and disorders, which are +handed down from father to child, that we are all of the same blood. +This is the reason why Adam's sin infected our whole race. Adam +died, and through him all his children have received a certain +property of sinfulness and of dying, just as one bee transmits to all +his children and future generations the property of making honey, or +a lion transmits to all its future generations the property of being +a beast of prey. For by sinning and cutting himself off from God +Adam gave way to the lower part of him, his flesh, his animal nature, +and therefore he died as other animals do. And we his children, who +all of us give way to our flesh, to our animal nature, every hour, +alas! we die too. And in proportion as we give way to our animal +natures we are liable to die; and the less we give way to our animal +natures, the less we are liable to die. We have all sinned; we have +all become fleshly animal creatures more or less; and therefore we +must all die sooner or later. But in proportion as we become +Christians, in proportion as we become civilised, in short, in +proportion as we become true men, and conquer and keep in order this +flesh of ours, and this earth around us, by the teaching of God's +spirit, as we were meant to do, just so far will length of life +increase and population increase. For while people are savages, that +is, while they give themselves up utterly to their own fleshly lusts, +and become mere animals like the wild Indians, they cannot increase +in number. They are exposed, by their own lusts and ignorance and +laziness, to every sort of disease; they turn themselves into beasts +of prey, and are continually fighting and destroying each other, so +that they, seldom or never increase in numbers, and by war, +drunkenness, smallpox, fevers, and other diseases too horrible to +mention, the fruit of their own lusts, whole tribes of them are swept +utterly off the face of the earth. And why? They are like the +beasts, and like the beasts they perish. Whereas, just in proportion +as any nation lives according to the spirit and not according to the +flesh; in proportion as it conquers its own fleshly appetites which +tempt it to mere laziness, pleasure, and ignorance, and lives +according to the spirit in industry, cleanliness, chaste marriage, +and knowledge, earthly and heavenly, the length of life and the +number of the population begin to increase at once, just as they are +doing, thank God! in England now; because Englishmen are learning +more and more that this earth is God's earth, and that He works it by +righteous and infallible laws, and has put them on it to till it and +subdue it; that civilisation and industry are the cause of Christ and +of God; and that without them His kingdom will not come, neither will +His will be done on earth. + +But now comes a very important question. The beasts are none the +worse for giving way to their flesh and being mere animals. They +increase and multiply and are happy enough; whereas men, if they give +way to their flesh and become animals, become fewer and weaker, and +stupider, and viler, and more miserable, generation after generation. +Why? Because the animals are meant to be animals, and men are not. +Men are meant to be men, and conquer their animal nature by the +strength which God gives to their spirits. And as long as they do +not do so; as long as they remain savage, sottish, ignorant, they are +living in a lie, in a diseased wrong state, just as God did NOT mean +them to live; and therefore they perish; therefore these fevers, and +agues, and choleras, war, starvation, tyranny, and all the ills which +flesh is heir to, crush them down. Therefore they are at the mercy +of the earth beneath their feet, and the skies above their head; at +the mercy of rain and cold; at the mercy of each other's selfishness, +laziness, stupidity, cruelty; in short, at the mercy of the brute +material earth, and their own fleshly lusts and the fleshly lusts of +others, because they love to walk after the flesh and not after the +spirit--because they like the likeness of the old Adam who is of the +earth earthy, better than that of the new Adam who is the Lord from +heaven--because they like to be animals, when Christ has made them in +his own image, and redeemed them with His own blood, and taught them +with His own example, and made them men. He who will be a man, let +him believe that he is redeemed by Christ, and must be like Christ in +everything he says and does. If he would carry that out, if he would +live perfectly by faith in God, if he would do God's will utterly and +in all things he would soon find that those glorious old words still +stood true: "Thou shalt not be afraid of the arrow by night, nor of +the pestilence which walketh in the noonday; a thousand shall fall at +thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come +nigh thee." For such a man would know how to defend himself against +evil; God would teach him not only to defend himself, but to defend +those around him. He would be like his Lord and Master, a fountain +of wisdom and healing and safety to all his neighbours. We might any +one of us be that. It is everyone's fault more or less that he is +not. Each of us who is educated, civilised, converted to the +knowledge and love of God, it is his sin and shame that he is NOT +that. Above all, it is the clergyman's sin and shame that he is not. +Ay, believe me, when I blame you, I blame myself ten thousand times +more. I believe there is many a sin and sorrow from which I might +have saved you here, if I had dealt with you more as a man should +deal who believes that you and I are brothers, made in the same image +of God, redeemed by the same blood of Christ. And I believe that I +shall be punished for every neglect of you for which I have been ever +guilty. I believe it, and I thank God for it; for I do not see how a +clergyman, or anyone else, can learn his duty, except by God's +judging him, and punishing him, and setting his sins before his face. + +Yes, my friends, it is good for us to be afflicted, good for us to +suffer anything that will teach us this great truth, that we are our +brother's keepers; that we are all one family, and that where one of +the members suffers, all the other members suffer with it; and that +if one of the members has cause to rejoice, all the others will have +cause to rejoice with it. A blessed thing to know, is that--though +whether we know it or not, we shall find it true. If we give way to +our animal nature, and try to live as the beasts do, each one caring +for his own selfish pleasure--still we shall find out that we cannot +do it. We shall find out, as those Liverpool people did with the +Irish widow, that our fellow-men ARE our brothers--that what hurts +them will be sure in some strange indirect way to hurt us. Our +brothers here have had the fever, and we have escaped; but we have +felt the fruits of it, in our purses--in fear, and anxiety, and +distress, and trouble--we have found out that they could not have the +fever without our suffering for it, more or less. You see we are one +family, we men and women; and our relationship will assert itself in +spite of our forgetfulness and our selfishness. How much better to +claim our brotherhood with each other, and to act upon it--to live as +brothers indeed. That would be to make it a blessing, and not a +curse; for as I said before, just because it is in our power to +injure each other, therefore it is in our power to help each other. +God has bound us together for good and for evil, for better for +worse. Oh! let it be henceforward in this parish for better, and not +for worse. Oh! every one of you, whether you be rich or poor, farmer +or labourer, man or woman, do not be ashamed to own yourselves to be +brothers and sisters, members of one family, which as it all fell +together in the old Adam, so it has all risen together in the new +Adam, Jesus Christ. There is no respect of persons with God. We are +all equal in His sight. He knows no difference among men, except the +difference which God's Spirit gives, in proportion as a man listens +to the teaching of that Spirit--rank in godliness and true manhood. +Oh! believe that--believe that because you owe an infinite debt to +Christ and to God--His Father and your Father--therefore you owe an +infinite debt to your neighbours, members of Christ and children of +God just as you are--a debt of love, help, care, which you CAN, pay, +just because you are members of one family; for because you are +members of one family, for that very reason every good deed you do +for a neighbour does not stop with that neighbour, but goes on +breeding and spreading, and growing and growing, for aught we know, +for ever. Just as each selfish act we do, each bitter word we speak, +each foul example we set, may go on spreading from mouth to mouth, +from heart to heart, from parent to child, till we may injure +generations yet unborn; so each noble and self-sacrificing deed we +do, each wise and loving word we speak, each example we set of +industry and courage, of faith in God and care for men, may and will +spread on from heart to heart, and mouth to mouth, and teach others +to do and be the like; till people miles away, who never heard of our +names, may have cause to bless us for ever and ever. This is one and +only one of the glorious fruits of our being one family. This is one +and only one of the reasons which make me say that it was a good +thing mankind was so made that the innocent suffer for the guilty. +For just as the innocent are injured by the guilty in this world, +even so are the guilty preserved, and converted, and brought back +again by the innocent. Just as the sins of the fathers are visited +on the children, so is the righteousness of the fathers a blessing to +the children; else, says St. Paul, our children would be unclean, but +now they are holy. For the promises of God are not only to us, but +to our children, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call. And +thus each generation, by growing in virtue and wisdom and the +knowledge of God, will help forward all the generations which follow +it to fuller light and peace and safety; and each parent in trying to +live like a Christian man himself, will make it easier for his +children to live like Christians after him. And this rule applies +even in the things which we are too apt to fancy unimportant--every +house kept really clean, every family brought up in habits of +neatness and order, every acre of foul land drained, every new +improvement in agriculture and manufactures or medicine, is a clear +gain to all mankind, a good example set which is sure sooner or later +to find followers, perhaps among generations yet unborn, and in +countries of which we never heard the name. + +Was I not right then in saying that this earth is not the devil's +earth at all, but a right good earth, of God's making and ruling, +wherein no good deed will perish fruitless, but every man's works +will follow him--a right good earth, governed by a righteous Father, +who, as the psalm says "is merciful," just "because He rewards every +man according to his work." + + + +XVI--ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING + + + +(Nov. 15th, 1849.) + +God hath visited his people.--LUKE vii. 16. + +We are assembled this day to thank God solemnly for the passing away +of the cholera from England; and we must surely not forget to thank +Him at the same time for the passing away of the fever, which has +caused so much expense, sorrow, and death among us. Now I wish to +say a very few words to you on this same matter, to show you not only +how to be thankful to God, but what to be thankful for. You may say: +It is easy enough for us to know what to thank God for in this case. +We come to thank Him, as we have just said in the public prayers, for +having withdrawn this heavy visitation from us. If so, my friends, +what we shall thank Him for depends on what we mean by talking of a +visitation from God. + +Now I do not know what people may think in this parish, but I suspect +that very many all over England do NOT know what to thank God for +just now; and are altogether thanking him for the wrong thing--for a +thing which, very happily for them, He has NOT done for them, and +which, if He had done it for them, would have been worse for them +than all the evil which ever happened to them from their youth up +until now. To be plain then, many, I am afraid, are thanking God for +having gone away and left them. While the cholera was here, they +said that God was visiting them; and now that the cholera is over, +they consider that God's visit is over too, and are joyful and light +of heart thereat. If God's visit is over, my friends, and He is gone +away from us; if He is not just as near us now as He was in the +height of the cholera, the best thing we can do is to turn to Him +with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and roll ourselves in the +dust, and instead of thanking our Father for going away, pray to Him, +of his infinite mercy, to condescend to come back again and visit us, +even though, as superstitious and ignorant men believe, God's +visiting us were sure to bring cholera, or plague, or pestilence, or +famine, or some other misery. For I read, that in His presence is +life and not death--at His right hand is fulness of joy, and not +tribulation and mourning and woe; but if not, it were better to be +with God in everlasting agony, than to be in everlasting happiness +without God. + +Here is a strange confusion--people talking one moment like St. Paul +himself, desiring to be with Christ and God for ever, and then in the +same breath talking like the Gadarenes of old, when, after Christ had +visited them, and judged their sins by driving their unlawful herd of +swine into the sea, they answered by beseeching Him to depart out of +their coasts. + +Why is this confusion?--Because people do not take the trouble to +read their Bibles; because they bring their own loose, careless, cant +notions with them when they open their Bibles, and settle beforehand +what the Bible is to tell them, and then pick and twist texts till +they make them mean just what they like and no more. There is no +folly, or filth, or tyranny, or blasphemy, which men have not +defended out of the Bible by twisting it in this way. The Bible is +better written than that, my friends. He that runs may read, if he +has sense to read. The wayfaring man, though simple, shall make no +such mistake therein, if he has God's Spirit in him--the spirit of +faith, which believes that the Bible is God's message to men--the +humble spirit, which is willing to listen to that message, however +strange or new it may seem to him--the earnest spirit, which reads +the Bible really to know what a man shall do to be saved. Look at +your Bibles thus, my friends, about this matter. Read all the texts +which speak of God's visiting and God's visitation, and you will find +all the confusion and strangeness vanish away. For see! The Bible +talks of the Lord visiting people in His wrath--visiting them for +their sins--visiting them with sore plagues and punishments, about +forty times. But the Bible speaks very nearly as often of God's +visiting people to bring them blessings and not punishments. The +Bible says God visited Sarah and Hannah to give them what they most +desired--children. God visited the people of Israel in Egypt to +deliver them out of slavery. In the book of Ruth we read how the +Lord visited His people in giving them bread. The Psalmist, in the +captivity at Babylon, PRAYS God to visit him with His salvation. The +prophet Jeremiah says that it was a sign of God's anger against the +Jews that He had not visited them; and the prophets promised again +and again to their countrymen, how, after their seventy years' +captivity in Babylon, the Lord would visit them, and what for?--To +bring them back into their own land with joy, and heap them with +every blessing--peace and wealth, freedom and righteousness. So it +is in the New Testament too. Zacharias praised God: "Blessed be the +Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people; +through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on +high hath visited us." And that was the reason why I chose Luke vii. +16, for my text--only because it is an example of the same thing. +The people, it says, praised God, saying: "A great Prophet is risen +up among us, and God hath visited His people." And in the 14th of +Acts we read how God visited the Gentiles, not to punish them, but to +take out of them a people for His name, namely, Cornelius and his +household. And lastly, St. Peter tells Christian people to glorify +God in the day of visitation, as I tell you now--whether His +visitation comes in the shape of cholera, or fever, or agricultural +distress; or whether it comes in the shape of sanitary reform, and +plenty of work, and activity in commerce; whether it seems to you +good or evil, glorify God for it. Thank Him for it. Bless Him for +it. Whether His visitation brings joy or sorrow, it surely brings a +blessing with it. Whether God visits in wrath or in love, still God +visits. God shows that He lives; God shows us that He has not +forgotten us; God shows us that He is near us. Christ shows us that +His words are true: "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the +world." + +That is a hard lesson to learn and practise, though not a very +difficult one to understand. I will try now to make you understand +it--God alone can teach you to practise it. I pray and hope, and I +believe too, that He will--that these very hard times are meant to +teach people REALLY to believe in God and Jesus Christ, and that they +WILL teach people. God knows we need, and thanks be to Him that He +DOES know that we need, to be taught to believe in Him. Nothing +shows it to me more plainly than the way we talk about God's +visitations, as if God was usually away from us, and came to us only +just now and then--only on extraordinary occasions. People have +gross, heathen, fleshly, materialist notions of God's visitations, as +if He was some great earthly king who now and then made a journey +about his dominions from place to place, rewarding some and punishing +others. God is not in any place, my friends. God is a Spirit. The +heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain Him if He wanted a +place to be in, as, glory be to His name, He does not. If He is near +us or far from us, it is not that He is near or far from our bodies, +as the Queen might be nearer to us in London than in Scotland, which +is most people's notion of God's nearness. He is near, not our +bodies, but our spirits, our souls, our hearts, our thoughts--as it +is written, "The kingdom of God is WITHIN you." Do not fancy that +when the cholera was in India, God was nearer India than He was to +England, and that as the cholera crawled nearer and nearer, God came +nearer and nearer too; and that now the cholera is gone away +somewhere or other, God is gone away somewhere or other too, to leave +us to our own inventions. God forbid a thousand times! As St. Paul +says: "He is not far from any one of us." "In Him we live and move +and have our being," cholera or none. Do you think Christ, the King +of the earth, is gone away either--that while things go on rightly, +and governments, and clergy, and people do right, Christ is there +then, filling them all with His Spirit and guiding them all to their +duty; but that when evil times come, and rulers are idle, and clergy +dumb dogs, and the rich tyrannous, and the poor profligate, and men +are crying for work and cannot get it, and every man's hand is +against his fellow, and no one knows what to do or think; and on +earth is distress of nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing +them for fear, and for dread of those things which are coming on the +earth--do you think that in such times as those, Christ is the least +farther off from us than He was at the best of times?--The least +farther off from us now than He was from the apostles at the first +Whitsuntide? God forbid!--God forbid a thousand times! He has +promised Himself, He that is faithful and true, He that will never +deny Himself, though men deny Him, and say He is not here, because +their eyes are blinded with love of the world, and covetousness and +bigotry, and dread lest He, their Master, should come and find them +beating the men-servants and maid-servants, and eating and drinking +with the drunken in the high places of the earth, and saying: "Tush! +God hath forgotten it"--ay, though men have forgotten Him thus, and-- +worse than thus, yet He hath said it--"Lo, I am with you alway, even +unto the end of the world." Why, evil times are the very times of +which Christ used to speak as the "days of the Lord," and the "days +of the Son of man." Times when we hear of wars and rumours of wars, +and on earth distress of nations with perplexity--what does He tell +men to do in them? To go whining about, and say that Christ has left +His Church? No! "Then," He says, "when all these things come to +pass, then rejoice and lift up your heads, for your redemption +draweth nigh." + +And yet the Scripture does most certainly speak of the Lord's coming +out of His place to visit--of the Son of Man coming, and not coming +to men--of His visiting us at one time and not at another. How does +that agree with what I have just said? My dear friends, we shall see +that it agrees perfectly with what I have said, if we will only just +remember that we are not beasts, but men. It may seem a strange +thing to have to remind people of, but it is just what they are +always forgetting. My friends, we are not animals, we are not +spiders to do nothing but spin, or birds only to build nests for +ourselves, much less swine to do nothing but dig after roots and +fruits, and get what we can out of the clods of the ground. We are +the children of the Most High God; we have immortal souls within us; +nay, more, we are our souls: our bodies are our husk--our shell--our +clothes--our house--changing day by day, and year by year upon us, +one day to drop off us till the Resurrection. But WE are our SOULS, +and when God visits, it is our souls He visits, not merely our +bodies. There is the whole secret. People forget God, and therefore +they are glad to fancy that He has forgotten them, and has nothing to +do with this world of His which they are misusing for their own +selfish ends; and then God in His mercy visits them. He knocks at +the door of their hearts, saying: "See! I was close to you all the +while." He forces them to see Him and to confess that He is there +whether they choose or not. God is not away from the world. He is +away from people's hearts, because He has given people free wills, +and with free wills the power of keeping Him out of their hearts or +letting Him in. And when God visits He forces Himself on our +attention. He knocks at the door of our hard hearts so loudly and +sharply that He forces all to confess that He is there--all who are +not utterly reprobate and spiritually dead. In blessings as well as +in curses, God knocks at our hearts. By sudden good fortune, as well +as by sudden mishap; by a great deliverance from enemies, by an +abundant harvest, as well as by famine and pestilence. Therefore +this cholera has been a true visitation of God. The poor had fancied +that they might be as dirty, the rich had fancied that they might be +as careless, as they chose; in short, that they might break God's +laws of cleanliness and brotherly care without His troubling Himself +about the matter. And lo! He has visited us; and shown us that He +does care about the matter by taking it into His own hands with a +vengeance. He who cannot see God's hand in the cholera must be as +blind--as blind as who?--as blind as he that cannot see God's hand +when there is no cholera; as blind as he who cannot see God's hand in +every meal he eats, and every breath he draws; for that man is stone +blind--he can be no blinder. The cholera came; everyone ought to see +that it did not come by blind chance, but by the will of some wise +and righteous Person; for in the first place God gave us fair +warning. The cholera came from India at a steady pace. We knew to a +month when it would arrive here. And it came, too, by no blind +necessity, as if it was forced to take people whether it liked or +not. Just as it was in the fever here, so it was in the cholera, +"One shall be taken and another left." It took one of a street and +left another; took one person in a family and left another: it took +the rich man who fancied he was safe, as well as the poor man who did +not care whether he was safe or not. The respectable man walking +home to his comfortable house, passed by some untrapped drain, and +then poisonous gas struck him and he died. The rich physician who +had been curing others, could not save himself from the poison of the +crowded graveyard which had been allowed to remain at the back of his +house. By all sorts of strange and unfathomable judgments the +cholera showed itself to be working, not by a blind necessity, but at +the will of a thinking Person, of a living God, whose ways are not as +our own ways, and His paths are in the great deep. And yet the +cholera showed--and this is what I want to make you feel--that it was +working at the will of the same God in whom we live and move and have +our being, who sends the food we eat, the water in which we wash, the +air we breathe, and who has ordained for all these things natural +laws, according to which they work, and which He never breaks, nor +allows us to break them. For every case of cholera could be traced +to some breaking of these laws--foul air--foul food--foul water, or +careless and dirty contact with infected persons; so that by this God +showed that He and not chance ruled the world, and that he was indeed +the living and willing God. He showed at the same time that He was +the wise God of order and of law; and that gas and earth, wind and +vapour, fulfil His word, without His having to break His laws, or +visit us by moving, as people fancy, out of a Heaven where He was, +down to an earth, where He was not. + +But, lastly, remember what I told you before, that the cholera being +a visitation means that God, by it, has been visiting our hearts, +knocking loudly at them that He may awaken us, and teach us a lesson. +And be sure that in the cholera, and this our own parish fever, there +is a lesson for each and every one of us if we will learn it. To the +simple poor man, first and foremost, God means by the cholera to +teach the simple lesson of cleanliness; to the house-owner He means +to teach that each man is his brother's keeper, and responsible for +his property not being a nest of disease; to rulers it is intended to +teach the lesson that God's laws cannot be put off to suit their +laziness, cowardice, or party squabbles. But beside that, to each +person, be sure such a visitation as this brings some private lesson. +Perhaps it has taught many a widow that she has a Friend stronger and +more loving than even the husband whom she has lost by the +pestilence--the God of the widow and the fatherless. Perhaps it has +taught many a strong man not to trust in his strength and his youth, +but in the God who gave them to him. Perhaps it has taught many a +man, too, who has expected public authorities to do everything for +him, "not to put his trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for +there is no help in them," but to hear God's advice, "Help thyself +and God will help thee." Perhaps it has stirred up many a benevolent +man to find out fresh means for rooting out the miseries of society. +Perhaps it has taught many a philosopher new deep truths about the +laws of God's world, which may enable him to enlighten and comfort +ages yet unborn. Perhaps it has awakened many a slumbering heart, +and brought many a careless sinner (for the first time in his life) +face to face with God and his own sins. God's judgments are +manifold; they are meant to work in different ways on different +hearts. But oh! believe and be sure that they are meant to work upon +all hearts--that they are not the punishments of a capricious tyrant, +but the rod of a loving Father, who is trying to drive us home into +His fold, when gentle entreaties and kind deeds have failed to allure +us home. Oh my friends! if you wish really to thank God for having +preserved you from these pestilences, show your thankfulness by +learning the lesson which they bring. God's love has spoken of each +and every one of us in the cholera. Be sure He has spoken so harshly +only because a gentler tone of voice would have had no effect upon +us. Thank Him for His severity. Thank Him for the cholera, the +fever. Thank Him for anything which will awaken us to hear the Word +of the Lord. But till you have learnt the lessons which these +visitations are meant to teach you, there is no use thanking Him for +taking them away. And therefore I beseech you solemnly, each and +all, before you leave this church, now to pray to God to show you +what lesson He means to teach you by this past awful visitation, and +also by sparing you and me who are here present, not merely from +cholera and fever, but from a thousand mishaps and evils, which we +have deserved, and from which only His goodness has kept us. Oh may +God stir up your hearts to ask advice of Him this day! and may He in +His great mercy so teach us all His will on this day of joy, that we +may not need to have it taught us hereafter on some day of sorrow. + + + +XVII--THE COVENANT + + + +The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his own +possession. For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is +above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven +and earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places.--PSALM cxxxv. 4, +5, 6. + +Were you ever puzzled to find out why the Psalms are read every +Sunday in Church, more read, indeed, than any other part of the +Bible? If any of you say, No, I shall not think you the wiser. It +is very easy not to be puzzled with a deep matter, if one never +thinks about it at all. But when a man sets his mind to work +seriously, to try to understand what he hears and sees around him, +then he will be puzzled, and no shame to him; for he will find things +every day of his life which will require years of thought to +understand, ay, things which, though we see and know that they are +true, and can use and profit by them, we can never understand at all, +at least in this life. + +But I do not think that God meant it to be so with these Psalms. He +meant the Bible for a poor man's book: and therefore the men who +wrote the Bible were almost all of them poor men, at least at one +time or other of their life; and therefore we may expect that they +would write as poor men would write, and such things as poor men may +understand, if they are fairly and simply explained. Therefore I do +not think you need be puzzled long to find out why these Psalms are +read every Sunday. For the men who wrote them had God's spirit with +them; and God's spirit is the spirit in which God made and governs +this world, and just as God cannot change, so God's spirit cannot +change; and therefore the rules and laws according to which the world +runs on cannot change; and therefore these rules about God's +government of the world, which God's spirit taught the old Hebrew +Psalmists, are the very same rules by which He governs it now; and +therefore all the rules in these Psalms, making allowance for the +difference of circumstances, have just as much to do with France, and +Germany, and England now, as they had with the Jews, and the +Canaanites, and the Babylonians then. + +St. Paul tells us so. He tells us that all that happened to the old +Jews was written as an example to Christians, to the intent that they +might not sin as the Jews did, and so (God's laws and ways being the +same now as then) be punished as the Jews were. Moreover, St. Paul +says, that Christians now are just as much God's chosen people as the +Jews were. God told the Jews that they were to be a nation of kings +and priests to Him. And St. John opens the Revelations by saying: +"Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, +and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be +glory." St. Paul tells the Ephesians, who had not a drop of Jewish +blood in their veins, that through Jesus Christ both Jews and +Gentiles had "access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore," +he goes on, "ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- +citizens with the saints, and of the household of God." In fact, he +tells the Christians of every country to which he writes, that all +the promises which God made to the Jews belonged to them just as +much, that there was no more any difference between Jew and Gentile, +that the Lord Jesus Christ was just as really among them, and with +them, ruling and helping each people in their own country, as He was +in Jerusalem when Isaiah saw His glory filling the Temple, and when +Zion was called the place of His inheritance. Indeed, the Lord Jesus +said the same thing Himself, for He said that all power was given to +Him in heaven and earth; that He was with His churches (that is, with +all companies of Christian people, such as England) even to the end +of the world; that wherever two or three were gathered together in +His name, He would be in the midst of them; and if those blessed +words and good news be true, we Englishmen have a right to believe +firmly that we belong to Him just as much as the old Jews did; and +when we read these Psalms, to take every word of their good news--and +their warnings also--to ourselves, and to our own land of England. +And when we read in the text, that the Lord chose Jacob unto Himself +and Israel for His own possession, we have a right to say: "And the +Lord has chosen also England unto himself, and this favoured land of +Britain for his own possession." When we say in the Psalm: "The +Lord did what He pleased in heaven, and earth, and sea," to educate +and deliver the people of the Jews, we have a right to say just as +boldly: "And so He has done for England, for us, and for our +forefathers." + +This then is the reason, the chief reason, why these Psalms are +appointed to be read every Sunday in church, and every morning and +evening where there is daily service--to teach us that the Lord takes +care not only of one man's soul here, and another woman's soul there, +but of the whole country of England; of its wars and its peace; of +its laws and government, its progress and its afflictions; of all, in +short, that happens to it as a nation, as one body of men, which it +is. It must be so, my good friends, else we should be worse off than +the old Jews, and not better off, as all the New Testament solemnly +assures us a thousand times over that we are. + +For in the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the strange +events, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their nation, not +only the great saints among them were taken care of, but all classes, +and all characters, good and bad, even those who had not wisdom or +spiritual life enough to seek God for themselves, still had their +share in the good laws, in the teaching and guiding, and in the +national blessings which He sent on the whole nation. They had a +chance given them of rising, and improving, and prospering, as the +rest of their countrymen rose, and improved, and prospered. And when +the Lord came to visit Judaea in flesh and blood, we find that He +went on the same method. He did not merely go to such men as Philip +and Nathaniel, to the holy and elect ones among the Jews, but to the +whole people; to the LOST sheep, as well as to those who were not +lost. He did not part the good from the bad before he healed their +sicknesses, and fed them with the loaves and fishes. It was enough +for Him that they were Jews, citizens of the Jewish nation. God's +promises belonged not to one Jew or another, but to the Jewish +nation; and even the ignorant and the sinful had a share in the +blessings of the covenant, great or small in proportion as they chose +to live as Jews ought, or to forget and deny that they belonged to +God's people. + +Now, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then. +He cannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, and wild untaught +creatures, in England now, than he cared for them in Judaea of old. +And we see that in fact He does not. For as the wealth of England +improves, and the laws improve, and the knowledge of God improves, +the condition of all sorts of poor creatures improves too, though +they had no share in bringing about the good change. But we are all +members of one body, from the Queen on her throne to the tramper +under the hedge; and as St. Paul says: "If one member suffers, all +the members suffer with it, and if one member rejoices, all the +others" sooner or later "rejoice with it." For we, too, are one of +the Lord's nations. He has made us one body, with one common +language, common laws, common interest, common religion for all; and +what He does for one of us He does for all. He orders all that +happens to us; whether it be war or peace, prosperity or dearth, He +orders it all; and He orders things so that they shall work for the +good, not merely of a few, but of as many as possible--not merely for +His elect, but for those who know Him not. As He has been from the +beginning, when He heaped blessings on the stiff-necked and +backsliding Israelites--as He was when He endured the cross for a +world lying not in obedience, but in wickedness; so is He now; the +perfect likeness of His father, who is no respecter of persons, but +causes "His sun to shine alike on the evil on the good, and His rain +to fall on the just and on the unjust." + +But now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you most +solemnly, and especially in such days as these. You may believe my +words to your own ruin, or to your own salvation. They are "the +Gospel," "the good news of the Kingdom of God"--that is, the good +news that God has condescended to become our King, to govern and +guide us, to order all things for our good. But as St. Paul says, +the Gospel may be a savour of death unto death, as well as a savour +of life unto life. And I will tell you now; that you have only to do +what the Jews just before the coming of our Lord did, and give way to +the same thoughts as they, and then, like them, it were better for +you that you had never heard of God, and been like the savages, to +whom little or no sin is imputed, because they are all but without +law. How is this? + +As I said before--take your covenant privileges as the Pharisees took +theirs, and they will turn you into devils while you are fancying +yourselves God's especial favourites. Now this was what happened to +the Pharisees: they could not help knowing that God had shown +especial favour to them; and that He had taught them more about God +than He had taught the heathen. But instead of feeling all the more +humble and thankful for this, and of remembering day and night that +because much had been given to them much would be required of them, +they thought more about the honour and glory which God had put on +them. They forgot what God had declared, namely, that it was not for +their own goodness that He had taught them, for that they were in +themselves not a whit better than the heathen around them. They +forgot that the reason why He taught them was, that they were to do +His work on earth, by witnessing for His name, and telling the +heathen that God was their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews. Now +David, and the old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this. +Their cry is: "Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King." +"Worship the Son of God, ye kings of the earth, and make your peace +with Him lest He be angry." "It was in vain," he told the heathen +kings, "to try to cast away God's government from them, and break His +bonds from off them," for "the Lord was King, let the nations be +never so unquiet." + +But the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, that +God had nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care for +them, and actually hated them; that they, as it were, had the true +God all to themselves for their own private property; and that He had +neither love nor mercy, except for them and their proselytes, that +is, the few heathens whom they could persuade and entice not to +worship the true God after the customs of their own country--that +would not have suited the Jews' bigotry and pride--but to turn Jews, +and forget their own people among whom they were born, and ape them +in everything. And so, as our Lord told them, after compassing sea +and land to make one of these proselytes, they only made him after +all twice as much the child of hell as themselves. For they could +not teach the heathen anything worth knowing about God, when they had +forgotten themselves what God was like. They could tell them that +there was one God, and not two--but what was the use of that? As St. +James says, the devils believe as much as that, and yet the knowledge +does not make them holy, but only increases their fear and despair. +And so with these Pharisees. They had forgotten that God was love. +They had forgotten that God was merciful. They had forgotten that +God was just. And therefore, while they were talking of God and +pretending to worship God, they knew nothing of God, and they did not +do God's will, and act like God; for (as we find from the Gospels) +they were unjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous themselves; +and while they were looking down on the poor heathens, these very +heathens, the Lord told them, would rise up in judgment against them: +for they, knowing little, acted up to the light which they had, +better than the Pharisees who knew so much. And so it will be with +us, my friends, if we fancy that God's great favours to us are a +reason for our priding ourselves on them, and despising papists and +foreigners instead of remembering that just because God has given us +so much, He will require more of us. It is true, we do know more of +the Gospel than the papists, how, though they believe in Jesus +Christ, worship the Virgin Mary and the Saints, and idols of wood and +stone. But if they, who know so little of God's will, yet act +faithfully up to what they do know, will they not rise up in judgment +against us, who know so much more, if we act worse than they? +Instead of despising them, we had better despise ourselves. Instead +of fancying that God's love is not over them, and so sinning against +God's Holy Spirit by denying and despising the fruits of God's Holy +Spirit in them, we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting of +our own sins. We had better pray God to open our eyes to our own +want of faith, and want of love, and want of honesty, and want of +cleanly and chaste lives; lest God in His anger should let us go on +in our evil path, till we fall into the deep darkness of mind of the +Pharisees of old. For then while we were boasting of England as the +most Christian nation in the world, we might become the most +unchristian, because the most unlike Christ; the most wanting in love +and fellow-feeling, and self-sacrifice, and honour, and justice, and +honesty; wanting, in short, in the fruits of the Spirit. And without +them there is no use crying: "We are God's chosen people, He Has put +His name among us, we alone hate idols, we alone have the pure word +of God, and the pure sacraments, and the pure doctrine;" for God may +answer us, as he answered the Jews of old: "Think not to say within +yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, +God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham." . . . +"The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation +bringing forth the fruits thereof." Oh! my friends, let us pray, one +and all, that God will come and help us, and with great might succour +us, "that whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore let and +hindered in running the race set before us, God's bountiful grace and +mercy may speedily help and deliver us," and enable us to live +faithfully up to the glorious privileges which He has bestowed on us, +in calling us "members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of +the Kingdom of Heaven;" in giving us His Bible, in allowing us to be +born into this favoured land of England, in preserving us to this +day, in spite of all that we have thought, and said, and done, +unworthy of the name of Christians and Englishmen. + +And then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the +glorious promises which we find in another Psalm: "If thy children +will keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them, +this land shall be my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have a +delight therein. I will bless her victuals with increase, and +satisfy her poor with bread. I will deck her priests with health, +and her holy people shall rejoice and sing." + + + +XVIII--NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS + + + +And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye +say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to +serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a +mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, +will I rule over you. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord.-- +EZEKIEL xx. 32, 33, 38. + +A father has two ways of showing his love to his child--by caressing +it and by punishing it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, +and ought to be. Just because he loves his child, just because the +thing he longs most to see is that his child should grow up good, +therefore he must be, and ought to be, angry with it when it does +wrong. Therefore anger against sin is a part of God's likeness in +us; and he who does not hate sin is not like God. For if sin is the +worst evil--perhaps the only real evil in the world--and the end of +all sin is death and misery, then to indulge people in sin is to show +them the very worst of cruelty. + +To sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, is +mere laziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, does not show +his love to the child by indulging it, all he shows is, that he +himself is carnal and fleshly; that he does not like to take the +trouble of punishing it, or does not like to give himself the pain of +punishing it; that, in short, he had sooner let his child grow up in +bad habits, which must lead to its misery and ruin for years and +years, if not for ever, than make himself uncomfortable by seeing it +uncomfortable for a few minutes. That is not love, but selfishness. +True love is as determined to punish the sin as it is to forgive the +sinner. Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that we can be angry without +sinning; that is that there is an anger which comes from hatred of +sin and love to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon tells us to punish +our children when they do wrong, and not to hold our hands for their +crying. It is better for them that they should cry a little now, +than have long years of shame and sorrow hereafter. Therefore, in +all countries which are properly governed, the law punishes in the +name of God those who break the laws of God, and punishes them even +with death, for certain crimes; because it is expedient that one man +die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. + +And this is God's way of dealing with each and every one of us. This +is God's way of dealing with Christian nations, just as it was His +way of dealing with the Jews of old. He never allowed the Jews to +prosper in sin. He punished them at once, and sternly, whenever they +rebelled against Him; not because He hated them, but because He loved +them. His love to them showed itself whenever they went well with +Him, in triumphs and blessings; and when they rebelled against Him, +and broke His laws, He showed that very same love to them in plague, +and war, and famine, and a mighty hand, and fury poured out. His +love had not changed--they had changed; and now the best and only way +of showing His love to them, was by making them feel His anger; and +the best and only way of being merciful to them, was to show them no +indulgence. + +Now the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in Ezekiel's time, +was to be like the heathen--like the nations round them. They said +to themselves: "These heathen worship idols, and yet prosper very +well. Their having gods of wood and stone, and their indulging their +passions, and being profligate and filthy, covetous, unjust, and +tyrannical, does not prevent their being just as happy as we are--ay, +and a great deal happier. They have no strict law of Moses, as we +have threatening us and keeping us in awe, and making us +uncomfortable, and telling us at every turn, 'Thou shalt not do this +pleasant thing, and thou shalt not do that pleasant thing.' And yet +God does not punish them, as Moses' law says He will punish us. +These Assyrians and Babylonians above all--they are stronger than we, +and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have horses and +chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which we Jews cannot +get. Instead of being like us, in continual trouble from +earthquakes, and drought, and famine, and war, attacked, plundered by +all the nations round us, one after another, they go on conquering, +and spreading, and succeeding in all they lay their hand to. Look at +Babylon," said these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; "a few +generations ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the greatest, +richest, and strongest nation in the whole world. God has not +punished it for worshipping gods of wood and stone, why should He +punish us? These Babylonians have prospered well enough with their +gods, why should not we? Perhaps it is these very gods of wood and +stone who have helped them to become so great. Why should they not +help us? We will worship them, then, and pray to them. We will not +give up worshipping our own God, of course, lest we should offend +Him; but we will worship Him and the Babylonian idols at the same +time; then we shall be sure to be right if we have Jehovah and the +idols both on our side." So said the Jews to themselves. But what +did Ezekiel answer them? "Not so, my foolish countrymen," said he, +"God will not have it so. He has taught you that these Babylonian +idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught you that He can +and will help you, that He can and will be everything to you; He has +taught you that He alone is God, who made heaven and earth, who +orders all things therein, who alone gives any people power to get +wealth; and He will not have you go back and fall from that for any +appearances or arguments whatsoever, because it is true. He has +chosen you to witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His name +to them, that they may give up their idols and serve the true God, in +whom alone is strength. He chose you to be these heathens' teachers, +and He will not let you become their scholars. He meant the heathen +to copy you, and He will not let you copy them. If He does, in His +love and mercy, let these poor heathen prosper in spite of their +idols, what is that to you? It is still the Lord who makes them +prosper, and not the idols, whether they know it or not. They know +no better, and He will not impute sin to them where He has given them +no law. But you do know better; by a thousand mighty signs and +wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been teaching you ever since +you came up through the Red Sea, that He is all-sufficient for you, +that all power is His in heaven and earth. He has promised to you, +and sworn to you by Himself, that if you keep His law and walk in His +commandments, you shall want no manner of good thing; that you shall +have no cause to envy these heathen their riches and prosperity, for +the Lord will bless you in house and land, by day and night, at home +and abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire. Moses' law +tells you this, God's prophets have been telling you this, God's +wonderful dealings with you have been telling you this, that the Lord +God is enough for you. And if you, who are meant to be a nation of +kings and priests to God, to teach all nations and serve solely Him, +fancy that you will be allowed to throw away the high honour which +God has put upon you, and lower yourselves to the follies and sins of +these heathen round you, you are mistaken. You were meant to be +above such folly, you can be above it; and you shall not prosper by +serving God and idols at once; you shall not even prosper by serving +idols alone. God will visit you with a mighty hand, and with fury +poured out, and you shall know that He is the Lord." + +Well, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This it has to do +with us--that if God taught the Jews about Himself, He has taught us +still more. If he has shown signs and wonders of His love, and +wrought mightily for the Jews, He has wrought far more mightily for +us; for He spared not His own Son, but gave Him freely for us. If He +promised to teach the Jews, He has promised still more to teach us; +for He has promised His Holy Spirit freely to young and old, rich and +poor, to as many as ask Him, to guide us into all truth. If he +expected the Jews to set an example to all the nations around, He +expects us to do so still more. And if He punished the Jews, and +drove them back again by shame, and affliction, and disappointment, +whenever they went after other gods, and tried to be like the heathen +around, and despised their high calling, and their high privileges, +He will punish us, and drive us back again still more fiercely, and +still more swiftly. God has called us to be a nation of Christians, +and He will not let us be a nation of heathens. We are longing to do +in these days very much as the Jews did of old; we are all too apt to +say to ourselves: "Of course we must love God, or He might be angry +with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls saved? But +the old heathen nations, and a great many nations now, and a great +many rich and comfortable people in England now, too, get on very +well without God, by just worshipping selfishness, and money, and +worldly cunning, and why should not we do the same?--why should we +not worship God and Mammon at once, and serve God on Sundays, and the +selfish ways of the world all the week? Surely then we should be +doubly safe; we should have God and the world on our side both at +once." + +Now, my friends, God will not allow us to succeed on that plan. We +are members of His Church, whose head is Jesus, who gave Himself for +sinners; whose members are all brothers of His Church, which is held +together by self-sacrifice and fellow-help. If we try to be like the +heathens, and fancy that we can succeed by selfishness, and cunning, +and covetousness, God will not let us fall from the honour which He +has put on us, and trample our blessings under foot. He will bring +our plans to nought. Whomsoever he may let prosper in sin, He will +not let those who have heard the message prosper in it. Whatever +nation He may let become great by covetousness, and selfish competing +and struggling of man against man, He will not let England grow great +by it. He loves her too well to let her fall so, and cast away her +high honour of being a Christian nation. By great and sore +afflictions, by bringing our cleverest plans to nothing, He will +teach us that we cannot worship God and Mammon at once; that the sure +riches, either for a man or for a nation, are not money, but +righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of selfish +competition which men worship nowadays, and fancy that it is the +secret cause of all plenty, and cheapness, and civilisation, has no +place in the church of Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for +those who hated Him, and came not to do His own will, but the will of +His Father; not to enable men to go to heaven after a life of +selfishness here; but by the power of His Spirit--the spirit of love +and fellowship to sweep all selfishness off the face of God's good +earth. By sore trials and afflictions will God in His mercy teach +this to England, and to every man in England who is deluded into +fancying that he can serve God, and selfishness at once, till we +learn once more, as our forefathers did of old, that He is the Lord. +Because we are His children God will chasten us; because He receives +us, He will scourge us back to Him; because He has prepared for us +things such as eye hath not seen, He will not let us fill our bellies +with the husks which the swine eat, and like the dumb beasts, snarl +and struggle one against the other for a place at His table, as if it +were not wide enough for all His creatures, and for ten times as many +more, forgetting that He is the giver, and fancying that we are to be +the takers, and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry to snatch it +out of our neighbours' hands. In one word, God will not give us +false prosperity, as the children of the world, the flesh, and the +devil, because he wishes to give us real prosperity as the sons of +God, in the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died on the cross +for us. + + + +XIX--THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM + + + +And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in +the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and eighty five thousand: and +when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.-- +2 KINGS xix. 35. + +You heard read in the first lesson last Sunday afternoon, the threats +of the king of Assyria against Jerusalem, and his defiance of the +true Lord whose temple stood there. In the first lesson for this +morning's service, you heard of king Hezekiah's fear and perplexity; +of the Lord's answer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and wonderful +destruction of the Assyrian army, of which my text tells you. Of +course you have a right to ask: "This which happened in a foreign +country more than two thousand years ago, what has it to do with us?" +And, of course, my preaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, +unless I can show you what it has to do with us; what lesson we +English here, in the year 1851, are to draw, from the help which God +sent the Jews. + +But to find out that, we must hear the whole story. Before we can +find out why God drove the Assyrians out of Judaea, we must find out, +it seems to me, why He sent them, or allowed them to come into +Judaea; and to find out that, we must first see how the Jews were +behaving in those times, and what sort of state their country was in; +and we must find out, too, what sort of a man this great king of +Assyria was, and what sort of thoughts were in his heart. + +Now, by the favour of God, we can find out this. You will see, in +the first thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah's prophecies, a full +account of the ways of the Jews in that time, and the reasons why God +allowed so fearful a danger to come upon them. The whole first +thirty-five chapters belong to each other, and are, so to speak, a +spiritual history of the Jews, and the Assyrians, and all the nations +round them, for many years. A spiritual history--that is, not merely +a history of what they did, but of what they were, what was in their +inmost hearts, and thoughts, and spirits; a spiritual history--that +is, not merely of what they thought they were doing, but of what God +saw that they were doing--a history of God's mind about them all. +Isaiah had God's spirit on him; and so he saw what was going on round +him in the same light in which God saw it, and hated it, or praised +it, only according as it was good, and according to the good Spirit +of God, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah's history of +his own nation, and the nations around him, was very unlike what they +would have written for themselves; just as I am afraid he would write +a very different history of England now, from what we should write, +if we were set to do it. Now what Isaiah thought of the doings of +his countrymen, the Jews, I must tell you in another sermon, next +Sunday. It will be enough this morning to speak of the king of +Assyria. + +These kings of Assyria thought themselves the greatest and strongest +beings in the world; they thought that their might was right, and +that they might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and oppress every +country round them for thousands of miles, without being punished. +They thought that they could overcome the true God of Judaea, as they +had conquered the empty idols and false gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and +Iva. But Isaiah saw that they were wrong. He told his countrymen: +"These Assyrian kings are strong, but there is a stronger King than +they, Jehovah the Lord of all the earth. It is He who sent them to +punish nation after nation, Sennacherib is the rod of Jehovah's +anger; but he is a fool after all; for all his cunning, for all his +armies, he is a fool rushing on his ruin. He may take Tyre, +Damascus, Babylon, Egypt itself, and cast their gods into the fire, +for they are no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; +but let him once try his strength against the real living God; let +the axe once begin to boast itself against Him that hews therewith; +and he will find out that there is one stronger than he, one who has +been using him as a 'tool, and who will crush him like a moth the +moment he rebels. His father destroyed Samaria and her idols, but he +shall not destroy Jerusalem. He may ravage Ephraim, and punish the +gluttony and drunkenness, and oppression of the great landlords of +Bashan; he may bring misery and desolation through the length and +breadth of the land: there is reason, and reason but too good for +that: but Jerusalem, the place where God's honour dwells, the temple +without idols, which is the sign that Jehovah is a living God, +against it he shall not cast up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.' +"I know," said Isaiah, "what he is saying of himself, this proud king +of Assyria: but this is what God says of him, that he is only a +puppet, a tool in the hand of God, to punish these wicked nations +whom he is conquering one by one, and us Jews among the rest. He, +this proud king of Assyria, thinks that he is the chosen favourite of +the sun, and the moon, and the stars, whom, in his folly, he worships +as gods. He will find out who is the real Lord of the earth; he will +find out that this great world is ruled by that very God of Israel +whom he despises. He will find that there is something in this +earth, of which he fancies himself lord and master, which is too +strong for him, which will obey God, and not him. God rules the +earth, and God rules Tophet, and the great fire-kingdoms which boil +and blaze for ever in the bowels of the earth, and burst up from time +to time in earthquakes and burning mountains; and God has ordained +that they shall conquer this proud king of Assyria, though we Jews +are too weak and cowardly, and split up into parties by our +wickedness, to make a stand against him." . . . + +This great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, which would +destroy the king of Assyria's army, was to happen, Isaiah says, close +to Jerusalem, nay, it was to shake Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem was +to be brought to great misery by everlasting burnings, as well as by +being besieged by the Assyrians; and yet the very shaking of the +earth and eruption of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be +the cause of its deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot +doubt his words came true. For this may explain to us the way in +which the king of Assyria's army was destroyed. The text says, that +when they encamped near Jerusalem the messenger of the Lord went out, +and slew in one night one hundred and eighty thousand of them, who +were all found dead in the morning. How they were killed we cannot +exactly tell, most likely by a stream of poisonous vapour, such as +often comes forth out of the ground during earthquakes and eruptions +of burning mountains, and kills all men and animals who breathe it. +That this was the way that this great army was destroyed, I have +little doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah says in his +prophecies of God's "sending a blast" upon the king of Assyria, but +because it was just like the old lesson which God had been teaching +the Jews all along, that the earth and all in it was His property, +and obeyed Him. For what could teach them that more strongly than to +see that the earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on +earth the most awful and most murderous, the very things against +which man has no defence, obeyed God; burst forth when He chose, and +did His work as He willed? For man can conquer almost everything in +the world except these burning mountains and earthquakes. He can +sail over the raging sea in his ships; he can till the most barren +soils; he can provide against famine, rain, and cold, ay, against the +thunder itself: but the earthquakes alone are too strong for him. +Against them no cunning or strength of man is of any use. Without +warning, they make the solid ground under his feet heave, and reel, +and sink, hurling down whole towns in a moment, and burying the +inhabitants under the ruins, as an earthquake did in Italy only a +month ago. Or they pour forth streams of fire, clouds of dust, +brimstone, and poisonous vapour, destroying for miles around the +woods and crops, farms and cities, and burying them deep in ashes, as +they have done again and again, both in Italy and Iceland, and in +South America, even during the last few years. How can man stand +against them? What greater warning or lesson to him than they, that +God is stronger than man; that the earth is not man's property, and +will not obey him, but only the God who made it? Now that was just +what God intended to teach the Jews all along; that the earth and +heaven belonged to Him and obeyed Him; that they were not to worship +the sun and stars, as the Assyrians and Canaanites did, nor the earth +and the rivers as the Egyptians did: but to worship the God who made +sun and stars, earth and rivers, and to put their trust in Him to +guide all heaven and earth aright; and to make all things, sun, +earth, and weather, ay, and the very burning mountains and +earthquakes, work together for good for them if they loved God. +Therefore it was that God gave His law to Moses on the burning +mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, to +show them that the lightnings and the mountains obeyed Him. +Therefore it was that the earthquake opened the ground and swallowed +up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses. Therefore +it was that God once used an earthquake and eruption to preserve +David from his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And all +through David's Psalms we find how well he had learnt this great +lesson which God had taught him. Again and again we find verses +which show that he knew well enough who was the Lord of all the +earth. + +In Isaiah's time, it seems, God taught the Jews once more the same +thing. He taught them, and the proud king of Assyria, once and for +all, that He was indeed the Lord--Lord of all nations, and King of +kings, and also Lord of the earth, and all that therein is. He +taught it to the poor oppressed Jews by that miraculous deliverance. +He taught it to the cruel invading king by that miraculous +destruction. Just in the height of his glory, after he had conquered +almost every nation in the east, and overcome the whole of Judaea, +except that one small city of Jerusalem, Sennacherib's great army was +swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in a single night, and +utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his own land; and +even there he found that the God of Israel had followed him--that the +idols whom he worshipped could not save him from the wrath of that +God to whom Assyria, just as much as Jerusalem, belonged. For as he +was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons smote +him with the sword, and there was an end of all his pride and +conquests. . . . Now Nisroch was the name of a star--the star which +we call the planet Saturn; and the Assyrians fancied in their folly, +that whosoever worshipped any particular star, that star would +protect and help him. . . . But, alas for the king of Assyria, there +was One above who had made the stars, and from whose vengeance the +stars could not save him; and so even while he was worshipping, and +praying to, this favourite star of his which could not hear him, he +fell dead, a murdered man, and found out too late how true were the +great words of Isaiah when he prophesied against him. + +Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to learn, and +which the king of Assyria had to learn, and which we have to learn +also; and which God will, in His great mercy, teach us over and over +again by bitter trials whensoever we forget it; that The Lord is +King; that He is near us, living for ever, all-wise, all-powerful, +all-loving; that those who really trust in Him shall never be +confounded; that those who trust in themselves are trying their +paltry strength against the God who made heaven and earth, and will +surely find out their own weakness, just when they fancy themselves +most successful. So it was in Hezekiah's time; so it is now, hard as +it may be to us to believe it. The Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, who +saved Jerusalem from the Assyrians, He still is King, let the earth +be never so unquiet. And all men, or governments, or doctrines, or +ways of thinking and behaving, which are contrary to His will, or +even pretend that they can do without Him, will as surely come to +nought as that great and terrible king of Assyria. Though man be too +weak to put them down, Christ is not. Though man neglect to put them +down, Christ will not. If man dare not fight on the Lord's side +against sin and evil, the Lord's earth will fight for Him. Storm and +tempest, blight and famine, earthquakes and burning mountains, will +do His work, if nothing else will. As He said Himself, if man stops +praising Him, the very stones will cry out, and own Him as their +King. Not that the blessed Lord is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; +God forbid! He is boundless pity, and love, and mercy. But it is +just because He is perfect love and pity that He hates sin, which +makes all the misery upon earth. He hates it, and he fights against +it for ever; lovingly at first, that He may lead sinners to +repentance; for He wills the death of none, but rather that all +should come to repentance. But if a man will not turn, He will whet +his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let him be as great as the +king of Assyria, he must down. For the Lord will have none guide His +world but Himself, because none but He will ever guide it on the +right path. Yes--but what a glorious thought, that He will guide it, +and us, on that right path. Oh blessed news for all who are in +sorrow and perplexity! Whatsoever it is that ails you--and who is +there, young or old, rich or poor, who has not their secret ailments +at heart?--whatsoever ails you, whatsoever terrifies you, whatsoever +tempts you, trust in the same Lord who delivered Jerusalem from the +Assyrians, and He will deliver you. He will never suffer you to be +tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also +make a way for you to escape, that you may be able to bear it. This +has been His loving way from the beginning, and this will be His way +until the day when He wipes away tears from all eyes. + + + +XX--PROFESSION AND PRACTICE + + + +Though they say, "The Lord liveth," surely they swear falsely.-- +JEREMIAH v. 2. + +I spoke last Sunday morning of the wonderful way in which the Lord +delivered the Jews from the Assyrian army, and I promised to try and +explain to you this morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the +Assyrians to come into Judaea, and ravage the whole country except +the one small city of Jerusalem. + +My text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the prophet +Jeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason to us. + +For though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after Isaiah, yet +he had much the same message from God to give, and much the same sins +round him to rebuke. For the Jews were always, as the Bible calls +them, "a backsliding people;" and, as the years ran on, and they +began to forget their great deliverance from the Assyrians, they slid +back into the very same wrong state of mind in which they were in +Isaiah's time, and for which God punished them by that terrible +invasion. + +Now, what was this? + +One very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when the +Assyrians came into Judaea, the Jews were NOT given up to worshipping +false gods. On the contrary, we find, both from the book of Kings +and the book of Chronicles, that a great reform in religion had taken +place among them a few years before. Their king Hezekiah, in the +very first year of his reign, removed the high places, and cut down +the groves (which are said to have been carved idols meant to +represent the stars of heaven), and even broke in pieces the brazen +serpent which Moses had made, because the Jews had begun to worship +it for an idol. He trusted in the Lord God, and obeyed Him, more +than any king of Judah. He restored the worship of the true God in +the temple, according to the law of Moses, with such pomp and glory +as had never been seen since Solomon's time. And not only did he +turn to the true God, but his people also. From the account which we +find in Chronicles, they seemed to have joined him in the good work. +They offered sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they +have been guilty, in leaving the true God for idols; and all other +kinds of offerings freely and willingly. "And Hezekiah rejoiced, and +all the people that God had prepared the people. Moreover, Hezekiah +called all the men in Judaea up to Jerusalem, to keep the passover +according to the law of Moses," which they had neglected to do for +many years, and the people answered his call and "came, and kept the +feast at Jerusalem seven days, with joy and great gladness, offering +peace-offerings, and making confession to the God of their fathers. +So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon +there was not the like in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the +Levites arose, and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and +their prayer came up to the Lord's holy dwelling, even to heaven." +And when it was all finished, the people went out of their own +accord, and destroyed utterly all the idols, and high places, and +altars throughout the land, and returned to their houses in peace. + +Now does not all this sound very satisfactory and excellent? What +better state of mind could people be in? What a wonderful reform, +and spread of true religion! The only thing like it, that we know, +is the wonderful reform and spread of religion in England in the last +sixty years, after all the ungodliness and wickedness that went on +from the year 1660 to the time of the French war; the building of +churches, the founding of schools, the spread of Bibles, and tracts, +and the wonderful increase of gospel preachers, so that every old man +will tell you, that religion is talked about and written about now, a +thousand times more than when he was a boy. Indeed, unless a man +makes a profession of some sort of religion or other, nowadays, he +can hardly hope to rise in the world, so religious are we English +become. + +Now let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful spread of +true religion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may see what he +would think of ours now, if he were alive. His opinion is sure to be +the right one. His rules can never fail, for he was an inspired +prophet, and saw things as they are, as God sees them; and therefore +his rules will hold good for ever. Let us see what they were. + +The first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is called "The +vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and +Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah." Now +this is one prophecy by itself, in the shape of a poem; for in the +old Hebrew it is written in regular verses. The second chapter +begins with another heading, and is the beginning of a different +poem; so that this first chapter is, as it were, a summing up of all +that he is going to say afterwards; a short account of the state of +the Jews for more than forty years. And what is more, this first +chapter of Isaiah must have been written in the reign of Hezekiah, in +those very religious days of which I was just speaking; for it says +that the country was desolate, and Jerusalem alone left. And this +never happened during Isaiah's lifetime, till the fourteenth year of +Hezekiah, that is, till this great spread of the true religion had +been going on for thirteen years. Now what was Isaiah's vision? +What did he, being taught by God's Spirit, SEE was God's opinion of +these religious Jews? Listen, my friends, and take it solemnly to +heart! + +"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law +of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude +of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt +offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts: and I delight not in +the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When ye come to +appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my +courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto +me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot +away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons +and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto +me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I +will hide my eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will +not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; +put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do +evil; learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge +the fatherless, plead for the widow. . . . How is the faithful city +become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in +it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed +with water; thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; +every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not +the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. +Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of +Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine +enemies." . . . + +Again, I say, my friends, listen to it, and take it solemnly to +heart! That is God's opinion of religion, even the truest and +soundest in worship and doctrine, when it is without godliness, +without holiness; when it goes in hand with injustice, and +covetousness, and falsehood, and cheating, and oppression, and +neglect of the poor, and keeping company with the wicked, because it +is profitable; in short, when it is like too much of the religion +which we see around us in the world at this day. + +Yes--it was of no use holding to the letter of the law while they +forgot its spirit. God had commanded church-going, and woe to those, +then or now, who neglect it. Yet the Lord asks, "Who hath required +this at your hands, to tread my courts?". . . He had commanded the +Sabbath-day to be kept holy; and woe to those, then or now, who +neglect it. Yet He says, "Your Sabbaths I cannot away with; it is +iniquity, even the solemn meeting." The Lord had appointed feasts: +and yet He says that His soul hated them; they were a trouble to Him; +He was weary to bear them. The Lord had commanded prayer; and woe to +those, then or now, in England, as in Judaea, who neglect to pray. +And yet He says: "When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine +eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear." And +why?--He himself condescends to tell them the reason, which they +ought to have known for themselves: "Because," He says, "your hands +are full of blood." This was the reason why all their religiousness, +and orthodoxy, and church-going, and praying, was only disgusting to +God; because there was no righteousness with it. Their faith was +only a dead, rotten, sham faith, for it brought forth no fruits of +justice and love; and their religion was only hypocrisy, for it did +not make them holy. No doubt they thought themselves pious and +sincere enough; no doubt they thought that they were pleasing God +perfectly, and giving Him all that He could fairly ask of them; no +doubt they were fiercely offended at Isaiah's message to them; no +doubt they could not understand what he meant by calling them a +hypocritical nation, a second Sodom and Gomorrah, while they were +destroying idols, and keeping the law of Moses, and worshipping God +more earnestly than He had been worshipped since Solomon's time. But +so it was. That was the message of God to them; that was the vision +of Isaiah concerning them; that there was no soundness in the whole +of the nation, "from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, +nothing but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores"--that is, that +the whole heart and conscience, and ways of thinking, were utterly +rotten, and abominable in the sight of God, even while they were +holding the true doctrines about them, and keeping up the pure +worship of Him. This, says the Lord, is not the way to please me. +"He hath showed thee, oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord +require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk +humbly with thy God?" To do justly, to love mercy, and then to walk +humbly, sure that when you seem to have done all your duty, you have +left only too much of it undone; even as St. Paul felt when he said, +that though he knew nothing against himself; though he could not +recollect a single thing in which he had failed of his duty to the +Corinthians, yet that did not justify him. "For he that judgeth me," +he says, "is the Lord." He sees deeper than I can; and He, alas! may +take a very different view of my conduct from what I do; and this +life of mine, which looks to me, from my ignorance, so spotless and +perfect, may be, in His eyes, full of sins, and weakness, and +neglects, and shameful follies. "To walk humbly with God." Not to +believe that because you read the Bible, and have heard the gospel, +and are sharp at finding out false doctrine in preachers, and belong +to the Church of England, that therefore you know all about God, and +can look down upon poor papists, and heathens, and say: "This +people, which knoweth not the law, is accursed: but WE are +enlightened, we understand the whole Bible, we know everything about +God's will, and man's duty; and whosoever differs from us, or +pretends to teach us anything new about God, must be wrong." Not to +do so, my friends, but to believe what St. Paul tells us solemnly, +"That if any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet +as he ought to know"--to believe that the Great God, and the will of +God, and the love of God, and the mystery of Redemption, and the +treasures of wisdom which are in His Bible, are, as St. Paul told +you, boundless, like a living well, which can never be fathomed, or +drawn dry, but fills again with fresh water as fast as you draw from +it. That is walking humbly with God; and those who do not do so, but +like the Pharisees of old, believe that they have all knowledge, and +can understand all the mysteries of the Bible, and go through the +world, despising and cursing all parties but their own--let them +beware, lest the Lord be saying of them, as He said of the church of +Sardis, of old: "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, +and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and +miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." + +How is this? What is this strange thing, without which even the true +knowledge of doctrine is of no use; which, if a man, or a nation has +not, he is poor, and blind, and wretched, and naked in soul, in spite +of all his religion? Isaiah will tell us--What did he say to the +Jews in his day? + +"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from +before my eyes. Do justice to the fatherless, and relieve the +widow!" "Do that," says the Lord, "and then your repentance will be +sincere. Church building and church going are well--but they are not +repentance--churches are not souls. I ask you for your hearts, and +you give me fine stones and fine words. I want souls--I want YOUR +souls--I want you to turn to me. And what am I? saith the Lord. I +am justice, I am love, I am the God of the oppressed, the fatherless, +the widow.--That is my character. Turn to justice, turn to love, +turn to mercy; long to be made just, and loving, and merciful; see +that your sin has been just this, and nothing else, that you have +been unjust, unloving, unmerciful. Repent for your neglect and +cruelty, and repent in dust and ashes, when you see what wretched +hypocrites you really are. And then, my boundless mercy and pardon +shall be open to you. As you wish to be to me, so will I be to you; +if you wish to become merciful, you shall taste my mercy; if you wish +to become loving to others, you shall find that I love you; if you +wish to become just, you shall find that I am just, just to deal by +you as you deal by others; faithful and just to forgive you your +sins, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then, all +shall be forgiven and forgotten; "though your sins be as scarlet, +they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they +shall be as wool." + +Surely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; for this +is the sin which most destroys all men and nations--high religious +profession with an ungodly, covetous, and selfish life. It is the +worst and most dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which +eats out the heart and life without giving pain; so that the sick man +never suspects that anything is the matter with him, till he finds +himself, to his astonishment, at the point of death. So it was with +the Jews, three times in their history. In the time of Isaiah, under +King Hezekiah; in the time of Jeremiah, under King Josiah; and last +and worst of all, in the time of Jesus Christ. At each of these +three times the Jews were high religious professors, and yet at each +of these three times they were abominable before God, and on the +brink of ruin. In Isaiah's time their eyes seemed to have been +opened at last to their own sins. Their fearful danger, and +wonderful deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard last +Sunday, seem to have done that for them; as God intended it should. +During the latter part of Hezekiah's reign they seemed to have turned +to God with their hearts, and not with their lips only; and Isaiah +can find no words to express the delight which the blessed change +gives him. Nevertheless, they soon fell back again into idolatry; +and then there was another outward lip-reformation under the good +King Josiah; and Jeremiah had to give them exactly the same warning +which Isaiah had given them nearly a hundred years before. But that +time, alas! they would not take the warning; and then all the evil +which had been prophesied against them came on them. From +hypocritical profession, they fell back again into their old +idolatry; their covetousness, selfishness, party-quarrels, and +profligate lives made them too weak and rotten to stand against +Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when he attacked them; and Jerusalem +was miserably destroyed, the temple burnt, and the Jews carried +captives to Babylon. There they repented in bitter sorrow and +slavery; and God allowed them after seventy years to return to their +own land. Then at first they seemed to be a really converted people, +and to be worshipping God in spirit and in truth. They never again +fell back into the idolatry of the heathen. So far from it, they +became the greatest possible haters of it; they went on keeping the +law of God with the utmost possible strictness, even to the day when +the Lord Jesus appeared among them. Their religious people, the +Scribes and Pharisees, were the most strict, moral, devout people of +the whole world. They worshipped the very words and letters of the +Bible; their thoughts seemed filled with nothing but God and the +service of God: and yet the Lord Jesus told them that they were in a +worse state, greater sinners in the sight of God, than they had ever +been; that they, who hated idolatry, were filling up the measure of +their idolatrous forefathers' iniquity; that the guilt of all the +righteous blood shed on earth was to fall on them; that they were a +race of serpents, a generation of vipers; and that even He did not +see how they could escape the damnation of hell. And they proved how +true His words were, by crucifying the very Lord of whom their much- +prized Scriptures bore witness, whom they pretended to worship day +and night continually; and received the just reward of their deeds in +forty years of sedition, bloodshed, and misery, which ended by the +Romans coming and sweeping the nation of the Jews from off the face +of the earth. + +So much for profession without practice. So much for true doctrine +with dishonest and unholy lives. So much for outward respectability +with inward sinfulness. So much for hating idolatry, while all the +while men's hearts are far from God! + +Oh! my friends, let us all search our hearts carefully in these times +of high profession and low practice; lest we be adding our drop of +hypocrisy to the great flood of it which now stifles this land of +England, and so fall into the same condemnation as the Jews of old, +in spite of far nobler examples, brighter and wider light, and more +wonderful and bounteous blessings. + + + +XXI--THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT + + + +But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his +coming; and shall begin to beat the men servants and the maid +servants, and to eat and drink and to be drunken; the lord of that +servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an +hour when he is not aware, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint +him his portion with the unbelievers.--LUKE xii. 45, 46. + +But why with the unbelievers? The man had not disbelieved that he +had any Lord at all; he had only believed that his Lord delayed his +coming. And why was he to be put with those who do not believe in +him at all? This is a very fearful question, friends, for us, when +we think how it is the fashion among us now, to believe that our Lord +delays His coming.--And surely most of us do believe that? For is it +not our notion that, when the Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, He +went away a great distance off, perhaps millions of miles beyond the +stars; and that He will not come back again till the last--which, for +aught we know, and as we rather expect, may not happen for hundreds +or thousands of years to come? Is not that most people's notion, +rich as well as poor? And if that is not believing that our Lord +delays His coming, what is? + +But, you may answer, the Creed says plainly, that He ascended into +heaven and sits at the right hand of God. Ah! my friends, those +great words of the Creed which you take into your lips every Sunday, +mean the very opposite to what most people fancy. They do not say, +"The Lord Jesus has left this poor earth to itself and its misery:" +but they say, "Lo, He is with you, even to the end of the world." +True, He is ascended into heaven. And how far off is heaven?--for so +far off is the Lord Jesus, and no farther. Not so far off, my +friends, after all, if you knew where to find it. Truly said the +great and good poet, now gone home to his reward: + + +Heaven lies about us in our infancy. + + +And if we lose sight of it as we grow up to be men and women, it is +not because heaven goes farther off, but because we grow less +heavenly. Even now, so close is heaven to us, that any one of us +might enter into heaven this moment, without stirring from his seat. +One real cry from the depths of your heart--"Father, forgive thy +sinful child!"--one real feeling of your own worthlessness, and +weakness, and emptiness, and of God's righteousness, and love, and +mercy, ready for you--and you are in heaven there and then, as near +the feet of the blessed Lord Jesus, as Mary Magdalen was, when she +tried to clasp them in the garden. I am serious, my friends; I am +not given to talk fine figures of poetry; I am talking sober, +straightforward, literal truth. And the Lord sits at God's right +hand too? you believe that? Then how far off is God?--for as far off +as God is, so far off is the Lord Jesus, and no farther. What says +St. Paul? That "God is not far off from any one of us--for in Him we +live, and move, and have our being" . . . IN Him . . . . How far off +is that? And is not God everywhere, if indeed we can say that He is +any where? Then the Lord Jesus, who is at God's right hand, is +everywhere also--here, now, with us this day. One would have thought +that there was no need to prove that by argument, considering that +His own blessed lips told us: "Lo, I am with you, even to the end of +the world;" and again: "Wheresoever two or three are gathered +together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And this is +the Lord whom people fancy is gone away far above the stars, till the +end of time! Oh, my friends, rather bow your heads before Him here +this moment. For here He is among us now, listening to every thought +of our poor sinful hearts. . . . He is where God is--God IN whom we +live, and move, and have our being--and that is everywhere. Do you +wish Him to be any nearer, my friends? Or do you--do you--take care +what your hearts answer, for He is watching them--do you in the depth +of your hearts wish that He were a little farther off? Does the +notion of His being here on this earth, watching and interfering (as +we call it nowadays in our atheism) with us and everything, seem +unpleasant and burdensome? Is it more comfortable to you to think +that He is away far up beyond the stars? Do you feel the lighter and +freer for fancying that He will not visit the earth for many a year +to come? In short, is it in your HEARTS that you are saying, The +Lord delays His coming? + +That is a very important question. For mind, a pious man might be, +as many a pious man has been in these days, deceived by bad teaching +into the notion that Jesus Christ was gone far away. But if he were +a truly pious man, if he truly loved the Lord, that would be a +painful thought--as I should have fancied, an unbearable thought--to +him, when he looked out upon this poor miserable, confused world. He +would be crying night and day: "Oh, that thou wouldest rend the +heavens and come down!" He would be in an agony of pity for this +poor deserted earth, and of longing for the Saviour of it to come +back and save it. He would never have a moment's peace of mind till +he had either seen the Lord come back again in His glory, or till he +had found out--what I am sure the blessed Lord would teach him as a +reward for his love--that it was all a dream and a nightmare, and +that the Lord of the earth was in the earth, and close to him, all +along; only that his weak eyes were held so that he did not know the +Lord and the Lord's works when he saw them. + +But that was not the temper of this servant in the Lord's parable. I +am afraid it is by no means the temper of many of us nowadays. The +servant said IN HIS HEART, that his master would be long away. It +was his heart put the thought into his head. He took to the notion +HEARTILY, as we say, because he was glad to believe it was true; glad +to think that his master would not come to "interfere" with him; and +that in the meantime he might be lord and master himself, and treat +everyone in the house as if he himself was the owner of it, and +tyrannise over his fellow-servants, and enjoy himself in luxury and +good living. So says David of the fool: "The fool hath said in his +heart, there is no God;" his heart puts that thought into his head. +He wishes to believe that there is no God; and when there is a will +there is a way; and he soon finds out reasons and arguments enough to +prove what he is so very anxious to prove. + +Now, my friends, I am afraid that there is not so much difference as +people fancy, between the fool who says in his heart, "There is no +God," and the fool who says in his heart, "My master delays His +coming."--"God has left the world to us, and we must shift for +ourselves in it." The man who likes to be what St. Paul calls +"without God in the world," is he so very much wiser than the man who +likes to have no God at all? St. James did not think so; for what +does he say: "Thou believest that there is one God? Thou doest +well--the devils also believe and tremble." They know as much as +that; but it does them no good--only increases their fear. "But wilt +thou know, oh! vain man, that faith without works," believing without +doing, "is dead?" And are not too many, as I said just now, afraid +of the thought of God; so afraid of it that they wish to allow the +Son of God as little share as possible in the management of this +world? Have not too many a belief without works; a mere belief that +there is one God and not two, which hardly, from one year's end to +another, makes them do one single thing which they would not have +done if they had believed that there was no God at all? Fear of the +law, fear of the policeman, fear of losing their work or their +custom; fear of losing their neighbour's good word--that is what +keeps most people from breaking loose. There is not much of the fear +of God in that, or the love of God either as far as I can see. They +go through life as if they had made a covenant with God, that He +should have his own way in the world to come, if He would only let +them have their way in this world. Oh! my friends, my friends, do +you think God is God of the next world and not of this also? Do you +think the kingdom, and the power, and the glory will be His a great +many hundreds of years hence, in what you call heaven; and will not +see what every page of Scripture tells you, what you yourself say +every time you repeat the Lord's Prayer, that the Kingdom, and the +Power and the Glory are His now, here in this life, and that He has +committed all things to His Son Jesus Christ and given the power into +His hand, that He may rule this earth in righteousness now, here, in +this life, and conquer back for God one by one, if it be possible, +every creature upon earth? So says the Bible--and people profess +nowadays to believe their Bibles. My friends, too many, nowadays, +while they profess very loudly to believe what the Bible says, only +believe what their favourite teachers tell them that the Bible says. +If they really read their Bibles for themselves, and took God at His +word, there would be less tyrannising of one man over another, less +grinding down of men by masters, and of men by each other--for the +poor are often very hard on each other in England, now, my friends-- +very envious and spiteful, and slanderous about each other. They say +that dog won't eat dog--yet how many a poor man grudges and supplants +his neighbour, and tries to get into his place and beat him down in +his wages? And there are those who call themselves learned men, who +tell the poor that that is God's will, and the way by which God +intends them to prosper. If those men believed their Bibles, they +would be repenting in sackcloth and ashes for having preached such a +devil's sermon to God's children. If men really read their Bibles, +there would be less eating and drinking with the drunken; less +idleness and luxury among the rich; less fancying that a man has a +right to do what he likes with his own, because all men would know +that they were only the Lord's stewards, bound to give an account to +him of the good which they had done with what he has lent them. +There would be fewer parents fancying that they can tyrannise over +their children, bringing them up as heathens for the sake of the few +pence they earn; using bad language, and doing shameful things before +them, which they dared not do if they recollected that the Lord was +looking on; beating and scolding them as if they were brutes or +slaves, to save themselves the trouble of teaching them gently what +the poor little creatures cannot know without being taught: and most +shameful of all, robbing the poor children of their little earnings +to spend it themselves in drunkenness. Ah, blessed Lord! if people +did but know how near Thou wert to them, all that would vanish out of +England, as the night clouds vanish away before the sun! + +And He is near, my friends: He is watching; He is governing; He is +at hand: and in this life or in the life to come, forget Him as we +choose, He will make us know plain enough, and without any doubt +whatsoever, that He is the Lord. + +He has fulfilled this awful parable of his about the unfaithful +servant already; many a time, against many a man, many a great king, +and prince, and nation; and he will fulfil it against each and every +man, from the nobleman in his castle to the labourer in his cottage, +who says in his heart, "My Lord delays his coming," and begins to +tyrannise over those who are weaker than himself, and to enjoy +himself as he likes, and forget that he is not his own, but bought +with the price of Christ's blood, and bound to work for Christ's +kingdom and glory. + +So he punished the popes of Rome, three hundred years ago. When all +the nations in Europe were listening to them and obeying them, and +they had put into their hands by God a greater power of doing good +than He ever gave to any human being before or since, what did they +do? Instead of using their power for Christ, they used it for +themselves. Instead of preaching to all nations the good news that +Christ the Son of God was their King, they said: "I, the pope, am +your king. Christ is gone far away into heaven, and has committed +all power on earth to us; we are Christ's vicars; we are in Christ's +place; He has entrusted to our keeping all the treasures of His +merits and His grace, and no one can get any blessing from Christ, +unless we choose to give it him." So they said in their hearts just +what the foolish servant in the parable said: and fancying that they +were lords and masters, naturally enough went on to behave as such; +to beat the men-servants and maid-servants, that is, to oppress and +tyrannise over the bodies and minds and consciences of men, and women +too, God knows; and to eat and drink with the drunken, to live in +riot and debauchery. But the Lord was not so far off as those +foolish popes fancied. And in an hour when they were not aware, He +came and cut them asunder. He snatched from them one-half of the +nations of Europe, and England among the rest; He punished them by +doubt, ignorance, confusion, and utter blindness, and appointed them +their portion among the unbelievers in such terrible earnest, that to +this very day, to judge by the things which they say and do, it is +difficult to persuade ourselves that the popes really believe in any +God at all. + +So He did, only three years ago, to many kings and princes on the +Continent. {217} They professed to be Christians; but they had +forgotten that they were Christ's stewards, that all their power came +from Him, and that he had given it them only to use for the good of +their subjects. And they too went on saying: "The Lord delays His +coming, we are rulers in this world, and God is ruler in the world to +come." So they, too, oppressed their subjects, and lived in ease on +what they wrung out of the poor wretches below them. But the Lord +was nearer them, too, than they fancied; and all at once--as they +were fancying themselves all safe and prosperous, and saying, "We are +those who ought to speak, who is Lord over us?"--their fool's +paradise crumbled from under their feet. A few paltry mobs of +foolish starving people, without weapons, without leaders, without +good counsel to guide them, rose against them. And what did they do? +They might have crushed down the rebels most of them, in a week, if +they had had courage. And in the only country where the rebels were +really strong, that is, in Austria, all might have been quiet again +at once, if the king had only had the heart to do common justice, and +keep his own solemn oaths. But no--the terror of the Lord came upon +them. He most truly cut them in sunder. They were every man of a +different mind, and none of them in the same mind a day together; +they became utterly conscience-stricken, terrified, perplexed, at +their wit's end, not having courage or determination to do anything, +or even to do nothing, and fled shamefully away one after another, to +their everlasting disgrace. And those of them who have got back +their power since are showing sadly enough, by their obstinate folly +and wickedness, that the Lord has appointed them their portion with +the unbelievers, and left them to fill up the measure of their +iniquity, and drink deep the cup of wrath which is in His hand, full +and mixed for those who forget God. + +Oh! my friends, let us lay these things solemnly to heart. Do not +fancy that the Lord will punish the wicked great, and forget the +wicked small. In His sight there is neither great nor small; all are +small enough for Him to crush like the moth; and all are too great to +be overlooked, or forgotten by Him, without whom not a sparrow falls +to the ground. Again I say, my friends, let us lay His parable to +heart. Let us who have property, and station, and education, never +forget who has given it us, and for whom we must use it. Let us +never forget that to whom much is given, of them will much be +required. Let us pray to the Lord daily to write upon our inmost +hearts those solemn words: "Who made thee to differ from another; +and what hast thou which thou didst not receive?" Let us look on our +servants, our labourers, on every human being over whom we have any +influence, as weaker brothers whom God has commanded us to help, +teach, and guide in body, mind, and spirit, not that we may make them +our slaves, but make them free, manful, self-helping, and in due time +independent of us and of everyone except God. + +And you young people, who have no authority over anyone, but over +your own bodies; to whom the Lord has given little or nothing to +manage and take care of except your own health and strength--do not +let the devil tempt you to believe that that health and strength is +your own property, to do what you like with. It belongs to the Lord +who died for you, and He will require an account from you how you +have used it. Do not let the devil tempt you to believe that the +Lord delays His coming to you--that you may do what you like now, in +the prime of your years, and that it will be time enough to think +about God and religion when God visits you with cares, and sickness, +and old age. That is the fancy of too many; but it will surely turn +out to be a mistake. Those who misuse their youth, and health, and +strength, in tyrannising over those who are weaker than themselves, +and laughing at those who are not as clever as themselves, and eating +and drinking with the drunken--the Lord will come to them in an hour +when they are not aware, and cut them asunder, in some way or other, +by loss of work, or poverty, or sickness, or doubt and confusion, and +bitter shame and perplexity of mind; till they find out, poor things, +that they have been living like the unbelievers all their youth, +without God in the world, while God's love and God's teaching, and +God's happiness was ready for them; and have to go back again to +their Father and their Lord, and cry: "Father, we have sinned +against heaven and before Thee, and are no more worthy to be called +Thy children!" Oh, you who have been fancying that the Lord was gone +far away, and that you had a right to do what you liked with the +powers which He has given you, go back to Him, now at once, and +confess that you, and all belonging to you, belong to Him, and ask +Him to teach you how to use it aright. Ask Him to teach you how to +please Him with it, and not yourselves only. Ask Him to teach you +how to do good to all around you, and not merely to do what you like. +Ask Him to show you how to do your duty to Him, and to your +neighbours, for whom He died on the cross, in that station of life to +which He has called you. Ask Him to show you how to use your +property, your knowledge, your business, your strength, your health, +so that you may be a blessing and a help to those whom He blesses and +helps, and who, He wishes, should bless and help each other. Go back +to Him at once, my friends. You will not have far to go, seeing that +He is now even among us here hearing my clumsy words; and I do hope, +and trust, and pray, bringing them home to some of your hearts with +that spirit and power of His, which is like a two-edged sword, +piercing to the very depths of a man's heart, and showing him how +ugly it is--and how noble the Lord will make it, if he will but +repent and pray to Him who never cast out any that came to Him. + + + +XXII--THE WAY TO WEALTH + + + +Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is +near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy +upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.--ISAIAH lv. +6, 7. + +Some of you, surely, while the first lesson was being read this +morning, must have felt the beauty of it; and if you were thoughtful, +perplexed, weary, sad at heart, perhaps you felt that it was more +than beautiful--that it was full of comfort. And so it should be +full of comfort to you, my friends. God meant it to give you +comfort. For though it was written and spoken by a man of like +passions with ourselves, it was just as truly written and spoken by +God, who made heaven and earth. It is true and everlasting, the +message which it brings, and like all true and everlasting words, it +is the voice of God who cannot change; who makes no difference +between Jew and Gentile, between us in England here, and nations +which perished hundreds of years ago. + +And what is its message? What was God's word to the old Jews, among +all their sin, and sorrow, and labour? + +Is it the message of a stern judge, saying: "Pay me that thou owest, +to the uttermost farthing; and if you cannot do that, fret and +torment yourselves in shame and terror here on earth, for all your +sins, if, possibly, you may chance to change my mind, and find +forgiveness at the last day?" + +Is it the message of a proud tyrant, saying: "If you are miserable, +and fallen, and sinful, what is that to me? I am perfect, blest, +contented with myself, alone in my glory, far away beyond the sight +of men, beyond the sun and stars--what are you worms of earth to me?" + +Or is it the voice of a loving Father, calling to his self-willed +children who have gone proudly and boldly away from their Father's +house, and thrown off their Father's government, and said in their +conceit: "We are men. Do not we know good and evil? Do we not know +what is our interest? Cannot we judge for ourselves, and shift for +ourselves, and take care of ourselves? Why are we to be barred from +pleasant things here, and profitable things there? We will be our +own masters." + +To self-willed children who have said thus, and done thus in their +foolish hearts, and have found all their conceit, and shrewdness, +only lead them into sorrow, and perplexity, and distress.--Who have +found that with all their cleverness they could not get the very good +things for which they left their Father's house; or if they get them, +find no enjoyment in them, but only discontent, and shame, and +danger, and a sad self-accusing heart--spending their money for that +which does not feed them after all, and labouring hard for things +which do not satisfy them; always longing for something more--always +finding the pleasure, or the profit, or the honour which a little way +off looked so fine, looked quite ugly and worthless, when they come +up to it and get hold of it--finding all things full of labour; the +eye never satisfied with seeing, or the ear with hearing; the same +thing coming over and over again. Each young man starting with gay +hopes, as if he were the first man that ever was born, and he was +going to do out of hand such fine things as man never did before, and +make his own fortune, and set the world to right at once; and then as +he grows older, falling into the same weary ruts as his forefathers +went dragging on it, every fresh year bringing its own labour and its +own sorrow; and dying like them, taking nothing away with him of all +he has earned, and crying with his last breath: "That which is +crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be +numbered. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh +under the sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?" + +To self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever since they +were born, they and their fathers before them, and found it go round +in a ring and leave them just where they started in heart and soul, +and, on their death-beds, in purse and power also-- + +To such struggling, dissatisfied beings--such as nine-tenths of the +men and women on this earth, alas! are still--comes the word of this +loving Father: + +"Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! and he that +hath no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk +without money, and without price." Why do you fancy that money can +give you all you want? Why this labouring and straining after money, +as if it was God, as if it made heaven and earth, and all therein? +Is money a God? or money's worth? "I am God," saith the Lord, "and +beside me there is none else. It is I who give, and not money. It +is I who save men, and not money. And I do save, and I do give +freely to all. Come, and try my mercy, and see if my word be not +true." + +This struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone--what profit +comes of it? are you happier? are you wiser? are you better? are you +more at peace with your neighbours; more at peace with your own +hearts and consciences? If you are, money has not made you so, nor +plotting, and scraping, and struggling, and pushing your neighbour +down, that you may rise a few inches on his shoulders. No. Hear +what the voice of your Father says is the true way to wealth and +comfort, after which you all struggle and labour so hard in vain.-- +"Hearken diligently unto me, and you shall eat that which is good, +and your soul shall delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and +come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an +everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies," or rather "the +faithful oath which I sware unto David?" And what is this faithful +oath which God sware to David.--"Of the fruit of thy body, I will set +on thy seat." A promise of a righteous king who should arise in +David's family. How far David understood the full meaning of that +glorious promise we cannot tell. He thought most probably, at first, +that Solomon, his son, was to be the king who would fulfil it. But +all through many of his psalms, there are deep and great words about +some nobler and more perfect king than Solomon--about one who, as +Isaiah says here, would perfectly witness to the people that God was +their King; one who would be a perfect leader and commander of the +people; a holy one of Israel, who would sit on God's right hand; to +hear the good news of whom, the Jews would call nations whom they +then did not know of, and for whose sake nations who did not know +them would run to them. And dimly David did see this, that God would +raise up a true Christ, that is, one truly anointed by God, chosen +and sent out by God, to sit on his throne, and be perfectly what +David was only in part; a King made perfect by suffering, a King of +poor men, a King who bore the sins and carried the iniquities of all +His people, from the highest to the lowest. We know who that was. +We know clearly what David only knew dimly, what Isaiah only knew a +little more clearly. We know who was born of the Virgin Mary, +crucified under Pontius Pilate, ascended into heaven, and now sits at +the right hand of God, ever praying for us, ruling the world in +righteousness, Jesus the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, to whom all +power is given in heaven and earth. + +But Isaiah, though he knew Him only dimly, still knew Him. He did +not know that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, would take on Himself +the form of a poor man, and be called the son of the carpenter. Such +boundless love and condescension in the Son of God he never could +have fancied for himself, and God had not chosen to reveal it to him; +or to anyone else in those days. But this he did see, that the Lord +Jesus, He whom he calls the Holy One of Israel, was near the Jews in +his time; that He was watching over them, mourning over their sins, +arguing with them, and calling them to return to Him with most human +love and tenderness, as a husband to the woman whom he loves in spite +of her unfaithfulness to him. As he says to his sinful and +distressed country in the chapter before this: "Thy Maker is thy +husband: the Lord of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer is the Holy +One of Israel, the Lord of the whole earth shall He be called. For +the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. +For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will +I gather thee. In a little anger I hid my face from thee for a +moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, +saith the Lord thy Redeemer." + +This, then, Isaiah knew--that the heart of the Holy Lord pitied and +yearned after those poor sinful Jews, as a husband's after a foolish +and sinful wife. And how much more should we believe the same, how +much more should we believe that His heart pities and yearns for all +foolish and sinful people here in England now! We who know a +thousand times more than Isaiah knew of His love, His pity, His +condescension, which led Him to sacrifice Himself upon the cross for +us? Surely, surely, if Isaiah had a right to say to those Jews, +"Seek the Lord while He may be found," I have a thousand times as +much right to say it to you. If Isaiah had a right to say to those +Jews, "Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his +thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy +upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon," then I have +a right to say it to you. + +Free mercy, utter pardon, pardon for all, even for the worst. And +what is the argument which Isaiah uses to make his countrymen repent? +Is it "Repent, or you shall be damned: Repent because God's wrath +and curse is against you. The Lord hates you and despises you, and +you must crawl to His feet like beaten hounds, and entreat Him not to +strike you into hell as He intends"? Not so; it was because God +loved the Jews, that they were to repent. It is because God loves +you that you must repent. "Incline your ear," saith the Lord, "and +come unto me, hear, and your soul shall live; and you shall eat that +which is good, and your soul shall delight itself in fatness." Yes, +God is love. God's delight and glory is to give; in spite of all our +sins He gives and gives, sending rain and fruitful seasons to just +and unjust, to fill their hearts with joy and gladness; and all the +while men fancy that it is not God that gives, but they who take. +God has not left Himself, as St. Paul says, without a witness; every +fruitful shower and quickening gleam of sunshine cries to us--See! +God is love: He is the giver. And men will not hear that voice. +They say in their hearts, "The Lord is far away above the skies; He +does not care for us: we must help ourselves, each man to what he +can get off this earth; nay, even, when we are hard put to it for a +living, we must break God's laws to keep ourselves alive, and so +steal from God's table the very good things which He offers us +freely." + +But some will say: "He does not give freely; we must work and +struggle. Why do you mock poor hard-worked creatures with such words +as these?" + +Ask that question of God, my friends, and not of me. Isaiah said +that those who hearkened to God diligently should eat what is good. +The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said the same--that if we seek first +the kingdom of God and His justice, all other things should be added +to them. He did not mean us to be idle, God forbid! but this He +meant, that if we, each in his business and calling, put steadily +before ourselves what is right, what God would wish us, His subjects, +to be in His Kingdom--if instead of making our first thought in every +business we take in hand, "What will suit my interest best, what will +raise most money, what will give me most pleasure?" we said to +ourselves all day long, "What will be most right, and just, and +merciful for us to do; what will be most pleasing to a God who is +love and justice itself? what will do most good to my neighbour as +well as myself?" then all things would go well with us. Then we +should be prosperous and joyful. Then our plans would succeed and +our labour bring forth real profit to us, because they would be +according to the will of God: we should be fellow-workers with Jesus +Christ in the great work of doing good to this poor distracted world, +and His help and blessing would be with us. + +And if you ask me, how can this come to pass, I must answer, as +Isaiah does in this same chapter: "The Lord's ways are not as our +ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, but higher than ours, as the +heavens are above the earth." But if we do turn to God, and repent +each man of us of his selfishness, his unfaithfulness, his hard- +heartedness, his covetousness, his self-will, his ungodliness--then +God's blessing, as Isaiah says, will come down on us, and spring up +among us, we know not how or whence, like the rain and snow, which +comes down from heaven and waters the earth, and makes it bud and +bring forth to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So +shall be the Lord's word, which goes out of His mouth; it will not +return to Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases, and prosper +in that whereto He sends it. He will teach us and guide us in the +right way. He will put His word into the mouths of true teachers to +show us our duty. He will pour out His spirit upon us, to make us +love our duty. In one way and another, we know not how, we shall be +taught what is good for England, good for each parish, good for each +family. And wealth, peace, and prosperity for rich and poor will be +the fruit of obeying the word of God, and giving up our hearts to be +led by His spirit. As it was to be in Judaea, of old, if they +repented, so will it be with us. They should go forth with joy and +do their work in peace. The hills should break before them into +singing, and all the trees of the field should clap their hands; +instead of thorns should come up timber-trees: instead of briers, +garden-shrubs. The whole cultivation of the country was to improve, +and be to the Lord for a name, and a sign for ever that the true way +to wealth and prosperity is the way of God, justice, mercy to each +other, and obedience to the will of Him who made heaven and earth, +trees and fruitful fields, rain and sunshine, and gives the blessings +of them freely to His children of mankind, in proportion as they look +up to Him as a loving Father, and return to him day by day, with +childlike repentance, and full desire to amend their lives according +to His holy word. + + + +XXIII--THE LOVE OF CHRIST + + + +For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that +if one died for all, then were all dead. And that He died for all, +that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but +unto Him which died for them, and rose again.--2 COR. v. 14, 15. + +What is the use of sermons?--what is the use of books? Here are +hundreds and thousands of people hearing weekly and daily what is +right, and how many DO what is right?--much less LOVE what is right? +What can be the reason of this, that men should know the better and +choose the worse? What motive can one find out?--what reason or +argument can one put before people, to make them do their duty? How +can one stir them up to conquer themselves; to conquer their own love +of pleasure, laziness, cowardice, conceit, above all their own +selfishness, and do simply what is right, morning, noon, and night? +That is a question worth asking and considering, for there ought to +be some use in sermons and in books; and there ought to be some use +in every one of us too. Woe to the man who is of no use! The Lord +have mercy on his soul; for he needs it! It is, indeed, worth his +while to take any trouble which will teach him a motive for being +useful; in plain words, stir him up to do his duty, to do his rights; +for a man's rights are not, as the world thinks, what is right others +should do to him, but what is right he should do to others. Our duty +is our right, the only thing which is right for us. What motive will +constrain us, that is, bind us, and force us to do that? + +Will self-interest? Will a man do right because you tell him it is +his interest, it will pay him to do it? Look round you and see.--The +drunkard knows that drinking will ruin him, and yet he gets drunk. +The spendthrift knows that extravagance will ruin him, and yet he +throws away his money still. The idler knows that he is wasting his +only chance for all eternity, and yet he puts the thought out of his +head, and goes on idling. The cheat knows that he is in danger of +being almost certainly found out sooner or later; he knows too that +he is burdening his own conscience with the curse of inward shame and +self-contempt; and yet he goes on cheating. The hard master knows, +or ought to know (for there is quite enough to prove it to him) that +it would pay him better in the long run to be more merciful, and less +covetous; that by grinding those whom he employs down to the last +farthing, he degrades them till they become burdens on him and curses +to him; that what he gains by high prices, he will lose in the long +run by bad debts; that what he saves in low wages, he will pay in +extra poor-rates; and that even if he does make money out of the +flesh and bones of those beneath him, that money ill gotten is sure +to be ill spent, that there is a curse on it, that it brings a curse +in the gnawing of a man's own conscience, and a curse too in the way +it flows away from his family as fast as it flowed to them. "He that +by usury and unjust gain increases his wealth, shall gather for him +that will pity the poor." So said Solomon of old. And men who +worship Mammon find it come true daily, and see that, taking all +things together, a man's life does not consist in the abundance of +the things which he possesses, and that those who make such haste to +be rich, fall, as the apostle says, "into temptation and a snare, and +pierce themselves through with many sorrows." Such a man sees his +neighbours making money, and making themselves more unhappy, anxious, +discontented by it; he sees, in short, that it is not his interest to +do nothing but make money and save money: and yet in spite of that, +he thinks of nothing else. Self-interest cannot keep him from that +sin. I do not believe that self-interest ever kept any man from any +SIN, though it may keep him from many an imprudence. Self-interest +may make many a man respectable, but whom did it ever make good? You +may as well make house-walls of paper, or take a rush for a walking- +stick, as take self-interest to keep you upright, or even prudent. +The first shake--and the rush bends, and the paper wall breaks, and a +man's selfish prudence is blown to the winds. Let pleasure tempt +him, or ambition, or the lust of making money by speculation; let him +take a spite against anyone; let him get into a passion; let his +pride be hurt; and he will do the maddest things, which he knows to +be entirely contrary to his own interest, just to gratify the fancy +of the moment. Those who call themselves philosophers, and fancy +that men's self-interest, if they can only feel it strong enough, +would make all men just and merciful to each other, know as little of +human nature as they do of God or the devil. + +What WILL make a man to do his duty? Will the hope of heaven? That +depends very much upon what you mean by heaven. But what people +commonly mean by going to heaven, is--not going to hell. They +believe that they must go to either one place or the other. They +would much sooner of course stay on earth for ever, because their +treasure is here, and their heart too. But that cannot be, and as +they have no wish to go to hell, they take up with heaven instead, by +way of making the best of a bad matter. + +I ask you solemnly, my friends, each one of you, which would you +sooner do--stay here on earth, or go to heaven? You need not answer +ME. I am afraid many of you would not dare answer me as you really +felt, because you would be ashamed of not liking to go to heaven. +But answer God. Answer yourselves in the sight of God. When you +keep yourselves back from doing a wrong thing, because you know it is +wrong, is it for love of heaven, or for mere fear of being punished +in hell? Some of you will answer boldly at once: "For neither one +nor the other; when we keep from wrong, it is because we hate and +despise what is wrong: when we do right it is because it is right +and we ought to do it. We can't explain it, but there is something +in us which tells us we ought to do right." Very good, my friends, I +shall have a word to say to you presently; but in the meantime there +are some others who have been saying to themselves: "Well, I know we +do right because we are afraid of being punished if we do not do it, +but what of that? at all events we get the right thing done, and +leave the wrong thing undone, and what more do you want? Why torment +us with disagreeable questions as to WHY we do it?" + +Now, my friends, to make the matter simpler, I will take you at your +words, for the sake of argument. Suppose you do avoid sin from the +fear of hell, does that make what you do RIGHT? Does that make YOU +right? Does that make your heart right? It is a great blessing to a +man's neighbours, certainly, if he is kept from doing wrong any how-- +by the fear of hell, or fear of jail, or fear of shame, or fear of +ghosts if you like, or any other cowardly and foolish motive--a great +blessing to a man's neighbours: but no blessing, that I can see, to +the man himself. He is just the same; his heart is not changed; his +heart is no more right in the sight of God, or in the sight of any +man of common sense either, than it would be if he did the wrong +thing, which he loves and dare not do. You feel that yourselves +about other people. You will say "That man has a bad heart, for all +his respectable outside. He would be a rogue if he dared, and +therefore he IS a rogue." Just so, I say, my friends, take care lest +God should say of you, "He would be a sinner if he dared, and +therefore he is a sinner. + +How can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do right? +The right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be loving, and do +loving things; and can fear of hell do that, or hope of heaven +either? Can a man make himself affectionate to his children because +he fancies he shall be punished if he is not so, and rewarded if he +is so? Will the hope of heaven send men out to feed the hungry, to +clothe the naked, visit the sick, preach the gospel to the poor?--The +Papists say it will. I say it will not. I believe that even in +those who do these things from hope of heaven and fear of hell, there +is some holier, nobler, more spiritual motive, than such everlasting +selfishness, such perfect hypocrisy, as to do loving works for +others, for the sake of one's own self-love. + +What feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do good, not +once in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, not only to +himself, but to all around him? I know but of one, my friends, and +that is Love. There are many sides to love--admiration, reverence, +gratitude, pity, affection--they are all different shapes of that one +great spirit of love. Surely all of you have felt its power more or +less; how wonderfully it can conquer a man's whole heart, change his +whole conduct. For love of a woman; for pity to those in distress; +for admiration for anyone who is nobler and wiser than himself; for +gratitude to one who has done him kindness; for loyalty to one to +whom he feels he owes a service--a man will dare to do things, and +suffer things, which no self-interest or fear in the world could have +brought him to. Do you not know it yourselves? Is it not fondness +for your wives and children, that will make you slave and stint +yourselves of pleasure more than any hope of gain could ever do? But +there is no one human being, my friends, whom we can meet among us +now, for whom we can feel all these different sorts of love? Surely +not: and yet there must be One Person somewhere for whom God intends +us to feel them all at once; or else He would not have given all +these powers to us, and made them all different branches of one great +root of love. There must be One Person somewhere, who can call out +the whole love in us--all our gratitude; all our pity; all our +admiration; all our loyalty; all our brotherly affection. AND THERE +IS ONE, my friends. One who has done for us more than ever husband +or father, wife or brother, can do to call out our gratitude. One +who has suffered for us more than the saddest wretch upon this earth +can suffer, to call out our pity. One who is nobler, purer, more +lovely in character than all others who ever trod this earth, to call +out our admiration. One who is wiser, mightier than all rulers and +philosophers, to call out all our reverence. One who is tenderer, +more gentle, more feeling-hearted, than the kindest woman who ever +sat by a sick bed, to call out all our love. Of whom can I be +speaking? Of whom but of Jesus; He who for us stooped out of the +heaven of heavens; for us left His eternal glory in the bosom of the +Father; for us took upon Him the form of a servant, and was born of a +village maiden, and was called the son of a carpenter; for us +wandered this earth for thirty years in sorrow and shame; for us gave +His back to the scourge, and His face to shameful spitting; for us +hung upon the cross and died the death of the felon and the slave. +Oh! my friends, if that story will not call out our love, what will? +If we cannot admire Christ, whom can we admire? If we cannot be +grateful to Christ, to whom can we be grateful? If we cannot pity +Christ, whom can we pity? If we cannot feel bound in honour to live +for Christ, to work for Christ, to delight in talking of Christ, +thinking of Christ, to glory in doing Christ's commandments to the +very smallest point, to feel no sacrifice too great, no trouble too +petty, if we can please Christ by it and help forward Christ's +kingdom upon earth--if we cannot feel bound in honour to do that for +Christ, what honour is there in us? Again, I say, if we cannot love +Christ, whom can we love? If the remembrance of what He has worked +for us will not stir us up to work for Him, what will stir us up? + +I say it again, we are bound by every tie, by every feeling that can +bind man to man, to devote ourselves to Christ, the Man of all men. +I say this is no dream or fancy, it is an actual fact which thousands +and hundreds of thousands on this earth have felt. Nothing but love +to Christ, nothing but loving Him because He first loved us, can +constrain and force a man as with a mighty feeling which he cannot +resist, to labour day and night for Christ's sake, and therefore for +the sake of God the Father of Christ. What else do you suppose it +was which could have stirred up the apostles--above all, that wise, +learned, high-born, prosperous man, St. Paul, to leave house and +home, and wander in daily danger of his life? What does St. Paul say +himself? "The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, +and if one died for all then were all dead, and that He died for all, +that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but +unto Him who died for them." And what else could have kept St. Paul +through all that labour and sorrow of his own choosing, of which he +speaks in the chapter before?--"We are troubled on every side, yet +not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but +not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in +the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus +might be made manifest in our body; for we which live are alway +delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus +might be made manifest in our body." + +We may say that St. Paul was an exceedingly benevolent man, and THAT +made him do it; or that he had found out certain new truths and +opinions which delighted him very much, and therefore he did it. But +St. Paul gives no such account of himself: and we have no right to +take anyone's account but his own. He knew his own heart best. He +does not say that he came to preach a scheme of redemption, or +opinions about Christ. He says he came to preach nothing but Christ +Himself--Christ crucified--to tell people about the Lord he loved, +about the Lord who loved him, certain that when they had heard the +plain story of Him, their hearts, if they were simple, and true, and +loving, would leap up in answer to his words, and find out, as by +instinct, what Christ had done for them, what they were to do for +Christ. Ay, I believe, my friends--indeed I am certain--from my own +reading, that in every age and country, just in proportion as men +have loved Christ personally as a man would love another man, just in +that proportion have they loved their neighbours, worked for their +neighbours, sacrificed their time, their pleasure, their money, to do +good to all, for the sake of Him who commanded: "If ye love ME, keep +my commandments; and my commandment is this, that ye should love one +another as I have loved you." That is the only sure motive. All +other motives for doing good or being good, will fail in one case or +another case, because they do not take possession of a man's whole +heart, but only of some part of his heart. Love--love to Christ, can +alone sweep away a man's whole heart and soul with it, and renew it, +and transfigure it, and make it strong instead of weak, pure instead +of foul, gentle instead of fierce, brave instead of being vain and +cowardly, and fearing what everyone will say of him. Only love for +Christ, who loved all men unto the death, will make us love all men +too: not only one here and there who may agree with us or help us; +but those who hate us, those who misunderstand us, those who thwart +us, ay, even those who disobey and slight not only us, but Jesus +Christ Himself. THAT is the hardest lesson of all to learn; but +thousands have learnt it; everyone ought to learn it. In proportion +as a man loves Christ, he will learn to love those who do not love +Christ. For Christ loves them whether they know it or not; Christ +died for them whether they believe it or not; and we must love them +because our Saviour loves them. + +Oh! my friends, why do so few love Christ? Why do so few live as +those who are not their own, but bought with the price of His +precious blood and bound to devote themselves, body and soul, to His +cause? Why do so many struggle against their sins, while yet they +cannot break off those sins, but go struggling and sinning on, hating +their sins and yet unable to break through their sins, like birds +beating themselves to death against the wires of their cage? Why? +Because they do not know Christ. And how can they know Him, unless +they read their Bibles with simple, childlike hearts, determined to +let the Bible tell its own story: believing that those who walked +with Christ on earth, must know best what He was like? Why? Because +they will not ask Christ to come and show Himself to them, and make +them see Him, and love Him, and admire Him, whether they will or not. +Oh! remember, if Christ be the Son of God, the Lord of heaven and +earth, we cannot go to Him, poor, weak, ignorant creatures as we are. +We cannot ascend up into heaven to bring Christ down. He must come +down out of His own great love and condescension, and dwell in our +hearts as He has promised to do, if we do but love Him. He must come +down and show Himself to us. Oh! read your Bibles--read the story of +Christ, and if that does not stir up in you some love for Him, you +must have hearts of stone, not flesh and blood. And then go to Him; +pray to Him, whether you believe in Him altogether or not, upon the +mere chance of His being able to hear you and help you. You would +not throw away a chance on earth; will you throw away such a chance +in heaven as having the Son of God to help you? Oh, cry to Him; say +out of the depths of your heart: "Thou most blessed and glorious +Being who ever walked this earth, who hast gone blameless through all +sorrow and temptation that man can feel; if Thou dost love anyone, if +Thou canst hear anyone, hear me! If thou canst not help me, no one +can. I have a hundred puzzling questions which I cannot answer for +myself, a hundred temptations which I cannot conquer for myself, a +hundred bad habits which I cannot shake off of myself; and they tell +me that Thou canst teach me, Thou canst guide me, Thou canst +strengthen me, Thou canst take out of my heart this shame and gnawing +of an evil conscience. If Thou be the Son of God, make me clean! If +it be true that Thou lovest all men, show Thy love to me! If it be +true that Thou canst teach all men, teach me! If it be true that +Thou canst help all men, help my unbelief, for if Thou dost not, +there is no help for me in heaven or earth!" You, who are sinful, +distracted, puzzled, broken-hearted, cry to Christ in that way, if +you have no better way, and see if He does not hear you. He is not +one to break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. He will +hear you, for He has heard all who have ever called on Him. Cry to +Him from the bottom of your hearts. Tell Him that you do NOT love +Him, and that yet you LONG to love Him. And see if you do not find +it true that those who come to Christ, He will in no wise cast out. +He may not seem to answer you the first time, or the tenth time, or +for years; for Christ has His own deep, loving, wise ways of teaching +each man, and for each man a different way. But try to learn all you +can of Him. Try to know Him. Pray to know, and understand Him, and +love Him. And sooner or later you will find His words come true, "If +a man love me, I and my Father will come to him, and take up our +abode with him." And then you will feel arise in you a hungering and +a thirsting after righteousness, a spirit of love, and a desire of +doing good, which will carry you up and on, above all that man can +say or do against you--above all the laziness, and wilfulness, and +selfishness, and cowardice which dwells in the heart of everyone. +You will be able to trample it all under foot for the sake of being +good and doing good, in the strength of that one glorious thought, +"Christ lived and died for me, and, so help me God, I will live and +die for Christ." + + + +XXIV--DAVID'S VICTORY + + + +Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: +but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of +Israel, whom thou hast defied.--1 SAMUEL xvii. 45. + +We have been reading to-day the story of David's victory over the +Philistine giant, Goliath. Now I think the whole history of David +may teach us more about the meaning of the Old Testament, and how it +applies to us, than the history of any other single character. David +was the great hero of the Jews; the greatest, in spite of great sins +and follies, that has ever been among them; in every point the king +after God's own heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not disdain +to be called especially the Son of David. David was the author, too, +of those wonderful psalms which are now in the mouths and the hearts +of Christian people all over the world; and will last, as I believe, +till the world's end, giving out fresh depths of meaning and +spiritual experience. + +But to understand David's history, we must go back a little through +the lessons which have been read in church the last few Sundays. We +find in the eighth and in the twelfth chapters of this same book of +Samuel, that the Jews asked Samuel for a king--for a king like the +nations round them. Samuel consulted God, and by God's command chose +Saul to be their king; at the same time warning them that in asking +for a king they had committed a great and fearful sin, for "the Lord +their God was their king." And the Lord said unto Samuel, that in +asking for a king they had rejected God from reigning over them. Now +what was this sin which the Jews committed? for the mere having a +king cannot be wrong in itself; else God would not have anointed Saul +and David kings, and blessed David and Solomon; much less would He +have allowed the greater number of Christian nations to remain +governed by kings unto this day, if a king had been a wrong thing in +itself. I think if we look carefully at the words of the story we +shall see what this great sin of the Jews was. In the first place, +they asked Samuel to give them a king--not God. This was a sin, I +think; but it was only the fruit of a deeper sin--a wrong way of +looking at the whole question of kings and government. And that +deeper sin was this: they were a free people, and they wanted to +become slaves. God had made them a free people; He had brought them +up out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery to Pharaoh. He had given +them a free constitution. He had given them laws to secure safety, +and liberty, and equal justice to rich and poor, for themselves, +their property, their children; to defend them from oppression, and +over-taxation, and all the miseries of misgovernment. And now they +were going to trample under foot God's inestimable gift of liberty. +They wanted a king like the nations round them, they said. They did +not see that it was just their glory NOT to be like the nations round +them in that. We who live in a free country do not see the vast and +inestimable difference between the Jews and the other nations. The +Jews were then, perhaps, so far as I can make out, the only free +people on the face of the earth. The nations round them were like +the nations in the East, now governed by tyrants, without law or +parliament, at the mercy of the will, the fancy, the lust, the +ambition, and the cruelty of their despotic kings. In fact, they +were as the Eastern people now are--slaves governed by tyrants. +Samuel warned the Jews that it would be just the same with them; that +neither their property, their families, nor their liberty would be +safe under the despots for whom they wished. And yet, in spite of +that warning, they would have a king. And why? Because they did not +like the trouble of being free. They did not like the responsibility +and the labour of taking care of themselves, and asking counsel of +God as to how they were to govern themselves. So they were ready to +sell themselves to a tyrant, that he might fight for them, and judge +for them, and take care of them, while they just ate and drank, and +made money, and lived like slaves, careless of what happened to them +or their country, provided they could get food, and clothes, and +money enough. And as long as they got that, if you will remark, they +were utterly careless as to what sort of king they had. They said +not one word to Samuel about how much power their king was to have. +They made not the slightest inquiry as to whether Saul was wise or +foolish, good or bad. They did not ask God's counsel, or trouble +themselves about God; so they proved themselves unworthy of being +free. They turned, like a dog to his vomit, and the sow to her +wallowing in the mire, cowardly back again into slavery; and God gave +them what they asked for. He gave them the sort of king they wanted; +and bitterly they found out their mistake during several hundred +years of continually increasing slavery and misery. + +There is a deep lesson for us, my friends, in all this. And that is, +that God's gifts are not fit for us, unless we are more or less fit +for them. That to him that makes use of what he has, more shall be +given; but from him who does not, will be taken away even what he +has. And so even the inestimable gift of freedom is no use unless +men have free hearts in them. God sets a man free from his sins by +faith in Jesus Christ; but unless that man uses His grace, unless he +desires to be free inwardly as well as outwardly--to be free not only +from the punishment of his sins, but from the sins themselves; unless +he is willing to accept God's offer of freedom, and go boldly to the +throne of grace, and there plead his cause with his heavenly Father +face to face, without looking to any priest, or saint, or other third +person to plead for him; if, in short, a man has not a free spirit in +him, the grace of God will become of no effect in him, and he will +receive the spirit of bondage (of slavery, that is), again to fear. +Perhaps he will fall back more or less into popery and half-popish +superstitions; perhaps, as we see daily round us, he will fall back +again into antinomianism, into the slavery of those very sins from +which God once delivered him. And just the same is it with a nation. +When God has given a nation freedom, then, unless there be a free +heart in the people and true independence, which is dependence on God +and not on man; unless there be a spirit of justice, mercy, truth, +trust of God in them, their freedom will be of no effect; they will +only fall back into slavery, to be oppressed by fresh tyrants. + +So it was with the great Spanish colonies in South America a few +years ago. God gave them freedom from the tyranny of Spain; but what +advantage was it to them? Because there was no righteousness in +them; because they were a cowardly, profligate, false, and cruel +people, therefore they only became the slaves of their own lusts; +they turned God's great grace of freedom into licentiousness, and +have been ever since doing nothing but cutting each other's throats; +every man's hand against his own brother; the slaves of tyrants far +more cruel than those from whom they had escaped. + +Look at the French people, too. Three times in the last sixty years +has God delivered them from evil rulers, and given them a chance of +freedom; and three times have they fallen back into fresh slavery. +And why? Because they will not be righteous; because they will be +proud, boastful, lustful, godless, cruel, making a lie and loving it. +God help them! We are not here to judge them, but to take warning +ourselves. Now there is no use in boasting of our English freedom, +unless we have free and righteous hearts in us; for it is not +constitutions, and parliaments, and charters which make a nation +free; they are only the shell, the outside of freedom. True freedom +is of the heart and spirit, and comes down from above, from the +Spirit of God; for where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty, and +there only. Oh, every one of you! high and low, rich and poor, pray +and struggle to get your own hearts free; free from the sins which +beset us Englishmen in these days; free from pride, prejudice, and +envy; free from selfishness and covetousness; free from unchastity +and drunkenness; free from the conceit that England is safe, while +all the rest of the world is shaking. Be sure that the spirit of +freedom, like every other good and perfect gift, is from above, and +comes down from God, the Father of lights; and that to keep that +spirit with us, we must keep ourselves worthy of it, and not expect +to remain free if we indulge ourselves in mean and slavish sins. + +So the Jews got the king they wanted--a king to look at and be proud +of. Saul was, we read, a head taller than all the rest of the +people, and very handsome to look at. And he was brave enough, too, +in mere fighting, when he was awakened and stirred up to act now and +then; but there was no wisdom in him; no real trust in God in him. +He took God for an idol, like the heathens' false gods, which had to +be pleased and kept in good humour by the smell of burnt sacrifices; +and not for a living, righteous Person, who had to be obeyed. We +read of Saul's misconduct in these respects, in the thirteenth and +fifteenth chapters of the First Book of Samuel. That was only the +beginning of his wickedness. The worst points in his character, as I +shall show in my next sermon, came out afterwards. But still, his +disobedience was enough to make God cast him off, and leave him to go +his own way to ruin. + +But God was not going to cast off His people whom He loved. He deals +not with mankind after their sins, neither rewards them according to +their iniquities; and so he chose out for them a king after His own +heart--a true king of God's making, not a mere sham one of man's +making. You may think it strange why God should have given them a +second king; why, as soon as Saul died, He did not let them return +back to their old freedom. But that is not God's way. He brings +good out of evil in His great mercy. But it is always by strange +winding paths. His ways are not as our ways. First, God gives man +what is perfectly proper for him at that time; sets man in his right +place; and then when man falls from that, God brings him, not back to +the place from which he fell, but on forward into something far +higher and better than what he fell from. He put Adam into Paradise. +Adam fell from it, and God made use of the fall to bring him into a +state far better than Paradise--into the kingdom of God--into +everlasting life--into the likeness of Christ, the new Adam, who is a +quickening, life-giving spirit, while the old Adam was, at best, only +a living soul. + +So with the church of Christian men. After the apostles' time, and +even during the apostles' time, as we read from the Epistle to the +Galatians, they fell away, step by step, from the liberty of the +gospel, till they sunk entirely into popish superstition. And yet +God brought good out of that evil. He made that very popery a means +of bringing them back at the Reformation into clearer light than any +of the first Christians ever had had. He is going on step by step +still, bringing Christians into a clearer knowledge of the gospel +than even the Reformers had. + +And so with the Jews. They fell from their liberty and chose a king. +And yet God made use of those kings of theirs, of David, of Solomon, +of Josiah, and Hezekiah, to teach them more and more about Himself +and His law, and to teach all nations, by their example, what a +nation should be, and how He deals with one. + +But now let us see what this true king, David, was like, whom God +chose, that He might raise, by his means, the Jews higher than they +ever yet had been, even in their days of freedom. Now remark, in the +first place, that David was not the son of any very great man. His +father seems to have been only a yeoman. He was not bred up in +courts. We find that when Samuel was sent to anoint David king, he +was out keeping his father's sheep in the field. And though, no +doubt, he had shown signs of being a very remarkable youth from the +first, yet his father thought so little of him, that he was going to +pass him over, and caused all his seven elder sons to pass before +Samuel for his choice first, though there seems to have been nothing +particular in them, except that some of them were fine men and brave +soldiers. So David seems to have been overlooked, and thought but +little of in his youth--and a very good thing for him. It is a good +thing for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth, that he may be +kept humble and low; that he may learn to trust in God, and not in +his own wit. And even when Samuel anointed David, he anointed him +privately. His brothers did not know what a great honour was in +store for him; for we find, in the lesson which we have just read, +that when David came down to the camp, his elder brother spoke +contemptuously to him, and treated him as a child. "I know thy +pride," he said, "and the naughtiness of thy heart. Thou art come +down to see the battle." While David answers humbly enough: "What +have I done? is there not a cause?" feeling that there was more in +him than his brother gave him credit for; though he dare not tell his +brother, hardly, perhaps, dare believe himself, what great things God +had prepared for him. So it is yet--a prophet has no honour in his +own country. How many a noble-hearted man there is, who is looked +down upon by those round him! How many a one is despised for a +dreamer, or for a Methodist, by shallow worldly people, who in God's +sight is of very great price! But God sees not as man sees. He +makes use of the weak people of this world to confound the strong. +He sends about His errands not many noble, not many mighty; but the +poor man, rich in faith, like David. He puts down the mighty from +their seat, and exalts the humble and meek. He takes the beggar from +the dunghill, that He may set him among the princes of His people. +So He has been doing in all ages. So He will do even now, in some +measure, with everyone like David, let him be as low as he will in +the opinion of this foolish world, who yet puts his trust utterly in +God, and goes about all his work, as David did, in the name of the +Lord of hosts. Oh! if a poor man feels that God has given him wit +and wisdom--feels in him the desire to rise and better himself in +life, let him be sure that the only way to rise is David's plan--to +keep humble and quiet till God shall lift him up, trusting in God's +righteousness and love to raise him, and deliver him, and put him in +that station, be it high or low, in which he will be best able to do +God's work, or serve God's glory. + +And now for the chapter from which the text is taken, which relates +to us David's first great public triumph--his victory over Goliath +the giant. I will not repeat it to you, because everyone here who +has ears to hear or a heart to feel ought to have been struck with +every word in that glorious story. All I will try to do is, to show +you how the working of God's Spirit comes out in David in every +action of his on that glorious day. We saw just now David's +humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of God's Spirit in him, in his +answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look next at David's spirit +of trust in God, which, indeed, is the key to his whole life; that is +the reason why he was the man after God's own heart--not for any +virtues of his own, but for his unshaken continual faith in God. +David saw in an instant why the Israelites were so afraid of the +giant; because they had no faith in God. They forgot that they were +the armies of the living God. David did not: "Who is this +uncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies of the living God?" And +therefore, when Saul tried to dissuade him from attacking the +Philistine, his answer is still the same--full of faith in God. He +knew well enough what a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this +giant, nearly ten feet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which +perhaps no sword or spear which he could use could pierce. It was no +wonder, humanly speaking, that all the Jews fled from him--that his +being there stopped the whole battle. In these days, fifty such men +would make no difference in a battle; bullets and cannon-shot would +mow down them like other men: but in those old times, before +firearms were invented, when all battles were hand-to-hand fights, +and depended so much on each man's strength and courage, that one +champion would often decide the victory for a whole army, the amount +of courage which was required in David is past our understanding; at +least we may say, David would not have had it but for his trust in +God, but for his feeling that he was on God's side, and Goliath on +the devil's side, unjustly invading his country in self-conceit, and +cruelty, and lawlessness. Therefore he tells Saul of his victory +over the lion and the bear. You see again, here, the Spirit of God +showing in his MODESTY. He does not boast or talk of his strength +and courage in killing the lion and the bear; for he knew that that +strength and courage came from God, not from himself; therefore he +says that the Lord DELIVERED HIM from them. He knew that he had been +only doing his duty in facing them when they attacked his father's +sheep, and that it was God's mercy which had protected him in doing +his duty. He felt now, that if no one else would face this brutal +giant, it was HIS duty, poor, simple, weak youth as he was, and +therefore he trusted in God to bring him safe through this danger +also. But look again how the Spirit of God shows in his prudence. +He would not use Saul's armour, good as it might be, because he was +not accustomed to it. He would use his own experience, and fight +with the weapons to which he had been accustomed--a sling and stone. +You see he was none of those presumptuous and fanatical dreamers who +tempt God by fancying that He is to go out of His way to work +miracles for them. He used all the proper and prudent means to kill +the giant, and trusted to God to bless them. If he had been +presumptuous, he might have taken the first stone that came to hand, +or taken only one, or taken none at all, and expected the giant to +fall down dead by a miracle. But no; he CHOOSES FIVE SMOOTH stones +out of the brook. He tried to get the best that he could, and have +more ready if his first shot failed. He showed no distrust of God in +that; for he trusted in God to keep him cool, and steady, and +courageous in the fight, and that, he knew, God alone could do. The +only place, perhaps, where he could strike Goliath to hurt him was on +the face, because every other part of him was covered in metal +armour. And he knew that, in such danger as he was, God's Spirit +only could keep his eye clear and his hand steady for such a +desperate chance as hitting that one place. + +So he went; and as he went his courage rose higher and higher; for +unto him that hath shall more be given; and so he began to boast too-- +but not of himself, like the giant. He boasted of the living God, +who was with him. He ran boldly up to the Philistine, and at the +first throw, struck on the forehead, and felled him dead. + +So it is; many a time the very blessing which we expect to get only +with great difficulty, God gives us at our first trial, to show that +He is the Giver, to cheer up our poor doubting hearts, and show us +that He is able, and willing too, to give exceeding abundantly more +than we can ask or think. + +So David triumphed: and yet that triumph was only the beginning of +his troubles. Sad and weary years had he to struggle on before he +gained the kingdom which God had promised him. So it is often with +God's elect. He gives them blessings at first, to show them that He +is really with them; and then He lets them be evil-entreated by +tyrants, and suffer persecution, and wander out of the way in the +wilderness, that they may be made perfect by suffering, and purified, +as gold is in the refiner's fire, from all selfishness, conceit, +ambition, cowardliness, till they learn to trust God utterly, to know +their own weakness, and His strength, and to work only for Him, +careless what becomes of their own poor worthless selves, provided +they can help His kingdom to come, and get His will to be done on +earth as it is in heaven. + +And now, my friends, surely there is a lesson in all this for you. +Do you wish to rise like David? Of course not one in ten thousand +can rise as high, but we may all rise somewhat, if not in rank, yet +still, what is far better, in spirit, in wisdom, in usefulness, in +manfulness. Do you wish to rise so? then follow David's example. Be +truly brave, be truly modest, and in order to be truly brave and +truly modest, that is, be truly manly, be truly godly. Trust in God; +trust in God; that is the key to all greatness. Courage, modesty, +truth, honesty, and gentleness; all things, which are noble, lovely, +and of good report; all things, in short, which will make you men +after God's own heart, are all only the different fruits of that one +blessed life-giving root--FAITH IN GOD. + + + +XXV--DAVID'S EDUCATION + + + +Made perfect through sufferings.--HEBREWS ii. 10. + +That is my text; and a very fit one for another sermon about David, +the king after God's own heart. And a very fit one too, for any +sermon preached to people living in this world now or at any time. +"A melancholy text," you will say. But what if it be melancholy? +That is not the fault of me, the preacher. The preacher did not make +suffering, did not make disappointment, doubt, ignorance, mistakes, +oppression, poverty, sickness. There they are, whether we like it or +not. You have only to go on to the common here, or any other common +or town in England, to see too much of them--enough to break one's +heart if--, but I will not hurry on too fast in what I have to say. +What I want to make you recollect is, that misery is here round us, +IN us. A great deal which we bring on ourselves; and a great deal +more misery which we do not, as far as we can see, bring on +ourselves; but which comes, nevertheless, and lets us know plainly +enough that it is close to us. Every man and woman of us have their +sorrows. There is no use shutting our eyes just when we ourselves +happen to feel tolerably easy, and saying, as too many do, "I don't +see so very much sorrow; I am happy enough!" Are you, friend, happy +enough? So much the worse for you, perhaps. But at all events your +neighbours are not happy enough; most of them are only too miserable. +It is a sad world. A sad world, and full of tears. It is. And you +must not be angry with the preacher for reminding you of what is. + +True; you would have a right to quarrel with the preacher or anyone +else who made you sorrowful with the thoughts of the sorrow round +you, and then gave you no explanation of it--told you of no use, no +blessing in it, no deliverance from it. That would be enough to +break any man's heart, if all the preacher could say was: "This +wretchedness, and sickness, and death, must go on as long as the +world lasts, and yet it does no good, for God or man." That thought +would drive any feeling man to despair, tempt him to lie down and +die, tempt him to fancy that God was not God at all, not the God +whose name is Love, not the God who is our Father, but only a cruel +taskmaster, and Lord of a miserable hell on earth, where men and +women, and worst of all, little children, were tortured daily by tens +of thousands without reason, or use, or hope of deliverance, except +in a future world, where not one in ten of them will be saved and +happy. That is many people's notion of the world--religious people's +even. How they can believe, in the face of such notions, "that God +is love;" how they can help going mad with pity, if that is all the +hope they have for poor human beings, is more than I can tell. Not +that I judge them--to their own master they stand or fall: but this +I do say, that if the preacher has no better hope to give you about +this poor earth, then I cannot tell what right he has to call himself +a preacher of the gospel--that is, a preacher of good news; then I do +not know what Jesus Christ's dying to take away the sins of the world +means; then I do not know what the kingdom of God means; then I do +not know why the Lord taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will +be done on earth, as it is in heaven," if the only way in which that +can be brought about is by His sending ninety-nine hundredths of +mankind to endless torture, over and above all the lesser misery +which they have suffered in this life. What will be the end of the +greater part of mankind we do not know; we were not intended to know. +God is love, and God is justice, and His justice is utterly loving, +as well as His love utterly just; so we may very safely leave the +world in the hands of Him who made the world, and be sure that the +Judge of all the earth will do right, and that what is right is +certain never to be cruel, but rather merciful. But to every one of +you who are here now, a preacher has a right, ay, and a bounden duty, +to say much more than that. He is bound to tell you good news, +because God has called you into His church, and sent you here this +day, to hear good news. He has a right to tell you, as I tell you +now, that, strange as it may seem, whatsoever sufferings you endure +are sent to make you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is +perfect; even as the blessed Lord, whom may you all love, and trust, +and worship, for ever and ever, was made perfect by sufferings, even +though He was the sinless Son of God. Consider that. "It behoved +Him," says St. Paul, "the Captain of our salvation, to be made +perfect through sufferings." And why? "Because," answers St. Paul, +"it was proper for Him to be made in all things like His brothers"-- +like us, the children of God--"that He might be a faithful and +merciful high priest;" for, just "because He has suffered being +tempted, He is able to succour us who are tempted." A strange text, +but one which, I think, this very history of David's troubles will +help us to understand. For it was by suffering, long and bitter, +that God trained up David to be a true king, a king over the Jews, +"after God's own heart." + +You all know, I hope, something at least of David's psalms. Many of +them, seven of them at least, were written during David's wanderings +in the mountains, when Saul was persecuting him to kill him, day +after day, month after month, as you may read in the First Book of +Samuel, from chapters xix. to xxviii. Bitter enough these troubles +of David would have been to any man, but what must have made them +especially bitter and confusing to him was, that they all arose out +of his righteousness. Because he had conquered the giant, Saul +envied him--broke his promise of giving David his daughter Merab--put +his life into extreme danger from the Philistines, before he would +give him his second daughter Michal; the more he saw that the Lord +was with David, and that the young man won respect and admiration by +behaving himself wisely, the more afraid of him Saul was; again and +again he tried to kill him; as David was sitting harmless in Saul's +house, soothing the poor madman by the music of his harp, Saul tries +to stab him unawares; and not content with that proceeds deliberately +to hunt him down, from town to town, and wilderness to wilderness; +sends soldiers after him to murder him; at last goes out after him +himself with his guards. Was not all this enough to try David's +faith? Hardly any man, I suppose, since the world was made, had +found righteousness pay him less; no man was ever more tempted to +turn round and do evil, since doing good only brought him deeper and +deeper into the mire. But no, we know that he did not lose his trust +in God; for we have seven psalms, at least, which he wrote during +these very wanderings of his; the fifty-second, when Doeg had +betrayed him to Saul; the fifty-fourth, when Ziphim betrayed him; the +fifty-sixth, when the Philistines took him in Gath; the fifty- +seventh, "when he fled from Saul in the cave;" the fifty-ninth, "when +they watched the house to kill him;" the sixty-third, "when he was in +the wilderness of Judah;" the thirty-fourth, "when he was driven away +by Abimelech;" and several more which appear to have been written +about the same time. + +Now, what strikes us first, or ought to strike us, in these psalms, +is David's utter faith in God. I do not mean to say that David had +not his sad days, when he gave himself up for lost, and when God +seemed to have forsaken him, and forgotten his promise. He was a man +of like passions with ourselves; and therefore he was, as we should +have been, terrified and faint-hearted at times. But exactly what +God was teaching and training him to be, was not to be fainthearted-- +not to be terrified. He began in his youth by trusting God. That +made him the man after God's own heart, just as it was the want of +trust in God which made Saul not the man after God's own heart, and +lost him his kingdom. In all those wanderings and dangers of David's +in the wilderness, God was training, and educating, and strengthening +David's faith according to His great law: To whomsoever hath shall +be given, and he shall have more abundantly; but from him that hath +not, shall be taken away even that which he seems to have. And the +first great fruit of David's firm trust in God was his patience. + +He learned to wait God's time, and take God's way, and be sure that +the same God who had promised that he should be king, would make him +king when he saw fit. He knew, as he says himself, that the Strength +of Israel could not lie or repent. He had sworn that He would not +fail David. And he learned that God had sworn by His holiness. He +was a holy, just, righteous God; and David and David's country now +were safe in His hands. It was his firm trust in God which gave him +strength of mind to use no unfair means to right himself. Twice +Saul, his enemy, was in his power. What a temptation to him to kill +Saul, rid himself of his tormentor, and perhaps get the kingdom at +once! But no. He felt: "This Saul is a wicked, devil-tormented +murderer, a cruel tyrant and oppressor; but the same God who chose me +to be king next, chose him to be king now. He is the Lord's +anointed. God put him where he is, and leaves him there for some +good purpose; and when God has done with him, God will take him away, +and free this poor oppressed people; and in the meantime, I, as a +private man, have no right to touch him. I must not do evil that +good may come. If I am to be a true king, a true man at all +hereafter, I must keep true now; if I am to be a righteous lawgiver +hereafter, I must respect and obey law myself now. The Lord be judge +between me and Saul; for He is Judge, and He will right me better +than I can ever right myself." And thus did trust in God bring out +in David that true respect for law, without which a king, let him be +as kind-hearted as he will, is but too likely to become at last a +tyrant and an oppressor. + +But another thing which strikes any thinking man in David's psalms, +is his strong feeling for the poor, and the afflicted, and the +oppressed. That is what makes the Psalms, above all, the poor man's +book, the afflicted man's book. But how did he get that fellow- +feeling for the fallen? By having fallen himself, and tasted +affliction and oppression. That was how he was educated to be a true +king. That was how he became a picture and pattern--a "type," as +some call it, of Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows. That is why so +many of David's psalms apply so well to the Lord; why the Lord +fulfilled those psalms when He was on earth. David was truly a man +of sorrows; for he had not only the burden of his own sorrows to +bear, but that of many others. His parents had to escape, and to be +placed in safety at the court of a heathen prince. His friend +Abimelech the priest, because he gave David bread when he was +starving, and Goliath's sword--which, after all, was David's own--was +murdered by Saul's hired ruffians, at Saul's command, and with him +his whole family, and all the priests of the town, with their wives +and children, even to the baby at the breast. And when David was in +the mountains, everyone who was distressed, and in debt, and +discontented, gathered themselves to him, and he became their +captain; so that he had on him all the responsibility, care, and +anxiety of managing all those wild, starving men, many of them, +perhaps, reckless and wicked men, ready every day to quarrel among +themselves, or to break out in open riot and robbery against the +people who had oppressed them; for--(and this, too, we may see from +David's psalms, was not the smallest part of his anxiety)--the nation +of the Jews seems to have been in a very wretched state in David's +time. The poor seem in general to have lost their land, and to have +become all but slaves to rich nobles, who were grinding them down, +not only by luxury and covetousness, but often by open robbery and +bloodshed. The sight of the misrule and misery, as well as of the +bloody and ruinous border inroads which were kept up by the +Philistines and other neighbouring tribes, seems for years to have +been the uppermost, as well as the deepest thought in David's mind, +if we may judge from those psalms of his, of which this is the key- +note; and it was not likely to make him care and feel less about all +that misery when he remembered (as we see from his psalms he +remembered daily) that God had set him, the wandering outlaw, no less +a task than to mend it all; to put down all that oppression, to raise +up that degradation, to train all that cowardice into self-respect +and valour, to knit into one united nation, bound together by fellow- +feeling and common faith in God, that mob of fierce, and greedy, and +(hardest task of all, as he himself felt) utterly deceitful men. No +wonder that his psalms begin often enough with sadness, even though +they may end in hope and trust. He had a work around him and before +him which ought to have made his heart sad, which was a great part of +his appointed education, and helped to make him perfect by +sufferings. + +And so, upon the bare hill-side, in woods and caves of the earth, in +cold and hunger, in weariness and dread of death, did David learn to +be the poor man's king, the poor man's poet, the singer of those +psalms which shall endure as long as the world endures, and be the +comfort and the utterance of all sad hearts for evermore. Agony it +was, deep and bitter, and for the moment more hopeless than the grave +itself, which crushed out of the very depths of his heart that most +awful and yet most blessed psalm, the twenty-second, which we read in +church every Good Friday. The "Hind of the Morning" is its title; +some mournful air to which David sang it, giving, perhaps, the notion +of a timorous deer roused in the morning by the hunters and the +hounds. We read that psalm on Good Friday, and all say that our Lord +Jesus Christ fulfilled it. What do we mean hereby? + +We mean hereby, that we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled +all sorrows which man can taste. He filled the cup of misery to the +brim, and drained it to the dregs. He was afflicted in all David's +afflictions, in the afflictions of all mankind. He bare all their +sicknesses, and carried all their infirmities; and therefore we read +this psalm upon Good Friday, upon the day in which He tasted death +for every man, and went down into the lowest depths of terror, and +shame, and agony, and death; and, worst of all, into the feeling that +God had forsaken Him, that there was no help or hope for Him in +heaven, as well as earth--no care or love in the great God, whose Son +He was--went down, in a word, into hell; that hell whereof David and +Heman, and Hezekiah after them, had said, "Shall the dust give thanks +unto thee? and shall it declare thy truth?"--"Thou wilt not leave my +soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see +corruption."--"My life draweth nigh unto hell. . . I am like one +stript among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom +thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from thy hand. . . . +Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? and shall the dead arise and +praise thee? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy +righteousness in the land of destruction?"--"For the grave cannot +praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down to the +pit cannot hope for thy truth." + +Even into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one moment, +that God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to God--even into that +Jesus condescended to go down for us. That worst of all temptations, +of which David only tasted a drop when he cried out, "My God, my God, +why hast thou forsaken me?" Jesus drained to the very dregs for us.-- +He went down into hell for us, and conquered hell and death, and the +darkness of the unknown world, and rose again glorious from them, +that He might teach us not to fear death and hell; that He might know +how to comfort us in the hour of death: and in the day of judgment, +when on our sick bed, or in some bitter shame and trouble, the lying +devil is telling us that we are damned and lost, and forsaken by God, +and every sin we ever did rises up and stares us in the face. + +Truly He is a king!--a king for rich and poor, young and old, +Englishmen and negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for them, He +has tasted sorrow for them, far more than David did for those poor, +oppressed, sinful Jews of his. Read those Psalms of David; for they +speak not only of David, now long since dead and gone, but of the +blessed Jesus, who lives and reigns over us now at this very moment. +Read them, for they are inspired; the honest words of a servant of +God crying out to the same God, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we +have. And His love has not changed. His arm is not shortened that +He cannot save. Your words need not change. The words of those +psalms in which David prayed, in them you and I may pray. Right out +of the depths of his poor distracted heart they came. Let them come +out of our hearts too. They belong to us more than even they did to +the Jews, for whom David wrote them--more than even they did to David +himself; for Jesus has fulfilled them--filled them full--given them +boundlessly more meaning than ever they had before, and given us more +hope in using them than ever David had: for now that love and +righteousness of God, in which David only trusted beforehand, has +come down and walked on this earth in the shape of a poor man, Jesus +Christ, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem. + +Oh, you who are afflicted, pray to God in those psalms; not merely in +the words of them, but in the spirit of them. And to do that, you +must get from God the spirit in which David wrote them--the Spirit of +God. Pray for that Spirit; for the spirit of patience, which made +David wait God's good time to right him, instead of trying, as too +many do, to right himself by wrong means; for the spirit of love, +which taught David to return good for evil; for the spirit of fellow- +feeling, which taught David to care for others as well as himself; +and in that spirit of love, do you pray for others while you are +praying for yourself. Pray for that Spirit which taught David to +help and comfort those who were weaker than himself, that you in your +time may be able and willing to comfort and help those who are weaker +than yourselves. And above all, pray for the Spirit of faith, which +made David certain that oppression and wrong-doing could not stand; +that the day must surely come when God would judge the world +righteously, and hear the cry of the afflicted, and deliver the +outcast and poor, that the man of the world might be no more exalted +against them. Pray, in short, for the Spirit of Christ; and then be +sure He will hear your prayers, and answer them, and show Himself a +better friend, and a truer King to you, than ever David showed +himself to those poor Jews of old. He will deliver you out of all +your troubles--if not in this life, yet surely in the life to come; +and though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, yet +the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds in Him who loved +you, and gave Himself for you, that you might inherit all heaven and +earth in Him. + + + +XXVI--THE VALUE OF LAW + + + +Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no +power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.--ROMANS +xiii. 1. + +What is the difference between a civilised man and a savage? You +will say: A civilised man can read and write; he has books and +education; he knows how to make numberless things which makes his +life comfortable to him. He can get wealth, and build great towns, +sink mines, sail the sea in ships, spread himself over the face of +the earth, or bring home all its treasures, while the savages remain +poor, and naked, and miserable, and ignorant, fixed to the land in +which they chance to have been born. + +True: but we must go a little deeper still. Why does the savage +remain poor and wretched, while the civilised people become richer +and more prosperous? Why, for instance, do the poor savage gipsies +never grow more comfortable or wiser--each generation of them +remaining just as low as their forefathers were, or, indeed, getting +lower and fewer? for the gipsies, like all savages, are becoming +fewer and fewer year by year, while, on the other hand, we English +increase in numbers, and in wealth, and knowledge; and fresh +inventions are found out year by year, which give fresh employment +and make life more safe and more pleasant. + +This is the reason: That the English have laws and obey them, and +the gipsies have none. This is the whole secret. This is why +savages remain poor and miserable, that each man does what he likes +without law. This is why civilised nations like England thrive and +prosper, because they have laws and obey them, and every man does not +do what he likes, but what the law likes. Laws are made not for the +good of one person here, or the other person there, but for the good +of all; and, therefore, the very notion of a civilised country is, a +country in which people cannot do what they like with their own, as +the savages do. "Not do what he likes with his own?" Certainly not; +no one can or does. If you have property, you cannot spend it all as +you like. You have to pay a part of it to the government, that is, +into the common stock, for the common good, in the shape of rates and +taxes, before you can spend any of it on yourself. If you take +wages, you cannot spend them all upon yourself and do what you like +with them. If you do not support your wife and family out of them, +the law will punish you. You cannot do what you like with your own +gun, for you may not shoot your neighbour's cattle or game with it. +You cannot do what you like with your own hands, for the law forbids +you to steal with them. You cannot do what you like with your own +feet, for the law will punish you for trespassing on your neighbour's +ground without his leave. In short, you can only do with your own +what will not hurt your neighbour, in such matters as the law can +take care of. And more, in any great necessity the law may actually +hurt you for the good of the nation at large. The law may compel you +to sell your land, to your own injury, if it is wanted for a +railroad. The law may compel you, as it did fifty years ago, to +serve as a soldier in the militia, to your own injury, if there is a +fear of foreign invasion; so that the law is above each and all of +us. Our own wills are not our masters. No man is his own master. +The law is the master of each and all of us, and if we will not obey +it willingly, it can make us obey unwillingly. + +Can make us? Ay, but ought it to make us? Is it right that the law +should over-ride our own free wills, and prevent our doing what we +like with our own? + +It is right--absolutely right. St. Paul tells us what gives law this +authority: "There is no power but of God. The powers that be are +ordained of God." And he tells us also why this authority is given +to the law. "Rulers," he says, "are not a terror to good works, but +to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of those who administer the +law? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from them, +for they are God's ministers to thee for good." + +For good, you see. For the good of mankind it was, that God put into +their hearts and reasons, that notion of making laws, and appointing +kings and magistrates to see that those laws are obeyed. For our +good. For without law no man's life, or family, or property would be +safe. Every man's private selfishness, and greediness, and anger, +would struggle without check to have its way, and there would be no +bar or curb to keep each and every man from injuring each and every +man else; so the strong would devour the weak, and then tear each +other in pieces afterwards. So it is among the savages. They have +little or no property, for they have no laws to protect property; and +therefore every man expects his neighbour to steal from him, and +finds it his shortest plan to steal from his neighbour, instead of +settling down to sow corn which he will have no chance of eating, or +build houses which may be taken from him at night by some more strong +and cunning savage. There is no law among savages to protect women +and children against the men, and therefore the women are treated +worse than beasts, and the children murdered to save the trouble of +rearing them. Every man's hand is against his neighbour. No one +feels himself safe, and therefore no one thinks it worth while to lay +up for the morrow. No one expects justice and mercy to be done to +him, and therefore no one thinks it worth while to do justice and +mercy to others. And thus they live in continual fear and +quarrelling, feeding like wild animals on game or roots, often, when +they have bad luck in their hunting, on offal which our dogs would +refuse, and dwindle away and become fewer and wretcheder year by +year; in this way do the savages in New South Wales live to this day, +for want of law. + +It is for our good, then, that God has put into the heart of man to +make laws, and to obey them as sacred and divine things. For our +good, in order to save us from sinking down into the same state of +poverty and misery in which the savages are. For our good, because +we are fallen creatures, with selfish and corrupt wills, continually +apt to break loose, and please ourselves at the expense of our +neighbours. For our good, because, however fallen we are, we are +still brothers, members of God's family, bound to each other by duty +and relationship, if not by love. + +Just as in a family, if parents, brothers, and sisters will not do +their duty to each other lovingly and of their free will, the law +interferes, and the custom of the country interferes, and the opinion +of neighbours interferes, and says: "You may not love your parents: +but you have no right to leave them to starve." "You may not love +your brothers: but if you try to injure and slander them, you are +doing an unnatural and hateful thing, abhorred by God and man, and +you must expect us to treat you accordingly, as a wild beast who does +not feel the common laws of nature and right and wrong." So with the +law of the land. The law is meant to remind us more or less that we +are brothers, members of one body; that we owe a duty to each other; +that we are all equal in God's sight, who is no respecter of persons, +or of rank, or of riches, any more than the law is when it punishes +the greatest nobleman as severely as the poorest labourer. The law +is meant to remind us that God is just; that when we injure each +other, we sin against God; that God's rule and law is, that each +transgression should receive its just reward, and that, therefore, +because man is made in the likeness of God, man is bound, as far as +he can, to visit every offence with due and proportionate punishment. +And the law punishes, as St. Paul says, in God's name, and for God's +sake. The magistrate is a witness for God's righteous government of +the world, the minister of God's vengeance against evil-doers, to +remind all continually that evil-doing has no place, and cannot +prosper, and must not be allowed, upon this God's earth whereon we +live. + +But what if the laws are unfair, and punish only some sorts of evil- +doers and not others? What if they are like spiders' webs, which +catch the little flies, and let the great wasps break through? What +if they punish poor and weak offenders, and let the rich and powerful +sinners escape? "Obey them still," says St. Paul. In his time and +country the laws were as unfair in that way as laws ever were, and +yet he tells Christians to obey them for conscience's sake. Thank +God that they do punish weak offenders. Pray God that the time may +come when they may be strong enough to punish great offenders also. +But, in the meantime, see that they have not to punish you. As far +as the laws go, they are right and good. As far as they keep down +any sort of wrong-doing whatsoever, they are God's ordinances, and +you must obey them for God's sake. + +But what if the laws are not only unfair and partial, but also unjust +and wrong? Are we to obey them then? Obey them still, says St. +Paul. Of course, if they command you to do a clearly wrong thing; +if, for instance, the law commanded you to worship idols, or to +commit adultery, there is no question then; such laws cannot be God's +ordinance. The laws can only be God's ordinance as far as they agree +with what we know of God's will written in our hearts, and written in +His holy Bible. Then a man must resist the law to the death, if need +be, as the old martyrs did, dying as witnesses for God's righteous +and eternal law, against man's false and unrighteous law. It is a +very difficult thing, no doubt, to tell where to draw the line in +such matters. But we, thank God, here in England now, have no need +to puzzle our heads with such questions. Every man's conscience is +free here, and he has full liberty to worship God as he thinks best, +provided that by so doing he does not interfere with his neighbour's +character, or property, or comfort. There is no single law in +England now, that I know of, which a man has any need to refuse to +obey, let his conscience be as tender as it may. And as for laws +which we think hurtful to the country, or hurtful to any particular +class in the country, our thinking them hurtful is no reason that we +should not obey them. As long as they are law, they are God's +ordinance, and we have no right to break them. They may be useful +after all. Or even if they are hurtful in some way, still God may be +bringing good out of them in some other way, of which we little +dream, as He has often done out of laws and customs which seem at +first sight most foolish and hurtful, and yet which He endured and +winked at, for the sake of bringing good out of evil. At all events, +whatsoever laws are here in England, are made by the men whom we +English have chosen, as the men most fit and wise to make them, and +we are bound to abide by them. If Parliament is not wise enough to +make perfectly good laws, that is no one's fault but our own; for if +we were wise, we should choose wise law-makers, and we must be filled +with the fruit of our own devices. As long as these laws have been +made and passed, by Commons, Lords, and Queen, according to the +ancient forms and constitution which God has taught our forefathers +from time to time for more than a thousand years, and which have had +God's blessing and favour on them, and made us, from the least of all +nations, the greatest nation on the earth; in short, as long as those +laws are made according to law, so long we are bound to believe them +to be God's ordinance, and obey them. But understand; that is no +reason why we should not try to get them improved; for when they are +changed and done away according to the same law which made them, that +will be a sign that they are God's ordinances no longer; that God +thinks we have no more need for them, and does not require us to keep +them. But as long as any law is what St. Paul calls "the powers that +be," obeyed it must be, not only for wrath, but for conscience's +sake. + +That is a very important part of the matter. Obey the law, St. Paul +says, not only for wrath, that is, not only for fear of punishment, +but for conscience's sake. Even if you do not expect to be punished; +even if you think no one will ever find out that you have broken the +law, remember it is God's ordinance. He sees you. Do not hurt your +own conscience, and deaden your own sense of right and wrong, by +breaking the least or the most unjust law in the slightest point. + +For instance: some people think the income-tax is very unfair; and +therefore they think there is no harm in cheating the revenue a +little, by making out their income less than it is. Others, again, +think the laws against smuggling unjust and harsh; and therefore they +see no harm in trying to avoid paying duty on goods which they bring +home, whenever they have an opportunity, or buying cheap goods, which +they must know from their price are smuggled. Others, again, think +the game laws are unfair, and therefore see no harm in going out +shooting on their own lands without a licence; while many see no +harm, or say they see no harm, in poaching on other people's grounds, +and killing game contrary to law wherever they can. That it is wrong +to break the law in these two first cases, you all know in your own +hearts. On the matter of poaching, some of you, I know, have many +very mistaken notions. But, my friends, I ask you only to look at +the sin and misery which poaching causes, if you want to see that +those who break the law do indeed break the ordinance of God, and +that God's laws avenge themselves. Look at the idleness, the +untidiness, the deceit, the bad company, the drunkenness, the misery +and sin, to man, woman, and child, which that same poaching brings +about, and then see how one little sin brings on many great ones; how +a man, by despising the authority of law, and fancying that he does +no harm in disobeying the laws, from his own fancy about poaching +being no harm, falls into temptation and a snare, and pierces himself +through with many sorrows. My young friends, believe my words. +Avoid poaching, even once in a way. The beginning of sin is like the +letting out of water; no one can tell where it will stop. He who +breaks the law in little things will be tempted to go on and break it +in greater and greater things. He who begins by breaking man's law, +which is the pattern of God's law, will be tempted to go on and break +God's law also. Is it not so? There is no use telling me, "The game +is no one's; there is no harm in taking it." Light words of that +kind will not do to answer God with. You know there is harm in +taking it; for you know, as well as I do, that you cannot go after +game without neglecting your work to get it; or without going to the +worst of public-houses, among the worst of company, to sell it. You +know, as well as I do, that hand in hand with poaching go lying, and +idling, and sneaking, and fear, and boasting, and swearing, and +drinking, and the company of bad men and bad women. And then you say +there is no harm in poaching. Do you suppose that I do not know, as +well as any one of you here, what goes to the snaring of a hare, and +the selling of a hare, and the spending of the ill-got price of a +hare? My dear young men, I know that poaching, like many other sins, +is tempting: but God has told us to flee from temptation--to resist +the devil, and he will flee from us. If we are to give up ourselves +without a struggle to every pleasant thing which tempts us, we shall +soon be at the devil's door. We were sent into the world to fight +against temptation and to conquer it. We were sent into the world to +do what God likes, not what we like; and therefore we were sent into +the world to obey the laws of the land wherein we live, be they +better or worse; because if we break one law because we don't like +it, our neighbour may break another because he don't like that, and +so forth; till there is neither law, nor peace, nor safety, but every +man doing what is right in his own eyes, which is sure to end by +every man's doing what is right in the devil's eyes. We were sent +into the world to live as brothers, under laws which make us give up +our own wills and selfish lusts for the common good. And if we find +it difficult to keep the laws, if we are tempted to break the laws, +God has promised His Spirit to those who ask Him. God has promised +His Spirit to us. If we pray for that Spirit night and morning, He +will make it easy for us to keep the laws. He will make us what our +Lord was before us, humble, patient, loving, manful and strong enough +to restrain our fancies and appetites, and to give up our wills for +the good of our neighbours, anxious and careful to avoid all +appearance of evil, trusting that because God is just, and God is +King, all laws which are not wicked are His ordinance, and therefore +being obedient to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, even as +Jesus Christ Himself was, who, though He was Lord of all, paid taxes +and tribute money to the Roman government, like the rest of the Jews, +and kept the law of Moses perfectly, and was baptised with John's +baptism, to show that in all just and reasonable things we are to +obey the laws and customs of our forefathers, in the country to which +it has pleased the Lord that we should belong. + + + +XXVII--THE SOURCE OF LAW + + + +Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no +power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.--ROMANS +xiii. 1. + +In this chapter, which we read for the second lesson for this +afternoon's service, St. Paul gives good advice to the Romans, and +equally good advice to us. + +Of course what he says must be equally good for us, and for all +people, at all times, in all countries, as long as time shall last; +because St. Paul spoke by the Spirit of God, who is God eternal, and +therefore cannot change His mind, but lays down, by the mouth of His +apostles and prophets, the everlasting laws of right and wrong, which +are always equally good for all. + +But there is something in this lesson which makes it especially +useful to us; because we English are in some very important matters +very like the Romans to whom St. Paul wrote; though in others, thanks +to Almighty God, we are still very unlike them. + +Now, these old Romans, as I have often told you, had risen to be the +greatest and mightiest people in the world, and to conquer many +foreign countries, and set up colonies of Romans in them, very much +as the English have done in India, and North America, and Australia: +so that the little country of Italy, with its one great city of Rome, +was mistress of vast lands far beyond the seas, ten times as large as +itself, just as this little England is. + +But it is not so much this which I have to speak to you about now, as +how this Rome became so great; for it was at first nothing but a poor +little country town, without money, armies, trade, or any of those +things which shallow-minded people fancy are the great strength of a +nation. True, all those things are good; but they are useless and +hurtful--and, what is more, they cannot be got--without something +better than them; something which you cannot see nor handle; +something spiritual, which is the life and heart of a country or +nation, and without which it can never become great. This the old +Romans had; and it made them become great. This we English have had +for now fifteen hundred years; even when our forefathers were +heathens, like the Romans, before we came into this good land of +England, while we were poor and simple people, living in the barren +moors of Germany, and the snowy mountains of Norway; even then we had +this wonderful charm, by which nations are sure to become great and +powerful at last; and in proportion as we have remembered and acted +upon it, we English have thriven and spread; and whenever we have +forgotten it and broken it, we have fallen into distress, and +poverty, and shame, over the whole land. + +Now, what is this wonderful charm which made the old Romans and we +English great, which is stronger than money, and armies, and trade, +and all the things which we can see and handle? + +St. Paul tells us in the text: "Let every soul be subject to the +higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The powers that be +are ordained of God." + +To respect the law; to believe that God wills men to live according +to law; and that He will teach men right and good laws; that +magistrates who enforce the laws are God's ministers, God's officers +and servants; that to break the laws is to sin against God;--that is +the charm which worked such wonders, and will work them to the end of +time. + +So you see it was a very proper thing for St. Paul, when he wrote to +these Romans after they became Christians, to speak to them as he +does in this chapter. They might have fancied, and many did fancy, +that because they were Jesus Christ's servants now, they need not +obey their heathen rulers and laws any more. But St. Paul says: +"No; Jesus Christ's being King of Kings, is only the strongest +possible reason for your obeying these heathen rulers. For if He is +King of all the earth, He is King of Rome also, and of all her +colonies; and therefore you may be sure that He would not leave these +Roman rulers, and laws here if He did not think it right and fitting. +If Jesus Christ is Lord of lords He is Lord of these Roman rulers, +and they are His ministers and stewards; and you must obey them, and +pay taxes to them for conscience's sake, as unto the Lord, and not +unto man." + +So you see that St. Paul gave these Roman Christians no new +commandment on these matters; nothing different from what their old +heathen forefathers had believed. For the law which he mentions in +verse 9, "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal," etc., had been +for centuries past part of the old Roman law, as well as of Moses' +law. + +Those old heathen Romans believed, and rightly, that all law and +order came from the great God of gods, whom they called in their +tongue Jupiter, that is, the Heavenly Father. They believed that He +would bless those who kept the laws; who kept their oaths and +agreements, and the laws about government, about marriage, about +property, about inheritance; and that He would surely punish those +who broke the laws, who defrauded their neighbours of their rights, +who swore falsely against their neighbour, or broke their agreements, +who were unfaithful to their wives and husbands, or in any way +offended against justice between man and man. And they believed too, +and rightly, that as long as they kept the laws, and lived justly and +orderly by them, the great Heavenly Father would protect and prosper +their town of Rome, and make it grow great and powerful, because they +were living as He would have men live; not doing each what was right +in the sight of his own eyes, but conquering their own selfish wills +and private fancies, for the sake of their neighbour's good, and the +good of his country, that they might all help and trust each other, +as fellow-citizens of one nation. + +Only St. Paul had told them: Your forefathers were right in fancying +that law and right came from the great God of gods: but they knew +hardly anything, or rather, in time they forgot almost everything, +about that Heavenly Father. In their ignorance they mixed up the +belief in the one great almighty and good God, which dwells in the +hearts of all men, with filthy fables and superstitions till they +came to fancy that there were many gods and not one, and that these +many gods were sinful, foul, proud, and cruel, as fallen men. But +you have been brought back to the knowledge of the one true, and +righteous, and loving God, which your forefathers lost. He has +revealed and shown Himself, and what He is like, in His Son Jesus +Christ. He is love, and wisdom, and justice, and order itself; and, +therefore, you must be sure, even more sure than your old heathen +forefathers, that He cares for a nation being at peace and unity +within itself, governed by wise laws, doing justice between man and +man, and keeping order throughout all its business, that every man +may do his work and enjoy his wages without hindrance, or confusion, +or fear, or robbery and oppression from those who are stronger than +he. + +And so St. Paul says to them: "You must believe that power and law +come from God, far more firmly and clearly than ever your heathen +forefathers did." + +Now that St. Paul was right in this we may see from the Old +Testament. In the first lesson for this afternoon's service, we read +how Jeremiah was sent with the most awful warnings to the king, and +the queen, and the crown prince of his country. And why? Because +they had broken the laws; because, in a word, they had been +unfaithful stewards and ministers of the Lord God, who had given them +their power and kingdom, and would demand a strict account of all +which He had committed to their charge. But in the same book of the +prophet Jeremiah we read more than this; we read exactly what St. +Paul says about the heathen Roman governors: for the Lord God, who +is the Lord Jesus Christ, sent Jeremiah with a message to all the +heathen kings round about, to tell them that He was their Lord and +Master, that He had given them their power, heathens as they were, +because it seemed fit to Him, and that now, for their sins, He was +going to deliver them over into the hand of another heathen, His +servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and that whosoever would not +serve Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord God would punish him with sword, and +famine, and pestilence till he had consumed them. And the first four +chapters of the book of Daniel, noble and wonderful as they are, seem +to me to have been put into the Bible simply to teach us this one +thing, that heathen rulers, as well as Christians, are the Lord's +servants, and that their power is ordained by God. For these +chapters are entirely made up of the history, how God, by His prophet +Daniel, taught the heathen king Nebuchadnezzar that he was God's +minister and steward. And the latter part of the book of Daniel is +the account of his teaching the same thing to another heathen, Cyrus +the great and good king of Persia. And here St. Paul teaches the +Christian Romans just the same thing about their heathen governors +and heathen laws, that they are the ministers and the ordinance of +God. + +Now, our own English forefathers, as I said before, believed this +same thing; and if I had time, I could show you, I think, plainly +enough from God's dealings with England, how He has blest and +prospered us whensoever we have acted up to it. But whether we have +believed it or not, there is enough in our English laws, and in our +English Prayer Book too, to witness for it and remind us of it. + +The very title which we give the Queen, "Queen by the grace of God;" +the solemn prayers for her when she is crowned and anointed, not in +her own palace, or in the House of Parliament, but in the Church of +God at Westminster; the prayers which we have just offered up for the +Queen, for the government, and for the magistrates--these are all so +many signs and tokens to us that they are God's stewards, called to +do God's work, and that we must pray for God's grace to help them to +fulfil their calling. And are not those ten commandments which stand +in every church, a witness of the same thing? They are the very root +of all law whatsoever. And more, the solemn oath which a witness +takes in the court of justice, what is it but a sign of the same +thing, that our forefathers, who appointed these forms, believed that +law and justice were holy things, and that he who goes into a court +of law goes into the presence of God Himself, and confesses, when he +promises to speak the truth, so help him God, that God is the +protector and the avenger of law and justice? + +But some people, and especially young and light-hearted persons, are +ready to say: "Obey the powers that be, whosoever they may be, good +or bad, and believe that to break their laws is to sin against God? +We might as well be slaves at once. A man has a right to his own +opinion; and if he does not think a law good, how can he be bound to +obey it?" + +You will often hear such words as those when you go out into the +world, into great towns, where men meet together much. Let me give +you, young people, a little advice about that beforehand; for, fine +as it sounds, it is hollow and false at root. + +If you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like what is +right; and do that, says St. Paul, and then the law will not +interfere with you: "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but +to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that +which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the +minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, +be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the +minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth +evil." And then he sums up what doing right is, in one short +sentence: "Love thy neighbour as thyself; for love is the fulfilling +of the law." All that the laws want to make you do, is to behave +like men who do love their neighbours as themselves, and therefore do +them no harm--to behave like men who are ready to give up their own +private wills and pleasures, and even their own private property, if +wanted, for the good of their neighbours and their country. +Therefore the law calls on you to pay rates and taxes, which are to +be spent for the good of the nation at large. And if you love your +neighbour as yourself, and have the good of everyone round you at +heart, you will no more grudge paying rates and taxes for their +benefit than you will grudge spending money to support and educate +your own children. And so you will be free, free to do what you +like, because you like, from the fear and love of God, to do those +right things which the law is set to make you do. + +But some may say: "That is not what we mean by being free. We mean +having a share in choosing Members of Parliament, and so in making +the laws and governing the country. When people can do that the +country is a free country." + +Well, my friends, and it is a strange thing, or rather not a strange +thing, if we will but study our Bibles, that a country cannot be free +in that way, unless the people of it do really believe that the +powers that be are ordained of God. Instead of that faith making the +old Romans slavish, or careless what laws were made, or how they were +governed, as some fancy it would make a people, they were as free a +people, and freer almost than we English now. They chose their own +magistrates, and they made their own laws, and prospered by so doing. +And why? Because they believed that laws came from God; and, +therefore, they not only obeyed the laws when they were made, but +they had heart and spirit to help to make them, because they trusted +that The Heavenly Father, who loved justice, would teach them to be +just, and that The God who protected laws and punished law-breakers, +would put into their minds how to make the laws well; and so they +were not afraid to govern themselves, because they believed that God +would enable them to govern themselves well, and therefore they were +free. And so far from their having a slavish spirit in them, they +were the most bold and independent people of the whole earth. Their +soldiers conquered almost every nation against whom they fought, +because they always obeyed their officers dutifully and faithfully, +believing that it was their duty to God to obey, and to die, if need +was, for their country. Old history is full of tales, which will +never be forgotten, I trust, till the world's end, of the noble deeds +of their men, ay, and even of their women, who counted their own +lives worthless in comparison with the good of their country, and +died in torments rather than break the laws, or do what they knew +would injure the people to whom they belonged. + +And so with us English. For hundreds of years we have been growing +more and more free, and more and more well-governed, simply because +we have been acting on St. Paul's doctrine--obeying the powers that +be, because they are ordained by God. It is the Englishman's respect +for law, as a sacred thing, which he dare not break, which has made +him, sooner or later, respected and powerful wherever he goes to +settle in foreign lands; because foreigners can trust us to be just, +and to keep our promises, and to abide by the laws which we have laid +down. It is the English respect for law, as a sacred thing, which +has made our armies among the bravest and the most successful on +earth; because they know how to obey their officers, and are +therefore able to fight and to endure as men should do. And as long +as we hold to that belief we shall prosper at home and abroad, and +become more and more free, and more and more strong; because we shall +be united, helping each other, trusting each other, knowing what to +expect of each other, because we all honour and obey the same laws. + +And, on the other hand, have we not close to us, in France, a fearful +sign and proof from God that without the fear of God no people can be +free? Three times in the last sixty years have the French risen up +against evil rulers, and driven them out. And have they been the +better for it? They are at this very moment in utter slavery to a +ruler more lawless than ever oppressed them before. And why? +Because they did not believe that law came from God, and that the +powers that be are ordained by Him. Therefore, whenever they were +oppressed, they did not try to right themselves by lawful ways, +according to the old English God-fearing custom, but to break down +the old law by riot and bloodshed, and then to set up new laws of +their own. But those new laws would never stand. They made them, +but they would not obey them when they were made, and they could not +make others obey them; because they had no real reverence for law, +and did not believe that law came from God, or that His Spirit would +give them understanding to make good laws. They talked loud about +the power and rights of the people, and that whatever the people +willed was right: but they said nothing about the power and rights +of the Lord God; they forgot that it is only what God has willed from +everlasting that is right; and so they made laws in the strength of +their own hearts, according to what was right in the sight of their +own eyes, to please themselves. How could they respect the laws, +when the laws were only copies of their own selfish fancies? So, +because they made them to please themselves, they soon broke them to +please themselves. And so came more lawlessness and riot, and +confusion worse confounded, till, of course, the strongest, and +cunningest, and most shameless got the upper hand; and they were +plunged, poor creatures! into the same pit of misery out of which +they had been trying to deliver themselves in their own strength, for +a sign and an example that the Lord is King, and not man at all, and +that the fear of the Lord is the only beginning of wisdom. + +And very much the same sad fate had happened to the Romans a little +before St. Paul's time. They gave up their ancient respect for law; +they broke the laws, and ran into all kinds of violence, and riot, +and filthy sin; and therefore God took away their freedom from them, +because they were not fit for it, and delivered them over into the +hand of one cruel tyrant after another; and perhaps the cruellest of +them all was the man who was emperor of Rome in St. Paul's time. +Therefore it was that St. Paul says to them: Love each other, and +obey the laws, "knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake +out of sleep." + +As much as to say: "Your souls have fallen asleep; you have been in +a dark night, not seeing that God would avenge you of all these sins +of yours; that God's eye was on them: you have fallen asleep and +forgotten your forefathers' belief, that God loves law, and order, +and justice, and will punish those who break through them. But now +the Lord Jesus, the light of the world, is come to awaken you, and to +open your eyes to see the truth about this, and to show you that you +are in God's kingdom, and that God commands you to repent, and to +obey Him, and do justly and righteously. Therefore awake out of your +sleep; give up the works of darkness, those mean and wicked habits +which were contrary to the good old laws of your forefathers, and +which you were at heart ashamed of, and tried to hide even while you +indulged in them. Open your eyes, and see that God is near you, your +Judge, your King, seeing through and through your souls, keen and +sharp to discern the secret thoughts and intents of the heart, so +that all things are naked and open in the sight of Him with whom we +have to do." + +And so I may say to you, my friends, it is high time for us to awake +out of sleep. The people in England, religious as well as others, +have fallen asleep of late years too much about this matter. They +have forgotten that God is King, that magistrates are God's +ministers. They talk as if laws were meant to be only the device of +man's will, to serve men's private interests and selfishness; and +therefore they have lost very much of their respect for law, and +their care to make good laws for the future. And it is high time for +us, while all the nations of Europe are tottering and crumbling round +us, to awake out of sleep on this matter. We must open our eyes and +see where we are. For we are in God's kingdom. God's Bible, God's +churches, God's commandments, and all the solemn old law forms of +England witness to us that God is King, set in the throne which +judges right; that order and justice, fellow-feeling and public +spirit, are His gifts, His likeness, on which He looks down with +loving care and protection; and that if we forget that, and begin to +fancy that law stands merely by the will of the many, or by the will +of the stronger, or even by the will of the wiser--by any will of man +in short; we shall end by neither being able to make just laws any +more, nor to obey those which we have, by the blessing of God, +already. + + + +XXVIII--THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN + + + +Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of +heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those +that walk in pride He is able to abase.--DANIEL iv. 37. + +We read for the first lesson to-day two chapters out of the book of +Daniel. Those who love to study their Bibles, have read often, of +course, not only these two chapters, but the whole book. + +And I would advise all of you who wish to understand God's dealings +with mankind, to study this book of Daniel, and especially at this +present time. + +I do not wish you to study it merely on account of those prophecies +in it, which many wise and good men think foretell the dates of our +Lord's first and second comings, and of the end of the world. I am +not skilled, my friends, in that kind of wisdom. I cannot tell you +what God will do hereafter. But I think that the book of Daniel like +the other prophets, tells us what God is always doing on earth, and +so gives us certain and eternal rules by which we may understand +strange and terrible events, wars, distress of nations, the fall of +great men, and the suffering of innocent men, when we see them +happen, as we may see any day--perhaps very soon indeed. + +The great lesson, I think, that this book of Daniel teaches us is, +that God is not the Lord of the Jews only, or of Christians only, but +of the whole earth; that the heathens are under His moral law and +government, as well as we; and that, as St. Peter says, God is no +respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth God, and +worketh righteousness, is accepted of him. For the history of +Nebuchadnezzar seems to me to be the history of God's educating a +heathen and an idolater to know Him. And we must always remember, +that as far as we can see, it was because Nebuchadnezzar was faithful +to the light which he had, that God gave him more. Of course he had +his sins; the Bible tells us what they were; just the sins which one +would expect of a man brought up a heathen and an idolater; of one +who was a great conqueror, and had gained many bloody battles, and +learned to hold men's lives very cheap; of one who was an absolute +emperor, with no law but his own will, furious at any contradiction; +of a man of wonderful power of mind--confident in himself, his own +power, his own cunning. But he seems not to have been a bad man, +considering his advantages. The Bible never speaks harshly of him, +though he carried away the Jews captive to Babylon. In all that +fearful war, Nebuchadnezzar was in the right, and the Jews in the +wrong; so at least Jeremiah the prophet declared. Nebuchadnezzar +saved and respected Jeremiah; and Daniel seems to have regarded the +great conqueror with real respect and affection. When Daniel says to +him, "O king, live for ever," and tells him that he is the head of +gold, and prays that his fearful dream may come true of his enemies +and not of him, I cannot believe that the prophet was using mere +empty phrases of court-flattery. He really felt, I doubt not, that +Nebuchadnezzar was a great and good king, as kings went then, and his +government a gain (as it easily might be) to the nations whom he had +conquered, and that it was good that he should reign as long as +possible. + +And we may well believe Daniel's interest in this great king, when we +consider how teachable Nebuchadnezzar showed himself under God's +education of him, so proving that there was in him the honest and +good heart, which, when The Word is sown in it, will bring forth +fruit, thirty-fold or a hundred-fold, according to the talents which +God has bestowed on each man. + +This first lesson we read in the first chapter of Daniel. He dreamt +a dream. He felt that it was a very wonderful one: but he forgot +what it was. None of the magicians of Babylon could tell him. A +young Jew, named Daniel, told him the dream and its meaning, and +declared at the same time that he had found it out by no wisdom of +his own, but God had revealed it to him. Nebuchadnezzar learned his +lesson, and confessed Daniel's God to be a God of gods and a Lord of +kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing that Daniel could reveal +that secret; and forthwith, like a wise prince, advanced Daniel and +his companions to places of the highest authority and trust. + +But Nebuchadnezzar required another lesson. He had learned that the +God of the Jews was wiser than all the planets and heavenly lords and +gods whom the Babylonian magicians consulted; he had not learned that +that same God of the Jews was the Creator and Lord of heaven and +earth. He had learned that the God of heaven favoured him, and had +helped him toward his power and glory; but he thought that for that +very reason the power and glory were his own--that he had a right +over the souls and consciences of his subjects, and might make them +worship what he liked, and how he liked. + +Three Jews, whom he had set over the affairs of Babylon, refused to +worship the golden image which he had set up, and were cast into a +fiery furnace, and forthwith miraculously delivered, and beheld by +Nebuchadnezzar walking unhurt and loose in the midst of the furnace, +and with them a fourth, whose form was like the form of the Son of +God. + +So Nebuchadnezzar was taught that this God of the Jews was the Lord +of men's souls and consciences; that they were to obey God rather +than man. So he was taught that the God of the Jews was no mere star +or heavenly influence who could help men's fortunes, or bestow on +them a certain fixed destiny; but a living person, the Lord and +Master of the fire, and of all the powers of the earth, who could +change and stop those powers at His will, to deliver those who +trusted in Him and obeyed Him. + +And this lesson, too, Nebuchadnezzar learned. He confessed his +mistake upon the spot, just in the way in which we should have +expected a great Eastern king to do, though not in the most +enlightened or merciful way. He "blessed the God of Shadrach, +Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His +servants who trusted in Him. Therefore I make a decree, that every +people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the +God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and +their houses be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that +can deliver after this sort." + +But there was still one deep mistake lying in the great king's heart +which required to be rooted out. He had learnt that Jehovah, the God +of the Jews, was a revealer of secrets, a master of the fire, a +deliverer of those who trusted in Him, a living personal Lord, wise, +just, and faithful, very different from any of his star gods or +idols. But he looked upon Jehovah only as the God of the Jews, as +Daniel's God. He had not yet learnt that God was HIS God as well as +Daniel's; that Jehovah was very near his heart and mind, and had been +near him all his life; that from Jehovah came all his wisdom, his +strength of mind, his success, and all which made him differ, not +only from his fellow-men, but from the beast; that Jehovah, in a +word, was the light and the life of the world, who fills all things +and by whom all things consist, deserted by whose inward light, even +for a moment, man becomes as one of the beasts which perish. In his +own eyes Nebuchadnezzar was still the great self-dependent, self- +sufficing conqueror, wiser and stronger than all the men around him. +He thought, most probably, that on account of his wisdom, and +courage, and royalty of soul, the God of heaven had become fond of +him and favoured him. In short, he was swollen with pride. + +God sent him again a strange dream, which made him troubled and +afraid. He told it to his old counsellor Daniel; and Daniel, at the +danger of his life, interpreted it for him; and a very awful meaning +it had. A fearful and shameful downfall was to come upon the king; +no less than the loss of his reason, and with it, of his throne. But +whether this came to pass or not, depended, like all God's +everlasting promises and threats, on Nebuchadnezzar's own behaviour. +If he repented, and broke off his sins by righteousness, and his +iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, there was good reason to +hope that so his tranquillity might be lengthened. + +But the lesson was too hard for the proud conqueror; he did not take +the warning. He could not believe that the Most High ruled in the +kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. He still +fancied that he, and such as he, were the lords of the world, and +took from others by their own power and cunning whatsoever they +would. He does not seem to have been angry, however, with Daniel for +his plain speaking. Most Eastern kings like Nebuchadnezzar would +have put Daniel to a cruel death on the spot as the bearer of evil +news, speaking blasphemy against the king; and no one in those times +and countries would have considered him wicked and cruel for so +doing; but Nebuchadnezzar seems to have learnt too much already so to +give way to his passion. + +Yet, as I said before, he had not learned enough to take God's +warning. The lesson that he was nothing, and that God is all in all, +was too hard for him. And, alas! my friends, for whom of us is it +not a hard lesson? And yet it is the golden lesson, the first and +the last which man has to learn on earth, ay, and through all +eternity: "I am nothing; God is all in all." All in us which is +worth calling anything; all in us which is worth having, or worth +being; all in us which is not disobedience and shortcoming, failure +and mistake, ignorance and madness, filthiness and fierceness, as of +the beasts which perish; all strength in us, all understanding, all +prudence, all right-mindedness, all purity, all justice, all love; +all in us which is worth living for, all in us which is really alive, +and not mere death in life, the death of sin and the darkness of the +pit--all is from God the Father of lights, and from Jesus Christ the +life and the light, who lighteth every man who cometh into the world, +shining for ever in the darkness of our spirits, though that +darkness, alas! too often cannot comprehend, and embrace, and confess +Him who is striving to awake it from the dead and give it light. +Hardest of all lessons! Most blessed of all lessons! So blessed, +that if we will not let God teach it us in any other way, it would be +good and advantageous to us for Him to teach it us as He taught it to +Nebuchadnezzar--good for us to become with him for awhile like the +beasts that perish, that we might learn with him to lift up our eyes +to heaven, and so have our understandings return to us, and learn to +bless the Most High, and not our own wit, and cunning, and prudence; +and praise and honour Him that liveth for ever, instead of praising +and honouring our own pitiful paltry selves, who are in death in the +midst of life, who come up and are cut down like the flower, and +never continue in one stay. + +"All this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar." It seems that after he +or his father had destroyed the old Babylon, the downfall of which +Isaiah had prophesied, he built a great city, after the fashion of +Eastern conquerors, near the ruins of the old one; and "at the end of +twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The +king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built +for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the +honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there +fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it +is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive +thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the +field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times +shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in +the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same +hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar." + +What a lesson! The great conqueror of all the East now a brutal +madman, hateful and disgusting to all around him--a beast feeding +among the beasts: and yet a cheap price--a cheap price--to pay for +this golden lesson. + +Seven times past over him in his madness. What those seven times +were we do not know. They may have been actual years: or they may +have been, as I am inclined to think, changes in his own soul and +state of mind. But, at the end of the days, the truth dawned on him. +He began to see what it all meant. He saw what he was, and why he +was so; and he lifted up his eyes to heaven; and from that moment his +madness past. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. That is no mere +figure of speech: it is an actual truth. Most madmen, if you watch +them, have that down look, or rather that inward look, as if their +eyes were fixed only on their own fancies. They are thinking only of +themselves, poor creatures--of their own selfish and private +suspicions and wrongs--of their own selfish superstitious dreams +about heaven or hell--of their own selfish vanity and ambition-- +sometimes of their own frantic self-conceit, or of their selfish +lusts and desires--of themselves, in short. They have lost the one +Divine light of reason, and conscience, and love, which binds men to +each other, and are parted for a while from God and from their kind-- +alone in their own darkness. So was Nebuchadnezzar. + +At last he looked up, as men do when they pray; up from himself to +One greater than himself; up from the earth to heaven; up from the +natural things which we do see, which are temporal and born to die, +to moral and spiritual things which we do not see, which are real and +eternal in the heavens; up from his own lonely darkness, looking for +the light and the guidance of God; for now he began to see that all +the light which he had ever had, all his wisdom, and understanding, +and strength of will, had come from God, however he might have +misused them for his own selfish ambition; that it was because God +had taken from him His light, who is the Word of God, that he had +become a beast. And then his reason returned to him, and he became +again a man, a rational being, made, howsoever fallen and sinful, in +the likeness of God; then he blessed and praised God. It was not +merely that he confessed that God was strong, and he weak; righteous, +and he sinful; wise, and he foolish; but he blessed and praised God; +he felt and confessed that God had done him a great benefit, and +taught him a great lesson--that God had taught him what he was in +himself and without God, that he might see what he was with God in +its true light, and honour and obey Him from whom his reason and +understanding, as well as his power and glory, came, that so it might +be fulfilled which the prophet says: "Let not the wise man glory in +his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his +riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he +understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise +loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness IN THE EARTH; for in +these things I delight, saith the Lord." + +And so was Nebuchadnezzar's soul brought to utter, in his own way, +the very same glorious song which, or something like it, is said to +have been sung by the three men whom, years before, he had seen +delivered from the fiery furnace, which calls on all the works of the +Lord, angels and heaven, sun and stars, seas and winds, mountains and +hills, fowls and cattle, priests and laymen, spirits and souls of the +righteous, to bless the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever. + +And so ends Nebuchadnezzar's history. We read no more of him. He +had learnt the golden lesson. May God grant that we may learn it +also! + +But who tells the story of his madness? He himself. The whole +account is in the man's own words. It seems to be some public letter +or proclamation, which he either sent round his empire, or commanded +to be laid up among his records; having, as it seems, set Daniel to +write it down from his mouth. This one fact, I think, justifies me +in all that I have said about Nebuchadnezzar's nobleness, and +Daniel's affection for him. He does not try to smooth things over; +to pretend that he has not been mad; to find excuses for himself; to +lay any blame on any human being. He repents openly, confesses +openly. Shameful as it may be to him, he tells the whole story. He +confesses that he had fair warning, that all was his own fault. He +justifies God utterly. My friends, we may read, thank God, many +noble, and brave, and righteous speeches of kings and great men: but +never have I read one so noble, so brave, so righteous as this of the +great king of Babylon. + +And therefore it is; because this letter of his, in the fourth +chapter of the book of Daniel, is indeed full of the eternal Holy +Spirit of God; therefore it is, I say, that it forms part of the +Bible, part of holy scripture to this day,--a greater honour to +Nebuchadnezzar than all his kingdom; for what greater honour than to +have been inspired to write one chapter, yea, one sentence, of the +Book of Books? + +My friends, every one of you here is in God's school-house, under +God's teaching, far more than Nebuchadnezzar was. You are baptised +men, knowing that blessed name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which +Nebuchadnezzar only saw dimly, and afar off. Jesus Christ, the Word +of God, is striving with your hearts, giving to them whatsoever light +and life they have. You have been taught from childhood to look up +to Him as your King and Deliverer; to His Father as your Father, to +His Holy Spirit as your Inspirer. Take heed how you listen to His +voice within your hearts. Take heed how you learn God's lessons; for +God is surely educating you, and teaching you far more than He taught +the king of Babylon in old time. As you learn or despise these +lessons of God's, will be your happiness or your misery now and for +ever. Unto the king of Babylon little was given, and of him was +little required. To you and me much has been given; of you and me +will much be required. + + + +XXIX--JEREMIAH'S CALLING + + + +Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a +righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall +execute judgment and justice in the earth.--JEREMIAH xxiii. 5. + +At the time when Jeremiah the prophet spoke those words to the Jews, +nothing seemed more unlikely than that they would ever come true. +The whole Jewish nation was falling to pieces from its own sins. +Brutish and filthy idolatry in high and low--oppression, violence, +and luxury among the court and the nobility--shame, and poverty, and +ignorance among the lower classes--idleness and quackery among the +priesthood--and as kings over all, one fool and profligate after +another, set on the throne by a foreign conqueror, and pulled down +again by him at his pleasure. Ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel +had been carried off captive, young and old, into a distant land. +The small portion of country which still remained inhabited round +Jerusalem, had been overrun again and again by cruel armies of +heathens. Without Jerusalem was waste and ruins, bloodshed and +wretchedness; within every kind of iniquity and lies, division and +confusion. If ever there was a miserable and contemptible people +upon the face of the earth, it was the Jewish nation in Jeremiah's +time. Jeremiah makes no secret of it. His prophecies are full of +it--full of lamentation and shame: "Oh that my head were a fountain +of tears, to weep for the sins of my people!" He feels that God has +sent him to rebuke those sins, to warn and prophesy to his fellow- +countrymen the certain ruin into which they are rushing headlong; and +he speaks God's message boldly. From the poor idol-ridden labourer, +offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven to coax her into sending him a +good harvest, to the tyrant king who had built his palace of cedar +and painted it with vermilion, he had a bitter word for every man. +The lying priest tried to silence him; and Jeremiah answered him, +that his wife should be a harlot in the city, and his children sold +for slaves. The king tried to flatter him into being quiet; and he +told him in return, that he should be buried with the burial of an +ass, dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. The +luxurious queen, who made her nest in the cedars, would be ashamed +and confounded, he said, for her wickedness. The crown prince was a +despised broken idol--a vessel in which was no pleasure; he should be +cast out, he and his children, into slavery in a land which he knew +not. The whole royal family, he said, would perish; none of them +should ever again prosper or sit upon the throne of David. This was +his message; shame and confusion, woe and ruin, to high and low; +every human being he passed in the street was a doomed man. For the +day of the Lord was at hand, and who should be able to escape it? + +A sad calling, truly, to have to work at; and all the more sad +because Jeremiah had no pride, no steadfast opinion of his own +excellence to keep him up. He hates his calling of prophet. At the +very moment he is foretelling woe, he prays God that his prophecy may +not come true; he tries every method to prevent its coming true, by +entreating his countrymen to repent. There runs through all his +awful words a vein of tenderness, and pity, and love unspeakable, +which to me is the one great mark of a true prophet; a sign that +Jeremiah spoke by the Spirit of God; a sign that too many writers +nowadays do not speak by the Spirit of God. If they rebuke the rich +and powerful, they do it generally in a very different spirit from +Jeremiah's--in a spirit of bitterness and insolence, not very easy to +describe, but easy enough to perceive. They seem to rejoice in evil, +to delight in finding fault, to be sorry, and not glad, when their +prophecies of evil turn out false; to try to set one class against +another, one party against another, as if we were not miserably +enough split up already by class interests and party spirit. They +are glad enough to rebuke the wicked great; but not to their face, +not to their own danger and hurt like Jeremiah. Their plan is to +accuse the rich to the poor, on their own platform, or in their own +newspaper, where they are safe; and, moreover, to make a very fair +profit thereby; to say behind the back of authorities that which they +dare not say to their face, and which they soon give up saying when +they have worked their own way into office; and meanwhile take mighty +credit to themselves for seeing that there is wrong and misery in the +world; as if the spirits in hell should fancy themselves righteous, +because they hated the devil! No, my friends, Jeremiah was of a very +different spirit from that. If he ever was tempted to it when he was +young, and began to fancy himself a very grand person, who had a +right to look down on his neighbours, because God had called him and +set him apart to be a prophet from his mother's womb, and revealed to +him the doom of nations, and the secrets of His providence--if he +ever fancied that in his heart, God led him through such an education +as took all the pride out of him, sternly and bitterly enough. He +was commissioned to go and speak terrible words, to curse kings and +nobles in the name of the Lord: but he was taught, too, that it was +not a pleasant calling, or one which was likely to pay him in this +life. His fellow-villagers plotted against his life. His wife +deserted him. The nobles threw him into a dungeon, into a well full +of mire, whence he had to be drawn up again with ropes to save his +life. He was beaten, all but starved, kept for years in prison. He +had neither child nor friend. He had his share of all the miseries +of the siege of Jerusalem, and all the horrors of its storm; and when +he was set free by Nebuchadnezzar, and clung to his ruined home, to +see if any good could still be done to the remnant of his countrymen, +he was violently carried off into a heathen land, and at last stoned +to death, by those very countrymen of his whom he had been trying for +years to save. In everything, and by everything, he was taught that +he was still a Jew, a brother to his sinful brothers; that their +sorrows were his sorrows, their shame his shame, their ruin his ruin. +In all their afflictions he was afflicted, even as his Lord was after +him. + +He struggled, we find, again and again against this strange and sad +calling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony that God had +deceived him; had induced him to become a prophet, and then repaid +him for speaking God's message with nothing but disappointment and +misery. And yet he felt he must speak; God, he said, was stronger +than he was, and forced him to it. He said: "I will speak no more +words in His name; but the Word of the Lord was as fire within his +bones, and would not let him rest;" and so, in spite of himself, he +told the truth, and suffered for it; and hated to have to tell it, +and pitied and loved the very country which he rebuked till he cursed +"the day in which he saw the light, and the hour in which it was said +to his father, there is a man-child born." You who fancy that it is +a fine thing, and a paying profession, to be a preacher of +righteousness and a rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and judge! For +as surely as you or any other man is sent by God to do Jeremiah's +work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah's wages. + +Do you think, then, that Jeremiah was a man only to be pitied? +Pitiable he was indeed, and sad. There was One hung on a cross +eighteen hundred years ago, more pitiable still: and yet He is the +Lord of heaven and earth. Yes; Jeremiah had a sad life to live, and +a sad task to work out; and yet, my friends, was not that a cheap +price to pay for the honour and glory of being taught by God's +Spirit, and of speaking God's words? I do not mean the mere honour +of having his fame and name spread over all Christ's kingdom; the +honour of having his writings read and respected by the wisest and +the holiest to the end of time; that mere earthly fame is but a +slight matter. I mean the real honour, the real glory, of knowing +what was utterly right and true, and therefore of knowing Him who is +utterly right and true; of knowing God; of knowing what God's +character is: that he is a living God, and not a dead one; a God who +is near and not absent at all, loving and merciful, just and +righteous, strong and mighty to save. Ay, my friends, this is the +lesson which God taught Jeremiah; to know the Lord of heaven and +earth, and to see His hand, His rule, in all that was happening to +his fellow-countrymen, and himself; to know that from the beginning +the Lord, the Saviour-God, Jehovah, the messenger of the covenant, He +who brought up the Jews out of Egypt, was the wise and just and +loving King of the Jews, and of all the nations upon earth; and that +some day or other He must and would conquer all the sinfulness, and +misery, and tyranny, and idolatry in the world, and show Himself +openly to men, and fulfil all the piteous longings after a just and +good king which poor wretches had ever felt, and all the glorious +promises of a just and good king which God had made to the wise men +of old time; and, therefore, in the midst of shame and persecution, +despair and ruin, Jeremiah could rejoice. Jehoiakim, the wicked +king, and all his royal house, might be driven out into slavery; +Jerusalem might become a heap of ruins and corpses; the fair land of +Judaea, and the village where he was bred, might become thorns, and +thistles, and heaps of stones; the vineyard which he loved, the +little estate at Anathoth which had belonged to him, might be trodden +down by the stranger, and he himself die in a foreign land; around +him might be nothing but sin and decay, before him nothing but +despair and ruin: yet still there was hope, joy, everlasting +certainty for that poor, childless, captive old man; for he had found +out that the Lord still lived, the Lord still reigned. He could not +lie; he could not forget his people. Could a mother forget her +sucking child? No. When the Jews turned to Him, He would still have +mercy. His punishment of them was a sign that he still cared for +them. If He had forgotten them, He would have let them go on +triumphant in their iniquity. No. All these afflictions were meant +to chasten them, teach them, bring them back to Him. It would be +good for them, an actual blessing to them, to be taken away into +captivity in Babylon. It might be hard to believe, but it must be +true. The Lord of Israel, the Saviour-God, who had been caring for +them so long, rising up early and sending His prophets to them, +pleading with them as a father with his child, He would have mercy; +He would teach them, in sorrow and slavery, the lesson they were too +rebellious and hard-hearted to learn in prosperity and freedom: that +the Lord was their righteousness, and that there was no other name +under heaven which could save them from the plague, and from the +famine, from the swords of the Chaldeans, or from the division, and +oppression, and brutishness, and manifold wickedness, which was their +ruin. And then Jeremiah saw and felt--how we cannot tell--but there +his words, the words of this text, stand to this day, to show that he +did see and feel it, that some day or other, in God's good time, the +Jews would have a true King--a very different king from Jehoiakim the +tyrant--a son of David in a very different sense from what Jehoiakim +was; that He would come, and must come, sooner or later, The unseen +King, who had all along been governing Jews and heathens, and telling +his prophets that Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, the Chaldee and the +Persian, were his servants as well as they, and that all the nations +of the earth could do but what he chose. "Behold the days come, +saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and +a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute justice and +judgment on the earth." + +This was the blessed knowledge which God gave Jeremiah in return for +all the misery he had to endure in warning his countrymen of their +sins. And this same blessed knowledge, the knowledge that the earth +is the Lord's, that to Jesus Christ is given, as He said Himself, all +power in heaven and earth, and that He is reigning, and must reign, +and conquer, and triumph till He has put all His enemies under His +feet, God will surely give to everyone, high or low, who follows +Jeremiah's example, who boldly and faithfully warns the sinner of his +way, who rebukes the wickedness which he sees around him: only he +must do it in the spirit of Jeremiah. He must not be insolent to the +insolent, or proud to the proud. He must not be puffed up, and fancy +that because he sees the evil of sin, and the certain ruin which is +the fruit of it, that he is therefore to keep apart from his fellow- +countrymen, and despise them in Pharisaic pride. No. The truly +Christian man, the man who, like Jeremiah, has the Spirit of God in +him, will feel the most intense pity and tenderness of sinners. He +will not only rebuke the sins of his people, but mourn for them; he +will be afflicted in all their affliction. However harshly he may +have to speak, he will never forget that they are his countrymen, his +brothers, children of the same Father, to be judged by the same Lord. +He will feel with shame and fear that he has in himself the root of +the very same sins which he sees working death around him--that if +others are covetous, he might be so too--if they be profligate, and +deceitful, and hypocritical, without God in the world, he might be so +too. And he must feel not only that he might be as bad as his +neighbours, but that he actually would be, if God withdrew His Spirit +from him for a moment, and allowed him to forget the only faith which +saves him from sin, loyalty to his unseen Saviour, the righteous King +of kings. Therefore he will not only rebuke his sinful neighbours; +but he will tell them, as Jeremiah told his countrymen, that all +their sin and misery proceed from this one thing, that they have +forgotten that the Lord is their King. He will pray daily for them, +that the Lord their King may show Himself to their hearts and +thoughts, and teach them all that He has done for them, and is doing +for them; and may convert them to Himself that they may be truly His +people, and His way may be known upon earth, His saving health among +all nations. + + + +XXX--THE PERFECT KING + + + +Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek, +and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.--MATTHEW +xxi. 5. + +You all know that this Sunday is called the First Sunday in Advent. +You all know, I hope, that Advent means coming, and that these four +Sundays before Christmas, as I have often told you, are called Advent +Sundays, because upon them we are called to consider the coming of +our King and Saviour Jesus Christ. If you will look at the Collects, +Epistles, and Gospels for these next four Sundays, you will see at +once that they all bear upon our Lord's coming. The Gospels tell us +of the prophecies about Christ which He fulfilled when He came. The +Epistles tell us what sort of men we ought to be, both clergy and +people, because He has come and will come again. The Collects pray +that the Spirit of God would make us fit to live and die in a world +into which Christ has come, and in which He is ruling now, and to +which He will come again. The text which I have taken this morning, +you just heard in this Sunday's Gospel. St. Matthew tells you that +Jesus Christ fulfilled it by riding into Jerusalem in state upon an +ass's colt; and St. Matthew surely speaks truth. Let us consider +what the prophecy is, and how Jesus Christ fulfilled it. Then we +shall see and believe from the Epistle what effect the knowledge of +it ought to have upon our own souls, and hearts, and daily conduct. + +Now this prophecy, "Behold, thy king cometh unto thee," etc., you +will find in your Bibles, in the ninth verse of the ninth chapter of +the book of Zechariah. But I do not think that Zechariah wrote it. +St. Matthew does not say he wrote it; he merely calls it that which +was spoken by the prophet, without mentioning his name. Provided it +is an inspired word from God, which it is, it perhaps does not matter +to us so much who wrote it: but I think it was written by the +prophet Jeremiah, perhaps in the beginning of the reign of the good +king Josiah; for the chapter in which this text is, and the two or +three chapters which follow, are not at all like the rest of +Zechariah's writings, but exactly like Jeremiah's. They certainly +seem to speak of things which did not happen in Zechariah's time, but +in the time of Jeremiah, nearly ninety years before. And, above all, +St. Matthew himself seems plainly to have thought that some part, at +least, of those chapters was Jeremiah's writing; for in the twenty- +seventh chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, and in the ninth verse, you +will find a prophecy about the potter's field, which St. Matthew says +was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Now, those words are not in the +book of Jeremiah as it stands in our Bibles: but they are in the +book of Zechariah, in the eleventh chapter, twelfth and thirteenth +verses, coming shortly after my text, and making a part of the same +prophecy. This has puzzled Christians very much, because it seemed +as if St. Matthew has made a mistake, and miscalled Zechariah +Jeremiah. But I believe firmly that, as we are bound to expect, St. +Matthew made no mistake whatsoever, and that Jeremiah did write that +prophecy as St. Matthew said, and the two chapters before it, and +perhaps the two after it, and that they were probably kept and +preserved by Zechariah during the troublous times of the Babylonish +captivity, and at last copied by Nehemiah into Zechariah's book of +prophecy, where they stand now; and I think it is a comfort to know +this, and to find that the evangelist St. Matthew has not made a +mistake, but knew the Scriptures better than we do. + +But I think Jeremiah having written this prophecy in my text, which I +believe he did, is also very important, because it will show us what +the prophet meant when he spoke it, and how it was fulfilled in his +time; and the better we understand that, the better we shall +understand how our blessed Lord fulfilled it afterwards. + +Now, when Jeremiah was a young man, the Jews and their king Amon were +in a state of most abominable wickedness. They were worshipping +every sort of idol and false god. And the Bible, the book of God's +law, was utterly unknown amongst them; so that Josiah the king, who +succeeded Amon, had never seen or heard the book of the law of Moses, +which makes part of our Old Testament, till he had reigned eighteen +years, as you will find if you refer to 2 Kings xxii. 3. But this +Josiah was a gentle and just prince, and finding the book of the law +of God, and seeing the abominable forgetfulness and idolatry into +which his people had fallen, utterly breaking the covenant which God +had made with their forefathers when he brought them up out of Egypt-- +when he found the book of the law, I say, and all that he and his +people should have done and had not done, and the awful curses which +God threatened in that book against those who broke His law, "he +humbled himself before God, because his heart was tender, and turned +to the Lord, as no king before him had ever turned," says the +scripture, "with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all +his might; so that there was no such king before him, or either after +him." The history of the great reformation which this great and good +king worked, you may read at length in 2 Kings xxii. xxiii. and 2 +Chron. xxxiv. xxxv. which I advise you all to read. + +And it appears to me that this prophecy in the text first applies to +the gentle and holy king Josiah, the first true and good king the +Jews had had for years, and the best they were ever to have till +Christ came Himself; and that it speaks of Josiah coming to Jerusalem +to restore the worship of God, not with pomp and show, like the +wicked kings both before and after him, but in meekness and +humbleness of heart, for all the sins of his people, as the +prophetess said of him in 2 Kings xxii. 19, "that his heart was +tender and humble before the Lord;" neither coming with chariots and +guards, like a king and conqueror, but riding upon an ass's colt; for +that was, in those countries, the ancient sign of a man's being a man +of peace, and not of war; a magistrate and lawgiver, and not a +soldier and a conqueror. Various places of holy scripture show us +that this was the meaning of riding upon an ass in Judaea, just as it +is in Eastern countries now. + +But some may say, How then is this a prophecy? It merely tells us +what good king Josiah was, and what every king ought to be. Well, my +friends, that is just what makes it a prophecy. If it tells you what +ought to be, it tells you what will be. Yes, never forget that; +whatever ought to be, surely will be; as surely as this is God's +earth and Christ's kingdom, and not the devil's. + +Now, it does not matter in the least whether the prophet, when he +spoke these words, knew that they would apply to the Lord Jesus +Christ. We have no need whatsoever to suppose that he did: for +scripture gives us no hint or warrant that he did; and if we have any +real or honest reverence for scripture, we shall be careful to let it +tell its own story, and believe that it contains all things necessary +for salvation, without our patching our own notions into it over and +above. Wise men are generally agreed that those old prophets did +not, for the most part, comprehend the full meaning of their own +words. Not that they were mere puppets and mouthpieces, speaking +what to them was nonsense--God forbid!--But that just because they +did thoroughly understand what was going on round them, and see +things as God saw them, just because they had God's Eternal Spirit +with them, therefore they spoke great and eternal words, which will +be true for ever, and will go on for ever fulfilling themselves for +more and more. For in proportion as any man's words are true, and +wide, and deep, they are truer, and wider, and deeper than that man +thinks, and will apply to a thousand matters of which he never +dreamt. And so in all true and righteous speech, as in the speeches +of the prophets of old, the glory is not man's who speaks them, but +God's who reveals them, and who fulfils them again and again. + +It is true, then, that this text describes what every king should be-- +gentle and humble, a merciful and righteous lawgiver, not a self- +willed and capricious tyrant. But Josiah could not fulfil that. He +was a good king: but he could not be a perfect one; for he was but a +poor, sinful, weak, and inconsistent man, as we are. But those words +being inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be fulfilled. There ought to +be a perfect king, perfectly gentle and humble, having a perfect +salvation, a perfect lawgiver; and therefore there must be such a +king; and therefore St. Matthew tells us there came at last a perfect +king--one who fulfilled perfectly the prophet's words--one who was +not made king of Jerusalem, but was her King from the beginning; for +that is the full meaning of "Thy King cometh to thee." To Jerusalem +He came, riding on the ass's colt, like the peaceful and fatherly +judges of old time, for a sign to the poor souls round Him, who had +no lawgivers but the proud and fierce Scribes and Pharisees, no king +but the cruel and godless Caesar, and his oppressive and extortionate +officers and troops. Meek and lowly He came; and for once the people +saw that He was the true Son of David--a man and king, like him, +after God's own heart. For once they felt that He had come in the +name of the Lord the old Deliverer who brought them out of the land +of Egypt, and made them into a nation, and loved and pitied them +still, in spite of all their sins, and remembered His covenant, which +they had forgotten. And before that humble man, the Son of the +village maiden, they cried: "Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed +is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest." + +And do you think He came, the true and perfect King, only to go away +again and leave this world as it was before, without a law, a ruler, +a heavenly kingdom? God forbid! Jesus is the same yesterday, to- +day, and for ever. What He was then, when He rode in triumph into +Jerusalem, that is He now to us this day--a king, meek and lowly, and +having salvation; the head and founder of a kingdom which can never +be moved, a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is +God. To that kingdom this land of England now belongs. Into it we, +as Englishmen, have been christened. And the unchristened, though +they know not of it, belong to it as well. What God's will, what +Christ's mercies may be to them, we know not. That He has mercy for +them, if their ignorance is not their own fault, we doubt not; +perhaps, even if their ignorance be their own fault, we need not +doubt that He has mercy for them, considering the mercy which He has +shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His will to us we +do know; and His will is this--our holiness. For He came not only to +assert His own power, to redeem his own world, but to set His people, +the children of men, an example, that they should follow in His +steps. Herein, too, He is the perfect king. He leads His subjects, +He sets a perfect example to His subjects, and more, He inspires them +with the power of following that example, as, if you will think, a +perfect ruler ought to be able to do. Josiah set the Jews an +example, but he could not make them follow it. They turned to God at +the bidding of their good king, with their lips, in their outward +conduct; but their hearts were still far from Him. Jeremiah +complains bitterly of this in the beginning of his prophecies. He +complains that Josiah's reformation was after all empty, hollow, +hypocritical, a change on the surface only, while the wicked root was +left. They had healed, he said, the hurt of the daughter of his +people slightly, crying, "Peace, peace, when there was no peace." +But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of men's spirits as well as of +their bodies. He can turn the heart, He can renew the soul. None so +ignorant, none so sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits, but +the Lord will and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him, +strengthen him, if he will but claim his share in his King's mercy, +his citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune +again with himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all therein. + +Keeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our perfect +King, is both the example and the inspirer of our souls and +characters, we may look without fear at the epistle for the day, +where it calls on us to be very different persons from what we are, +and declares to us our duty as subjects of Him who is meek and lowly, +just and having salvation. It is no superstitious, slavish message, +saying: "You have lost Christ's mercy and Christ's kingdom; you must +buy it back again by sacrifices, and tears, and hard penances, or +great alms-deeds and works of mercy." No. It simply says: "You +belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to Him and follow His +example. If He is perfect, His is the example to follow; if he is +perfect, His commandments must be perfect, fit for all places, all +times, all employments; if He is the King of heaven and earth, His +commandments must be in tune with heaven and earth, with the laws of +nature, the true laws of society and trade, with the constitution, +and business, and duty, and happiness of all mankind, and for ever +obey Him." + +Owe no man anything save love, for He owed no man anything. He gave +up all, even His own rights, for a time, for His subjects. Will you +pretend to follow Him while you hold back from your brothers and +fellow-servants their just due? One debt you must always owe; one +debt will grow the more you pay it, and become more delightful to +owe, the greater and heavier you feel it to be, and that is love; +love to all around you, for all around you are your brothers and +sisters; all around you are the beloved subjects of your King and +Saviour. Love them as you love yourself, and then you cannot harm +them, you cannot tyrannise over them, you cannot wish to rise by +scrambling up on their shoulders, taking the bread out of their +mouths, making your profit out of their weakness and their need. +This, St. Paul says, was the duty of men in his time, because the +night of heathendom was far spent, the day of Christianity and the +Church was at hand. Much more is it our duty now--our duty, who have +been born in the full sunshine of Christianity, christened into His +church as children, we and our fathers before us, for generations, of +the kingdom of God. Ay, my friends, these words, that kingdom, that +King, witness this day against this land of England. Not merely +against popery, the mote which we are trying to take out of the +foreigner's eye, but against Mammon, the beam which we are +overlooking in our own. Owe no man anything save love. "Thou shalt +love thy neighbour as thyself." That is the law of your King, who +loved not Himself or His own profit, His own glory, but gave Himself +even to death for those who had forgotten Him and rebelled against +Him. That law witnesses against selfishness and idleness in rich and +poor. It witnesses against the employer who grinds down his workmen; +who, as the world tells him he has a right to do, takes advantage of +their numbers, their ignorance, their low and reckless habits, to +rise upon their fall, and grow rich out of their poverty. It +witnesses against the tradesman who tries to draw away his +neighbour's custom. It witnesses against the working man who spends +in the alehouse the wages which might support and raise his children, +and then falls back recklessly and dishonestly on the parish rates +and the alms of the charitable. Against them all this law witnesses. +These things are unfit for the kingdom of Christ, contrary to the +laws and constitution thereof, hateful to the King thereof; and if a +nation will not amend these abominations, the King will arise out of +His place, and with sore judgments and terrible He will visit His +land and purify His temple, saying: "My Father's house should be a +house of prayer, and ye have made it a den of thieves." Ay, woe to +any soul, or to any nation, which, instead of putting on the Lord +Jesus Christ, copying His example, obeying His laws, and living +worthy of His kingdom, not only in the church, but in the market, the +shop, the senate, or the palace, give themselves up to covetousness, +which is idolatry; and care only to make provision for the flesh, to +fulfil the lusts thereof. Woe to them; for, let them be what they +will, their King cannot change. He is still meek and lowly; He is +still just and having salvation; and He will purge out of His kingdom +all that is not like Himself, the unchaste and the idle, the unjust +and the unmerciful, and the covetous man, who is an idolater, says +the scripture, though he may call himself seven times a Protestant, +and rail at the Pope in public meetings, while he justifies +greediness and tyranny by glib words about the necessities of +business and the laws of trade, and by philosophy falsely so called, +which cometh not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Such +a man loves and makes a lie, and the Lord of truth will surely send +him to his own place. + + + +XXXI--GOD'S WARNINGS + + + +It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I +purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil +way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.--JEREMIAH +xxxvi. 3. + +The first lesson for this evening's service tells us of the +wickedness of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. How, when Jeremiah's +prophecies against the sins of Jehoiakim and his people were read +before him, he cut the roll with a penknife, and threw it into the +fire. Now, we must not look on this story as one which, because it +happened among the Jews many hundred years ago, has nothing to do +with us; for, as I continually remind you, the history of the Jews, +and the whole Old Testament, is the history of God's dealings with +man--the account of God's plan of governing this world. Now, God +cannot change; but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and +therefore His plan of government cannot change: but if men do as +those did of whom we read in the Old Testament, God will surely deal +with them as He dealt with the men of the Old Testament. This St. +Paul tells us most plainly in the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, +where he says that the whole history of the Jews was written for our +example--that is for the example of those Christian Corinthians, who +were not Jews at all, but Gentiles as we are; and therefore for our +example also. + +He tells them, that it was Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who +fed and guided the old Jews in the wilderness, and that the Lord will +deal with us exactly as He dealt with the old Jews. + +Therefore it is a great and fearful mistake, to suppose that because +the Jews were a peculiar people and God's chosen nation, that +therefore the Lord's way of governing them is in any wise different +from His way of governing us English at this very day; for that fancy +is contrary to the express words of Holy Scripture, in a hundred +different places; it is contrary to the whole spirit of our Prayer +Book, which is written all through on the belief that the Lord deals +with us just as He did with the Jewish nation, and which will not +even make sense if it be understood in any other way; and besides, it +is most dangerous to the souls and consciences of men. It is most +dangerous for us to fancy that God can change; for if God can change, +right and wrong can change; for right is the will of God, and wrong +is what is against His will; and if we once let into our hearts the +notion that God can change His laws of right, our consciences will +become daily dimmer and more confused about right and wrong, till we +fall, as too many do, under the prophet's curse, "Woe to them who +call good evil, and evil good; who put sweet for bitter, and bitter +for sweet," and fancy, like Ezekiel's Jews, that God's ways are +unequal; that is, unlike each other, changeable, arbitrary, and +capricious, doing one thing at one time, and another at another. No. +It is sinful man who is changeable; it is sinful man who is +arbitrary. But The Lord is not a man, that He should lie or repent; +for He is the only-begotten Son, and therefore the express likeness, +of The Everlasting Father, in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of +turning. + +But some may say, Is not that a gloomy and terrible notion of God, +that He cannot change His purpose? Is not that as much as to say +that there is a dark necessity hanging over each of us; that a man +must just be what God chooses, and do just what He has ordained to +do, and go to everlasting happiness or misery exactly as God has +foreordained from all eternity, so that there is no use trying to do +right, or not to do wrong? If I am to be saved, say such people, I +shall be saved whether I try or not; and if I am to be damned, I +shall be damned whether I try or not. I am in God's hands like clay +in the hands of the potter; and what I am like is therefore God's +business, and not mine. + +No, my friends, the very texts in the Bible which tell us that God +cannot change or repent, tell us what it is that He cannot change in-- +in showing loving-kindness and tender mercy, long-suffering, and +repenting of the evil. Whatsoever else He cannot repent of, He +cannot repent of repenting of the evil. + +It is true, we are in His hand as clay in the hand of the potter. +But it is a sad misreading of scripture to make that mean that we are +to sit with our hands folded, careless about our own way and conduct; +still less that we are to give ourselves up to despair, because we +have sinned against God; for what is the very verse which follows +after that? Listen. "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as +this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of +the potter, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant +I shall speak concerning a kingdom, to pull down and destroy it; if +that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I +will repent of the evil which I thought to do to them. And at what +instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, +to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not +my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would +benefit them." + +So that the lesson which we are to draw from the parable of the +potter's clay is just the exact opposite which some men draw. Not +that God's decrees are absolute: but that they are conditional, and +depend on our good or evil conduct. Not that His election or His +reprobation are unalterable, but that they alter "at that instant" at +which man alters. Not that His grace and will are irresistible, as +the foolish man against whom St. Paul argues fancies: but that we +can resist God's will, and that our destruction comes only by +resisting His will; in short, that God's will is no brute material +necessity and fate, but the will of a living, loving Father. + +And the very same lesson is taught us in Ezek. xviii., of which I +spoke just now; for if we read that chapter we shall find that the +Jews had a false notion of God that He had changed His character, and +had become in their time unmerciful and unjust. They fancied that +God was, if I may so speak, obstinate--that if His anger had once +arisen, there was no turning it away, but that He would go on without +pity, punishing the innocent children for their father's sin; and +therefore they fancied God's ways were unfair, self-willed, and +arbitrary, without any care of what sort of person He afflicted; +punishing the righteous as well as the wicked, after He had promised +in His law to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. They +fancied that His way of governing the world had changed, and that He +did not in their days make a difference between the bad and the good. +Therefore Ezekiel says to them: "When the righteous man turneth away +from his righteousness, he shall die." "When the wicked man turneth +away from his wickedness, he shall live." "Have I any pleasure at +all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God, and not that he +should return from his ways, and live?" + +This, then, is the good news, that God is love; love when He +punishes, and love when He forgives; very pitiful, and full of long- +suffering and tender mercy and repenting Him, never of the good, but +only of the evil which He threatens. + +Both Jeremiah, therefore, and Ezekiel, give us the same lesson. God +does not change, and therefore He never changes His mercy and His +justice: for He is merciful because He is just. If we confess our +sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That is His +everlasting law, and has been from the beginning: Punishment, sure +and certain, for those who do not repent; and free forgiveness, sure +and certain also, for those who do repent. + +So He spoke to Jeremiah in the time of Jehoiakim: "It may be that +the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose to do to +them; that I may forgive them their iniquity and their sin." The +Lord, you see, wishes to forgive--longs to forgive. His heart yearns +over sinful men as a father's over his rebellious child. But if they +will still rebel, if they will still turn their wicked wills away +from Him, He must punish. Why we know not; but He knows. Punish He +must, unless we repent--unless we turn our wills toward His will. +And woe to the stiff-necked and stout-hearted man who, like the +wicked king Jehoiakim, sets his face like a flint against God's +warnings. How many, how many behave for years, Sunday after Sunday, +just as king Jehoiakim did! When he heard that God had threatened +him with ruin for his sins, he heard also that God offered him free +pardon if he would repent. Jeremiah gave him free choice to be saved +or to be ruined; but his heart and will were hardened. Hearing that +he was wrong only made him angry. His pride and self-will were hurt +by being told that he must change and alter his ways. He had chosen +his way, and he would keep to it; and he cared nothing for God's +offers of forgiveness, because he could not be forgiven unless he did +what he was too proud to do, confess himself to be in the wrong, and +openly alter his conduct. And how many, as I first said, are like +him! They come to church; they hear God's warnings and threats +against their evil ways; they hear God's offers of free pardon and +forgiveness; but being told that they are in the wrong makes them too +angry to care for God's offers of pardon. Pride stops their cars. +They have chosen their own way, and they will keep it. They would +not object to be forgiven, if they might be forgiven without +repenting. But they do not like to confess themselves in the wrong. +They do not like to face their foolish companions' remarks and sneers +about their changed ways. They do not like even good people to say +of them: "You see now that you were in the wrong after all; for you +have altered your mind and your doings yourself, as we told you you +would have to do." No; anything sooner than confess themselves in +the wrong; and so they turn their backs on God's mercy, for the sake +of their own carnal pride and self-will. + +But, of course, they want an excuse for doing that; and when a man +wants an excuse, the devil will soon fit him with a good one. Then, +perhaps, the foolish sinner behaves as Jehoiakim did. He tries to +forget God's message in the man who brings it. He grows angry with +the preacher, or goes out and laughs at the preacher when service is +over, as if it was the preacher's fault that God had declared what he +has; as if it was the preacher's doing that God has revealed His +anger against all sin and unrighteousness. So he acts like +Jehoiakim, who tried to take Jeremiah the prophet and punish HIM, for +what not he but the Lord God had declared. Nay, they will often +peevishly hate the very sight of a good book, because it reminds them +of the sins of which they do not choose to be reminded, just as the +young king Jehoiakim was childish enough to vent his spite on +Jeremiah's book of prophecies, by cutting the roll on which it was +written with a penknife, and throwing it into the fire. So do +sinners who are angry with the preacher who warns them, or hate the +sight of good books. But let such foolish and wilful sinners, such +full-grown children--for, after all, they are no better--hear the +word of the Lord which came to Jehoiakim: "As it is written, he that +despiseth Me shall be despised, saith the Lord." And let them not +fancy that their shutting their ears will shut the preacher's mouth, +still less shut up God's everlasting laws of punishment for sin. No. +God's word stands true, and it will happen to them as it did to +Jehoiakim. His burning Jeremiah's book did not rid him of the book, +or save him from the woe and ruin which was prophesied in it; for we +have Jeremiah's book here in our Bibles to this day, as a sign and a +warning of what happens to men, be they young or old, be they kings +or labouring men, who fight against God. Jeremiah's words were not +lost after all; they were all re-written, and there were added to +them also many more like words; for Jehoiakim, by refusing the Lord's +offer of pardon, had added to his sins, and therefore the Lord added +to his punishment. + +Perhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another excuse, and +the man says to himself, as the Jews did in Ezekiel's time: "The +fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on +edge. It is not my own fault that I am living a bad life, but other +people's. My parents ought to have brought me up better. I have had +no chance. My companions taught me too much harm. I have too much +trouble to get my living; or, I was born with a bad temper; or, I +can't help running after pleasure. Why did God make me the sort of +man I am, and put me where I am? God is hard upon me; He is unfair +to me. His ways are unequal; He expects as much of me as He does of +people who have more opportunities. He threatens to punish me for +other people's sins." + +And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and the +devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: "God does not care for +me; God hates me. Luck, and everything else is against me. There +seems to be some curse upon me. Why should I change? Let God change +first to me, and then I will change toward Him. But God will not +change; He is determined to have no mercy on me. I can see that; for +everything goes wrong with me. Then what use in my repenting? I +will just go my own way, and what must be must. There is no +resisting God's will. If I am to be saved, I shall be; if I am to be +damned, I shall be. I will put all melancholy thoughts out of my +head, and go and enjoy myself and forget all. At all events, it +won't last long: 'Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die.'" + +Oh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such +thoughts? Then hear the word of the Lord to you: "When--whensoever-- +whensoever the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he +hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall +save his soul alive." "Have I any pleasure in the death of him that +dieth? saith the Lord, and not rather that he should be converted, +and live?" True, most true, that the Lord is unchangeable: but it +is in love and mercy. True, that God's will and law cannot alter: +but what is God's will and law? The soul that sinneth, it shall die? +Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from its sin, it shall +live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that God hates you. +Never believe him when he tells you that God has been too hard on +you, and put you into such temptation, or ignorance, or poverty, or +anything else, that you cannot mend. No. That font there will give +the devil the lie. That font says: "Be you poor, tempted, ignorant, +stupid, be you what you will, you are God's child--your Father's love +is over you, His mercy is ready for you." You feel too weak to +change; ask God's Spirit, and He will give you a strength of mind you +never felt before. You feel too proud to change; ask God's Spirit, +and He will humble your proud heart, and soften your hard heart; and +you will find to your surprise, that when your pride is gone, when +you are utterly ashamed of yourself, and see your sins in their true +blackness, and feel not worthy to look up to God, that then, instead +of pride, will come a nobler, holier, manlier feeling--self-respect, +and a clear conscience, and the thought that, weak and sinful as you +are, you are in the right way; that God, and the angels of God, are +smiling on you; that you are in tune again with all heaven and earth, +because you are what God wills you to be--not His proud, peevish, +self-willed child, fancying yourself strong enough to go alone, when +in reality you are the slave of your own passions and appetites, and +the plaything of the devil: but His loving, loyal son, strong in the +strength which God gives you, and able to do what you will, because +what you will God wills also. + + + +XXXII--PHARAOH'S HEART + + + +And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people +go.--Exodus ix. 17. + +What lesson, now, can we draw from this story? One, at least, and a +very important one. What effect did all these signs and wonders of +God's sending, have upon Pharaoh and his servants? Did they make +them better men or worse men? We read that they made them worse men; +that they helped to harden their hearts. We read that the Lord +hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of +Israel go. Now, how did the Lord do that? He did not wish and mean +to make Pharaoh more hard-hearted, more wicked. That is impossible. +God, who is all goodness and love, never can wish to make any human +being one atom worse than he is. He who so loved the world that He +came down on earth to die for sinners, and take away the sins of the +world, would never make any human being a greater sinner than he was +before. That is impossible, and horrible to think of. Therefore, +when we read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, we must be +certain that that was Pharaoh's own fault; and so, we read, it was +Pharaoh's own fault. The Lord did not bring all these plagues on +Egypt without giving Pharaoh fair warning. Before each plague, He +sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that the plague was coming. The Lord told +Pharaoh that He was his Master, and the Master and Lord of the whole +earth; that the children of Israel belonged to Him, and the Egyptians +too; that the river, light and darkness, the weather, the crops, and +the insects, and the locusts belonged to Him; that all diseases which +afflict man and beast were in His power. And the Lord proved that +His words were true, in a way Pharaoh could not mistake, by changing +the river into blood, and sending darkness, and hailstones, and +plagues of lice and flies, and at last by killing the firstborn of +all the Egyptians. The Lord gave Pharaoh every chance; He +condescended to argue with him as one man would with another, and +proved His word to be true, and proved that He had a right to command +Pharaoh. And therefore, I say, if Pharaoh's heart was hardened, it +was his own fault, for the Lord was plainly trying to soften it, and +to bring him to reason. And the Bible says distinctly that it was +Pharaoh's own fault. For it says that Pharaoh hardened his own +heart, he and his servants, and therefore they would not let the +children of Israel go. Now how could Pharaoh harden his own heart, +and yet the Lord harden it at the same time? + +Just in the same way, my friends, as too many of us are apt to make +the Lord harden our hearts by hardening them ourselves, and to make, +as Pharaoh did, the very things which the Lord sends to soften us, +the causes of our becoming more stubborn; the very things which the +Lord sends to bring us to reason, the means of our becoming more mad +and foolish. Believe me, my friends, this is no old story with which +we have nothing to do. What happened to Pharaoh's heart may happen +to yours, or mine, or any man's. Alas! alas! it does happen to many +a man's and woman's heart every day--and may the Lord have mercy on +them before it be too late,--and yet how can the Lord have mercy on +those who will not let Him have mercy on them? + +What do I mean? This is what I mean, my friends; Oh, listen to it, +and take it solemnly to heart, you who are living still in sin; take +it to heart, lest you, like Pharaoh, die in your sins, and your +latter end will be worse than your beginning. + +Suppose a man to be going on in some sinful habit; cheating his +neighbours, grinding his labourers, or getting tipsy, or living with +a woman without being married to her. He comes to church, and there +he hears the word of the Lord, by the Bible, or in sermons, telling +him that God commands him to give up his sin, that God will certainly +punish him if he does not repent and amend. God sends that message +to him in love and mercy, to soften his heart by the terrors of the +law, and turn him from his sin. But what does the man feel? He +feels angry and provoked; angry with the preacher; ay, angry with the +Bible itself, with God's words. For he hates to hear the words which +tell him of his sin; he wishes they were not in the Bible; he longs +to stop the preacher's mouth; and, as he cannot do that, he dislikes +going to church. He says: "I cannot, and what is more, I will not, +give up my sinful ways, and therefore I shall not go to church to be +told of them." So he stops away from church, and goes on in his +sins. So that man's heart is hardened, just as Pharaoh's was. Yet +the Lord has come and spoken to that sinful man in loving warnings: +though all the effect it has had is that the Lord's message has made +him worse than he was before, more stubborn, more godless, more +unwilling to hear what is good. But men may fall into a still worse +state of mind. They may determine to set the Lord at naught; to hear +Him speaking to their conscience, and know that He is right and they +wrong, and yet quietly put the good thoughts and feelings out of +their way, and go in the course which they know to be the worst. How +many a man in business or the world says to himself, ay, and in his +better moments will say to his friend: "Ah, yes, if one could but be +what one would wish to be. . . . What one's mother used to say one +might be. . . . But for such a world as this, the gospel ideal is +somewhat too fine and unpractical. One has one's business to carry +on, or one's family to provide for, or one's party in politics to +serve; one must obey the laws of trade, the usages of society, the +interests of one's class;" and so forth. And so an excuse is found +for every sin, by those who know in their hearts that they are +sinning; for every sin; and among others, too often, for that sin of +Pharaoh's, of "NOT LETTING THE PEOPLE GO." + +And how many, my friends, when they come to church, harden their +hearts in the same quiet, almost good-humoured way, not caring enough +for God's message to be even angry with it, and take the preacher's +warnings as they would a shower of rain, as something unpleasant +which cannot be helped; and which, therefore, they must sit out +patiently, and think about it as little as possible? And when the +sermon is over, they take their hats and go out into the churchyard, +and begin talking about something else as quickly as possible, to +drive the unpleasant thoughts, if there are a few left, out of their +heads. And thus they let the Lord's message to them harden their +hearts. For it does harden them, my friends, if it be taken in this +temper. Every time anyone sits through the service or the sermon in +this stupid and careless mood, he dulls and deadens his soul, till at +last he is able coolly to sit through the most awful warnings of +God's judgment, the most tender entreaties of God's love, as if he +were a brute animal without understanding. Ay, he is able to make +the responses to the commandments, and join in the psalms, and so +with his own mouth, before the whole congregation, confess that God's +curse is on his doings, with no more sense or care of what the words +mean, and of what a sentence he is pronouncing against himself, than +if he were a parrot taught to speak by rote words which he does not +understand. And so that man, by hardening his own heart, makes the +Lord harden it for him. + +But there is a third way, and a worse way still, in which people's +hearts are hardened by the Lord's speaking to them. A man is warned +of his sins by the preacher; and he says to himself: "If the +minister thinks that he is going to frighten me away from church, he +is very much mistaken. He may go his way, and I shall go mine. Let +him preach at me as much as he will; I shall go to church all the +more for that, to show him that I am not afraid." And so the Lord's +warnings harden his heart, and provoke him to set his face like a +flint, and become all the more proud and stubborn. + +Now, young people, I speak openly to you as man to man. Will you +tell me that this was not the very way in which some of you took my +sermon last Sunday afternoon, in which I warned you of the misery +which your sinful lives would bring upon you? Was there not more +than one of you, who, as soon as he got outside the church, began +laughing and swaggering, and said to the lad next him: "Well, he +gave it us well in his sermon this afternoon, did he not? But I +don't care; do you?" + +To which the other foolish fellow answered: "Not I. It is his +business to talk like that; he is paid for it, and I suppose he likes +it. So if he does what he likes, we shall do what we like. Come +along." And at that all the other foolish fellows round burst out +laughing, as if the poor lad had said a very clever thing; and they +all went off together, having their hearts hardened by the Lord's +warning to them, as Pharaoh's was. + +And they showed, I am afraid, that very evening that their hearts +were hardened. For out of a sort of spite and stubbornness they took +a delight in doing what was wrong, just because they had been told +that it was wrong, and because they were determined to show that they +would not be frightened or turned from what they chose. + +And all the while they knew that it was wrong, did those poor foolish +lads. If you had asked one of them openly, "Do you not know that God +has forbidden you to do this?" they would have either been forced to +say, "Yes," or else they would have tried to laugh the matter off, or +perhaps held their tongues and looked silly, or perhaps again +answered insolently; showing by each and all of these ways of taking +it, that the Lord's message had come home to their consciences, and +convinced them of their sin, though they were determined not to own +it or obey it. And the way they would have put the matter by and +excused themselves to themselves would have been just the way in +which Pharaoh did it. They would have tried to forget that the Lord +had warned them, and tried to make out to themselves that it was all +the preacher's doing, and to make it a personal quarrel between him +and them. Just so Pharaoh did when he hardened his heart. He made +the Lord's message a ground for hating and threatening Moses and +Aaron, as if it was any fault of theirs. He knew in his heart that +the Lord had sent them; but he tried to forget that, and drove them +out from his presence, and told them that if they dared to appear +before him again they should surely die. And just so, my friends, +people will be angry with the preacher for telling them unpleasant +truths, as if it was any more pleasure to him to speak than for them +to hear. Oh, why will you forget that the words which I speak from +this pulpit are not my words, but God's? It is not I who warn you of +what you are bringing on yourselves by your sins, it is God Himself. +There it is written in His Bible--judge for yourselves. Read your +Bibles for yourselves, and you will see that I am not speaking my own +thoughts and words. And as for being angry with me for telling you +truth, read the ordination service which is read whenever a clergyman +is ordained, and judge for yourselves. What is a clergyman sent into +the world for at all, but to say to you what I am saying now? What +should I be but a hypocrite and a traitor to the blessed Lord who +died for me, and saved me from my sins, and ordained me to preach to +sinners, that they too may be saved from their sins,--what should I +be but a traitor to Him, if I did not say to you, whenever I see you +going wrong: + +"O come, let us worship, and fall down and kneel before the Lord our +Maker. + +"For He is the Lord our God; and we are the people of His pasture, +and the sheep of His hand. + +"To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, + +"Lest He sware in His wrath that you shall not enter into His rest!" + +And now, my friends, I will tell you what will happen to you. You +see that I know something, without having been told of what has been +going on in your hearts. I beseech you, believe me when I tell you +what will go on in them. God will chastise you for your sins. He +will; just because He loves you, and does not hate you; just because +you are His children, and not dumb animals born to perish. Troubles +will come upon you as you grow older. Of what sort they will be I +cannot tell; but that they will come, I can tell full well. And when +the Lord sends trouble to you, shall it harden your hearts or soften +them? It depends on you, altogether on you, whether the Lord hardens +your hearts by sending those sorrows, or whether He softens and turns +them and brings them back to the only right place for them--home to +Him. But your trouble may only harden your heart all the more. The +sorrows and sore judgments which the Lord sent Pharaoh only hardened +his heart. It all depends upon the way in which you take these +troubles, my friends. And that not so much when they come as after +they come. Almost all, let their hearts be right with God or not, +seem to take sorrow as they ought, while the sorrow is on them. +Pharaoh did so too. He said to Moses and Aaron: "I have sinned this +time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. +Entreat the Lord that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; +and I will let you go." What could be more right or better spoken? +Was not Pharaoh in a proper state of mind then? Was not his heart +humbled, and his will resigned to God? Moses thought not. For while +he promised Pharaoh to pray that the storm might pass over, yet he +warned him: "But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will +not yet fear the Lord your God." And so it happened; for, "when +Pharaoh saw that the rain, and hail, and thunder had ceased, he +sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. +Neither would he let the children of Israel go." . . . And so, alas! +it happens to many a man and woman nowadays. They find themselves on +a sick-bed. They are in fear of death, in fear of poverty, in fear +of shame and punishment for their misdeeds. And then they say: "It +is God's judgment. I have been very wicked. I know God is punishing +me. Oh, if God will but raise me up off this sick-bed; if He will +but help me out of this trouble, I will give up all my wicked ways. +I will repent and amend." So said Pharaoh; and yet, as soon as he +was safe out of his distress, he hardened his heart. And so does +many a man and woman, who, when they get safe through their troubles, +never give up one of their sins, any more than Pharaoh did. They +really believe that God has punished them. They really intend to +amend, while they are in the trouble: but as soon as they are out of +it, they try to persuade themselves that it was not God who sent the +sorrow, that it came "by accident," or that "people must have trouble +in this life," or that "if they had taken better care, they might +have prevented it."--All of them excuses to themselves for forgetting +God in the matter, and, therefore, for forgetting what they promised +to God in trouble; and so, after all, they go on just as they went on +before. And yet not as they went on before. For every such sin +hardens their hearts; every such sin makes them less able to see +God's hand in what happens to them; every such sin makes them more +bold and confident in disobeying God, and saying to themselves: +"After all, why should I be so frightened when I am in trouble, and +make such promises to amend my life? For the trouble goes away, +whether I mend my life or not; and nothing happens to me; God does +not punish me for not keeping my promises to Him. I may as well go +on in my own way, for I seem not the worse off in body or in purse +for so doing." Thus do people harden their hearts after each +trouble, as Pharaoh did; so that you will see people, by one +affliction after another, one loss after another, all their lives +through, warned by God that sin will not prosper them; and confessing +that their sins have brought God's punishment on them: and yet going +on steadily in the very sins which have brought on their troubles, +and gaining besides, as time runs on, a heart more and more hardened. +And why? + +Because they, like Pharaoh, love to have their own way. They will +not submit to God, and do what He bids them, and believe that what He +bids them must be right--good for them, and for all around them. + +They promised to mend. But they promised as Pharaoh did. "If God +will take away this trouble, then I will mend"--meaning, though they +do not dare to say it: "And if God will not take away this trouble, +of course He cannot expect me to mend." In plain English--If God +will not act toward them as they like, then they will not act toward +Him as He likes. My friends, God does not need us to bargain with +Him. We must obey Him whether we like it or not; whether it seems to +pay us or not; whether He takes our trouble off us or not; we must +obey, for He is the Lord; and if we will not obey, He will prove His +power on us, as He did on Pharaoh, by showing plainly what is the end +of those who resist His will. + +What, then, are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly +will some day bring us, into trouble? + +What we ought to have done at first, my friends. What we ought to +have done in the wild days of youth, and so have saved ourselves many +a dark day, many a sleepless night, many a bitter shame and +heartache. To open our eyes, and see that the only thing for men and +women, whom God has made, is to obey the God who has made them. He +is the Lord. He has made us. He will have us do one thing. How can +we hope to prosper by doing anything else? It is ill fighting +against God. Which is the stronger, my friends, you or God? Make up +your minds on that. It surely will not take you long. + +But someone may say: "I do wish and long to obey God; but I am so +weak, and my sins have so entangled me with bad company, or debts, +or--, or--." We all know, alas! into what a net everyone who gives +way to sin gets his feet: "And therefore I cannot obey God. I long +to do so. I feel, I know, when I look back, that all my sin, and +shame, and unhappiness, come from being proud and self-willed, and +determined to have my own way, and do what I choose. But I cannot +mend." Do not despair, poor soul! I had a thousand times sooner +hear you say you cannot mend, than that you can. For those who say +they can mend, are apt to say: "I can mend; and therefore I shall +mend when I choose, and no sooner." But those who really feel they +cannot mend--those who are really weary and worn out with the burden +of their sins--those who are really tired out with their own +wilfulness, and feel ready to lie down and die, like a spent horse, +and say: "God, take me away, no matter to what place; I am not fit +to live here on earth, a shame and a torment to myself day and +night"--those who are in that state of mind, are very near--very near +finding out glorious news. + +Those who cannot mend themselves and know it, God will mend. God +will mend your lives for you. He knows as well as you what you have +to struggle against; ay, a thousand times better. He knows--what +does He not know? Pray to Him, and try what He does not know. Cry +to Him to rid you of your bad companions; He will find a way of doing +it. Cry to Him to bring you out of the temptations you feel too +strong for you; He will find a way for doing it. Cry to Him to teach +you what you ought to do, and He will send someone, and that the +right person, doubt it not, to teach you in His own good time. Above +all, cry and pray to Him to conquer the pride, and self-conceit, and +wilfulness in your heart; to take the hard proud heart of stone out +of you, and give you instead a heart of flesh, loving, and tender, +and kindly to every human creature; and He will do it. Cry to Him to +make your will like His own will, that you may love what He loves, +and hate what He hates, and do what He wishes you to do. And then +you will surely find my words come true: "Those who long to mend, +and yet know that they cannot mend themselves, let them but pray, and +God will mend them." + + + +XXXIII--THE RED SEA TRIUMPH + + + +Preached Easter-day Morning, 1852. + +This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing the +children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.--EXODUS xii. 42. + +You all, my friends, know what is the meaning of Easter-day--that it +is the Day on which The Lord rose again from the dead. You must have +seen that most of the special services for this day, the Collect, +Epistle, and Gospel, and the second lessons, both morning and +evening, reminded you of Christ's rising again; and so did the proper +Psalms for this day, though it may seem at first sight more difficult +to see what they have to do with the Lord's rising again. + +Now the first lessons, both for the morning and evening services, +were also meant to remind us of the very same thing, though it may +seem even more difficult still, at first sight, to understand how +they do so. + +Let us see what these two first lessons are about. The morning one +was from the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and told us what the Passover +was, and what it meant. The first lesson for this afternoon was the +fourteenth chapter of Exodus. Surely you must remember it. Surely +the most careless of you must have listened to that glorious story, +how the Jews went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, +while Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, trying to follow them, were +overwhelmed in the water. Surely you cannot have heard how the poor +Jews looked back from the farther shore, and hardly believed their +own eyes for joy and wonder, when they saw their proud masters swept +away for ever, and themselves safe and free out of the hateful land +where they had been slaves for hundreds of years. You cannot surely, +my friends, have heard that glorious story, and forgotten it again +already. I hope not; for God knows, that tale of the Jews coming +safe through the Red Sea has a deep and blessed meaning enough for +you, if you could but see it. + +But some of you may be saying to yourselves: "No doubt it is a very +noble story; and a man cannot help rejoicing at the poor Jews' +escape, and at the downfall of those cruel Egyptians. It is a +pleasant thought, no doubt, that if it were but for that once, God +interfered to help poor suffering creatures, and rid them of their +tyrants. But what has that to do with Easter Day and Christ's rising +again?" + +I will try to show you, my friends. The Jews' Passover is the same +as our Easter-day, as you know already. But they are not merely +alike in being kept on the same day. They are alike because they are +both of them remembrances and tokens of the Lord Jesus Christ's +delivering men out of misery and slavery. For never forget--though, +indeed, in these strange times, I ought rather to say, I beseech you +to read your Bibles and see--that it was Jesus Christ Himself who +brought the Jews out of Egypt. St. Paul tells us so positively, +again and again. In 1 Cor. x. 4 he tells us that it was Christ who +followed them through the wilderness. In verse 9 of the same +chapter, he says that it was Christ Himself whom they tempted in the +wilderness. He was the Angel of the Covenant who went with them. He +was the God of Israel whom the elders of the Jews saw, a few weeks +afterwards, on Mount Sinai, and under His feet a pavement like a +sapphire stone. True, the Lord did not take flesh upon Him till +nearly two thousand years after. But from the very beginning of all +things, while He was in the bosom of the Father, He was the King of +men. Man was made in His image, and therefore in the image of the +Father, whose perfect likeness He is--"the brightness of His glory, +and the express image of His person." It was He who took care of +men, guided and taught them, and delivered them out of misery, from +the very beginning of the world. St. Paul says the same thing, in +many different ways, all through the epistle to the Hebrews. He +says, for instance, that Moses, when he fled from Pharaoh's court in +Egypt, esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the +treasures of Egypt; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. +The Lord said the same thing of Himself. He said openly that He was +the person who is called, all through the Old Testament, "The Lord." +He asked the Pharisees: "What think ye of Christ? whose son is He? +They say unto Him, David's son. Christ answered, How then does David +in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou +on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool?" So did Christ +declare, that He Himself, who was standing there before them, was the +Lord of David, who had died hundreds of years before. He told them +again that their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and saw it +and was glad; and when they answered, in anger and astonishment, +"Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" +Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." I am. +The Jews had no doubt whom He meant; and we ought to have none +either. For that was the very name by which God had told Moses to +call Him, when he was sent to the Jews: "Thou shalt say unto them, I +AM hath sent me to you." The Jews, I say, had no doubt who Jesus +said that He was; that He meant them to understand, once and for all, +that He whom they called the carpenter's son of Nazareth, was the +Lord God who brought their forefathers up out of the land of Egypt, +on the night of the first Passover. So they, to show how reverent +and orthodox they were, and how they honoured the name of God, took +up stones to stone Him--as many a man, who fancies himself orthodox +and reverent, would now, if he dared, stone the preachers who declare +that the Lord Jesus Christ is not changed since then; that He is as +able and as willing as ever to deliver the poor from those who grind +them down, and that He will deliver them, whenever they cry to Him, +with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and that Easter-day is as +much a sign of that to us as the Passover was for the Jews of old. + +But, my friends, if Christ the Lord showed His love and power in +behalf of poor oppressed wretches on that first Passover, surely He +showed it a thousand times more on that first Easter-day. His great +love helped the Jews out of slavery; and that same great love of His +at this Easter-tide, moved Him to die and rise again for the sins of +the whole world. In that first Passover He delivered only one +people. On the first Easter He delivered all mankind. The Jews were +under cruel tyrants in the land of Egypt. So were all mankind over +the world, when Jesus came. The Jews in Egypt were slaves to worse +things than the whip of their task-masters; they had slaves' hearts, +as well as slaves' bodies. They were kept down not only by the +Egyptians, but by their own ignorance, and idolatry, and selfish +division, and foul sins. They were spiritually dead--without a +noble, pure, manful feeling left in them. Their history makes no +secret of that. The Bible seems to take every care to let us see +into what a miserable and brutal state they had fallen. Christ sent +Moses to raise them out of that death; to take them through the Red +Sea, as a sign that all that was washed away, to be forgiven of God +and forgotten by them, and that from the moment they landed, a free +people, on the farther shore, they were to consider all their old +life past and a new one begun. So they were baptized unto Moses in +the cloud and in the sea, as St. Paul says. And now all was to be +new. They had been fancying that they belonged to the Egyptians. +Now they had found out, and had it proved to them by signs and +wonders which they could not mistake, that they belonged to the Lord. +They had been brutal sinners. The Lord began to teach them that they +were to rise above their own appetites and passions. They had been +worshipping only what they could see and handle. The Lord began to +teach them to worship Him--a person whom they could not see, though +He was always near them, and watching over them. They had been +living without independence, fellow-feeling, the sense of duty, or +love of order. The Lord began to teach them to care for each other, +to help each other, to know that they had a duty to perform towards +each other, for which they were accountable to Him. They had owned +no master except the Egyptians, whom they feared and obeyed +unwillingly. The Lord began to teach them to obey Him loyally, from +trust, and gratitude, and love. They had been willing to remain +sinners, and brutes, and slaves, provided they could get enough to +eat and drink. The Lord began to teach them that His favour, His +protection, were better than the flesh-pots of Egypt, and that He was +able to feed them where it seemed impossible to men; to teach them +that "man does not live by bread alone--cheap or dear, my friends-- +not by bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceeds out of the mouth +of God, does man live." That was the meaning of their being baptized +in the cloud and in the sea. That was the meaning, and only a very +small part of the meaning, of their Passover. Would you not think, +my friends, that I had been speaking rather of our own Baptism, and +of our own Supper of the Lord, to which you have been all called to- +day, and that I had been telling you the meaning of them? + +For when Jesus, the Lord, and King, and Head of mankind, died and +rose again, He took away the sin of the world. He was the true +Passover, the Lamb without spot, slain, as the scripture tells us, +for the sins of the whole world. In the Jews' Passover, when the +angel saw the lamb's blood on the door of the house, he passed by, +and spared everyone in it. So now. The blood of Jesus, the Lamb of +God, is upon us; and for His sake, God is faithful and just to +forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. + +But the Lord rose again this day. And when He, the Lord, the King, +and Head of all men, rose, all men rose in Him. "As in Adam all +die," says St. Paul, "even so in Christ shall all be made alive." + +Baptism is a sign of that to us, as the going through the Red Sea, +and being baptized to Moses in it, was to the Jews. The passing of +the Red Sea said to the Jews: "You have passed now out of your old +miserable state of slavery into freedom. The sins which you +committed there are blotted out. You are taken into covenant with +God. You are now God's people, and nothing can lose you this love +and care, except your own sins, your own unfaithfulness to Him, your +own wilful falling back into the slavish and brutal state from which +He has delivered you." + +And just so, baptism says to us: "Your sins are forgiven you. You +are taken into covenant with God. You are God's people, God's +family. You must forget and cast away the old Adam, the old slavish +and savage pattern of man, which your Lord died to abolish, the guilt +of which He bore for you on His cross; and you must rise to the new +Adam, the new pattern of man, which is created after God in +righteousness and true holiness, which the Lord showed forth in His +life, and death, and rising again. For now God looks on you not as a +guilty and condemned race of beings, but as a redeemed race, His +children, for the sake of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, who takes +away the sins of the world. You have a right to believe that, as +human beings, you are dead with Christ to the old Adam, the old +sinful, brutal pattern of man. Baptism is the sign of it to you. +Every child, let it or its parents be who they may, is freely +baptized as a sign that all that old pattern of man is washed away, +that they can and must have nothing to do with it hence-forward, that +it is dead and buried, and they must flee from it and forget it, as +they would a corpse. + +And the Lord's Supper also is a sign to us that, as human beings, we +are risen with Christ, to a new life. A new life is our birthright. +We have a right to live a new life. We have a duty to live a new +life. We have a power, if we will, to live a new life; such a life +as we never could live if we were left to ourselves; a noble, just, +godly, manful, Christlike, Godlike life, bred and nourished in us by +the Spirit of Christ. That is our right; for we belong to Him who +lived that life Himself, and bought us our share in it with His own +death and resurrection. That is our duty; for if we share the Lord's +blessings, it can only be in order that we may become like the Lord. +Do you fancy that He died to leave us all no better than we are? His +death would have had very little effect if that was all. No, says +St. Paul; if you have a share in Christ, prove that you believe in +your own share by becoming like Christ. You belong to His kingdom, +and you must live as His subjects. He has bought for you a new and +eternal life, and you must use that life. "If ye then be risen with +Christ, seek those things that are above." . . . And what are they? +Love, peace, gentleness, mercy, pity, truth, faithfulness, justice, +patience, courage, order, industry, duty, obedience. . . . All, in +short, which is like Jesus Christ. For these are heavenly things. +These are above, where Christ sits at God's right hand. These are +the likeness of God. That is God's character. Let it be your +character likewise. + +But again; if it is our right and our duty to be like that, it is +also in our power. God would not have commanded us to be, what He +had not given us the power to be. He would not have told us to seek +those things which are above, if He had not intended us to find them. +Wherefore it is written: "Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye +shall find; for if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to +your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give His Holy +Spirit to those who ask him?" + +This is the meaning of that text; namely, that God will give us the +power of living this new and risen life, which we are bound to live. +This is one of the gifts for men, which the scripture tells us that +Christ received when He rose from the dead, and ascended up on high. +This is one of the powers of which He spoke, when after His +resurrection He said, "That all power was given to Him in heaven and +earth." The Lord's Supper is at once a sign of who will give us that +gift, and a sign that He will indeed give it us. The Lord's Supper +is the pledge and token to us that we all have a share in the +likeness of Christ, the true pattern of man; and that if we come and +claim our share, He will surely bestow it on us. He will renew, and +change, and purify our hearts and characters in us, day by day, into +the likeness of Himself. He who is the eternal life of men will +nourish us, body, soul, and spirit, with that everlasting life of +His, even as our bodies are nourished by that bread and wine. And if +you ask me how? When you can tell me why a wheat grain cannot +produce an oak, or an acorn a wheat plant; when you can tell me why +our bodies are, each of them, the very same bodies which they were +ten years ago, though every atom of flesh, and blood, and bone in +them has been changed; when, in short, you, or any other living man, +can tell me the meaning of those three words, body, life, and growth, +then it will be time to ask that question. In the meantime let us +believe that He who does such wonders in the life and growth of every +blade of grass, can and will do far greater wonders for the life and +growth of us, immortal beings, made in His own likeness, redeemed by +His blood, and so believe, and thank, and obey, and wait till another +and a nobler life to understand. And if we never understand at all-- +what matter, provided the thing be true? + + +XXXIV--CHRISTMAS-DAY + + + +For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the +government shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called +Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Father of an Everlasting +age, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and +peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his +kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with +justice henceforth even forever.--ISAIAH ix. 6, 7. + +In the time when the prophet Isaiah wrote this prophecy, everything +round him was exactly opposite to his words. The king of Judaea, the +prophet's country, was not reigning in righteousness. He was an +unrighteous and wicked governor. The princes and great men were not +ruling in judgment. They were unjust and covetous; they took bribes, +and sold justice for money. They were oppressors, grinding down the +poor, and defrauding those below them. So that the weak, and poor, +and needy had no one to right them, no one to take their part. There +was no man to feel for them, and defend them, and be a hiding-place +and a covert for them from their cruel tyrants; no man to comfort and +refresh them as rivers of water refresh a dry place, or the shadow of +a great rock comforts the sunburnt traveller in the weary deserts. + +Neither were these very poor oppressed people of the Jews in a right +state of mind. They were ignorant and stupid, given to worship false +gods. They had eyes, and yet could not use them to see that, as the +psalm told us this morning, the heavens declared the glory of God, +and the firmament showed His handiwork. They were worshipping the +sun, and moon, and stars, in stead of the Lord God who made them. +They were brutish too, and would not listen to teaching. They had +ears, and yet would not hearken with them to God's prophets. They +were rash, too, living from hand to mouth, discontented, and violent, +as ignorant poor people will be in evil times. And they were +stammerers--not with their tongue, but with their minds and thoughts. +They were miserable; but they could not tell why. They were full of +discontent and longings; but they could not put them into words. +They did not know how to pray, how to open their hearts to God or to +man. They knew of no one who could understand them and their +sorrows; they could not understand them themselves, much less put +them into words. They were altogether confused and stupefied; just +in the same state, in a word, as the poor negro slaves in America, +and the heathens ay, and the Christians too, are in, in all the +countries of the world which do not know the good news of Christmas- +day or have forgotten it and disobeyed it. + +But Isaiah had God's Spirit with him; the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of +holiness, righteousness, justice. And that Holy Spirit convinced him +of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment, as He convinces every +man who gives himself up humbly to God's teaching. + +First, the Spirit convinced Isaiah of sin. He made him feel that the +state of his country was wrong. And He made him feel why it was +wrong; namely, because the men in it were wrong; because they were +thinking wrong notions, feeling wrong feelings, doing wrong things; +and that wrong was sin; and that sin was falling short of being what +a man was made, and what every man ought to be, namely, the likeness +and glory of God; and that so his countrymen the Jews, one and all, +had sinned and come short of the glory of God. + +Next, He convinced Isaiah of righteousness. He made Isaiah feel and +be sure that God was righteous; that God was no unjust Lord, like the +wicked king of the Jews; that such evil doings as are going on were +hateful to Him; that all that covetousness, oppression, taking of +bribes, drunkenness, deceit, ignorance, stupid rashness and folly, of +which the land was full, were hateful to God. He must hate them, for +He was a righteous and a good God. They ought not to be there. For +man, every man from the king on his throne to the poor labourer in +the field, was meant to be righteous and good as God is. "But how +will it be altered?" thought Isaiah to himself. "What hope for this +poor miserable sinful world? People are meant to be righteous and +good: but who will make them so? The king and his princes are meant +to be righteous and good, but who will set them a pattern? When will +there be a really good king, who will be an example to all in +authority; who will teach men to do right, and compel and force them +not to do wrong?" + +And then the Holy Spirit of God answered that anxious question of +Isaiah's, and convinced him of judgment. + +Yes, he felt sure; he did not know why he felt so sure: but he did +feel sure; God's Spirit in his heart made him feel sure, that in some +way or other, some day or other, the Lord God would come to judgment, +to judge the wicked princes and rulers of this world, and cast them +out. It must be so. God was a righteous God. He would not endure +these unrighteous doings for ever. He was not careless about this +poor sinful world, and about all the sinful down-trodden ignorant +men, and women, and children in it. He would take the matter into +His own hands. He would show that He was Lord and Master. If kings +would not reign in righteousness, He would come and reign in +righteousness Himself. He would appoint princes under Him, who would +rule in judgment. And He would show men what true righteousness was; +what the pattern of a true ruler was; namely, to be able to feel for +the poor, and the afflicted, and the needy, to understand the wants, +and sorrows, and doubts, and fears of the lowest and the meanest; in +short, to be a man, a true, perfect man, with a man's heart, a man's +pity, a man's fellow-feeling in Him. Yes. The Lord God would show +Himself. He would set His righteous King to govern. And yet Isaiah +did not know how, but he saw plainly that it must be so, that same +righteous King, who was to set the world right, would be a MAN. It +would be a man who was to be a hiding-place from the storm and a +covert from the tempest. A man who would understand man, and teach +men their duty. + +Then the eyes of the blind would see, and the ears of those who heard +should hearken; for they would hear a loving human voice, the voice +of One who knew what was in man, who could tell them just what they +wanted to know, and put His teaching into the shape in which it would +sink most easily and deeply into their hearts. And then the hearts +of the rash would understand knowledge; and the tongue of the +stammerers would speak plainly. There will be no more confused cries +from poor ignorant brutish oppressed people, like the cries of dumb +beasts in pain; for He who was coming would give them words to utter +their sorrows in. He would teach them how to speak to man and God. +He would teach them how to pray, and when they prayed to say, "Our +Father which art in heaven." + +Then the vile person would be no more called bountiful, or the churl +called liberal: flattery and cringing to the evil great would be at +an end. The people would have sense to see the truth about right and +wrong, and courage to speak it. Men would then be held for what they +really were, and honoured and despised according to their true +merits. Yes, said Isaiah, we shall be delivered from our wicked king +and princes, from the heathen Assyrian armies, who fancy that they +are going to sweep us out of our own land with fire and sword; from +our own sins, and ignorance, and infidelity, and rashness. We shall +be delivered from them all, for The righteous King is coming. Nay, +He is here already, if we could but see. His goings-forth have been +from everlasting. He is ruling us now--this wondrous Child, this Son +of God. Unto us a Child is born already, unto us a Son is given +already. But one day or other He will be revealed, and made +manifest, and shown to men as a man; and then all the people shall +know who He is; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, +the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. + +Ah, my friends, Isaiah saw all this but dimly and afar off. He saw +as through a glass darkly. He perhaps thought at times--indeed we +can have little doubt that he thought--that the good young Prince +Hezekiah, "The might of God," as his name means, who was growing up +in his day to be a deliverer and a righteous king over the Jews, was +to set the world right. No doubt he had Hezekiah in his mind when he +said that a Child was born to the Jews, and a Son given to them; just +as, of course, he meant his own son, who was born to him by the +virgin prophetess, when he called his name Emmanuel, that is to say, +God with us. But he felt that there was more in both things than +that. He felt that his young wife's conceiving and bearing a son, +was a sign to him that some day or other a more blessed virgin would +conceive and bear a mightier Son. And so he felt that whether or not +Hezekiah delivered the Jews from their sin, and misery, and +ignorance, God Himself would deliver them. He knew, by the Spirit of +God, that his prophecy would come true, and remain true for ever. +And so he died in faith, not having received the promises, God having +prepared some better King for us, and having fulfilled the words of +His prophet in a way of which, as far as we can see, he never +dreamed. + +Yes. Hezekiah failed to save the nation of the Jews. Instead of +being the "father of an everlasting age," and having "no end of his +family on the throne of David," his great-grandchildren and the whole +nation of the Jews were swept away into captivity by the Babylonians, +and no man of his house, as Jeremiah prophesied, has ever since +prospered or sat on the throne of David. But still Isaiah's prophecy +was true. True for us who are assembled here this day. + +For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; even the Babe of +Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord. The government shall indeed be +upon His shoulder; for it has been there always. For the Father has +committed all things to the Son, that he may be King of kings and +Lord of lords for ever. His name is indeed Wonderful; for what more +wondrous thing was ever seen in heaven or in earth, than that great +love with which He loved us? He is not merely called "The might of +God," as Hezekiah was,--for a sign and a prophecy; for He is the +mighty God Himself. He is indeed the Counsellor; for He is the light +who lighteth every man who comes into the world. He is "the Father +of an everlasting age." There were hopes that Hezekiah would be so; +that he would raise the nation of the Jews again to a reform from +which it would never fall away: but these hopes were disappointed; +and the only one who fulfilled the prophecy is He who has founded His +Church for ever on the rock of everlasting ages, and the gates of +hell shall not prevail against it. Hezekiah was to be the prince of +peace for a few short years only. But the Child who is born to us, +the Son who is given to us, is He who gave eternal peace to all who +will accept it; peace which this world can neither give nor take +away; and who will make that peace grow and spread over the whole +earth, till men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their +spears into pruning-hooks, and the nations shall not learn war any +more. Of the increase of His government and of His peace there shall +be no end, till the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as +the waters cover the sea, and the spirit of God be poured out on all +flesh, to teach kings to reign in righteousness, after the pattern of +the King of kings, the Babe of Bethlehem; to make the rich and +powerful do justice, to teach the ignorant, to give the rich wisdom, +to free the oppressed, to comfort the afflicted, to proclaim to all +mankind the good news of Christmas Day, the good news that there was +a man born into the world on this day who will be a hiding-place from +the storm, a covert from the tempest, like rivers of water in a dry +place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; even the man +Christ Jesus, who is able and willing to save to the uttermost those +who come to God through Him, seeing that he has been tempted in all +things like as we are, yet without sin. + +Yes, my friends, on that holy table stands the everlasting sign that +Isaiah's prophecy has been fulfilled to the uttermost. That bread +and that wine declare to us, that to us a Child is born, to us a Son +is given. They declare to us, in a word, that on this blessed day +God was made man, and dwelt among men, and we beheld His glory, the +glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. + +Oh, come to that table this day, and there claim your share in the +most precious body and blood of the Divine Child of Bethlehem. Come +and ask Him to pour out on you His Spirit, the Spirit which He poured +on Hezekiah of old, "that he might fulfil his own name and live in +the might of God." So will you live in the might of God. So you +will be able to govern yourselves, and your own appetites, in +righteousness and freedom, and rule your own households, or +whatsoever God has set you to do, in judgment. So you will see +things in their true light, as God sees them, and be ready and +willing to hear good advice, and understand your way in this life, +and be able to speak your hearts out in prayer to God, as to a loving +and merciful Father. And in all your afflictions, let them be what +they will, you will have a comfort, and a sure hope, and a wellspring +of peace, and a hiding-place from the tempest, even The Man Christ +Jesus, who said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; +let not your heart be troubled, neither be ye afraid." The Man +Christ Jesus, at whose birth the angels sang: "Glory to God in the +Highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." + +Now to Him who on this day was born of the blessed virgin, man of the +substance of His mother, yet God the Son of God, be ascribed, with +the Father and the Spirit, all power, glory, majesty, and dominion, +both now and for ever. Amen. + + + +XXXV--NEW YEAR'S DAY + + + +(1853.) + +But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that +formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have +called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through +the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall +not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt +not be burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the +Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for +thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious in +my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: +therefore will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.--ISAIAH +xliii. 1-4. + +The New Year has now begun; and I am bound to wish you all a happy +New Year. But I am sent here to do more than that; to teach you how +you may make your own New Year a happy one; or, if not altogether a +happy one--for sorrows may and must come in their turn--yet still +something better than a happy year, namely, a blessed year; a year on +which you will be able to look back this day twelvemonths, and thank +God for it; thank God for the tears which you have shed in it, as +well as for the joy which you have felt; thank God for the dark days +as well as for the light; thank God for what you have lost, as well +as what you have found; and be able to say, "Well, this last year, if +it has not been a happy year for me, at least it has been a blessed +one for me. It has left me a stronger, soberer, wiser, godlier, +better man than it found me." + +How, then, can you make the New Year a blessed one for yourselves? I +know but one way, my friends. The ancient way. The Bible way. The +way by which Abraham, and Jacob, and David, and all the holy men of +old, and all the saints, and martyrs, and righteous and godly among +men, made their lives blessed among themselves, in spite of sorrow, +and misfortune, and distress, and persecution, and torture, and death +itself; the one only old way of being blessed, which was from the +beginning, and will last for ever and ever, through all worlds and +eternities; the way of the old saints, which St. Paul sets forth in +the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews; and that is, FAITH. Faith, +which is the substance of what we hope for, the evidence of things +not seen. Faith, of which it is written, that the just shall live by +his faith. + +But how can faith give you a blessed New Year? In the same way in +which it gave the old saints blessed years all their lives through, +and is giving them a blessed eternity now and for ever before the +face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to which may God in His mercy bring us +all likewise. + +They trusted in God. They had faith, not in themselves, like too +many; not in their own good works, like too many; not in their own +faith, in their own frames, and feelings, and assurances, like too +many; but they had faith in God. It was faith in God which made one +of them, the great prophet Isaiah, write the glorious words which I +have chosen for my text this day, to show his countrymen the Jews, +even while they were in the very lowest depths of shame, and poverty, +and misfortune, that God had not forgotten them; that for those who +trusted in Him, a blessed time was surely coming. + +And it was faith in God, too, which put it into the minds of the good +men who choose these Sunday lessons out of the Bible, to appoint such +chapters as these to be read year by year, at the coming in of the +new year, for ever. Faith in God, I say, put that into their minds. +For those good men trusted in God, that He would not change; that +hundreds and thousands of years would make no difference in His love; +that the promises made by His Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet would +stand true for ever and ever. And they trusted in God, too, that +what He had spoken by the mouth of His holy apostles was true; that +after the blessed Lord came down on earth, there was to be no +difference between Jews and Gentiles; that the great and precious +promises made by God to the Jews were made also to all the nations of +the earth; that all things written in the Old Testament, from the +first chapter of Genesis to the last of Malachi, were written not for +the Jews only, but for English, French, Italians, Germans, Russians-- +for all the nations of the world; that we English were God's people +now, just as much, ay, far more, than the old Jews were, and that, +therefore, the Old Testament promises, as well as the New Testament +ones, were part of our inheritance as members of Christ's Church. +And therefore they appointed Old Testament lessons to be read in +church, to show us English what our privileges were, what God's +covenant and promise to us were. We, as much as the Jews, are called +by the name of the Lord who created us. Were we not baptised into +His name at that font? Has He not loved us? Has He not heaped us +English, for hundreds of years past, with blessings such as He never +bestowed on any nation? Has He not given men for us, and nations for +our life? While all the nations of the world have been at war, +slaying and being slain, has He not kept this fair land of England +free and safe from foreign invaders for more than eight hundred +years? Since the world was made, perhaps, such a thing was never +heard of, such a mercy shown to any nation; that a great and rich +country like this should be preserved for eight hundred years from +invasion of foreign armies, and all the horrors and miseries of war, +which have swept, from time to time, every other nation in the world +with the besom of desolation. + +Ay, and but sixty years ago, in the time of the French war, when +almost every other nation in Europe was made desolate with fire, and +sword, and war, did not God preserve this land of England, as He +never preserved country before, from all the miseries which were +sweeping over other nations? Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, +that at the very time that the gospel was dying out all over Europe, +it was being lighted again in England; and that while the knowledge +of God was failing elsewhere, it was increasing here! Oh, strange +and wonderful mercy of God, who has given to us English, now for one +hundred and sixty years and more, those very equal laws, and freedom, +and rights of conscience, for which so many other nations of Europe +are still crying and struggling in vain, amid slavery, and +oppression, and injustice, and heavy burdens, such as we here in +England should not endure a week! Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of +God, who but three years ago, when all the other nations of Europe +were shaken with wars, and riots, and seditions, every man's hand +against his neighbour, kept this land of England in perfect peace and +quiet by those just laws and government, proving to us the truth of +His own promises, that those who seek peace by righteous dealings, +shall find it, and that, as Isaiah says, the fruit of justice is +quietness and assurance for ever! And last, but not least, my +friends, is it not a sign, a sign not to be mistaken, of God's good- +will and mercy to us, that now, at this very time of all others, when +almost every country in Europe is going to wrack and ruin through the +folly and wickedness of their kings and rulers, He should have given +us here in England a Queen who is a pattern of goodness and purity, +in ruling not only the nation, but her own household, to every wife +and mother, from the highest to the lowest; and a Prince whose whole +heart seems set on doing good, and on helping the poor, and improving +the condition of the labourers? My friends, I say that we are +unthankful and unfaithful. We do not thank God a hundredth part +enough for the blessings which He has given us. We do not trust Him +a hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has in store for +us. If some of us here could but see and feel for a single month how +people are off abroad; if they could change places with a French, an +Italian, a Russian labourer, it would teach them a lesson about God's +goodness to England which they would not soon forget. May God grant +that we may never have to learn that lesson in that way! God grant +that we may never, to cure us of our unthankfulness and want of +faith, and godless and unmanly grumbling and complaining, be brought, +for a single week, into the same state as some hundred millions of +our fellow-creatures are in foreign parts! Oh, my friends, let us +thank God for the mercies of the past year! Most truly He has +fulfilled to England his promise given by the mouth of the prophet +Isaiah: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; +and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. For I am the +Lord thy God, the Holy One, thy Saviour. Thou hast been precious in +my sight, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, +and peoples for thy life." + +Away, then, with discontent and anxiety for the coming year. Or +rather, let us be only discontented with ourselves. Let us only be +anxious about our own conduct. God cannot change. If anything goes +wrong, it will be not because He has left us, but because we have +left Him. Is it not written that all things work together for good +to those who love God? Then if things do not work together for good +in this coming year, it will be because we do not love God. Do not +let us say, "I am righteous, but my neighbours are wicked, and +therefore I must be miserable;" neither let us lay the blame of our +misfortunes on our rulers; let us lay it on ourselves. + +What was the word of the Lord to the Jews in a like case: "What +means this proverb which you take up, saying, The fathers have eaten +sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? It is not so, +O house of Israel. The son shall not die for the iniquity of his +father, nor the father for the iniquity of the son. The soul that +sinneth, it shall die, saith the Lord." + +Oh, my friends, take this to heart solemnly, in the year to come. +Our troubles, more of them at least than we fancy, are our own fault, +and not our neighbours', or the government's, or anyone's else. And +those which are not our own fault directly are so in this way, that +they are sent as sharp and wholesome lessons to us; and if we were +what we ought to be, we should not want those lessons. Do not fancy +that that is a sad and doleful thought to begin the new year with. +God forbid! It would be doleful and sad indeed if any one of us, in +spite of all his right-doing, might be plunged into any hopeless +misery, through the fault of other people, over whom he has no +control. But thanks be to the Lord, it is not so. We are His +children, and He cares for each and every one of us separately. Each +and every one of us has to answer for himself alone, face to face +with his God, day by day; every man must bear his own burden; and to +every one of us who love God, all things will work together for good. +It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well knew, far from +God to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge of all the +earth will do right. None of us who repents and turns from the sins +he sees round him and in him; none of us who prays for the light and +guiding of God's Spirit; none of us who struggles day by day to keep +himself unspotted from this evil world, and live as God's son, +without scandal or ill-name in the midst of a sinful and perverse +generation; none of us who does that, but God's blessing will rest on +him. What ruins others will only teach and strengthen him; what +brings others to shame, will only bring him to honour, and make his +righteousness plain to be seen by all, that God may be glorified in +His people. Let the coming year be what it may; to the holy, the +humble, the upright, the godly, it will be a blessed year, fulfilling +the blessed promises of the Lord, that those who trust in Him shall +never be confounded. + +Oh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty God, +who made all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in Him. And when He +bids us, is it not a sin, an insult to Him, not to trust Him--not to +believe His words to us? "Put thou thy trust in the Lord, and be +doing good; dwell in the land," working where He has set thee, "and +verily thou shalt be fed." "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror +by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day. A thousand shall +fall by thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall +not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see +the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord thy +refuge, no plague shall come nigh thy dwelling. Thou shalt call upon +me, I will answer thee. Because thou hast set thy love on me, I will +deliver thee; with long life will I satisfy thee, and show thee my +salvation." + +My friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. Either they are +the most cruel words that ever were spoken on earth to tempt poor +wretches into vain security and fearful disappointment, or they are-- +what are they?--the sure and everlasting promise of our Father in +heaven to us His children. We have only to ask for them, and we +shall receive them; to claim them, and they will be fulfilled to us. +"For He who spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him for us, will +He not with Him likewise freely give us all things," and make, by His +fatherly care, and providence, and education, all our new years +blessed new years, whether or not they are happy ones? + + + +XXXVI--THE DELUGE + + + +My spirit shall not always strive with man.--GENESIS vi. 3. + +Last Sunday we read in the first lesson of the fall. This Sunday we +read of the flood, the first-fruits of the fall. + +It is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will look at it +by faith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful story--a gospel--a +good news of salvation--like every other word in the Bible, from +beginning to end. Ay, and to my mind, the most hopeful words of all +in it, are the very ones which at first sight look most terrible, the +words with which my text begins: "And the Lord said, My Spirit shall +not always strive with man." + +For is it not good news--the good news of all news--the news which +every poor soul who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, +longs to hear; and when they hear it, feel it to be the good news-- +the only news which can give comfort to fallen and sorrowful men, +tied and bound with the chain of their sins, that God's Spirit does +strive at all with man? That God is looking after men? That God is +yearning over sinners, as the heart of a father yearns over his +rebellious child, as the heart of a faithful and loving husband +yearns after an unfaithful wife? That God does not take a disgust at +us for all our unworthiness, but wills that none should perish, but +that all should come to repentance? Oh joyful news! Man may be, as +the text says that he was in the time of Noah, so low fallen that he +is but flesh like the brutes that perish; the imaginations of his +heart may be only evil continually; his spirit may be dead within +him, given up to all low and fleshly appetites and passions, anger, +and greediness, and filth; and yet the pure and holy Spirit of God +condescends to strive and struggle with him, to convince him of sin, +and make him discontented and ashamed at his own brutishness, and +shake and terrify his soul with the wholesome thought: "I am a +sinner--I am wrong--I am living such a life as God never meant me to +live--I am not what I ought to be--I have fallen short of what God +intended me to be. Surely some evil will come to me from this." +Then the Holy Spirit convinces man of righteousness. He shows man +that what he has fallen short of is the glory of God; that man was +meant to be, as St. Paul says, the likeness and glory of God; to show +forth God's glory, and beauty, and righteousness, and love in his own +daily life; as a looking-glass, though it is not the sun, still gives +an image and likeness of the sun, when the sun shines on it, and +shows forth the glory of the sunbeams which are reflected on it. + +And then, the Holy Spirit convinces man of judgment. He shows man +that God cannot suffer men, or angels, or any other rational spirits +and immortal souls, to be unlike Himself; that because He is the only +and perfect good, whatsoever is unlike Him must be bad; because He is +the only and perfect love, who wills blessings and good to all, +whatsoever is unlike Him must be unloving, hating, and hateful--a +curse and evil to all around it; because He is the only perfect Maker +and Preserver, whatsoever is unlike Him must be in its very nature +hurtful, destroying, deadly--a disease which injures this good world, +and which He will therefore cut out, burn up, destroy in some way or +other, if it will not submit to be cured. For this, my friends, is +the meaning of God's judgments on sinners; this is why He sent a +flood to drown the world of the ungodly; this is why He destroyed +Sodom and Gomorrah; this is why He swept away the nations of Canaan; +this is why He destroyed Jerusalem, His own beloved city, and +scattered the Jews over the face of the whole earth unto this day; +this is why He destroyed heathen Rome of old, and why He has +destroyed, from time to time, in every age and country, great nations +and mighty cities by earthquake, and famine, and pestilence, and the +sword; because He knows that sin is ruin and misery to all; that it +is a disease which spreads by infection among fallen men; and that He +must cut off the corrupt nation for the sake of preserving mankind, +as the surgeon cuts off a diseased limb, that his patient's whole +body may not die. But the surgeon will not cut off the limb as long +as there is a chance of saving it: he will not cut it off till it is +mortified and dead, and certain to infect the whole body with the +same death, or till it is so inflamed that it will inflame the whole +body also, and burn up the patient's life with fever. Till then he +tends it in hope; tries by all means to cure it. And so does the +Lord, the Lord Jesus, the great Physician, whom His Father has +appointed to heal and cure this poor fallen world. As long as there +is hope of curing any man, any nation, any generation of men, so long +will his Spirit strive lovingly and hopefully with man. For see the +blessed words of the text: "My Spirit shall not always strive with +man. This must end. This must end at some time or other. This +battle between my Spirit and the wicked and perverse wills of these +sinners; this battle between the love and the justice and the purity +which I am trying to teach them, and the corruption and the violence +with which they are filling the earth." But there is no passion in +the Lord, no spite, no sudden rage, like the brute passionate anger +of weak man. Our anger, if we are not under the guiding of God's +Spirit, conquers our wills, carries us away, makes us say and do on +the moment--God forgive us for it--whatsoever our passion prompts us. +The Lord's anger does not conquer Him. It does not conquer His +patience, His love, His steadfast will for the good of all. Even +when it shows itself in the flood and the earthquake; even though it +break up the fountains of the great deep, and destroy from off the +earth both man and beast, yet it is, and was, and ever will be, the +anger of The Lamb--a patient, a merciful, and a loving anger. + +Therefore the Lord says: "Yet his days shall be one hundred and +twenty years." One hundred and twenty years more he would endure +those corrupt and violent sinners, in the hope of correcting them. +One hundred and twenty years more would God's Spirit strive with men. +One hundred and twenty years more the long-suffering of God, as St. +Peter says, would wait, if by any means they would turn and repent. +Oh, wonderful love and condescension of God! God waits for man! The +Holy One waits for the unholy! The Creator waits for the work of His +own hands! The wrathful God, who repents that He has made man upon +the earth, waits one hundred and twenty years for the very creatures +whom He repents having made! Does this seem strange to us--unlike +our notions of God? If it is strange to us, my friends, its being +strange is only a proof of how far we have fallen from the likeness +of God, wherein man was originally created. If we were more like +God, then the accounts of God's long-suffering, and mercy, and +repentance, which we read in the Bible, would not be so strange to +us. We should understand what God declares of Himself, by seeing the +same feelings working in ourselves, which He declares to be working +in Himself. And if we were more righteous and more loving, we should +understand more how God's will was a loving and a righteous will; how +His justice was His mercy, and His mercy His justice, instead of +dividing His substance, who is one God, by fancying that His mercy +and His justice are two different attributes, which are at times +contrary the one to the other. + +We read nothing here about God's absolute purposes, and fixed +decrees, whereof men talk so often, making a god in their own fallen +image, after their own fallen likeness. The Lord, the Word of God, +of whom the Bible tells us, does not think it beneath his dignity to +say: "It repenteth me that I have made man." Different, truly, from +that false god which man makes in his own image. Man is proud, and +he fancies that God is proud; man is self-willed and selfish, and he +fancies that God is self-willed and selfish; man is arbitrary and +obstinate, and determined to have his own way just because it is his +own way; and then he fancies that God is arbitrary and obstinate, and +determines to have His own way and will, just because it is His own +way and will. But wilt thou know, oh vain man, why God will have His +own way and will? Because His way is a good way, and His will a +loving will; because the Lord knows that His way is the only path of +life, and joy, and blessing to man and beast, yes, and to the very +hairs of our head, which are all numbered, and to the sparrows, +whereof not one falls to the ground without our Father's knowledge; +because His will is a loving will, which wills that none should +perish, but that all should come and be saved in body, soul, and +spirit. He will have His own will done, not because it is His own +will, but because it is good, good for men. And if men will change +and repent, then will He change and repent also. If man will resist +the striving of God's Spirit with him, then will the Lord say: "It +repenteth me that I have made that man." But if a man will repent +him of the evil, then God will repent Him of the evil also. If a man +will let God's Spirit convince him, and will open his ears and hear, +and open his eyes and see, and open his heart to take in the loving +thoughts and the right thoughts, and the penitent and humble +thoughts, which do come to him--you know they do come to you all at +times--then the Lord will repent also, as he repents, and repent +concerning the evil which He has declared concerning that man. So +said the Lord, who cannot change, the same yesterday, to-day, and for +ever, the same now that He was in the days of the flood, to Jeremiah +the prophet, when He moved him to go down to the potter's house, and +watch him there at his work. + +And the potter made a vessel--something which would be useful and +good for a certain purpose--but the clay was marred in the hand of +the potter. He was good and skilful; but there was a fault in the +clay. What did he do? Throw the clay away as useless? No. He made +it again another vessel. He was determined to make, not anything, +but something useful and good. And if the clay, being faulty, failed +him once, he would try again. He would change his purpose and plan, +but not his right will to make good and useful vessels; them he WOULD +make, if not by one way, then by another. And Jeremiah watched him; +and as he watched, the Spirit of the Lord came on him, and taught him +that that poor potter's way of working with his clay, was a pattern +and likeness of the Lord's work on earth. Oh shame, that this great +parable should have been twisted by men to make out that God is an +arbitrary tyrant, who works by a brute necessity! It taught Jeremiah +the very opposite. It taught him what it ought to teach us, that God +does change, because man changes, that God's steadfast will is the +good of men, and therefore because men change their weak self-willed +course, and fall, and seek out many inventions, therefore God changes +to follow them, like a good shepherd, tracking and following the lost +and wandering sheep up and down, right and left, over hill and dale, +if by any means He may find him, and bring him home on His shoulders +to the fold, calling upon the angels of God: "Rejoice with me, for I +have found my sheep which I had lost." + +This is the likeness of God. The good and loving will of a Father +following his wandering children. The likeness of a loving Father +repenting that He hath brought into the world sinful children, to be +a misery to themselves and all around them, and yet for the same +reason loving those children, striving with their wicked wills to the +very last, giving them one last chance and time for repentance; as +the Lord did to those evil men of the old world, sending to them +Noah, a preacher of righteousness, if by any means they would turn +from their sins and be saved. Ay, not only preaching to their ears +by Noah, but to their hearts by His Spirit; as St. Peter tells us, He +Himself, Christ the Lord, went Himself by His Spirit to those very +sinners before the flood, and strove to bring them to their reason +again. By His Spirit; by the very same one and only Holy Spirit of +God, St. Peter says, by which Christ Himself was raised from the +dead, did He try to raise the souls of those sinners before the +flood, from the death of sin to the life of righteousness: but they +would not. They were disobedient. Their wills resisted His will to +the last; and then the flood came, and swept them all away. + +And so the first work of the heavenly Workman was marred in the +making by no fault of His, but by the fault of what He made. He made +men persons, rational beings with wills, that they might be willingly +like Him: but they used those wills to be unlike Him, to rebel +against Him, and to fill the earth with violence and corruption. And +so, for the good of all mankind to come, He had to sweep them all +away. But of that same sinful clay He made another vessel, as it +seemed good to Him; even Noah and his Sons, whom He saved that He +might carry on the race of the Sons of God unto this day. + +And after that again, my friends, in a day more dark and evil still, +when the earth was again corrupt before God, and filled with +violence; when all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth, so +that, as St. Paul said of them, there was none that did good, no not +one: then the same Lord, when He saw that all the world lay in +wickedness, and that the clay of human-kind was marred in the hands +of the potter, then did He cast away that clay as reprobate and +useless, and destroy mankind off the face of the earth? Not so. +Then, when there was none to help, His own arm brought salvation, and +His own righteousness sustained Him; He trod the wine-press alone, +and of the people there was none with Him. His own righteousness +sustained Him. His perfectly good and righteous will never failed +Him for a moment; man He would save, and man He saved. If none else +could do it, He would do it Himself. He would bring salvation with +His own arm. He would fulfil His Father's will, which is that none +should perish; He would be made flesh, and dwell among men, that man +might behold the likeness of God the Father, full of grace and truth, +and see what they were meant to be. Then, in Him, in Jesus who wept +over Jerusalem, was fully revealed and shown the likeness and glory +of the Lord; the Lord in whose image man was made; who walked and +spoke with Adam in the garden; who was not ashamed to say that it +repented Him that He had made man; whom Ezekiel saw upon His throne, +and as it were upon the throne the appearance of the likeness of a +man; whom Daniel saw, and knew him to be the Son of Man. Not a man, +then, of flesh and blood; but the Eternal Word of God, in whose image +man was made, who could be loving and merciful, long-suffering and +repenting Him of the evil, but never of the good. He came, and He +swept away, as He had told the Apostles that He would do, by such +afflictions as man had never seen since the beginning of the world +until then, that Roman world with all its devilish systems and +maxims, whereby the nations were kept down in slavery and sin; and He +founded a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwell righteousness, +even this Holy Catholic Church, to which we all belong this day. + +Yes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there is a +God whose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into His own +likeness. A God who is no dark, obstinate, inexorable Fate, whose +arbitrary decrees must come to pass; but a loving and merciful God, +long-suffering, and who repenteth Him of the evil; who repents Him of +the evil which is in man, and hates it, and has sworn to Himself to +fight against it, till He has put all enemies under His foot, and +cast out of His kingdom all things which offend. Who repents Him of +the evil in man: but who will never again repent Him of having made +man, for then He would repent of having become man; He would repent +of having been conceived of the Holy Ghost; He would repent of having +been born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent of having been +crucified, dead, and buried; He would repent of having risen from the +dead, and ascended up into heaven in His man's body, and soul, and +spirit; He would repent of sitting on the right hand of God; He would +repent of coming to judge the quick and the dead; He would repent of +having done His Father's will on earth, even as He did it from all +eternity in the bosom of the Father. For He is a man; and even as +the reasonable soul and body are one man, so God and man are one +Christ. As man, He did His Father's will in Judaea of old; as man, +He will judge the world; as man He rules it now; as man, St. John saw +Him fifty years after He ascended to heaven, and His eyes were like a +flame of fire, and His hair like fine wool, and He was girt under the +bosom with a golden girdle, and His voice was like the sound of many +waters; as man, He said: "Fear not: I am the first and the last; I +am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for +evermore, Amen; and have the keys of death and hell." Yes. This is +the gospel, the good news for fallen man, that there is a Man in the +midst of the throne of God, to whom all power is given in heaven and +earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is therein--the fate +of suns and stars--the fate of kings and nations--the fate of every +publican and harlot, and heathen and outcast--the fate of all who are +in death and hell, depends alike upon the sacred heart of Jesus; the +heart which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; the heart +which wept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed +Magdalene, the woman who was a sinner: "Go in peace; thy sins are +forgiven thee;" the heart which now yearns after every sinful and +wandering soul in His church, and all over the earth of God, crying +to you all: "Why will ye die? Have I any pleasure in the death of +him that dieth, saith the Lord, and not rather that he should turn +from his wickedness and live? Come unto me, all ye that are weary +and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Oh, my friends, +wonderful as my words are--as wonderful to me who speak them as they +can be to you who hear them--yet they are true. True; for on that +table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself said, standing upon +this very earth which He Himself had made: "This is my body which is +given for you; this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which I will +give for the life of the world." + + + +XXXVII--THE KINGDOM OF GOD + + + +The kingdom of God is within you.--LUKE xvii. 21. + +These words are in the second lesson for this morning's service. Let +us think a little about them. + +What they mean must depend on what the kingdom of God means; for that +is the one thing about which they speak. + +Now, the kingdom of God is very often spoken of in the New Testament. +Indeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all others. It was the +thing which our Lord went about preaching. It was the thing of which +He spoke in His parables, likening the kingdom of God first to one +thing, then to another, that He might make men understand what it was +like. + +Now, it is worth remarking that we--I mean even religious people-- +speak very little about the kingdom of God nowadays. One hears less +about it than about any other words, almost, which stand in the New +Testament. Both in sermons and in religious books, and in the talk +of godly people, one hears the kingdom of God spoken of very seldom. +One hears words about the Church, which are very good and true; but +very little, if anything, about the kingdom of God, though both St. +Paul, and St. John, and the blessed Lord Himself, speak of the two +together, as if they could not be parted; as if one could not think +of the one without thinking of the other. And we hear words about +the gospel, too, some of them very good and true, and others, I am +sorry to say, very bad and false: but, true or false, they are not +often joined now in men's minds, or mouths, or books, with the +kingdom of God. But the New Testament joins them almost always. It +says that gospel must be good news. Therefore the gospel must be +good news about something. But about what? We hear all manner of +answers nowadays; but we hear the right one very seldom. People talk +of the gospel as if it only meant the good news that one man can be +saved here, and another man can be saved there. And that is good +news, certainly. It is good and blessed news to hear that any one +poor sinner can be saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But +the holy scriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel +of the kingdom of God. And I think it best and wisest to call it +oftenest, what the holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to try and +understand, first of all, what that means, what the good news of the +kingdom of God is: and to understand that, we must first understand +what the kingdom of God is. + +But some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of +salvation. True, it does, once or twice. But what does that show? +Is that a different gospel from the gospel of the kingdom of God? +Are there two gospels? Surely not. Else why would holy scripture +speak so often of "the gospel"--"the good news," by itself, without +any word after to show what it was about? It says often simply "the +gospel;" because there is but one gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if +any man or angel preach any other than that one, "Let him be +anathema." + +Therefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the gospel of +the kingdom of God; and, therefore, it seems to me, that salvation +and the kingdom of God must be one and the same thing. + +Now, do you think so? When I say "The kingdom of God is salvation," +do you think it is? Have you even any clear notion of what I mean +when I say it? Some of you have not, I am afraid; you cannot see at +first sight what salvation and the kingdom of God have to do with +each other. And why? You think salvation means being saved from +hell, and going to heaven, when you die. And so it does: but I +trust in God and in God's holy scripture, that it means a great deal +more; for I think it means being unfit for hell, and fit for heaven, +before we die. At least, so says the Church Catechism, which teaches +every little child to thank his Heavenly Father for having brought +him into such a state of salvation in this life, even while he is +young. Thanks be to The Spirit of God which taught our fore-fathers +to put these precious words into the Church Catechism, to guard us +against falling into the very same mistake as the Pharisees of old +fell into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom of God was to +come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common enough to fall +into the same mistake. + +For what was their mistake? They fancied that the kingdom of God was +not yet come. And do not most of you think the same? They did not +deny, of course, that God was almighty, and could rule and govern all +mankind if He chose so to do. But they did not believe that He was +ruling and governing all mankind then, because they did not know what +His rule and government were like. Now, St. Paul tells us what God's +kingdom is like. The kingdom of God, he says, is righteousness, and +peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. So wherever there is +righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, there the +kingdom of God is. But His kingdom over what? Over dumb animals, or +over men? Over men, certainly; for dumb animals cannot have +righteousness, or joy in the Holy Spirit. But over what part of a +man? Over his body or over his spirit, as we call it nowadays? Over +his spirit, certainly; for it is only our spirits which can be +righteous, or peaceful, or joyful in God's Spirit. Therefore God's +kingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, is a kingdom, a government over +the souls, the spirits of men. Now, are our spirits the inward part +of us, or our bodies? Our spirits, certainly. We all say, and say +rightly, that our bodies are the outward part of us, and that our +spirits are within us. Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly +with the blessed Lord's saying in the text, "Behold, the kingdom of +God is within you"--that is, in your spirits, because it is +righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; and these are +things which only our souls, not our bodies at all, can have. + +But these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and +hypocritical men. Was the kingdom of God within them? The blessed +Lord said plainly that it was. He said not, "The kingdom of God is +within some people's hearts;" or, "The kingdom of God is within the +hearts of believers;" or, "The kingdom of God might be within you if +you liked." But He said that the kingdom of God was then and there +within the hearts of those wicked and unbelieving Pharisees. + +Now, how could that be? In the same way that some time before that, +as St. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was present to heal those +same Pharisees; and they were for the time amazed, and glorified God, +and were filled with fear at His mighty works; but not healed. Their +souls were not cured of their sin and folly by any means; for we find +in the very next chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied man on +the Sabbath-day they were filled with madness, and consulted together +how to kill Him. + +For, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. God's +kingdom is within every one of us; but it may make us worse, as well +as make us better. It may fill us with righteousness, and peace, and +joy in the Holy Spirit; or it may fill us, as it filled the +Pharisees, with madness, and hatred of religion and of goodness; as +it is written, that the gospel may be a savour of death unto death to +us, as well as a savour of life unto life. And it depends on us +which it shall be. + +This is what I mean: God's kingdom is within each of us. God is the +King of our hearts and souls; our baptism tells us so; and it tells +us truly. And because God is the King of each of our hearts, He +comes everlastingly to take possession of our hearts, and continues +claiming our souls for His own. He speaks in our hearts day and +night; whenever we have a good thought, He speaks in our hearts, and +says to us: "I am the King of your spirit. It must obey me. I put +this good thought into your hearts, and you are bound to follow that +good thought, because it is a law of my kingdom." Or again, God +speaks in our hearts, and says to us: "You have done this wrong +thing. You know that it is wrong. You know that it is an offence +against my law. Why have you rebelled against me?" Or again, when +we see anyone do a good, a loving, or a noble action; or when we read +of the lives of good and noble men and women; above all, when we read +or hear of the character and doings of the blessed Lord Jesus, then +and there God speaks in our hearts, and stirs us up to love and +admire these noble and blessed examples, and says to us: "That is +right. That is beautiful. That is what men should do. That is what +you should do. Why are you not like that man? Why are you not like +my saints? Why are you not like me, the Lord Jesus Christ?" + +You all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not mean that +you hear a voice speaking to your ears, but that thoughts and +feelings come into your heart, without you putting them there: ay, +often enough, in spite of your trying to drive them away. Now, those +right thoughts are the kingdom of God within you. They are the voice +of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, +and telling you that He is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; +and that obeying Him means being righteous and good, as He is +righteous and good; and calling on you to give up your own wills and +fancies, and to do His will, and let Him make you holy, even as He is +holy. That, I say, is the kingdom of God showing itself within you, +telling you that God is your King, and telling you how to obey Him. + +But what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a man rebels +proudly against the good thoughts that rise in his mind, and tries to +forget them, and grows angry with them, angry with the preacher, the +Church Service, the Bible itself, because they WILL go on reminding +him of what he knows in his heart to be right? What if those good +thoughts only make him the more stubborn and determined to do his own +pleasure, and follow his own interests, and do his own will? + +Do you not see that to that man God's kingdom over his heart is a +savour of death unto death--that his finding out that God is his Lord +only makes him more rebellious--that God's Spirit striving with his +heart to bring it right, only stirs up his stubbornness and self- +will, and makes him go the more obstinately wrong? + +Oh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can become worse +by God's loving desire to make him better! But so it is. So it was +with Pharaoh of old. All God's pleading with him by the message of +Moses and Aaron, by the mighty plagues which God sent on Egypt, only +hardened Pharaoh's heart. The Lord God spoke to him, and his message +only lashed Pharaoh's proud and wicked will into greater fury and +rebellion, as a vicious horse becomes the more unmanageable the more +you punish it. Therefore, it is said plainly in scripture, that THE +LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord's +will was to make Pharaoh hard-hearted and wicked. God forbid. The +Lord is the fountain of good only, and not He, but we and the devil, +make evil. But the more the Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to +bend his will, the more self-willed he became. The more the Lord +showed Pharaoh that the Lord was King, the more he hated the kingdom +and will of God, the more he determined to be king himself, and to +obey no law but his own wicked fancies and pleasures, and asked: +"Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?" + +And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that the +kingdom of God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts +and minds, and was trying to change their feelings and alter their +opinions, it only maddened them. They were determined not to change. +They were determined not to confess that they had been wrong, and had +mistaken the meaning of holy scripture. They were too proud to +confess what Jesus told them, that they were no better than the poor +ignorant common people whom they despised. And yet they knew in +their hearts that He was right. When the Lord told them the parable +of the vineyard, they answered, "God forbid!" they felt at once that +the parable had to do with them--that they were the wicked husbandmen +on whom He said their master would take vengeance: but that only +maddened them the more, till they ended by crucifying the Lord of +Glory, upon a pretence which they knew was a false and lying one; and +when Judas Iscariot said, "I have betrayed the innocent blood," they +did not deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all they answered was, +"What is that to us?" They were determined to have their own way +whether He was innocent or not. They had seen God's likeness. They +had seen what God was like, by seeing the conduct of His only +begotten Son Jesus Christ. And when they saw God's likeness they +hated it, because it was not like themselves. And the more God +strove with their hearts, and tried to make them obey Him, the more, +in short, they felt His kingdom within them, the more they hated that +kingdom of God within them, because it reproved them, and convinced +them of sin. Oh, my friends, young people especially, beware; beware +lest you fall into the same miserable state of mind. The kingdom of +God is within you. The Holy Spirit, by which you were regenerate in +holy baptism, is stirring and pleading with your hearts, making you +happy when you do right, unhappy when you do wrong. Oh, listen to +those good thoughts and feelings within you! Never fancy that they +are your own thoughts and feelings: else you will fancy that you can +put them away and take them back again when you choose to change and +become religious. Do not let the devil deceive you into that notion. +These good thoughts and feelings are the Spirit of God. They are the +signs that the kingdom of God is within you; that God is King and +Master of your hearts and minds; and that you cannot keep Him out of +them: but that He can enter into them when He likes, and put right +thoughts into them. But though you cannot prevent God and His +kingdom entering into you, you can refuse to enter into it. Alas! +alas! how many of you shut your ears to God's voice: try to drive +God's Spirit out of your own hearts; try to forget what is right, +because it is unpleasant to remember it, and say to yourselves, "I +will have my own way. I will try and forget what the clergyman said +in his sermon, or what I learnt at school. I am grown up now, and I +will do what I like." Oh, my friends, is it a wise or a hopeful +battle to fight against the living God? Grieve not the Holy Spirit +of God, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption, lest He go +away from you and leave you to yourselves, spiritually dead, twice +dead, plucked up by the roots, whose end is to be burned. Grieve Him +not, lest He depart, and with Him both the Father and the Son. And +then you will not know right from wrong, because God the Holy Spirit, +the Spirit of right, has left you. You will not know what a man +ought to be or do, because the Son of Man, the perfect likeness of +God, and therefore the pattern of man, has left you. You will not +know that God the Father is your Father, but only fancy him a stern +taskmaster, reaping where He has not sown, and requiring of you more +than you are bound to pay, because God the Father has left you. + +You may, indeed, keep out ugly thoughts for a time. You may go on +wantonly in sin, and worldliness, and self-will. And then, by way of +falling deeper still, you may take up with some false sort of +religion, which makes people fancy that they know God, and are one of +His elect, while in works they deny Him, and their sinful heart is +unchanged. Then your mouth indeed may be full of second-hand talk +about the gospel. But what gospel? I call that a devil's gospel, +and not God's gospel, which makes men fancy that they may continue in +sin that grace may abound. I call any grace which leaves men in +their sins the devil's grace, and not God's grace. Certainly it is +not the gospel of the kingdom of God; for if it was, it would produce +in men the fruits of that kingdom, righteousness, and peace, and joy +in the Holy Spirit, instead of the fruits which we see too often, +bigotry and self-conceit, bitterness, evil-speaking, and hard +judgments, and joy in a most unholy and damnable spirit, not to +mention covetousness and deceitfulness, or even in some cases +wantonness and lust. And yet such men will often fancy that they +belong especially to God, and doubt whether He will have mercy on any +who do not exactly agree with them; while in reality God and His +kingdom have utterly left their hearts, and they are as blind and +dark as the beasts which perish. May God preserve us from that +second death which comes on sinners, when, after a sinful youth, +their terrified souls begin to cry out in fear at the sight of their +sins; and they, instead of casting away their sins, keep their sins, +or change old sins for more respectable and safe new ones, and drug +their souls with false doctrines, as foolish nurses quiet children's +crying by giving them poisonous medicines. I know men who have +fallen, I really fear at times, into that state of mind, and are like +those Pharisees of whom our Lord said: "Ye serpents, ye generation +of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Even for them +it is not too late: but, let them recollect, if the kingdom of God +is within them, if they have any feelings of right and wrong left in +them, that their covetousness, and lying, and slandering, and +conceit, is fighting against God; that these are just what God +desires to cast out of them; and that unless they give up their +hearts to God, and let Him cast out their sins, and be converted, and +become like little children, gentle, humble, teachable, friendly, and +kind-hearted, obedient to their heavenly Father, God will cast them +out of His kingdom among the things which offend, and bring a bad +name on religion; among those very profligate and open sinners whom +they are so ready to despise and curse. + + + +XXXVIII--THE LIGHT + + + +But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for +whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore He saith, Awake +thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give +thee light.--EPHESIANS v. 13, 14. + +St. Paul has been telling the Ephesians who they are; that they are +God's dear children. To whom they belong; to Christ who has given +Himself for them. What they ought to do; to follow God's likeness, +and live in love. That they are light in the Lord; and are to walk +as children of the light; and have no fellowship with the unfruitful +works of darkness, but rather reprove them. As much as to say: Do +not believe those who tell you that there is no harm in young people +going wrong together before marriage, provided they intend to marry +after all. Do not believe those who tell you that there is no harm +in filthy words, provided you do not do filthy things; and no harm in +swearing, provided you do not mean the curses which you speak. Do +not believe those who tell you there is no harm in poaching another +man's game, provided you do not steal his poultry, or anything except +his game. Do not believe those who tell you that there is no harm in +being covetous, provided you do not actually cheat your neighbours; +and that the sin lies, not in being covetous at all, but in being +more covetous than the law will let you be. + +Do not believe those who say to you that you may keep dark thoughts, +spite, suspicion, envy, cunning, covetousness in your hearts day +after day, year after year, provided you do not openly act on them so +as to do your neighbours any great and notorious injury. + +Plenty of people will tell you so, and try to deceive you with vain +words, and give you arguments, and texts of scripture perhaps, to +prove that sin is not sin, and that the children of light may do the +works of darkness. But do not believe them, says St. Paul. They are +deceivers, and their words are vain. These are the very things which +bring down God's wrath on His disobedient children. These are the +bad ways which make young people, when they are married, despise, and +distrust, and quarrel with each other, and live miserable lives +together, as children of wrath, peevish, and wrathful, and +discontented with each other, because they feel that God is angry +with them, just as Adam in the garden, when he felt that he had +sinned, and that God was wroth with him, laid the blame on his wife, +and accused her, whom he ought to have loved, and protected, and +excused. + +These are the bad ways which make people ashamed when they meet a +good and a respectable person, make them afraid of being overheard, +afraid of being found out, fond of haunting low and out-of-the-way +places where they will not be seen; fond of prowling and lurching out +at night after their own sinful pleasures, because the darkness hides +them from their neighbours, and seems to hide them from themselves, +though it cannot hide them from God. These are the sins which make +men silent, cunning, dark, sour, double-tongued, afraid to look +anyone full in the face, unwilling to make friends, afraid of opening +their minds to anyone, because they have something on their minds +which they dare not tell their neighbours, which they dare not even +tell themselves, but think about as little as they can help. Do you +not know what I mean? Do you not often see it in others? Have you +never felt it in yourselves when you have done wrong, that dark +feeling within which shows itself in dark looks? You talk of a +"dark-looking man," or a "dark sort of person;" and you mean, do you +not, a man whom you cannot make out, who does not wish you to make +him out; who keeps his thoughts and his feelings to himself, and is +never frank or free, except with bad companions, when the world +cannot see him; who goes about hanging down his head, and looking out +of the corners of his eyes, as if he were afraid of the very +sunshine--afraid of the light. We know that such a man has something +dark on his mind. We call him a "dark sort of man." And we are +right. We say of him what St. Paul says of him in this very epistle, +when he says, that sin is darkness, and sinful works the deeds of +darkness; and that goodness, and righteousness, and truth, are light, +the very light of God and the Spirit of God. Our reason, our common +sense, which is given us by God's Spirit, the Spirit of light, makes +us use the right words, the same words as St. Paul does, and call sin +darkness. + +But rather reprove these dark works, says St Paul; that is, look at +them, and see that they are utterly worthless and damnable. And how? +"All things that are reproved," he says, "are made manifest by the +light. For whatsoever makes manifest is light." Whatsoever makes +manifest, that is, makes plain and clear. Whatsoever makes you see +anything or person in heaven or earth as it really is; whatsoever +makes you understand more about anything; whatsoever shows you more +what you are, where you are, what you ought to do; whatsoever teaches +you any single hint about your duty to God, or man, or the dumb +beasts which you tend, or the soil which you till, or the business +and line of life which you ought to follow; whatsoever shows you the +right and the wrong in any matter, the truth and the falsehood in any +matter, the prudent course and the imprudent course in any matter; in +a word, whatsoever makes your mind more clear about any single thing +in heaven or earth, is light. For, mind, St. Paul does not say, +whatsoever is light makes things plain; but whatsoever makes things +plain is light. That is saying a great deal more, thank God; for if +he had said, whatsoever is light makes things clear, we should have +been puzzled to know what was light; we should have been tempted to +settle for ourselves what was light. And, God knows, people in all +ages, and people of all religions, Christians as well as heathens, +have been tempted to say so, and to misread this text, till they +said: "Whatsoever agrees with our doctrine is light, of course, but +all other teaching is darkness, and comes from the devil;" and so +they oftentimes blasphemed against God's Holy Spirit by calling good +actions bad ones, just because they were done by people who did not +agree with them, and fell into the same sin as the Pharisees of old, +who said that the Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the +devils. + +But St. Paul says, whatsoever makes anything clearer to you, is +light. There is the gospel, and there is the good news of salvation +again, coming out, as it does all through St. Paul's epistles, at +every turn, just where poor, sinful, dark man least expects it. For, +what does St. Paul say in the very next verse? "Wherefore," he says, +"arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." "Christ +shall give thee light!" Oh blessed news! CHRIST gives us the light, +and therefore we need not be afraid of it, but trust it, and welcome +it. And Christ GIVES us the light, therefore we have not to hunt and +search after it; for He will give it us. Let us think over these two +matters, and see whether there is not a gospel and good news in them +for all wretched, ignorant, sinful, dark souls, just as much as for +those who are learned and wise, or bright and full of peace. + +Christ gives us the light. This agrees with what St. John says, that +"He is the light who lights every man who comes into the world." And +it agrees also with what St. James says: "Be not deceived, my +beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from +above, and cometh down from God, the Father of lights, with whom is +no variableness, nor shadow of turning." And it agrees also with +what the prophet says, that it is the Spirit of God which gives man +understanding. And it agrees also with what the Lord Himself +promised us when He was on earth, that He would send down on us the +Spirit of God--the Spirit which proceeds alike from Him and from His +Father, to guide us into all truth. Ay, my friends, if we really +believe this, what a solemn and important thing education would seem +to us! If we really believed that all light, all true understanding +of any matter, came from the Lord Jesus Christ: and if we remember +what the Lord Jesus' character was; how He came to do good to all; to +teach not merely the rich and powerful, but the poor, the ignorant, +the outcast, the sinful: should we not say to ourselves, then: "If +knowledge comes from Christ, who never kept anything to Himself, how +dare we keep knowledge to ourselves? If it comes from Him who gave +Himself freely for all, surely He means that knowledge should be +given freely to all. If He and His Father, and our Father, will that +all should come to the knowledge of the truth, how dare we keep the +truth from anyone?" So we should feel it the will of our heavenly +Father, the solemn command of our blessed Saviour, that our children, +and not only they, but every soul around us, young and old, should be +educated in the best possible way, and in any way whatsoever, rather +than in none at all. The education of the poor would be, in our +eyes, the most sacred duty. A school would be, in our eyes, as +necessary and almost as sacred a thing as a church. And to neglect +sending our children to school, or to leave our servants or work- +people in ignorance, would seem to us an awful sin against the Father +of lights; a rebellion against the Lord Jesus, who lights every man +who comes into the world, and against our Father in heaven, who +willeth not that one of these little ones should perish. + +And this is made still more plain and certain by the next word in the +text: "Christ shall GIVE thee light:" not sell thee light, or allow +thee to find light after great struggles, and weary years of study: +but, GIVE thee light. Give it thee of His free grace and generosity. +We might have expected that, merely from remembering to whom the +light belongs. The mere fact that light belongs to the Lord Jesus +Christ, who is the express likeness of His Father, might have made us +sure that He would give His light freely to the unthankful and to the +evil, just as His Father makes His sun to shine alike on the evil and +on the good. Therefore this text does not leave us to find out the +good news for ourselves. It declares to us plainly that He will give +it us, as freely as He gives us all things richly to enjoy. + +But, someone will say: You surely cannot mean that we shall have +understanding without study? + +You cannot mean that we are to become wise without careful thought, +or that we are to understand books without learning to read? Of +course not, my friends. The text does not say: "Christ will give +thee eyes; Christ will give thee sense:" but, "Christ will give thee +light." . . . Do you not see the difference? Of what use would your +eyes be without light? And of what use would light be if your eyes +were shut, and you asleep? In darkness you cannot see. Your eyes +are there, as good as ever; the world is there, as fair as ever: but +you cannot see it, because there is no light. You can only feel it, +by groping about with your hands, and laying hold of whatsoever +happens to be nearest you. And do you think that though your bodily +eyes cannot see, unless God puts His light in the sky, to shine on +everything, and show it you, yet your minds and souls can see without +any light from God? Not so, my friends. What the sun is to this +earth, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is to the spirit-- +that is, the reason and conscience--of every man who comes into the +world. Now, the good news of holy baptism is, that the light is +here; that God's Spirit is with us, to teach us the truth about +everything, that we may see it in its true light, as it is, as God +sees it; that the day-spring from on high has visited us, to give +light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to +guide our feet into the way of peace; and that we are children of the +light and of the day. But what if those who sit in darkness like the +darkness; and wilfully shut their eyes tight that they may not see +the day-spring from on high, and the light which God has sent into +the world? Then the light will not profit them, but they will walk +on still in darkness, not knowing whither they are going. + +But some may say, wicked men are very wise; although they rebel +against God's Spirit, and do not even believe in God's Spirit, but +say that man's mind can find out everything for itself, without God's +help, yet they are very wise. Are they? The Bible tells us again +and again that the wisdom of such men is folly; that God takes such +wise men in their own craftiness. And the Bible speaks truth. If +there is one thing of which I am more certain than another, my +friends, it is that, just in proportion as a man is bad, just in +proportion as he does not believe in a good Spirit of God who wills +to teach him, and gives him light, he is a fool. If there is one +thing more than another which such men's books have taught me, it is +that they are in darkness, when they fancy they are in the brightest +light; that they make the greatest mistakes when they intend to say +the cleverest things; and when they least fancy it, fall into +nonsense and absurdities, not merely on matters of religion, but on +points which they profess to have studied, and in cases where, by +their own showing, they ought to have known better. But our business +is rather with ourselves. Our business, in this time of Lent, is to +see whether we have been shutting our eyes; whether we have been +walking in darkness, while God's light is all around us. And how +shall we know that? Let St. John tell us: "He that saith he is in +the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness until now, and +knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness has blinded his eyes." +Hating our brother. Covetousness, which is indeed hating our +brother, for it teaches us to prefer our good to our neighbour's +good, to fatten ourselves at our neighbour's expense, to get his +work, his custom, his money, away from him to ourselves; bigotry, +which makes men hate and despise those who differ from them in +religion; spite and malice against those who have injured us; +suspicions and dark distrust of our neighbours, and of mankind in +general; selfishness, which sets us always standing on our own +rights, makes us always ready to take offence, always ready to think +that people mean to insult us or injure us, and makes us moody, dark, +peevish, always thinking about ourselves, and our plans, or our own +pleasures, shut up as it were within ourselves--all these sins, in +proportion as anyone gives way to them, darken the eyes of a man's +soul. They really and actually make him more stupid, less able to +understand his neighbours' hearts and minds, less able to take a +reasonable view of any matter or question whatsoever. You may not +believe me. But so it is. I know it by experience to be true. I +warn you that you will find it true one day; that all spite, passion, +prejudice, suspicion, hard judgments, contempt, self-conceit, blind a +man's reason, and heart, and soul, and make him stumble and fall into +mistakes, even in worldly matters, just as surely as shutting our +eyes makes us stumble in broad daylight. He who gives way to such +passions is asleep, while he fancies himself broad awake. His life +is a dream; and like a dreamer, he sees nothing really, only +appearances, fancies, pictures of things in his own selfish brain. +Therefore it is written: "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from +the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." You may say: Can I +awaken myself? Perhaps not, unless someone calls you. And therefore +Christ calls on you to awake. He says by my mouth: Awake, thou +sleeper, and I will give thee light; awake, thou dreamer, who +fanciest that the sinful works of darkness can give thee any real +profit, any real pleasure; awake, thou sleep-walker, who art going +about the world in a dream, groping thy way on from day to day and +year to year, only kept from fall and ruin by God's guiding and +preserving mercy. Open thine eyes, and let in the great eternal +loving light, wherein God beholds everything which He has made, and +behold it is very good. Open thine eyes, for it is day. The light +is here if thou wilt but use it. "I will guide thee," saith the +Lord, "and inform thee with mine eye, and teach thee in the way +wherein thou shalt go." Only believe in the light. Believe that all +knowledge comes from God. Expect and trust that He will give thee +knowledge. Pray to Him boldly to give thee knowledge, because thou +art sure that He wishes thee to have knowledge. He wishes thee to +know thy duty. He wishes thee to see everything as He sees it. "If +any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally +and upbraideth not, and he shall receive it." And when thou hast +prayed for knowledge, expect it to come; as it is written: When thou +prayest for anything, believe that thou wilt receive it, and thou +wilt receive it. If thou dost not believe that thou wilt have it, of +course thou wilt not have it. And why? Because thou wilt pass by it +without seeing it. It will be there ready for thee in thy daily +walks; Wisdom will cry to thee at the head of every street; God will +not deny Himself or break His promise: but thou wilt go past the +place where wisdom is, and miss the lessons which God is strewing in +thy path, because thou art not looking for them. Wisdom is here, my +friends, and understanding is here, and the Spirit of God is here, if +our eyes were but open to see them. Oh my friends, of all the sins +of which we have to repent in this time of Lent, none ought to give +us more solemn and bitter thoughts of shame than the way in which we +overlook the teaching of God's Spirit, and shut our eyes to His +light, times without number, every day of our lives. My friends, if +our hearts were what they ought to be, if we had humble, loving, +trustful hearts, full of faith and hope in God's promise to lead us +into all truth, I believe that every joy and every sorrow which +befell us, every book which we opened, every walk which we took upon +the face of God's earth, ay, every human face into which we looked, +would teach us some lesson, whereby we should be wiser, better, more +aware of where we are and what God requires of us as human beings, +neighbours, citizens, subjects, members of His church. All things +would be clear to us; for we should see them in the light of God's +Spirit. All things would look bright to us, for we should see them +in the light of God's love. All things would work together for good +to us, for we should understand each thing as it came before us, and +know what it was, and what God meant it for, and how we were to use +it. And knowing and seeing what was right, we should see how +beautiful it was, and love it, and take delight in doing it, and so +we should walk in the light. Dark thoughts would pass away from our +minds, dark feelings from our hearts, dark looks from our faces. We +should look our neighbours cheerfully and boldly in the face; for our +consciences would be clear of any ill-will or meanness toward them. +We should look cheerfully and boldly up to God our Father; for we +should know that He was with us, guiding and teaching us, well- +pleased with all our endeavours to see things as He sees them, and to +live and work on earth after His image, and in His likeness. We +should look out cheerfully and boldly on the world around us, trying +to get knowledge from everything we see, expecting the light, and +welcoming it, and trusting it, because we know that it comes from Him +who is true and cannot lie, Him who is love and cannot injure, Him +who is righteous and cannot lead us into temptation: Jesus Christ, +the Light who lighteth every man that cometh into the world. + + + +XXXIX--THE UNPARDONABLE SIN + + + +Wherefore I say unto you: All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be +forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall +not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the +Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word +against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this +world, or in the world to come.--MATTHEW xii. 31, 32. + +These awful words were the Lord's answer to the Pharisees, when they +said of Him: "He casts out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the +devils." + +What was it now which made this speech of the Pharisees so terrible a +sin, past all forgiveness? + +Of course we all feel that they were very sinful; we shrink with +horror from their words as we read them. But why ought they to have +done the same? We know, thank God, who Jesus Christ was. But they +did not; at that time, when He was first beginning to preach, they +hardly could have known. And mind, we must not say: "They ought to +have known that He was the Son of God by His having the POWER of +casting out devils;" for the Lord Himself says that the sons of these +Pharisees used to cast them out also, or that the Pharisees believed +that they did; and only asks them: "Why do you say of my casting out +devils, what you will not say of your sons' casting them out?" Pray +bear this in mind; for if you do not--if you keep in your mind the +vulgar and unscriptural notion that the Pharisees' sin was not being +convinced by the great power of Christ's miracles, you will never +understand this story, and you will be very likely to get rid of it +altogether as speaking of a sin which does not concern you, and a sin +which you cannot commit. Now, if the Pharisees did not know that +Jesus was the Son of God, the Maker and King of the world, as we do, +why were they so awfully wicked in saying that He cast out devils by +the prince of the devils? Was it anything more than a mistake of +theirs? Was it as wicked as crucifying the Lord? Could it be a +worse sin to make that one mistake, than to murder the Lord Himself? +And yet it must have been a worse sin. For the Lord prayed for his +murderers: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." +And these Pharisees, they knew not what they did: and yet the Lord, +far from praying for them, told them that even He did not see how +such serpents, such a generation of vipers, could escape the +damnation of hell. + +It is worth our while to think over this question, and try and find +out what made the Pharisees' sin so great. And to do that, it will +be wiser for us, first, to find out what the Pharisees' sin was; lest +we should sit here this morning, and think them the most wicked +wretches who ever trod the earth; and then go away, and before a week +is over, commit ourselves the very same sin, or one so fearfully like +it, that if other people can see a difference between them, I confess +I cannot. And to commit such a sin, my good friends, is a far easier +thing to do than some people fancy, especially here in England now. + +Now, the worst part of the Pharisees' sin was not, as we are too apt +to fancy, their insulting the Lord: but their insulting the Holy +Spirit. For what does the Lord Himself say? That all manner of +blasphemy as well as sin should be forgiven; that whosever spoke a +word against Him, the Son of Man, should be forgiven: but that the +unpardonable part of their offence was, that they had blasphemed the +Holy Spirit. + +And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of holiness. And what is +holiness? What are the fruits of holiness? For, as the Lord told +the Pharisees on this very occasion, the tree is known by its fruit. +What says St. Paul? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, +long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. Those +who do not show these fruits have not God's Spirit in them. Those +who are hard, unloving, proud, quarrelsome, peevish, suspicious, +ready to impute bad motives to their neighbours, have not God's +Spirit in them. Those who do show these fruits; who are gentle, +forgiving, kind-hearted, ready to do good to others, and believe good +of others, have God's Spirit in them. For these are good fruits, +which, as our Lord tells us, can only spring from a good root. Those +who have the fruit must have the root, let their doctrines be what +they may. Those who have not the fruit cannot have the root, let +their doctrines be what they may. + +That is the plain truth; and it is high time for preachers to +proclaim it boldly, and take the consequences from the Scribes and +Pharisees of this generation. That is the plain truth. Let +doctrines be what they will, the tree is known by its fruit. The man +who does wrong things is bad, and the man who does right things is +good. It is a simple thing to have to say, but very few believe it +in these days. Most fancy that the men who can talk most neatly and +correctly about certain religious doctrines are good, and that those +who cannot are bad. That is no new notion. Some people thought so +in St. John's time; and what did he say of them? "Little children, +let no man deceive you; it is he that doeth righteousness who is +righteous, even as God is righteous." And again: "He who says, I +know God, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is +not in him." St. John was the apostle of love. He was always +preaching the love of God to men, and entreating men to love one +another. His own heart was overflowing with love. Yet when it came +to such a question as that; when it came to people's pretending to be +religious and orthodox, and yet neither obeying God nor loving their +neighbours, he could speak sternly and plainly enough. He does not +say: "My dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ from you, but I +am afraid you are mistaken;" he says: "You are liars, and there is +no truth in you." + +Now this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They had got to +think, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a man's having +God's Spirit in him, was his agreeing with them in doctrine. But if +he did not agree with them; if he would not say the words which they +said, and did not belong to their party, and side with them in +despising every one who differed from them, it was no matter to them, +as they proved by their opinion of Jesus Himself, how good he might +be, or how much good he might do; how loving, gentle, patient, +benevolent, helping, and caring for poor people; in short, how like +God he was; all that went for nothing if he was not of their party. +For they had forgotten what God was like. They forgot that God was +love and mercy itself, and that all love and mercy must come from +God; and, that, therefore, no one, let his creed or his doctrine be +what it might, could possibly do a loving or merciful thing, but by +the grace and inspiration of God, the Father of mercies. And yet +their own prophets of the Old Testament had told them so, when they +ascribed the good deeds of heathens to the inspiration of God, just +as much as the good deeds of Jews, and agreed, as they do in many a +text, with what St. James, himself a Jew, said afterwards: "Be not +deceived; every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and +cometh down from the Father of lights." But the Pharisees, like too +many nowadays, did not think so. They thought that good and perfect +gifts might some of them very well come from below, from the father +of darkness and cruelty. They saw the Lord Jesus Christ doing good +things; driving out evil, and delivering men from the power of it; +healing the sick, cleansing the leper, curing the mad, preaching the +gospel to the poor: and yet they saw in that no proof that God's +Spirit was working in Him. Of course, if He had been one of their +own party, and had held the same doctrines as they held, they would +have praised Him loudly enough, and held Him up as a great saint of +their school, and boasted of all His good deeds as proofs of how good +their party was, and how its doctrines came from God. But as long as +He was not one of them, His good works went for nothing. They could +not see God's likeness in that loving and merciful character. All +His charity and benevolence made them only hate Him the more, because +it made them the more afraid that He would draw the people away from +them. "And of course," they said to themselves, "whosoever draws +people away from us, must be on the devil's side. We know all God's +law and will. No one on earth has anything to teach us. And +therefore, as for any one who differs from us, if he cast out devils, +it must be because the devil is helping him, for his own purposes, to +do it." + +In one word, then, the sin of these Pharisees, the unpardonable sin, +which ruins all who give themselves up to it, was bigotry; calling +right wrong, because it did not suit their party prejudices to call +it right. They were fancying themselves very religious and pious, +and all the while they did not know right when they saw it; and when +the Lord came doing right, they called it wrong, because He did not +agree with their doctrines. They fancied they were the only people +on earth who knew how to worship God perfectly; and yet while they +pretended to worship Him, they did not know what He was like. The +Lord Jesus came down, the perfect likeness of God's glory, and the +express pattern of His character, helping, and healing, and +delivering the souls and bodies of all poor wretches whom He met; and +these Pharisees could not see God's Spirit in that; and because it +was certainly not their own spirit, called it the spirit of a devil, +and blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Right and Love. + +This was bigotry, the flower and crown of all sins into which man can +fall; the worst of all sins, because a man may keep from every other +sin with all his might and main, as the Pharisees did, and yet be led +by bigotry into almost every one of them without knowing it; into +harsh and uncharitable judgment; into anger, clamour, and railing; +into misrepresentation and slander; and fancying that the God of +truth needs the help of their lying; perhaps, as has often happened, +alas! already, into devilish cruelty to the souls and bodies of men. +The worst of all sins; because a man who has given up his heart to +bigotry can have no forgiveness. He cannot; for how can a man be +forgiven unless he repent? and how can a bigot repent? how can he +confess himself in the wrong, while he fancies himself infallibly in +the right? As the Lord said to these very Pharisees: "If ye had +been blind, ye had had no sin: but now ye say We see; therefore your +sin remaineth." + +How can the bigot repent? for repenting is turning to God; and how +can a man turn to God who does not know where to look for God, who +does not know who God is, who mistakes the devil for God, and fancies +the all-loving Father to be a taskmaster, and a tyrant, and an +accuser, and a respecter of persons, without mercy or care for +ninety-nine hundredths of the souls which He has made? How can he +find God? He does not know whom to look for. + +How can the bigot repent? for to repent means to turn from wrong to +right; and he has lost the very notion of right and wrong, in the +midst of all his religion and his fine doctrines. He fancies that +right does not mean love, mercy, goodness, patience, but notions like +his own; and that wrong does not mean hatred, and evil-speaking, and +suspicion, and uncharitableness, and slander, and lying, but notions +unlike his own. What he agrees with he thinks is heavenly, and what +he disagrees with is of hell. He has made his own god for himself +out of himself. His own prejudices are his god, and he worships them +right worthily; and if the Lord were to come down on earth again, and +would not say the words which he is accustomed to say, it would go +hard but he would crucify the Lord again, as the Pharisees did of +old. + +My friends, there is too much of this bigotry, this blasphemy against +God's Spirit, abroad in England now. May God keep us all from it! +Pray to Him night and day, to give you His Spirit, that you may not +only be loving, charitable, full of good works yourselves, but may be +ready to praise and enjoy a good, and loving, and merciful action, +whosoever does it, whether he be of your religion or not; for nothing +good is done by any living man without the grace of Christ, and the +inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Father of lights, from whom +comes down every good and perfect gift. And whosoever tries to +escape from that great truth, when he sees a man whose doctrines are +wrong doing a right act, by imputing bad motives to him, or saying: +"His actions must be evil, however good they may look, because his +doctrines are wrong,"--that man is running the risk of committing the +very same sin as the Pharisees, and blaspheming against the Holy +Spirit, by calling good evil. And be sure, my friends, that +whosoever indulges, even in little matters, in hard judgments, and +suspicions, and hasty sneers, and loud railing, against men who +differ from him in religion, or politics, or in anything else, is +deadening his own sense of right and wrong, and sowing the seeds of +that same state of mind, which, as the Lord told the Pharisees, is +utterly the worst into which any human being can fall. + + + +XL--THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE + + + +For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye +have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.-- +ROMANS viii. 15. + +Some of you here may not understand this text at all. Some of you, +perhaps, may misunderstand it; for it is not an easy one. Let us, +then, begin, by finding out the meaning of each word in it; and, let +us first see what is the meaning of the spirit of bondage unto fear. +Bondage means slavery; and the spirit of bondage means the spirit +which makes men look up to God as slaves do to their taskmaster. +Now, a slave obeys his master from fear only; not from love or +gratitude. He knows that his master is stronger than he is, and he +dreads being beaten and punished by him; and therefore, he obeys him +only by compulsion, not of his own good will. This is the spirit of +bondage; the slavish, superstitious spirit in religion, into which +all men fall, in proportion as they are mean, and sinful, and carnal, +fond of indulging themselves, and bearing no love to God or right +things. They know that God is stronger than they; they are afraid +that God will take away comforts from them if they offend Him; they +have been taught that He will cast them into endless torment if they +offend Him; and, therefore, they are afraid to do wrong. They love +what is wrong, and would like to do it; but they dare not, for fear +of God's punishment. They do not really fear God; they only fear +punishment, misfortune, death, and hell. That is better, perhaps, +than no religion at all. But it is not the faith which WE ought to +have. + +In this way the old heathens lived: loving sin and not holiness, and +yet continually tormented with the fear of being punished for the +very sins which they loved; looking up to God as a stern taskmaster; +fancying Him as proud, and selfish, and revengeful as themselves; +trying one day to quiet that wrath of His which they knew they +deserved, by all sorts of flatteries and sacrifices to Him; and the +next day trying to fancy that He was as sinful as themselves, and was +well-pleased to see them sinful too. And yet they could not keep +that lie in their hearts; God's light, which lights every man who +comes into the world, was too bright for them, and shone into their +consciences, and showed them that the wages of sin was death. The +law of God, St. Paul tells us, was written in their hearts; and how +much soever, poor creatures, they might try to blot it out and forget +it, yet it would rise up in judgment against them, day by day, night +by night, convincing them of sin. So they in their terror sold +themselves to false priests, who pretended to know of plans for +helping them to escape from this angry God, and gave themselves up to +superstitions, till they even sacrificed their sons and their +daughters to devils, in some sort of confused hope of buying +themselves off from misery and ruin. + +And in the same way the Jews lived, for the most part, before the +Lord Jesus came in the flesh of man. Not so viciously and wickedly, +of course, because the law of Moses was holy, and just, and good; the +law which the Lord Himself had given them, because it was the best +for them then; because they were too sinful, and slavish, and stupid, +for anything better. But, as St. Paul says, Moses's law could not +give them life, any more than any other law can. That is, it could +not make them righteous and good; it could not change their hearts +and lives; it could only keep them from outward wrong-doing by +threats and promises, saying: "Thou shalt not." It could, at best, +only show them how sinful their own hearts were; how little they +loved what God commanded; how little they desired what He promised; +and so it made them feel more and more that they were guilty, +unworthy to look up to a holy God, deserving His anger and +punishment, worthy to die for their sins; and thus by the law came +the knowledge of sin, a deeper feeling of guilt, and shame, and +slavish dread of God, as St. Paul sets forth, with wonderful wisdom, +in the seventh chapter of Romans. + +Now, let us consider the latter half of the text. "But ye have +received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father." + +What is this adoption? St. Paul tells us in the beginning of the +fourth chapter of his epistle to the Galatians. He says: As long as +a man's heir is a child, and under age, there is no difference in law +between him and a slave. He is his father's property. He must obey +his father, whether he chooses or not; and he is under tutors and +governors, until the time appointed by his father; that is, until he +comes of age, as we call it. Then he becomes his own master. He can +inherit and possess property of his own after that. And from that +time forth the law does not bind him to obey his father; if he obeys +him it is of his own free will, because he loves, and trusts, and +reverences his father. + +Now, St. Paul says, this is the case with us. When we were infants, +we were in bondage under the elements of the world; kept straight, as +children are, by rules which they cannot understand, by the fear of +punishment which they cannot escape, with no more power to resist +their father than slaves have to resist their master. But when the +fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, +born under a law, that He might redeem those who were under a law, +that we might receive the adoption of sons. + +As much as to say: You were God's CHILDREN all along: but now you +are more; you are God's sons. You have arrived at man's estate; you +are men in body and in mind; you are to be men in spirit, men in +life. You are to look up to the great God who made heaven and earth, +and know, glorious thought! that He is as truly your Father as the +men whose earthly sons you call yourselves. And if you do this, He +will give you the Spirit of adoption, and you shall be able to call +Him Father with your hearts, as well as with your lips; you shall +know and feel that He is your Father; that He has been loving, +watching, educating, leading you home to Him all the while that you +were wandering in ignorance of Him, in childish self-will, and +greediness after pleasure and amusement. He will give you His Spirit +to make you behave like His sons, to obey Him of your own free will, +from love, and gratitude, and honour, and filial reverence. He will +make you love what He loves, and hate what He hates. He will give +you clear consciences and free hearts, to fear nothing on earth or in +heaven, but the shame and ingratitude of disobeying your Father. + +The Spirit of adoption, by which you look up to God as your Father, +is your right. He has given it to you, and nothing but your own want +of faith, and wilful turning back to cowardly superstition, and to +the wilful sins which go before superstition, and come after it, can +take it from you. So said St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, +and so I have a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say to every man +and woman in this church this day. + +For, my dear friends, if you ask me, what has this to do with us? +Has it not everything to do with us? Whether we are leading good +lives, or middling lives, or utterly bad worthless lives, has it not +everything to do with us? Who is there here who has not at times +said to himself: "God so holy, and pure, and glorious; while I am so +unjust, and unclean, and mean! And God so great and powerful; while +I am so small and weak! What shall I do? Does not God hate and +despise me? Will He not take from me all which I love best? Will He +not hurl me into endless torment when I die? How can I escape from +Him? Wretched man that I am, I cannot escape from Him! How, then, +can I turn away His hate? How can I make Him change His mind? How +can I soothe Him and appease Him? What shall I do to escape hell- +fire?" + +Did you ever have such thoughts? But, did you find those thoughts, +that slavish terror of God's wrath, that dread of hell, made you any +BETTER men? I never did. I never saw them make any human being +better. Unless you go beyond them--as far beyond them as heaven is +beyond hell, as far above them as a free son is above a miserable +crouching slave, they will do you more harm than good. For this is +all that I have seen come of them: That all this spirit of bondage, +this slavish terror, instead of bringing a man nearer to God, only +drove him further from God. It did not make him hate what was wrong; +it only made him dread the punishment of it. And then, when the +first burst of fear cooled down, he began to say to himself: "I can +never atone for my sins. I can never win back God to love me. What +is done, is done. If I cannot escape punishment, let me be at least +as happy as I can while it lasts. If it does not come to-day, it +will come to-morrow. Let me alone, thou tormenting conscience. Let +me eat and drink, for to-morrow I die!" And so back rushed the poor +creature into all his wrong-doing again, and fell most probably +deeper than ever into the mire, because a certain feeling of +desperation and defiance rose up in him, till he began to fancy that +his terror was all a dream--a foolish accidental rising up of old +superstitious words which he learnt from his mother or his nurse; and +he tried to forget it all, and did forget it--God help him!--and his +latter end was worse than his first. + +How then shall a man escape shame and misery, and an evil conscience, +and rise out of these sins of his? For do it he must. The wages of +sin is death--death to body and soul; and from sin he must escape. + +There is but one way, my friends. There never was but one way. +Believe the text, and therefore believe the warrant of your Baptism. +Believe the message of your Confirmation. + +Your baptism says to you, God does NOT hate you, be you the greatest +sinner on earth. He does not hate you. He loves you; for you are +His child. He hateth nothing that He hath made. He willeth not the +death of a sinner, but that ALL should come to be saved. And your +baptism is the sign of that to you. But God hates everything that He +has not made; for everything which He has not made is bad; and He has +made all things but sin; and therefore He hates sin, and, loving you, +wishes to raise you out of sin; and baptism is the sign of that also. +Man was made originally in the image and likeness of God, and of +Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the express image of God the Father; +and therefore everything which is sinful is unmanly, and everything +which is truly manful, and worthy of a man, is like Jesus Christ; and +God's will is, that you should rise out of all these unmanly sins, to +a truly manful life--a life like the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of +Man. And baptism is God's sign of this also. That is the meaning of +the words in the Baptism Service which tell you that you were +baptised into Jesus Christ, that you might put off the old man--the +sinful, slavish, selfish, unmanly pattern of life, which we all lead +by nature; and put on the new man--the holy and noble, righteous and +loving pattern of life, which is the likeness of the Lord Jesus. +That is the message of your baptism to you; that you are God's +children, and that God's will and wish is that you should grow up to +become His SONS, to serve Him lovingly, trustingly, manfully; and +that He can and will give you power to do so--ay, that He has given +you that power already, if you will but claim it and use it. But you +must claim it and use it, because you are meant not merely to be +God's wilful, ignorant, selfish children, obeying Him from mere fear +of the rod; but to be His willing, loving, loyal sons. And that is +the message which Confirmation brings you. Baptism says: You are +God's child, whether you know it or not. Confirmation says: Yes; +but now you are to know it, and to claim your rights as His sons, of +full age, reasonable and self-governing. + +Baptism says: You are regenerated and born from above, by water and +the Holy Spirit. Confirmation answers: True, most true; but there +is no use in a child's being born, if it never comes to man's estate, +but remains a stunted idiot. + +Baptism says: You may and ought to become more or less such a man as +the Lord Jesus was. Confirmation says: You can become such; for you +are no longer children; you are grown to man's estate in body, you +can grow to man's estate in soul if you will. God's Spirit is with +you, to show you all things in their true light; to teach you to +value them or despise them as you ought; to teach you to love what He +loves, and hate what He hates. God wishes you no longer to be merely +His children, obeying Him you know not why; still less His slaves, +obeying Him from mere brute coward fear, and then breaking loose the +moment that you forget Him, and fancy that His eye is not on you: +but He wishes you to be His sons; to claim the right and the power +which He has given you to trample your sins under foot; to rise up by +the strength which God your Father will surely give to those who ask +Him; and so to be new men, free men, true men, who do look boldly up +to God, knowing that, however wicked they may have been, and however +weak they are still, God's love belongs to them, God's help belongs +to them, and that those who trust in Him shall never be confounded, +but shall go on from strength to strength to the measure of the +stature of a perfect man, to the noble likeness of the Lord Jesus +Christ Himself. + +For this is the message of the blessed sacrament of the body and +blood of Christ, to which you have been all called this day. That +sacrament tells you that in spite of all your daily sins and +failings, you can still look up to God as your Father; to the Lord +Jesus Christ as your life; to the Holy Spirit as your guide and your +inspirer; that though you be prodigal sons, your Father's house is +still open to you, your Father's eternal love ready to meet you afar +off, the moment that you cry from your heart: "Father, I have +sinned;" and that you must be converted and turn back to God your +Father, not merely once for all at Confirmation, or at any other +time, but weekly, daily, hourly, as often as you forget and disobey +Him; and that he will receive you. This is the message of the +blessed sacrament, that though you cannot come there trusting in your +own righteousness, you can come trusting in His manifold and great +mercies; that though you are not worthy so much as to gather up the +crumbs under His table, yet He is the same Lord whose property is +ever to have mercy; that He will, as surely as He has appointed that +sign of the bread and wine, grant you so to eat and drink that +spiritual flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the life +of the world, that your sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, +and your souls washed in His most precious blood, and that you may +dwell in Him, and He in you, for ever. + + + +XLI--THE FALL + + + +As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so +death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.--ROMANS v. 12. + +We have been reading the history of Adam's fall. With that fall we +have all to do; for we all feel the fruits of it in the sinful +corruptions which we bring into the world with us. And more, every +fall which we have is like Adam's fall: every time we fall into +wilful sin, we do what Adam did, and act over again, each of us many +times in our lives, that which he first acted in the garden of +Paradise. At least, all mankind suffer for something. Look at the +sickness, death, bloodshed, oppression, spite, and cruelty, with +which the world is so full now, of which it has been full, as we know +but too well from history, ever since Adam's time. The world is full +of misery, there is no denying that. How did that come? It must +have come somehow. There must be some reason for all this sorrow. +The Bible tells us a reason for it. If anyone does not like the +Bible reason, he is bound to find a better reason. But what if the +Bible reason, the story of Adam's fall, be the only rational and +sensible explanation which ever has been, or ever will be given, of +the way in which death and misery came among men? + +Some people will say: What puzzle is there in it? All animals die, +why should not man? All animals fight and devour each other, why +should not man do so too? But why need we suppose that man is +fallen? Why should he not have been meant by nature to be just what +he is? Some scholars who fancy themselves wise, and think that they +know better than the Bible, will say that now, and pride themselves +on having said a very fine thing; ignorant men, too, often are led +into the same mistake, and are willing enough to say: "What if we +are brutish, and savage, and ignorant, and spiteful, indulging +ourselves, hating and quarrelling with each other? God made us what +we are, and we cannot help it." But there is a voice in the heart of +every man, and just in proportion as a man is a man, and not a beast +and a savage, that voice cries in his heart more loudly: No; God did +not make you what you are. You are not meant to be what you are, but +something better. You are not meant to fight and devour each other +as the animals do; for you are meant to be better than they. You are +not meant to die as the animals do; for you feel something in you +which cannot die, which hates death. You may try to be a mere savage +and a beast, but you cannot be content to be so. And yet you feel +ready to fall lower, and get more and more brutish. What can be the +reason? There must be something wrong about men, something diseased +and corrupt in them, or they would not have this continual discontent +with themselves for being no better than they are; this continual +hankering and longing after some happiness, some knowledge, some good +and noble state which they do not see round them, and never have felt +in themselves. Man must have fallen, fallen from some good and right +state into which he was put at first, and for which he is hankering +and craving now. There must be an original sin in him; that is, a +sin belonging to his origin, his race, his breed, as we say, which +has been handed down from father to son; an original sin as the +church calls it. And I believe firmly that the heart of man, even +among savages, bears witness to the truth of that doctrine, and +confesses that we are fallen beings, let false philosophers try as +they will to persuade us that we are not. + +Then, again, there are another set of people, principally easy, well- +to-do, respectable people, who run into another mistake, the same +into which the Pelagians did in old time. They think: "Man is not +fallen. Every man is born into the world quite good enough, if he +chose to remain good. Every man can keep God's laws if he likes, or +at all events keep them well enough." As for his having a sinful +nature which he got from Adam, they do not believe that really, +though often they might not like to say so openly. They think: +"Adam fell, and he was punished; and if I fall I shall be punished; +but Adam's sin is nothing to me, and has not hurt me. I can be just +as good and right as Adam was, if I like." That is a comfortable +doctrine enough for easy-going well-to-do folks, who have but few +trials, and few temptations, and who love little because little has +been forgiven them. But what comfort is there in that for poor +sinners, who feel sinful and base passions dragging them down, and +making them brutish and miserable, and yet feel that they cannot +conquer their sins of themselves, cannot help doing wrong, all the +while they know that it is wrong? They feel that they have something +more in them than a will and power to do what they choose. They feel +that they have a sinful nature which keeps their will and reason in +slavery, and makes sin a hard bondage, a miserable prison-house, from +which they cannot escape. In short, they feel and know that they are +fallen. Small comfort, too, to every thinking man, who looks upon +the great nations of savages, which have lived, and live still, upon +God's earth, and sees how, so far from being able to do right if they +choose, they go on from father to son, generation after generation, +doing wrong, more and more, whether they like or not; how they become +more and more children of wrath, given up to fierce wars, and cruel +revenge, and violent passions, all their thought, and talk, and +study, being to kill and to fight; how they become more and more +children of darkness, forgetting more and more the laws of right and +wrong, becoming stupid and ignorant, until they lose the very +knowledge of how to provide themselves with houses, clothes, fire, or +even to till the ground, and end in feeding on roots and garbage, +like the beasts which perish. And how, too, long before they fall +into that state, death works in them. How, the lower they fall, and +the more they yield to their original sin and their corrupt nature, +they die out. By wars with each other; by murdering their own +children, to avoid the trouble of rearing them; by diseases which +they know not how to cure, and which they too often bring on +themselves by their own brutishness; by bad food, and exposure to the +weather, they die out, and perish off the face of the earth, +fulfilling the Lord's words to Adam: "Thou shalt surely die." I do +not say that their souls go to hell. The Bible tells us nothing of +where they go to. God's mercy is boundless. And the Bible tells us +that sin is not imputed where there is no law, as there is none among +them. So we may have hope for them, and leave them in God's hand. +But what can we hope for them who are utterly dead in trespasses and +sins? Well for them, if, having fallen to the likeness of the +brutes, they perish with the brutes. I fancy if you, as some may, +ever go to Australia, and there see the wretched black people, who +are dying out there, faster and faster, year by year, after having +fallen lower than the brutes, then you will understand what original +sin may bring a man to, what it would have brought us to, had not God +in His mercy raised us and our forefathers up from that fearful down- +hill course, when we were on it fifteen hundred years ago. + +And another thing which shows that these poor savages are not as God +intended them to be, but are falling, generation after generation, by +the working of original sin, is, that they, almost all of them, show +signs of having been better off long ago. Many, like the South Sea +Islanders, have curious arts remaining among them in spite of their +brutish ignorance, which they could only have learned when they were +far more clever and civilised than they are now. And almost all of +them have some sad remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept +up in songs and foolish tales, of having been richer, and more +prosperous, and more numerous, a long while ago. They will confess +to you, if you ask them, that they are worse than their fathers--that +they are going down, dying out--that the gods are angry with them, as +they say. The Lord have mercy upon them! But what is, to my mind, +the most awful part of the matter remains yet to be told--and it is +this: That man may actually fall by original sin too low to receive +the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be recovered again by it. For the +negroes of Africa and the West Indies, though they have fallen very +low, have not fallen too low for the gospel. They have still +understanding left to take it in, and conscience, and sense of right +and wrong enough left to embrace it; thousands of them do embrace it, +and are received unto righteousness, and lead such lives as would +shame many a white Englishman, born and bred under the gospel. + +But the black people in Australia, who are exactly of the same race +as the African negroes, cannot take in the gospel. They seem to have +become too stupid to understand it; they seem to have lost the sense +of sin and of righteousness too completely to care about it. All +attempts to bring them to a knowledge of the true God have as yet +failed utterly. God's grace is all-powerful; He is no respecter of +persons; and He may yet, by some great act of His wisdom, quicken the +dead souls of these poor brutes in human shape. But, as far as we +can see, there is no hope for them: but, like the Canaanites of old, +they must perish off the face of the earth, as brute beasts. + +I have said so much to show you that man is fallen; that there is +original sin, an inclination to sin and fall, sink down lower and +lower, in man. Now comes the question: What is this fall of man? I +said that the Bible tells us rationally enough. And I have also made +use several times of words, which may have hinted to some of you +already what Adam's fall was. I have spoken of the likeness of the +beasts, and of men becoming like beasts by original sin. And this is +why I said it. + +If you want to understand what Adam's fall was, you must understand +what he fell from, and what he fell to. That is plain. + +Now, the Bible tells us, that he fell from God's grace to nature. + +What is nature? Nature means what is born, and lives, and dies, and +is parted and broken up, that the parts of it may go into some new +shape, and be born and live, and die again. So the plants, trees, +beasts, are a part of nature. They are born, live, die; and then +that which was them goes into the earth, or into the stomachs of +other animals, and becomes in time part of that animal, or part of +the tree or flower, which grows in the soil into which it has fallen. +So the flesh of a dead animal may become a grain of wheat, and that +grain of wheat again may become part of the body of an animal. You +all see this every time you manure a field, or grow a crop. Nature +is, then, that which lives to die, and dies to live again in some +fresh shape. And, in the first chapter of Genesis, you read of God +creating nature--earth, and water, and light, and the heavens, and +the plants and animals each after their kind, born to die and change, +made of dust, and returning to the dust again. But after that we +read very different words; we read that when God created man, He +said: + +"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have +dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and +over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping +thing that creepeth upon the earth." He was made in God's likeness; +therefore he could only be right in as far as he was like God. And +he could not be like God if he did not will what God willed, and wish +what God wished. He was to live by faith in God; he was justified by +faith in God, and by that only. + +Never fancy that Adam had any righteousness of his own, any goodness +of which he could say: "This is mine, part of me; I may pride myself +on it." God forbid. His righteousness consisted, as ours must, in +looking up to God, trusting Him utterly, believing that he was to do +God's will, and not his own. His spirit, his soul, as we call it, +was given to him for that purpose, and for none other, that it might +trust in God and obey God, as a child does his father. He had a free +will; but he was to use that will as we must use our wills, by giving +up our will to God's will, by clinging with our whole hearts and +souls to God. + +Adam fell. He let himself be tempted by a beast, by the serpent. +How, we cannot tell: but so we read. He took the counsel of a brute +animal, and not of God. He chose between God and the serpent, and he +chose wrong. He wanted to be something in himself; to have a +knowledge and power of his own, to use it as he chose. He was not +content to be in God's likeness; he wanted to be as a god himself. +And so he threw away his faith in God, and disobeyed Him. And +instead of becoming a god, as he expected, he became an animal; he +put on the likeness of the brutes, who cannot look up to God in trust +and love, who do not know God, do not obey Him, but follow their own +lusts and fancies, as they may happen to take them. Whether the +change came on him all at once, the Bible does not say: but it did +come on him; for from him it has been handed down to all his children +even to this day. Then was fulfilled against him the sentence, In +the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Not that he died +that moment; but death began to work in him. He became like the +branch of a tree cut off from the stem, which may not wither at the +instant it is cut off, but it is yet dead, as we find out by its soon +decaying. He had come down from being a son of God, and he had taken +his place in nature, among the things which grow only to die; and +death began to work in him, and in his children after him. He handed +down his nature to his children as the animals do; his children +inherited his faults, his weaknesses, his diseases, the seed of death +which was in him, just as the animals pass down to their breed, their +defects, and diseases, and certainty of dying after their appointed +life is past. + +For this, my friends, is the lesson which Adam's fall teaches us, +that in God alone is the life of immortal souls, whether of men, or +of angels, or of archangels; and in God alone is righteousness; in +God alone is every good thing, and all good in men or angels comes +from Him, and is only His pattern, His likeness; and that the moment +either man or angel sets up his will against God's, he falls into +sin, a lie, and death. That He has given us reasonable souls for +that one purpose, that with our souls we may look up to Him, with our +souls we may cling to Him, with our souls we may trust in Him, with +our souls we may understand His will, and see that it is a good, and +a right, and a loving will, and delight in it, and obey it, and find +all our delight and glory, even as the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, +the New Adam, did, in doing not our own will, but the will of our +Father. + +For, as St. Augustine says, man may live in two ways, either +according to himself, or according to God; by self-will or by faith. +He may determine to do his own will or to do God's will, to be his +own master or to let God be his master, to seek his own glory, and +try to be something fine and grand in himself: or he may seek God's +glory and obey Him, believing that what God commands is the only good +for him, what makes God to be honoured in the eyes of his neighbours +is the only real honour for him. + +But, says St. Augustine, if he tries to live according to himself, he +falls into misery, because he was meant to live according to God. So +he puts himself into a lie, into a false and wrong state; and because +he has cut himself off from God he falls below what a man should be; +and puts on more and more of the likeness of the beast, and is more +and more the slave of his own lusts, and passions, and fancies, as +the dumb animals are. And, as St. Paul says, the animal man, the +carnal man, understands not the things of God. And we need no one to +tell us that this is the state of nature which we bring into the +world with us. We feel it; from our very childhood, from the +earliest time we can recollect, have we not had the longing to do +what we liked? to please ourselves, to pride ourselves on ourselves, +to set up our own wills against our parents, against what we learnt +out of the Bible? Ay, has not this wilful will of ours been so +strong, that often we would long after a thing, we would determine to +have it, only because we were forbidden to have it; we might not care +about the thing when we had it, but we would have our own way just +because it was our own way. In short, like Adam, we would be as +gods, knowing good and evil, and choosing for ourselves what we +should call good and what we shall call evil. And, my dear friends, +consider: did not every wrong that we ever did come from this one +root of all sin--determining to have our own way? That root-sin of +self-will first brought death and misery among mankind; that sin of +self-will keeps it up still: that sin of self-will it is which +hinders sinners from giving themselves up to God; and that sin must +be broken through, or religion is a mockery and a dream. + +Oh my friends, say to yourselves once for all, I was made in God's +likeness; and therefore His will, and not my own, I must do. I have +no wisdom of my own, no strength of mind of my own, no goodness of my +own, no lovingness of my own. God has them all; God, who is wisdom, +strength, goodness, love; and I have none. And then, when the +fearful thought comes over you: "I have no goodness, and I cannot +have any. I cannot do right. There is no use struggling and trying +to be better. My passions, my lusts, my fancies are too strong for +me. If I am brutish and low, brutish and low I must remain. If I +have fallen in Adam, I must lie in the mire till I die--" + +Then, then, my friends, answer yourselves: "No! Not so. Man fell +in the first Adam: but man rose again in the second Adam, the Lord +Jesus Christ. I belong no more to the old Adam, who fell in +Paradise. I belong to the New Adam, who was conceived without sin, +and born of a pure virgin, who lived by perfect faith, in perfect +obedience, doing His Father's will only, even to the death upon the +cross, wherein He took away the sins of the whole world. And now for +His sake my original sin, my fallen, brutish nature, is forgiven me. +God does not hate me for it. He loves me, because I belong to His +Son. My baptism is a witness and a warrant, a sign and a covenant +between me and God, that I belong not to old Adam of Paradise, but to +the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at God's right hand. The cross which +was signed on my forehead when I was baptised is God's sign to me +that I am to sacrifice myself and give up my own will to do God's +will, even as the Lord Jesus did when He gave Himself to die, because +it was His Father's will. And because I belong to Jesus Christ, +because God has called me to be His child, therefore He will help me. +He will help me to conquer this low, brutish nature of mine. He will +put His Spirit into me, the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ, that I +may trust Him, cry to Him, My Father! that I may love Him; understand +His will, and see how good, and noble, and beautiful, and full of +peace and comfort it is; delight in obeying Him; glory in sacrificing +my own fancies and pleasures for His sake; and find my only honour, +my only happiness, in doing His will on earth as saints and angels do +it in heaven. + + + +XLII--GOD'S COVENANTS + + + +I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a +covenant between me and the earth.--GENESIS ix. 13. + +The text says that God made a covenant with Noah, and with his seed +after him--that is, with all mankind; with us who sit here, and our +children after us, and with all human beings who will ever live upon +the face of the earth. God made a covenant with them. Now, what is +a covenant? We say that two men make a covenant with each other when +they make a bargain, an agreement; in this way: If you will do this +thing, then I will do that; but if you will not do this thing, I will +not do that. If you do not keep to our agreement, I am free of it. +If I do not do my part of the agreement, you are free. Is not that +what we call a covenant--a bargain between two parties, which, if +either party breaks it, becomes null and void, and binds neither? +Let us see whether God's covenants with man are of this kind. + +Does God say to Noah: "If you and your children are righteous, I +will look upon the rainbow, and remember my covenant: but if you and +your children are unrighteous, I will not look on the rainbow, and I +will break my covenant because you have broken it?" We read no such +words; God made no conditions with Noah and his sons. Whether they +forgot the covenant or not, God would remember it. It was a covenant +of free grace, even as all God's covenants are. Not a bargain, but a +promise. "By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, that I will not +fail David." By Himself He sware to Abraham: "Surely blessing I +will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee." That is the +form of God's covenants. God swears by Himself--by God who cannot +change. If God can change, then His covenant can change. If God can +fail Himself, then can He fail His covenant to which He has sworn by +Himself. If it had been a mere bargain, like men's bargains, and not +a promise out of His absolute love, His free grace, His boundless +mercy, would He have sworn by Himself? Nay, rather, He would have +sworn by Abraham: "By thy obedience or disobedience I swear to bless +thee or curse thee." But He swore by Himself, the absolute, the +unchangeable, the Giver whose name is Love. + +Consider now the token of the covenant which God gave to Noah. It +was the rainbow. What is the rainbow? Sunlight turned back to our +eye, through drops of falling rain. What sign could be more simple? +And yet what sign could be more perfect? Noah's sons would fear that +another flood was coming, perhaps flood after flood. The token of +the rainbow said to them, No. Floods and rain are not to be the +custom of this earth. Sunshine is to be the custom of it. Do not +fear the clouds and storm and rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in +the very rain itself. That is a sign that the sun, though you cannot +see it, is shining still. That up above, beyond the cloud, is still +sunlight, and warmth, and cloudless blue sky. Believe in God's +covenant. Believe that the sun will conquer the clouds, warmth will +conquer cold, calm will conquer storm, fair will conquer foul, light +will conquer darkness, joy will conquer sorrow, life conquer death, +love conquer destruction and the devouring floods; because God is +light, God is love, God is life, God is peace and joy eternal and +without change, and labours to give life, and joy, and peace, to man +and beast and all created things. This was the meaning of the +rainbow. Not a sudden or strange token, a miracle, as men call it, +like as some voice out of the sky, or fiery comet, might have been; +but a regular, orderly, and natural sign, to witness that God is a +God of order. Whenever there was a rainy day there might be a +rainbow. It came by the same laws by which everything else comes in +the world. It was a witness that God who made the world is the +friend and preserver of man; that His promises are like the +everlasting sunshine which is above the clouds, without spot or +fading, without variableness or shadow of turning. + +And do you fancy, my friends, that the new covenant, the covenant +which God made with all mankind in the blood of His only-begotten +Son, is narrower or weaker than the covenant which He made with Noah, +Abraham, and David? He asked no conditions from them. Do you think +He asks them from us? He called them by free grace. Do you think He +calls us by anything less? He swore by Himself to them. How much +more has He sworn by Himself to us? He who was born, and died, and +rose again for us, who now sits at the right hand of the Father, very +Man of the substance of a human mother, yet very God of very God +begotten. + +His covenants of old stood true and faithful, however disobedient and +unfaithful men might be; as it is written: "I have sworn once for +all by my holiness, that I will not fail David." And those words, +the New Testament declares to us, again and again, are true of the +new covenant, and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, into whose name +we are baptized. Yes; into whose name we are baptized. There is the +sign of the new covenant; of a covenant of free grace. Therefore we +can bring our children to be baptized as we were baptized ourselves, +before they have done either good or evil, for a sign that God's love +is over them, God's kingdom is their inheritance, God's love their +everlasting portion. + +But we may fall from grace; and then what good will our baptism be to +us? We shall be lost, just as if we had never been baptized. + +My friends, if, though the sun was shining in the sky, you shut your +eyes close, and kept out the light, what use would the sunlight be to +you? You would stumble, and fall, and come to harm, as certainly as +in the darkest night. But would the sun go out of the sky, my +friends, because you were unwise enough to shut your eyes to it? The +sun would still be there, shining as bright as ever. You would have +only to be reasonable and to open your eyes, and you would see your +way again as well as ever. + +So it is with holy baptism. In it we were made members of Christ, +children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. God's love is +above us and around us, like a warm, bright, life-giving sun. We may +shut our eyes to it, but it is there still. We may disbelieve our +baptism covenant, but it is true still. We are children of God; and +nothing that we can do, no sin, no unfaithfulness of ours, can make +us anything else. We can no more become not God's children, than a +child can become not his own father's son. But this we can do by +sinning, by disbelieving that we are God's children, by behaving as +the devil's children when we are God's; we can believe ourselves not +God's children when we are; we can try to be what we are not; we can +enter into a lie, and into the misery to which all lies lead; we can +walk in darkness, and stumble, and fall, when all the while we are +children of the light, and have only to open our eyes to walk in the +light. Ay, we can shut our eyes to the light so long, that at last +we forget that there is any light at all; and that is the gate of +hell. We may wrap ourselves up in our selfishness, in selfish +pleasures, selfish cunning, selfish covetousness, and selfish pride, +till we forget that there is anything better for us than selfishness, +till we forget that God is love, and that we His children are meant +to be loving even as He is loving; and that also is the gate of hell. +And worst and darkest of all, when in that stupid, sinful, loveless +state of mind, God's loving Spirit still strives and pleads with us, +and tries to awaken us, and terrify us with the sight of the +everlasting misery and ruin into which we have thrown ourselves, we +may turn those pleadings of God's Spirit, by our own evil wills, into +a darker curse than all which have gone before. We may refuse to +believe that God is love, and fancy Him as hard, and cruel, and +proud, and spiteful, and unloving as we ourselves are. We may +refuse, though Scripture, Prayer-book, sacraments, preachers, assure +us of it, that God is our Father still; and deny His covenant of +baptism, and blaspheme His holy name, by fancying Him our tyrant and +taskmaster, who hates us, and willeth the death of a sinner, and has +pleasure in the death of him that dieth. And then we may behave +according to the lie which we ourselves have invented, and all sorts +of inventions of our own to escape God's wrath, when, in reality, it +is He who is wishing to turn His wrath away from us; and to win back +His favour, when, in reality, it is not we who are out of favour with +Him, but He who is out of favour with us, who dread Him and shrink +from Him; we may try to deliver ourselves from Him, when all the +while it is He, the very God whom we are dreading and flying from, +who alone is able and willing to deliver us; and with all our fears, +and self-tormentings, and faithless terrors, and blasphemings of God +by fancying Him the very opposite to what He has declared Himself, we +shall get no peace of conscience, no deliverance from sins, or from +the fear of punishment, but only a fearful and fiery looking forward +to judgment, which is hell. That is superstition; hell on earth; +when men have so utterly forgotten the likeness of God, which He +manifested in His Son Jesus Christ, that they look on Him as a stern +and dreadful taskmaster, a tyrant, and not a deliverer. Hell on +earth, which may and must lead to hell hereafter; a hell of fear, and +doubt, and hatred of Him who is all lovely; the hell whereof it is +written, that its worst torment is being cast out from the sight of +God: unless the hapless sinner opens his eye and believes the +covenant of his baptism, and sees that God cannot lie, God cannot +change, cannot break His covenant, cannot alter His love; that though +he have left his Father's house, and wandered into far countries, and +wasted his Father's substance in riotous living, he is still his +Father's son, his Father's house is still where it was from the +beginning, his Father's heart still what it was from the beginning; +and so arises and goes back to his Father's house, confessing that he +is no more worthy to be called His son, willing to be only as one of +His hired servants; and then--sees not the stern countenance, the +cruel punishments which he dreaded: but--"While he was yet afar off, +his Father saw him, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him!" + +And if, in our sins, our only hope of comfort, and peace, and +strength, lies in remembering our baptismal covenant, and being sure +and certain that though we have changed, God has not; that though we +are dark, God's love shines bright and clear for ever, how much more +when the dark day of affliction comes? Why should I speak of this +and that affliction? Each heart knows its own bitterness; each soul +has its own sorrow; each man's life has its dark days of storm and +tempest, when all his joys seem flown away by some sudden blast of +ill-fortune, and the desire of his eyes is taken from him, and all +his hopes and plans, all which he intended to do or to enjoy, are hid +with blinding mist, so that he cannot see his way before him, and +knows not whither to go, and whither to flee for help; when faith in +God seems broken up for the moment, when he feels no strength, no +will, no purpose, and knows not what to determine, what to do, what +to believe, what to care for; when the very earth seems reeling under +his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are broken up: then let him +think of God's covenant, and take heart; let him think of his +baptism, and be at peace. Is the sun's warmth perished out of the +sky, because the storm is cold with hail and bitter winds? Is God's +love changed, because we cannot feel it in our trouble? Is the sun's +light perished out of the sky, because the world is black with cloud +and mist? Has God forgotten to give light to suffering souls, +because we cannot see our way for a few short days of perplexity? + +For this is the gospel, this is the message which we have received +from God, to preach to every sad and desolate heart on earth, that +God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. That God is love, +and in Him there is no cruelty at all. That God is one, and in Him +there is no change at all. And therefore, we all, the most ignorant +of us as well as the wisest, the most sinful of us as well as the +holiest, the saddest and most wretched of us as well as the happiest, +have a right to join in that Litany which is offered up here thrice +every week during the time of Lent, and to call upon God to deliver +us and all mankind, not merely because we wish to be delivered from +evil, but because God wishes to deliver us from evil. If we pray +that Litany in any dark dread of God, in doubt of His love and +goodwill towards us, like terrified slaves crying out to a hard +taskmaster, and entreating him not to torment them, we do not pray +that Litany aright; we do not pray it at all. For it asks God not to +leave us alone, but to come to us; not to stop punishing us, but +actually Himself to deliver us, to defend us, to set us free. +Therefore it begins by calling on God the Father, because He is our +Father; on God the Son, because He has already redeemed and bought us +for His own; on God the Holy Spirit, because He has been striving +with our wilful hearts from our youth up till now, lovingly desiring +to teach us, to change us, to sanctify us. Therefore it calls on the +holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three Persons and one God, +because the Son does not love us better than the Father does, or than +the Holy Spirit does, but in the life and death of the Man Christ +Jesus, whom we call on to deliver us by His birth, His baptism, His +death, His resurrection, by all that His manhood did and suffered +here on earth, in His life and death, I say, were shown forth bodily +the glory, and condescension, and love, and goodwill of the fulness +of the Godhead, of all three Persons of the one and undivided +Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Therefore we may pray boldly +to Him to spare us, because we know that we are already His people, +already redeemed with his most precious blood, already declared by +holy baptism to be bound to Him in an everlasting covenant. +Therefore we may pray boldly to Him not to be angry with us for ever, +because we know that He desires to bless us for ever, if we will only +let Him; if we will only let His love have free course, and not shut +our hearts to it, and turn our backs upon it. Therefore we can ask +Him to deliver us in all time of our tribulation and misery; in all +time of the still more dangerous temptations which wealth and +prosperity bring with them; in the hour of death, whether of our own +death or the death of those we love; in the day of judgment, whereof +it is written: "It is God who justifieth us, who is he that +condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea rather who is risen again, +who even now maketh intercession for us." To that boundless love of +God which He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that utter +and perfect will to deliver us, which God showed forth in the death +of Christ Jesus, when the Father spared not His only-begotten Son, +but freely gave Him for us; to that boundless love we may trust +ourselves, our fortunes, our families, our bodies, our souls, the +souls of those we love. Trusting in that great love, we may pray in +that Litany for deliverance; to be delivered from distress and +accidents, from all sins which drag us down, and make us miserable, +ashamed, confused, terrified, selfish, hateful, and hating each +other. We may pray to be delivered from evil, because God is +righteousness, and hates evil. We may pray to be delivered from our +sins, because God is righteousness, and hates our sins. We may pray +for the Queen, her ministers, her parliament, because God's love and +care is over them; for all orders and ranks of men, whether laymen or +clergymen, high or low, in God's holy church; for all who are +afflicted and desolate; for all who are wandering in ignorance, and +mistakes, and sin; ay, for all mankind, for God loves them all, the +Son of God has bought them all with His most precious blood. And +however dark, and sad, and sinful the world may seem around us; +however dark, and sad, and sinful our own hearts may be within us, we +may find comfort in that Litany, and pour out in it our sorrows and +our fears, if we begin only as it begins, with the thought of God who +is righteousness, God who is love, God who is the Deliverer. And +then, as the rainbow reflects the sunbeams for a sign and token that +the sun is shining, though we see it not; so will that blessed +Litany, with its sacred name of God, its calls to Him who was born of +the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate; its entreaties +to God to deliver us, because He is a deliverer; to hear us, and send +us good, because He is a good Lord Himself; its remembrances of the +noble works which God did in our fathers' days, and in the old time +before them; its noble declaration that God does not despise the +sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of a humble spirit, and +that it is the very glory of His name to turn from us those evils +which we most justly have deserved--that Litany, I say, will be like +a rainbow declaring to our dark and stormy hearts that the sun is +shining still above the clouds; that over and above us, and all +mankind, and all the changes and chances of this mortal life, is the +still bright sunshine, the life-giving warmth of the Sun of +Righteousness, the absolute eternal love of our Father who is in +heaven, who, as he has declared by the mouth of His only-begotten +Son, is perfect in this, that He does not deal with us after our +sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities, but is good to the +unthankful and the evil, sending His rain alike upon the just and on +the unjust, and making His sun to shine alike upon the evil and the +good. + + + +XLIII--THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS + + + +Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, +justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, +believed on in the world, received up into glory.--1 TIMOTHY iii. 16. + +St. Paul here sums up in one verse the whole of Christian truth. He +gives us in a few words what he says is the great mystery of +godliness. + +Now, men had been inventing for themselves all kinds of mysteries of +godliness; all sorts of mysterious and wonderful notions about God; +all sorts of mysterious and strange ceremonies, and ways of pleasing +God, or turning away His anger. + +And Christian men are apt to do so also, as well as those old +heathens. They feel that they are very mysterious and wonderful +beings themselves, simply because they are men. They say to +themselves: "How strange that I should have a body of flesh and +blood, and appetites and passions, like the animals, and yet that I +should have an immortal spirit in me. How strange this notion of +duty which I have, and which the other animals have not; this notion +of its being right to do some things, and wrong to do others! From +whence did that notion come? And again, this strange notion which I +have, and cannot help having, that I ought to be like God: and yet I +do not know what God is like. From whence did that notion come?" + +Again: "I fancy that God ought to be good. But how do I know that +He really is good? I see the world full of injustice, and misery, +and death. How do I know that this is not God's doing, God's fault +in some way?" + +Again, says a man to himself: "I have a fair right to believe that +mankind are not the only persons in the universe--that there are +other beings beside God whom I cannot see. I call them angels. I +hardly know what I mean by that. The really important question about +them to me is: Will they do me harm? Can they do me good? Are they +stronger than I?--Ought I not to fear them, to try to please them, to +keep them favourable to me?" + +Again, he asks: "Does God care whether I know what is right? Does +God care to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that I should do +my duty? For if He does not care about my being good, why should I +care about it?" + +Again, he asks: "But if I knew my duty, might I not find it +something too far-fetched, too difficult, for poor simple folk to do: +so that I should be forced to leave a right life to great scholars, +and to rich people, or to people of a very devout delicate temper of +mind, who have a natural turn that way?" + +And last of all: "Even if I did struggle to do right; even if I gave +up everything for the sake of doing right; how do I know that it will +profit me to do so? I shall die as every man dies, and then what +will become of me? Shall I be a man still, or only--horrible +thought!--some sort of empty ghost, a spirit without body, of which I +dream, and shudder while I dream of it?" + +Men in all ages, heathens and Christians, have been puzzled by such +thoughts as these, as soon as they began to feel that there was a +world which they could not see, as well as a world which they could +see; a spiritual world, wherein God the Spirit, and their own +spirits, and spiritual things, such as right, wrong, duty, reason, +love, dwell for ever; and a strange hidden duty on all men to obey +that unseen God, and the laws of that spiritual world; in short a +mystery of godliness. + +Then they have tried to answer these questions for themselves; and +have run thereby into all manner of follies and superstitions, and +often, too, into devilish cruelties, in the hope of pleasing God +according to some mystery of godliness of their own invention. + +But to each of these puzzles St. Paul gives an answer in the text. +Let us take them each in its order, and you will see what I mean. + +The first puzzle was: How is it that while I am like the animals in +some things, and yet feel as if I ought to be, and can be, like God +in other things? How is it that I feel two powers in me; one +dragging me downward to make me lower than the beasts, the other +lifting me upwards--I dare not think whither? It seems to me to be +my body, my bodily appetites and tempers which drag me down. Is my +body me, part of me, or a thing I should be ashamed of, and long to +be rid of? I fancy that I can be like God. But can my body be like +God? Must I not crush it, neglect it, get rid of it before I can +follow the good instinct which draws me upward? + +To which St. Paul told Timothy to answer: God was manifest in the +flesh. God sent down His only-begotten Son, co-equal and co-eternal +with Himself, very God of very God, the very same person who had been +putting into men's minds those two notions of which we spoke, that +there is a right and a wrong, and that men ought to be like God; Him +the Father sent into the world that He might be born, and live, and +die, and rise again, as a man; that so men might see from His +example, manifestly and plainly, what God was like, and what man +ought to be like. And so Jesus Christ was God, manifested in the +flesh. + +Now we do know what God is like. We know that He is so like man, +that He can take upon Him man's flesh and blood without changing, or +lowering, or defiling Himself. That proves that man must have been +originally made in God's likeness; that man's being fallen, means +man's falling from the likeness of God, and taking up instead with +the likeness of the brutes which perish; that the fault cannot be in +our bodies, but in our spirits which have yielded to our bodies, and +become their slaves instead of their masters, as Christ's Spirit was +master of His body. But the Son of God, by being born and living as +a man, showed us that we are not fallen past hope, not fallen so low +that we cannot rise again. He showed that though mankind are sinful, +yet they need not be sinful; for He was a man as exactly, and +perfectly, and entirely as we are, and yet in Him was no sin. So He +showed that brutishness and sinfulness is not our proper state, but +our disease and our fall; and a disease of which we can be cured, a +fall out of which we can rise and be renewed into the true and real +pattern of mankind, the new Adam, Jesus the sinless Son of Man and +Son of God. + +The next question, I said, that rose in men's mind was: "How do I +know that God is good, as I fancy sometimes that He must be? I see +the world full of sin, and injustice, and misery, and death. Perhaps +that is God's doing, God's fault." That is a common puzzle enough, +and a sad and fearful one. The sin and the misery and the death are +here. If God did not bring it here, yet why did He let it come here? +He could have stopped if He would, and kept out all this +wretchedness: why did He not? Was He just or loving in letting sin +into the world? + +To all which St. Paul answers: "God was justified in the Spirit." + +You do not see what that has to do with it? Then let me show you. + +To be justified means to be shown and proved to be just, righteous. +Now what justified God to man was the Spirit of God, as He showed +Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. For when God became man and dwelt +among men, what sort of works were His? What was His conduct, His +character; of what sort of spirit did He show Himself to be? He +went, we read, doing good, for God was with Him. Not of His own +will, but to do His Father's will, and because He was filled without +measure by the Spirit of God, He did good, He healed the sick, He +rebuked the proud and self-conceited hypocrite, He proclaimed pardon +and mercy to the broken-hearted sinner, wearied and worn out by the +burden of his sins. Thus, in every action of His life, He was +fighting against evil and misery, and conquering it; and so showing +that God hates evil and misery, and that the evil and the misery in +the world are here against God's will. Strange as it may seem to +have to say it, so it is. Jesus Christ showed that howsoever sin and +sorrow came into the world, it is God's will and purpose to root them +out of the world, and that He is righteous, He is loving, He is +merciful, He does and will fight against evil, for those who are +crushed by it; and help poor sufferers always when they call upon +Him, and often, often, of His most undeserved condescension and free +grace, when they are forgetting and disobeying Him. And so by the +good, and loving, and just spirit which Jesus showed, God was +justified before men, and showed to be a God of goodness and justice. + +The next puzzle, I said, was about angels and spirits, whether we +need to pray to them to help us, and not to hurt us. St. Paul +answers: God, when He was manifested in the flesh of a man, was seen +by these angels. And that is enough for us. They saw the Lord God +condescend to be born in a stable, to live as a poor man, to die on +the cross. They saw that His will to man was love. And they do His +will. And therefore they love men, they help men, they minister to +men, because they follow the Lord's example, and do the will of their +Father in Heaven, even as we ought to do it on earth. Therefore we +have no need to fear them, for they love us already. And, on the +other hand, we have no need to pray to them to help us, for they know +already that it is their duty to help us. They know that the Son of +God has put on us a higher honour than He ever put on them; for He +took not on Him the nature of angels, He took on Him the nature of +man; and thus, though man was made a little lower than the angels, +yet by Christ's taking man's nature, man is crowned with a glory and +honour higher than the angels. Know ye not, says St. Paul, that we +shall judge angels? And the angels, as they told St. John, are our +fellow-servants, not our masters; and they know that; for they saw +the Son of God doing utterly His Father's will, and therefore they +know that their duty is to do their Father's will also; not to do +their own wills, and set themselves up as our masters, to be pleaded +with by us. They saw the Son of God take our nature on Him, when +they sang to the shepherds on the first Christmas night: "Peace on +earth, and good-will toward men;" and therefore they look on us with +love and honour, because we wear the human nature which Christ their +Master wore, and are partakers of the Holy Spirit of God, even as +they are. For no angel or archangel could do a right thing, any more +than we, except by the Holy Spirit of God. And that Holy Spirit is +bestowed on the poorest man who asks for it, as freely as upon the +highest of the heavenly host. + +And this leads us on to the next puzzle of which I spoke: Men were +apt, and are apt now, to say to themselves: Does God care whether I +know what is right? Does God care to teach me about Himself? Is God +desirous that I should do my duty? For if He does not care about my +being good, why should I care about it? + +To this St. Paul answers: "God, who was manifest in the flesh, was +preached to the Gentiles." + +God does care that men should know about God; for He loves them. He +yearns after them as a father after his children, and He knows that +to know God, to know the truth about God, is the beginning of all +wisdom, the root of all safety and honour and happiness. He willeth +not that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge +of the truth. And, therefore, when the Son of God died for our sins, +He did not stop at that great deed of love; but He ordained Apostles, +and put upon them especially and above all men, His Holy Spirit, that +they might go and preach to all nations the good news that God had +become flesh, and dwelt among men, and borne their sorrows and +infirmities, and to baptize them into the very name of God itself, +into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; +that so, instead of fancying now that God did not care for them, they +might be sure that God so longed to teach them, that He called every +child, even from its cradle, to come into His kingdom, and be taught +the whole mystery of godliness. + +The next puzzle I mentioned was: "But this right life, this mystery +of godliness, is it not something very strange and difficult, and +past the understanding of simple men who are not extraordinarily +clever and learned scholars or deep philosophers?" To that St. Paul +answers: No. It is not past any man. It is not too deep or too +difficult for the simplest, the most unlearned countryman. For, says +St. Paul in the text, we Apostles have had proof of that; we have +tried it; we Apostles preached the mystery of godliness, and it was +believed on in the world. People of the world, plain working men and +women going about their worldly business, who had no time to be great +readers, or great thinkers, or to shut themselves up in monasteries +to meditate on heavenly things, but had to live and work in the +commonplace, busy, workday world--they believed our message. We +Apostles told them that the Son of God had showed Himself in the +likeness of man, and called on every man to repent, and to be such a +man as He was. And worldly people believed us, and tried, and found +that without giving up their worldly work, or deserting the station +in which God had put them, they could live godlike lives, and become +the sons of God without rebuke. They saw that scholarship was not +wanted, leisure was not wanted, but only the humble heart which +hungers and thirsts after righteousness. About their daily work, by +their cottage firesides, among their poor neighbours, the Spirit of +Almighty God gave them strength to live as Jesus their pattern lived; +He filled them with all holy, pure, noble, brave, loving thoughts and +feelings, fit for angels and archangels. He enabled them to rise out +of their sins, to trample their temptations under foot, to leave +their old low brutish sinful way of life behind them, and become new +men, and persevere in every word, and thought, and action, in virtues +such as the greatest heathen sages could not copy; ay, even to shed +their life-blood freely and boldly in martyrdom, for the sake of God +and the truth of God. They, these plain simple people, living in the +world, could still live the life of God, and die like heroes for the +sake of God. + +And this again brings us to the last puzzle of which I spoke: "But +what became of those holy and godlike people when they died? What +reward did they receive for all they had done, and given up, and +suffered? What will become of us after we die? What will the next +world be like? What is heaven like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? +Shall I be a man there, or only a ghost, a spirit without a body?" + +To this St. Paul answers: That Christ, the Son of God, after He was +manifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. He does not +tell us what heaven is like; for though he had been caught up into +the third heaven, yet what he saw there, he says, was unspeakable. +He neither ought to tell, or could tell, what he saw. Neither does +St. Paul tell us what the next life will be like; for as far as we +can find, God had not told him. All he says is: The man Christ +Jesus, who walked this earth like other men, was received up into +glory; and He did not leave His man's mind, His man's heart, even His +man's body, behind Him. He carried up into heaven with Him His whole +manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even to the print of the nails in +His hands and in His most holy feet, and the wound of the spear in +His most holy side. And that is enough for us. Because the man +Christ Jesus is in heaven, we as men may ascend to heaven. Where He +is we shall be. And what He is, in as far as He is man, we shall be. +What we shall be we know not; but this we know, that we shall be like +Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And He is a man still; for it is +written: "There is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ +Jesus." And He will be a man at the day of judgment; for it is +written that: "God hath ordained a day in which He will judge the +world by a man whom He hath chosen." And He will be a man for ever; +for it is written: "This man abideth for ever." And He Himself said +to His disciples: "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, till +I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father." And again He +declared, even when he was on earth, that He was the Son of Man who +is in heaven. And in heaven nothing can grow less. But if Christ +were not man for ever as well as God, He would become less; for He is +now God and man also at once; but if He laid down His manhood, and so +became not man any more, but God only, He would become less, which is +not to be believed of Him of whom it is written: That Jesus Christ +is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For, as the Athanasian +creed teaches us, He is not God alone, nor man alone, but God and man +is one Christ; and therefore, when St. John declares that Christ +shall reign for ever and ever, he declares that He shall reign not +only as God, but as man also. Therefore whatever we do not know +about the next life, we know this, that we shall be men there; not +sinful, weak, and mortal, as we are here, but holy, strong, immortal, +after the likeness of our Lord, the firstborn from the dead, who has +ascended up on high and raised our human nature to the heaven of +heavens, and is gone to prepare a place for us, into which we too +shall enter in that day when He shall change these mortal and fallen +bodies which we now wear, the bodies of our humiliation, the bodies +by wearing which we are now a little lower than the angels; them the +Lord will change, that they may be made like unto His glorious body, +according to the mighty working whereby He subdueth all things unto +Himself, that we may see Him face to face, and dwell with Him in the +glory of God the Father for ever. + +Oh my friends, who is sufficient for these things? What shall we say +of man? Is he not indeed fearfully and wonderfully made? Here we +are, weak creatures, more liable to disease and death than the dumb +beasts round us; full of poverty, and adversity, and longings which +are never satisfied; our minds full of mistakes, our hearts full of +false conceit, full of spite and folly, struggles, murmurings, +quarrellings; our consciences full of the remembrance of sins without +number. The greatest of all heathen poets said, that there was not a +more miserable and pitiable animal upon the earth than man. He knew +no better. He could not know better. How could he, when God had not +yet been manifest in the flesh? How could he dream that the Lord God +would condescend to be made flesh, and dwell among us, and show man +His glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of +grace and truth--how could he dream that? And more than all, how +could he dream that God, instead of throwing away our human nature +when He rose again, as if it was too great a degradation for Him to +be a man one moment more, should condescend to take up His human +nature, His man's body, soul, and spirit, with Him into everlasting +glory, that He might feed with it for ever the bodies and souls of +those who trust in Him, so as to make them fit for us at the last +day, to share in His everlasting life? The old heathen poet knew as +well as you or I that there was an everlasting life beyond the grave; +that men's souls were immortal, and could not die: but the thought +of it was all dark, and dreary, and uncertain to him and to all +mankind, till the Son of God brought life and immortality to light, +when He was manifest in the flesh. + +Wonderful mystery of godliness! Wonderful love of God to man! +Wonderful condescension of God to man! Still more wonderful patience +of God to man! + +Oh you who live still in sin, when the Son of God died and rose again +to make you righteous; you who defile your bodies with sins worse +than the brutes, when the Son of God offers to raise those bodies of +yours to be equal with the angels; how shall you escape if you +neglect so great salvation; if you despise this unspeakable love; if +you trample under foot, like swine, the everlasting glory and +happiness which God offers you freely, without fee or price, for the +sake of His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who died to buy them for +you? + + + +XLIV--THE WORK OF GOD'S SPIRIT + + + +If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I +depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will +reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of +sin, because they believe not on me: of righteousness, because I go +to my Father, and ye see me no more: of judgment, because the prince +of this world is judged.--JOHN xvi. 7-11. + +I no not pretend to be able to explain to you the whole meaning of +this text, or even more than a very small part of it. For it speaks +of God; of God the Holy Spirit. And God is boundless; and, +therefore, every text which speaks of God is boundless too, as God +is. No man can ever see the whole meaning of it, or do more than +understand dimly a little of its truth. But what we can see, we must +think over and make use of. What can we see, now, from this text? +First, we may see that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the +Comforter, is a person. Not a mere thing, or a state of our own +hearts, or a feeling in us, or a power, like the powers and laws by +which the trees and plants grow, and the sun and moon move in their +courses; but a person, just as each of us is a person. He, the Holy +Spirit, gives life to trees and plants, sun and moon: but He is not +their life. He gives them their life; and, therefore, that life of +theirs is not He, or He could not give it; for you can only give +something which is not you. + +The Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit, not as it, but as He; as a +person, and not as a thing; as a person who can speak to men's souls, +guide and teach them. + +"When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all +truth; for He shall not speak of Himself." + +But we may see also that the Holy Spirit is neither God the Father, +nor the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord speaks of Him, the Holy +Spirit, as a different person either from Him or from the Father. +"The Spirit," He says, "shall glorify me; for He shall receive of +mine, and shall show it unto you." + +But we may see also that there is no difference in will, or opinion, +or love, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Son. For the +Spirit does not speak of Himself; there is no self-will in Him. +There is not one will of the Father, and another of the Son, and +another of the Holy Ghost; or, one love of the Father, another love +of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; or, one righteousness of +the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost: or, one +mercy and grace of the Father, another of the Son, another of the +Holy Ghost. For then there would be three Gods and three Lords; and +the substance of God would be divided. But they have all one will, +and one love, and one righteousness, and one mercy. And such as the +Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. + +And remember always, that the Holy Spirit is very and indeed God. +For He is the Spirit of holiness itself, of righteousness itself, of +goodness itself, of love itself, of truth itself; and, therefore, He +is the Spirit of God, who is the perfect holiness, and righteousness, +and truth, and love. All other holiness, and righteousness, and +truth, and love, are only pictures and patterns of God, just as the +sun's reflection in water, or in a glass, is a picture and pattern of +the sun. As the Epistle for to-day tells us: "Every good gift and +every perfect is from above, and cometh down from the Father of +lights." + +But the Spirit of God must be God. For else what do the words mean? +Is not the spirit of a man, a man? Is not your spirit, what you call +your soul, you? Is not your soul you, just as much as your body is +you; ay, a hundred times more? Just so, the Spirit of God is God, +God Himself; and the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy +Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. + +This, then, is the glorious promise made to you, and to me, and to +all who believe and are baptized into the name of the Father, the +Son, and the Holy Spirit; that that Spirit will come to us, and take +charge of our spirits, and work in them, and teach them. We cannot +see Him with our eyes, or hear Him with our ears; we cannot even feel +Him at work in our hearts and thoughts. For He is a Spirit; and His +likeness, the thing in this world which is a pattern of Him, is the +wind; as indeed the name Spirit means. You cannot see the wind, you +cannot even really feel the wind or hear it: you only know it by its +effects, by what it does: by the noise among the branches, the force +against your faces, the bending boughs, and flying dust. The Spirit +bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but +canst not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; even so is +every one who is born of the Spirit. On him the Spirit of God will +work unseen, and unfelt, only to be discovered by the change which He +makes in the man's heart and thoughts; and first by the way in which +He convinces him of sin, because men believe not on Jesus Christ. + +The Holy Spirit shows men that the sins of the world, the sin of all +sins, the sin which is the root of all other sins, is not believing +on the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was because they would not believe +on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they had been falling into every other +sort of sin. + +But you may say: "How could they believe on Him before He came, and +was born in Judaea of the Virgin Mary? How could they believe on Him +when He was not there?" Ah! my friends, who told you that the Lord +Jesus Christ was not there in the world all along? Not the Bible, +certainly. For the Bible tells us that He is the Light who lights +every man who cometh into the world; that from Him came, and have +come, all the right thoughts and feelings which ever arose in the +heart of every human being. The Bible tells us that when God created +the world, He was daily rejoicing in the habitable parts of the +earth, and His delights were with the sons of men. The Bible tells +us that He was in the world, and the world knew Him not; that all +along, through the dark times of heathendom, the Lord Jesus Christ +was a light shining in darkness, which the darkness could not close +round, and hide and quench. + +Not merely to the Jews, but to all heathens who hungered and thirsted +after righteousness, did the Lord Jesus show something of His truth; +as it is written, God is no acceptor of persons; that is, no shower +of partiality, or unjust favour: but in every nation, he that +feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him. + +But at the time that the Lord Jesus sent down His Holy Spirit, men +were not working righteousness. There was not one who did good, no +not one. For men had forgotten what righteousness was like, what a +righteous man ought to do and be. Men are ready to forget it every +day. You and I are ready to forget it, and invent some false +righteousness of our own, not like Jesus Christ, but like what we in +our private fancies think is most graceful, or most agreeable, or +most easy; or most grand, and far-fetched, and difficult. But the +Holy Spirit came to convince men of righteousness; to show them what +true righteousness was like. + +And how? In the same way that He must convince us of righteousness, +if we are ever to know what righteousness is, or are ever to be +righteous ourselves. He must show us goodness; or we shall never see +it, or receive it, or copy it. + +And where is this righteousness, this perfect goodness of which the +Holy Spirit will convince us? Where, but in the Lord Jesus Christ? +In the Lord Jesus's character, the Lord Jesus's good works; His love, +His patience, His perfect obedience, His life, His death. The Holy +Spirit, if we give up our hearts to be taught by Him, will make us +believe, and be sure, and feel in our very inmost hearts, how noble, +how beautiful, how holy, how perfectly Godlike, was He who was born +of a poor virgin, who walked this earth for thirty-three years in +toil and sorrow, who gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to +them that plucked off the hair, and hid not His face from shame and +spitting, who died upon a cross between two thieves. And the Holy +Spirit will convince us of righteousness, by making us feel what the +Lord Jesus's righteousness consisted in; what was the root of all His +goodness and holiness, namely His perfect obedience to His Father and +our Father in heaven. That is the righteousness, which is not our +own, but God's; the righteousness which comes by faith; not to trust +in ourselves, but in God; not to please ourselves, but God; not to do +our own will, but God's will. That is the righteousness of Jesus +Christ, which God set His seal on and approved, when He exalted Him +far above all principality and powers, and set Him at His own right +hand for a sign to all men, and angels, and archangels; that +righteousness means to trust and to obey God even to the death. + +3. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. + +This may seem a puzzling speech at first. We shall understand it +best, I think, by considering who the prince of this world was in our +Lord's time, and what he was like. A little before our Lord's time +the Roman emperor had conquered almost the whole world which was then +known, and kept all nations in slavery, careless about their doing +right, provided they obeyed him and paid him tribute; nay, forcing +them and tempting them into all brutal and foul sin and ignorance, +that he might keep up his own power over man. + +But now the Lord of all the earth, and the Prince of men's hearts and +thoughts, was come to visit that poor enslaved and sinful world. He +came; the princes of this world knew Him not, and crucified the Lord +of Glory. They crucified the righteous and the just One; and so they +were judged. They judged themselves; they condemned themselves. For +they showed that what they admired and what they wanted was not +righteousness and love, but wealth and power. They showed that no +doing of good, no healing of the sick, or giving of sight to the +blind, or preaching the gospel to the poor, no holiness, no love, not +the perfect likeness of God's own goodness, which shone forth in the +spotless Jesus, was anything to them; was any reason why they should +not put Him to death with the most cruel torments, because they were +afraid of His taking away their power. He said He was a King; and +therefore they crucified Him, lest His kingdom should interfere with +theirs; and for the same reason these same Roman emperors and their +magistrates, for hundreds of years afterwards, persecuted the +Christians, and hunted them down like wild beasts, and put them to +death by all horrible tortures, for the same reason that Cain slew +Abel; became his brother's deeds were righteous, and his own wicked. + +So these Roman emperors, and their magistrates and generals were +judged. They had shown what was in their evil hearts. They had been +tried in God's balances, and found wanting. The sentence of the Lord +God had gone forth against them. The man Christ Jesus, whom they +rejected, God accepted, and raised to His own right hand. They +crucified Him; but God gave Him all power in heaven and earth: and +the Lord Jesus used His power; yea, and uses it still. He gave His +saints and martyrs strength to defy those Roman tyrants, and to +witness to all the earth that the righteous Son of God was the King +of heaven and earth, and that the princes of this world, who wished +to break His yoke off their necks, and crush all nations to powder +for their own pleasure, and fatten themselves upon the plunder of all +the earth, would surely come to naught, as it is written in the +second Psalm: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers +take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed. Yet have I +set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou shalt break them with a +rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." + +And they did come to naught. That great Roman empire rotted away +miserably after years of such distress as had never been seen on the +earth before; and the emperors came, one after another, to shameful +or dreadful deaths. And all the while the gospel spread, and the +Church grew, till all the kingdoms of the Roman empire had become the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit +working in men's hearts, and showing them, as our Lord said He would, +that Jesus of Nazareth was both Lord and King. And so was fulfilled +the Lord's words in the gospel for to-day: "The Holy Spirit shall +glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. +All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that He +should take of mine, and show it unto you." + +Oh my friends, pray for yourselves, and join me while I pray for you, +that the holy and righteous Spirit of God may convince you, and me, +and all mankind, more and more, day by day, of sin, of righteousness, +and of judgment. + +Pray to that Holy Spirit to convince you of sin day by day, +whensoever you do the least wrong thing. Pray to Him to keep your +consciences tender and quick, that you may feel instantly, and lament +deeply, every wrong thing you do. + +Pray to Him to give you, every time you do wrong, that godly sorrow +which brings peace and health, that heart-repentance never to be +repented of. Pray to Him to convince you more and more, as you grow +older, that all sin comes from not believing in Jesus Christ, not +believing that He is near you, with you, in you, putting into your +hearts all right thoughts and good desires, and willing, if you will, +to help you to put those thoughts and desires into good practice. + +Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of +righteousness; to make you see what righteousness is; that it is the +very character and likeness of God the Father, because it is the +character and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the +brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His +person. Pray to Him to make you see the beauty of holiness: how +fair, and noble, and glorious a thing goodness is; how truly Solomon +says: "that all the things that may be desired are not to be +compared to it." + +Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of judgment, +and to make you sure that the Lord is King, a righteous Judge, of +purer eyes than to behold iniquity, whose fan is in His hand, who +thoroughly purges His floor, who comes quickly, and His reward is +with Him, and who surely casts out of His kingdom, sooner or later, +all things that offend, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Pray +to Him to make you sure by faith, though you cannot see it, that the +prince of this world is judged; that evil doing, oppression, tyranny, +injustice, cheating, neglect of man by man, cannot and will not +prosper upon the face of God's earth; for the everlasting sentence +and wrath of God is revealed forth every moment against all +unrighteousness of men, which He will surely punish, yea, and does +hourly punish by Him by whom He judges the world, Jesus Christ, the +Lord, who is exalted high above all principalities and powers, and +has all power given to Him in heaven and earth, which He uses, as He +used it in Judaea of old, utterly and always for the good of all +mankind, whom He hath redeemed with His most precious blood. + + + +XLV--THE GOSPEL + + + +Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached +unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which +also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, +unless ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of +all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins +according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose +again the third day according to the scriptures.--1 CORINTHIANS xv. +1-4. + +This is St. Paul's account of the gospel; the good news which he +preached to the sinful and profligate Corinthians, when they were +sunk lower than the beasts which perish. And because they believed +this good news, he said, they were saved then and there, and would be +safe only as long as they believed that good news, and kept it in +their memories. Now, from what did this good news save them? From +their sins. There was something in St. Paul's good news which made +them hate their sins, and repent of them, and throw them away, and +rise up to be new men and women, living new lives in godliness and +purity and justice, such as they had never lived before. Now mind, +it was not bad news which made the Corinthians repent of their sins; +it was good news. It was not that St. Paul told them that God was +going to cast them into endless torment for their sins, and that +therefore they were terrified and afraid, and so repented. Doubtless +St. Paul told them, as he told other heathens, that the wrath of God +was revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness; that +tribulation and anguish was laid up in store for every soul of man +who worketh evil. But still, St. Paul says plainly here, that what +saved the Corinthians was not that or any other fearful and +terrifying news, but a gospel--good news. And he says that this good +news did not merely, as some would wish it to do, make them +comfortable in their minds while they went on in their old wicked +ways. No. He says that it made them stand. That is, made them +upright, strong-minded, righteous, self-restraining people; and that +they were saved by it from those sins which had been dragging them +down, and keeping them diseased in soul, weak, miserable, the slaves +of their own passions and foul pleasures. + +What wonderful good news was this, then, which could work so strange +a change in these poor heathens, and how could it change them? + +Let us see, first, what it was. + +"That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that +He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the +scriptures; and that He was seen of Peter, then of the twelve; after +that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the +greater part remained unto this day, but some are fallen asleep. +After that He was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And last +of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." + +You see here, that St. Paul, for some good reason, says much more +about the Lord's rising again than even about His most precious death +and passion on the cross, while about His ascending into heaven he +says nothing. And you will find in the New Testament that the +Apostles often did the same. They spoke of the Lord rising again as +if that was the great wonder, the great glory, the great good news; +and as if His most precious death was not perfect without that. They +said that the especial office for which the Lord had ordained them, +was to be witnesses of His resurrection. They said that the Lord +rose again for our justification. They said: "If thou shalt confess +with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that +God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Here again, +just as in the text, believing in the Lord's resurrection is made the +great article of faith. Why is this? Because that last verse which +I quoted may tell us, if we consider it carefully. + +What does confessing the Lord Jesus with our mouth mean? It means +what we ought to mean when we say, in the Apostles' Creed, I believe +in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Not merely, I believe that +there is an only Son of God: but I believe in a certain man, with a +certain character, who is that only Son of God. + +And what, you will ask, does that mean? + +To know that, I fear, we must go back many many hundred years, to the +times when the old martyrs confessed the Lord Jesus Christ before the +heathen. Those were times in which it was not enough to say the +Apostles' Creed in church. Men, ay, and tender women, and little +children, had to stand by it through terror and shame, and to die in +torments unspeakable, because they chose to say: "I believe in Jesus +Christ, our Lord." Now, what was it which made the heathen hate and +persecute and torture, and murder them for saying that? What was +there in those plain words of the Apostles' Creed which made the +great heathen emperors of Rome, and their officers and judges hunt +the Christians down like wild beasts for 300 years, and declare that +they were not fit to live? I will tell you. When the Christians +were brought before the emperor's judges for being Christians, they +did not merely say: "I believe that Jesus Christ's blood will save +my soul after death." They said that: but they said a great deal +more than that. If that had been all that the Christians said, the +judge would have answered: "What care I for your souls, or for your +notions about what will happen to them when you are dead? Go your +way. You may be of what religion you like, and talk and think about +your own souls as much as you like, provided you do not trouble the +Roman emperor's power." But the heathen judge did not make that +answer; because he knew well enough that what the Christians believed +was not a mere religion about what would happen to their souls after +death; but something which, if it gained ground, would utterly +destroy the Roman emperor's power. He used generally to say to the +Christians only this: "Will you burn those few grains of incense in +honour of the emperor of Rome?" And he knew, and the Christians knew +well enough, that those words meant: "Will you confess with your +mouth the emperor of Rome? Will you confess that he is the only lord +and king of this whole earth, and of your bodies and souls, and that +there is no power or authority but of him, for the gods have +delivered all things into his hands?" And then came out what +confessing the Lord Jesus really means. For the Christians used to +answer: "No. The emperor of Rome is the lord and master of our +bodies, and we will obey his laws so far as we can without doing +wrong: but we cannot obey them when they are contrary to the laws of +our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ, who was +crucified and rose again the third day, He, and not the emperor of +Rome at all, is the Lord and King of the whole earth, and of our +bodies and souls; and we must obey Him before we obey anyone else. +Power and authority come not from the emperor of Rome, but from the +Lord Jesus Christ; and the emperor is only His servant and steward, +and must obey Him just as much as we, or the Lord will punish him as +surely and easily as He will the meanest slave. For God has +delivered all things, and the emperor of Rome among the rest, into +the hand of His Son Jesus Christ, who sits a King over all, God +blessed for ever." That was confessing Christ. + +And to that the heathen judges used to make but one answer--for there +was but one to make. Those heathen judges' guilty consciences, as +well as their worldly cunning, told them plainly enough exactly what +St. Paul told the Christians; that those Christians, by confessing +Christ, were not fighting against flesh and blood, and setting up +their selfish interests against other people's selfish interests: +but that the battle they were fighting was a much deeper and more +terrible one; that by saying that One who had walked the earth as a +poor man, and yet a perfectly righteous and loving man, doing nothing +but good, and sacrificing Himself utterly for poor fallen creatures, +they were fighting against the whole state of things all over the +world; against the government, and principles, and religion of that +whole unjust and tyrannical Roman empire, and all its rulers, and +generals, and judges; against principalities, against powers, against +the world-rulers of the darkness of those times; against spiritual +wickedness in heavenly things. For if Jesus Christ's life was the +right life, those rulers must be utterly wrong; for it was exactly +opposite to His. + +If Jesus Christ was really the Governor of the earth, there was no +hope for them; for their way of governing was exactly opposite to +His. So as I say, they made but one answer; because there was but +one to make: "You say that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of +lords. I say the emperor of Rome is. You say you must obey Christ +first, and the emperor of Rome afterwards. I say that you must obey +the emperor first, and Christ afterwards. At all events, if you do +not, you have no right on this earth of the emperor's; either the +emperor's power must fall, or your notion about Jesus Christ's power +must. And we will see whether your heavenly King of whom you talk +can deliver you out of the emperor's hand." And then came the +scourge, and the red-hot iron, and the wild beasts, and the cross, +and all devilish tortures which man's evil will could invent, brought +to bear without shame or mercy upon aged men, and tender girls, and +even little children, just to make them say that the earth belonged +to the emperor, and not to Jesus Christ. Those who died bravely +under those tortures without denying Christ were called martyrs, +which means witnesses--people who bore witness before God and man +that Jesus Christ was King and Lord. Those who did not die under the +tortures, but escaped after all, were called confessors--people who +had confessed with their mouths that Jesus Christ was King and Lord, +in spite of their terror and agony. . . . That was what confessing +Jesus Christ meant in the old times. And that was what it ought to +mean now, even though there is no persecution or torture for +Christians in these happier times. + +And now, we may see perhaps why St. Paul spoke so much of our Lord's +rising again as the most important part of the gospel. + +Because he wanted Christians to believe, not merely in a Christ who +once died, but in Him who died and is alive for evermore; in a Christ +who rose again, body, soul, and spirit, and sat at God's right hand, +praying for poor creatures when they were tempted, and persecuted, +and tormented for righteousness' sake. St. Paul knew well that such +fearful times as those of which I have been speaking were coming on +the people to whom he wrote. And he knew equally well that the only +thought which could save them, when the heathen judges commanded them +to deny the Lord Jesus, was the thought that He was really risen. +The only thought which could make them bold enough to face all the +horrors of death, was the thought that the Lord Jesus had not merely +tasted death, but conquered it, and risen again from it. And +therefore it is that St. Paul speaks so often of Christ's +resurrection, and that in the text he takes so much pains to prove +that Christ had really risen, by telling them how many persons, well +known to him who wrote to them, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ after +He rose, and talked with Him, and were sure that He was the very same +person still, with the same countenance, and body, and soul, and +spirit, as He had when He was nailed to the cross, and laid in the +sepulchre. + +What a thought for a poor creature in the last agony of fear and +shame, expecting presently to be torn in pieces, or burnt alive: +"Death, this horrible death, cannot conquer me, weak and fearful as I +am; for my Lord and Master, for whom I am going to suffer, has +conquered death, and He will not let it conquer me. He is stronger +than death and hell, and He will not suffer me at my last hour for +any pains of death to fall from Him. He is King of heaven and earth, +and He will take care of His own!" What a comfortable thought to be +able to say: "Ay, I am torn from wife and child, and all which I +love on earth. But not for ever, not for ever. For Christ rose from +the dead. And I who belong to Christ, shall rise as He did. This +poor flesh of mine may be burnt in flames, devoured by ravenous +beasts. What matter? Christ the King of men, has risen from the +dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. That same +Spirit of His, which brought back His body from the grave and hell, +will bring our bodies also from the grave and hell, to a nobler, +happier life with Him in glory unspeakable. Christ is risen, and I +shall rise with Him at the last day. Christ sits at God's right +hand, watching me, pitying me, and blessing me, holding out to me a +crown of glory which shall never fade away!" That was the thought +which gave Stephen courage to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, amid to +die in peace and the murderous blows of the Jews. For by faith he +saw, as he said, the heavens opened, and Jesus sitting at the right +hand of God. He knew that his Lord was risen, and that He would hear +his dying cry: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." + +And so with us, my friends; we have no martyrdom to go through, thank +God; but it is just as true of us as it was of the blessed martyrs +and confessors, that there is no other name under heaven by which we +can be saved but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved; not only +from hell, but from sin, from giving way to temptation, from denying +Christ. Oh, pray for faith. Pray for faith. Pray to be able really +to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Pray to believe with your +hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. Then when you are +tempted to do wrong, you, like Stephen, will see, not with your +bodily eyes, but by faith, the Lord Jesus sitting at God's right +hand, and be able to say to Him: "Lord Jesus, who hast conquered all +temptation, help me to conquer this. Thine eye is on me; how can I +do this great wickedness and sin against Thee?" When you are in +terror, and trouble, and affliction, and know not where to turn, that +same blessed thought--"Christ is risen from the dead"--will be a +shield and a strength to you which no other thought can give. "My +Lord is risen; He is here still--a man, with His man's body, and His +man's spirit--His man's love and tenderness; He has taken them all up +to heaven with Him. He is a man still, though He is very God of very +God. He rose from the dead as a man, and therefore He can understand +me, and feel for me still, now, here in England in this very year, +1852, just as much as He could when He was walking upon earth in +Judaea of old." + +Ay, and in the black jaws of death, when this world is vanishing from +our eyes, and we are going we know not whither, leaving behind us all +we know, and love, and understand; then that thought of all thoughts-- +"Christ is risen from the dead"--is the only one which will save us +from dark sad thoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid +carelessness, and the death of a brute beast, such as too many die. +"Christ is risen and I shall rise. Christ has conquered death for +Himself, and He will conquer it for me. Christ took His man's body +and soul with Him from the tomb to God's right hand, and He will +raise my man's body and soul at the last day, that I may be with Him +for ever, and see Him where He is." In life and in death this is the +only thing which shall save us from sin, from terror, and from the +dread of death; the same good news which St. Paul preached to the +Corinthians; the same good news which made St. Stephen, and the +martyrs and confessors of old brave to endure all misery for the sake +of the good and blessed news, that God had raised His Son Jesus from +the dead. + + + +XLVI--GOD'S WAY WITH MAN + + + +And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you +for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according +to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.-- +EZEKIEL xx. 44. + +In this chapter the prophet Ezekiel argues with his sinful and +rebellious countrymen, and puts them in mind of all that God has done +for them and with them, from the time when He brought them out of +Egypt to that day. + +And now comes the old question, What has this to do with us! St. +Paul tells us that all things which happened to the old Jews happened +for our example. What example can we learn from this chapter? + +This, I think, we may learn: Is not the way in which God taught +these Jews the same way in which He teaches many a man--perhaps every +man? Which of us, when we were young, has not had his teaching from +God? The old Catechism which our mothers taught us, was not that a +word from God Himself to us? The voice of conscience, which made us +happy when we had done right, and uneasy and ashamed when we had gone +wrong; was not that a word from God to us? Yes, my friends, those +child's feelings of ours about right and wrong, were none other than +the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Light which +lightens every man who comes into the world. I tell you, every right +thought and wish, every longing to be better than you were, which +ever came into any one of your hearts, came from Him, the Lord Jesus. +It was His word, His voice, His Spirit, speaking to your spirit, just +as really as He spoke to His prophet Ezekiel, of whom we have been +reading. Think of that. Recollect, never, never forget, that all +your good thoughts and feelings are not your own, not your own at +all, but the Lord's; that without His light your hearts are nothing +but darkness, blind ignorance, and blind selfishness, and blind +passions and lusts; that it is He, he Himself, who has been fighting +against the darkness in you all your life long. Oh think, then, what +your sin has been in putting aside those good thoughts and longings! +You were turning your back, you were shutting your doors to the Lord +God Himself, very God of very God begotten, by whom all things were +made. The Creator came to visit His creature, and His creature shut +Him out. The Almighty God pleaded with mortal man, and mortal man +bade God go, and come back at a more convenient season! A voice in +your heart seemed to say: "Oh, if I could but be a better man! How +I wish that I could but give up these bad habits, and mend! I hate +and despise myself for being so bad." And then you fancied that that +voice was your own voice, that those good thoughts were your own +thoughts. If you had really known whose they were; if you had really +known, as the Bible tells you, that they were the Word of the Lord, +the only-begotten Son of the Father, speaking to your heart, I hardly +think that you would have been so ready to say yourself: "Well, +then, I will mend; but not just now: some day or other; somehow or +other, I hope, I shall be a better man. It will be time enough to +make my peace with God when I am growing old." You would not have +dared to thrust away the good thoughts, and keep them waiting, while +you took your pleasure in a few more years' sin; if you had guessed +WHOM you were thrusting away; if you had guessed whom you were +keeping waiting. + +And, my good friends, has not God been saying to us many a time from +our youth up, as He did to the Jews of old: "Do not walk in the +statutes of your fathers, nor defile yourselves with their idols?" +Do you ask me how? Why, thus. Have you never said to yourself: +"How ill my father prospered, because he would do wrong!" Or, again: +"See how evil doing brings its own punishment. There is so and so +growing rich, by his cheating and his covetousness, and yet, for all +his money, I would not change places with him. God forbid that I +should have on my mind what he has on his mind!" Why should I make a +long story of so simple a matter? Which of us has not felt at times +that thought? How much misery has come in this very parish from the +ill-doing of the generation who are gone to their account, and from +the ill-training which they gave their children? + +And what was that but the Word of the Lord Himself speaking to our +hearts, and saying to us: "Do not defile yourselves with their +idols; do not hurt your souls by hunting after the things which they +loved better than they loved Me: money, pleasure, drink, fighting, +smuggling, poaching, wantonness, and lust; I am the Lord your God?" + +And yet, young people will not listen to that warning voice of God. +They see other people, even their own fathers and mothers, punished +for their sins; perhaps made poor by their sins, perhaps made +unhealthy by their sins, perhaps made miserable and ill-tempered by +their sins: and yet they go and fall into, or rather walk open-eyed +into, the very same sins which made their parents wretched. Oh, how +many a young person sees their home made a complete hell on earth by +ungodliness, and the ill-temper and selfishness which come from +ungodliness; and, then, as soon as they have a home of their own, set +to work to make their own family as miserable as their father's was +before them. + +But people say often: "How could we help it? We had no chance; we +were brought up in bad ways; we had a bad example set us; how can you +expect us to be better than our fathers and mothers, and our elder +brothers and sisters? If we had had a fair chance, we might have +been different: but we had none; and we could not help going the bad +way, for we were set in it the day we were born." + +Well, my dear friends, God shall judge you, not I. If little is +given to a man little is required of him. But not nothing at all; +because more than nothing was given him. A little is given to every +man; and, therefore, a little is required of every man. And so, he +who knew not his Master's will shall be beaten with few stripes. But +he will be beaten with some stripes, because he ought to have known +something, at least of his Master's will. If you were dumb animals, +which can only follow their own lusts and passions, and must be what +nature has made them, then your excuse would be good enough; but your +excuse is not good now, just because you are men and women, and not +dumb beasts, and, therefore, can rise above your natures, and conquer +your lusts and passions, as they cannot, and can do what you do not +like, because, though you dislike it, you know that it is right. +And, therefore, God does not take that excuse which sinners make, +that they have had no teaching. But what does he do to them? + +Suppose, now, that you had a dog which would not be taught, or broken +in, or cured of biting, or made useful, or bearable in any way, what +would you do to that dog? I suppose that you would kill it; you +would say: "It is an ill-conditioned animal, and there is no making +it any better; so the only thing is to put it out of the way, and not +let it eat food which might be better spent." Now, does God deal so +with sinners? When young people rush headlong into sin, and become a +nuisance to themselves and their neighbours, does God kill them at +once, that better men may step into their place? No. And why? Just +because they are not dumb animals, which cannot be made better, but +God's children, who can be made better. If there were really no hope +of a sinner repenting and amending, I think God would not leave him +long alive to cumber the ground. But there is hope for every one; +because God the Father loves all; the loving heart of the Lord Jesus +Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the +Father and the Son, strives with the hearts of all; therefore God, in +His patience and tender mercy, tries to bring his foolish children to +their senses. And how? Often in the very same way, in which Ezekiel +says He tried to bring the Jews to their senses, by letting them go +on in the road of sin, till they see what an ugly pit that same road +ends in. If your child would not believe you when you warned and +assured him that the fire would burn him, would it not be the very +best way of bringing him to his senses, to tell him: "Very well; go +your own way; put your hand into the fire, and see what comes of it; +you will not believe me; you will believe your own feelings, when +your hand is burnt." So did the Lord to those rebellious Jews when +they would go after their fathers' sins. He gave them statutes which +were not good, and judgments by which they could not live, to the end +that they might know that He was the Lord. God did not make them +commit any sins. God forbid! He only took away His Spirit, His +light and teaching, from them, and let them go on in the light of +their own foolish and bewildered hearts, till their sin bred misery +and shame to them, and they were filled with the fruit of their own +devices. Then, after all their wealth was gone, and their land was +wasted by cruel enemies, and they themselves were carried away +captive into Babylon, they began to awake, and say to themselves: +"We were wrong after all, and the Lord was right. He knew what was +really good for us better than we did. We thought that we could do +without Him, disobey Him. But He is the Lord after all. He has been +too strong for us; He has punished us. If we had listened to His +warnings years ago, we might have been saved all this misery." + +Ah, how many a poor foolish creature, in misery and shame, with a +guilty conscience and a sad heart, sits down, like the prodigal son, +among the swinish bad company into which his sins have brought him, +longing to fill his belly with the husks which the swine eat! but he +cannot. He tries to forget his sorrow by drinking, by bad company, +by gambling, by gossiping, like the fools around him: but he cannot. +He finds no more pleasure in sin. He is sick and tired of it. He +has had enough of it and too much. He is miserable, and he hardly +knows why. But miserable he is. There is a longing, and craving, +and hunger at his heart after something better; at least after +something different. Then he begins to remember his heavenly +Father's house. Old words which he learnt at his mother's knee, good +old words out of his Catechism and his Bible, start up strangely in +his mind. He had forgotten them, laughed at them, perhaps, in his +wild days. But now they come up, he does not know where from, like +beautiful ghosts gliding in. And he is ashamed of them; they +reproach him, the dear old lessons; and yet they seem pleasant to +him, though they make him blush. And at last he says to himself: +"Would God that I were a little child again; once more an innocent +little child at my mother's knee! I thought myself clever and +cunning. I thought I could go my own way and enjoy myself. But I +cannot. Perhaps I have been a fool; and the old Sunday books were +right after all. At least I am miserable. I thought I was my own +master. But perhaps He about whom I used to read in the Sunday books +is my Master after all. At least I am not my own master; I am a +slave. Perhaps I have been fighting against Him, against the Lord +God, all this time, and now He has shown me that He is the stronger +of the two. . . . And so the poor man learns in trouble and shame to +know, like the Jews of old, who is the Lord. + +And when the Lord has drawn a man thus far, does He stop? Not so. +He does not leave His work half done. If the work is half done, it +is that we stop, not that He stops. Whosoever comes to Him, +howsoever confusedly, or clumsily, or even lazily they may come, He +will in no wise cast out. He may afflict them still more to cure +that confusion and laziness; but He is a physician who never sends a +willing patient away, or keeps him waiting for a single hour. + +How then does the Lord deal with such a man? Does He drive him +further? Not if he will go without being driven. You would call it +cruel to drive a beast on with blows, when it was willing to be led +peaceably. And be sure God is not more cruel than man. As soon as +we are willing to be led, He will take His rod off from us, and lead +us tenderly enough. For I have known God do this to a man, and a +sinful man as ever trod this earth. I have known such a man brought +into utter misery and shame of heart, and heavy affliction in outward +matters, till his spirit was utterly broken, and he was ready to say: +"I am a beast and a fool. I am not worth the bread I eat. Let me +lie down and die." And then, when the Lord had driven that man so +far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, how the Lord turned and +looked on that man as he turned and looked on Peter, and brought his +poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter's, by a loving smile, +and not an angry frown. I have seen the Lord heap that man with all +manner of unexpected blessings, and pay him back sevenfold for all +his affliction, and raise him up, body and soul, and satisfy him with +good things, so that his youth was renewed like the eagle's. And so +the man's conversion to God, though it was begun by God's +chastisements and afflictions, was brought to perfection by God's +mercy and bounty; and it happened to that man, as Ezekiel prophesied +that it would happen to the Jews, that not fear and dread, but +honour, gratitude, and that noble shame of which no man need be +ashamed, brought him home to God at last. "And you shall remember +your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled: and you +shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evils which you +have committed. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have +wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked +ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel, saith +the Lord God." + +You see that God's mercy to them would not make them conceited or +careless. It would increase their shame and confusion when they +found out what sort of a Lord He was against whom they had been +rebellious; long-suffering and of tender mercy, returning good for +evil to His disobedient children. That feeling would awake in them +more shame and more confusion than ever: but it would be a noble +shame, a happy confusion, and tears of joy and gratitude, not of +bitterness. Such a shame, such a confusion, such tears, as the +blessed Magdalene's when she knelt at the Lord's feet, and found +that, instead of bating her and thrusting her away for all her sins, +He told her to go in peace, pardoned and happy. Then she knew the +Lord; she found out His character--His name; for she found out that +His name was love. Oh, my friends, this is the great secret; the +only knowledge worth living for, because it is the only knowledge +which will enable you to live worthily--to know the Lord. That +knowledge will enable you to live a life which will last, and grow, +and prosper for ever, beyond the grave, and death, and judgment, and +eternities of eternities. As the Lord Himself said, when He was upon +earth, "This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God, and +Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Therefore there is no use my +warning you against sin, and telling you, do not do this, and do not +do that, unless I tell you at the same time who is the Lord. For +till you know that The Good God is the Lord, you will have no real, +sound, heartfelt reason for giving up your sins; and what is more, +you will not be able to give them up. You may alter your sort of +sins from fear of this and that; but the root of sin will be there +still; and if it cannot bear one sort of fruit it will bear another. +If you dare not drink or riot, you may become covetous and griping; +if you dare not give way to young men's sins, you will take to old +men's sins instead; if you dare not commit open sins you will commit +secret ones in your thoughts. Sin is much too stout a plant to be +kept from bearing some sort of fruit. As long as it is not rooted up +the root will breed death in you of some sort or other; and the only +feeling which can root up sin is to know that Jesus Christ, the Son +of God, is your Lord, and that your Lord condescended to die upon the +cross for you; that you must be the Lord's, and are not your own, but +bought with the price of His most precious blood, that you may +glorify God with your body and your soul, which are His. + +Just so, the blessed St. Augustine found that he could never conquer +his own sins by arguing with himself, or by any other means, till he +got to know God, and to see that God was the Lord. And when his +spirit was utterly broken; when he saw himself, in spite of all his +wonderful cleverness and learning, to have been a fool and blind all +along, though people round him were flattering him, and running after +him to hear his learning; then the old words which he learnt at his +mother's knee came up in his mind, and he knew that God was the Lord +after all, and that God had been watching him, guiding him, letting +him go wrong only to show him the folly of going wrong, caring for +him even when He left him to himself and his sins, and the sad ways +of his sins; bearing with him, pleading with his conscience, alluring +him back to the only true happiness, as a loving father with a +rebellious and self-willed child. And then, when St. Augustine had +found out at last that God was his Lord, who had been taking the +charge of him all through his heathen youth, he became a changed man. +He was able to conquer his sins; for God conquered them for him. He +was able to give up the profligate life which he had been leading; +not from fear of punishment, but from the Spirit of God--the spirit +of gratitude, honour, trust, and love toward God, which made him +abide in God, and God abide in him. To that blessed state may God of +His great mercy bring us all. To it He will bring us all unless we +rebel and set up our foolish and selfish will against His loving and +wise will. And if He does bring us to it, it is little matter +whether He brings us to it through joy or through sorrow, through +honour or through shame, through the garden of Eden, or through the +valley of the shadow of death. For, my dear friends, what matter how +bitter the medicine is, if it does but save our lives? + + + +XLVII--THE MARRIAGE AT CANA + + + +There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was +there. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the +marriage.--JOHN ii. 1, 2. + +It is, I think, in the first place, an important, as well as a +pleasant thing, to know that the Lord's glory, as St. Paul says, was +first shown forth at a wedding, at a feast. Not at a time of sorrow, +but of joy. Not about some strange affliction or disease, such as is +the lot of very few, but about a marriage, that which happens in the +ordinary lot of all mankind. Not in any fearful judgment or +destruction of sinners, but in blessing wedlock, by which, whether +among saints or sinners, mankind is increased. Not by helping some +great philosopher to think more deeply, or some great saint to +perform more wonderful acts of holiness, but in giving the simple +pleasure of wine to simple commonplace people, of whom we neither +read that they were rich or righteous. We do not even read whether +the master of the feast ever found out that Jesus had worked a +miracle, or whether any of the company ever believed in Him, on the +strength of that miracle, except His mother and the disciples, and +the servants, who were probably the poor slaves of people in a low or +middling class of life. But that is the way of the Lord. He is no +respecter of persons. Rich and poor are alike in His sight; and the +poor need Him most, and therefore He began his work with the poor in +Cana, as He did in St. James's time, when the poor of this world were +rich in faith, and the rich of this world were oppressors and +taskmasters. So He does in every age. Though no one else cares for +the poor, He cares for them. With their hearts He begins His work, +even as He did in England sixty years ago, by the preaching of +Whitfield and Wesley. Do you wish to know if anything is the Lord's +work? See if it is a work among the poor. Do you wish to know +whether any preaching is the true gospel of the Lord? See whether it +is a gospel, a good news to the poor. I know no other test than +that. By doing that, by preaching the gospel to the poor, by working +miracles for the poor, He has showed forth His glory, and proved +Himself the true, and just, and loving Lord of all. + +But again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He does not +demand from us: He gives to us. He had been giving from the +foundation of the world. Corn and wine, rain and sunshine, and +fruitful seasons had been his sending. And now He was come to show +it. He was come to show men who it was who had been filling their +heart with joy and gladness; who had been bringing out of the earth +and air, by His unseen chemistry, the wine which maketh glad the +heart of man. In every grape that hangs upon the vine, water is +changed into wine, as the sap ripens into rich juice. He had been +doing that all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that was His +glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil of +custom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had seen the +grapes ripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, as every one +of us is tempted now: "It is the sun and the air, the nature of the +vine, and the nature of the climate, which makes the wine." Jesus +comes and answers: "Not so. I make the wine; I have been making it +all along. The vines, the sun, the weather, are only my tools +wherewith I worked, turning rain and sap into wine; and I am greater +than they; I made them; I do not depend on them; I can make wine from +water without vines or sunshine. Behold, and drink, and see my glory +WITHOUT the vineyard, since you had forgotten how to see it IN the +vineyard! For I am now, even as I was in Paradise, The Word of the +Lord God; and now, even as in Paradise, I walk among the trees of the +garden, and they know me and obey me, though the world knows me not. +I have been all along in the world, and the world knows me not. Know +me now, lest you lose the knowledge of me for ever!" + +Those of the Jews who received that message, as the disciples did, +found out their ancient Lord, and clung to Him, and know now, in the +world of spirits, that His message was indeed a true one. Those who +did not, lost sight of Him; to this day their eyes are blinded; to +this day they have utterly forgotten that they have a Lord and Ruler, +who is the Word and Son of God. Their faith is no more like the +faith of David than their understanding of the Scriptures is like +his. The Bible is a dead letter to them. The kingdom and government +of God is forgotten by them. Of all God-worshipping people in the +world, the Jews are the least godly, the most given up to the worship +of this world, and the things which they can see, and taste, and +handle, and, therefore, to covetousness, cheating, lying, tyranny, +and all the sins which spring from forgetting that this world belongs +to the Lord and that He rules and guides it, that its blessings are +His gifts, and we His stewards, to use them for the good of all. May +God help, and forgive, and convert them! Doubt not that He will do +so in His good time. But let us beware, my friends, lest we fall +into the same sin. Do not fancy that we are not in just the same +danger. It would be a cowardly thing of a preacher to call Jews, or +heathens, or any other absent persons hard names, unless their +mistakes and their sins were such as his own people wanted warnings +against, ay, perhaps, had the very root of them in their hearts +already. And we have the root of the Jews' sin in our own hearts. +Why is this one miracle read in our churches to this day, if we do +not stand just as much in need of the lesson as those for whom it was +first worked? We, as well as they, are in danger of forgetting who +it is that sends us corn and wine, and fruitful seasons, love and +marriage, and all the blessings of this life. We, as well as the +Jews, are continually fancying that these outward earthly things, as +we call them in our shallow carnal conceits, have nothing to do with +Jesus or His kingdom, but that we may compete, and scrape, even cheat +and lie to get them, and when we have them, misuse them selfishly, as +if they belonged to no one but ourselves, as if we had no duty to +perform about them, as if we owed God no service for them. + +And again, we are, just as much as the Jews were, in danger of +spiritual pride; in danger of fancying that because we are religious, +and have, or fancy we have, deep experiences and beautiful thoughts +about God and Christ and our own souls, therefore we can afford to +despise those who do not know as much as ourselves; to despise the +common pleasures and petty sorrows of poor creatures, whose souls and +bodies are grovelling in the dust, busied with the cares of this +world, at their wits' end to get their daily bread; to despise the +merriment of young people, the play of children, and all those +everyday happinesses which, though we may turn from them with a +sneer, are precious in the sight of Him who made heaven and earth. +All such proud thoughts, all such contempt of those who do not seem +as spiritual as we fancy ourselves, is evil. It is from the devil, +and not from God. It is the same vile spirit which made the +Pharisees of old say: "This people--these poor worldly drudging +wretches--who know not the law, are accursed." And mind, this is not +a sin of rich, and learned, and highborn men only. They may be more +tempted to it than others; but poor men, when they become, by the +grace of God, wiser, more spiritual, more holy than others, are +tempted, just as much as the rich, to despise their poor neighbours +to whom God has not given the same light as themselves; and surely in +them it shows ugliest of all. A learned and high-born man may be +excused for looking down upon the sinful poor, because he does not +understand their temptations, because he never has been ignorant and +struggling as they are. But a poor man who despises the poor--he has +no excuse. He ought above all men to feel for them, for he has been +tempted even as they are. He knows their sorrows; he has been +through their dark valley of bad food, bad lodging, want of work, +want of teaching, low cares which drag the soul to earth. Surely a +poor man who has tasted God's love and Christ's light, ought, above +all others, instead of turning his back on his class, to pity them, +to make common cause with them, to teach them, guide them, comfort +them, in a way no rich man can. Yes; after all, it is the poor must +help the poor; the poor must comfort the poor; the poor must teach +and convert the poor. + +See, in the epistle for this day, St. Paul makes no distinction +between rich and poor. This epistle is joined with the gospel for +the day, to show us what ought to be the conduct of Christians, who +believe in the miracle of Cana; what men should do who believe that +they have a Lord in heaven, by whose command suns shine, fruits +ripen, men enjoy the blessings of harvest, of marriage, of the +comforts which the heathen and the savage, as well as the Christian +man, partake; what men should do who believe that they have a Lord in +heaven who entered into the common joys and sorrows of lowly men, who +was once Himself a poor villager, who ate with publicans and sinners, +who condescended to join in a wedding feast, and increase the mere +animal enjoyment of the guests. And what is St. Paul's command to +poor as well as rich? Read the epistle for this day and see. + +You see at once that this epistle is written in the same spirit as +our Lord's words: by God's Spirit, in short; the Spirit which +brought the Lord Jesus so condescendingly to the wedding feast; the +Spirit which made Him care so heartily for the common pleasures of +those around Him. My friends, these are not commands to one class, +but to all. Poor as well as rich may show mercy with cheerfulness, +and love without dissimulation. Poor as well as rich may minister to +others with earnestness, and condescend to those of low estate. Not +a word in this whole epistle which does not apply equally to every +rank, and sex, and age. + +Neither are these commands to each of us by ourselves, but to all of +us together, as members of a family. If you will look through them +they are not things to be done to ourselves, but to our neighbours; +not experiences to be felt about our own souls: but rules of conduct +to our fellow-men. They are all different branches and flowers from +that one root: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." + +Do we live thus, rich or poor? Can we look each other in the face +this afternoon and say, each man to his neighbour: "I have behaved +like a brother to you. I have rejoiced at your good fortune, and +grieved at your sorrow. I have preferred you to myself. I have +loved you without dissimulation. I have been earnest in my place and +duty in the parish for the sake of the common good of all. I have +condescended to those of lower rank than myself. I have--" Ah, my +dear friends, I had better not go on with the list. God forgive us +all! The less we try to justify ourselves on this score the better. +Some of us do indeed try to behave like brothers and sisters to their +neighbours; but how few of us; and those few how little! And yet we +are brothers. We are members of one family, sons of one Father, +joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who sat eating and drinking +at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and mixed freely in the joys +and the sorrows of the poorest and meanest. Joint-heirs with Christ; +yet how unlike Him! My friends, we need to repent and amend our +ways; we need to confess, every one of us, rich and poor, the pride, +the selfishness, the carelessness about each other, which keeps us so +much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so little for +each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of you. Those who +have behaved most like brothers, will be most ready to confess how +little they have behaved like brothers. Confess: "Father, I have +sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be +called thy son, for I have not loved, cared for, helped my brothers +and sisters round, who are just as much thy children as I am." Pray +for the spirit of Jesus, the spirit of condescension, love, fellow- +feeling; that spirit which rejoices simply and heartily with those +who are happy, and feels for another's sorrows as if they were its +own. Pray for it; for till it comes, there will be no peace on +earth. Pray for it; for when it comes and takes possession of your +hearts, and you all really love and live like brothers, children of +one Father, the kingdom of God will be come indeed, and His will be +done on earth as it is in heaven. + + + +XLVIII--PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE + + + +And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked +how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, when thou art +bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, +lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that +bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou +begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, +go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee +cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou +have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For +whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth +himself shall be exalted.--LUKE xiv. 7-11. + +We heard in the gospel for to-day how the Lord Jesus put forth a +parable to those who were invited to a dinner with Him at the +Pharisee's house. A parable means an example of any rules or laws; a +story about some rule, by hearing which people may see how the rule +works in practice, and understand it. Now, our Lord's parables were +about the kingdom of God. They were examples of the rules and laws +by which the kingdom of God is governed and carried on. Therefore He +begins many of His parables by saying, The kingdom of God is like +something--something which people see daily, and understand more or +less. "The kingdom of God is like a field;" "The kingdom of God is +like a net;" "The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed;" +and so forth. And even where He did not begin one of His parables by +speaking of the kingdom of God, we may be still certain that it has +to do with the kingdom of God. For the one great reason why the Lord +was made flesh and dwelt among us, was to preach the kingdom of God, +His Father and our Father, and to prove to men that God was their +King, even at the price of his most precious blood. And, therefore, +everything which He ever did, and everything which He ever spoke, had +to do with this one great work of His. This parable, therefore, +which you heard read in the gospel for to-day, has to do with the +kingdom of God, and is an example of the laws of it. + +Now, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while to consider. +For at baptism we were declared members of the kingdom of God; we +were to renounce the world, and to live according to the kingdom of +God. The kingdom of God is simply the way in which God governs men; +and the world is the way in which men try to manage without God's +help or leave. That is the difference between them; and a most awful +difference it is. Men fancy that they can get on well enough without +God; that the ways of the world are very reasonable, and useful, and +profitable, and quite good enough to live by, if not to die by. But +all the while God is King, let them fancy what they like; and this +earth, and everything on it, from the king on his throne to the gnat +in the sunbeam, is under His government, and must obey His laws or +die. We are in God's kingdom, my good friends, every one of us, +whether we like it or not, and we shall be there for ever and ever. +And our business is, therefore, simply to find out what are the laws +of that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as possible, and +live for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and get in their way, +they should grind us to powder. + +Now, here is one of the laws of God's kingdom: "Whosoever exalteth +himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be +exalted." That is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, sets himself +up, will be pulled down again: while he who is contented to keep +low, and think little of himself, will be raised up and set on high. +Now the world's rule is the exact opposite of this. The world says, +Every man for himself. The way of the world is to struggle and +strive for the highest place; to be a pushing man, and a rising man, +and a man who will stand stiffly by his rights, and give his enemy as +good as he brings, and beat his neighbour out of the market, and show +off himself to the best advantage, and try to make the most of +whatever wit or money he has to look well in the world, that people +may look up to him and flatter him and obey him; and so the world has +no objection to people's pretending to be better than they are. +Every man must do the best he can for himself, the world says, and +never mind his neighbours: they must take care of themselves; and if +they are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the worse for them. +So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when he has +anything to sell, making it out better than it really is, and hiding +the fault in it as far as he can. When a tradesman or manufacturer +sends about "puffs" of his goods, and pretends that they are better +and cheaper than other people's, just to get custom by it, the world +does not call that what it is--boasting and lying. It says: "Of +course a man must do the best he can for himself. If a man does not +praise himself, nobody else will praise him; he cannot expect his +neighbours to take him for better than his own words." So again, if +a man wants a place or situation, the world thinks it no harm if he +gives the most showy character of himself, and gets his friends to +say all the good of him they can, and a great deal more, and to say +none of the harm--in short, to make himself out a much better, or +shrewder, or worthier man than he really is. The world does not call +that either what it is--boasting, and lying, and thrusting oneself +into callings to which God has not called us. The world says: "Of +course a man must turn his best side outwards. You cannot expect a +man to tell tales on himself." + +And, my friends, the world would be quite right, and reasonable, and +prudent, in telling us to push, and boast, and lie, and puff +ourselves and our goods, if it were not for one thing which the +foolish blind world is always forgetting, and that is, that there is +a God who judges the earth. If God were not our King; if He took no +care of us men and our doings; if mankind had it all their own way on +earth, and were forced to shift for themselves without any laws of +God to guide them, then the best thing every man could do would be to +fight for himself; to get all he could for himself, and leave as +little as he could for his neighbours; to make himself out as great, +and wise, and strong, as he could, and try to make his neighbours buy +him at his own price. That would be the best plan for every man, if +God was not King; and therefore the world says that that is the best +plan for every man, because the world does not believe that God is +King, and hates the notion that God is King, and laughs at and +persecutes, as Jesus Christ said it would, those who preach the +kingdom of God, and tell men, as I tell you in God's name: "You were +not made to be selfish; you were not meant to rise in the world by +boasting and pushing down and deceiving your neighbours. For you are +subjects of God's kingdom; and to do so is to break his laws, and to +put yourselves under His curse; and however worldly-wise all this +selfishness and boasting may seem, it is sin, whose wages are death +and ruin." + +For, my friends, let the world try to forget God as it will, He does +not forget the world. Let men try to make rules and laws for +themselves, rules about religion, rules about government, rules about +trade, rules about morals and what they fancy is just and fair; let +them make as many rules as they like, they are only wasting their +time; for God has made His rules already, and revealed them to us in +the Bible, and told us that the earth and mankind are governed in His +way, and not in ours, and that He will not alter His everlasting +rules to suit our new ones. As David says: "Let the people be never +so unquiet, still the Lord is King." + +Ah, my friends, it is very easy to say all this, but it is not so +easy to believe it. Every one, every respectable person at least, is +ready enough to talk about God, and God's will, and so forth. But +when it comes to practice; when it comes to doing God's will, and not +our own; when it comes to obeying His direct and plain commands, and +not the fashions and maxims which men have invented for themselves; +when it comes to giving up what we long for, because He has said that +if we try after it in our own way, and not in His, we shall never +have it at all, then comes the trial; then comes the time to see +whether we believe that God is the King of the earth or not; then +comes the time to see whether we have renounced the world, and +determined to live as God's sons in God's kingdom, or whether our +religion is some form of words, or way of thinking and feeling which +we hope may save our souls from hell, but which has nothing to do +with our daily life and conduct, and leaves us just as worldly as any +heathen, in all our dealings with our fellow-men, from Monday morning +to Saturday night. Then comes the time to try our faith in God. + +And then, alas! it comes out, in these evil, and godless, and +hypocritical times in which we live, that many a man who fancies +himself religious, and respectable, and blameless, and what not, no +more really believes that he is living in God's kingdom than the +heathen do. And if you ask him, you will find out most probably that +he fancies that God's kingdom is not on earth now, but that it will +be on earth some day. A cunning delusion of the devil, that, my +friends! To make us go his way while we fancy that we are going our +own way. To make us say to ourselves: "Ah! it is very unfortunate +that God is not King of the earth now. Of course He will be after +the resurrection, in the new heaven and the new earth, where there +will be no sin. But He is not King now; this world is given over to +sin and the devil, so fallen and ruined and corrupt that--that--that, +in short, we cannot be expected to behave like God's children in it, +but must just follow the ways of the world, and live by ambition, and +selfishness, and cunning, and boasting, and competing in this life; a +life of love, and justice, and humbleness, and fellow-help, and +mercy, and self-sacrifice is impossible in such a world as this; we +cannot live like angels, till we get to heaven!" So say nine people +out of ten; the devil deceiving them, and their own hearts, alas! +being but too glad to catch at the excuse for sin which the devil +gives them, when he tells them that this present earth is not God's +kingdom; and so they go and act accordingly, selfish, grudging, +pushing, boastful, every man's hand against his neighbour and for +himself, till they succeed too often in making this earth as +fearfully like the devil's kingdom as it is possible for God's +kingdom to be made. + +But what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that he who +sets himself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself low shall +be set up? What has it to do with the text? It has everything to do +with the text. If people really believed that they were God's +subjects and children in God's kingdom, they would not need to ask +that question long. + +If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in anyone +setting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those +who set up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their +high thoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God is +really the King of the earth, He must be the one to set people up, +and not they themselves. Look again at the parable. The man who +asks the guests to dine with him has surely a right to place each of +them where he likes. The house is his, the dinner is his. He has a +right to invite whom he likes; and he has a right to settle where +they shall sit. If they choose their own places--if any guest takes +upon himself to seat himself at the head of the table, because he +thinks it his right, he offends against all rules of right feeling +and propriety toward the man who has invited him. All he has a right +to expect is, that his host will not put him in the wrong place, that +he will settle all places at his table according to people's real +rank and deserts, and as our Testaments say, put "the worthiest man +in the highest room." And if people really believed in God, which +very few do, they would surely expect no less of God. What +gentleman, farmer, or labourer is there, with common sense and good +feeling, who would not show most respect to the most respectable +persons who came into his house, and send his best and trustiest +workmen about his most important errands? True, he might make +mistakes, and worse. Being a weak man, he might be tempted to put +the rich sinner in a higher place than the poor saint: or he might, +from private fancy, be blinded about his workmen's characters, and so +send a worse man, because he was his favourite, to do what another +man whom he did not fancy as well might do a great deal better. But +you cannot suspect God of that. He is no respecter of persons-- +whether a man be rich or poor, no matter to God: all which He +inquires into is--Is he righteous or unrighteous, wise or foolish, +able to do his work or unable? And God can make no mistakes about +people's characters. As St. Paul says of the Lord Jesus: "The Word +of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing through to the +dividing of the very joints and marrow, so that all things are naked +and open in the sight of Him with whom we have to do." There is no +blinding God, no hiding from God, no cheating God, just as there is +no flattering God. He knows what each and every one of us is fit +for. He knows what each and every one of us is worth; and what is +more, He knows what we ought to know, that each and every one of us +is worth nothing without Him. Therefore there is no use pretending +to be better than we are. God knows just how good we are, and will +reward us, even in this life only according as we deserve, in spite +of all our boasting. There is no use pretending to be wiser than we +are. For all the wisdom we have comes from God; and if we pretend to +have more than we have, and by that greatest act of folly, show that +we have no wisdom at all, He will take from us even what we have, and +make all our cunning plans come to nothing, and prove us fools, just +when we fancy ourselves most clever. There is no use being ambitious +and pushing, and trying to scramble up on our neighbours' shoulders. +For we were not sent into this world to do what we like, but what God +likes; not to work for ourselves, but to work for God; and God knows +exactly how much good each of us can do, and what is the best place +for us to do it in, and how to teach and enable us to do it; and if +we choose to be taught, He will teach us; and if we choose to go His +way, and do His work, He will help us to it. But if we will not have +his way, He will not let us have our own way--not at first, at least. +He will bring our plans to nothing, and let us make fools of +ourselves, and bring in sudden accidents of which we never dreamed, +just to show us that we are not our own masters, and cannot cut out +our own roads through life. And if we take His lesson, and go to Him +to teach and strengthen us--well: and if not--then perhaps--which is +the most awful misery which can happen to any man in earth--God may +give up teaching us during this life, and let us have our own way, +and be filled with the fruit of our own devices; from which worst of +punishments may He in His mercy, save you, and me, and all belonging +to us, in this life and in the life to come. + +But some of you may say: "We understand the first half of the text +very well, and like it very well; we all think it just that those who +set themselves up should have a fall, and we are very glad to see +them have a fall: but we do not see why he who abases himself should +have any right to be exalted." Ah, my friends, it is much easier, +and needs much less knowledge of God, and much less of the likeness +of Christ, to see what is wrong, than to see what is right. Every +man knows when a bone is broken, but it is not every one who can set +it again. Nevertheless, there is a sort of left-handed reason in +that argument. For a man has no more right to make himself out worse +than he is, than he has to make himself out better than he is. A man +should confess to being just what he is, neither more nor less. +Nevertheless, he who humbles himself shall be exalted. + +Of course I do not mean those who, like some I know, make a fawning +humble way of talking a cloak for their own self-conceit; who call +themselves miserable sinners all the time that they are fancying that +they are almost the only people in the world who are sure of being +saved, whatever they do; who, as some do, actually pride themselves +on their own convictions of sin, and glory in their own shame, and +despise those who will not slander themselves as they do. + +They are equally hateful to God and to God's enemies. If you and I +are disgusted at such hypocritical self-conceit, be sure the Lord +Jesus is far more pained at it than we are; for as a wise man says: +"The devil's darling sin is the pride that apes humility." + +But let a man really be convinced of sin; let a man really believe in +the Lord Jesus Christ's atonement; let a man really believe in the +Holy Spirit; and that man will have little need to ask why he should +humble himself more than he deserves, and little wish to boast of +himself, and push himself forward, and get praise, or riches, or +power in the world. For that man would say to himself: "I, sinner +as I am; I, who know that I do so many wrong things daily; things so +wrong that it required the blood of the Son of God to wash out the +guilt of them--who am I to set myself up? I cannot be faithful in a +little--why should I try to be ruler over much? I cannot use +properly the blessings and the power which God does give me--must I +not take for granted that, if I had more riches, more power, I should +use them still worse? I know well enough of a thousand sins, and +weaknesses and ignorances in myself which my neighbours never see. I +believe, therefore, my neighbours have much too good an opinion of +me, and not too bad a one; and therefore I am not going to boast or +puff myself to them. I can only thank God they do not see the inside +of this foolish heart of mine as well as He does! In short, I am not +going to set myself up, and try to get a higher place among men than +I have already, because I am certain that I have already a ten times +better one than I deserve." + +Or again, if a man really believed in the Holy Ghost, which is much +the same as really believing in the kingdom of God; if he really +believed that God was the King and Master of his heart and soul; if +he really believed that everything good, and right, and wise in him +came from God's Holy Spirit, and that everything wrong and foolish in +him came from himself and the devil; then he would surely say to +himself: "Who am I to try to set myself up above my neighbours, and +get power over them; what have I that I did not receive? Whatever +money, or station, or cleverness, or power of mind I have, God has +given me, and without Him I should be nothing. Therefore, He only +gave me these talents to use for Him, and if I use them for my own +ends, I shall be misusing them, and trying to rob God of His own. I +am His child, His subject, His steward; He has put me just in that +place in His earth which is most fit for me, and my business is, not +to try to desert my post, and to wander out of the place here He has +put me, but to see that I do the duty which lies nearest me, so that +I shall be able to give an account to Him. It is only if I am +faithful in a few things, that I can expect God to make me ruler over +many things." Ah, my friends, if we could but see ourselves, not as +we fancy we are, nor as others fancy we are, but just as we really +are, then, instead of pushing, and boasting, and standing stiffly by +our rights, and fancying that God and man are unjust to us, we should +be crying out all day long with the prodigal son: "Father, I have +sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be +called thy son." We should say with St. Paul--who, after all, +remember, was the wisest, and most learned, and noblest-hearted of +all the Apostles--that we are at best the chief of sinners. We +should feel like the dear and blessed Magdalene of old, the pattern +for ever of all true penitents, that it was quite honour enough to be +allowed to wash Christ's feet with our tears, while every one round +us sneered at us and looked down upon us--as, after all, we deserve. +And so, believe me, we should be exalted. It would pay us, if +payment is what we want. For so we should be in a more right, more +true, more healthy, more wise, more powerful state of mind; more like +Jesus Christ, and therefore more likely to be sent to do Christ's +work, and share Christ's reward. For this is the great law of the +kingdom of God in which we live, that man is nothing, and God is +everything; and that we are strong and wise, and something, only when +we find out that we are weak and foolish, and nothing, and go to our +Father in heaven for strength, and wisdom, and spiritual eternal +life. And then we find out how true it is that he who humbles +himself, as he deserves, will be raised up; how he who loses his life +will save it; how blessed are the poor in spirit, those who feel that +they have nothing but what God chooses to give them; for theirs is +the kingdom of heaven! How blessed are those who hunger and thirst +after righteousness; who feel that they are not doing right, and yet +cannot rest till they do right; for they shall be filled! How +blessed are the meek, who do not set up themselves, or try to fight +their own battles, and compete with their neighbours in the great +scramble and struggle of this world; for they--just the last persons +whom the world would expect to do it--shall inherit the earth! +Choose, my friends, choose! The world says: "Push upwards, praise +yourself, help yourself, put your best side outwards." The great God +who made heaven and earth says: "Know that you are weak, and +foolish, and sinful in yourself. Know that whatever wisdom you have, +I the Lord lent you; and I the Lord expect the interest of my loan. +Know that you are my child in my Kingdom. Stay where I have put you, +and when I want you for something better, I will call you; and if you +try to rise without my calling you, I will only drive you back again. +So the only way to be ruler over much, is first to be faithful in a +little. My friends, which of the two do you think is likely to know +best, man or God? + + + +Footnotes: + +{217} In 1848-49. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS *** + +This file should be named snsb10.txt or snsb10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, snsb11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, snsb10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/old/snsb10.zip b/old/snsb10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5c6dbb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/snsb10.zip diff --git a/old/snsb10h.htm b/old/snsb10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cd7353 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/snsb10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13355 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Sermons on National Subjects</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Sermons on National Subjects, by Charles Kingsley</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sermons on National Subjects, by Charles Kingsley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Sermons on National Subjects + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8202] +[This file was first posted on July 1, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h1>SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS</h1> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h2>I—THE KING OF THE EARTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT.<br />[<i>Preached in</i> 1849.]</p> +<p>Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.—MATTHEW xxi. 4.</p> +<p>This Sunday is the first of the four Sundays in Advent. During +those four Sundays, our forefathers have advised us to think seriously +of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ—not that we should neglect +to think of it at all times. As some of you know, I have preached +to you about it often lately. Perhaps before the end of Advent +you will all of you, more or less, understand what all that I have said +about the cholera, and public distress, and the sins of this nation, +and the sins of the labouring people has to do with the coming of our +Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend, especially in my next four sermons, +to speak my whole mind to you about this matter as far as God has shown +it to me; taking the Collect, Epistle, and Gospels, for each Sunday +in Advent, and explaining them. I am sure I cannot do better; +for the more I see of those Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and the +way in which they are arranged, the more I am astonished and delighted +at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the wise order in which they +follow each other, and fit into each other. It is very fit, too, +that we should think of our Lord’s coming at this season of the +year above all others; because it is the hardest season—the season +of most want, and misery, and discontent, when wages are low, and work +is scarce, and fuel is dear, and frosts are bitter, and farmers and +tradesmen, and gentlemen, too, are at their wits’ end to square +their accounts, and pay their way. Then is the time that the evils +of society come home to us—that our sins, and our sorrows, which, +after all, are the punishment of our sins, stare us in the face. +Then is the time, if ever, for men’s hearts to cry out for a Saviour, +who will deliver them out of their miseries and their sins; for a Heavenly +King who will rule them in righteousness, and do justice and judgment +on the earth, and see that those who are in need and necessity have +right; for a Heavenly Counsellor who will guide them into all truth—who +will teach them what they are, and whither they are going, and what +the Lord requires of them. I say the hard days of winter are a +fit time to turn men’s hearts to Christ their King—the fittest +of all times for a clergyman to get up in his pulpit, as I do now, and +tell his people, as I tell you, that Jesus Christ your King has not +forgotten you—that He is coming speedily to judge the world, and +execute justice and judgment for the meek of the earth.</p> +<p>Now do not be in a hurry, and fancy from what I have just said, that +I am one of those who think the end of the world is at hand. It +may be, for aught I know. “Of that day and that hour knoweth +no man, not even the angels of God, nor the Son, but the Father only.” +If you wish for my own opinion, I believe that what people commonly +call the end of the world, that is, the end of the earth and of mankind +on it, is not at hand at all. As far as I can judge from Scripture, +and from the history of all nations, the earth is yet young, and mankind +in its infancy. Five thousand years hence, our descendants may +be looking back on us as foolish barbarians, in comparison with what +they know: just as we look back upon the ignorance of people a thousand +years ago. And yet I believe that the end of this world, in the +real Scripture sense of the word “world,” is coming very +quickly and very truly—The end of this system of society, of these +present ways in religion, and money-making, and conducting ourselves +in all the affairs of life, which we English people have got into nowadays. +The end of it is coming. It cannot last much longer; for it is +destroying itself. It will not last much longer; for Christ and +not the devil is the King of the earth. As St. Paul said to his +people, so say I to you, “The night is far spent, the day is at +hand.”</p> +<p>These may seem strange words, but almost every one is saying them, +in his own way. One large party among religious people in these +days is complaining that Christ has left His Church, and that the cause +of Christianity will be ruined and lost, unless some great change takes +place. Another large party of religious people say, that the prophecies +are on the point of being all fulfilled that the 1260 days, spoken of +by the prophet Daniel, are just coining to an end; and that Christ is +coming with His saints, to reign openly upon earth for a thousand years. +The wisest philosophers and historians of late years have been all foretelling +a great and tremendous change in England, and throughout all Europe; +and in the meantime, manufacturers and landlords, tradesmen and farmers, +artisans and labourers, all say, that there <i>must</i> be a change +and will be a change. I believe they are all right, every one +of them. They put it in their words; I think it better to put +it in the Scripture words, and say boldly, “Jesus Christ, the +King of the earth, is coming.”</p> +<p>But you will ask, “What right have you to stand up and say +anything so surprising?” My friends, the world is full of +surprising things, and this age above all ages. It was not sixty +years ago, that a nobleman was laughed at in the House of Lords for +saying that he believed that we should one day see ships go by steam; +and now there are steamers on every sea and ocean in the world. +Who expected twenty years ago to see the whole face of England covered +with these wonderful railroads? Who expected on the 22nd of February +last year, that, within a single month, half the nations of Europe, +which looked so quiet and secure, would be shaken from top to bottom +with revolution and bloodshed—kings and princes vanishing one +after the other like a dream—poor men sitting for a day as rulers +of kingdoms, and then hurled down again to make room for other rulers +as unexpected as themselves? Can anyone consider the last fifty +years?—can anyone consider that one last year, 1848, and then +not feel that we do live in a most strange and awful time? a time for +which nothing is too surprising—a time in which we all ought to +be prepared, from the least to the greatest, to see the greatest horrors +and the greatest blessings come suddenly upon us, like a thief in the +night? So much for Christ’s coming being too wonderful a +thing to happen just now. Still you are right to ask: “What +do you mean by Christ’s being our King? what do you mean by His +coming to us? What reason have you for supposing that He is coming +<i>now</i>, rather than at any other time? And if He be coming, +what are we to do? What is there we ought to repent of? what is +there we ought to amend?”</p> +<p>Well, my friends—it is just these very questions which I hope +and trust God will help me to answer to you, in my next few sermons—I +am perfectly convinced that we must get them answered and act upon them +speedily. I am perfectly convinced that if we go on as most of +us are going in England now, the Lord of us all will come in an hour +when we are not aware, and cut us asunder in the deepest and most real +sense, as He came and cut asunder France, Germany, and Austria only +last year, and appoint us our portion with the unbelievers. And +I believe that our punishment will be seven times as severe as that +of either France, Germany, or Austria, because we have had seven times +their privileges and blessings, seven times their Gospel light and Christian +knowledge, seven times their freedom and justice in laws and constitution; +seven times their wealth, and prosperity, and means of employing our +population. Much has been given to England, and of her much will +be required. And if you could only see the state of mankind over +the greatest part of the globe, how infinitely fewer opportunities they +have of knowing God’s will than you have, you would feel that +to you, poor and struggling as some of you are—to you much has +been given, and of you much will be required.</p> +<p>Now first, what do I mean by Christ being our king? I daresay +there are some among you who are inclined to think that, when we talk +of Christ being a king, that the word king means something very different +from its common meaning—and, God knows, that that is true enough. +Our blessed Lord took care to make people understand that—how +He was not like one of the kings of the nations, how His kingdom was +not of this world. But yet the Bible tells us again and again +that all good kings, all real kings, are patterns of Christ; and, therefore, +that when we talk of Christ being a king, we mean that He is a king +in everything that a king ought to be; that He fulfils perfectly all +the duties of a king; that He is the pattern which all kings ought to +copy. Kings have been in all ages too apt to forget that, and, +indeed, so have the people too. We English have forgotten most +thoroughly in these days, that Christ is our king, or even a king at +all. We talk of Christ being a “spiritual” king, and +then we say that that merely means that He is king of Christians’ +hearts. And when anyone asks what that means, it comes out, that +all we mean is, that Christ has a very great influence over the hearts +of believing Christians—when He can obtain it; or else that it +means that He is king of a very small number of people called the elect, +whom He has chosen out, but that He has absolutely nothing to do with +the whole rest of the world. And then, when anyone stands up with +the Bible in his hand, and says, in the plain words of Scripture: “Christ +is not only the king of believers, He is the king of the whole earth; +the king of the clouds and the thunder, the king of the land and the +cattle, and the trees, and the corn, and to whomsoever He will He giveth +them. Christ is not only the king of believers—He is the +king of all—the king of the wicked, of the heathen, of those who +do not believe Him, who never heard of Him. Christ is not only +the king of a few individual persons, one here and one there in every +parish, but He is the king of every nation. He is the king of +England, by the grace of God, just as much as Queen Victoria is, and +ten thousand times more.” If any man talks in this way, +people stare—think him an enthusiast—ask him what new doctrine +this is, and call his words unscriptural, just because they come out +of Scripture and not out of men’s perversions and twistings of +Scripture. Nevertheless Christ is King; really and truly King +of Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will make men know it. What +He was, that He is and ever will be; there is no change in Him; His +kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endureth throughout +all ages, and woe unto those, small or great, who rebel against Him!</p> +<p>But what sort of a king is He? He is a king of law, and order, +and justice. He is not selfish, fanciful, self-willed. He +said himself that He came not to do His own will, but His Father’s. +He is a king of gentleness and meekness too: but do not mistake that. +There is no weak indulgence in Him. A man may be very meek, and +yet stern enough and strong enough. Moses was the meekest of men, +we read, and yet He made those who rebelled against him feel that he +was not to be trifled with. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram found that +to their cost. He would not even spare his own brother Aaron, +his own sister Miriam, when they rebelled. And he was right. +He showed his love by it; indulgence is not love. It is no sign +of meekness, but only of cowardice and carelessness, to be afraid to +rebuke sin. Moses knew that he was doing God’s work, that +he was appointed to make a great nation of those slavish besotted Jews, +his countrymen; that he was sent by God with boundless blessings to +them; and woe to whoever hindered him from that. Because he loved +the Jews, therefore he dared punish those who tempted them to forget +the promised land of Canaan, or break God’s covenant, in which +lay all their hope.</p> +<p>And such a one is our King, my friends; Jesus Christ the Son of God. +Like Moses, says St. Paul, He is faithful in all His office. Therefore +He is severe as well as gentle. He was so when on earth. +With the poor, the outcast, the neglected, those on whom men trampled, +who was gentler than the Lord Jesus? To the proud Pharisee, the +canting Scribe, the cunning Herodian, who was sterner than the Lord +Jesus? Read that awful 23rd chapter of St. Matthew, and then see +how the Saviour, the lamb dumb before His shearers, He of whom it was +said “He shall not strive nor cry, nor shall His voice be heard +in the streets”—how He could speak when He had occasion. +. . . “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” +“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation +of hell?”</p> +<p>My friends, those were the words of our King; of Him in whom was +neither passion nor selfishness; who loved us even to the death, and +endured for us the scourge, the cross, the grave. And believe +me, such are His words now; though we do not hear Him, the heaven and +the earth hear Him and obey Him. His message is pardon, mercy, +deliverance to the sorrowful, and the oppressed, and the neglected; +and to the proud, the tyrannical, the self-righteous, the hypocritical, +tribulation and anguish, shame and woe.</p> +<p>Because He is the Saviour, therefore He is a consuming fire to all +those who try to hinder Him from saving men. Because He is the +Son of God, He will sweep out of His Father’s kingdom all who +offend, and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie. Because He is boundless +mercy and love, therefore He will show no mercy to those who try to +stop His purposes of love. Because He is the King of men, the +enemies of mankind are His enemies; and He will reign till He has put +them all under His feet.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>II—HOLY SCRIPTURE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p>Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our example, +that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have +hope.—ROMANS xv. 4.</p> +<p>“Whatsoever was written aforetime.” There is no +doubt, I think, that by these words St. Paul means the Bible; that is, +the Old Testament, which was the only part of the Bible already written +in his time. For it is of the Psalms which he is speaking. +He mentions a verse out of the 69th Psalm, “The reproaches of +Him that reproached thee fell on me;” which, he says, applies +to Christ just as much as it did to David, who wrote it. Christ, +he says, pleased not Himself any more than David, but suffered willingly +and joyfully for God’s sake, because He knew that He was doing +God’s work. And we, he goes on to say, must do the same; +do as Christ did; we must not please ourselves, but every one of us +please our brother for his good and edification; that is, in order to +build him up, strengthen him, make him wiser, better, more comfortable. +For, he says, Christ pleased not Himself, but like David, lived only +to help others; and therefore this verse out of David’s Psalms, +“The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me,” +is a lesson to us; a pattern of what we ought to feel, and do, and suffer. +“For whatsoever was written aforetime,” all these ancient +psalms and prophets, and histories of men and nations who trusted in +God, “were written for our example, that we, through patience +and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.”</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is true; and the longer you live a life of +faith and godliness, the longer you read and study that precious Book +of books which God has put so freely into your hands in these days, +the more true you will find it. And if it was true of the Old +Testament, written before the Lord came down and dwelt among men, how +much more must it be true of the New Testament, which was written after +His coming by apostles and evangelists, who had far fuller light and +knowledge of the Lord than ever David or the old prophets, even in their +happiest moments, had. Ah, what a treasure you have, every one +of you, in those Bibles of yours, which too many of you read so little! +From the first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelations, it is +all written for our example, all profitable for teaching, for reproof, +for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God +may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works. Ah! friends, +friends, is not this the reason why so many of you do not read your +Bibles, that you do not wish to be furnished for good works?—do +not wish to be men of God, godly and godlike men, but only to be men +of the world, caring only for money and pleasure?—some of you, +alas! not wishing to be men and women at all, but only a sort of brute +beasts with clothes on, given up to filth and folly, like the animals +that perish, or rather worse than the animals, for they could be no +better if they tried, but you might be. Oh! what might you not +be, what are you not already, if you but knew it! Members of Christ, +children of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, heirs of a hope undying, +pure, that will never fade away, having a right given you by the promise +and oath of Almighty God himself, to hope for yourselves, for your neighbours, +for this poor distracted world, for ever and ever; a right to believe +that there is an everlasting day of justice, and peace, and happiness +in store for the whole world, and that you, if you will, may have your +share in that glorious sunrise which shall never set again. You +may have your share in it, each and every one of you; and if you ask +why, go to the Scriptures, and there read the promises of God, the grounds +of your just hope, for all heaven and earth.</p> +<p>First, of hope for yourselves.—I say first for yourselves, +not because a man is right in being selfish, and caring only for his +own soul, but because a man must care for his own soul first, if he +ever intends to care for others; a man must have hope for himself first, +if he is to have hope for others. He may stop there, and turn +his religion into a selfish superstition, and spend his life in asking +all day long, “Shall I be saved, shall I be damned?” or +worse still, in chuckling over his own good fortune, and saying to himself, +“I shall be saved, whoever else is damned;” but whether +he ends there or not, he must begin there; begin by trying to get himself +saved. For if he does not know what is right and good for himself, +how can he tell what is right and good for others? If he wishes +to bring his neighbours out of their sins, he must surely first have +been brought out of his own sins, and so know what forgiveness and sanctification +means. If he wishes to make others at peace with God, he must +first be at peace with God himself, to know what God’s peace is. +If he wants to teach others their duty, he must first know his own duty, +for all men’s duty is one and the same. If he wishes to +have hope for the world, he must first have hope for himself, for he +is in the world, a part of it, and he must learn what blessings God +intends for him, and they will teach him what blessings God has in store +for the earth. Faith and hope, like charity, must begin at home. +By learning the corruption of our own hearts, we learn the corruption +of human nature. By learning what is the only medicine which can +cure our own sick hearts, we learn what is the only medicine which can +cure human nature. We learn by our own experience, that God is +all-forgiving love; that His peace shines bright upon the soul which +casts itself utterly on Jesus Christ the Lord for pardon, strength, +and safety; that God’s Spirit is ready and able to raise us out +of all our sin, and sottishness, and weakness, and wilfulness, and selfishness, +and renew us into quite new men, different characters from what we used +to be; and so, by having hope for ourselves, we learn step by step and +year by year to have hope for our friends, for our neighbours, and for +the whole world.</p> +<p>For that is another great lesson which the Bible teaches us—hope +for the world. Men say to us, “This world has always gone +on ill, and will always go on so. Tyrants and knaves and hypocrites +have always had the power in it; idlers have always had the enjoyment +of it; while the humble, and industrious, and godly, who would not foul +their hands with the wicked ways of the world, have been always laughed +at, neglected, oppressed, persecuted. The world,” they say, +“is very bad, and we cannot live in it without giving way a little +to its badness, and going the old road.”</p> +<p>But he who, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, has hope, +can answer “Yes—and yet no.” “Yes—we +agree that the world has gone on badly enough: perhaps we think the +world worse than it thinks itself; for God’s Spirit has taught +us to see sin, and shame, and ruin, in many a thing which the world +thinks right and reasonable. And yet,” says the true Christian +man, “although we think the world worse than anyone else thinks +it, and are more unhappy than anyone else about all the sin, and injustice, +and misery we see in it, we have the very strongest faith—we are +perfectly certain—we are as sure as if we saw it coming to pass +here before us, that the world will come right at last. For the +Bible tells us that the Son of God is the king of the world; that He +has been the master and ruler of it from the beginning. He, the +Bible tells us, condescended to come down on earth and be born in the +likeness of a poor man, and die on the cross for this poor world of +His, that He might take away the sins of it.” “Behold +the Lamb of God,” said John the Baptist, “who takes away +the sin of the world.” How dare we, who call ourselves Christians, +we who have been baptized into His name, we who have tasted of His mercy, +we who know the might of His love, the converting and renewing power +of His Spirit—how dare we doubt but that He <i>will</i> take away +the sins of the world? Ay; step by step, nation by nation, year +by year, the Lord shall conquer; love, and justice, and wisdom shall +spread and grow; for He must reign till He has put all enemies under +His feet. He has promised to take away the sins of the world, +and He is God, and cannot lie. There is the Christian’s +hope: let him leave infidels to say “The world always was bad, +and it must remain so to the end;” the Christian ought to be able +to answer, “The world was bad, and is bad; but for that very reason +it will <i>not</i> remain so to the end: for the Lord and king of the +earth is boundless love, justice, goodness itself, and He will thoroughly +purge His floor, and cast out of His kingdom all things that offend, +and make in His good time the kingdoms of this world, the kingdoms of +God and of His Christ.”</p> +<p>“Ah but,” someone may say, “that, if it ever happens +at all, will not happen till we are dead, and what part or lot shall +<i>we</i> have in it? we who die in the midst of all this sin, and injustice, +and distress?” There again the Bible gives us hope: “I +believe,” says the Creed, “in the resurrection of the flesh.” +The Bible teaches us to believe, that we, each of us, as human beings, +men and women, shall have a share in that glorious day; not merely as +ghosts, and disembodied spirits—of which the Bible, thanks be +to God, says little or nothing, but as real live human beings, with +new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new heaven. “Therefore,” +says David, “my flesh shall rest in hope;” not merely my +soul, my ghost, but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died, +but rose again with His body, shall raise our bodies, according to the +mighty working by which He subdues all things to Himself; and then the +whole manhood of each of us, body, soul, and spirit, shall have one +perfect consummation and bliss, in His eternal and everlasting glory.—That +is our hope. If that is not a gospel, and good news from heaven +to poor distressed creatures in hovels, and on sick beds, to people +racked with life-long pain and disease, to people in crowded cities, +who never from week’s end to week’s end look on the green +fields and bright sky—if that is not good news, and a dayspring +of boundless hope from on high for them, what news can be?</p> +<p>But how are we to get this hope? The text tells us; through +comfort of the Scriptures; through the strengthening and comforting +promises, and examples, and rules of God’s gracious dealings which +we find therein. Through comfort of the Scriptures, but also through +patience. Ah, my friends, of that too we must think; we must, +as St. James says, “let patience have her perfect work,” +or else we shall not be perfect ourselves. If we are hasty, self-conceited, +covetous, ready to help ourselves by the first means that come to hand; +if we are full of hard judgments about our neighbours, and doubts about +God’s good purpose toward the world; in short, if we are not <i>patient</i>, +the Bible will teach us little or nothing. It may make us superstitious, +bigoted, fanatical, conceited, pharisaical, but like Jesus Christ the +Lord it will not make us, unless we have patience.</p> +<p>And where are we to get patience? God knows it is hard in such +a world as this for poor creatures to be patient always. But faith +can breed patience, though patience cannot breed itself;—and faith +in whom? Faith in our Father in heaven, even in the Almighty God +Himself. He calls Himself “the God of Patience and Consolation.” +Pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will make you patient; pray for His +Holy Spirit, and He will console and comfort you. He has promised +That Spirit of His, The Spirit of love, trust, and patience—The +Comforter—to as many as ask Him. Ask Him now, this day—come +to His holy table this day, and ask Him to make you patient; ask Him +to take all the hastiness, and pride, and ill-temper, and self-will, +and greediness out of you, and to change your wills into the likeness +of His will. Then your eyes will be opened to understand His law. +Then you will see in the Scriptures a sure promise of hope and glory +and redemption for yourself and all the world. Then you will see +in the blessed sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood, a sure +sign and warrant, handed down from land to land, and age to age, from +year to year, and from father to son, that these promises shall come +true; that hope shall become fact; that not one of the Lord’s +words shall fail, or pass away, till all be fulfilled.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>III—THE KINGDOM OF GOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me +to preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, +to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to +them that are bound.—ISAIAH lxi. 1.</p> +<p>My friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good +from this sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not +that I have to complain of you in general for not attending to me. +I thank God, and thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this +pulpit. But there are many people who have a bad trick of minding +the preacher carefully enough for a minute or two, and then letting +their wits wander, and think about something else; and then if any word +in the sermon strikes them, waking up suddenly, and thinking again for +a little, and then letting their thoughts run wild again; and so on. +Whereby it happens that they only recollect a few scraps of the sermon, +a word here, and a sentence there, and get into their heads all sorts +of mistakes and false notions about the preacher’s meaning.</p> +<p>That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that +is only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and +women should listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, +will they be able to judge of the message which the preacher brings +them. Listen to me, therefore, all through this sermon, and may +God give you grace to understand it and lay it to heart, for it is the +good news of the kingdom of God.</p> +<p>You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord +Jesus Christ’s words would never pass away; that His prophecies +are continually coming true, and being fulfilled over and over again. +Now this text is not one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy about +Him; one which He fulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling again +and again. He is fulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever, +now in these very days.</p> +<p>If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this +prophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first, that +Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, “That the Spirit +of the Lord was upon <i>him</i>”—Isaiah—“because +the Lord had appointed <i>him</i> to preach good tidings to the meek, +to bind up the broken-hearted, and deliverance to the captives, to preach +the acceptable year of the Lord.” Isaiah must have spoken +truly about himself. He could not have meant to tell a falsehood, +to say a thing was true of himself which was only true of Jesus, who +did not come till 800 years afterwards. And he did speak the truth: +you cannot read his prophecies without seeing that the Spirit of the +Lord was indeed upon him; that the words which he spoke must have comforted +all those who were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the nation +in their time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came true; +that the Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of Judæa +to Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah prophesied, +and the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and prosperity, +and happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800 years +afterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and said, +that <i>He</i> fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish +synagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the +congregation, “This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” +And again, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the Baptist +sent to ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of another +prophecy of Isaiah, and told John’s disciples that He <i>was</i> +the Christ, because He was fulfilling that prophecy; because He <i>was</i> +making the deaf hear, and the blind see, and preaching the gospel to +the poor. Now, how is that? Could Isaiah be right in applying +those words to himself, and yet Christ be right in applying them to +Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice over?</p> +<p>No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No +prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. +That is, it does not apply to any one private, particular thing that +is to happen. Every prophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself +more and more, as time rolls on and the world grows older. St. +Peter tells us the reason why. No prophecy of Scripture is of +private interpretation; because it does not come from the will of man, +from any invention or discovery of poor short-sighted human beings, +who can only judge by what they see around them in their own times: +but holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. +And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the everlasting +Spirit; the Spirit who cannot change, for He <i>is</i> God. The +Spirit who searcheth the deep things of God, and teaches them to men. +And what are the deep things of God? They are eternal as God is. +Eternal laws; everlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the +meaning of it all. The Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches +men the laws of God; the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which +He governs all heaven and earth, and men, and nations; the laws which +come into force, not once only, but always; the laws of God which are +working round us now, just as much as they were eighteen hundred years +ago, just as much as they were in Isaiah’s time. Therefore +it is, that I said that these old Jewish prophecies, which were inspired +by the Holy Spirit, are coming true now, and will keep on coming true, +time after time, in their proper place and order, and whensoever the +times are fit for them, even to the end of the world.</p> +<p>But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of +Christ, and shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ? +They must be eternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is unchangeable—Jesus +Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is over all, +God blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in heaven and +earth. He reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is +less a Saviour now, than He was when He spoke those things to John’s +disciples? Do you think He is less able to hear and to help than +He was in John’s time? Do you think He used to care about +people’s bodies then, but that He only cares about their souls +now? Do you think that He is less compassionate, and less merciful, +as well as less powerful, than He was when He made the blind see, and +the lame walk, and the deaf hear, in Judæa of old?</p> +<p>Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected +that Christ was <i>more</i> powerful, <i>more</i> compassionate, if +that were possible. At least one would expect that His power and +compassion would show itself more and more, and make itself felt more +and more, year by year, and age by age; more and more healing disease; +more and more comforting sorrow; more and still more casting out cunning +and evil spirits, till He had put all under His feet. He Himself +said it should be so. He always spoke of His own kingdom as a +thing which was to grow and increase by laws of its own, men knew not +how, but He knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His kingdom +was, He said, at first the smallest of all seeds; but it was to grow, +and take root, and spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the very +birds in the air lodged in the branches of it; and David’s words +should be fulfilled, “Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast.” +And does not St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom +which should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies +under His feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the +earth on which we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. +Paul says, the whole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to +be raised into a higher state. And it shall be raised. The +whole creation shall be set free into the glorious liberty of the children +of God.</p> +<p>What does that mean? How can I tell you?</p> +<p>This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was merciful +enough to heal people’s bodies at first, but that He has given +up doing it now, and will never do it again. “Well, but,” +some would say, “what does all this come to? You are merely +telling us what we knew before—that if any of us are cured from +disease, or raised up from a sick bed, it is all the Lord’s doing.” +If you do believe that, really, my friends, happy are you! Many +of you, I think, do believe it. The poor are more inclined to +believe it, I think, than the rich. But even in the mouths of +the poor one often hears words which make one suspect that they do <i>not</i> +believe it. I am very much afraid that a great many have got into +the trick of saying that it was God’s mercy that they were cured, +and that it pleased the Lord to raise them up from a sick bed, very +much as a piece of cant. They say the words by rote, because they +have been accustomed to hear them said by others, without thinking of +the meaning of them; just as, on the other hand, a great many people +curse and swear without thinking of the awful oaths they use. +Ay, and often enough the very same persons will say that it was the +Lord’s mercy they were cured of their sickness; and then, if they +get into a passion, pray the very same Lord to do that to the bodies +and souls of their neighbours which it is a shame to speak of here. +Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings: showing that whether +or not they are in earnest in cursing, they are not earnest in blessing.</p> +<p>Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ +who cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got +well, more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. +They would show forth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but +in their lives. You who believe—you who say—that Christ +has cured your sicknesses, show your faith by your works. Live +like those who are alive again from the dead; who are not your own, +but bought with a price, and bound to work for God with your bodies +and your spirits, which are His—then, and then only, can either +God or man believe you.</p> +<p>Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people +do not mean what they say about this matter. I think too many +say, “It has pleased God,” merely as an empty form of words, +when all they mean is, “What must be, must, and it cannot be helped.” +Else, why do they say, “It has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?” +What is the use of saying, “It has pleased the Lord to cure me,” +when you say in the same breath, “It has pleased the Lord to make +me ill?” I know you will say that, “Of course, whatever +happens must be the Lord’s will; if it did not please Him it would +not happen.” I do not care for such words; I will have nothing +to do with them. I will neither entangle you nor myself in those +endless disputings and questions about freewill and necessity, which +never yet have come to any conclusion, and never will, because they +are too deep for poor short-sighted human beings like us. “To +the law and to the testimony,” say I. I will hold to the +words of the Bible; what it says, I will say; what it does not say I +will not say, to please any man’s system of doctrines. And +I say from the Bible that we have no more right to say, “It has +pleased the Lord to make me sick,” than, “It has pleased +the Lord to make me a sinner.” Scripture everywhere speaks +of sickness as a real evil and a curse—a breaking of the health, +and order, and strength, and harmony of God’s creation. +It speaks of madmen as possessed with evil spirits; did <i>that</i> +please God? The woman who was bowed with a spirit of infirmity, +and could not lift herself up—did our Lord say that it had pleased +God to make her a wretched cripple? No; he spoke of her as this +daughter of Israel, whom Satan had bound, and not God, this eighteen +years; and that was His reason for healing her, even on the sabbath-day, +because her disease was not the work of God, but of the cruel, disordering, +destroying evil spirit which is at enmity with God. That was why +Christ cured her. And <i>that</i>—for this is the point +I have been coming to, step by step—that was the reason why, when +John the Baptist sent to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: +“Go and show John again those things which ye do see and hear: +the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, +and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel +preached to them.”</p> +<p>Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant +merely: “Tell John what wonderful miracles I am working.” +If He had meant that why would He have put in as the last proof that +He was the Christ, that He was preaching the gospel to the poor? +What wonderful miracle was there in <i>that</i>? No: it was as +if He had said: “Go and tell John that I am the Christ, because +I am the great physician, the healer and deliverer of body and soul: +one who will and can cure the loathsome diseases, the uselessness, the +misery, the ignorance of the poorest and meanest.” He has +proved Himself the Christ by showing not only His boundless power, but +His boundless love and mercy; and <i>that</i>, not only to men’s +souls, but to their bodies also. To prove Himself the Christ by +wonderful and astonishing miracles was exactly what He would not do. +He refused, when the Scribes and Pharisees came and asked of Him a sign +from heaven to prove that He was Christ—wanting Him, I suppose, +to bring some apparition, or fiery comet, or great voice out of the +sky, to astonish them with His power; He told them peremptorily that +He would give them no such thing: and yet He said that His mighty works +did prove Him to be Christ; He pronounced woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida +for not believing Him on account of His mighty works: He told the Scribes +and Pharisees that they ought to believe on Him merely for His works’ +sake. And why would they not believe on Him? Just because +they could not see that God’s power was shown more in healing +and delivering sufferers, than in astonishing and destroying. +They could not see that God’s perfect likeness shone out in Christ—that +He was the express image of the Father, just because He went about doing +good, and healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner of infirmities +among the people. But so it is, my friends! Jesus is the +Saviour, the deliverer, the great physician, the healer of soul and +body. Not a pang is felt or a tear shed on earth, but He sorrows +over it. Not a human being on earth dies young, but He, as I believe, +sorrows over it. What it is which prevents Him healing every sickness, +soothing every sorrow, wiping away every tear <i>now</i>, we cannot +tell. But this we can tell, that it is His will that none should +perish. This we <i>can</i> tell; that He is willing as ever to +heal the sick, to cleanse the leper, to cast out devils, to teach the +ignorant, to bind up the broken-hearted. This we <i>can</i> tell; +that He will go on doing so more and more, year by year, and age by +age. This we <i>can</i> tell, from Scripture, that Christ is stronger +than the devil. This we can tell; that Christ, and all good men, +the spirits of just men made perfect, the wise and the great in God’s +sight, who have left us their books, their sayings, their writings, +as precious health-giving heirlooms—have been fighting, and are +fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil, and sin, and +oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which spoils and +darkens the face of God’s good earth. And this we <i>can</i> +tell; that they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger +than the devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than darkness; +God’s Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is stronger +than all the evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness, and cruelty, +and superstition, which makes miserable the lives and, as far as we +can see, destroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say, Christ’s +kingdom is a kingdom of health and deliverance for body and soul; and +it will conquer, and it will spread, and it will grow, till the nations +of the world have become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. +Christ reigns, and Christ will reign till He has put all His enemies +under His feet; and the last of His enemies which shall be destroyed +is <i>Death</i>. Death is His enemy. He has conquered death +by rising from the dead. And the day will come when death will +be no more—when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and God +shall wipe away tears from all eyes. I say it again—never +forget it—Christ is King, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, +and life, and deliverance from all evil. It always has been so, +from the first time our Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be +so to the end of the world. And, therefore—to come back +to the very place from which I started at the beginning of my sermon—therefore, +whenever one of the days of the Lord is at hand, whenever God’s +kingdom makes a great step forward, this same prophecy in our text is +fulfilled in some striking and wonderful way. And I say it is +fulfilled now in these days more than it ever has been. Christ +is healing the sick, cleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, +raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor, seven times +more in these days in which we live than He did when He walked upon +earth in Judæa.</p> +<p>Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure +of all diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, +how many more diseases are cured now than were formerly. One may +say that the knowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old. +Nothing, my friends, makes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and +blessed time we live in, and how Christ is showing forth mighty works +among us, than this same sudden miraculous improvement in the art of +healing, which has taken place within the memory of man. Any country +doctor now knows more, thank God, or ought to know, than the greatest +London physicians did two generations ago. New cures for deafness, +blindness, lameness, every disease that flesh is heir to, are being +discovered year by year. Oh, my friends! you little know what +Christ is doing among you, for your bodies as well as for your souls. +There is not a parish in England now in which the poorest as well as +the richest are not cured yearly of diseases, which, if they had lived +a hundred years ago, would have killed them without hope or help. +And then, when one looks at these great and blessed plans for what is +called sanitary reform, at the sickness and the misery which has been +done away with already by attending to them, even though they have only +just begun to be put in practice—our hearts must be hard indeed +if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of healing +far more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first apostles.</p> +<p>But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days. +Oh, my friends! which shows Christ’s mercy most, to raise those +who are already dead, or to save those alive who are about to die? +Those in this church who have read history know as well as I, how in +our forefathers’ time people died in England by thousands of diseases +which are scarcely ever deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now actually +vanished out of the land, before the new light of medicine and of civilisation +which Christ has revealed to us in these days. For one child who +lived and grew up in old times, two live and grow up now. In London +alone there are not half as many deaths in proportion to the number +of people as there were a hundred years ago. And is not that a +mightier work of Christ’s power and love than if He had raised +a few dead persons to life?</p> +<p>And now for the last part of our Lord’s witness about Himself. +To the poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not <i>that</i> +coming true in our days as it never came true before? Look back +only fifty years, and consider the difference between the doctrines +which were preached to the poor and the doctrines which are preached +to them now. Look round you and see how everywhere earnest and +godly ministers have sprung up, of all sects and opinions, as well as +of the Church of England, not only to preach the gospel in the pulpit, +but to carry it to the sick bedside of the lonely cottage, to the prison, +and to those fearful sties, worse than prisons, where in our great cities +the heathen poor live crowded together. Look at the teaching which +the poor man can get now, compared to what he used to—the sermons, +the Bibles, the tracts, the lending libraries, the schools—just +consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds which are subscribed every +year to educate the children of the poor, and then say whether Christ +is not working a mighty work among us in these days. I know that +not half as much is done as ought to be done in that way; not half as +much as will be done; and what is done will have to be done better than +it has been done yet; but still, can anyone in this church who is fifty +years old deny that there is a most enormous and blessed improvement +which is growing and spreading every year? Can anyone deny that +the gospel is preached to the poor now in a way that it never was before +within the memory of man?</p> +<p>Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon—a sermon which +proclaims to you that Christ is <i>come</i>; yes, He is come—come +never to leave mankind again! Christ reigns over the earth, and +will reign for ever. At certain great and important times in the +world’s history, like this present time, times which He Himself +calls “days of the Lord,” He shows forth His power, and +the mightiness and mercy of His kingdom, more than at others. +But still He is always with us; we have no need to run up and down to +look for Christ: to say, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring Him down? +Who shall descend into the deep to bring Him up? For the kingdom +of God, as He told us Himself, is among us, and within us. Yes, +within us. All these wonderful improvements and discoveries, all +things beneficial to men which are found out year by year, though they +seem to be of men’s invention, are really of Christ’s revealing, +the fruits of the kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who +is teaching men, though they too often will not believe it; though they +disclaim God’s Spirit and take all the glory to themselves. +Truly Christ is among us; and our eyes are held, and we see Him not. +That is our English sin—the sin of unbelief, the root of every +other sin. Christ works among us, and we will not own Him. +Truly, Jesus Christ may well say of us English at this day, There were +ten cleansed, but where are the nine? How few are there, who return +to give glory to God! Oh, consider what I say; the kingdom of +God is among us now; its blessings are growing richer, fuller among +us every day. Beware, lest if we refuse to acknowledge that kingdom +and Christ the King of it, it be taken away from us, and given to some +other nation, who will bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and +brotherly kindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit +of God.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>IV—A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p>Rejoice in the Lord always.—PHILIPPIANS iv. 4.</p> +<p>This is the beginning of the Epistle for to-day, the Sunday before +Christmas. We will try to find out why it was chosen for to-day, +and what lesson we may learn from it.</p> +<p>Now Christmas-time was always a time of rejoicing among many heathen +nations, and long before the Lord Jesus Christ came. That was +natural and reasonable enough, if you will consider it. For now +the shortest day is past. The sun is just beginning to climb higher +and higher in the sky each day, and bring back with him longer sunshine, +and shorter darkness, and spring flowers, and summer crops, and a whole +new year, with new hopes, new work, new lessons, new blessings. +The old year, with all its labours and all its pleasures, and all its +sorrows and all its sins, is dying, all but gone. It lies behind +us, never to return. The tears which we shed, we never can shed +again. The mistakes we made, we have a chance of mending in the +year to come. And so the heathens felt, and rejoiced that another +year was dying, another year going to be born.</p> +<p>And Christmas was a time of rejoicing too, because the farming work +was done. The last year’s crop was housed; the next year’s +wheat was sown; the cattle were safe in yard and stall; and men had +time to rest, and draw round the fire in the long winter nights, and +make merry over the earnings of the past year, and the hopes and plans +of the year to come. And so over all this northern half of the +world Christmas was a merry time.</p> +<p>But the poor heathens did not know the Lord. They did not know +who to thank for all their Christmas blessings. And so some used +to thank the earth for the crops, and the sun for coming back again +to lengthen the days, as if the earth and sun moved of themselves. +And some used to thank false gods and ancient heroes, who, perhaps, +never really lived at all. And some, perhaps the greater number, +thanked nothing and no one, but just enjoyed themselves, and took no +thought, as too many do now at Christmas-time. So the world went +on, Christmas after Christmas; and the times of that ignorance, as St. +Paul says, God winked at. But when the fulness of time was come, +He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to be the judge and ruler of +the world; and commanded all men everywhere to repent, and turn from +all their vanities to serve the living God, who had made heaven and +earth, and all things in them.</p> +<p>He did not wish them to give up their Christmas mirth. No: +all along He had been trying to teach them by it about His love to them. +As St. Paul told them once, God had not left Himself without witness, +in that He gave them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts +with joy and gladness.</p> +<p>God did not wish them, or us, to give up Christmas mirth. The +apostles did not wish it. The great men, true followers of the +apostles, who shaped our Prayer-book for us, and sealed it with their +life-blood, did not wish it. They did not wish farmers, labourers, +servants, masters, to give up one of the old Christmas customs; but +to remember who made Christmas, and its blessings; in short, to rejoice +in The Lord. Our forefathers had been thanking the wrong persons +for Christmas. Henceforward we were to thank the right person, +The Lord, and rejoice in Him. Our forefathers had been rejoicing +in the sun, and moon, and earth; in wise and valiant kings who had lived +ages before; in their own strength, and industry, and cunning. +Now they were to rejoice in Him who made sun, and moon, and earth; in +Him who sent wise and valiant kings and leaders; in Him who gives all +strength, and industry, and cunning; by whose inspiration comes all +knowledge of agriculture, and manufacture, and all the arts which raise +men above the beasts that perish. So their Christmas joys were +to go on, year by year while the world lasted: but they were to go on +rightly, and not wrongly. Men were to rejoice in The Lord, and +then His blessing would be on them, and the thanks and praise which +they offered Him, He would return with interest, in fresh blessings +for the coming year.</p> +<p>Therefore, I think, this Epistle was chosen for to-day, the Sunday +before Christmas, to show us in whom we are to rejoice; and, therefore, +to show us how we are to rejoice. For we must not take the first +verse of the Epistle and forget the rest. That would neither be +wise nor reverent toward St. Paul, who wrote the whole, and meant the +whole to stand together as one discourse; or to the blessed and holy +men who chose it for our lesson on this day. Let us go on, then, +with the Epistle, line by line, throughout.</p> +<p>“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” +As much as to say, you cannot rejoice too much, you cannot overdo your +happiness, thankfulness, merriment. You do not know half—no, +not the thousandth part of God’s love and mercy to you, and you +never will know. So do not be afraid of being too happy, or think +that you honour God by wearing a sour face, when He is heaping blessings +on you, and calling on you to smile and sing. But “let your +moderation be known unto all men.” There is a right and +a wrong way of being merry. There is a mirth, which is no mirth; +whereof it is written, in the midst of that laughter there is a heaviness, +and the end thereof is death. Drunkenness, gluttony, indecent +words and jests and actions, these are out of place on Christmas-day, +and in the merriment to which the pure and holy Lord Jesus calls you +all. They are rejoicing in the flesh and the devil, and not in +the Lord at all; and whosoever indulges in them, and fancies them merriment, +is keeping the devil’s Christmas, and not Jesus Christ’s. +So let your moderation be known to all men. Be <i>merry and wise</i>. +The fool lets his mirth master him, and carry him away, till he forgets +himself, and says and does things of which he is ashamed when he gets +up next morning, sick and sad at heart. The wise man remembers +that, let the occasion be as joyful a one as it may, “the Lord +is at hand.” Christ’s eye is on him, while he is eating, +and drinking, and laughing. He is not afraid of Christ’s +eye, because, though it is Divine it is a human, loving, smiling eye; +rejoicing in the happiness of His poor, hard-worked brothers here below. +But he remembers that it is a holy eye, too; an eye which looks with +sadness and horror on anything which is wrong; on all drunkenness, quarrelling, +indecency; and so on in all his merriment, he is still master of himself. +He remembers that his soul is nobler than his body; that his will must +be stronger than his appetite; and so he keeps himself in check; he +keeps his tongue from evil, and his stomach from sottishness, and though +he may be, and ought to be, the merriest of the whole party, yet he +takes care to let his moderation, his sobriety, be known and plain to +everyone, remembering that the Lord is at hand.</p> +<p>And that man—I will stand surety for him—will be the +one who will rise from his bed next morning, best able to carry out +the next verse of the Epistle, and “be careful for nothing.”</p> +<p>Now that is no easy matter here in England; to rich and poor, Christmas +is the time for settling accounts and paying debts. And therefore +in England, where living is dear, and everyone, more or less, struggling +to pay his way, Christmas is often a very anxious, disturbing time of +year. Many a family, for all their economy, cannot clear themselves +at the year’s end; and though they are able to forget that now +and then, thank God, through great part of the year, yet they cannot +forget it at Christmas. But, as I said, the man who at Christmas-time +will be most able to be careful for nothing, will be the man whose moderation +has been known to everyone; for he will, if he has lived the year through +in the same temper in which he has spent Christmas, have been moderate +in his expenses; he will have kept himself from empty show, and pretending +to be richer than he is. He will have kept himself from throwing +away his money in drink, and kept his daughters from throwing away money +in dress, which is just what too many, in their foolish, godless, indecent +hurry to get rid of their own children off their hands do not do.</p> +<p>And he will be the man who will be in the best humour, and have the +clearest brain, to kneel down when he gets up to his daily work, and +“in everything, by prayer and supplication, make his requests +known to God.” And then, whether he can make both ends meet +or not, whether he can begin next year free from debt or not, still +“the peace of God will keep his heart.” He may be +unable to clear himself, but still he will know that he has a loving +and merciful Father in heaven, who has allowed distress and difficulty +to come on him only as a lesson and an education. That this distress +came because God chose, and that when God chooses it will go away—and +that till then—considering that the Lord God sent it—it +had better <i>not</i> go away. He will believe that God’s +gracious promises stand true—that the Lord will never let those +who trust in Him be confounded and brought to shame—that He will +let none of us be tempted beyond what we are able, but will always with +the temptation make a way for us to escape, that we may be able to bear +it. And so the peace of God which passes understanding, will keep +that man’s mind. And in whom? “In Jesus Christ.” +Now what did St. Paul mean by putting in the Lord Jesus Christ’s +name there? what is the meaning of “in Jesus Christ”? +This is what it means; it means what Christmas-day means. A man +may say, “Your sermon promises fine things, but I am miserable +and poor; it promises a holy and noble rejoicing to everyone, but I +am unholy and mean. It promises peace from God, and I am sure +I am not at peace: I am always fretting and quarrelling; I quarrel with +my wife, my children, and my neighbours, and they quarrel with me; and +worst of all,” says the poor man, “I quarrel with myself. +I am full of discontented, angry, sulky, anxious, unhappy thoughts; +my heart is dark and sad and restless within me—would God I were +peaceful, but I am not: look in my face and see!”</p> +<p>True, my friend, but on Christmas-day the Son of God was born into +the world, a man like you.</p> +<p>“Well,” says the poor man, “but what has that to +do with my anxiety and my ill-temper?”</p> +<p>It would take the whole year through, my friend, to show you all +that it has to do with you and your unhappiness. All the Lessons, +Epistles, and Gospels of the year are set out to show you what it has +to do with you. But in the meanwhile, before Christmas-day comes, +consider this one thing: Why are you anxious? Because you do not +know what is to happen to you? Then Christmas-day is a witness +to you, that whatsoever happens to you, happens to you by the will and +rule of Jesus Christ, The perfect man; think of that. <i>The perfect +man</i>—who understands men’s hearts and wants, and all +that is good for them, and has all the wisdom and power to give us what +is good, which we want ourselves. And what makes you unhappy, +my friends? Is it not at heart just this one thing—you are +unhappy because you are not pleased with yourselves? And you are +not pleased with yourselves because you know you ought not to be pleased +with yourselves; and you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves, +because you know, in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased +with you? What cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we find?—This.</p> +<p>The child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew up +in poverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through all shame +and sorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the poor child of +Bethlehem, is Lord and King of heaven and earth. He will feel +for us; He will understand our temptations; He has been poor himself, +that He might feel for the poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He +might feel for those whose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the +sins and felt the miseries of the whole world, that He might feel for +us when we are wearied with the burden of life, and confounded by the +remembrance of our own sins.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on Christmas-day; +and that thought alone will be enough to fill you with rejoicing and +hope for yourselves and all the world, and with the peace of God which +passes understanding, the peace which the angels proclaimed to the shepherds +on the first Christmas night—“On earth peace, and good will +toward men”—and if God wills us good, my friend; what matter +who wishes us evil?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>V—CHRISTMAS-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a +slave.—PHILIPPIANS ii. 7.</p> +<p>On Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, if we had been at Rome, the great +capital city, and mistress of the whole world, we should have seen a +strange sight—strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts +of law were shut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no criminals +punished. The sorrow and the strife of that great city had stopped, +in great part, for three days, and all people were giving themselves +up to merriment and good cheer—making up quarrels, and giving +and receiving presents from house to house. And we should have +seen, too, a pleasanter sight than that. For those three days +of Christmas-time were days of safety and merriment for the poor slaves—tens +of thousands of whom—men, women, and children—the Romans +had brought out of all the countries in the world—many of our +forefathers and mothers among them—and kept them there in cruel +bondage and shame, worked and fed, bought and sold, like beasts, and +not like human beings, not able to call their lives or their bodies +their own, forced to endure any shame or sin which their tyrants required +of them, and liable any moment to be beaten, tortured, or crucified +at the mercy of cruel and foul masters and mistresses. But on +that Christmas-day, according to an old custom, they were allowed for +once in the whole year to play at being free, to dress in their masters’ +and mistresses’ clothes, to say what they thought of them boldly, +without fear of punishment, and to eat and drink at their masters’ +tables, while their masters and mistresses waited on them. It +was an old custom, that, among the heathen Romans, which their forefathers, +who were wiser and better than they, had handed down to them. +They had forgotten, perhaps, what it meant: but still we may see what +it must have meant: That the old forefathers of the Romans had intended +to remind their children every year by that custom, that their poor +hard-worked slaves were, after all, men and women as much as their masters; +that they had hearts and consciences, and sense in them, and a right +to speak what they thought, as much as their masters; that they, as +much as their masters, could enjoy the good things of God’s earth, +from which man’s tyranny had shut them out; and to remind those +cruel masters, by making them once every year wait on their own slaves +at table, that they were, after all, equal in the sight of God, and +that it was more noble for those who were rich, and called themselves +gentlemen, to help others, than to make others slave for them.</p> +<p>I do not mean, of course, that those old heathens understood all +this clearly. You will see, by the latter part of my sermon, why +they could not understand it clearly. But there must have been +some sort of dim, confused suspicion in their minds that it was wrong +and cruel to treat human beings like brute beasts, which made them set +up that strange old custom of letting their slaves play at being free +once every Christmas-tide.</p> +<p>But if on this same day, 1851 years ago, instead of being in the +great city of Rome, we had been in the little village of Bethlehem in +Judæa, we might have seen a sight stranger still; a sight which +we could not have fancied had anything to do with that merrymaking of +the slaves at Rome, and yet which had everything to do with it.</p> +<p>We should have seen, in a mean stable, among the oxen and the asses, +a poor maiden, with her newborn baby laid in the manger, for want of +any better cradle, and by her her husband, a poor carpenter, whom all +men thought to be the father of her child. . . . There, in the +stable, amid the straw, through the cold winter days and nights, in +want of many a comfort which the poorest woman, and the poorest woman’s +child would need, they stayed there, that young maiden and her newborn +babe. That young maiden was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that +poor baby was the Son of God. The Son of God, in whose likeness +all men were made at the beginning; the Son of God, who had been ruling +the whole world all along; who brought the Jews out of slavery, a thousand +years before, and destroyed their cruel tyrants in the Red Sea; the +Son of God, who had been all along punishing cruel tyrants and oppressors, +and helping the poor out of misery, whenever they called on Him. +The Light which lightens every man who comes into the world, was that +poor babe. It was He who gives men reason, and conscience, and +a tender heart, and delight in what is good, and shame and uneasiness +of mind when they do wrong. It was He who had been stirring up, +year by year, in those cruel Romans’ hearts, the feeling that +there was something wrong in grinding down their slaves, and put into +their minds the notion of giving them their Christmas rest and freedom. +He had been keeping up that good old custom for a witness and a warning +that all men were equal in His sight; that all men had a right to liberty +of speech and conscience; a right to some fair share in the good things +of the earth, which God had given to all men freely to enjoy. +But those old Romans would not take the warning. They kept up +the custom, but they shut their eyes to the lesson of it. They +went on conquering and oppressing all the nations of the earth, and +making them their slaves. And now He was come—He Himself, +the true Lord of the earth, the true pattern of men. He was come +to show men to whom this world belonged: He was come to show men in +what true power, true nobleness consisted—not in making others +minister to us, but in ministering to them: He was come to set a pattern +of what a man should be; He was the Son of Man—THE MAN of all +men—and therefore He had come with good news to all poor slaves, +and neglected, hard-worked creatures: He had come to tell them that +He cared for them; that He could and would deliver them; that they were +God’s children, and His brothers, just as much as their Roman +masters; and that He was going to bring a terrible time upon the earth—“days +of the Son of Man,” when He would judge all men, and show who +were true men and who were not—such a time as had never been before, +or would be again; when that great Roman empire, in spite of all its +armies, and its cunning, and its riches, plundered from every nation +under heaven, would crumble away and perish shamefully and miserably +off the face of the earth, before tribes of poor, untaught, savage men, +the brothers and countrymen of those very slaves whom the Romans fancied +were so much below them, that they had a right to treat them like the +beasts which perish.</p> +<p>That was the message which that little child lying in the manger +there at Bethlehem, had been sent out from God to preach. Do you +not see now what it had to do with that strange merrymaking of the poor +slaves in Rome, which I showed you at the beginning of my sermon?</p> +<p>If you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke says, +the shepherds in Judæa heard the angels sing, on this night 1851 +years ago. That song tells us the meaning of that babe’s +coming. That song tells us what that babe’s coming had to +do with the poor slaves of Rome, and with all poor creatures who have +suffered and sorrowed on this earth, before or since.</p> +<p>“Glory to God in the highest,” they sang, “and +on earth peace, good will to men.”</p> +<p>Glory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in the +manger among the cattle, was showing what was the very highest glory +of the great God who had made heaven and earth. Not to show His +power and His majesty, but to show His condescension and His love. +To stoop, to condescend, to have mercy, to forgive, that is the highest +glory of God. That is the noblest, the most Godlike thing for +God or man. And God showed that when He sent down His only-begotten +Son—not to strike the world to atoms with a touch, not to hurl +sinners into everlasting flame, but to be born of a village maiden, +to take on Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow, to which man +is heir, even to death itself; to make Himself of no reputation, and +take on Himself the form of a slave, and forgive sinners, and heal the +sick, and comfort the outcast and despised, that He might show what +God was like—show forth to men, as a poor maiden’s son, +the brightness of God’s glory, and the express likeness of His +person.</p> +<p>“And on earth peace” they sang. Men had been quarrelling +and fighting then, and men are quarrelling and fighting now. That +little babe in the manger was come to show them how and why they were +all to be at peace with each other. For what causes all the war +and quarrelling in the world, but selfishness? Selfishness breeds +pride, passion, spite, revenge, covetousness, oppression. The +strong care for themselves, and try to help themselves at the expense +of the weak, by force and tyranny; the weak care for themselves in their +turn, and try to help themselves at the expense of the strong, by cunning +and cheating. No one will condescend, give way, sacrifice his +own interest for his neighbour’s, and hence come wars between +nations, quarrels in families, spite and grudges between neighbours. +But in the example of that little child of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the +Lord, God was saying to men, “Acquaint yourselves with Me, and +be at peace.” God is not selfish; it is our selfishness +which has made us unlike God. God so loved the sinful world, that +He gave His only-begotten Son for it. Is that an action like ours? +The Son of God so obeyed His Father, and so loved this world, that He +made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the likeness of a slave, +and became obedient to death, even to the most fearful and shameful +of all deaths, the death of the cross; not for Himself, but for those +who did not know Him, hated Him, killed Him. In short, He sacrificed +Himself for us. That is God’s likeness. Self-sacrifice. +Jesus Christ, the babe of Bethlehem, proved Himself the Son of God, +and the express likeness of the Father, by sacrificing Himself for us. +Sacrifice yourselves then for each other! Give up your own pride, +your own selfishness, your own interest for each other, and you will +be all at peace at once.</p> +<p>But the angels sang, “Good will toward men.” Without +that their song would not have been complete. For we are all ready +to say, at such words as I have been speaking, “Ah! pleasant enough, +and pretty enough, if they were but possible; but they are not possible. +It is in the nature of man to be selfish. Men have gone on warring, +grudging, struggling, competing, oppressing, cheating from the beginning, +and they will do so to the end.”</p> +<p>Yes, it is not in the <i>nature</i> of man to do otherwise. +In as far as man yields to his nature, and is like the selfish brute +beasts, it is not possible for him to do anything but go on quarrelling, +and competing, and cheating to the last. But what man’s +nature cannot do, God’s grace can. God’s good will +is toward you. He loves you, He wills—and if He wills, what +is too hard for Him?—He wills to raise you out of this selfish, +quarrelsome life of sin, into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of +righteousness. His spirit, the spirit of love by which He made +and guides all heaven and earth, the spirit of love in which He gave +His only Son for you, the spirit of love in which His Son Jesus Christ +sacrificed Himself for you, and took on Himself a meaner state than +any of you can ever have—the likeness of a slave—that spirit +is promised to you, and ready for you. That little baby in the +manger at Bethlehem—God sacrificing Himself for you in the spirit +of love—is a sign that that spirit of love is the spirit of God, +and therefore the only right spirit for you and me, who are men and +women made in the image of God. That babe in the manger at Bethlehem +is a sign to you and me, that God will freely give us that spirit of +love if we ask for it. For He would not have set us that example, +if He had not meant us to follow it, and He would not ask us to follow +it, if He did not intend to give us the means of following it. +Therefore, my friends, it is written, Ask and ye shall receive. +If your heavenly Father spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him +for you, will He not with Him likewise freely give you all things? +Oh! ask and you shall receive. However poor, ignorant, sinful +you may be, God’s promises are ready for you, signed and sealed +by the bread and wine on that table, the memorial of Jesus, the babe +of Bethlehem. Ask, and you shall receive! Comfort from sorrow, +peaceful assurance of God’s good will toward you, deliverance +from your sins, and a share in the likeness of Him who on this day made +Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the form of a slave.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>VI—TRUE ABSTINENCE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.</p> +<p>I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.—1 COR. +ix. 27.</p> +<p>In the Collect for this day we have just been praying to God, to +give us grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to +our spirit, we may follow His godly motions.</p> +<p>Now we ought to have meant something when we said these words. +What did we mean by them? Perhaps some of us did not understand +them. They could not be expected to mean anything by them. +But it is a sad thing, a very sad thing, that people will come to church +Sunday after Sunday, and repeat by rote words which they do not understand, +words by which they therefore mean nothing, and yet never care or try +to understand them.</p> +<p>What are the words there for, except to be understood? All +of you call people foolish, who submit to have prayers read in their +churches in a foreign language, which none, at least of the poor, can +understand. But what right have you to call them foolish, if you, +whose Prayer-books are written in English, take no trouble to find out +the meaning of them? Would to Heaven that you would try to find +out the meaning of the Prayer-book! Would to Heaven that the day +would come, when anyone in this parish who was puzzled by any doctrine +of religion, or by any text in the Bible, or word in the Prayer-book, +would come confidently to me, and ask me to explain it to him! +God knows, I should think it an honour and a pleasure, as well as a +duty. I should think no time better spent than in answering your +questions. I do beseech you to ask me, every one of you, when +and where you like, any questions about religion which come into your +minds. Why am I put in this parish, except to teach you? and how +can I teach you better, than by answering your questions? As it +is, I am disheartened, and all but hopeless, at times, about the state +of this parish, and the work I am trying to do here; because, though +you will come and hear me, thank God, willingly enough, you do not seem +yet to have gained confidence enough in me, or to have learnt to care +sufficiently about the best things, to ask questions of me about them. +My dear friends, if you wanted to get information about anything you +really cared for, you would ask questions enough. If you wanted +to know some way to a place on earth you would ask it; why not ask your +way to things better than this earth can give? But whether or +not you will question me I must go on preaching to you, though whether +or not you care to listen is more, alas! than I can tell.</p> +<p>But listen to me, now, I beseech you, while I try to explain to you +the meaning of the words which you have been just using in this Collect. +You have asked God to give you grace to use abstinence. Now what +is the meaning of abstinence? Abstinence means abstaining, refraining, +keeping back of your own will from doing something which you might do. +Take an example. When a man for his health’s sake, or his +purse’s sake, or any other good reason, drinks less liquor than +he might if he chose, he abstains from liquor. He uses abstinence +about liquor. There are other things in which a man may abstain. +Indeed, he may abstain from doing anything he likes. He may abstain +from eating too much; from lying in bed too long; from reading too much; +from taking too much pleasure; from making money; from spending money; +from right things; from wrong things; from things which are neither +right nor wrong; on all these he may use abstinence. He may abstain +for many reasons; for good ones, or for bad ones. A miser will +abstain from all sorts of comforts to hoard up money. A superstitious +man may abstain from comforts, because he thinks God grudges them to +him, or because he thinks God is pleased by the unhappiness of His creatures, +or because he has been taught, poor wretch, that if he makes himself +uncomfortable in this life, he shall have more comfort, more honour, +more reason for pride and self-glorification, in the life to come. +Or a man may abstain from one pleasure, just to be able to enjoy another +all the more; as some great gamblers drink nothing but water, in order +to keep their heads clear for cheating. All these are poor reasons; +some of them base, some of them wicked reasons for abstaining from anything. +Therefore, abstinence is not a good thing in itself; for if a thing +is good in itself, it can never be wrong. Love is good in itself, +and, therefore, you cannot love anyone for a bad reason. Justice +is good in itself, pity is good in itself, and, therefore, you can never +be wrong in being just or pitiful.</p> +<p>But abstinence is not a good thing in itself. If it were, we +should all be bound to abstain always from everything pleasant, and +make ourselves as miserable and uncomfortable as possible, as some superstitious +persons used to do in old times. Abstinence is only good when +it is used for a good reason. If a man abstains from pleasure +himself, to save up for his children; if he abstains from over eating +and over drinking, to keep his mind clear and quiet; if he abstains +from sleep and ease, in order to have time to see his business properly +done; if he abstains from spending money on himself, in order to spend +it for others; if he abstains from any habit, however harmless or pleasant, +because he finds it lead him towards what is wrong, and put him into +temptation; then he does right; then he is doing God’s work; then +he may expect God’s blessing; then he is trying to do what we +all prayed God to help us to do, when we said, “Give us grace +to use such abstinence;” then he is doing, more or less, what +St. Paul says he did, “Keeping his body under, and bringing it +into subjection.”</p> +<p>For, see, the Collect does not say, “Give us grace to use abstinence,” +as if abstinence were a good thing in itself, but “to use such +abstinence, that”—to use a certain kind of abstinence, and +that for a certain purpose, and that purpose a good one; such abstinence +that our flesh may be subdued to our spirit; that our flesh, the animal, +bodily nature which is in us, loving ease and pleasure, may not be our +master, but our servant; so that we may not follow blindly our own appetites, +and do just what we like, as brute beasts which have no understanding. +And our flesh is to be subdued to our spirit for a certain purpose; +not because our flesh is bad, and our spirit good; not in order that +we may puff ourselves up and admire ourselves, and say, as the philosophers +among the heathen used, “What a strong-minded, sober, self-restraining +man I am! How fine it is to be able to look down on my neighbours, +who cannot help being fond of enjoying themselves, and cannot help caring +for this world’s good things. I am above all that. +I want nothing, and I feel nothing, and nothing can make me glad or +sorry. I am master of my own mind, and own no law but my own will.” +The Collect gives us the true and only reason, for which it is right +to subdue our appetites; which is, that we may keep our minds clear +and strong enough to listen to the voice of God within our hearts and +reasons; to obey the motions of God’s Spirit in us; not to make +our bodies our masters, but to live as God’s servants.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s meaning, when he speaks of keeping under +his body, and bringing it into subjection. The exact word which +he uses, however, is a much stronger one than merely “keeping +under;” it means simply, to beat a man’s face black and +blue; and his reason for using such a strong word about the matter is, +to show us that he thought no labour too hard, no training too sharp, +which teaches us how to restrain ourselves, and keep our appetites and +passions in manful and godly control.</p> +<p>Now, a few verses before my text, St. Paul takes an example from +foot-racers. “These foot-racers,” he says, “heathens +though they are, and only trying to win a worthless prize, the petty +honour of a crown of leaves, see what trouble they take; how they exercise +their limbs; how careful and temperate they are in eating and drinking, +how much pain and fatigue they go through to get themselves into perfect +training for a race. How much more trouble ought we to take to +make ourselves fit to do God’s work? For these foot-racers +do all this only to gain a garland which will wither in a week; but +we, to gain a garland which will never fade away; a garland of holiness, +and righteousness, and purity, and the likeness of Jesus Christ.”</p> +<p>The next example of abstinence which St. Paul takes, is from the +prize-fighters, who were very numerous and very famous, in the country +in which the Corinthians lived. “I fight,” he says, +“not like one who beats the air;” that is, not like a man +who is only brandishing his hands and sparring in jest, but like a man +who knows that he has a fight to fight in hard earnest; a terrible lifelong +fight against sin, the world, and the devil; “and, therefore,” +he says, “I do as these fighters do.” They, poor savage +and brutal heathens as they are, go through a long and painful training. +Their very practice is not play; it is grim earnest. They stand +up to strike, and be struck, and are bruised and disfigured as a matter +of course, in order that they may learn not to flinch from pain, or +lose their tempers, or turn cowards, when they have to fight. +“And so do I,” says St. Paul; “they, poor men, submit +to painful and disagreeable things to make them brave in their paltry +battles. I submit to painful and disagreeable things, to make +me brave in the great battle which I have to fight against sin, and +ignorance, and heathendom.” “Therefore,” he +says, in another place, “I take pleasure in afflictions, in persecutions, +in necessities, in distresses;” and that not because those things +were pleasant, they were just as unpleasant to him as to anyone else; +but because they taught him to bear, taught him to be brave; taught +him, in short, to become a perfect man of God.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s account of his own training: in the Epistle +for to-day we have another account of it; a description of the life +which he led, and which he was content to lead—“in much +suffering, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in +watching, in fastings”—and an account, too, of the temper +which he had learnt to show amid such a life of vexation, and suffering, +and shame, and danger—“approving himself in all things the +minister of God, by pureness, by wisdom, by longsuffering, by kindness, +by the spirit of holiness, by love unfeigned;” “as dying, +and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet +always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, +yet possessing all things.”—In all things proving himself +a true messenger from God, by being able to dare and to endure for God’s +sake, what no man ever would have dared and endured for his own sake.</p> +<p>“But”—someone may say—“St. Paul was +an apostle; he had a great work to do in the world; he had to turn the +heathen to God; and it is likely enough that he required to train himself, +and keep strict watch over all his habits, and ways of thinking and +behaving, lest he should grow selfish, lazy, cowardly, covetous, fond +of ease and amusement. He had, of course, to lead a life of strange +suffering and danger; and he had therefore to train himself for it. +But what need have we to do as St. Paul did?”</p> +<p>Just as much need, my good friends, if you could see it.</p> +<p>Which of us has not to lead a life of suffering? We shall each +and all of us, have our full share of trouble before we die, doubt it +not.</p> +<p>And which of us has not to lead a life of danger? I do not +mean bodily danger; of that, there is little enough—perhaps too +little—in England now; but of danger to our hearts, minds, characters? +Oh, my friends, I pity those who do not think themselves in danger every +day of their lives, for the less danger they see around them, the more +danger there is. There is not only the common danger of temptation, +but over and above it, the worse danger of not knowing temptation when +it comes. Who will be most likely to walk into pits and mires +upon the moor—the man who knows that they are there around him, +or the man who goes on careless and light of heart, fancying that it +is all smooth ground? Woe to you, young people, if you fancy that +you are to have no woe! Danger to you, young people, if you fancy +yourselves in no danger!</p> +<p>“This is sad and dreary news”—some of you may say. +Ay, my friends, it would be sad and dreary news indeed; and this earth +would be a very sad and dreary place; and life with all its troubles +and temptations, would not be worth having, if it were not for the blessed +news which the Gospel for this day brings us. That makes up for +all the sadness of the Epistle; that gives us hope; that tells us of +one who has been through life, and through death too, yet without sin. +That tells us of one who has endured a thousand times more temptation +than we ever shall, a thousand times more trouble than we ever shall, +and yet has conquered it all; and that He who has thus been through +all our temptations, borne all our weaknesses, is our King, our Saviour, +who loves us, who teaches us, who has promised us His Holy Spirit, to +make us like Himself, strong, brave, and patient, to endure all that +man or devil, or our own low animal tempers and lusts, can do to hurt +us. The Gospel for this day tells us how He went and was alone +in the wilderness with the wild beasts, and yet trusted in God, His +Father and ours, to keep Him safe. How He went without food forty +days and nights, and yet in His extreme hunger, refused to do the least +self-willed or selfish thing to get Himself food. Is that no lesson, +no message of hope for the poor man who is tempted by hunger to steal, +or tempted by need to do a mean and selfish thing, to hear that the +Lord Jesus Christ, who bore need and hunger far worse than his, understands +all his temptations, and feels for him, and pities him, and has promised +him God’s Spirit to make him strong, as He himself was?</p> +<p>Is it no comfort to young people who are tempted to vanity, and display, +and self-willed conceited longings, tempted to despise the advice of +their parents and elders, and set up for themselves, and choose their +own way—Is it no good news, I say, for them to hear that their +Lord and Saviour was tempted to it also, and conquered it?—That +He will teach them to answer the temptation as He did, when He refused +even to let angels hold Him over the temple, up between earth and heaven, +for a sign and a wonder to all the Jews, because God His Father had +not bidden Him to do it, and therefore He would not tempt the Lord His +God?</p> +<p>Is it no good news, again, to those who are tempted to do perhaps +one little outward wrong thing, to yield on some small point to the +ways of the world, in order to help themselves on in life, to hear that +their Lord and Saviour conquered that temptation too?—That he +refused all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, when the +devil offered them, because he knew that the devil could not give them +to Him; that all wealth, and power, and glory belonged to God, and was +to be got only by serving Him?</p> +<p>Oh do you all, young people especially, think of this. As you +grow up and go out into life, you will be tempted in a hundred different +ways, by things which are pleasant—everyone knows that they are +pleasant enough—but wrong. One will be tempted to be vain +of dress; another to be self-conceited; another to be lazy and idle; +another to be extravagant and roving; another to be over fond of amusement; +another to be over fond of money; another to be over fond of liquor; +another to go wrong, as too many young men and young women do, and bring +themselves, and those with whom they keep company, and whom they ought, +if they really love them, to respect and honour, down into sin and shame. +You will all be tempted, and you will all be troubled; one by poverty, +one by sickness, one by the burden of a family, one by being laughed +at for trying to do right. But remember, oh remember, whenever +a temptation comes upon you, that the blessed Jesus has been through +it all, and conquered all, and that His will is, that you shall be holy +and pure like Him, and that, therefore, if you but ask Him, He will +give you strength to keep pure. When you are tempted, pray to +Him: the struggle in your own minds will, no doubt, be very great; it +will be very hard work for you—sin looks so pleasant on the outside! +Poor souls, it is a sad struggle for you! Many a poor young fellow, +who goes wrong, deserves rather to be pitied than to be punished. +Well then, if no man else will pity him, Jesus, the Man of all men, +will. Pray to Him! Cry aloud to Him! Ask Him to make +you stout-hearted, patient, really manful, to fight against temptation. +Ask Him to give you strength of mind to fight against all bad habits. +Ask Him to open your eyes to see when you are in danger. Ask Him +to help you to keep out of the way of temptation. Ask Him, in +short, to give you grace to use such abstinence that your flesh may +be subdued to your spirit. And then you will not follow, as the +beasts do, just what seems pleasant to your flesh; no, you will be able +to obey Christ’s godly motions, that is, to do, as well as to +love, the good desires which He puts into your hearts. You will +do not merely what is pleasant, but what is right; you will not be your +own slaves, you will be your own masters, and God’s loyal and +obedient sons; you will not be, as too many are, mere animals going +about in the shape of men, but truly men at heart, who are not afraid +of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or death itself, when they are in +the right path, about the work to which God has called them.</p> +<p>But if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you must +believe that He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him to help you, +you must believe that He will and does help you—you must believe +that it is He Himself who has put into your hearts the very desire of +being holy and strong at all; and therefore you must believe that you +can help yourselves. Help yourselves, and He will help you. +If you ask for His help, He will give it. But what is the use +of His giving it, if you do not use it? To him who has shall be +given, and he shall have more; but from him who has not shall be taken +away even what he seems to have. Therefore do not merely pray, +but struggle and try <i>yourselves</i>. Train yourselves as St. +Paul did; train yourselves to keep your temper; train yourselves to +bear unpleasant things for the sake of your duty; train yourselves to +keep out of temptation; train yourselves to be forgiving, gentle, thrifty, +industrious, sober, temperate, cleanly, as modest as little children +in your words, and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when He sees +you trying to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be hard +to educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at best—you +will find it a thousand times harder, though, if you are slaves to your +own fleshly sins. But the more you struggle against sin, the less +hard you will find it to fight; the more you resist the devil, the more +he will flee from you; the more you try to conquer your own bad passions, +the more God will help you to conquer them; it may be a hard battle, +but it is a sure one. No fear but that everyone can, if he will, +work out his own salvation, for it is God Himself who works in us to +will and to do of His good pleasure. All you have to do is to +give yourselves up to Him, to study His laws, to labour as well as long +to keep them, and He will enable you to keep them; He will teach you +in a thousand unexpected ways; He will daily renew and strengthen your +hearts by the working of His Spirit, that you may more and more know, +and love, and do, what is right; and you will go on from strength to +strength, to the height of perfect men, to the likeness of Jesus Christ +the Lord, who conquered all human temptations for your sake, that He +might be a high-priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, +because He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>VII—GOOD FRIDAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence +saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and +He bare them and carried them all the days of old.—ISAIAH lxiii. +9.</p> +<p>On this very day, at this very hour, 1817 years ago, hung one nailed +to a cross; bruised and bleeding, pierced and naked, dying a felon’s +death between two thieves; in perfect misery, in utter shame, mocked +and insulted by all the great, the rich, the learned of His nation; +one who had grown up as a man of low birth, believed by all to be a +carpenter’s son; without scholarship, money, respectability; even +without a home wherein to lay His head—and here was the end of +His life! True, He had preached noble words, He had done noble +deeds: but what had they helped Him? They had not made the rich, +the learned, the respectable, the religious believe on Him; they had +not saved Him from persecution, and insult, and death. The only +mourners who stood by to weep over His dying agonies were His mother, +a poor countrywoman; a young fisherman; and one who had been a harlot +and a sinner. There was an end!</p> +<p>Do you know who that Man was? He was your King; the King of +rich and poor; and He was your King, not in spite of His suffering all +that shame and misery, but just because He suffered it; because He chose +to be poor, and miserable, and despised; because He endured the cross, +despising the shame; because He took upon Himself to fulfil His Father’s +will, all ills which flesh is heir to—therefore He is now your +King, the Saviour of the world, the poor man’s friend, the Lord +of heaven and earth. Is He such a King as <i>you</i> wish for?</p> +<p>Is He the sort of King you want, my friends? Does He fulfil +your notions of what the poor man’s friend should be? Do +you, in your hearts, wish He had been somewhat richer, more glorious, +more successful in the world’s eyes—a wealthy and prosperous +man, like Solomon of old? Are any of you ready to say, as the +money-blinded Jews said, when they demanded their true King to be crucified, +“We have no king but Cæsar?—Provided the law-makers +and the authorities take care of our interests, and protect our property, +and do not make us pay too many rates and taxes, that is enough for +us.” Will you have no king but Cæsar? Alas! +those who say that, find that the law is but a weak deliverer, too weak +to protect them from selfishness, and covetousness, and decent cruelty; +and so Cæsar and the law have to give place to Mammon, the god +of money. Do we not see it in these very days? And Mammon +is weak, too. This world is not a shop, men are not merely money-makers +and wages-earners. There are more things in heaven and earth than +are dreamt of in that sort of philosophy. Self-interest and covetousness +cannot keep society orderly and peaceful, let sham philosophers say +what they will. And then comes tyranny, lawlessness, rich and +poor staining their hands in each other’s blood, as we saw happen +in France two years ago; and so, after all, Mammon has to give place +to Moloch, the fiend of murder and cruelty; and woe to rich and poor +when he reigns over them! Ay, woe—woe to rich and poor when +they choose anyone for their king but their real and rightful Lord and +Master, Jesus, the poor man, afflicted in all their afflictions, the +Man of sorrows, crucified on this day.</p> +<p>Is He the kind of King you like? Make up your minds, my friends—make +up your minds! For whether you like Him or not, your King He was, +your King He is, your King He will be, blessed be God, for ever. +Blessed be God, indeed! If He were not our King; if anyone in +heaven or earth was Lord of us, except the Man of sorrows, the Prince +of sufferers, what hope, what comfort would there be? What a horrible, +black, fathomless riddle this sad, diseased, moaning world would be! +No king would suit us but the Prince of sufferers—Jesus, who has +borne all this world’s griefs, and carried all its sorrows—Jesus, +who has Himself smarted under pain and hunger, oppression and insult, +treachery and desertion, who knows them all, feels for them all, and +will right them all, in His own good time.</p> +<p>Believing in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish after +another, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the labourer who +tills the land worse housed than the horse he drives, worse clothed +than the sheep he shears, worse nourished than the hog he feeds—and +yet not despair: for the Prince of sufferers is the labourer’s +Saviour; He has tasted hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, oppression, +and neglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the moorside is +His brother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world has shared, +when the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, while +the Son of God had not where to lay His head. He is the King of +the poor, firstborn among many brethren; His tenderness is Almighty, +and for the poor He has prepared deliverance, perhaps in this world, +surely in the world to come—boundless deliverance, out of the +treasures of His boundless love.</p> +<p>Believing in Jesus, we can pass by mines, and factories, and by dungeons +darker and fouler still, in the lanes and alleys of our great towns +and cities, where thousands and tens of thousands of starving men, and +wan women, and children grown old before their youth, sit toiling and +pining in Mammon’s prison-house, in worse than Egyptian bondage, +to earn such pay as just keeps the broken heart within the worn-out +body;—ay, we can go through our great cities, even now, and see +the women, whom God intended to be Christian wives and mothers, the +slaves of the rich man’s greed by day, the playthings of his lust +by night—and yet not despair; for we can cry, No! thou proud Mammon, +money-making fiend! These are not thine, but Christ’s; they +belong to Him who died on the cross; and though thou heedest not their +sighs, He marks them all, for He has sighed like them; though there +be no pity in thee, there is in Him the pity of a man, ay, and the indignation +of a God! He treasures up their tears; He understands their sorrows; +His judgment of their guilt is not like thine, thou Pharisee! +He is their Lord, who said, that to those to whom little was given, +of them shall little be required. Generation after generation, +they are being made perfect by sufferings, as their Saviour was before +them; and then, woe to thee! For even as He led Israel out of +Egypt with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and signs and wonders, +great and terrible, so shall He lead the poor out of their misery, and +make them households like a flock of sheep; even as He led Israel through +the wilderness, tender, forbearing, knowing whereof they were made, +having mercy on all their brutalities, and idolatries, murmurings, and +backslidings, afflicted in all their afflictions—even while He +was punishing them outwardly, as He is punishing the poor man now—even +so shall He lead this people out in His good time, into a good land +and large, a land of wheat and wine, of milk and honey; a rest which +He has prepared for His poor, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. He can +do it; for the Almighty Deliverer is His name. He will do it; +for His name is Love. He knows how to do it; for He has borne +the griefs, and carried the sorrows of the poor.</p> +<p>Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! +Look to the cross this day! There hung your king! The King +of sorrowing souls, and more, the King of sorrows. Ay, pain and +grief, tyranny and desertion, death and hell, He has faced them one +and all, and tried their strength, and taught them His, and conquered +them right royally! And, since He hung upon that torturing cross, +sorrow is divine, god-like, as joy itself. All that man’s +fallen nature dreads and despises, God honoured on the cross, and took +unto Himself, and blessed, and consecrated for ever. And now, +blessed are the poor, if they are poor in heart, as well as purse; for +Jesus was poor, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are +the hungry, if they hunger for righteousness as well as food; for Jesus +hungered, and they shall be filled. Blessed are those who mourn, +if they mourn not only for their afflictions, but for their sins, and +for the sins they see around them; for on this day, Jesus mourned for +our sins; on this day He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; and they +shall be comforted. Blessed are those who are ashamed of themselves, +and hate themselves, and humble themselves before God this day; for +on this day Jesus humbled Himself for us; and they shall be exalted. +Blessed are the forsaken and the despised.—Did not all men forsake +Jesus this day, in His hour of need? and why not thee, too, thou poor +deserted one? Shall the disciple be above his Master? No; +everyone that is perfect, must be like his master. The deeper, +the bitterer your loneliness, the more are you like Him, who cried upon +the cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” +He knows what that grief, too, is like. He feels for thee, at +least. Though all forsake thee, He is with thee still; and if +He be with thee, what matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, +blessed are those that weep now, for they shall laugh. It is those +whom the Lord loveth that He chasteneth. And because He loves +the poor, He brings them low. All things are blessed now, but +sin; for all things, excepting sin, are redeemed by the life and death +of the Son of God. Blessed are wisdom and courage, joy, and health, +and beauty, love and marriage, childhood and manhood, corn and wine, +fruits and flowers, for Christ redeemed them by His life. And +blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed are weakness and ugliness, +blessed are agony and sickness, blessed the sad remembrance of our sins, +and a broken heart, and a repentant spirit. Blessed is death, +and blessed the unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection day, +for Christ redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things, +weak, as well as strong. Blessed are all days, dark, as well as +bright, for all are His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are +His, for ever.</p> +<p>Therefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own sadness; +ache on, ye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own sorrows. Rejoice +that you are made free of the holy brotherhood of mourners, that you +may claim your place, too, if you will, among the noble army of martyrs. +Rejoice that you are counted worthy of a fellowship in the sufferings +of the Son of God. Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall +come joy. Trust on; for in man’s weakness God’s strength +shall be made perfect. Trust on, for death is the gate of life. +Endure on to the end, and possess your souls in patience for a little +while, and that, perhaps, a very little while. Death comes swiftly; +and more swiftly still, perhaps, the day of the Lord. The deeper +the sorrow, the nearer the salvation:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The night is darkest before the dawn;<br />When the pain is sorest +the child is born;<br />And the day of the Lord is at hand.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Ay, if the worst should come; if neither the laws of your country +nor the benevolence of the righteous were strong enough to defend you; +if one charitable plan after another were to fail; if the labour-market +were getting fuller and fuller, and poverty were spreading wider and +wider, and crime and misery were breeding faster and still faster every +year than education and religion; all hope for the poor seemed gone +and lost, and they were ready to believe the men who tell them that +the land is over-peopled—that there are too many of us, too many +industrious hands, too many cunning brains, too many immortal souls, +too many of God’s children upon God’s earth, which God the +Father made, and God the Son redeemed, and God the Holy Spirit teaches: +then the Lord, the Prince of sufferers, He who knows your every grief, +and weeps with you tear for tear, He would come out of His place to +smite the haughty ones, and confound the cunning ones, and silence the +loud ones, and empty the full ones; to judge with righteousness for +the meek of the earth, to hearken to the prayer of the poor, whose heart +he has been preparing, and to help the fatherless and needy to their +right, that the man of the world may be no more exalted against them.</p> +<p>In that day men will find out a wonder and miracle. They will +see many that are first last, and many that are last first. They +will find that there were poor who were the richest after all; the simple +who were wisest, and gentle who were bravest, and weak who were strongest; +that God’s ways are not as men’s ways, nor God’s thoughts +as men’s thoughts. Alas, who shall stand when God does this? +At least He who will do it is Jesus, who loved us to the death; boundless +love and gentleness, boundless generosity and pity; who was tempted +even as we are, who has felt our every weakness. In that thought +is utter comfort, that our Judge will be He who died and rose again, +and is praying for us even now, to His Father and our Father. +Therefore fear not, gentle souls, patient souls, pure consciences and +tender hearts. Fear not, you who are empty and hungry, who walk +in darkness and see no light; for though He fulfil once more, as He +has again and again, the awful prophecy before the text; though He tread +down the people in His anger, and make them drunk in His fury, and bring +their strength to the earth; though kings with their armies may flee, +and the stars which light the earth may fall, and there be great tribulation, +wars, and rumours of wars, and on earth distress of nations with perplexity—yet +it is when the day of His vengeance is at hand, that the year of His +redeemed is come. And when they see all these things, let them +rejoice and lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh.</p> +<p>Do you ask how I know this? Do you ask for a sign, for a token +that these my words are true? I know that they are true. +But, as for tokens, I will give you but this one, the sign of that bread +and that wine. When the Lord shall have delivered His people out +of all their sorrows, they shall eat of that bread and drink of that +wine, one and all, in the kingdom of God.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>VIII—EASTER-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, +where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God—COLOSSIANS iii. +1.</p> +<p>I know no better way of preaching to you the gospel of Easter, the +good news which this day brings to all men, year after year, than by +trying to explain to you the Epistle appointed for this day, which we +have just read.</p> +<p>It begins, “If ye then be risen with Christ.” Now +that does not mean that St. Paul had any doubt whether the Colossians, +to whom he was speaking, were risen with Christ or not. He does +not mean, “I am not sure whether you are risen or not; but perhaps +you are not; but if you are, you ought to do such and such things.” +He does not mean that. He was quite sure that these Colossians +were risen with Christ. He had no doubt of it whatsoever. +If you look at the chapter before, he says so. He tells them that +they were buried with Christ in baptism, in which also they were risen +with Christ, through faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him +from the dead.</p> +<p>Now what reason had St. Paul to believe that these Colossians were +risen with Jesus Christ? Because they had given up sin and were +leading holy lives? That cannot be. The Epistle for this +day says the very opposite. It does not say, “You are risen, +because you have left off sinning.” It says, “You +must leave off sinning, because you are risen.” Was it then +on account of any experiences, or inward feeling of theirs? Not +at all. He says that these Colossians had been baptized, and that +they had believed in God’s work of raising Jesus Christ from the +dead, and that therefore they were risen with Christ. In one word, +they had believed the message of Easter-day, and therefore they shared +in the blessings of Easter-day; as it is written in another place, “If +thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe +in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”</p> +<p>Now these seem very wide words, too wide to please most people. +But there are wider words still in St. Paul’s epistles. +He tells us again and again that God’s mercy is a free gift; that +He has made to us a free present of His Son Jesus Christ. That +He has taken away the effect of all men’s sin, and more than that, +that men are God’s children; that they have a right to believe +that they are so, because they are so. For, He says, the free +gift of Jesus Christ is not like Adam’s offence. It is not +less than it, narrower than it, as some folks say. It is not that +by Adam’s sin all became sinners, and by Jesus Christ’s +salvation an elect few out of them shall be made righteous. If +you will think a moment, you will see that it cannot be so. For +Jesus Christ conquered sin and death and the devil. But if, as +some think, sin and death and the devil have destroyed and sent to hell +by far the greater part of mankind, then they have conquered Christ, +and not Christ them. Mankind belonged to Christ at first. +Sin and death and the devil came in and ruined them, and then Christ +came to redeem them; but if all that He has been able to do is to redeem +one out of a thousand, or even nine out of ten, of them, then the devil +has had the best of the battle. He, and not Christ, is the conqueror. +If a thief steals all the sheep on your farm, and all that you can get +back from him is a part of the whole flock, which has had the best of +it, you or the thief? If Christ’s redemption is meant for +only a few, or even a great many elect souls out of all the millions +of mankind, which has had the best of it, Christ, the master of the +sheep, or the devil, the robber and destroyer of them? Be sure, +my friends, Christ is stronger than that; His love is deeper than that; +His redemption is wider than that. How strong, how deep, how wide +it is, we never shall know. St. Paul tells us that we never shall +know, for it is boundless; but that we shall go on knowing more and +more of its vastness for ever, finding it deeper, wider, loftier than +our most glorious dreams could ever picture it. But this, he says, +we do know, that we have gained more than Adam lost. For if by +one man’s offence many were made sinners, much more shall they +who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign +in life by one even Jesus Christ. For, he says, where sin abounded, +God’s grace and free gift has much more abounded. Therefore, +as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, +even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men +to justification of life. Upon all men, you see. There can +be no doubt about it. Upon you and me, and foreigners, and gipsies, +and heathens, and thieves, and harlots—upon all mankind, let them +be as bad or as good, as young or as old, as they may, the free gift +of God has come to justification of life; they are justified, pardoned, +and beloved in the sight of Almighty God; they have a right and a share +to a new life; a different sort of life from what they are inclined +to lead, and do lead, by nature—to a life which death cannot take +away, a life which may grow, and strengthen, and widen, and blossom, +and bear fruit for ever and ever. They have a share in Christ’s +resurrection, in the blessing of Easter-day. They have a share +in Christ, every one of them whether they claim that share or not. +How far they will be punished for not claiming it, is a very different +matter, of which we know nothing whatsoever. And how far the heathen +who have never heard of Christ, or of their share in Him, will be punished, +we know not—we are not meant to know. But we know that to +their own Master they stand or fall, and that their Master is our Master +too, and that He is a just Master, and requires little of him to whom +He gives little; a just and merciful Master, who loved this sinful world +enough to come down and die for it, while mankind were all rebels and +sinners, and has gone on taking care of it, and improving it, in spite +of all its sin and rebellion ever since, and that is enough for us.</p> +<p>St. Paul knew no more. It was a mystery, he says, a wonderful +and unfathomable matter, which had been hidden since the foundation +of the world, of which he himself says that he saw only through a glass +darkly; and we cannot expect to have clearer eyes than he. But +this he seems to have seen, that the Lord, when He rose again, bought +a blessing even for the dumb beasts and the earth on which we live. +For he says, the whole creation is now groaning in the pangs of labour, +being about to bring forth something; and the whole creation will rise +again; how, and when, and into what new state, we cannot tell. +But St. Paul seems to say that when the Lord shall destroy death, the +last of his enemies, then the whole creation shall be renewed, and bring +forth another earth, nobler and more beautiful than this one, free from +death, and sin, and sorrow, and redeemed into the glorious liberty of +the children of God.</p> +<p>But this, on the other hand, St. Paul did see most clearly, and preached +it to all to whom he spoke, that the ground and reason of this great +and glorious mystery was the thing which happened on the first Easter-day, +namely, the Lord Jesus rising from the dead. About that, at least, +there was no doubt at all in his mind. We may see it by the Easter +anthem, which we read this morning, taken out of the fifteenth chapter +of his first epistle to the Corinthians:</p> +<p>“Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits +of them that slept.</p> +<p>“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection +of the dead.</p> +<p>“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made +alive.”</p> +<p>Now he is not talking here merely of the rising again of our bodies +at the last day. That was in his mind only the end, and outcome, +and fruit, and perfecting, of men’s rising from the dead in this +life. For he tells these same Corinthians, and the Colossians, +and others to whom he wrote, that life, the eternal life which would +raise their bodies at the last day, was even then working in them.</p> +<p>Neither is he speaking only of a few believers. He says that, +owing to the Lord’s rising on this day, all shall be made alive—not +merely all Christians, but all men. For he does not say, as in +Adam all Christians die, but all men; and so he does not say, all Christians +shall be made alive, but all men. For here, as in the sixth chapter +of Romans, he is trying to make us understand the likeness between Adam +and Jesus Christ, whom he calls the new Adam. The first Adam, +he says, was only a living soul, as the savages and heathens are; but +the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, the true pattern of men, is a +quickening, life-giving spirit, to give eternal life to every human +being who will accept His offer, and claim his share and right as a +true man, after the likeness of the new Adam, Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>We then, every one of us who is here to-day, have a right to believe +that we have a share in Christ’s eternal life: that our original +sin, that is, the sinfulness which we inherited from our forefathers, +is all forgiven and forgotten, and that mankind is now redeemed, and +belongs to the second Adam, the true and original head and pattern of +man, Jesus Christ, in whom was no sin; and that because mankind belongs +to him, God is well pleased with them, and reconciled to them, and looks +on them not as a guilty, but as a pardoned and beloved race of beings.</p> +<p>And we have a right to believe also, that because all power is given +to Christ in heaven and earth, there is given to Him the power of making +men what they ought to be—like His own blessed, and glorious, +and perfect self. Ask him, and you shall receive; knock at the +gate of His treasure-house, and it shall be opened. Seek those +things that are above, and you shall find them. You shall find +old bad habits die out in you, new good habits spring up in you; old +meannesses become weaker, new nobleness and manfulness become stronger; +the old, selfish, covetous, savage, cunning, cowardly, brutal Adam dying +out, the new, loving, brotherly, civilised, wise, brave, manful Adam +growing up in you, day by day, to perfection, till you are changed from +grace to grace, and glory to glory into the likeness of the Lord of +men.</p> +<p>“These are great promises,” you may say, “glorious +promises; but what proof have you that they belong to us? They +sound too good to be true; too great for such poor creatures as we are; +give us but some proof that we have a right to them; give us but a pledge +from Jesus Christ; give us but a sign, an assurance from God, and we +may believe you then.”</p> +<p>My friends, I am certain—and the longer I live I am the more +certain—that there is no argument, no pledge, no sign, no assurance, +like the bread and the wine upon that table. Assurances in our +own hearts and souls are good, but we may be mistaken about them; for, +after all, they are our own thoughts, notions in our own souls, these +inward experiences and assurances; delightful and comforting as they +are at times, yet we cannot trust them—we cannot trust our own +hearts, they are deceitful above all things, who can know them? +Yes: our own hearts may tell us lies; they may make us fancy that we +are pleasing God, when we are doing the things most hateful to Him. +They have made thousands fancy so already. They may make us fancy +we are right in God’s sight, when we are utterly wrong. +They have made thousands fancy so already. These hearts of ours +may make us fancy that we have spiritual life in us; that we are in +a state higher and nobler than the sinners round us, when all the while +our spirits are dead within us. They made the Pharisees of old +fancy that their souls were alive, and pure, and religious, when they +were dead and damned within them; and they may make us fancy so too. +No: we cannot trust our hearts and inward feelings; but that bread, +that wine, we can trust. Our inward feelings are a sign from man; +that bread and wine are a sign from God. Our inward feelings may +tell us what we feel toward God: that bread, that wine, tell us something +ten thousand times more important; they tell us what God feels towards +us. And God must love us before we can love Him; God must pardon +us before we can have mercy on ourselves; God must come to us, and take +hold of us, before we can cling to Him; God must change us, before we +can become right; God must give us eternal life in our hearts before +we can feel and enjoy that new life in us. Then that bread, that +wine, say that God has done all that for us already; they say: “God +does love you; God has pardoned you; God has come to you; God is ready +and willing to change and convert you; God has given you eternal life; +and this love, this mercy, this coming to find you out while you are +wandering in sin, this change, this eternal life, are all in His Son +Jesus Christ; and that bread, that wine, are the signs of it. +It is for the sake of Jesus’ blood that God has pardoned you, +and that cup is the new covenant in His blood. Come and drink, +and claim your pardon. It is simply because Jesus Christ was man, +and you, too, are men and women, wearing the flesh and blood which Christ +wore; eating and drinking as Christ ate and drank, and not for any works +or faith of your own, that God loves you, and has come to you, and called +you into His family. This is the Gospel, the good news of Christ’s +free grace, and pardon, and salvation; and that bread, that wine, the +common food of all men, not merely of the rich, or the wise, or the +pious, but of saints and penitents, rich and poor. Christians +and heathens, alike—that plain, common, every-day bread and wine—are +the signs of it. Come and take the signs, and claim your share +in God’s love, in God’s family. And it is in Jesus +Christ, too, that you have eternal life. It is because you belong +to Jesus Christ, to mankind, of which He is the head and king, that +God will change you, strengthen your soul to rise above your sins, raise +you up daily more and more out of spiritual death, out of brutishness, +and selfishness, and ignorance, and malice, into an eternal life of +wisdom, and love, and courage, and mercifulness, and patience, and obedience; +a life which shall continue through death, and beyond death, and raise +you up again for ever at the last day, because you belong to Christ’s +body, and have been fed with Christ’s eternal life. And +that bread, that wine are the signs of it. “Take, eat,” +said Jesus, “this is my body; drink, this is my blood.” +Those are the signs that God has given you eternal life, and that this +life is in His Son. What better sign would you have? There +is no mistaking their message; they can tell you no lies. And +they can, and will, bring your own Gospel-blessings to your mind, as +nothing else can. They will make you feel, as nothing else can, +that you are the beloved children of God, heirs of all that your King +and Head has bought for you, when He died, and rose again upon this +day. He gave you the Lord’s Supper for a sign. Do +you think that He did not know best what the best sign would be? +He said: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Do you think +that He did not know better than you, and me, and all men, that if you +did do it, it would put you in remembrance of Him?</p> +<p>Oh! come to His table, this day of all days in the year; and claim +there your share in His body and His blood, to feed the everlasting +life in you; which, though you see it not now, though you feel it not +now, will surely, if you keep it alive in you by daily faith, and daily +repentance, and daily prayer, and daily obedience, raise you up, body +and soul, to reign with Him for ever at the last day.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>IV—THE COMFORTER</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.</p> +<p>If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I +depart, I will send Him unto you—JOHN xvi. 7.</p> +<p>We are now coming near to two great days, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday, +which our forefathers have appointed, year by year, to put us continually +in mind of two great works, which the Lord worked out for us, His most +unworthy subjects, and still unworthier brothers.</p> +<p>On Ascension-day He ascended up into Heaven, and received gifts for +men, even for His enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them; +and on Whit-Sunday, He sent down those gifts. The Spirit of God +came down to dwell in the hearts of men, to be the right of everyone +who asks for it, white or black, young or old, rich or poor, and never +to leave this earth as long as there is a human being on it. And +because we are coming near to these two great days, the Prayer-book, +in the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, tries to put us in mind of those +days, and to make us ready to ask for the blessings of which they are +the yearly signs and witnesses. The Gospel for last Sunday told +us how the Lord told His disciples just before His death, that for a +little while they should not see Him; and again a little while and they +should see Him, because he was going to the Father, and that they should +have great sorrow, but that their sorrow should be turned into joy. +And the Gospel for to-day goes further still, and tells us why He was +going away—that He might send to them the Comforter, His Holy +Spirit, and that it was expedient—good for them, that He should +go away; for that if He did not, the Comforter would not come to them. +Now, in these words, I do not doubt He was speaking of Ascension-day, +and of Whit-Sunday; and therefore it is that these Gospels have been +chosen to be read before Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday; and in proportion +as we attend to these Gospels, and take in the meaning of them, and +act accordingly, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be a blessing and +a profit to us; and in proportion as we neglect them, or forget them, +Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be witnesses against our souls at +the day of judgment, that the Lord Himself condescended to buy for us +with His own blood, blessings unspeakable, and offer them freely unto +us, in spite of all our sins, and yet we would have none of them, but +preferred our own will to God’s will, and the little which we +thought we could get for ourselves, to the unspeakable treasures which +God had promised to give us, and turned away from the blessings of His +kingdom, to our own foolish pleasure and covetousness, like “the +dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the +mire.”</p> +<p>I said that God had promised to us an unspeakable treasure: and so +He has; a treasure that will make the poorest and weakest man among +us, richer than if he had all the wealth gathered from all the nations +of the world, which everyone is admiring now in that Great Exhibition +in London, and stronger than if he had all the wisdom which produced +that wealth. Let us see now what it is that God has promised us—and +then those to whom God has given ears to hear, and hearts to understand, +will see that large as my words may sound, they are no larger than the +truth.</p> +<p>Christ said, that if He went away, He would send down the Comforter, +the Holy Spirit of God. The Nicene Creed says, that the Holy Spirit +of God is the Lord and Giver of life; and so He is. He gives life +to the earth, to the trees, to the flowers, to the dumb animals, to +the bodies and minds of men; all life, all growth, all health, all strength, +all beauty, all order, all help and assistance of one thing by another, +which you see in the world around you, comes from Him. He is the +Lord and Giver of life; in Him, the earth, the sun and stars, all live +and move and have their being. He is not them, or a part of them, +but He gives life to them. But to men He is more than that—for +we men ourselves are more than that, and need more. We have immortal +spirits in us—a reason, a conscience, and a will; strange rights +and duties, strange hopes and fears, of which the beasts and the plants +know nothing. We have hearts in us which can love, and feel, and +sorrow, and be weak, and sinful, and mistaken; and therefore we want +a Comforter. And the Lord and Giver of life has promised to be +our Comforter; and the Father and the Son, from both of whom He proceeds, +have promised to send Him to us, to strengthen and comfort us, and give +our spirits life and health, and knit us together to each other, and +to God, in one common bond of love and fellow-feeling even as He the +Spirit knits together the Father and the Son.</p> +<p>I said that we want a Comforter. If we consider what that word +Comforter means, we shall see that we do want a Comforter, and that +the only Comforter which can satisfy us for ever and ever, must be He, +the very Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver of life.</p> +<p>Now Comforter means one who gives comfort; so the meaning of it will +depend upon what comfort means. Our word comfort, comes from two +old Latin words, which mean <i>with</i> and <i>to strengthen</i>. +And, therefore, a Comforter means anyone who is with us to strengthen +us, and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. You will +see that this is the proper meaning of the word, when you remember what +bodily things we call comforts. You say that a person is comfortable, +or lives in comfort, if he has a comfortable income, a comfortable house, +comfortable clothes, comfortable food, and so on. Now all these +things, his money, his house, his clothes, his food, are not himself. +They make him stronger and more at ease. They make his life more +pleasant to him. But they are not <i>him</i>; they are round him, +with him, to strengthen him. So with a person’s mind and +feelings; when a man is in sorrow and trouble, he cannot comfort himself. +His friends must come to him and comfort him; talk to him, advise him, +show their kind feeling towards him, and in short, be with him to strengthen +him in his afflictions. And if we require comfort for our bodies, +and for our minds, my friends, how much more do we for our spirits—our +souls, as we call them! How weak, and ignorant, and self-willed, +and perplexed, and sinful they are—surely our souls require a +comforter far more than our bodies or our minds do! And to comfort +our spirits, we require a spirit; for we cannot see our own spirits, +our own souls, as we can our bodies. We cannot even tell by our +feelings what state they are in. We may deceive ourselves, and +we do deceive ourselves, again and again, and fancy that our souls are +strong when they are weak—that they are simple and truthful when +they are full of deceit and falsehood—that they are loving God +when they are only loving themselves—that they are doing God’s +will when they are only doing their own selfish and perverse wills. +No man can take care of his own spirit, much less give his own spirit +life; “no man can quicken his own soul,” says David, that +is, no man can give his own soul life. And therefore we must have +someone beyond ourselves to give life to our spirits. We must +have someone to teach us the things that we could never find out for +ourselves, someone who will put into our hearts the good desires that +could never come of themselves. We must have someone who can change +these wills of ours, and make them love what they hate by nature, and +make them hate what they love by nature. For by nature we are +selfish. By nature we are inclined to love ourselves, rather than +anyone else; to take care of ourselves, rather than anyone else. +By nature we are inclined to follow our own will, rather than God’s +will, to do our own pleasure, rather than follow God’s commandments, +and therefore by nature our spirits are dead; for selfishness and self-will +are <i>spiritual death</i>. Spiritual life is love, pity, patience, +courage, honesty, truth, justice, humbleness, industry, self-sacrifice, +obedience to God, and therefore to those whom God sends to teach and +guide us. <i>That</i> is spiritual life. That is the life +of Jesus Christ; His character, His conduct, was like that—to +love, to help, to pity, all around—to give up Himself even to +death—to do His Father’s will and not His own. That +was His life. Because He was the Son of God He did it. In +proportion as we live like Him, we shall he living like sons of God. +In proportion as we live like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our spirits +will be alive. For he that hath Jesus Christ the Son of God in +him, hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, +says St. John. But who can raise us from the death of sin and +selfishness, to the life of righteousness and love? Who can change +us into the likeness of Jesus Christ? Who can even show us what +Jesus Christ’s likeness is, and take the things of Christ and +show them to us; so that by seeing what He was, we may see what we should +be? And who, if we have this life in us, will keep it alive in +us, and be with us to strengthen us? Who will give us strength +to force the foul and fierce and false thoughts out of our mind, and +say, “Get thee behind me, Satan?” Who will give our +spirits life? and who will strengthen that life in us?</p> +<p>Can we do it for ourselves? Oh! my friends, I pity the man +who is so blind and ignorant, who knows so little of himself, upon whom +the lessons which his own mistakes, and sins, and failings should have +taught him, have been so wasted that he fancies that he can teach and +guide himself without any help, and that he can raise his own soul to +life, or keep it alive without assistance. Can his body do without +its comforts? Then how can his spirit? If he left his house, +and threw away his clothes, and refused all help from his fellow-men, +and went and lived in the woods like a wild beast, we should call him +a madman, because he refused the help and comfort to his body which +God has made necessary for him. But just as great a madman is +he who refuses the help and the strengthening which God has made necessary +for his spirit—just as great a madman is he who fancies that his +soul is any more able than his body is, to live without continual help. +It is just because man is nobler than the beast that he requires help. +The fox in the wood needs no house, no fire; he needs no friends; he +needs no comforts, and no comforters, because he is a beast—because +he is meant to live and die selfish and alone; therefore God has provided +him in himself with all things necessary to keep the poor brute’s +selfish life in him for a few short years. But just because man +is nobler than that; just because man is not intended to live selfish +and alone; just because his body, and his mind, and his spirit are beautifully +and delicately made, and intended for all sorts of wonderful purposes, +therefore God has appointed that from the moment he is born to all eternity +he cannot live alone; he cannot support himself; he stands in continual +need of the assistance of all around him, for body, and soul, and spirit; +he needs clothes, which other men must make; houses, which other man +must build; food, which other men must produce; he has to get his livelihood +by working for others, while others get their livelihood in return by +working for him. As a child he needs his parents to be his comforters, +to take care of him in body and mind. As he grows up he needs +the care of others; he cannot exist a day without his fellow-men: he +requires school-masters to educate him; books and masters to teach him +his trade; and when he has learnt it, and settled himself in life, he +requires laws made by other men, perhaps by men who died hundreds of +years before he was born, to secure to him his rights and property, +to secure to him comforts, and to make him feel comfortable in his station; +he needs friends and family to comfort him in sorrow and in joy, to +do for him the thousand things which he cannot do for himself. +In proportion as he is alone and friendless he is pitiable and miserable, +let him be as rich as Solomon himself. From the moment, I say, +he is born, he needs continual comforts and comforters for his body, +and mind, and heart. And then he fancies that, though his body +and his mind cannot exist safely, or grow up healthily, without the +continual care and comforting of his fellow-men, that yet his soul, +the part of him which is at once the most important and the most in +danger; the part of him of which he knows least; the part of him which +he understands least; the part of him of which his body and mind cannot +take care, because it has to take care of them, can live, and grow, +and prosper without any help whatsoever!</p> +<p>And if we cannot strengthen our own souls no man can strengthen them +for us. No man can raise our bodies to life, much less can he +raise our souls. The physician himself cannot cure the sicknesses +of our bodies; he can only give us fit medicines, and leave them to +cure us by certain laws of nature, which he did not make, and which +he cannot alter. And though the physician can, by much learning, +understand men’s bodies somewhat, who can understand men’s +souls? We cannot understand our own souls; we do not know what +they are, how they live; whence they come, or whither they go. +We cannot cure them ourselves, much less can anyone cure them for us. +The only one who can cure our souls is He that made our souls; the only +one who can give life to our souls is He who gives life to everything. +The only one who can cure, and strengthen, and comfort our spirits, +is He who understands our spirits, because He himself is the Spirit +of all spirits, the Spirit who searcheth all things, even the deep things +of God; because He is the Spirit of God the Father, who made all heaven +and earth, and of Jesus Christ the Son, who understands the heart of +man, who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and hath +been tempted in all things, just as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>He is the Comforter which God has promised to our spirits, the only +Comforter who can strengthen our spirits; and if we have Him with us, +if He is strengthening us, if He is leading us, if He is abiding with +us, if He is changing us day by day, more and more into the likeness +of Jesus Christ, are we not, as I said at the beginning of my sermon, +richer than if we possessed all the land of England, stronger than if +we had all the armies of the world at our command? For what is +more precious than—God Himself? What is stronger than—God +Himself? The poorest man in whom God’s Spirit dwells is +greater than the greatest king in whom God’s Spirit does not dwell. +And so he will find in the day that he dies. Then where will riches +be, and power? The rich man will take none of them away with him +when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him. Naked came he +into this world, and naked shall he return out of it, to go as he came, +and carry with him none of the comforts which he thought in this life +the only ones worth having. But the Spirit of God remains with +us for ever; that treasure a man shall carry out of this world with +him, and keep to all eternity. That friend will never forsake +him, for He is the Spirit of Love, which abideth for ever. That +Comforter will never grow weak, for He is Himself the very eternal Lord +and Giver of Life; and the soul that is possessed by Him must live, +must grow, must become nobler, purer, freer, stronger, more loving, +for ever and ever, as the eternities roll by. That is what He +will give you, my friends; that is His treasure; that is the Spirit-life, +the true and everlasting life, which flows from Him as the stream flows +from the fountain-head.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>X—WHIT-SUNDAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—against such there is no +law.—GALATIANS v. 22, 23.</p> +<p>In all countries, and in all ages, the world has been full of complaints +of Law and Government. And one hears the same complaints in England +now. You hear complaints that the laws favour one party and one +rank more than another, that they are expensive, and harsh, and unfair, +and what not?—But I think, my friends, that for us, and especially +on this Whit-Sunday, it will be much wiser, instead of complaining of +the laws, to complain of ourselves, for needing those laws. For +what is it that makes laws necessary at all, except man’s sinfulness? +Adam required no laws in the garden of Eden. We should require +no laws if we were what we ought to be—what God has offered to +make us. We may see this by looking at the laws themselves, and +considering the purposes for which they were made. We shall then +see, that, like Moses’ Laws of old, the greater part of them have +been added because of transgressions.—In plain English—to +prevent men from doing things which they ought not to do, and which, +if they were in a right state of mind, they would not do. How +many laws are passed, simply to prevent one man, or one class, from +oppressing or ill-using some other man or class? What a vast number +of them are passed simply to protect property, or to protect the weak +from the cruel, the ignorant from the cunning! It is plain that +if there was no cruelty, no cunning, no dishonesty, these laws, at all +events, would not be needed. Again, one of the great complaints +against the laws and the government, is that they are so expensive, +that rates and taxes are heavy burdens—and doubtless they are: +but what makes them necessary except men’s sin? If the poor +were more justly and mercifully treated, and if they in their turn were +more thrifty and provident, there would be no need of the expenses of +poor rates. If there was no love of war and plunder, there would +be no need of the expense of an army. If there was no crime, there +would be no need of the expense of police and prisons. The thing +is so simple and self-evident, that it seems almost childish to mention +it. And yet, my friends, we forget it daily. We complain +of the laws and their harshness, of taxes and their expensiveness, and +we forget all the while that it is our own selfishness and sinfulness +which brings this expense upon us, which makes it necessary for the +law to interfere and protect us against others, and others against us. +And while we are complaining of the government for not doing its work +somewhat more cheaply, we are forgetting that if we chose, we might +leave government very little work to do—that every man if he chose, +might be his own law-maker and his own police—that every man if +he will, may lead a life “against which there is no law.”</p> +<p>I say again, that it is our own fault, the fault of our sinfulness, +that laws are necessary for us. In proportion as we are what Scripture +calls “natural men,” that is, savage, selfish, divided from +each other, and struggling against each other, each for his own interest; +as long as we are not renewed and changed into new men, so long will +laws, heavy, severe, and burdensome, be necessary for us. Without +them we should be torments to ourselves, to our neighbours, to our country. +But these laws are only necessary as long as we are full of selfishness +and ungodliness. The moment we yield ourselves up to God’s +law, man’s laws are ready enough to leave us alone. Take, +for instance, a common example; as long as anyone is a faithful husband +and a good father, the law does not interfere with his conduct towards +his wife and children. But it is when he is unfaithful to them, +when he ill-treats them, or deserts them, that the law interferes with +its “Thou shalt not,” and compels him to behave, against +his will, in the way in which he ought to have behaved of his own will. +It was free to the man to have done his duty by his family, without +the law—the moment he neglects his duty, he becomes amenable to +it.</p> +<p>But the law can only force a man’s actions: it cannot change +his heart. In the instance which I have been just mentioning, +the law can say to a man, “You shall not ill-treat your family; +you shall not leave them to starve.” But the law cannot +say to him “You shall love your family.” The law can +only command from a man outward obedience; the obedience of the heart +it cannot enforce. The law may make a man do his duty, it cannot +make a man <i>love</i> his duty. And therefore laws will never +set the world right. They can punish persons after the wrong is +done, and that not certainly nor always: but they cannot certainly prevent +the wrongs being done. The law can punish a man for stealing: +and yet, as we see daily, men steal in the face of punishment. +Or even if the law, by its severity, makes persons afraid to commit +certain particular crimes, yet still as long as the sinful heart is +left in them unchanged, the sin which is checked in one direction is +sure to break out in another. Sin, like every other disease, is +sure, when it is driven onwards, to break out at a fresh point, or fester +within some still more deadly, because more hidden and unsuspected, +shape. The man who dare not be an open sinner for fear of the +law, can be a hypocrite in spite of it. The man who dare not steal +for fear of the law, can cheat in spite of it. The selfish man +will find fresh ways of being selfish, the tyrannical man of being tyrannical, +however closely the law may watch him. He will discover some means +of evading it; and thus the law, after all, though it may keep down +crime, multiplies sin; and by the law, as St. Paul says, is the knowledge +of sin.</p> +<p>What then will do that for this poor world which the law cannot do—which, +as St. Paul tells us, not even the law of God given on Mount Sinai, +holy, just, good as it was, could do, because no law can give life? +What will give men a new heart and a new spirit, which shall love its +duty and do it willingly, and not by compulsion, everywhere and always, +and not merely just as far as it commanded? The text tells us +that there is a Spirit, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, +gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; a character such +as no laws can give to a man, and which no law dare punish in a man. +Look at this character as St. Paul sets it forth—and then think +what need would there be of all these burdensome and expensive laws, +if all men were but full of the fruits of that Spirit which St. Paul +describes?</p> +<p>I know what answer will be ready, in some of your minds at least, +to all this. You will be ready to reply, almost angrily, “Of +course if everyone was perfect, we should need no laws: but people are +not perfect, and you cannot expect them to be.” My friends, +whether or not <i>we</i> expect baptized people, living in a Christian +country, to be perfect, God expects them to be perfect; for He has said, +by the mouth of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, “Be ye therefore +perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.” And +He has told us what being perfect is like; you may read it for yourselves +in His sermon on the Mount; and you may see also that what He commands +us to do in that sermon, from the beginning to the end, is the exact +opposite and contrary of the ways and rules of this world, which, as +I have shown, make burdensome laws necessary to prevent our devouring +each other. Now, do you think that God would have told us to be +perfect, if He knew that it was impossible for us? Do you think +that He, the God of truth, would have spoken such a cruel mockery against +poor sinful creatures like us, as to command us a duty without giving +us the means of fulfilling it? Do you think that He did not know +ten thousand times better than I what I have been just telling you, +that laws could not change men’s hearts and wills; that commanding +a man to love and like a thing will not make him love and like it; that +a man’s heart and spirit must be changed in him from within, and +not merely laws and commandments laid on him from without? Then +why has He commanded us to love each other, ay, to love our enemies, +to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who use us spitefully? +Do you think the Lord meant to make hypocrites of us; to tell us to +go about, as some who call themselves religious do go about, with their +lips full of meek, and humble, and simple, and loving words, while their +hearts are full of pride, and spite, and cunning, and hate, and selfishness, +which are all the more deadly for being kept in and plastered over by +a smooth outside? God forbid! He tells us to love each other, +only because He has promised us the spirit of love. He tells us +to be humble, because He can make us humble-hearted. He tells +us to be honest, because He can make us love and delight in honesty. +He tells us to refrain ourselves from foul thoughts as well as from +foul actions, because He can take the foul heart out of us, and give +us instead the spirit of purity and holiness. He tells us to lead +new lives after the new pattern of Himself, because He can give us new +hearts and a new spring of life within us; in short, He bids us behave +as sons of God should behave, because, as He said Himself, “If +we, being evil, know how to give our children what is good for them, +much more will our heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who +ask him.” If you would be perfect, ask your Father in heaven +to make you perfect. If you feel that your heart is wrong, ask +Him to give you a new and a right heart. If you feel yourselves—as +you are, whether you feel it or not—too weak, too ignorant, too +selfish, to guide yourselves, ask Him to send His Spirit to guide you; +ask for the Spirit from which comes all love, all light, all wisdom, +all strength of mind. Ask for that Spirit, and you <i>shall</i> +receive it; seek for it, and you shall find it; knock at the gate of +your Father’s treasure-house, and it shall be surely opened to +you.</p> +<p>But some of you, perhaps, are saying to yourselves, “How will +my being changed and renewed by the Spirit of God, render the laws less +burdensome, while the crime and sin around me remain unchanged? +It is others who want to be improved as much, and perhaps more than +I do.” It may be so, my friends; or, again, it may not; +those who fancy that others need God’s Spirit more than they do, +may be the very persons who need it really the most; those who say they +see, may be only proving their blindness by so saying; those who fancy +that their souls are rich, and are full of all knowledge, and understand +the whole Bible, and want no further teaching, may be, as they were +in St. John’s time, just the ones who are wretched, and miserable, +and poor, and blind, and naked in soul, and do not know it. But +at all events, if you think others need to be changed by God’s +Spirit, <i>pray</i> that God’s Spirit may change them. For +believe me, unless you pray for God’s Spirit for each other, ay, +for the whole world, there is no use asking for yourselves. This, +I believe, is one of the reasons, perhaps the chief reason, why the +fruits of God’s Spirit are so little seen among us in these days; +why our Christianity is become more and more dead, and hollow, and barren, +while expensive and intricate laws and taxes are becoming more and more +necessary every year; because our religion has become so selfish, because +we have been praying for God’s Spirit too little for each other. +Our prayers have become too selfish. We have been looking for +God’s Spirit not so much as a means to enable us to do good to +others, but as some sort of mysterious charm which was to keep us ourselves +from the punishment of our sins in the next life, or give us a higher +place in heaven; and, therefore, St. James’s words have been fulfilled +to us, even in our very prayers for God’s Spirit, “Ye ask +and have not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts”—save +our selfish souls from the pains of hell; to give our selfish souls +selfish pleasures and selfish glorification in the world to come: but +not to spread God’s kingdom upon earth, not to make us live on +earth such lives as Christ lived; a life of love and self-sacrifice, +and continual labour for the souls of others. Therefore it is, +that God’s Spirit is not poured out upon us in these days; for +God’s Spirit is the spirit of love and brotherhood, which delivers +a man from his selfishness; and if we do not desire to be delivered +from our selfishness, we do not desire the Spirit of God, and the Spirit +of God will not be bestowed upon us. And no man desires to be +delivered from his own selfishness, who in his very prayers, when he +ought to be thinking least about himself alone, is thinking about himself +most of all, and forgetting that he is the member of a family—that +all mankind are his brethren—that he can claim nothing for himself +to which every sinner around him has an equal right—that nothing +is necessary for him, which is not equally necessary for everyone around +him; that he has all the world besides himself to pray for, and that +his prayers for himself will be heard only according as he prays for +all the world beside. Baptism teaches us this, when it tells us +that our old selfish nature is to be washed away, and a new character, +after the pattern of Christ, is to live and grow up in us; that from +the day we are baptized, to the day of our death, we should live not +for ourselves, but for Jesus, in whom was no selfishness; when it teaches +us that we are not only children of God, but members of Christ’s +Family, and heirs of God’s kingdom, and therefore bound to make +common cause with all other members of that Family, to live and labour +for the common good of all our fellow-citizens in that kingdom. +The Lord’s prayer teaches us this, when He tells us to pray, not +“My Father,” but “Our Father;” not “my +soul be saved,” but “Thy kingdom come;” not “give +<i>me</i>,” but “give <i>us</i> our daily bread;” +not “forgive <i>me</i>,” but “forgive <i>us</i> our +trespasses,” and that only as we forgive others; not “lead +<i>me</i> not,” but “lead <i>us</i> not into temptation;” +not “deliver <i>me</i>,” but “deliver <i>us</i> from +evil.” After <i>that</i> manner the Lord told us to pray; +and, in proportion as we pray in that manner, asking for nothing for +ourselves which we do not ask for everyone else in the whole world, +just so far and no farther will God <i>hear</i> our prayers. He +who asks for God’s Spirit for himself only, and forgets that all +the world need it as much as he, is not asking for God’s Spirit +at all, and does not know even what God’s Spirit is. The +mystery of Pentecost, too, which came to pass on this day 1818 years +ago, teaches us the same thing also. Those cloven tongues of fire, +the tokens of God’s Spirit, fell not upon one man, but upon many; +not when they were apart from each other, but when they were together; +and what were the fruits of that Spirit in the Apostles? Did they +remain within that upper room, each priding himself upon his own gifts, +and trying merely to gain heaven for his own soul? If they had +any such fancies, as they very likely had before the Spirit fell upon +them, they had none such afterwards. The Spirit must have taken +all such thoughts from them, and given them a new notion of what it +was to be devout and holy: for instead of staying in that upper room, +they went forth instantly into the public place to preach in foreign +tongues to all the people. Instead of keeping themselves apart +from each other in silence, and fancying, as some have done, and some +do now, that they pleased God by being solitary, and melancholy, and +selfish—what do we read? the fruit of God’s Spirit was in +them; that they and the three thousand souls who were added to them, +on the first day of their preaching, “were all together, and had +all things common, and sold their possessions, and goods, and parted +them to all men, as every man had need, and continuing daily with one +accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat +their bread in gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having +favour with all the people.” Those were the fruits of God’s +Spirit in <i>them</i>. Till we see more of that sort of life and +society in England, we shall not be able to pride ourselves on having +much of God’s Spirit among us.</p> +<p>But above all, if anything will teach us that the strength of God’s +Spirit is not a strength which we must ask for for ourselves alone; +that the blessings of God’s kingdom are blessings which we cannot +have in order to keep them to ourselves, but can only enjoy in as far +as we share them with those around us; if anything, I say, ought to +teach us that lesson, it is the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. +Just consider a moment, my friends, what a strange thing it is, if we +will think of it, that the Lord’s Supper, the most solemn and +sacred thing with which a man can have to do upon earth, is just a thing +which he cannot transact for himself, or by himself. Not alone +in secret, in his chamber, but, whether he will or not, in the company +of others, not merely in the company of his own private friends, but +in the company of any or everyone, rich or poor, who chooses to kneel +beside him; he goes with others, rich and poor alike, to the Lord’s +Table, and there the same bread, and the same wine, is shared among +all by the same priest. If that means anything, it means this—that +rich and poor alike draw life for their souls from the same well, not +for themselves only, not apart from each other, but all in common, all +together, because they are brothers, members of one family, as the leaves +are members of the same tree; that as the same bread and the same wine +are needed to nourish the bodies of all, the same spirit of God is needed +to nourish the souls of all; and that we cannot have this spirit, except +as members of a body, any more than a man’s limb can have life +when it is cut off and parted from him. This is the reason, and +the only reason, why Protestant clergymen are forbidden, thank God! +to give the Holy Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, to any one person +singly. If a clergyman were to administer the Lord’s Supper, +to himself in private, without any congregation to partake with him, +it would not be the Lord’s Supper, it would be nothing, and worse +than nothing; it would be a sham and a mockery, and, I believe, a sin. +I do not believe that Christ would be present, that God’s Spirit +would rest on that man. For our Lord says, that it is where two +or three are gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst +of them. And it was at a supper, at a feast, where all the Apostles +were met together, that our Lord divided the bread amongst them, and +told them to share the cup amongst themselves, just as a sign that they +were all members of one body—that the welfare of each of them +was bound up in the welfare of all the rest that God’s blessing +did not rest upon each singly, but upon all together. And it is +just because we have forgotten this, my friends—because we have +forgotten that we are all brothers and sisters, children of one family, +members of one body—because in short, we have carried our selfishness +into our very religion, and up to the altar of God, that we neglect +the Lord’s Supper as we do. People neglect the Lord’s +Supper because they either do not know or do not like that, of which +the Lord’s Supper is the token and warrant. It is not merely +that they feel themselves unfit for the Lord’s Supper, because +they are not in love and charity with all men. Oh! my dear friends, +do not some of your hearts tell you, that the reason why you stay away +from the Lord’s Supper is because you do not <i>wish</i> to be +fit for the Lord’s Supper—because you do not like to be +in love and charity with all men—because you do not wish to be +reminded that you are equals in God’s sight, all equally sinful, +all equally pardoned—and to see people whom you dislike or despise, +kneeling by your side, and partaking of the same bread and wine with +you, as a token that God sees no difference between you and them; that +God looks upon you all as brothers, however little brotherly love or +fellow-feeling there may be, alas! between you? Or, again, do +not some of you stay away from the Lord’s Supper, because you +see no good in going? because it seems to make those who go no better +than they were before? Shall I tell you the reason of that? +Shall I tell you why, as is too true, too many do come to the Lord’s +Supper, and so far from being the better for it, seem only the worse? +Because they come to it in selfishness. We have fallen into the +same false and unscriptural way of looking at the Lord’s Supper, +into which the Papists have. People go to the Lord’s Supper +nowadays too much to get some private good for their own souls, and +it would not matter to many of them, I am afraid, if not another person +in the parish received it, provided they can get, as they fancy, the +same blessing from it. Thus they come to it in an utterly false +and wrong temper of mind. Instead of coming as members of Christ’s +body, to get from Him life and strength, to work, in their places, as +members of that body, they come to get something for themselves, as +if there was nobody else’s soul in the world to be saved but their +own. Instead of coming to ask for the Spirit of God to deliver +them from their selfishness, and make them care less about themselves, +and more about all around them, they come to ask for the Spirit of God +because they think it will make themselves higher and happier in heaven. +And of course they do not get what they come for, because they come +for the wrong thing. Thus those who see them, begin to fancy that +the Lord’s Supper is not, after all, so very important for the +salvation of their souls; and not finding in the Bible actually written +these words, “Thou shalt perish everlastingly unless thou take +the Lord’s Supper,” they end by staying away from it, and +utterly neglecting it, they and their children after them; preferring +their own selfishness, to God’s Spirit of love, and saying, like +Esau of old, “I am hungry, and I must live. I must get on +in this selfish world by following its selfish ways; what is the use +of a spirit of love and brotherhood to me? If I were to obey the +Gospel, and sacrifice my own interest for those around me, I should +starve; what good will my birthright do me?”</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, I pray God that some of you, at least, may change +your mind. I pray God that some of you may see at last, that all +the misery and the burdens of this time, spring from one root, which +is selfishness; and that the reason why we are selfish, is because we +have not with us the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of brotherhood +and love. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to take that selfishness +out of all our hearts. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to +pour upon us, and upon all our countrymen, ay, and upon the whole world, +the spirit of friendship and fellow-feeling, the spirit which when men +have among them, they need no laws to keep them from supplanting, and +oppressing, and devouring each other, because its fruits are love, cheerfulness, +peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, honesty, meekness, temperance +Then there will be no need, my friends, for me to call you to the Supper +of the Lord. You will no more think of staying away from it, than +the Apostles did, when the Spirit was poured out on them. For +what do we read that they did after the first Whit-Sunday? That +altogether with one accord, they broke bread daily; that is, partook +of the Lord’s Supper every day, from house to house. They +did not need to be told to do it. They did it, as I may say, by +instinct. There was no question or argument about it in their +minds. They had found out that they were all brothers, with one +common cause in joy and sorrow—that they were all members of one +body—that the life of their souls came from one root and spring, +from one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the light and the life of men, +in whom they were all one, members of each other; and therefore, they +delighted in that Lord’s Supper, just because it brought them +together; just because it was a sign and a token to them that they did +belong to each other, that they had one Lord, one faith, one interest, +one common cause for this life, and for all eternity. And therefore +the blessing of that Lord’s Supper did come to them, and in it +they did receive strength to live like children of God and members of +Christ, and brothers to each other and to all mankind. They proved +by their actions what that Communion Feast, that Sacrament of Brotherhood, +had done for them. They proved it by not counting their own lives +dear to them, but going forth in the face of poverty and persecution, +and death itself, to preach to the whole world the good news that Christ +was their King. They proved it by their conduct to each other +when they had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, +and parted them to all, as every man had need. They proved it +by needing no laws to bind them to each other from without, because +they were bound to each other from within, by the love which comes down +from God, and is the very bond of peace, and of every virtue which becomes +a man.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XI—ASCENSION-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his +hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, +he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they +worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy; and were continually +in the temple, praising and blessing God—LUKE xxiv. 50-53.</p> +<p>On this day it is fit and proper for us—if we have understood, +and enjoyed, and profited by the wonder of the Lord’s Ascension +into Heaven—to be in the same state of mind as the Apostles were +after His Ascension: for what was right for them is right for us and +for all men; the same effects which it produced on them it ought to +produce on us. And we may know whether we are in the state in +which Christian men ought to be, by seeing how far we are in the same +state of mind as the Apostles were. Now the text tells us in what +state of mind they were; how that, after the Lord Jesus was parted from +them, and carried up into Heaven, they worshipped Him, and returned +to Jerusalem, with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising +and blessing God. It seems at first sight certainly very strange +that they should go back with great joy. They had just lost their +Teacher, their Master—One who had been more to them than all friends +and fathers could be; One who had taken them, poor simple fishermen, +and changed the whole course of their lives, and taught them things +which He had taught to no one else, and given them a great and awful +work to do—the work of changing the ways and thoughts and doings +of the whole world. He had sent them out—eleven unlettered +working men—to fight against the sin and the misery of the whole +world. And He had given them open warning of what they were to +expect; that by it they should win neither credit, nor riches, nor ease, +nor anything else that the world thinks worth having. He gave +them fair warning that the world would hate them, and try to crush them. +He told them, as the Gospel for to-day says, that they should be driven +out of the churches; that the religious people, as well as the irreligious, +would be against them; that the time would come when those who killed +them would think that they did God service; that nothing but labour, +and want, and persecution, and slander, and torture, and death was before +them—and now He had gone away and left them. He had vanished +up into the empty air. They were to see His face, and hear His +voice no more. They were to have no more of His advice, no more +of His teaching, no more of His tender comfortings; they were to be +alone in the world—eleven poor working men, with the whole world +against them, and so great a business to do that they would not have +time to get their bread by the labour of their hands. Is it not +wonderful that they did not sit down in despair, and say, “What +will become of us?” Is it not wonderful that they did not +give themselves up to grief at losing the Teacher who was worth all +the rest of the world put together? Is it not wonderful that they +did not go back, each one to his old trade, to his fishing and to his +daily labour, saying, “At all events we must eat; at all events +we must get our livelihood;” and end, as they had begun, in being +mere labouring men, of whom the world would never have heard a word? +And instead of that we read that they went back with great joy not to +their homes but to Jerusalem, the capital city of their country, and +“were continually in the temple blessing and praising God.” +Well, my friends, and if it is possible for one man to judge what another +man would have done—if it is possible to guess what we should +have done in their case—common-sense must show us this, that if +He was merely their Teacher, they would have either given themselves +up to despair, or gone back, some to their plough, some to their fishing-nets, +and some, like Matthew, to their counting-houses, and we should never +have heard a word of them. But if you will look in your Bibles, +you will find that they thought Him much more than a teacher—that +they thought Him to be the Lord and King of the whole world; and you +will find that the great joy with which the disciples went back, after +He ascended into heaven, came from certain very strange words that He +had been speaking to them just before He ascended—words about +which they could have but two opinions: either they must have thought +that they were utter falsehood, and self-conceit, and blasphemy; and +that Jesus, who had been all along speaking to them such words of wisdom +and holiness as never man spake before, had suddenly changed His whole +character at the last, and become such a sort of person as it is neither +fit for me to speak of, or you to hear me speak of, in God’s church, +and in Jesus Christ’s hearing, even though it be merely for the +sake of argument; or else they must have thought <i>this</i> about His +words, that they were the most joyful and blessed words that ever had +been spoken on the earth; that they were the best of all news; the most +complete of all Gospels for this poor sinful world; that what Jesus +had said about Himself was true; and that as long as it was true, it +did not matter in the least what became of them; it did not matter in +the least what difficulties stood in their way, for they would be certain +to conquer them all; it did not matter in the least how men might persecute +and slander them, for they would be sure to get their reward; it did +not matter in the least how miserable and sinful the world might be +just then, for it was certain to be changed, and converted, and brought +to God, to righteousness, to love, to freedom, to light, at last.</p> +<p>If you look at the various accounts, in the four gospels, of the +Lord’s last words on earth, you will see, surely, what I mean. +Let us take them one by one.</p> +<p>St. Matthew tells us that, a few days before the Lord’s ascension, +He met His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where he had appointed +them to await him; and there told them, that all power was given to +Him in heaven and earth. Was not that blessed news—was not +that a gospel? That all the power in heaven and earth belonged +to <i>Him</i>? To Him, who had all His life been doing good? +To Him, in whom there had never been one single stain of tyranny or +selfishness? To Him, who had been the friend of publicans and +sinners? To Him, who had rebuked the very richest, and loved the +very poorest? To him, who had shown that He had both the power +and the will to heal every kind of sickness and disease? To Him, +who had conquered and driven out, wherever He met them, all the evil +spirits which enslave and torment poor sinful men? To Him, who +had shown by rising from the dead, that He was stronger than even death +itself? To Him, who had declared that He was the Son of God the +Father, that the great God who had made heaven and earth, and all therein, +was perfectly pleased and satisfied with Him, that He was come to do +His Father’s will, and not His own; that He was the ancient Lord +of the earth, the I AM who was before Abraham? And He was now +to have all power in heaven and earth! Everything which was done +right in the world henceforth, was to be His doing. The kingdom +and rule over the whole universe, was to be His. So He said; and +His disciples believed Him; and if they believed Him, how could they +but rejoice? How could they but rejoice at the glorious thought +that He, the son of the village maiden, the champion of the poor and +the suffering, was to have the government of the world for ever? +That He, who all the while He had been on earth had showed that He was +perfect justice, perfect love, perfect humanity, was to reign till He +had put all His enemies under His feet? How could the world but +prosper under such a King as that? How could wickedness triumph, +while He, the perfectly righteous one, was King? How could misery +triumph, while He, the perfectly merciful one, was King? How could +ignorance triumph, while He, the perfectly wise one, who had declared +that God the Father hid nothing from Him, was King? Unless the +disciples had been more dull and selfish than the dumb beasts around +them, what could they do but rejoice at that news? What matter +to them if Jesus were taken out of their sight, as long as all power +was given to Him in heaven and earth?</p> +<p>But He had told them more. He had told them that they were +not to keep this glorious secret to themselves. No: they were +to go forth and preach the gospel of it, the good news of it, to every +creature—to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. The +good news that God was the King of men, after all; that cruel tyrants +and oppressors, and conquerors, were not their kings; that neither the +storms over their heads, nor the earth under their feet, nor the clouds +and the rivers whom the heathens used to worship in the hope of persuading +the earth and the weather to be favourable to them, and bless their +harvests, were their kings; that idols of wood and stone, and evil spirits +of lust, and cruelty, and covetousness, were not their kings; but that +God was their King; that He loved them, He pitied them in spite of all +their sins; that He had sent His only begotten Son into the world to +teach them, to live for them—to die for them—to claim them +for His own. And, therefore, they were to go and baptize all nations, +as a sign that they were to repent, and change, and put away all their +old false and evil heathen life, and rise to a new life, they and their +children after them, as God’s children, God’s family, brothers +of the Son of God. And they were to baptize them into a name; +showing that they belonged to those into whose name they were baptized; +into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. +They were to be baptized into the name of the Father, as a sign that +God was their Father, and they His children. They were to be baptized +into the name of the Son, as a sign that the Son, Jesus Christ, was +their King and head; and not merely their King and head, but their Saviour, +who had taken away the sin of the world, and redeemed it for God, with +His own most precious blood; and not merely their Saviour, but their +pattern; that they might know that they were bound to become as far +as is possible for mortal man such sons of God as Jesus himself had +been, like Him obedient, pure, forgiving, brotherly, caring for each +other and not for themselves, doing their heavenly Father’s will +and not their own. And they were to baptize all nations into the +name of the Holy Spirit, for a sign that God’s Spirit, the Lord +and giver of life, would be with them, to give them new life, new holiness, +new manfulness; to teach, and guide, and strengthen them for ever. +That was the gospel which they had to preach. The good news that +the Son of God was the King of men. That was the name into which +they were to baptize all nations—the name of children of God, +members of Christ, heirs of a heavenly and spiritual kingdom, which +should go on age after age, for ever, growing and spreading men knew +not how, as the grains of mustard-seed, which at first the least of +all seeds, grows up into a great tree, and the birds of the air come +and lodge in the branches of it—to go on, I say, from age to age, +improving, cleansing, and humanising, and teaching the whole world, +till the kingdoms of the earth became the kingdoms of God and of His +Christ. That was the work which the Apostles had given them to +do. Do you not see, friends, that unless those Apostles had been +the most selfish of men, unless all they cared for was their own gain +and comfort, they must have rejoiced? The whole world was to be +set right—what matter what happened to them? And, therefore, +I said at the beginning of my sermon, that a sure way to know whether +our minds were in a right state, was to see whether we felt about it +as the Apostles felt. The Bible tells us to rejoice always, to +praise and give thanks to God always. If we believe what the Apostles +believed, we shall be joyful; if we do not, we shall not be joyful. +If we believe in the words which the Lord spoke before He ascended on +high, we shall be joyful. If we believe that all power in heaven +and earth is His, we shall be joyful. If we believe that the son +of the village maiden has ascended up on high, and received gifts for +men, we shall be joyful. If we believe that, as our baptism told +us, God is our Father, the Son of God our Saviour, the Spirit of God +ready to teach and guide us, we shall be joyful. Do you answer +me, “But the world goes on so ill; there is so much sin, and misery, +and folly, and cruelty in it; how can we be joyful?” I answer: +There was a hundred times as much sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty, +in the Apostles’ time, and yet they were joyful, and full of gladness, +blessing and praising God. If you answer, “But we are so +slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, and hard-worked, and ill-treated; +we have no time to enjoy ourselves, or do the things which we should +like best. How can we be joyful?” I answer: So were the +Apostles. They knew that they would be a hundred times as much +slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, as you can ever be; that +they would have far less time to enjoy themselves, far less opportunity +of doing the things which they liked best, than you can ever have; they +knew that misery, and persecution, and a shameful death were before +them, and yet they were joyful and full of gladness, blessing and praising +God. And why should you not be? For what was true for them +is true for you. They had no blessing, no hope, but what you have +just as good a right to as they had. They were joyful, because +God was their Father, and God is your Father. They were joyful +because they and all men belonged to God’s family; and you belong +to it. They were joyful, because God’s Spirit was promised +to them, to make them like God; and God’s Spirit was promised +to you. They were joyful, because a poor man was king of heaven +and earth; and that poor man, Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, +is as much your King now as He was theirs then. They were joyful, +because the whole world was going to improve under His rule and government; +and the whole world is improving, and will go on improving for ever. +They were joyful, because Jesus, whom they had known as a poor, despised, +crucified man on earth, had ascended up to heaven in glory; and if you +believe the same, you will be joyful too. In proportion as you +believe the mystery of Ascension-day; if you believe the words which +the Lord spoke before He ascended, you will have cheerful, joyful, hopeful +thoughts about yourselves, and about the whole world; if you do not, +you will be in continual danger of becoming suspicious and despairing, +fancying the world still worse than it is, fancying that God has neglected +and forgotten it, fancying that the devil is stronger than God, and +man’s sins wider than Christ’s redemption till you will +think it neither worth while to do right yourselves, nor to make others +do right towards you.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XII—THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>A Sermon Preached at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, +May 4th</i>, 1851<i>, in behalf of the Westminster Hospital</i>.)</p> +<p>When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received +gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, that the Lord God might dwell +among them.—PSALM lxviii. 18, and EPHESIANS iv. 8.</p> +<p>If, a thousand years ago, a congregation in this place had been addressed +upon the text which I have chosen, they would have had, I think, little +difficulty in applying its meaning to themselves, and in mentioning +at once innumerable instances of those gifts which the King of men had +received for men, innumerable signs that the Lord God was really dwelling +amongst them. But amongst those signs, I think, they would have +mentioned several which we are not now generally accustomed to consider +in such a light. They would have pointed not merely to the building +of churches, the founding of schools, the spread of peace, the decay +of slavery; but to the importation of foreign literature, the extension +of the arts of reading, writing, painting, architecture, the improvement +of agriculture, and the introduction of new and more successful methods +of the cure of diseases. They might have expressed themselves +on these points in a way that we consider now puerile and superstitious. +They might have attributed to the efficacy of prayer, many cures which +we now attribute—shall I say? to no cause whatsoever. They +may have quoted as an instance of St. Cuthbert’s sanctity, rather +than of his shrewd observations, his discovery of a spring of water +in the rocky floor of his cell, and his success in growing barley upon +the barren island where wheat refused to germinate; and we might have +smiled at their superstition, and smiled, too, at their seeing any consequence +of Christianity, any token that the kingdom of God was among them, in +Bishop Wilfred’s rescuing the Hampshire Saxons from the horrors +of famine, by teaching them the use of fishing-nets. But still +so they would have spoken—men of a turn of mind no less keen, +shrewd, and practical than we, their children; and if we had objected +to their so-called superstition that all these improvements in the physical +state of England were only the natural consequences of the introduction +of Roman civilisation by French and Italian missionaries, they would +have smiled at us in their turn, not perhaps without some astonishment +at our stupidity, and asked: “Do you not see, too, that <i>that</i> +is in itself a sign of the kingdom of God—that these nations who +have been for ages selfishly isolated from each other, except for purposes +of conquest and desolation, should be now teaching each other, helping +each other, interchanging more and more, generation by generation, their +arts, their laws, their learning becoming fused down under the influence +of a common Creed, and loyalty to one common King in Heaven, from their +state of savage jealousy and warfare, into one great Christendom, and +family of God?” And if, my friends, as I think, those forefathers +of ours could rise from their graves this day, they would be inclined +to see in our hospitals, in our railroads, in the achievements of our +physical Science, confirmation of that old superstition of theirs, proofs +of the kingdom of God, realisations of the gifts which Christ received +for men, vaster than any of which they had ever dreamed. They +might be startled at God’s continuing those gifts to us, who hold +on many points a creed so different from theirs. They might be +still more startled to see in the Great Exhibition of all Nations, which +is our present nine-days’ wonder, that those blessings were not +restricted by God even to nominal Christians, but that His love, His +teaching, with regard to matters of civilisation and physical science, +were extended, though more slowly and partially, to the Mahometan and +the Heathen. And it would be a wholesome lesson to them, to find +that God’s grace was wider than their narrow theories; perhaps +they may have learnt it already in the world of spirits. But of +its <i>being</i> God’s grace, there would be no doubt in their +minds. They would claim unhesitatingly, and at once, that great +Exhibition established in a Christian country, as a point of union and +brotherhood for all people, for a sign that God was indeed claiming +all the nations of the world as His own—proving by the most enormous +facts that He had sent down a Pentecost, gifts to men which would raise +them not merely spiritually, but physically and intellectually, beyond +anything which the world had ever seen, and had poured out a spirit +among them which would convert them in the course of ages, gradually, +but most surely and really, from a pandemonium of conquerors and conquered, +devourers and devoured, into a family of fellow-helping brothers, until +the kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of God and of His Christ.</p> +<p>But I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple old +Saxon faith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it makes the +preacher this day, that the time of real brotherhood and peace is still +but too far off; and that the achievements of our physical science, +the unity of this great Exhibition, noble as they are, are still only +dim forecastings and prophecies, as it were, of a higher, nobler reality. +And they would say sadly to us, their children: “Sons, you ought +to be so near to God; He seems to have given you so much and to have +worked among you as He never worked for any nation under heaven. +How is it that you give the glory to yourselves, and not to Him?”</p> +<p>For do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, in +any real, honest, and practical sense? There may be some official +and perfunctory talk of God’s blessing on our endeavours; but +there seems to be no real belief in us that God, the inspiration of +God, is the very fount and root of the endeavours themselves; that He +teaches us these great discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this +wondrous wealth; that He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. +True, we keep up something of the form and tradition of the old talk +about such things; we join in prayer to God to bless our great Exhibition, +but we do not believe—we do not believe, my friends—that +it was God who taught us to conceive, build, and arrange that Great +Exhibition; and our notion of God’s blessing it, seems to be God’s +absence from it; a hope and trust that God will leave it and us alone, +and not “visit” it or us in it, or “interfere” +by any “special providences,” by storms, or lightning, or +sickness, or panic, or conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that we could +manage it all perfectly well without God, but that as He exists, and +has some power over natural phenomena, which is not very exactly defined, +we must notice His existence over and above our work, lest He should +become angry and “visit” us . . . And this in spite of words +which were spoken by one whose office it was to speak them, as the representative +of the highest and most sacred personage in these realms; words which +deserve to be written in letters of gold on the high places of this +city; in which he spoke of this Exhibition as an “approach to +a more complete fulfilment of the great and sacred mission which man +has to perform in the world;” when he told the English people +that “man’s reason being created in the image of God, he +has to discover the laws by which Almighty God governs His creations, +and by making these laws the standard of his action, to conquer nature +to his use, himself a divine instrument;” when he spoke of “thankfulness +to Almighty God for what he has already <i>given</i>,” as the +first feeling which that Exhibition ought to excite in us; and as the +second, “the deep conviction that those blessings can only be +realised in proportion to”—not, as some would have it, the +rivalry and selfish competition—but “in proportion to the +<i>help</i> which we are prepared to render to each other; and, therefore, +by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals, +but between all nations of the earth.” We read those great +words; but in the hearts of how few, alas! to judge from our modern +creed on such matters, must the really important and distinctive points +of them find an echo! To how few does this whole Exhibition seem +to have been anything but a matter of personal gain or curiosity, for +national aggrandisement, insular self-glorification, and selfish—I +had almost said, treacherous—rivalry with the very foreigners +whom we invited as our guests?</p> +<p>And so, too, with our cures of diseases. We speak of God’s +blessing the means, and God’s blessing the cure. But all +we really mean by blessing them, is permitting them. Do not our +hearts confess that our notion of His blessing the means, is His leaving +the means to themselves and their own physical laws—leaving, in +short, the cure to us and not preventing our science doing its work, +and asserting His own existence by bringing on some unexpected crisis, +or unfortunate relapse—if, indeed, the old theory that He does +bring on such, be true?</p> +<p>Our old forefathers, on the other hand, used to believe that in medicine, +as in everything else, God taught men all that they knew. They +believed the words of the Wise Man when he said that “the Spirit +of God gives man understanding.” The method by which Solomon +believed himself to have obtained all his physical science and knowledge +of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the +wall, was in their eyes the only possible method. They believed +the words of Isaiah when he said of the tillage and the rotation of +crops in use among the peasants of his country, that their God instructed +them to discretion and taught them; and that even the various methods +of threshing out the various species of grain came “forth from +the Lord of hosts, who is excellent in counsel, and wonderful in working.”</p> +<p>Such a method, you say, seems to you now miraculous. It did +not seem to our forefathers miraculous that God should teach man; it +seemed to them most simple, most rational, most natural, an utterly +every-day axiom. They thought it was because so few of the heathen +were taught by God that they were no wiser than they were. They +thought that since the Son of God had come down and taken our nature +upon Him, and ascended up on high and received gifts for men, that it +was now the right and privilege of every human being who was willing +to be taught of God, as the prophet foretold in those very words; and +that baptism was the very sign and seal of that fact—a sign that +for every human being, whatever his age, sex, rank, intellect, or race, +a certain measure of the teaching of God and of the Spirit of God was +ready, promised, sure as the oath of Him that made heaven and the earth, +and all things therein. That was Solomon’s belief. +We do not find that it made him a fanatic and an idler, waiting with +folded hands for inspiration to come to him he knew not how nor whence. +His belief that wisdom was the revelation and gift of God did not prevent +him from seeking her as silver, and searching for her as hid treasures, +from applying his heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning +all things that are done under heaven; and we do not find that it prevented +our forefathers. Ceadmon’s belief that God inspired him +with the poetic faculty, did not make him the less laborious and careful +versifier. Bishop John’s blessing the dumb boy’s tongue +in the name of Him whom he believed to be Word of God and the Master +of that poor dumb boy, did not prevent his anticipating some of the +discoveries of our modern wise men, in setting about a most practical +and scientific cure. Alfred’s continual prayers for light +and inspiration made him no less a laborious and thoughtful student +of war and law, of physics, language, and geography. These old +Teutons, for all these superstitions of theirs, were perhaps as businesslike +and practical in those days as we their children are in these. +But that did not prevent their believing that unless God showed them +a thing, they could not see it, and thanking Him honestly enough for +the comparative little which He did show them. But we who enjoy +the accumulated teaching of ages—we to whose researches He is +revealing year by year, almost week by weeks wonders of which they never +dreamed—we whom He has taught to make the lame to walk, the dumb +to speak, the blind to see, to exterminate the pestilence and defy the +thunderbolt, to multiply millionfold the fruits of learning, to annihilate +time and space, to span the heavens, and to weigh the sun—what +madness is this which has come upon us in these last days, to make us +fancy that we, insects of a day, have found out these things for ourselves, +and talk big about the progress of the species, and the triumphs of +intellect, and the all-conquering powers of the human mind, and give +the glory of all this inspiration and revelation, not to God, but to +ourselves? Let us beware, beware—lest our boundless pride +and self-satisfaction, by some mysterious yet most certain law, avenge +itself—lest like the Assyrian conqueror of old, while we stand +and cry, “Is not this great Babylon which I have built?” +our reason, like his, should reel and fall beneath the narcotic of our +own maddening self-conceit, and while attempting to scale the heavens +we overlook some pitfall at our feet, and fall as learned idiots, suicidal +pedants, to be a degradation, and a hissing, and a shame.</p> +<p>However strongly you may differ from these opinions of our own forefathers +with regard to the ground and cause of physical science, and the arts +of healing, I am sure that the recollection of the thrice holy ground +upon which we stand, beneath the shadow of venerable piles, witnesses +for the creeds, the laws, the liberties, which those our ancestors have +handed down to us, will preserve you from the temptation of dismissing +with hasty contempt their thoughts upon any subject so important; will +make you inclined to listen to their opinion with affection, if not +with reverence; and save, perhaps, the preacher from a sneer when he +declares that the doctrine of those old Saxon men is, in his belief, +not only the most Scriptural, but the most rational and scientific explanation +of the grounds of all human knowledge.</p> +<p>At least, I shall be able to quote in support of my own opinion a +name from which there can be no appeal in the minds of a congregation +of educated Englishmen—I mean Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, the +spiritual father of the modern science, and, therefore, of the chemistry +and the medicine of the whole civilised world. If there is one +thing which more than another ought to impress itself on the mind of +a careful student of his works, it is this—that he considered +science as the inspiration of God, and every separate act of induction +by which man arrives at a physical law, as a revelation from the Maker +of those laws; and that the faith which gave him daring to face the +mystery of the universe, and proclaim to men that they could conquer +nature by obeying her, was his deep, living, practical belief that there +was One who had ascended up on high and led captive in the flesh and +spirit of a man those very idols of sense which had been themselves +leading men’s minds captive, enslaving them to the illusions of +their own senses, forcing them to bow down in vague awe and terror before +those powers of Nature, which God had appointed, not to be their tyrants, +but their slaves. I will not special-plead particulars from his +works, wherein I may consider that he asserts this. I will rather +say boldly that the idea runs through every line he ever wrote; that +unless seen in the light of that faith, the grounds of his philosophy +ought to be as inexplicable to us, as they would, without it, have been +impossible to himself. As has been well said of him: “Faith +in God as the absolute ground of all human as well as of all natural +laws; the belief that He had actually made Himself known to His creatures, +and that it was possible for them to have a knowledge of Him, cleared +from the phantasies and idols of their own imaginations and understandings; +this was the necessary foundation of all that great man’s mind +and speculations, to whatever point they were tending, and however at +times they might be darkened by too close a familiarity with the corruptions +and meannesses of man, or too passionate an addiction to the contemplation +of Nature. Nor should it ever be forgotten that he owed all the +clearness and distinctness of his mind to his freedom from that Pantheism +which naturally disposes to a vague admiration and adoration of Nature, +to the belief that it is stronger and nobler than ourselves; that we +are servants, and puppets, and portions of it, and not its lords and +rulers. If Bacon had in anywise confounded Nature with God—if +he had not entertained the strongest practical feeling that men were +connected with God through One who had taken upon Him their nature, +it is impossible that he could have discovered that method of dealing +with physics which has made a physical science possible.”</p> +<p>No really careful student of his works, but must have perceived this, +however glad, alas! he may have felt at times to thrust the thought +of it from him, and try to think that Francis Bacon’s Christianity +was something over and above his philosophy—a religion which he +left behind him at the church-door—or only sprinkled up and down +his works so much of it as should shield him in a bigoted age from the +suspicion of materialism. A strange theory, and yet one which +so determined is man to see nothing, whether it be in the Bible or in +the Novum Organum, but what each wishes to see, has been deliberately +put forth again and again by men who fancy, forsooth, that the greatest +of English heroes was even such an one as themselves. One does +not wonder to find among the general characteristics of those writers +who admire Bacon as a materialist, the most utter incapacity of philosophising +on Bacon’s method, the very restless conceit, the hasty generalisation, +the hankering after cosmogonic theories, which Bacon anathematises in +every page. Yes, I repeat it, we owe our medical and sanitary +science to Bacon’s philosophy; and Bacon owed his philosophy to +his Christianity.</p> +<p>Oh! it is easy for us, amid the marvels of our great hospitals, now +grown commonplace in our eyes from very custom, to talk of the empire +of mind over matter; for us—who reap the harvest whereof Bacon +sowed the seed. But consider, how great the faith of that man +must have been, who died in hope, not having received the promises, +but seeing them afar off, and haunted to his dying day with glorious +visions of a time when famine and pestilence should vanish before a +scientific obedience—to use his own expression—to the will +of God, revealed in natural facts. Thus we can understand how +he dared to denounce all that had gone before him as blind and worthless +guides, and to proclaim himself to the world as the one restorer of +true physical philosophy. Thus we can understand how he, the cautious +and patient man of the world, dared indulge in those vast dreams of +the scientific triumphs of the future. Thus we can understand +how he dared hint at the expectation that men would some day even conquer +death itself; because he believed that man had conquered death already, +in the person of its King and Lord—in the flesh of Him who ascended +up on high, and led captivity captive, and received gifts for men. +The “empire of mind over matter?” What practical proof +had he of it amid the miserable alternations of empiricism and magic +which made up the pseudo-science of his time; amid the theories and +speculations of mankind, which, as he said, were “but a sort of +madness—useless alike for discovery or for operation.” +What right had he, more than any other man who had gone before him, +to believe that man could conquer and mould to his will the unseen and +tremendous powers which work in every cloud and every flower? that he +could dive into the secret mysteries of his own body, and renew his +youth like the eagle’s? This ground he had for that faith—that +he believed, as he says himself, that he must “begin from God; +and that the pursuit of physical science clearly proceeds from Him, +the Author of good, and Father of light.” This gave him +faith to say that in this as in all other Divine works, the smallest +beginnings lead assuredly to some result, and that the “remark +in spiritual matters, that the kingdom of God cometh without observation, +is also found to be true in every great work of Divine Providence; so +that everything glides on quietly without confusion or noise, and the +matter is achieved before men either think or perceive that it is commenced.” +This it was which gave him courage to believe that his own philosophy +might be the actual fulfilment of the prophecy, that in the last days +many should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased—words +which, like hundreds of others in his works, sound like the outpourings +of an almost blasphemous self-conceit, till we recollect that he looked +on science only as the inspiration of God, and man’s empire over +nature only as the consequence of the redemption worked out for him +by Christ, and begin to see in them the expressions of the deepest and +most divine humility.</p> +<p>I doubt not that many here will be far more able than I am practically +to apply the facts which I have been adducing to the cause of the hospital +for which I am pleading. But there is one consequence of them +to which I must beg leave to draw attention more particularly, especially +at the present era of our nation. If, then, these discoveries +of science be indeed revelations and inspirations from God, does it +not follow that all classes, even the poorest and the most ignorant, +the most brutal, have an equal right to enjoy the fruits of them? +Does it not follow that to give to the poor their share in the blessings +which chemical and medical science are working out for us, is not a +matter of charity or benevolence, but of <i>duty</i>, of indefeasible, +peremptory, immediate duty? For consider, my friends; the Son +of God descends on earth, and takes on Him not only the form, but the +very nature, affections, trials, and sorrows of a man. He proclaims +Himself as the person who has been all along ruling, guiding, teaching, +improving men; the light who lighteth every man who cometh into the +world. He proclaims Himself by acts of wondrous power to be the +internecine foe and conqueror of every form of sorrow, slavery, barbarism, +weakness, sickness, death itself. He proclaims Himself as One +who is come to give His life for His sheep—One who is come to +restore to men the likeness in which they were originally created, the +likeness of their Father in Heaven, who accepteth the person of no man—who +causeth His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, who sendeth His +rain on the just and on the unjust, in whose sight the meanest publican, +if his only consciousness be that of his own baseness and worthlessness, +is more righteous than the most learned, respectable, and self-satisfied +pharisee. He proclaims Himself the setter-up of a kingdom into +which the publican and the harlot will pass sooner than the rich, the +mighty, and the noble; a kingdom in which all men are to be brothers, +and their bond of union loyalty to One who spared not His own life for +the sheep, who came not to do His own, but the will of the Father who +had sent Him, and who showed by His toil among the poor, the outcast, +the ignorant, and the brutal, what that same will was like. With +His own life-blood He seals this Covenant between God and man. +He offers up His own body as the first-fruits of this great kingdom +of self-sacrifice. He takes poor fishermen and mechanics, and +sends them forth to acquaint all men with the good news that God is +their King, and to baptize them as subjects of that kingdom, bound to +rise in baptism to a new life, a life of love, and brotherhood, and +self-sacrifice, like His own. He commands them to call all nations +to that sacred Feast wherein there is neither rich nor poor, but the +same bread and the same wine are offered to the monarch and to the slave, +as signs of their common humanity, their common redemption, their common +interest—signs that they derive their life, their health, their +reason, their every faculty of body, soul, and spirit, from One who +walked the earth as the son of a poor carpenter, who ate and drank with +publicans and sinners. He sends down His Spirit on them with gifts +of language, eloquence, wisdom, and healing, as mere earnests and first-fruits; +so they said, of that prophecy that He would pour out His Spirit upon +all flesh, even upon slaves and handmaids. And these poor fishermen +feel themselves impelled by a divine and irresistible impulse to go +forth to the ends of the world, and face persecution, insult, torture, +and death—not in order that they may make themselves lords over +mankind, but that they may tell them that One is their Master, even +Jesus Christ, both God and man—that <i>He</i> rules the world, +and will rule it, and <i>can</i> rule it, that in His sight there is +no distinction of race, or rank, or riches, neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, +Scythian, bond or free. And, as a fact, their message has prevailed +and been believed; and in proportion as it has prevailed, not merely +individual sanctity or piety, but liberty, law, peace, civilisation, +learning, art, science, the gifts which he bought for men with His blood, +have followed in its train: while the nations who have not received +that message that God was their King, or having received it have forgotten +it, or perverted it into a superstition and an hypocrisy, have in exactly +that proportion fallen back into barbarism and bloodshed, slavery and +misery. My friends, if this philosophy of history, this theory +of human progress, or as I should call it, this Gospel of the Kingdom +of God mean anything—does it not mean this? this which our forefathers +believed, dimly and inconsistently perhaps, but still believed it, else +we had not been here this day—that we are not our own, but the +servants of Jesus Christ, and brothers of each other—that the +very constitution and ground-law of this human species which has been +redeemed by Christ, is the self-sacrifice which Christ displayed as +the one perfection of humanity—that all rank, property, learning, +science, are only held by their possessors in trust from that King who +has distributed them to each according as He will, that each might use +them for the good of all, certain—as certain as God’s promise +can make man—that if by giving up our own interest for the interest +of others, we seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness between +man and man, which we call <i>mercy</i>, according to which it is constituted, +all other things, health, wealth, peace, and every other blessing which +humanity can desire, shall be added unto us over and above, as the natural +and necessary fruits of a society founded according to the will of God, +and declared in his Son Jesus Christ, and therefore according to those +physical laws, whereof He is at once the Creator, the Director, and +the Revealer?</p> +<p>This was the faith of our forefathers, both laity and clergy—that +the Lord was King, be the people never so unquiet; that men were His +stewards and His pupils only, and not His vicars; that they were equal +in His sight, and not the slaves and tyrants of each other; and that +the help that was done upon earth, He did it all Himself. Dimly, +doubtless, they saw it, and inconsistently: but they saw it, and to +their faith in that great truth we owe all that has made England really +noble among the nations. Of the fruits of that faith every venerable +building around us should remind us. To that faith in the laity, +we owe the abolition of serfdom, the freedom of our institutions, the +laws which provide equal justice between man and man; to that faith +in the clergy, and especially in the monastic orders, we owe the endowment +of our schools and universities, the improvement of agriculture, the +preservation and the spread of all the liberal arts and sciences, as +far as they were then discovered; so that every one of those abbeys +which we now revile so ignorantly, became a centre of freedom, protection, +healing, and civilisation, a refuge for the oppressed, a well-spring +of mercy for the afflicted, a practical witness to the nation that property +and science were not the private and absolute possession of men, but +only held in trust from God for the benefit of the common weal: and +just in proportion as in the 14th and 15th centuries those institutions +fell from their first estate, and began to fancy that their wealth and +wisdom was their own, acquired by their own cunning, to be used for +their own aggrandizement, they became an imposture and imbecility, an +abomination and a ruin. And it was this faith, too, in a still +nobler and clearer form, which at the Reformation inspired the age which +could produce a Ridley, a Latimer, an Elizabeth, a Shakspeare, a Spenser, +a Raleigh, a Bacon, and a Milton; which knit together, in spite of religious +feuds and social wrongs, the nation of England with a bond which all +the powers of hell endeavoured in vain to break. Doubtless, there +too there was inconsistency enough. Elizabeth may have mixed up +ambitious dynastic dreams with her intense belief that God had given +her her wisdom, her learning, her mighty will, only to be the servant +of His servants and defender of the faith. Men like Drake and +Raleigh, while they were believing that God had sent them forth to smite +with the sword of the Lord the devourers of the earth, the destroyers +of religion, freedom, civilisation, and national life, may have been +unfaithful to what they believed their divine mission, and fancied that +they might use their wisdom and valour that God gave them for their +selfish ends, till they committed (as some say) acts of rapacity and +cruelty worthy of the merest buccaneer. But <i>that</i> was not +what made them conquer—that was not what made the wealth and the +might of Spain melt away before their little bands of heroes; but the +same old faith, shining out in all their noblest acts and words, that +“the Lord <i>was</i> King, and that the help that was done upon +earth, He did it all Himself?” So again, Bacon may have +fancied, and did fancy in his old age, that he might use his deep knowledge +of mankind for his own selfish ends—that he might indulge himself +in building himself up a name that might fill all the earth, that he +who had done so much for God and for mankind, might be allowed to do +at last somewhat for himself, and tempted, by a paltry bribe, fall for +awhile, as David did before him, that God, and not he, might have the +glory of all his wisdom. But then he was less than himself; then +he had but lost sight of his lode-star. Then he had forgotten, +but only for awhile, that he owed all to the teaching of that God who +had given to the young and obscure advocate the mission of affecting +the destinies of nations yet unborn.</p> +<p>And believe me, my friends, even as it has been with our forefathers, +so it will be with us. According to our faith will it be unto +us, now as it was of old. In proportion as we believe that wealth, +science, and civilisation are the work and property of man, in just +that proportion we shall be tempted to keep them selfishly and exclusively +to ourselves. The man of science will be tempted to hide his discoveries, +though men may be perishing for lack of them, till he can sell them +to the highest bidder; the rich man will be tempted to purchase them +for himself, in order that he may increase his own comfort and luxury, +and feel comparatively lazy and careless about their application to +the welfare of the masses; he will be tempted to pay an exorbitant price +for anything that can increase his personal convenience, and yet when +the question is about improving the supply of necessaries to the poor, +stand haggling about considerations of profitable investment, excuse +himself from doing the duty which lies nearest to him by visions of +distant profit, of which a thousand unexpected accidents may deprive +him after all, and make his boasted scientific care for the wealth of +the nation an excuse for leaving tens of thousands worse housed and +worse fed than his own beasts of burden. The poor man will be +tempted franctically to oppose his selfishness and unbelief to the selfishness +and unbelief of the rich, and clutch from him by force the comfort which +really belong to neither of them, in order that he may pride himself +in them and misuse them in his turn; and the clergy will be tempted, +as they have too often been tempted already, to fancy that reason is +the enemy, and not the twin sister of faith; to oppose revelation to +science, as if God’s two messages could contradict each other; +to widen the Manichæan distinction between secular and spiritual +matters, so pleasant to the natural atheism of fallen man; to fancy +that they honour God by limiting as much as possible His teaching, His +providence, His wisdom, His love, and His kingdom, and to pretend that +they are defending the creeds of the Catholic Church, by denying to +them any practical or real influence on the economic, political, and +physical welfare of mankind. But in proportion as we hold to the +old faith of our forefathers concerning science and civilisation, we +shall feel it not only a duty, but a glory and a delight, to make all +men sharers in them; to go out into the streets and lanes of the city +and call in the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, that they may sit +down and take their share of the good things which God has provided +in His kingdom for those who obey Him. Every new discovery will +be hailed by us as a fresh boon from God to be bestowed by the rain +and the sunshine freely upon us all. The sight of every sufferer +will make us ready to suspect and to examine ourselves lest we should +be in some indirect way the victim of some neglect or selfishness of +our own. Every disease will be a sign to us that in some respect +or other, the physical or moral laws of human nature have been overlooked +or broken. The existence of an unhealthy locality, the recurrence +of an epidemic, will be to us a subject of public shame and self-reproach. +Men of science will no longer go up and down entreating mankind in vain +to make use of their discoveries; the sanitary reformer will be no longer +like Wisdom crying in the streets and no man regarding her; and in every +ill to which flesh is heir we shall see an enemy of our King and Lord, +and an intruder into His Kingdom, against which we swore at our baptism +to fight with an inspiring and delicious certainty that God will prosper +the right; that His laws cannot change; that nature, and the disturbances +and poisons, and brute powers thereof, were meant to be the slaves, +and not the tyrants of a race whose head has conquered the grave itself.</p> +<p>This is no speculative dream. The progress of science is daily +proving it to be an actual truth; proving to us that a large proportion +of diseases—how large a proportion, no man yet dare say—are +preventible by science under the direction of that common justice and +mercy which man owes to man. The proper cultivation of the soil, +it is now clearly seen, will exterminate fevers and agues, and all the +frightful consequences of malaria. An attention to those simple +decencies and cleanlinesses of life of which even the wild animals feel +the necessity, will prevent the epidemics of our cities, and all the +frightful train of secondary diseases which follow them, or supply their +place. The question which is generally more and more forcing itself +on the minds of scientific men is not how many diseases are, but how +few are not, the consequences of man’s ignorance, barbarism, and +folly. The medical man is felt more and more to be as necessary +in health as he is in sickness, to be the fellow-workman not merely +of the clergyman, but of the social reformer, the political economist, +and the statesman; and the first object of his science to be prevention, +and not cure. But if all this be true, as true it is, we ought +to begin to look on hospitals as many medical men I doubt not do already, +in a sadder though in a no less important light. When we remember +that the majority of cases which fill their wards are cases of more +or less directly preventible diseases, the fruits of our social neglect, +too often of our neglect of the sufferers themselves, too often also +our neglect of their parents and forefathers; when we think how many +a bitter pang is engendered and propagated from generation to generation +in the noisome alleys and courts of this metropolis, by foul food, foul +bedrooms, foul air, foul water, by intemperance, the natural and almost +pardonable consequence of want of water, depressing and degrading employments, +and lives spent in such an atmosphere of filth as our daintier nostrils +could not endure a day: then we should learn to look upon these hospitals +not as acts of charity, supererogatory benevolences of ours towards +those to whom we owe nothing, but as confessions of sin, and worthy +fruits of penitence; as poor and late and partial compensation for misery +which we might have prevented. And when again, taking up scientific +works, we find how vast a proportion of the remaining cases of disease +are produced directly or indirectly by the unhealthiness of certain +occupations, so certainly that the scientific man can almost prophesy +the average shortening of life, and the peculiar form of disease, incident +to any given form of city labour—when we find, to quote a single +instance, that a large proportion—one half, as I am informed—of +the female cases in certain hospitals, are those of women-servants suffering +from diseases produced by overwork in household labour, especially by +carrying heavy weights up the steep stairs of our London houses—when +we consider the large proportion of accident cases which are the result, +if not always of neglect in our social arrangements, still of danger +incurred in labouring for us, we shall begin to feel that our debts +towards the poorer classes, for whom this and other hospitals are instituted, +swells and mounts up to a burden which ought to be and would be intolerable +to us, if we had not some such means as this hospital affords of testifying +our contrition for neglect for which we cannot atone, and of practically +claiming in the hospital our brotherhood with those masses whom we pass +by so carelessly in the workshop and the street. What matters +it that they have undertaken a life of labour from necessity, and with +a full consciousness of the dangers they incur in it? For whom +have they been labouring, but for us? Their handiwork renders +our houses luxurious. We wear the clothes they make. We +eat the food they produce. They sit in darkness and the shadow +of death that we may enjoy light and life and luxury and civilisation. +True, they are free men, in name, not free though from the iron necessity +of crushing toil. Shall we make their liberty a cloak for our +licentiousness? and because they are our brothers and not our slaves, +answer with Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” +What if we have paid them the wages which they ask? We do not +feed our beasts of burden only as long as they are in health, and when +they fall sick leave them to cure themselves and starve—and these +are not our beasts of burden; they are members of Christ, children of +God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Prove it to them, then, +for they are in bitter danger of forgetting it in these days. +Prove to them, by helping to cure their maladies, that they are members +of Christ, that they do indeed belong to Him who without fee or payment +freely cured the sick of Judæa in old time. Prove to them +that they are children of God by treating them as such—as children +of Him without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, children of Him +whose love is over all His works, children of Him who defends the widow +and the fatherless, and sees that those who are in need or necessity +have right, and who maketh inquiry for the blood of the innocent. +Prove to them that they are inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, by +proving to them first of all that the Kingdom of Heaven exists, that +all, rich and poor alike, are brothers, and One their Master, He who +ascended up on high and led captivity captive, and received gifts for +men, the gifts of healing, the gifts of science, the gifts of civilisation, +the gifts of law, the gifts of order, the gifts of liberty, the gifts +of the spirit of love and brotherhood, of fellow-feeling and self-sacrifice, +of justice and humility, a spirit fit for a world of redeemed and pardoned +men, in which mercy is but justice, and self-sacrifice the truest self-interest; +a world, the King and Master of which is One who poured out his own +life-blood for the sake of those who hated him, that men should henceforth +live not for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again, and ascended +up on high and received gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell +among them.</p> +<p>And because all general truths can only be verified in particular +instances, verify your general faith in that Christianity which you +profess in this particular instance, by doing the duty which lies nearest +to you, and <i>giving</i>, <i>as it is called</i>, to this hospital +for which I now plead.</p> +<p>Thanks to the spirit and the attainments of the average of English +medical men and chaplains, to praise the management of any hospital +which is under their care, is a needless impertinence. Do you +find funds, there will be no fear as to their being well employed; and +no fear, alas! either of their services being in full demand, while +the sanitary state of vast streets of South London, lying close to this +hospital, are in a state in which they are, and in which private cupidity +and neglect seem willing to compel them to remain. It is on account +of its contiguity to these neglected, destitute, and poisonous localities, +that this hospital seems to me especially valuable. But though +situated in a part of London where its presence is especially needed, +it has not, from various causes which have arisen from no fault of its +own, attracted as much public notice as some other more magnificent +foundations; while it possesses one feature, peculiar I believe to it, +among our London hospitals, which seems to me to render it especially +deserving of support: I speak of the ward for incurable patients, in +which, instead of ending their days in the melancholy wards of a workhouse, +or amid those pestilential and crowded dwellings which have perhaps +produced their maladies, and which certainly will aggravate them, they +may have their heavy years of hopeless suffering softened by a continued +supply of constant comforts, and constant medical solicitude, such as +the best-conducted workhouse, or the most laborious staff of parish +surgeons, and district visitors, ay, not even the benevolence and self-sacrifice +of friends and relations, can possibly provide. I beseech you, +picture to yourselves the amount of mere physical comfort, not to mention +the higher blessings of spiritual teaching and consolation, accruing +to some poor tortured cripple, in the wards of this hospital; compare +it with the very brightest lot possible for him in the dwellings of +the lower, or even of the middle classes of the metropolis; then recollect +that these hospital luxuries, which would be unattainable by him elsewhere, +are but a tithe of those which you, in his situation, would consider +absolute necessaries, without which a life of suffering, ay, even of +health, were intolerable—and do unto others this day, as you would +that others should do unto you!</p> +<p>I might have taken some other and more popular method of drawing +your attention to this institution.</p> +<p>I might have tried to excite your feelings and sympathies by attempts +at pathetic or picturesque descriptions of suffering. But the +minister of a just God is bound to proclaim that God demands not <i>sentiment</i>, +but <i>justice</i>. The Bible knows nothing of the “religious +sentiments and emotions,” whereof we hear so much talk nowadays. +It speaks of <i>duty</i>. “Beloved, if God so loved us, +we <i>ought</i> to love one another.”</p> +<p>I might also have attempted to flatter you into giving, by representing +this as a “<i>good work</i>,” a work of charity and piety, +well pleasing to God; a sort of work of Protestant supererogation, fruits +of faith which we may show, if we like, up to a certain not very clearly +defined point of benevolence, but the absence of which probably will +not seriously affect our eternal salvation, still less our right to +call ourselves orthodox, Protestants, churchmen, worthy, kind-hearted, +respectable, blameless. The Bible knows nothing of such a religion; +it neither coaxes nor flatters, it <i>commands</i>. It demands +mercy, because mercy is justice; and declares with what measure we mete +to others, it shall be surely measured to us again. If therefore +my words shall seem to some here, to be not so much a humble request +as a peremptory demand, I cannot help it. I have pleaded the cause +of this hospital on the only solid ground of which I am aware, for doing +anything but evil to everyone around us who is not a private friend, +or a member of one’s own family. I ask you to help the poor +to their share in the gifts which Christ received for men, because they +are His gifts, and neither ours nor any man’s. Among these +venerable buildings, the signs and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, +and the blessings of that Kingdom which for a thousand years have been +spreading and growing among us—I ask it of you as citizens of +that Kingdom. Prove your brotherhood to the poor by restoring +to them a portion of that wealth which, without their labour, you could +never have possessed. Prove your brotherhood to them in a thousand +ways—in every way—in this way, because at this moment it +happens to be the nearest and the most immediate, and because the necessity +for it is nearer, more immediate, to judge by the signs of the times, +and most of all by their self-satisfied unconsciousness of danger, their +loud and shallow self-glorification, than ever it was before. +Work while it is called to-day, lest the night come wherein no man can +work, but only take his wages.</p> +<p>Again I say, I may seem to some here to have pleaded the cause of +this hospital in too harsh and peremptory a tone. . . . And yet +I have a ground of hope, in the English love of simple justice, in the +noble instances of benevolence and self-sacrifice among the wealthy +and educated, which are, thank God! increasing in number daily, as the +need of them increases—in these, I say, I have a ground of hope +that there are many here to-day who would sooner hear the language of +truth than of flattery; who will be more strongly moved toward a righteous +deed by being told that it is their duty toward God, their country, +and their fellow-citizens, than by any sentimental baits for personal +sympathy, or for the love of Pharisaic ostentation.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XIII—FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Sunday Morning</i>, <i>September</i> 27th, 1849.)</p> +<p>God’s judgments are from above, out of the sight of the wicked.—PSALM +X. 5.</p> +<p>We have just been praying to God to remove from us the cholera, which +we call a judgment of God, a chastisement; and God knows we have need +enough to do so. But we can hardly expect God to withdraw His +chastisement unless we correct the sins for which He chastised us, and +therefore unless we find out what particular sins have brought the evil +on us. For it is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to tell +God, in a general way, that we believe He is punishing us for our sins, +and then to avoid carefully confessing any particular sin, and to get +angry with anyone who tells us boldly <i>which</i> sin God is punishing +us for. But so goes the world. Everyone is ready to say, +“Oh! yes, we are all great sinners, miserable sinners!” +and then if you charge them with any particular sin, they bridle up +and deny <i>that</i> sin fiercely enough, and all sins one by one, confessing +themselves great sinners, and yet saying that they don’t know +what sins they have committed. No man really believes himself +a sinner, no man really confesses his sins, but the man who can honestly +put his finger on <i>this</i> sin or <i>that</i> sin which he has committed, +and is not afraid to confess to God, “<i>This</i> sin and <i>that</i> +sin have I done—<i>this</i> bad habit and <i>that</i> bad habit +have I cherished within me.” Therefore, I say, it is no +use for us Englishmen to dream that we can flatter and persuade the +great God of Heaven and earth into taking away the cholera from us, +unless we find out and confess openly what we have done to bring on +the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, +by amending our habits on that point, and doing everything for the future +which shall not bring on the cholera, but keep it off.</p> +<p>Do not let us believe this time, my friends, in the pitiable, insincere +way in which all England believed when the cholera was here sixteen +years ago. When they saw human beings dying by thousands, they +all got frightened, and proclaimed a Fast and confessed their sins and +promised repentance in a general way. But did they repent of and +confess those sins which had caused the cholera? Did they repent +of and confess the covetousness, the tyranny, the carelessness, which +in most great towns, and in too many villages also, forces the poor +to lodge in undrained stifling hovels, unfit for hogs, amid vapours +and smells which send forth on every breath the seeds of rickets and +consumption, typhus and scarlet fever, and worse and last of all, the +cholera? Did they repent of their sin in that? Not they. +Did they repent of the carelessness and laziness and covetousness which +sends meat and fish up to all our large towns in a half-putrid state; +which fills every corner of London and the great cities with slaughter-houses, +over-crowded graveyards, undrained sewers? Not they. To +confess their sins in a general way cost them a few words; to confess +and repent of the real particular sins in themselves, was a very different +matter; to amend them would have touched vested interests, would have +cost money, the Englishman’s god; it would have required self-sacrifice +of pocket, as well as of time. It would have required manful fighting +against the prejudices, the ignorance, the self-conceit, the laziness, +the covetousness of the wicked world. So they could not afford +to repent and amend of all <i>that</i>. And when those great and +good men, the Sanitary Commissioners, proved to all England fifteen +years ago, that cholera always appeared where fever had appeared, and +that both fever and cholera always cling exclusively to those places +where there was bad food, bad air, crowded bedrooms, bad drainage and +filth—that such were the laws of God and Nature, and always had +been; they took no notice of it, because it was the poor rather than +the rich who suffered from those causes. So the filth of our great +cities was left to ferment in poisonous cesspools, foul ditches and +marshes and muds, such as those now killing people by hundreds in the +neighbourhood of Plymouth; for one house or sewer that was improved, +a hundred more were left just as they were in the first cholera; as +soon as the panic of superstitious fear was past, carelessness and indolence +returned. Men went back, the covetous man to his covetousness, +and the idler to his idleness. And behold! sixteen years are past, +and the cholera is as bad as ever among us.</p> +<p>But you will say, perhaps, it is presumptuous to say that Englishmen +have brought the cholera on themselves, that it is God’s judgment, +and that we cannot explain His inscrutable Providence. Ah! my +friends, that is a poor excuse and a common one, for leaving a great +many sins as they are! When people do not wish to do God’s +will, it is a very pleasant thing to talk about God’s will as +something so very deep and unfathomable, that poor human beings cannot +be expected to find it out. It is an old excuse, and a great favourite +with Satan, I have no doubt. Why cannot people find out God’s +will?—Because they do not <i>like</i> to find it out, lest it +should shame them and condemn them, and cost them pleasure or money—because +their eyes are blinded with covetousness and selfishness, so that they +cannot see God’s will, even when they <i>do</i> look for it, and +then they go and cant about God’s judgments; while those judgments, +as the text says, are far above out of their mammon-blinded and prejudice-blinded +sight. What do they mean by that word? Come now, my friends! +let us face the question like men. What do you mean really when +you call the cholera, or fever, or affliction at all, God’s judgment? +Do you merely mean that God is punishing you, you don’t know for +what, and you can’t find out for what? but that all which He expects +of you is to bear it patiently, and then go and do afterwards just what +you did before? Dare anyone say that who believes that God is +a God of justice, much less a God of love? What would you think +of a father who punished his children, and then left them to find out +as they could what they were punished for? And yet that is the +way people talk of pestilence and of great afflictions, public and private. +They are not ashamed to accuse God of a cruelty and an injustice which +they would be ashamed to confess themselves! How can men, even +religious men often, be so blasphemous? Mainly, I think, because +they do not really believe in God at all, they only believe about Him—they +believe that they ought to believe in Him. They have no living +personal faith in God or Christ; they do not know God; they do not know +God’s character, and what to believe of Him, and what to expect +of Him; or what they ought to say of Him; because they do not know, +they have not studied, they have not loved the character of Christ, +who is the express image and likeness of God. Therefore God’s +judgments are far away out of their sight; therefore they make themselves +a God in their own image and after their own likeness, lazy, capricious, +revengeful; therefore they are not afraid or ashamed to say that God +sends pestilence into a country without showing that country why it +is sent. But another great reason, I believe, why God’s +judgments in this and other matters are far above out of our sight, +is the careless, insincere way of using words which we English have +got into, even on the most holy and awful matters. I suppose there +never was a nation in the world so diseased through and through with +the spirit of cant, as we English are now: except perhaps the old Jews, +at the time of our Lord’s coming. You hear men talking as +if they thought God did not understand English, because they cling superstitiously +to the letter of the Bible in proportion as they lose its spirit. +You hear men taking words into their mouths which might make angels +weep and devils tremble, with a coolness and oily, smooth carelessness +which shows you that they do not feel the force of what they are saying. +You hear them using the words of Scripture, which are in themselves +stricter and deeper than all the books of philosophy in the world, in +such a loose unscriptural way, that they make them mean anything or +nothing. They use the words like parrots, by rote, just because +their forefathers used them before them. They will tell you that +cholera is a judgment for our sins, “in a sense,” but if +you ask them for what sins, or in what sense, they fly off from that +<i>home</i> question, and begin mumbling commonplaces about the inscrutable +decrees of Providence, and so on. It is most sad, all this; and +most fearful also.</p> +<p>Therefore, I asked you, my friends, what is the meaning of that word +judgment? In common talk, people use it rightly enough, but when +they begin to talk of God’s judgments, they speak as if it merely +meant punishments. Now judgment and punishment are two things. +When a judge gives judgment, he either acquits or condemns the accused +person; he gives the case for the plaintiff, or for the defendant: the +punishment of the guilty person, if he be guilty, is a separate thing, +pronounced and inflicted afterwards. His judgment, I say, is his +<i>opinion</i> about the person’s guilt, and even so God’s +judgments are the expression of His opinion about our guilt. But +there is this difference between man and God in this matter—a +human judge gives his opinion in words, God gives His in events: therefore +there is no harm for a human judge when he has told a person why he +must punish, to punish him in some way that has nothing to do with his +crime—for instance, to send a man to prison because he steals, +though it would be far better if criminals could be punished in kind, +and if the man who stole could be forced either to make restitution, +or work out the price of what he stole in hard labour. For this +is God’s plan—God always pays sinners back in kind, that +He may not merely punish them, but <i>correct</i> them; so that by the +kind of their punishment, they may know the kind of their sin. +God punishes us, as I have often told you, not by His caprice, but by +His laws. He does not <i>break His laws</i> to harm us; the laws +themselves harm us, when we break them and get in their way. It +is always so, you will find, with great national afflictions. +I believe, when we know more of God and His laws, we shall find it true +even in our smallest private sorrows. God is unchangeable; He +does not lose His temper, as heathens and superstitious men fancy, to +punish us. He does not change His order to punish us. <i>We</i> +break His order, and the order goes on in spite of us and crushes us: +and so we get God’s judgment, God’s opinion of our breaking +His laws. You will find it so almost always in history. +If a nation is laid waste by war, it is generally their own fault. +They have sinned against the law which God has appointed for nations. +They have lost courage and prudence, and trust in God, and fellow-feeling +and unity, and they have become cowardly and selfish and split up into +parties, and so they are easily conquered by their own fault, as the +Bible tells us the Jews were by the Chaldeans; and their ruin is God’s +judgment, God’s opinion plainly expressed of what He thinks of +them for having become cowardly and selfish, and factious and disinterested. +So it is with famine again. Famines come by a nation’s own +fault—they are God’s plainly spoken opinion of what <i>He</i> +thinks of breaking His laws of industry and thrift, by improvidence +and bad farming. So when a nation becomes poor and bankrupt, it +is its own fault; that nation has broken the laws of political economy +which God has appointed for nations, and its ruin is God’s judgment, +God’s plain-spoken opinion again of the sins of extravagance, +idleness, and reckless speculation.</p> +<p>So with pestilence and cholera. They come only because we break +God’s laws; as the wise poet well says:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Voices from the depths <i>of Nature</i> borne<br />Which vengeance +on the guilty head proclaim.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>—“Of nature;” of the order and constitution which +God has made for this world we live in, and which if we break them, +though God in his mercy so orders the world that punishment comes but +seldom even to our worst offences, yet surely do bring punishment sooner +or later if broken, in the common course of nature. Yes, my friends, +as surely and naturally as drunkenness punishes itself by a shaking +hand and a bloated body, so does filth avenge itself by pestilence. +Fever and cholera, as you would expect them to be, are the expression +of God’s judgment, God’s opinion, God’s handwriting +on the wall against us for our sins of filth and laziness, foul air, +foul food, foul drains, foul bedrooms. Where they are, there is +cholera. Where they are not, there is none, and will be none, +because they who do not break God’s laws, God’s laws will +not break them. Oh! do not think me harsh, my friends; God knows +it is no pleasant thing to have to speak bitter and upbraiding words; +but when one travels about this noble land of England, and sees what +a blessed place it might be, if we would only do God’s will, and +what a miserable place it is just because we will not do God’s +will, it is enough to make one’s soul boil over with sorrow and +indignation; and then when one considers that other men’s faults +are one’s own fault too, that one has been adding to the heap +of sins by one’s own laziness, cowardice, ignorance, it is enough +to break one’s heart—to make one cry with St. Paul, “Oh +wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” +Ay, my friends, the state of things in England now is enough to drive +an earnest man to despair, if one did not know that all our distresses, +and this cholera, like the rest, are indeed <i>God’s</i> judgments; +the judgments and expressed opinions, not of a capricious tyrant, but +of a righteous and loving Father, who chastens us just because He loves +us, and afflicts us only to teach us His will, which alone is life and +happiness. Therefore we may believe that this very cholera is +meant to be a blessing; that if we will take the lesson it brings, it +will be a blessing to England. God grant that all ranks may take +the lesson—that the rich may amend their idleness and neglect, +and the poor amend their dirt and stupid ignorance; then our children +will have cause to thank God for the cholera, if it teaches us that +cleanliness is indeed next to holiness, if it teaches us, rich and poor, +to make the workman’s home what it ought to be. And believe +me, my friends, that day will surely come; and these distresses, sad +as they are for the time, are only helping to hasten it—the day +when the words of the Hebrew prophets shall be fulfilled, where they +speak of a state of comfort and prosperity, and civilisation, such as +men had never reached in their time—how the wilderness shall blossom +like the rose, and there shall be heaps of corn high on the mountain-tops, +and the cities shall be green as grass on the earth, instead of being +the smoky, stifling hot-beds of disease which they are now—and +how from the city of God streams shall flow for the healing of the nations: +strange words, those, and dim; too deep to be explained by any one meaning, +or many meanings, such as our small minds can give them; but full of +blessed cheering hope. For of whatever they speak, they speak +at least of this—of a time when all sorrow and sighing shall be +done away, when science and civilisation shall go hand in hand with +godliness—when God shall indeed dwell in the hearts of men, and +His kingdom shall be fulfilled among them, when “His ways shall +be known upon earth at last, and His saving health among all nations”—of +a time when all shall know Him, from the least unto the greatest, and +be indeed His children, doing no sin, because they will have given up +themselves, their selfishness and cruelty and covetousness, and stupidity +and laziness, to be changed and renewed into God’s likeness. +Then all these distresses and pestilences, which, as I have shown you, +come from breaking the will of God, will have passed away like ugly +dreams, and all the earth shall be blessed, because all the earth shall +at last be fulfilling the words of the Lord’s Prayer, and God’s +will shall be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. Oh! +my friends, have hope. Do you think Christ would have bid us pray +for what would never happen? Would He have bid us all to pray +that God’s will might be done unless He had known surely that +God’s will would one day be done by men on earth below even as +it is done in heaven?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XIV—SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children.—EXODUS +xx. 5.</p> +<p>In my sermon last Sunday I said plainly that cholera, fever, and +many more diseases were man’s own fault, and that they were God’s +judgments just because they were man’s own fault, because they +were God’s plainspoken opinion of the sin of filth and of habits +of living unfit for civilised Christian men.</p> +<p>But there is an objection which may arise in some of your minds, +and if it has not risen in <i>your</i> minds, still it has in other +people’s often enough; and therefore I will state it plainly, +and answer it as far as God shall give me wisdom. For it is well +to get to the root of all matters, and of this matter of Pestilence +among others; for if we do believe this Pestilence to be God’s +judgment, then it is a spiritual matter most proper to be spoken of +in a place like this church, where men come as spiritual beings to hear +that which is profitable for their souls. And it <i>is</i> profitable +for their souls to consider this matter; for it has to do, as I see +more and more daily, with the very deepest truths of the Gospel; and +accordingly as we believe the Gospel, and believe really that Jesus +Christ is our Saviour and our King, the New Adam, the firstborn among +many brethren, who has come down to proclaim to us that we are all brothers +in Him—in proportion as we believe <i>that</i>, I say, shall we +act upon this very matter of public cleanliness.</p> +<p>The objection which I mean is this: people say it is very hard and +unfair to talk of cholera or fever being people’s own fault, when +you see persons who are not themselves dirty, and innocent little children, +who if they are dirty are only so because they are brought up so, catch +the infection and die of it. You cannot say it is their fault. +Very true. I did not say it was their fault. I did not say +that each particular person takes the infection by his own fault, though +I do say that nine out of ten do. And as for little children, +of course it is not their fault. But, my friends, it must be someone’s +fault. No one will say that the world is so ill made that these +horrible diseases must come in spite of all man’s care. +If it was so, plagues, pestilences, and infectious fevers would be just +as common now in England, and just as deadly as they were in old times; +whereas there is not one infectious fever now in England for ten that +there used to be five hundred years ago. In ancient times fevers, +agues, plague, smallpox, and other diseases, whose very names we cannot +now understand, so completely are they passed away, swept England from +one end to the other every few years, killing five people where they +now kill one. Those diseases, as I said, have many of them now +died out entirely; and those which remain are becoming less and less +dangerous every year. And why? Simply because people are +becoming more cleanly and civilised in their habits of living; because +they are tilling and draining the land every year more and more, instead +of leaving it to breed disease, as all uncultivated land does. +It is not merely that doctors are becoming wiser: we ourselves are becoming +more reasonable in our way of living. For instance, in large districts +both of Scotland and of the English fens, where fever and ague filled +the country and swept off hundreds every spring and fall thirty years +ago, fever and ague are now almost unknown, simply because the marshes +have all been drained in the meantime. So you see that people +can prevent these disorders, and therefore it must be someone’s +fault if they come. Now, whose fault is it? You dare not +lay the blame on God. And yet you do lay the fault on God if you +say that it is no <i>man’s</i> fault that children die of fever. +But I know what the answer to that will be: “We do not accuse +God—it is the fault of the fall, Adam’s curse which brought +death and disease into the world.” That is a common answer, +and the very one I want to hear. What? is it just to say, as many +do, that all the diseases which ever tormented poor little innocent +children all over the world, came from Adam’s sinning six thousand +years ago, and yet that it is unfair to say that one little child’s +fever came from his parents’ keeping a filthy house a month ago? +That is swallowing a camel and straining at a gnat—that God should +be just in punishing all mankind for Adam’s sin, and yet unjust +in punishing one little child for its parents’ sin. If the +one is just the other must be just too, I think. If you believe +the one, why not believe the other? Why? Because Adam’s +curse and “original” sin, as people call it, is a good and +pleasant excuse for laying our sins and miseries at Adam’s door; +but the same rule is not so pleasant in the case of filth and fever, +when it lays other people’s miseries at our door.</p> +<p>I believe that all the misery in the world sprung from Adam’s +disobedience and falling from God. “By one man sin entered +the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men, even on +those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression.” +So says the Bible, and I believe it says so truly. For this is +the law of the earth, God’s law which He proclaimed in the text. +He does visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third +and fourth generation of those who hate Him. It is so. You +see it around you daily. No one can deny it. Just as death +and misery entered into the world by one man, so we see death and misery +entering into many a family. A man or woman is a drunkard, or +a rogue, or a swearer: how often their children grow up like them! +We have all seen that, God knows, in this very parish. How much +more in great cities, where boys and girls by thousands—oh, shame +that it should be so in a Christian land!—grow up thieves from +the breast, and harlots from the cradle. And why? Why are +there, as they say, and I am afraid say too truly, in London alone upwards +of 10,000 children under sixteen who live by theft and harlotry? +Because the parents of these children are as bad as themselves—drunkards, +thieves, and worse—and they bring up their children to follow +their crimes. If that is not the fathers’ sins being visited +on the children, what is?</p> +<p>How often, again, when we see a wild young man, we say, and justly: +“Poor fellow! there are great excuses for him, he has been so +badly brought up.” True, but his wildness will ruin him +all the same, whether it be his father’s fault or his own that +he became wild. If he drinks he will ruin his health; if he squanders +his money he will grow poor. God’s laws cannot stop for +him; he is breaking them, and they will avenge themselves on him. +You see the same thing everywhere. A man fools away his money, +and his innocent children suffer for it. A man ruins his health +by debauchery, or a woman hers by laziness or vanity or self-indulgence, +and her children grow up weakly and inherit their parents’ unhealthiness. +How often again, do we see passionate parents have passionate children, +stupid parents stupid children, mean and lying parents mean and lying +children; above all, ignorant and dirty parents have ignorant and dirty +children. How can they help being so? They cannot keep themselves +clean by instinct; they cannot learn without being taught: and so they +suffer for their parents’ faults. But what is all this except +God’s visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children? +Look again at a whole parish; how far the neglect or the wickedness +of one man may make a whole estate miserable. There is one parish +in this very union, and the curse of the whole union it is, which will +show us that fearfully enough. See, too, how often when a good +and generous young man comes into his estate, he finds it so crippled +with debts and mortgages by his forefathers’ extravagance, that +he cannot do the good he would to his tenants, he cannot fulfil his +duty as landlord where God has placed him, and so he and the whole estate +must suffer for the follies of generations past. If that is not +God visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, what is it?</p> +<p>Look again at a whole nation; the rulers of two countries quarrel, +or pretend to quarrel, and go to war—and some here know what war +is—just because there is some old grudge of a hundred years standing +between two countries, or because rulers of whose names the country +people, perhaps, never heard, have chosen to fall out, or because their +forefathers by cowardice, or laziness, or division, or some other sin, +have made the country too weak to defend itself; and for that poor people’s +property is destroyed, and little infants butchered, and innocent women +suffer unspeakable shame. If that is not God visiting the sins +of the fathers on the children, what is it?</p> +<p>It is very awful, but so it is. It is the law of this earth, +the law of human kind, that the innocent often suffer for other’s +faults, just as you see them doing in cholera, fever, ague, smallpox, +and other diseases which man can prevent if he chooses to take the trouble. +There it is. We cannot alter it. Those who will may call +God unjust for it. Let them first see, whether He is not only +most just, but most merciful in making the world so, and no other way. +I do not merely mean that whatever God does must be right. That +is true, but it is a poor way of getting over the difficulty. +God has taught us what is right and wrong, and He will be judged by +His own rules. As Abraham said to Him when Sodom was to be destroyed: +“That be far from Thee, to punish the righteous with the wicked. +Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham +knew what was right, and he expected God not to break that law of right. +And we may expect the same of God. And I may be able, I hope, +in my sermon next Sunday, to show you that in this matter God does break +the law of right. Nevertheless, in the meantime, this is His way +of dealing with men. When Sodom was destroyed He brought righteous +Lot out of it. But Sodom was destroyed, and in it many a little +infant who had never known sin. And just so when Lisbon was swallowed +up by an earthquake, ninety years ago, the little children perished +as well as the grown people—just as in the Irish famine fever +last year, many a doctor and Roman Catholic priest, and Protestant clergyman, +caught the fever and died while they were piously attending on the sick. +They were acting like righteous men doing their duty at their posts; +but God’s laws could not turn aside for them. Improvidence, +and misrule, which had been working and growing for hundreds of years, +had at last brought the famine fever, and even the righteous must perish +by it. They had their sins, no doubt, as we all have; but then +they were doing God’s work bravely and honestly enough, yet the +fever could not spare them any more than it could spare the children +of the filthy parents, though they had not kept pigsties under their +windows, nor cesspools at their doors. It could not spare them +any more than it can spare the tenants of the negligent or covetous +house-owner, because it is his fault and not theirs that his houses +are undrained, overcrowded, destitute—as whole streets in many +large towns are—of the commonest decencies of life. It may +be the landlord’s fault, but the tenants suffer. God visits +the sins of the fathers upon the children, and landlords ought to be +fathers to their tenants, and must become fathers to them some day, +and that soon, unless they intend that the Lord should visit on them +all their sins, and their forefathers’ also, even unto the third +and fourth generation.</p> +<p>For do not fancy that because the innocent suffer with the guilty +that therefore the guilty escape. Seldom do they escape in this +world, and in the world to come never. The landlord who, as too +many do, neglects his cottages till they become man-sties, to breed +pauperism and disease—the parents whose carelessness and dirt +poison their children and neighbours into typhus and cholera—their +brother’s blood will cry against them out of the ground. +It will be required at their hands sooner or later, by Him who beholds +iniquity and wrong, and who will not be satisfied in the day of His +vengeance by Cain’s old answer, “Am I my brother’s +keeper?”</p> +<p>We are every one of us our brother’s keeper; and if we do not +choose to confess that, God will prove it to us in a way that we cannot +mistake. A wise man tells a story of a poor Irish widow who came +to Liverpool and no one would take her in or have mercy on her, till, +from starvation and bad lodging, as the doctor said, she caught typhus +fever, and not only died herself, but gave the infection to the whole +street, and seventeen persons died of it. “See,” says +the wise man, “the poor Irish widow was the Liverpool people’s +sister after all. She was of the same flesh and blood as they. +The fever that killed her killed them, but they would not confess that +they were her brothers. They shut their doors upon her, and so +there was no way left for her to prove her relationship, but by killing +seventeen of them with fever.” A grim jest that, but a true +one, like Elijah’s jest to the Baal priests on Carmel. A +true one, I say, and one that we have all need to lay to heart.</p> +<p>And I do earnestly trust in you that you will lay it to heart. +We have had our fair warning here. We have had God’s judgment +about our cleanliness; His plain spoken opinion about the sanitary state +of this parish. We deserve the fever, I am afraid; not a house +in which it has appeared but has had some glaring neglect of common +cleanliness about it; and if we do not take the warning God will surely +some day repeat it. It will repeat itself by the necessary laws +of nature; and we shall have the fever among us again, just as the cholera +has reappeared in the very towns, and the very streets, where it was +seventeen years ago, wherever they have not repented of and amended +their filth and negligence. And I say openly, that those who have +escaped this time may not escape next. God has made examples, +and by no means always of the worst cottages. God’s plan +is to take one and leave another by way of warning. “It +is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole +nation perish not” is a great and a sound law, and we must profit +by it. So let not those who have escaped the fever fancy that +they must needs be without fault. “Think ye that those sixteen +on whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, were sinners above all +those that dwelt at Jerusalem? I say unto you, Nay, but except +ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”</p> +<p>And I say again, as I said last Sunday, that this is a spiritual +question, a Gospel sermon; for by your conduct in this matter will your +faith in the Gospel be proved. If you really believe that Jesus +Christ came down from heaven and sacrificed Himself for you, you will +be ready to sacrifice yourselves in this matter for those for whom He +died; to sacrifice, without stint, your thought, your time, your money, +and your labour. If you really believe that He is the sworn enemy +of all misery and disease, you will show yourselves too the sworn enemies +of everything that causes misery and disease, and work together like +men to put all pestilential filth and damp out of this parish. +If you really believe that you are all brothers, equal in the sight +of God and Christ, you will do all you can to save your brothers from +sickness and the miseries which follow it. If you really believe +that your children are God’s children, that at baptism God declares +your little ones to be His, you will be ready to take any care or trouble, +however new or strange it may seem, to keep your children safe from +all foul smells, foul food, foul water, and foul air, that they may +grow up healthy, hearty, and cleanly, fit to serve God as christened, +free, and civilised Englishmen should in this great and awful time, +the most wonderful time that the earth has ever seen, into which it +has pleased God of His great mercy to let us all be born.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XV—THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the +Fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them +that hate me.—EXODUS xx. 6.</p> +<p>Many of you were perhaps surprised and puzzled by my saying in my +last sermon that God’s visiting the sins of the fathers on the +children, and letting the innocent suffer for the guilty, was a blessing +and not a curse—a sign of man’s honour and redemption, not +of his shame and ruin. But the more I have thought of those words, +the more glad I am that I spoke them boldly, the more true I find them +to be.</p> +<p>I say that there is in them the very deepest and surest ground for +hope. “Yes,” some of you may say, “to be sure +when we see the innocent suffering for the guilty, it is a plain proof +that another world must come some day, in which all that unfairness +shall be set right.” Well, my friends, it does prove that, +but I should be very sorry if it did not prove a great deal more than +that—this suffering of the innocent for the guilty. I have +no heart to talk to you about the next life, unless I can give you some +comfort, some reason for trusting in God in this life. I never +saw much good come of it. I never found it do my own soul any +good, to be told: “<i>This</i> life and <i>this</i> world in which +you now live are given up irremediably to misrule and deceit, poverty +and pestilence, death and the devil. You cannot expect to set +this world right—you must look to the next world. Everything +will be set right there.” That sounds fine and resigned; +and there seems to be a great deal of trust in God in it; but, as I +think, there is little or none; and I say so from the fruits I see it +bear. If people believe that this world is the devil’s world, +and only the next world God’s, they are easily tempted to say: +“Very well, then, we must serve the devil in this world, and God +in the next. We must, of course, take great care to get our souls +saved when we die, that we may go to heaven and live for ever and ever; +but as to this world and this life, why, we must follow the ways of +the world. It is not our fault that they have nothing to do with +God. It is not our fault that society and the world are all rotten +and accursed; we found them so when we were born, and we must make the +best of a bad matter and sail as the world does, and be covetous and +mean and anxious—how can we help it?—and stand on our own +rights, and take care of number one; and even do what is not quite right +now and then—for how can we help it?—or how else shall we +get on in this poor lost, fallen, sinful world!”</p> +<p>And so it comes, my friends, that you see people professing—ay, +and believing, Gospel doctrines, and struggling and reading, and, as +they fancy, praying, morning, noon, and night, to get their own souls +saved—who yet, if you are to judge by their conduct, are little +better than rogues and heathens; whose only law of life seems to be +the fear of what people will say of them; who, like Balaam the son of +Bosor, are trying daily to serve the devil without God finding it out, +worshipping the evil spirit, as that evil spirit wanted our blessed +Lord to do, because they believed his lie, which Christ denied—that +the glory of this world belongs to the evil one; and then comforting +themselves like Balaam their father, in the hope that they shall die +the death of the righteous, and their last end be like his.</p> +<p>Now I say my friends that this is a lie, and comes from the father +of lies, who tempts every man, as he tempted our Lord, to believe that +the power and glory of this world are his, that man’s flesh and +body, if not his soul, belongs to him. I say, it is no such thing. +The world is God’s world. Man is God’s creature, made +in God’s image, and not in that of a beast or a devil. The +kingdom, the power, and the glory, <i>are</i> God’s now. +You say so every day in the Lord’s Prayer—believe it. +St. James tells you not to curse men, because they are made in the likeness +of God now—not <i>will</i> be made in God’s likeness after +they die. Believe that; do not be afraid of it, strange as it +may seem to understand. It is in the Bible, and you profess to +believe that what is in the Bible is true. And I say that this +suffering of the innocent for the guilty is a proof of that. If +man was not made so that the innocent could suffer for the guilty, he +could not have been redeemed at all, for there would have been no use +or meaning in Christ’s dying for us, the just for the unjust. +And more, if the innocent could not suffer for the guilty we should +be like the beasts that perish.</p> +<p>Now, why? Because just in proportion as any creature is low—I +mean in the scale of life—just in that proportion it does without +its fellow-creatures, it lives by itself and cares for no other of its +kind. A vegetable is a meaner thing than an animal, and one great +sign of its being meaner is, that vegetables cannot do each other any +good—cannot help each other—cannot even hurt each other, +except in a mere mechanical way, by overgrowing each other or robbing +each other’s roots; but what would it matter to a tree if all +the other trees in the world were to die? So with wild animals. +What matters it to a bird or a beast, whether other birds and beasts +are ill off or well off, wise or stupid? Each one takes care of +itself—each one shifts for itself. But you will say “Bees +help each other and depend upon each other for life and death.” +True, and for that very reason we look upon bees as being more wise +and more wonderful than almost any animals, just because they are so +much like us human beings in depending on each other. You will +say again, that among dogs, a riotous hound will lead a whole pack wrong—a +staunch and well-broken hound will keep a whole pack right; and that +dogs do depend upon each other in very wonderful ways. Most true, +but that only proves more completely what I want to get at. It +is the <i>tame</i> dog, which man has taken and broken in, and made +to partake more or less of man’s wisdom and cunning, who depends +on his fellow-dogs. The wild dogs in foreign countries, on the +other hand, are just as selfish, living every one for himself, as so +many foxes might be. And you find this same rule holding as you +rise. The more a man is like a wild animal, the more of a <i>savage</i> +he is, so much more he depends on himself, and not on others—in +short, the less civilised he is; for civilised means being a citizen, +and learning to live in cities, and to help and depend upon each other. +And our common English word “civil” comes from the same +root. A man is “civil” who feels that he depends upon +his neighbours, and his neighbours on him; that they are his fellow-citizens, +and that he owes them a duty and a friendship. And, therefore, +a man is truly and sincerely civil, just in proportion as he is civilised; +in proportion as he is a good citizen, a good Christian—in one +word, a <i>good man.</i></p> +<p>Ay, that is what I want to come to, my friends—that word <i>man</i>, +and what it means. The law of man’s life, the constitution +and order on which, and on no other, God has made man, is <i>this</i>—to +depend upon his fellow-men, to be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; +for we are brothers to each other. God made of one blood all nations +to dwell on the face of the earth. The same food will feed us +all alike. The same cholera will kill us all alike. And +we can give the cholera to each other; we can give each other the infection, +not merely by our touch and breath, for diseased beasts can do that, +but by housing our families and our tenants badly, feeding them badly, +draining the land around them badly. This is the secret of the +innocent suffering for the guilty, in pestilences, and famines, and +disorders, which are handed down from father to child, that we are all +of the same blood. This is the reason why Adam’s sin infected +our whole race. Adam died, and through him all his children have +received a certain property of sinfulness and of dying, just as one +bee transmits to all his children and future generations the property +of making honey, or a lion transmits to all its future generations the +property of being a beast of prey. For by sinning and cutting +himself off from God Adam gave way to the lower part of him, his flesh, +his animal nature, and therefore he died as other animals do. +And we his children, who all of us give way to our flesh, to our animal +nature, every hour, alas! we die too. And in proportion as we +give way to our animal natures we are liable to die; and the less we +give way to our animal natures, the less we are liable to die. +We have all sinned; we have all become fleshly animal creatures more +or less; and therefore we must all die sooner or later. But in +proportion as we become Christians, in proportion as we become civilised, +in short, in proportion as we become true men, and conquer and keep +in order this flesh of ours, and this earth around us, by the teaching +of God’s spirit, as we were meant to do, just so far will length +of life increase and population increase. For while people are +savages, that is, while they give themselves up utterly to their own +fleshly lusts, and become mere animals like the wild Indians, they cannot +increase in number. They are exposed, by their own lusts and ignorance +and laziness, to every sort of disease; they turn themselves into beasts +of prey, and are continually fighting and destroying each other, so +that they, seldom or never increase in numbers, and by war, drunkenness, +smallpox, fevers, and other diseases too horrible to mention, the fruit +of their own lusts, whole tribes of them are swept utterly off the face +of the earth. And why? They are like the beasts, and like +the beasts they perish. Whereas, just in proportion as any nation +lives according to the spirit and not according to the flesh; in proportion +as it conquers its own fleshly appetites which tempt it to mere laziness, +pleasure, and ignorance, and lives according to the spirit in industry, +cleanliness, chaste marriage, and knowledge, earthly and heavenly, the +length of life and the number of the population begin to increase at +once, just as they are doing, thank God! in England now; because Englishmen +are learning more and more that this earth is God’s earth, and +that He works it by righteous and infallible laws, and has put them +on it to till it and subdue it; that civilisation and industry are the +cause of Christ and of God; and that without them His kingdom will not +come, neither will His will be done on earth.</p> +<p>But now comes a very important question. The beasts are none +the worse for giving way to their flesh and being mere animals. +They increase and multiply and are happy enough; whereas men, if they +give way to their flesh and become animals, become fewer and weaker, +and stupider, and viler, and more miserable, generation after generation. +Why? Because the animals are meant to be animals, and men are +not. Men are meant to be men, and conquer their animal nature +by the strength which God gives to their spirits. And as long +as they do not do so; as long as they remain savage, sottish, ignorant, +they are living in a lie, in a diseased wrong state, just as God did +<i>not</i> mean them to live; and therefore they perish; therefore these +fevers, and agues, and choleras, war, starvation, tyranny, and all the +ills which flesh is heir to, crush them down. Therefore they are +at the mercy of the earth beneath their feet, and the skies above their +head; at the mercy of rain and cold; at the mercy of each other’s +selfishness, laziness, stupidity, cruelty; in short, at the mercy of +the brute material earth, and their own fleshly lusts and the fleshly +lusts of others, because they love to walk after the flesh and not after +the spirit—because they like the likeness of the old Adam who +is of the earth earthy, better than that of the new Adam who is the +Lord from heaven—because they like to be animals, when Christ +has made them in his own image, and redeemed them with His own blood, +and taught them with His own example, and made them men. He who +will be a man, let him believe that he is redeemed by Christ, and must +be like Christ in everything he says and does. If he would carry +that out, if he would live perfectly by faith in God, if he would do +God’s will utterly and in all things he would soon find that those +glorious old words still stood true: “Thou shalt not be afraid +of the arrow by night, nor of the pestilence which walketh in the noonday; +a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, +but it shall not come nigh thee.” For such a man would know +how to defend himself against evil; God would teach him not only to +defend himself, but to defend those around him. He would be like +his Lord and Master, a fountain of wisdom and healing and safety to +all his neighbours. We might any one of us be that. It is +everyone’s fault more or less that he is not. Each of us +who is educated, civilised, converted to the knowledge and love of God, +it is his sin and shame that he is <i>not</i> that. Above all, +it is the clergyman’s sin and shame that he is not. Ay, +believe me, when I blame you, I blame myself ten thousand times more. +I believe there is many a sin and sorrow from which I might have saved +you here, if I had dealt with you more as a man should deal who believes +that you and I are brothers, made in the same image of God, redeemed +by the same blood of Christ. And I believe that I shall be punished +for every neglect of you for which I have been ever guilty. I +believe it, and I thank God for it; for I do not see how a clergyman, +or anyone else, can learn his duty, except by God’s judging him, +and punishing him, and setting his sins before his face.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, it is good for us to be afflicted, good for us to +suffer anything that will teach us this great truth, that we are our +brother’s keepers; that we are all one family, and that where +one of the members suffers, all the other members suffer with it; and +that if one of the members has cause to rejoice, all the others will +have cause to rejoice with it. A blessed thing to know, is that—though +whether we know it or not, we shall find it true. If we give way +to our animal nature, and try to live as the beasts do, each one caring +for his own selfish pleasure—still we shall find out that we cannot +do it. We shall find out, as those Liverpool people did with the +Irish widow, that our fellow-men <i>are</i> our brothers—that +what hurts them will be sure in some strange indirect way to hurt us. +Our brothers here have had the fever, and we have escaped; but we have +felt the fruits of it, in our purses—in fear, and anxiety, and +distress, and trouble—we have found out that they could not have +the fever without our suffering for it, more or less. You see +we are one family, we men and women; and our relationship will assert +itself in spite of our forgetfulness and our selfishness. How +much better to claim our brotherhood with each other, and to act upon +it—to live as brothers indeed. That would be to make it +a blessing, and not a curse; for as I said before, just because it is +in our power to injure each other, therefore it is in our power to help +each other. God has bound us together for good and for evil, for +better for worse. Oh! let it be henceforward in this parish for +better, and not for worse. Oh! every one of you, whether you be +rich or poor, farmer or labourer, man or woman, do not be ashamed to +own yourselves to be brothers and sisters, members of one family, which +as it all fell together in the old Adam, so it has all risen together +in the new Adam, Jesus Christ. There is no respect of persons +with God. We are all equal in His sight. He knows no difference +among men, except the difference which God’s Spirit gives, in +proportion as a man listens to the teaching of that Spirit—rank +in godliness and true manhood. Oh! believe that—believe +that because you owe an infinite debt to Christ and to God—His +Father and your Father—therefore you owe an infinite debt to your +neighbours, members of Christ and children of God just as you are—a +debt of love, help, care, which you <i>can</i>, pay, just because you +are members of one family; for because you are members of one family, +for that very reason every good deed you do for a neighbour does not +stop with that neighbour, but goes on breeding and spreading, and growing +and growing, for aught we know, for ever. Just as each selfish +act we do, each bitter word we speak, each foul example we set, may +go on spreading from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, from parent +to child, till we may injure generations yet unborn; so each noble and +self-sacrificing deed we do, each wise and loving word we speak, each +example we set of industry and courage, of faith in God and care for +men, may and will spread on from heart to heart, and mouth to mouth, +and teach others to do and be the like; till people miles away, who +never heard of our names, may have cause to bless us for ever and ever. +This is one and only one of the glorious fruits of our being one family. +This is one and only one of the reasons which make me say that it was +a good thing mankind was so made that the innocent suffer for the guilty. +For just as the innocent are injured by the guilty in this world, even +so are the guilty preserved, and converted, and brought back again by +the innocent. Just as the sins of the fathers are visited on the +children, so is the righteousness of the fathers a blessing to the children; +else, says St. Paul, our children would be unclean, but now they are +holy. For the promises of God are not only to us, but to our children, +even to as many as the Lord our God shall call. And thus each +generation, by growing in virtue and wisdom and the knowledge of God, +will help forward all the generations which follow it to fuller light +and peace and safety; and each parent in trying to live like a Christian +man himself, will make it easier for his children to live like Christians +after him. And this rule applies even in the things which we are +too apt to fancy unimportant—every house kept really clean, every +family brought up in habits of neatness and order, every acre of foul +land drained, every new improvement in agriculture and manufactures +or medicine, is a clear gain to all mankind, a good example set which +is sure sooner or later to find followers, perhaps among generations +yet unborn, and in countries of which we never heard the name.</p> +<p>Was I not right then in saying that this earth is not the devil’s +earth at all, but a right good earth, of God’s making and ruling, +wherein no good deed will perish fruitless, but every man’s works +will follow him—a right good earth, governed by a righteous Father, +who, as the psalm says “is merciful,” just “because +He rewards every man according to his work.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XVI—ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(Nov. 15th, 1849.)</p> +<p>God hath visited his people.—LUKE vii. 16.</p> +<p>We are assembled this day to thank God solemnly for the passing away +of the cholera from England; and we must surely not forget to thank +Him at the same time for the passing away of the fever, which has caused +so much expense, sorrow, and death among us. Now I wish to say +a very few words to you on this same matter, to show you not only how +to be thankful to God, but what to be thankful for. You may say: +It is easy enough for us to know what to thank God for in this case. +We come to thank Him, as we have just said in the public prayers, for +having withdrawn this heavy visitation from us. If so, my friends, +what we shall thank Him for depends on what we mean by talking of a +visitation from God.</p> +<p>Now I do not know what people may think in this parish, but I suspect +that very many all over England do <i>not</i> know what to thank God +for just now; and are altogether thanking him for the wrong thing—for +a thing which, very happily for them, He has <i>not</i> done for them, +and which, if He had done it for them, would have been worse for them +than all the evil which ever happened to them from their youth up until +now. To be plain then, many, I am afraid, are thanking God for +having gone away and left them. While the cholera was here, they +said that God was visiting them; and now that the cholera is over, they +consider that God’s visit is over too, and are joyful and light +of heart thereat. If God’s visit is over, my friends, and +He is gone away from us; if He is not just as near us now as He was +in the height of the cholera, the best thing we can do is to turn to +Him with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and roll ourselves in the +dust, and instead of thanking our Father for going away, pray to Him, +of his infinite mercy, to condescend to come back again and visit us, +even though, as superstitious and ignorant men believe, God’s +visiting us were sure to bring cholera, or plague, or pestilence, or +famine, or some other misery. For I read, that in His presence +is life and not death—at His right hand is fulness of joy, and +not tribulation and mourning and woe; but if not, it were better to +be with God in everlasting agony, than to be in everlasting happiness +without God.</p> +<p>Here is a strange confusion—people talking one moment like +St. Paul himself, desiring to be with Christ and God for ever, and then +in the same breath talking like the Gadarenes of old, when, after Christ +had visited them, and judged their sins by driving their unlawful herd +of swine into the sea, they answered by beseeching Him to depart out +of their coasts.</p> +<p>Why is this confusion?—Because people do not take the trouble +to read their Bibles; because they bring their own loose, careless, +cant notions with them when they open their Bibles, and settle beforehand +what the Bible is to tell them, and then pick and twist texts till they +make them mean just what they like and no more. There is no folly, +or filth, or tyranny, or blasphemy, which men have not defended out +of the Bible by twisting it in this way. The Bible is better written +than that, my friends. He that runs may read, if he has sense +to read. The wayfaring man, though simple, shall make no such +mistake therein, if he has God’s Spirit in him—the spirit +of faith, which believes that the Bible is God’s message to men—the +humble spirit, which is willing to listen to that message, however strange +or new it may seem to him—the earnest spirit, which reads the +Bible really to know what a man shall do to be saved. Look at +your Bibles thus, my friends, about this matter. Read all the +texts which speak of God’s visiting and God’s visitation, +and you will find all the confusion and strangeness vanish away. +For see! The Bible talks of the Lord visiting people in His wrath—visiting +them for their sins—visiting them with sore plagues and punishments, +about forty times. But the Bible speaks very nearly as often of +God’s visiting people to bring them blessings and not punishments. +The Bible says God visited Sarah and Hannah to give them what they most +desired—children. God visited the people of Israel in Egypt +to deliver them out of slavery. In the book of Ruth we read how +the Lord visited His people in giving them bread. The Psalmist, +in the captivity at Babylon, <i>prays</i> God to visit him with His +salvation. The prophet Jeremiah says that it was a sign of God’s +anger against the Jews that He had not visited them; and the prophets +promised again and again to their countrymen, how, after their seventy +years’ captivity in Babylon, the Lord would visit them, and what +for?—To bring them back into their own land with joy, and heap +them with every blessing—peace and wealth, freedom and righteousness. +So it is in the New Testament too. Zacharias praised God: “Blessed +be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people; +through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on +high hath visited us.” And that was the reason why I chose +Luke vii. 16, for my text—only because it is an example of the +same thing. The people, it says, praised God, saying: “A +great Prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited His people.” +And in the 14th of Acts we read how God visited the Gentiles, not to +punish them, but to take out of them a people for His name, namely, +Cornelius and his household. And lastly, St. Peter tells Christian +people to glorify God in the day of visitation, as I tell you now—whether +His visitation comes in the shape of cholera, or fever, or agricultural +distress; or whether it comes in the shape of sanitary reform, and plenty +of work, and activity in commerce; whether it seems to you good or evil, +glorify God for it. Thank Him for it. Bless Him for it. +Whether His visitation brings joy or sorrow, it surely brings a blessing +with it. Whether God visits in wrath or in love, still God visits. +God shows that He lives; God shows us that He has not forgotten us; +God shows us that He is near us. Christ shows us that His words +are true: “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.”</p> +<p>That is a hard lesson to learn and practise, though not a very difficult +one to understand. I will try now to make you understand it—God +alone can teach you to practise it. I pray and hope, and I believe +too, that He will—that these very hard times are meant to teach +people <i>really</i> to believe in God and Jesus Christ, and that they +<i>will</i> teach people. God knows we need, and thanks be to +Him that He <i>does</i> know that we need, to be taught to believe in +Him. Nothing shows it to me more plainly than the way we talk +about God’s visitations, as if God was usually away from us, and +came to us only just now and then—only on extraordinary occasions. +People have gross, heathen, fleshly, materialist notions of God’s +visitations, as if He was some great earthly king who now and then made +a journey about his dominions from place to place, rewarding some and +punishing others. God is not in any place, my friends. God +is a Spirit. The heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain +Him if He wanted a place to be in, as, glory be to His name, He does +not. If He is near us or far from us, it is not that He is near +or far from our bodies, as the Queen might be nearer to us in London +than in Scotland, which is most people’s notion of God’s +nearness. He is near, not our bodies, but our spirits, our souls, +our hearts, our thoughts—as it is written, “The kingdom +of God is <i>within</i> you.” Do not fancy that when the +cholera was in India, God was nearer India than He was to England, and +that as the cholera crawled nearer and nearer, God came nearer and nearer +too; and that now the cholera is gone away somewhere or other, God is +gone away somewhere or other too, to leave us to our own inventions. +God forbid a thousand times! As St. Paul says: “He is not +far from any one of us.” “In Him we live and move +and have our being,” cholera or none. Do you think Christ, +the King of the earth, is gone away either—that while things go +on rightly, and governments, and clergy, and people do right, Christ +is there then, filling them all with His Spirit and guiding them all +to their duty; but that when evil times come, and rulers are idle, and +clergy dumb dogs, and the rich tyrannous, and the poor profligate, and +men are crying for work and cannot get it, and every man’s hand +is against his fellow, and no one knows what to do or think; and on +earth is distress of nations with perplexity, men’s hearts failing +them for fear, and for dread of those things which are coming on the +earth—do you think that in such times as those, Christ is the +least farther off from us than He was at the best of times?—The +least farther off from us now than He was from the apostles at the first +Whitsuntide? God forbid!—God forbid a thousand times! +He has promised Himself, He that is faithful and true, He that will +never deny Himself, though men deny Him, and say He is not here, because +their eyes are blinded with love of the world, and covetousness and +bigotry, and dread lest He, their Master, should come and find them +beating the men-servants and maid-servants, and eating and drinking +with the drunken in the high places of the earth, and saying: “Tush! +God hath forgotten it”—ay, though men have forgotten Him +thus, and—worse than thus, yet He hath said it—“Lo, +I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Why, +evil times are the very times of which Christ used to speak as the “days +of the Lord,” and the “days of the Son of man.” +Times when we hear of wars and rumours of wars, and on earth distress +of nations with perplexity—what does He tell men to do in them? +To go whining about, and say that Christ has left His Church? +No! “Then,” He says, “when all these things +come to pass, then rejoice and lift up your heads, for your redemption +draweth nigh.”</p> +<p>And yet the Scripture does most certainly speak of the Lord’s +coming out of His place to visit—of the Son of Man coming, and +not coming to men—of His visiting us at one time and not at another. +How does that agree with what I have just said? My dear friends, +we shall see that it agrees perfectly with what I have said, if we will +only just remember that we are not beasts, but men. It may seem +a strange thing to have to remind people of, but it is just what they +are always forgetting. My friends, we are not animals, we are +not spiders to do nothing but spin, or birds only to build nests for +ourselves, much less swine to do nothing but dig after roots and fruits, +and get what we can out of the clods of the ground. We are the +children of the Most High God; we have immortal souls within us; nay, +more, we are our souls: our bodies are our husk—our shell—our +clothes—our house—changing day by day, and year by year +upon us, one day to drop off us till the Resurrection. But <i>we</i> +are our <i>souls</i>, and when God visits, it is our souls He visits, +not merely our bodies. There is the whole secret. People +forget God, and therefore they are glad to fancy that He has forgotten +them, and has nothing to do with this world of His which they are misusing +for their own selfish ends; and then God in His mercy visits them. +He knocks at the door of their hearts, saying: “See! I was +close to you all the while.” He forces them to see Him and +to confess that He is there whether they choose or not. God is +not away from the world. He is away from people’s hearts, +because He has given people free wills, and with free wills the power +of keeping Him out of their hearts or letting Him in. And when +God visits He forces Himself on our attention. He knocks at the +door of our hard hearts so loudly and sharply that He forces all to +confess that He is there—all who are not utterly reprobate and +spiritually dead. In blessings as well as in curses, God knocks +at our hearts. By sudden good fortune, as well as by sudden mishap; +by a great deliverance from enemies, by an abundant harvest, as well +as by famine and pestilence. Therefore this cholera has been a +true visitation of God. The poor had fancied that they might be +as dirty, the rich had fancied that they might be as careless, as they +chose; in short, that they might break God’s laws of cleanliness +and brotherly care without His troubling Himself about the matter. +And lo! He has visited us; and shown us that He does care about the +matter by taking it into His own hands with a vengeance. He who +cannot see God’s hand in the cholera must be as blind—as +blind as who?—as blind as he that cannot see God’s hand +when there is no cholera; as blind as he who cannot see God’s +hand in every meal he eats, and every breath he draws; for that man +is stone blind—he can be no blinder. The cholera came; everyone +ought to see that it did not come by blind chance, but by the will of +some wise and righteous Person; for in the first place God gave us fair +warning. The cholera came from India at a steady pace. We +knew to a month when it would arrive here. And it came, too, by +no blind necessity, as if it was forced to take people whether it liked +or not. Just as it was in the fever here, so it was in the cholera, +“One shall be taken and another left.” It took one +of a street and left another; took one person in a family and left another: +it took the rich man who fancied he was safe, as well as the poor man +who did not care whether he was safe or not. The respectable man +walking home to his comfortable house, passed by some untrapped drain, +and then poisonous gas struck him and he died. The rich physician +who had been curing others, could not save himself from the poison of +the crowded graveyard which had been allowed to remain at the back of +his house. By all sorts of strange and unfathomable judgments +the cholera showed itself to be working, not by a blind necessity, but +at the will of a thinking Person, of a living God, whose ways are not +as our own ways, and His paths are in the great deep. And yet +the cholera showed—and this is what I want to make you feel—that +it was working at the will of the same God in whom we live and move +and have our being, who sends the food we eat, the water in which we +wash, the air we breathe, and who has ordained for all these things +natural laws, according to which they work, and which He never breaks, +nor allows us to break them. For every case of cholera could be +traced to some breaking of these laws—foul air—foul food—foul +water, or careless and dirty contact with infected persons; so that +by this God showed that He and not chance ruled the world, and that +he was indeed the living and willing God. He showed at the same +time that He was the wise God of order and of law; and that gas and +earth, wind and vapour, fulfil His word, without His having to break +His laws, or visit us by moving, as people fancy, out of a Heaven where +He was, down to an earth, where He was not.</p> +<p>But, lastly, remember what I told you before, that the cholera being +a visitation means that God, by it, has been visiting our hearts, knocking +loudly at them that He may awaken us, and teach us a lesson. And +be sure that in the cholera, and this our own parish fever, there is +a lesson for each and every one of us if we will learn it. To +the simple poor man, first and foremost, God means by the cholera to +teach the simple lesson of cleanliness; to the house-owner He means +to teach that each man is his brother’s keeper, and responsible +for his property not being a nest of disease; to rulers it is intended +to teach the lesson that God’s laws cannot be put off to suit +their laziness, cowardice, or party squabbles. But beside that, +to each person, be sure such a visitation as this brings some private +lesson. Perhaps it has taught many a widow that she has a Friend +stronger and more loving than even the husband whom she has lost by +the pestilence—the God of the widow and the fatherless. +Perhaps it has taught many a strong man not to trust in his strength +and his youth, but in the God who gave them to him. Perhaps it +has taught many a man, too, who has expected public authorities to do +everything for him, “not to put his trust in princes, nor in any +child of man, for there is no help in them,” but to hear God’s +advice, “Help thyself and God will help thee.” Perhaps +it has stirred up many a benevolent man to find out fresh means for +rooting out the miseries of society. Perhaps it has taught many +a philosopher new deep truths about the laws of God’s world, which +may enable him to enlighten and comfort ages yet unborn. Perhaps +it has awakened many a slumbering heart, and brought many a careless +sinner (for the first time in his life) face to face with God and his +own sins. God’s judgments are manifold; they are meant to +work in different ways on different hearts. But oh! believe and +be sure that they are meant to work upon all hearts—that they +are not the punishments of a capricious tyrant, but the rod of a loving +Father, who is trying to drive us home into His fold, when gentle entreaties +and kind deeds have failed to allure us home. Oh my friends! if +you wish really to thank God for having preserved you from these pestilences, +show your thankfulness by learning the lesson which they bring. +God’s love has spoken of each and every one of us in the cholera. +Be sure He has spoken so harshly only because a gentler tone of voice +would have had no effect upon us. Thank Him for His severity. +Thank Him for the cholera, the fever. Thank Him for anything which +will awaken us to hear the Word of the Lord. But till you have +learnt the lessons which these visitations are meant to teach you, there +is no use thanking Him for taking them away. And therefore I beseech +you solemnly, each and all, before you leave this church, now to pray +to God to show you what lesson He means to teach you by this past awful +visitation, and also by sparing you and me who are here present, not +merely from cholera and fever, but from a thousand mishaps and evils, +which we have deserved, and from which only His goodness has kept us. +Oh may God stir up your hearts to ask advice of Him this day! and may +He in His great mercy so teach us all His will on this day of joy, that +we may not need to have it taught us hereafter on some day of sorrow.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XVII—THE COVENANT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his own possession. +For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. +Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and earth, and in +the sea, and in all deep places.—PSALM cxxxv. 4, 5, 6.</p> +<p>Were you ever puzzled to find out why the Psalms are read every Sunday +in Church, more read, indeed, than any other part of the Bible? +If any of you say, No, I shall not think you the wiser. It is +very easy not to be puzzled with a deep matter, if one never thinks +about it at all. But when a man sets his mind to work seriously, +to try to understand what he hears and sees around him, then he will +be puzzled, and no shame to him; for he will find things every day of +his life which will require years of thought to understand, ay, things +which, though we see and know that they are true, and can use and profit +by them, we can never understand at all, at least in this life.</p> +<p>But I do not think that God meant it to be so with these Psalms. +He meant the Bible for a poor man’s book: and therefore the men +who wrote the Bible were almost all of them poor men, at least at one +time or other of their life; and therefore we may expect that they would +write as poor men would write, and such things as poor men may understand, +if they are fairly and simply explained. Therefore I do not think +you need be puzzled long to find out why these Psalms are read every +Sunday. For the men who wrote them had God’s spirit with +them; and God’s spirit is the spirit in which God made and governs +this world, and just as God cannot change, so God’s spirit cannot +change; and therefore the rules and laws according to which the world +runs on cannot change; and therefore these rules about God’s government +of the world, which God’s spirit taught the old Hebrew Psalmists, +are the very same rules by which He governs it now; and therefore all +the rules in these Psalms, making allowance for the difference of circumstances, +have just as much to do with France, and Germany, and England now, as +they had with the Jews, and the Canaanites, and the Babylonians then.</p> +<p>St. Paul tells us so. He tells us that all that happened to +the old Jews was written as an example to Christians, to the intent +that they might not sin as the Jews did, and so (God’s laws and +ways being the same now as then) be punished as the Jews were. +Moreover, St. Paul says, that Christians now are just as much God’s +chosen people as the Jews were. God told the Jews that they were +to be a nation of kings and priests to Him. And St. John opens +the Revelations by saying: “Unto Him that loved us and washed +us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests +unto God and His Father, to Him be glory.” St. Paul tells +the Ephesians, who had not a drop of Jewish blood in their veins, that +through Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles had “access by one +Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore,” he goes on, “ye +are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, +and of the household of God.” In fact, he tells the Christians +of every country to which he writes, that all the promises which God +made to the Jews belonged to them just as much, that there was no more +any difference between Jew and Gentile, that the Lord Jesus Christ was +just as really among them, and with them, ruling and helping each people +in their own country, as He was in Jerusalem when Isaiah saw His glory +filling the Temple, and when Zion was called the place of His inheritance. +Indeed, the Lord Jesus said the same thing Himself, for He said that +all power was given to Him in heaven and earth; that He was with His +churches (that is, with all companies of Christian people, such as England) +even to the end of the world; that wherever two or three were gathered +together in His name, He would be in the midst of them; and if those +blessed words and good news be true, we Englishmen have a right to believe +firmly that we belong to Him just as much as the old Jews did; and when +we read these Psalms, to take every word of their good news—and +their warnings also—to ourselves, and to our own land of England. +And when we read in the text, that the Lord chose Jacob unto Himself +and Israel for His own possession, we have a right to say: “And +the Lord has chosen also England unto himself, and this favoured land +of Britain for his own possession.” When we say in the Psalm: +“The Lord did what He pleased in heaven, and earth, and sea,” +to educate and deliver the people of the Jews, we have a right to say +just as boldly: “And so He has done for England, for us, and for +our forefathers.”</p> +<p>This then is the reason, the chief reason, why these Psalms are appointed +to be read every Sunday in church, and every morning and evening where +there is daily service—to teach us that the Lord takes care not +only of one man’s soul here, and another woman’s soul there, +but of the whole country of England; of its wars and its peace; of its +laws and government, its progress and its afflictions; of all, in short, +that happens to it as a nation, as one body of men, which it is. +It must be so, my good friends, else we should be worse off than the +old Jews, and not better off, as all the New Testament solemnly assures +us a thousand times over that we are.</p> +<p>For in the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the strange +events, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their nation, not +only the great saints among them were taken care of, but all classes, +and all characters, good and bad, even those who had not wisdom or spiritual +life enough to seek God for themselves, still had their share in the +good laws, in the teaching and guiding, and in the national blessings +which He sent on the whole nation. They had a chance given them +of rising, and improving, and prospering, as the rest of their countrymen +rose, and improved, and prospered. And when the Lord came to visit +Judæa in flesh and blood, we find that He went on the same method. +He did not merely go to such men as Philip and Nathaniel, to the holy +and elect ones among the Jews, but to the whole people; to the <i>lost</i> +sheep, as well as to those who were not lost. He did not part +the good from the bad before he healed their sicknesses, and fed them +with the loaves and fishes. It was enough for Him that they were +Jews, citizens of the Jewish nation. God’s promises belonged +not to one Jew or another, but to the Jewish nation; and even the ignorant +and the sinful had a share in the blessings of the covenant, great or +small in proportion as they chose to live as Jews ought, or to forget +and deny that they belonged to God’s people.</p> +<p>Now, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then. +He cannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, and wild untaught +creatures, in England now, than he cared for them in Judæa of +old. And we see that in fact He does not. For as the wealth +of England improves, and the laws improve, and the knowledge of God +improves, the condition of all sorts of poor creatures improves too, +though they had no share in bringing about the good change. But +we are all members of one body, from the Queen on her throne to the +tramper under the hedge; and as St. Paul says: “If one member +suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one member rejoices, +all the others” sooner or later “rejoice with it.” +For we, too, are one of the Lord’s nations. He has made +us one body, with one common language, common laws, common interest, +common religion for all; and what He does for one of us He does for +all. He orders all that happens to us; whether it be war or peace, +prosperity or dearth, He orders it all; and He orders things so that +they shall work for the good, not merely of a few, but of as many as +possible—not merely for His elect, but for those who know Him +not. As He has been from the beginning, when He heaped blessings +on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites—as He was when +He endured the cross for a world lying not in obedience, but in wickedness; +so is He now; the perfect likeness of His father, who is no respecter +of persons, but causes “His sun to shine alike on the evil on +the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.”</p> +<p>But now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you most +solemnly, and especially in such days as these. You may believe +my words to your own ruin, or to your own salvation. They are +“the Gospel,” “the good news of the Kingdom of God”—that +is, the good news that God has condescended to become our King, to govern +and guide us, to order all things for our good. But as St. Paul +says, the Gospel may be a savour of death unto death, as well as a savour +of life unto life. And I will tell you now; that you have only +to do what the Jews just before the coming of our Lord did, and give +way to the same thoughts as they, and then, like them, it were better +for you that you had never heard of God, and been like the savages, +to whom little or no sin is imputed, because they are all but without +law. How is this?</p> +<p>As I said before—take your covenant privileges as the Pharisees +took theirs, and they will turn you into devils while you are fancying +yourselves God’s especial favourites. Now this was what +happened to the Pharisees: they could not help knowing that God had +shown especial favour to them; and that He had taught them more about +God than He had taught the heathen. But instead of feeling all +the more humble and thankful for this, and of remembering day and night +that because much had been given to them much would be required of them, +they thought more about the honour and glory which God had put on them. +They forgot what God had declared, namely, that it was not for their +own goodness that He had taught them, for that they were in themselves +not a whit better than the heathen around them. They forgot that +the reason why He taught them was, that they were to do His work on +earth, by witnessing for His name, and telling the heathen that God +was their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews. Now David, and the +old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this. Their cry is: +“Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King.” +“Worship the Son of God, ye kings of the earth, and make your +peace with Him lest He be angry.” “It was in vain,” +he told the heathen kings, “to try to cast away God’s government +from them, and break His bonds from off them,” for “the +Lord was King, let the nations be never so unquiet.”</p> +<p>But the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, that +God had nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care for them, +and actually hated them; that they, as it were, had the true God all +to themselves for their own private property; and that He had neither +love nor mercy, except for them and their proselytes, that is, the few +heathens whom they could persuade and entice not to worship the true +God after the customs of their own country—that would not have +suited the Jews’ bigotry and pride—but to turn Jews, and +forget their own people among whom they were born, and ape them in everything. +And so, as our Lord told them, after compassing sea and land to make +one of these proselytes, they only made him after all twice as much +the child of hell as themselves. For they could not teach the +heathen anything worth knowing about God, when they had forgotten themselves +what God was like. They could tell them that there was one God, +and not two—but what was the use of that? As St. James says, +the devils believe as much as that, and yet the knowledge does not make +them holy, but only increases their fear and despair. And so with +these Pharisees. They had forgotten that God was love. They +had forgotten that God was merciful. They had forgotten that God +was just. And therefore, while they were talking of God and pretending +to worship God, they knew nothing of God, and they did not do God’s +will, and act like God; for (as we find from the Gospels) they were +unjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous themselves; and while +they were looking down on the poor heathens, these very heathens, the +Lord told them, would rise up in judgment against them: for they, knowing +little, acted up to the light which they had, better than the Pharisees +who knew so much. And so it will be with us, my friends, if we +fancy that God’s great favours to us are a reason for our priding +ourselves on them, and despising papists and foreigners instead of remembering +that just because God has given us so much, He will require more of +us. It is true, we do know more of the Gospel than the papists, +how, though they believe in Jesus Christ, worship the Virgin Mary and +the Saints, and idols of wood and stone. But if they, who know +so little of God’s will, yet act faithfully up to what they do +know, will they not rise up in judgment against us, who know so much +more, if we act worse than they? Instead of despising them, we +had better despise ourselves. Instead of fancying that God’s +love is not over them, and so sinning against God’s Holy Spirit +by denying and despising the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit in them, +we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting of our own sins. +We had better pray God to open our eyes to our own want of faith, and +want of love, and want of honesty, and want of cleanly and chaste lives; +lest God in His anger should let us go on in our evil path, till we +fall into the deep darkness of mind of the Pharisees of old. For +then while we were boasting of England as the most Christian nation +in the world, we might become the most unchristian, because the most +unlike Christ; the most wanting in love and fellow-feeling, and self-sacrifice, +and honour, and justice, and honesty; wanting, in short, in the fruits +of the Spirit. And without them there is no use crying: “We +are God’s chosen people, He Has put His name among us, we alone +hate idols, we alone have the pure word of God, and the pure sacraments, +and the pure doctrine;” for God may answer us, as he answered +the Jews of old: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have +Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, God is able of these +stones to raise up children to Abraham.” . . . “The +Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing +forth the fruits thereof.” Oh! my friends, let us pray, +one and all, that God will come and help us, and with great might succour +us, “that whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore +let and hindered in running the race set before us, God’s bountiful +grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us,” and enable +us to live faithfully up to the glorious privileges which He has bestowed +on us, in calling us “members of Christ, children of God, and +inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven;” in giving us His Bible, +in allowing us to be born into this favoured land of England, in preserving +us to this day, in spite of all that we have thought, and said, and +done, unworthy of the name of Christians and Englishmen.</p> +<p>And then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the glorious +promises which we find in another Psalm: “If thy children will +keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them, this +land shall be my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have +a delight therein. I will bless her victuals with increase, and +satisfy her poor with bread. I will deck her priests with health, +and her holy people shall rejoice and sing.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XVIII—NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye +say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to +serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with +a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, +will I rule over you. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord.—EZEKIEL +xx. 32, 33, 38.</p> +<p>A father has two ways of showing his love to his child—by caressing +it and by punishing it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, +and ought to be. Just because he loves his child, just because +the thing he longs most to see is that his child should grow up good, +therefore he must be, and ought to be, angry with it when it does wrong. +Therefore anger against sin is a part of God’s likeness in us; +and he who does not hate sin is not like God. For if sin is the +worst evil—perhaps the only real evil in the world—and the +end of all sin is death and misery, then to indulge people in sin is +to show them the very worst of cruelty.</p> +<p>To sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, is +mere laziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, does not +show his love to the child by indulging it, all he shows is, that he +himself is carnal and fleshly; that he does not like to take the trouble +of punishing it, or does not like to give himself the pain of punishing +it; that, in short, he had sooner let his child grow up in bad habits, +which must lead to its misery and ruin for years and years, if not for +ever, than make himself uncomfortable by seeing it uncomfortable for +a few minutes. That is not love, but selfishness. True love +is as determined to punish the sin as it is to forgive the sinner. +Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that we can be angry without sinning; +that is that there is an anger which comes from hatred of sin and love +to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon tells us to punish our children +when they do wrong, and not to hold our hands for their crying. +It is better for them that they should cry a little now, than have long +years of shame and sorrow hereafter. Therefore, in all countries +which are properly governed, the law punishes in the name of God those +who break the laws of God, and punishes them even with death, for certain +crimes; because it is expedient that one man die for the people, and +that the whole nation perish not.</p> +<p>And this is God’s way of dealing with each and every one of +us. This is God’s way of dealing with Christian nations, +just as it was His way of dealing with the Jews of old. He never +allowed the Jews to prosper in sin. He punished them at once, +and sternly, whenever they rebelled against Him; not because He hated +them, but because He loved them. His love to them showed itself +whenever they went well with Him, in triumphs and blessings; and when +they rebelled against Him, and broke His laws, He showed that very same +love to them in plague, and war, and famine, and a mighty hand, and +fury poured out. His love had not changed—they had changed; +and now the best and only way of showing His love to them, was by making +them feel His anger; and the best and only way of being merciful to +them, was to show them no indulgence.</p> +<p>Now the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in Ezekiel’s +time, was to be like the heathen—like the nations round them. +They said to themselves: “These heathen worship idols, and yet +prosper very well. Their having gods of wood and stone, and their +indulging their passions, and being profligate and filthy, covetous, +unjust, and tyrannical, does not prevent their being just as happy as +we are—ay, and a great deal happier. They have no strict +law of Moses, as we have threatening us and keeping us in awe, and making +us uncomfortable, and telling us at every turn, ‘Thou shalt not +do this pleasant thing, and thou shalt not do that pleasant thing.’ +And yet God does not punish them, as Moses’ law says He will punish +us. These Assyrians and Babylonians above all—they are stronger +than we, and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have horses +and chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which we Jews cannot +get. Instead of being like us, in continual trouble from earthquakes, +and drought, and famine, and war, attacked, plundered by all the nations +round us, one after another, they go on conquering, and spreading, and +succeeding in all they lay their hand to. Look at Babylon,” +said these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; “a few generations +ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the greatest, richest, and +strongest nation in the whole world. God has not punished it for +worshipping gods of wood and stone, why should He punish us? These +Babylonians have prospered well enough with their gods, why should not +we? Perhaps it is these very gods of wood and stone who have helped +them to become so great. Why should they not help us? We +will worship them, then, and pray to them. We will not give up +worshipping our own God, of course, lest we should offend Him; but we +will worship Him and the Babylonian idols at the same time; then we +shall be sure to be right if we have Jehovah and the idols both on our +side.” So said the Jews to themselves. But what did +Ezekiel answer them? “Not so, my foolish countrymen,” +said he, “God will not have it so. He has taught you that +these Babylonian idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught +you that He can and will help you, that He can and will be everything +to you; He has taught you that He alone is God, who made heaven and +earth, who orders all things therein, who alone gives any people power +to get wealth; and He will not have you go back and fall from that for +any appearances or arguments whatsoever, because it is true. He +has chosen you to witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His +name to them, that they may give up their idols and serve the true God, +in whom alone is strength. He chose you to be these heathens’ +teachers, and He will not let you become their scholars. He meant +the heathen to copy you, and He will not let you copy them. If +He does, in His love and mercy, let these poor heathen prosper in spite +of their idols, what is that to you? It is still the Lord who +makes them prosper, and not the idols, whether they know it or not. +They know no better, and He will not impute sin to them where He has +given them no law. But you do know better; by a thousand mighty +signs and wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been teaching you ever +since you came up through the Red Sea, that He is all-sufficient for +you, that all power is His in heaven and earth. He has promised +to you, and sworn to you by Himself, that if you keep His law and walk +in His commandments, you shall want no manner of good thing; that you +shall have no cause to envy these heathen their riches and prosperity, +for the Lord will bless you in house and land, by day and night, at +home and abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire. +Moses’ law tells you this, God’s prophets have been telling +you this, God’s wonderful dealings with you have been telling +you this, that the Lord God is enough for you. And if you, who +are meant to be a nation of kings and priests to God, to teach all nations +and serve solely Him, fancy that you will be allowed to throw away the +high honour which God has put upon you, and lower yourselves to the +follies and sins of these heathen round you, you are mistaken. +You were meant to be above such folly, you can be above it; and you +shall not prosper by serving God and idols at once; you shall not even +prosper by serving idols alone. God will visit you with a mighty +hand, and with fury poured out, and you shall know that He is the Lord.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This it +has to do with us—that if God taught the Jews about Himself, He +has taught us still more. If he has shown signs and wonders of +His love, and wrought mightily for the Jews, He has wrought far more +mightily for us; for He spared not His own Son, but gave Him freely +for us. If He promised to teach the Jews, He has promised still +more to teach us; for He has promised His Holy Spirit freely to young +and old, rich and poor, to as many as ask Him, to guide us into all +truth. If he expected the Jews to set an example to all the nations +around, He expects us to do so still more. And if He punished +the Jews, and drove them back again by shame, and affliction, and disappointment, +whenever they went after other gods, and tried to be like the heathen +around, and despised their high calling, and their high privileges, +He will punish us, and drive us back again still more fiercely, and +still more swiftly. God has called us to be a nation of Christians, +and He will not let us be a nation of heathens. We are longing +to do in these days very much as the Jews did of old; we are all too +apt to say to ourselves: “Of course we must love God, or He might +be angry with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls saved? +But the old heathen nations, and a great many nations now, and a great +many rich and comfortable people in England now, too, get on very well +without God, by just worshipping selfishness, and money, and worldly +cunning, and why should not we do the same?—why should we not +worship God and Mammon at once, and serve God on Sundays, and the selfish +ways of the world all the week? Surely then we should be doubly +safe; we should have God and the world on our side both at once.”</p> +<p>Now, my friends, God will not allow us to succeed on that plan. +We are members of His Church, whose head is Jesus, who gave Himself +for sinners; whose members are all brothers of His Church, which is +held together by self-sacrifice and fellow-help. If we try to +be like the heathens, and fancy that we can succeed by selfishness, +and cunning, and covetousness, God will not let us fall from the honour +which He has put on us, and trample our blessings under foot. +He will bring our plans to nought. Whomsoever he may let prosper +in sin, He will not let those who have heard the message prosper in +it. Whatever nation He may let become great by covetousness, and +selfish competing and struggling of man against man, He will not let +England grow great by it. He loves her too well to let her fall +so, and cast away her high honour of being a Christian nation. +By great and sore afflictions, by bringing our cleverest plans to nothing, +He will teach us that we cannot worship God and Mammon at once; that +the sure riches, either for a man or for a nation, are not money, but +righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of selfish competition +which men worship nowadays, and fancy that it is the secret cause of +all plenty, and cheapness, and civilisation, has no place in the church +of Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for those who hated Him, and +came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father; not to enable +men to go to heaven after a life of selfishness here; but by the power +of His Spirit—the spirit of love and fellowship to sweep all selfishness +off the face of God’s good earth. By sore trials and afflictions +will God in His mercy teach this to England, and to every man in England +who is deluded into fancying that he can serve God, and selfishness +at once, till we learn once more, as our forefathers did of old, that +He is the Lord. Because we are His children God will chasten us; +because He receives us, He will scourge us back to Him; because He has +prepared for us things such as eye hath not seen, He will not let us +fill our bellies with the husks which the swine eat, and like the dumb +beasts, snarl and struggle one against the other for a place at His +table, as if it were not wide enough for all His creatures, and for +ten times as many more, forgetting that He is the giver, and fancying +that we are to be the takers, and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry +to snatch it out of our neighbours’ hands. In one word, +God will not give us false prosperity, as the children of the world, +the flesh, and the devil, because he wishes to give us real prosperity +as the sons of God, in the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died +on the cross for us.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XIX—THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote +in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and eighty five thousand: and +when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.—2 +KINGS xix. 35.</p> +<p>You heard read in the first lesson last Sunday afternoon, the threats +of the king of Assyria against Jerusalem, and his defiance of the true +Lord whose temple stood there. In the first lesson for this morning’s +service, you heard of king Hezekiah’s fear and perplexity; of +the Lord’s answer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and wonderful +destruction of the Assyrian army, of which my text tells you. +Of course you have a right to ask: “This which happened in a foreign +country more than two thousand years ago, what has it to do with us?” +And, of course, my preaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, +unless I can show you what it has to do with us; what lesson we English +here, in the year 1851, are to draw, from the help which God sent the +Jews.</p> +<p>But to find out that, we must hear the whole story. Before +we can find out why God drove the Assyrians out of Judæa, we must +find out, it seems to me, why He sent them, or allowed them to come +into Judæa; and to find out that, we must first see how the Jews +were behaving in those times, and what sort of state their country was +in; and we must find out, too, what sort of a man this great king of +Assyria was, and what sort of thoughts were in his heart.</p> +<p>Now, by the favour of God, we can find out this. You will see, +in the first thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah’s prophecies, a full +account of the ways of the Jews in that time, and the reasons why God +allowed so fearful a danger to come upon them. The whole first +thirty-five chapters belong to each other, and are, so to speak, a spiritual +history of the Jews, and the Assyrians, and all the nations round them, +for many years. A spiritual history—that is, not merely +a history of what they did, but of what they were, what was in their +inmost hearts, and thoughts, and spirits; a spiritual history—that +is, not merely of what they thought they were doing, but of what God +saw that they were doing—a history of God’s mind about them +all. Isaiah had God’s spirit on him; and so he saw what +was going on round him in the same light in which God saw it, and hated +it, or praised it, only according as it was good, and according to the +good Spirit of God, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah’s +history of his own nation, and the nations around him, was very unlike +what they would have written for themselves; just as I am afraid he +would write a very different history of England now, from what we should +write, if we were set to do it. Now what Isaiah thought of the +doings of his countrymen, the Jews, I must tell you in another sermon, +next Sunday. It will be enough this morning to speak of the king +of Assyria.</p> +<p>These kings of Assyria thought themselves the greatest and strongest +beings in the world; they thought that their might was right, and that +they might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and oppress every country +round them for thousands of miles, without being punished. They +thought that they could overcome the true God of Judæa, as they +had conquered the empty idols and false gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and +Iva. But Isaiah saw that they were wrong. He told his countrymen: +“These Assyrian kings are strong, but there is a stronger King +than they, Jehovah the Lord of all the earth. It is He who sent +them to punish nation after nation, Sennacherib is the rod of Jehovah’s +anger; but he is a fool after all; for all his cunning, for all his +armies, he is a fool rushing on his ruin. He may take Tyre, Damascus, +Babylon, Egypt itself, and cast their gods into the fire, for they are +no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; but let +him once try his strength against the real living God; let the axe once +begin to boast itself against Him that hews therewith; and he will find +out that there is one stronger than he, one who has been using him as +a ‘tool, and who will crush him like a moth the moment he rebels. +His father destroyed Samaria and her idols, but he shall not destroy +Jerusalem. He may ravage Ephraim, and punish the gluttony and +drunkenness, and oppression of the great landlords of Bashan; he may +bring misery and desolation through the length and breadth of the land: +there is reason, and reason but too good for that: but Jerusalem, the +place where God’s honour dwells, the temple without idols, which +is the sign that Jehovah is a living God, against it he shall not cast +up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.’ “I know,” +said Isaiah, “what he is saying of himself, this proud king of +Assyria: but this is what God says of him, that he is only a puppet, +a tool in the hand of God, to punish these wicked nations whom he is +conquering one by one, and us Jews among the rest. He, this proud +king of Assyria, thinks that he is the chosen favourite of the sun, +and the moon, and the stars, whom, in his folly, he worships as gods. +He will find out who is the real Lord of the earth; he will find out +that this great world is ruled by that very God of Israel whom he despises. +He will find that there is something in this earth, of which he fancies +himself lord and master, which is too strong for him, which will obey +God, and not him. God rules the earth, and God rules Tophet, and +the great fire-kingdoms which boil and blaze for ever in the bowels +of the earth, and burst up from time to time in earthquakes and burning +mountains; and God has ordained that they shall conquer this proud king +of Assyria, though we Jews are too weak and cowardly, and split up into +parties by our wickedness, to make a stand against him.” . . .</p> +<p>This great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, which would +destroy the king of Assyria’s army, was to happen, Isaiah says, +close to Jerusalem, nay, it was to shake Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem +was to be brought to great misery by everlasting burnings, as well as +by being besieged by the Assyrians; and yet the very shaking of the +earth and eruption of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be +the cause of its deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot +doubt his words came true. For this may explain to us the way +in which the king of Assyria’s army was destroyed. The text +says, that when they encamped near Jerusalem the messenger of the Lord +went out, and slew in one night one hundred and eighty thousand of them, +who were all found dead in the morning. How they were killed we +cannot exactly tell, most likely by a stream of poisonous vapour, such +as often comes forth out of the ground during earthquakes and eruptions +of burning mountains, and kills all men and animals who breathe it. +That this was the way that this great army was destroyed, I have little +doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah says in his prophecies of +God’s “sending a blast” upon the king of Assyria, +but because it was just like the old lesson which God had been teaching +the Jews all along, that the earth and all in it was His property, and +obeyed Him. For what could teach them that more strongly than +to see that the earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on +earth the most awful and most murderous, the very things against which +man has no defence, obeyed God; burst forth when He chose, and did His +work as He willed? For man can conquer almost everything in the +world except these burning mountains and earthquakes. He can sail +over the raging sea in his ships; he can till the most barren soils; +he can provide against famine, rain, and cold, ay, against the thunder +itself: but the earthquakes alone are too strong for him. Against +them no cunning or strength of man is of any use. Without warning, +they make the solid ground under his feet heave, and reel, and sink, +hurling down whole towns in a moment, and burying the inhabitants under +the ruins, as an earthquake did in Italy only a month ago. Or +they pour forth streams of fire, clouds of dust, brimstone, and poisonous +vapour, destroying for miles around the woods and crops, farms and cities, +and burying them deep in ashes, as they have done again and again, both +in Italy and Iceland, and in South America, even during the last few +years. How can man stand against them? What greater warning +or lesson to him than they, that God is stronger than man; that the +earth is not man’s property, and will not obey him, but only the +God who made it? Now that was just what God intended to teach +the Jews all along; that the earth and heaven belonged to Him and obeyed +Him; that they were not to worship the sun and stars, as the Assyrians +and Canaanites did, nor the earth and the rivers as the Egyptians did: +but to worship the God who made sun and stars, earth and rivers, and +to put their trust in Him to guide all heaven and earth aright; and +to make all things, sun, earth, and weather, ay, and the very burning +mountains and earthquakes, work together for good for them if they loved +God. Therefore it was that God gave His law to Moses on the burning +mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, to +show them that the lightnings and the mountains obeyed Him. Therefore +it was that the earthquake opened the ground and swallowed up Korah, +Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses. Therefore it was +that God once used an earthquake and eruption to preserve David from +his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And all through +David’s Psalms we find how well he had learnt this great lesson +which God had taught him. Again and again we find verses which +show that he knew well enough who was the Lord of all the earth.</p> +<p>In Isaiah’s time, it seems, God taught the Jews once more the +same thing. He taught them, and the proud king of Assyria, once +and for all, that He was indeed the Lord—Lord of all nations, +and King of kings, and also Lord of the earth, and all that therein +is. He taught it to the poor oppressed Jews by that miraculous +deliverance. He taught it to the cruel invading king by that miraculous +destruction. Just in the height of his glory, after he had conquered +almost every nation in the east, and overcome the whole of Judæa, +except that one small city of Jerusalem, Sennacherib’s great army +was swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in a single night, and +utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his own land; and even +there he found that the God of Israel had followed him—that the +idols whom he worshipped could not save him from the wrath of that God +to whom Assyria, just as much as Jerusalem, belonged. For as he +was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons smote +him with the sword, and there was an end of all his pride and conquests. +. . . Now Nisroch was the name of a star—the star which we call +the planet Saturn; and the Assyrians fancied in their folly, that whosoever +worshipped any particular star, that star would protect and help him. +. . . But, alas for the king of Assyria, there was One above who +had made the stars, and from whose vengeance the stars could not save +him; and so even while he was worshipping, and praying to, this favourite +star of his which could not hear him, he fell dead, a murdered man, +and found out too late how true were the great words of Isaiah when +he prophesied against him.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to learn, +and which the king of Assyria had to learn, and which we have to learn +also; and which God will, in His great mercy, teach us over and over +again by bitter trials whensoever we forget it; that The Lord is King; +that He is near us, living for ever, all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving; +that those who really trust in Him shall never be confounded; that those +who trust in themselves are trying their paltry strength against the +God who made heaven and earth, and will surely find out their own weakness, +just when they fancy themselves most successful. So it was in +Hezekiah’s time; so it is now, hard as it may be to us to believe +it. The Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, who saved Jerusalem from the +Assyrians, He still is King, let the earth be never so unquiet. +And all men, or governments, or doctrines, or ways of thinking and behaving, +which are contrary to His will, or even pretend that they can do without +Him, will as surely come to nought as that great and terrible king of +Assyria. Though man be too weak to put them down, Christ is not. +Though man neglect to put them down, Christ will not. If man dare +not fight on the Lord’s side against sin and evil, the Lord’s +earth will fight for Him. Storm and tempest, blight and famine, +earthquakes and burning mountains, will do His work, if nothing else +will. As He said Himself, if man stops praising Him, the very +stones will cry out, and own Him as their King. Not that the blessed +Lord is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; God forbid! He is boundless +pity, and love, and mercy. But it is just because He is perfect +love and pity that He hates sin, which makes all the misery upon earth. +He hates it, and he fights against it for ever; lovingly at first, that +He may lead sinners to repentance; for He wills the death of none, but +rather that all should come to repentance. But if a man will not +turn, He will whet his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let +him be as great as the king of Assyria, he must down. For the +Lord will have none guide His world but Himself, because none but He +will ever guide it on the right path. Yes—but what a glorious +thought, that He will guide it, and us, on that right path. Oh +blessed news for all who are in sorrow and perplexity! Whatsoever +it is that ails you—and who is there, young or old, rich or poor, +who has not their secret ailments at heart?—whatsoever ails you, +whatsoever terrifies you, whatsoever tempts you, trust in the same Lord +who delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians, and He will deliver you. +He will never suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but +will with the temptation also make a way for you to escape, that you +may be able to bear it. This has been His loving way from the +beginning, and this will be His way until the day when He wipes away +tears from all eyes.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XX—PROFESSION AND PRACTICE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Though they say, “The Lord liveth,” surely they swear +falsely.—JEREMIAH v. 2.</p> +<p>I spoke last Sunday morning of the wonderful way in which the Lord +delivered the Jews from the Assyrian army, and I promised to try and +explain to you this morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the Assyrians +to come into Judæa, and ravage the whole country except the one +small city of Jerusalem.</p> +<p>My text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the prophet +Jeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason to us.</p> +<p>For though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after Isaiah, +yet he had much the same message from God to give, and much the same +sins round him to rebuke. For the Jews were always, as the Bible +calls them, “a backsliding people;” and, as the years ran +on, and they began to forget their great deliverance from the Assyrians, +they slid back into the very same wrong state of mind in which they +were in Isaiah’s time, and for which God punished them by that +terrible invasion.</p> +<p>Now, what was this?</p> +<p>One very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when the +Assyrians came into Judæa, the Jews were <i>not</i> given up to +worshipping false gods. On the contrary, we find, both from the +book of Kings and the book of Chronicles, that a great reform in religion +had taken place among them a few years before. Their king Hezekiah, +in the very first year of his reign, removed the high places, and cut +down the groves (which are said to have been carved idols meant to represent +the stars of heaven), and even broke in pieces the brazen serpent which +Moses had made, because the Jews had begun to worship it for an idol. +He trusted in the Lord God, and obeyed Him, more than any king of Judah. +He restored the worship of the true God in the temple, according to +the law of Moses, with such pomp and glory as had never been seen since +Solomon’s time. And not only did he turn to the true God, +but his people also. From the account which we find in Chronicles, +they seemed to have joined him in the good work. They offered +sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they have been guilty, +in leaving the true God for idols; and all other kinds of offerings +freely and willingly. “And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the +people that God had prepared the people. Moreover, Hezekiah called +all the men in Judæa up to Jerusalem, to keep the passover according +to the law of Moses,” which they had neglected to do for many +years, and the people answered his call and “came, and kept the +feast at Jerusalem seven days, with joy and great gladness, offering +peace-offerings, and making confession to the God of their fathers. +So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon there +was not the like in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites +arose, and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their +prayer came up to the Lord’s holy dwelling, even to heaven.” +And when it was all finished, the people went out of their own accord, +and destroyed utterly all the idols, and high places, and altars throughout +the land, and returned to their houses in peace.</p> +<p>Now does not all this sound very satisfactory and excellent? +What better state of mind could people be in? What a wonderful +reform, and spread of true religion! The only thing like it, that +we know, is the wonderful reform and spread of religion in England in +the last sixty years, after all the ungodliness and wickedness that +went on from the year 1660 to the time of the French war; the building +of churches, the founding of schools, the spread of Bibles, and tracts, +and the wonderful increase of gospel preachers, so that every old man +will tell you, that religion is talked about and written about now, +a thousand times more than when he was a boy. Indeed, unless a +man makes a profession of some sort of religion or other, nowadays, +he can hardly hope to rise in the world, so religious are we English +become.</p> +<p>Now let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful spread +of true religion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may see what he +would think of ours now, if he were alive. His opinion is sure +to be the right one. His rules can never fail, for he was an inspired +prophet, and saw things as they are, as God sees them; and therefore +his rules will hold good for ever. Let us see what they were.</p> +<p>The first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is called “The +vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and +Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.” +Now this is one prophecy by itself, in the shape of a poem; for in the +old Hebrew it is written in regular verses. The second chapter +begins with another heading, and is the beginning of a different poem; +so that this first chapter is, as it were, a summing up of all that +he is going to say afterwards; a short account of the state of the Jews +for more than forty years. And what is more, this first chapter +of Isaiah must have been written in the reign of Hezekiah, in those +very religious days of which I was just speaking; for it says that the +country was desolate, and Jerusalem alone left. And this never +happened during Isaiah’s lifetime, till the fourteenth year of +Hezekiah, that is, till this great spread of the true religion had been +going on for thirteen years. Now what was Isaiah’s vision? +What did he, being taught by God’s Spirit, <i>see</i> was God’s +opinion of these religious Jews? Listen, my friends, and take +it solemnly to heart!</p> +<p>“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto +the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is +the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full +of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts: and I delight +not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When +ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to +tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination +unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot +away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons +and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; +I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, +I will hide my eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will +not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; +put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do +evil; learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge +the fatherless, plead for the widow. . . . How is the faithful +city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged +in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine +mixed with water; thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; +every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not +the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. +Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, +Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.” +. . .</p> +<p>Again, I say, my friends, listen to it, and take it solemnly to heart! +That is God’s opinion of religion, even the truest and soundest +in worship and doctrine, when it is without godliness, without holiness; +when it goes in hand with injustice, and covetousness, and falsehood, +and cheating, and oppression, and neglect of the poor, and keeping company +with the wicked, because it is profitable; in short, when it is like +too much of the religion which we see around us in the world at this +day.</p> +<p>Yes—it was of no use holding to the letter of the law while +they forgot its spirit. God had commanded church-going, and woe +to those, then or now, who neglect it. Yet the Lord asks, “Who +hath required this at your hands, to tread my courts?”. . . +He had commanded the Sabbath-day to be kept holy; and woe to those, +then or now, who neglect it. Yet He says, “Your Sabbaths +I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” +The Lord had appointed feasts: and yet He says that His soul hated them; +they were a trouble to Him; He was weary to bear them. The Lord +had commanded prayer; and woe to those, then or now, in England, as +in Judæa, who neglect to pray. And yet He says: “When +ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when +ye make many prayers, I will not hear.” And why?—He +himself condescends to tell them the reason, which they ought to have +known for themselves: “Because,” He says, “your hands +are full of blood.” This was the reason why all their religiousness, +and orthodoxy, and church-going, and praying, was only disgusting to +God; because there was no righteousness with it. Their faith was +only a dead, rotten, sham faith, for it brought forth no fruits of justice +and love; and their religion was only hypocrisy, for it did not make +them holy. No doubt they thought themselves pious and sincere +enough; no doubt they thought that they were pleasing God perfectly, +and giving Him all that He could fairly ask of them; no doubt they were +fiercely offended at Isaiah’s message to them; no doubt they could +not understand what he meant by calling them a hypocritical nation, +a second Sodom and Gomorrah, while they were destroying idols, and keeping +the law of Moses, and worshipping God more earnestly than He had been +worshipped since Solomon’s time. But so it was. That +was the message of God to them; that was the vision of Isaiah concerning +them; that there was no soundness in the whole of the nation, “from +the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, nothing but wounds, and +bruises, and putrefying sores”—that is, that the whole heart +and conscience, and ways of thinking, were utterly rotten, and abominable +in the sight of God, even while they were holding the true doctrines +about them, and keeping up the pure worship of Him. This, says +the Lord, is not the way to please me. “He hath showed thee, +oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee, +but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” +To do justly, to love mercy, and then to walk humbly, sure that when +you seem to have done all your duty, you have left only too much of +it undone; even as St. Paul felt when he said, that though he knew nothing +against himself; though he could not recollect a single thing in which +he had failed of his duty to the Corinthians, yet that did not justify +him. “For he that judgeth me,” he says, “is +the Lord.” He sees deeper than I can; and He, alas! may +take a very different view of my conduct from what I do; and this life +of mine, which looks to me, from my ignorance, so spotless and perfect, +may be, in His eyes, full of sins, and weakness, and neglects, and shameful +follies. “To walk humbly with God.” Not to believe +that because you read the Bible, and have heard the gospel, and are +sharp at finding out false doctrine in preachers, and belong to the +Church of England, that therefore you know all about God, and can look +down upon poor papists, and heathens, and say: “This people, which +knoweth not the law, is accursed: but <i>we</i> are enlightened, we +understand the whole Bible, we know everything about God’s will, +and man’s duty; and whosoever differs from us, or pretends to +teach us anything new about God, must be wrong.” Not to +do so, my friends, but to believe what St. Paul tells us solemnly, “That +if any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he +ought to know”—to believe that the Great God, and the will +of God, and the love of God, and the mystery of Redemption, and the +treasures of wisdom which are in His Bible, are, as St. Paul told you, +boundless, like a living well, which can never be fathomed, or drawn +dry, but fills again with fresh water as fast as you draw from it. +That is walking humbly with God; and those who do not do so, but like +the Pharisees of old, believe that they have all knowledge, and can +understand all the mysteries of the Bible, and go through the world, +despising and cursing all parties but their own—let them beware, +lest the Lord be saying of them, as He said of the church of Sardis, +of old: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and +have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, +and poor, and blind, and naked.”</p> +<p>How is this? What is this strange thing, without which even +the true knowledge of doctrine is of no use; which, if a man, or a nation +has not, he is poor, and blind, and wretched, and naked in soul, in +spite of all his religion? Isaiah will tell us—What did +he say to the Jews in his day?</p> +<p>“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings +from before my eyes. Do justice to the fatherless, and relieve +the widow!” “Do that,” says the Lord, “and +then your repentance will be sincere. Church building and church +going are well—but they are not repentance—churches are +not souls. I ask you for your hearts, and you give me fine stones +and fine words. I want souls—I want <i>your</i> souls—I +want you to turn to me. And what am I? saith the Lord. I +am justice, I am love, I am the God of the oppressed, the fatherless, +the widow.—That is my character. Turn to justice, turn to +love, turn to mercy; long to be made just, and loving, and merciful; +see that your sin has been just this, and nothing else, that you have +been unjust, unloving, unmerciful. Repent for your neglect and +cruelty, and repent in dust and ashes, when you see what wretched hypocrites +you really are. And then, my boundless mercy and pardon shall +be open to you. As you wish to be to me, so will I be to you; +if you wish to become merciful, you shall taste my mercy; if you wish +to become loving to others, you shall find that I love you; if you wish +to become just, you shall find that I am just, just to deal by you as +you deal by others; faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and +to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then, all shall be +forgiven and forgotten; “though your sins be as scarlet, they +shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall +be as wool.”</p> +<p>Surely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; for this +is the sin which most destroys all men and nations—high religious +profession with an ungodly, covetous, and selfish life. It is +the worst and most dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which +eats out the heart and life without giving pain; so that the sick man +never suspects that anything is the matter with him, till he finds himself, +to his astonishment, at the point of death. So it was with the +Jews, three times in their history. In the time of Isaiah, under +King Hezekiah; in the time of Jeremiah, under King Josiah; and last +and worst of all, in the time of Jesus Christ. At each of these +three times the Jews were high religious professors, and yet at each +of these three times they were abominable before God, and on the brink +of ruin. In Isaiah’s time their eyes seemed to have been +opened at last to their own sins. Their fearful danger, and wonderful +deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard last Sunday, seem +to have done that for them; as God intended it should. During +the latter part of Hezekiah’s reign they seemed to have turned +to God with their hearts, and not with their lips only; and Isaiah can +find no words to express the delight which the blessed change gives +him. Nevertheless, they soon fell back again into idolatry; and +then there was another outward lip-reformation under the good King Josiah; +and Jeremiah had to give them exactly the same warning which Isaiah +had given them nearly a hundred years before. But that time, alas! +they would not take the warning; and then all the evil which had been +prophesied against them came on them. From hypocritical profession, +they fell back again into their old idolatry; their covetousness, selfishness, +party-quarrels, and profligate lives made them too weak and rotten to +stand against Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when he attacked them; +and Jerusalem was miserably destroyed, the temple burnt, and the Jews +carried captives to Babylon. There they repented in bitter sorrow +and slavery; and God allowed them after seventy years to return to their +own land. Then at first they seemed to be a really converted people, +and to be worshipping God in spirit and in truth. They never again +fell back into the idolatry of the heathen. So far from it, they +became the greatest possible haters of it; they went on keeping the +law of God with the utmost possible strictness, even to the day when +the Lord Jesus appeared among them. Their religious people, the +Scribes and Pharisees, were the most strict, moral, devout people of +the whole world. They worshipped the very words and letters of +the Bible; their thoughts seemed filled with nothing but God and the +service of God: and yet the Lord Jesus told them that they were in a +worse state, greater sinners in the sight of God, than they had ever +been; that they, who hated idolatry, were filling up the measure of +their idolatrous forefathers’ iniquity; that the guilt of all +the righteous blood shed on earth was to fall on them; that they were +a race of serpents, a generation of vipers; and that even He did not +see how they could escape the damnation of hell. And they proved +how true His words were, by crucifying the very Lord of whom their much-prized +Scriptures bore witness, whom they pretended to worship day and night +continually; and received the just reward of their deeds in forty years +of sedition, bloodshed, and misery, which ended by the Romans coming +and sweeping the nation of the Jews from off the face of the earth.</p> +<p>So much for profession without practice. So much for true doctrine +with dishonest and unholy lives. So much for outward respectability +with inward sinfulness. So much for hating idolatry, while all +the while men’s hearts are far from God!</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, let us all search our hearts carefully in these times +of high profession and low practice; lest we be adding our drop of hypocrisy +to the great flood of it which now stifles this land of England, and +so fall into the same condemnation as the Jews of old, in spite of far +nobler examples, brighter and wider light, and more wonderful and bounteous +blessings.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXI—THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; +and shall begin to beat the men servants and the maid servants, and +to eat and drink and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come +in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not +aware, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint him his portion with +the unbelievers.—LUKE xii. 45, 46.</p> +<p>But why with the unbelievers? The man had not disbelieved that +he had any Lord at all; he had only believed that his Lord delayed his +coming. And why was he to be put with those who do not believe +in him at all? This is a very fearful question, friends, for us, +when we think how it is the fashion among us now, to believe that our +Lord delays His coming.—And surely most of us do believe that? +For is it not our notion that, when the Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, +He went away a great distance off, perhaps millions of miles beyond +the stars; and that He will not come back again till the last—which, +for aught we know, and as we rather expect, may not happen for hundreds +or thousands of years to come? Is not that most people’s +notion, rich as well as poor? And if that is not believing that +our Lord delays His coming, what is?</p> +<p>But, you may answer, the Creed says plainly, that He ascended into +heaven and sits at the right hand of God. Ah! my friends, those +great words of the Creed which you take into your lips every Sunday, +mean the very opposite to what most people fancy. They do not +say, “The Lord Jesus has left this poor earth to itself and its +misery:” but they say, “Lo, He is with you, even to the +end of the world.” True, He is ascended into heaven. +And how far off is heaven?—for so far off is the Lord Jesus, and +no farther. Not so far off, my friends, after all, if you knew +where to find it. Truly said the great and good poet, now gone +home to his reward:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Heaven lies about us in our infancy.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>And if we lose sight of it as we grow up to be men and women, it +is not because heaven goes farther off, but because we grow less heavenly. +Even now, so close is heaven to us, that any one of us might enter into +heaven this moment, without stirring from his seat. One real cry +from the depths of your heart—“Father, forgive thy sinful +child!”—one real feeling of your own worthlessness, and +weakness, and emptiness, and of God’s righteousness, and love, +and mercy, ready for you—and you are in heaven there and then, +as near the feet of the blessed Lord Jesus, as Mary Magdalen was, when +she tried to clasp them in the garden. I am serious, my friends; +I am not given to talk fine figures of poetry; I am talking sober, straightforward, +literal truth. And the Lord sits at God’s right hand too? +you believe that? Then how far off is God?—for as far off +as God is, so far off is the Lord Jesus, and no farther. What +says St. Paul? That “God is not far off from any one of +us—for in Him we live, and move, and have our being” . . +. IN Him . . . . How far off is that? And is not God everywhere, +if indeed we can say that He is any where? Then the Lord Jesus, +who is at God’s right hand, is everywhere also—here, now, +with us this day. One would have thought that there was no need +to prove that by argument, considering that His own blessed lips told +us: “Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world;” and +again: “Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, +there am I in the midst of them.” And this is the Lord whom +people fancy is gone away far above the stars, till the end of time! +Oh, my friends, rather bow your heads before Him here this moment. +For here He is among us now, listening to every thought of our poor +sinful hearts. . . . He is where God is—God <i>in</i> whom +we live, and move, and have our being—and that is everywhere. +Do you wish Him to be any nearer, my friends? Or do you—do +you—take care what your hearts answer, for He is watching them—do +you in the depth of your hearts wish that He were a little farther off? +Does the notion of His being here on this earth, watching and interfering +(as we call it nowadays in our atheism) with us and everything, seem +unpleasant and burdensome? Is it more comfortable to you to think +that He is away far up beyond the stars? Do you feel the lighter +and freer for fancying that He will not visit the earth for many a year +to come? In short, is it in your <i>hearts</i> that you are saying, +The Lord delays His coming?</p> +<p>That is a very important question. For mind, a pious man might +be, as many a pious man has been in these days, deceived by bad teaching +into the notion that Jesus Christ was gone far away. But if he +were a truly pious man, if he truly loved the Lord, that would be a +painful thought—as I should have fancied, an unbearable thought—to +him, when he looked out upon this poor miserable, confused world. +He would be crying night and day: “Oh, that thou wouldest rend +the heavens and come down!” He would be in an agony of pity +for this poor deserted earth, and of longing for the Saviour of it to +come back and save it. He would never have a moment’s peace +of mind till he had either seen the Lord come back again in His glory, +or till he had found out—what I am sure the blessed Lord would +teach him as a reward for his love—that it was all a dream and +a nightmare, and that the Lord of the earth was in the earth, and close +to him, all along; only that his weak eyes were held so that he did +not know the Lord and the Lord’s works when he saw them.</p> +<p>But that was not the temper of this servant in the Lord’s parable. +I am afraid it is by no means the temper of many of us nowadays. +The servant said <i>in his heart</i>, that his master would be long +away. It was his heart put the thought into his head. He +took to the notion <i>heartily</i>, as we say, because he was glad to +believe it was true; glad to think that his master would not come to +“interfere” with him; and that in the meantime he might +be lord and master himself, and treat everyone in the house as if he +himself was the owner of it, and tyrannise over his fellow-servants, +and enjoy himself in luxury and good living. So says David of +the fool: “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God;” +his heart puts that thought into his head. He wishes to believe +that there is no God; and when there is a will there is a way; and he +soon finds out reasons and arguments enough to prove what he is so very +anxious to prove.</p> +<p>Now, my friends, I am afraid that there is not so much difference +as people fancy, between the fool who says in his heart, “There +is no God,” and the fool who says in his heart, “My master +delays His coming.”—“God has left the world to us, +and we must shift for ourselves in it.” The man who likes +to be what St. Paul calls “without God in the world,” is +he so very much wiser than the man who likes to have no God at all? +St. James did not think so; for what does he say: “Thou believest +that there is one God? Thou doest well—the devils also believe +and tremble.” They know as much as that; but it does them +no good—only increases their fear. “But wilt thou +know, oh! vain man, that faith without works,” believing without +doing, “is dead?” And are not too many, as I said +just now, afraid of the thought of God; so afraid of it that they wish +to allow the Son of God as little share as possible in the management +of this world? Have not too many a belief without works; a mere +belief that there is one God and not two, which hardly, from one year’s +end to another, makes them do one single thing which they would not +have done if they had believed that there was no God at all? Fear +of the law, fear of the policeman, fear of losing their work or their +custom; fear of losing their neighbour’s good word—that +is what keeps most people from breaking loose. There is not much +of the fear of God in that, or the love of God either as far as I can +see. They go through life as if they had made a covenant with +God, that He should have his own way in the world to come, if He would +only let them have their way in this world. Oh! my friends, my +friends, do you think God is God of the next world and not of this also? +Do you think the kingdom, and the power, and the glory will be His a +great many hundreds of years hence, in what you call heaven; and will +not see what every page of Scripture tells you, what you yourself say +every time you repeat the Lord’s Prayer, that the Kingdom, and +the Power and the Glory are His now, here in this life, and that He +has committed all things to His Son Jesus Christ and given the power +into His hand, that He may rule this earth in righteousness now, here, +in this life, and conquer back for God one by one, if it be possible, +every creature upon earth? So says the Bible—and people +profess nowadays to believe their Bibles. My friends, too many, +nowadays, while they profess very loudly to believe what the Bible says, +only believe what their favourite teachers tell them that the Bible +says. If they really read their Bibles for themselves, and took +God at His word, there would be less tyrannising of one man over another, +less grinding down of men by masters, and of men by each other—for +the poor are often very hard on each other in England, now, my friends—very +envious and spiteful, and slanderous about each other. They say +that dog won’t eat dog—yet how many a poor man grudges and +supplants his neighbour, and tries to get into his place and beat him +down in his wages? And there are those who call themselves learned +men, who tell the poor that that is God’s will, and the way by +which God intends them to prosper. If those men believed their +Bibles, they would be repenting in sackcloth and ashes for having preached +such a devil’s sermon to God’s children. If men really +read their Bibles, there would be less eating and drinking with the +drunken; less idleness and luxury among the rich; less fancying that +a man has a right to do what he likes with his own, because all men +would know that they were only the Lord’s stewards, bound to give +an account to him of the good which they had done with what he has lent +them. There would be fewer parents fancying that they can tyrannise +over their children, bringing them up as heathens for the sake of the +few pence they earn; using bad language, and doing shameful things before +them, which they dared not do if they recollected that the Lord was +looking on; beating and scolding them as if they were brutes or slaves, +to save themselves the trouble of teaching them gently what the poor +little creatures cannot know without being taught: and most shameful +of all, robbing the poor children of their little earnings to spend +it themselves in drunkenness. Ah, blessed Lord! if people did +but know how near Thou wert to them, all that would vanish out of England, +as the night clouds vanish away before the sun!</p> +<p>And He is near, my friends: He is watching; He is governing; He is +at hand: and in this life or in the life to come, forget Him as we choose, +He will make us know plain enough, and without any doubt whatsoever, +that He is the Lord.</p> +<p>He has fulfilled this awful parable of his about the unfaithful servant +already; many a time, against many a man, many a great king, and prince, +and nation; and he will fulfil it against each and every man, from the +nobleman in his castle to the labourer in his cottage, who says in his +heart, “My Lord delays his coming,” and begins to tyrannise +over those who are weaker than himself, and to enjoy himself as he likes, +and forget that he is not his own, but bought with the price of Christ’s +blood, and bound to work for Christ’s kingdom and glory.</p> +<p>So he punished the popes of Rome, three hundred years ago. +When all the nations in Europe were listening to them and obeying them, +and they had put into their hands by God a greater power of doing good +than He ever gave to any human being before or since, what did they +do? Instead of using their power for Christ, they used it for +themselves. Instead of preaching to all nations the good news +that Christ the Son of God was their King, they said: “I, the +pope, am your king. Christ is gone far away into heaven, and has +committed all power on earth to us; we are Christ’s vicars; we +are in Christ’s place; He has entrusted to our keeping all the +treasures of His merits and His grace, and no one can get any blessing +from Christ, unless we choose to give it him.” So they said +in their hearts just what the foolish servant in the parable said: and +fancying that they were lords and masters, naturally enough went on +to behave as such; to beat the men-servants and maid-servants, that +is, to oppress and tyrannise over the bodies and minds and consciences +of men, and women too, God knows; and to eat and drink with the drunken, +to live in riot and debauchery. But the Lord was not so far off +as those foolish popes fancied. And in an hour when they were +not aware, He came and cut them asunder. He snatched from them +one-half of the nations of Europe, and England among the rest; He punished +them by doubt, ignorance, confusion, and utter blindness, and appointed +them their portion among the unbelievers in such terrible earnest, that +to this very day, to judge by the things which they say and do, it is +difficult to persuade ourselves that the popes really believe in any +God at all.</p> +<p>So He did, only three years ago, to many kings and princes on the +Continent. <a name="citation217"></a><a href="#footnote217">{217}</a> +They professed to be Christians; but they had forgotten that they were +Christ’s stewards, that all their power came from Him, and that +he had given it them only to use for the good of their subjects. +And they too went on saying: “The Lord delays His coming, +we are rulers in this world, and God is ruler in the world to come.” +So they, too, oppressed their subjects, and lived in ease on what they +wrung out of the poor wretches below them. But the Lord was nearer +them, too, than they fancied; and all at once—as they were fancying +themselves all safe and prosperous, and saying, “We are those +who ought to speak, who is Lord over us?”—their fool’s +paradise crumbled from under their feet. A few paltry mobs of +foolish starving people, without weapons, without leaders, without good +counsel to guide them, rose against them. And what did they do? +They might have crushed down the rebels most of them, in a week, if +they had had courage. And in the only country where the rebels +were really strong, that is, in Austria, all might have been quiet again +at once, if the king had only had the heart to do common justice, and +keep his own solemn oaths. But no—the terror of the Lord +came upon them. He most truly cut them in sunder. They were +every man of a different mind, and none of them in the same mind a day +together; they became utterly conscience-stricken, terrified, perplexed, +at their wit’s end, not having courage or determination to do +anything, or even to do nothing, and fled shamefully away one after +another, to their everlasting disgrace. And those of them who +have got back their power since are showing sadly enough, by their obstinate +folly and wickedness, that the Lord has appointed them their portion +with the unbelievers, and left them to fill up the measure of their +iniquity, and drink deep the cup of wrath which is in His hand, full +and mixed for those who forget God.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, let us lay these things solemnly to heart. +Do not fancy that the Lord will punish the wicked great, and forget +the wicked small. In His sight there is neither great nor small; +all are small enough for Him to crush like the moth; and all are too +great to be overlooked, or forgotten by Him, without whom not a sparrow +falls to the ground. Again I say, my friends, let us lay His parable +to heart. Let us who have property, and station, and education, +never forget who has given it us, and for whom we must use it. +Let us never forget that to whom much is given, of them will much be +required. Let us pray to the Lord daily to write upon our inmost +hearts those solemn words: “Who made thee to differ from another; +and what hast thou which thou didst not receive?” Let us +look on our servants, our labourers, on every human being over whom +we have any influence, as weaker brothers whom God has commanded us +to help, teach, and guide in body, mind, and spirit, not that we may +make them our slaves, but make them free, manful, self-helping, and +in due time independent of us and of everyone except God.</p> +<p>And you young people, who have no authority over anyone, but over +your own bodies; to whom the Lord has given little or nothing to manage +and take care of except your own health and strength—do not let +the devil tempt you to believe that that health and strength is your +own property, to do what you like with. It belongs to the Lord +who died for you, and He will require an account from you how you have +used it. Do not let the devil tempt you to believe that the Lord +delays His coming to you—that you may do what you like now, in +the prime of your years, and that it will be time enough to think about +God and religion when God visits you with cares, and sickness, and old +age. That is the fancy of too many; but it will surely turn out +to be a mistake. Those who misuse their youth, and health, and +strength, in tyrannising over those who are weaker than themselves, +and laughing at those who are not as clever as themselves, and eating +and drinking with the drunken—the Lord will come to them in an +hour when they are not aware, and cut them asunder, in some way or other, +by loss of work, or poverty, or sickness, or doubt and confusion, and +bitter shame and perplexity of mind; till they find out, poor things, +that they have been living like the unbelievers all their youth, without +God in the world, while God’s love and God’s teaching, and +God’s happiness was ready for them; and have to go back again +to their Father and their Lord, and cry: “Father, we have sinned +against heaven and before Thee, and are no more worthy to be called +Thy children!” Oh, you who have been fancying that the Lord +was gone far away, and that you had a right to do what you liked with +the powers which He has given you, go back to Him, now at once, and +confess that you, and all belonging to you, belong to Him, and ask Him +to teach you how to use it aright. Ask Him to teach you how to +please Him with it, and not yourselves only. Ask Him to teach +you how to do good to all around you, and not merely to do what you +like. Ask Him to show you how to do your duty to Him, and to your +neighbours, for whom He died on the cross, in that station of life to +which He has called you. Ask Him to show you how to use your property, +your knowledge, your business, your strength, your health, so that you +may be a blessing and a help to those whom He blesses and helps, and +who, He wishes, should bless and help each other. Go back to Him +at once, my friends. You will not have far to go, seeing that +He is now even among us here hearing my clumsy words; and I do hope, +and trust, and pray, bringing them home to some of your hearts with +that spirit and power of His, which is like a two-edged sword, piercing +to the very depths of a man’s heart, and showing him how ugly +it is—and how noble the Lord will make it, if he will but repent +and pray to Him who never cast out any that came to Him.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXII—THE WAY TO WEALTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He +is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon +him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.—ISAIAH lv. +6, 7.</p> +<p>Some of you, surely, while the first lesson was being read this morning, +must have felt the beauty of it; and if you were thoughtful, perplexed, +weary, sad at heart, perhaps you felt that it was more than beautiful—that +it was full of comfort. And so it should be full of comfort to +you, my friends. God meant it to give you comfort. For though +it was written and spoken by a man of like passions with ourselves, +it was just as truly written and spoken by God, who made heaven and +earth. It is true and everlasting, the message which it brings, +and like all true and everlasting words, it is the voice of God who +cannot change; who makes no difference between Jew and Gentile, between +us in England here, and nations which perished hundreds of years ago.</p> +<p>And what is its message? What was God’s word to the old +Jews, among all their sin, and sorrow, and labour?</p> +<p>Is it the message of a stern judge, saying: “Pay me that thou +owest, to the uttermost farthing; and if you cannot do that, fret and +torment yourselves in shame and terror here on earth, for all your sins, +if, possibly, you may chance to change my mind, and find forgiveness +at the last day?”</p> +<p>Is it the message of a proud tyrant, saying: “If you are miserable, +and fallen, and sinful, what is that to me? I am perfect, blest, +contented with myself, alone in my glory, far away beyond the sight +of men, beyond the sun and stars—what are you worms of earth to +me?”</p> +<p>Or is it the voice of a loving Father, calling to his self-willed +children who have gone proudly and boldly away from their Father’s +house, and thrown off their Father’s government, and said in their +conceit: “We are men. Do not we know good and evil? +Do we not know what is our interest? Cannot we judge for ourselves, +and shift for ourselves, and take care of ourselves? Why are we +to be barred from pleasant things here, and profitable things there? +We will be our own masters.”</p> +<p>To self-willed children who have said thus, and done thus in their +foolish hearts, and have found all their conceit, and shrewdness, only +lead them into sorrow, and perplexity, and distress.—Who have +found that with all their cleverness they could not get the very good +things for which they left their Father’s house; or if they get +them, find no enjoyment in them, but only discontent, and shame, and +danger, and a sad self-accusing heart—spending their money for +that which does not feed them after all, and labouring hard for things +which do not satisfy them; always longing for something more—always +finding the pleasure, or the profit, or the honour which a little way +off looked so fine, looked quite ugly and worthless, when they come +up to it and get hold of it—finding all things full of labour; +the eye never satisfied with seeing, or the ear with hearing; the same +thing coming over and over again. Each young man starting with +gay hopes, as if he were the first man that ever was born, and he was +going to do out of hand such fine things as man never did before, and +make his own fortune, and set the world to right at once; and then as +he grows older, falling into the same weary ruts as his forefathers +went dragging on it, every fresh year bringing its own labour and its +own sorrow; and dying like them, taking nothing away with him of all +he has earned, and crying with his last breath: “That which is +crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be +numbered. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh +under the sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?”</p> +<p>To self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever since +they were born, they and their fathers before them, and found it go +round in a ring and leave them just where they started in heart and +soul, and, on their death-beds, in purse and power also—</p> +<p>To such struggling, dissatisfied beings—such as nine-tenths +of the men and women on this earth, alas! are still—comes the +word of this loving Father:</p> +<p>“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! and he +that hath no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and +milk without money, and without price.” Why do you fancy +that money can give you all you want? Why this labouring and straining +after money, as if it was God, as if it made heaven and earth, and all +therein? Is money a God? or money’s worth? “I am God,” +saith the Lord, “and beside me there is none else. It is +I who give, and not money. It is I who save men, and not money. +And I do save, and I do give freely to all. Come, and try my mercy, +and see if my word be not true.”</p> +<p>This struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone—what profit +comes of it? are you happier? are you wiser? are you better? are you +more at peace with your neighbours; more at peace with your own hearts +and consciences? If you are, money has not made you so, nor plotting, +and scraping, and struggling, and pushing your neighbour down, that +you may rise a few inches on his shoulders. No. Hear what +the voice of your Father says is the true way to wealth and comfort, +after which you all struggle and labour so hard in vain.—“Hearken +diligently unto me, and you shall eat that which is good, and your soul +shall delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto +me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting +covenant with you, even the sure mercies,” or rather “the +faithful oath which I sware unto David?” And what is this +faithful oath which God sware to David.—“Of the fruit of +thy body, I will set on thy seat.” A promise of a righteous +king who should arise in David’s family. How far David understood +the full meaning of that glorious promise we cannot tell. He thought +most probably, at first, that Solomon, his son, was to be the king who +would fulfil it. But all through many of his psalms, there are +deep and great words about some nobler and more perfect king than Solomon—about +one who, as Isaiah says here, would perfectly witness to the people +that God was their King; one who would be a perfect leader and commander +of the people; a holy one of Israel, who would sit on God’s right +hand; to hear the good news of whom, the Jews would call nations whom +they then did not know of, and for whose sake nations who did not know +them would run to them. And dimly David did see this, that God +would raise up a true Christ, that is, one truly anointed by God, chosen +and sent out by God, to sit on his throne, and be perfectly what David +was only in part; a King made perfect by suffering, a King of poor men, +a King who bore the sins and carried the iniquities of all His people, +from the highest to the lowest. We know who that was. We +know clearly what David only knew dimly, what Isaiah only knew a little +more clearly. We know who was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified +under Pontius Pilate, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right +hand of God, ever praying for us, ruling the world in righteousness, +Jesus the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, to whom all power is given in +heaven and earth.</p> +<p>But Isaiah, though he knew Him only dimly, still knew Him. +He did not know that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, would take on +Himself the form of a poor man, and be called the son of the carpenter. +Such boundless love and condescension in the Son of God he never could +have fancied for himself, and God had not chosen to reveal it to him; +or to anyone else in those days. But this he did see, that the +Lord Jesus, He whom he calls the Holy One of Israel, was near the Jews +in his time; that He was watching over them, mourning over their sins, +arguing with them, and calling them to return to Him with most human +love and tenderness, as a husband to the woman whom he loves in spite +of her unfaithfulness to him. As he says to his sinful and distressed +country in the chapter before this: “Thy Maker is thy husband: +the Lord of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, +the Lord of the whole earth shall He be called. For the Lord hath +called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. For a small +moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. +In a little anger I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting +kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”</p> +<p>This, then, Isaiah knew—that the heart of the Holy Lord pitied +and yearned after those poor sinful Jews, as a husband’s after +a foolish and sinful wife. And how much more should we believe +the same, how much more should we believe that His heart pities and +yearns for all foolish and sinful people here in England now! +We who know a thousand times more than Isaiah knew of His love, His +pity, His condescension, which led Him to sacrifice Himself upon the +cross for us? Surely, surely, if Isaiah had a right to say to +those Jews, “Seek the Lord while He may be found,” I have +a thousand times as much right to say it to you. If Isaiah had +a right to say to those Jews, “Let the wicked forsake his ways +and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, +and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly +pardon,” then I have a right to say it to you.</p> +<p>Free mercy, utter pardon, pardon for all, even for the worst. +And what is the argument which Isaiah uses to make his countrymen repent? +Is it “Repent, or you shall be damned: Repent because God’s +wrath and curse is against you. The Lord hates you and despises +you, and you must crawl to His feet like beaten hounds, and entreat +Him not to strike you into hell as He intends”? Not so; +it was because God loved the Jews, that they were to repent. It +is because God loves you that you must repent. “Incline +your ear,” saith the Lord, “and come unto me, hear, and +your soul shall live; and you shall eat that which is good, and your +soul shall delight itself in fatness.” Yes, God is love. +God’s delight and glory is to give; in spite of all our sins He +gives and gives, sending rain and fruitful seasons to just and unjust, +to fill their hearts with joy and gladness; and all the while men fancy +that it is not God that gives, but they who take. God has not +left Himself, as St. Paul says, without a witness; every fruitful shower +and quickening gleam of sunshine cries to us—See! God is love: +He is the giver. And men will not hear that voice. They +say in their hearts, “The Lord is far away above the skies; He +does not care for us: we must help ourselves, each man to what he can +get off this earth; nay, even, when we are hard put to it for a living, +we must break God’s laws to keep ourselves alive, and so steal +from God’s table the very good things which He offers us freely.”</p> +<p>But some will say: “He does not give freely; we must work and +struggle. Why do you mock poor hard-worked creatures with such +words as these?”</p> +<p>Ask that question of God, my friends, and not of me. Isaiah +said that those who hearkened to God diligently should eat what is good. +The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said the same—that if we seek first +the kingdom of God and His justice, all other things should be added +to them. He did not mean us to be idle, God forbid! but this He +meant, that if we, each in his business and calling, put steadily before +ourselves what is right, what God would wish us, His subjects, to be +in His Kingdom—if instead of making our first thought in every +business we take in hand, “What will suit my interest best, what +will raise most money, what will give me most pleasure?” we said +to ourselves all day long, “What will be most right, and just, +and merciful for us to do; what will be most pleasing to a God who is +love and justice itself? what will do most good to my neighbour as well +as myself?” then all things would go well with us. Then +we should be prosperous and joyful. Then our plans would succeed +and our labour bring forth real profit to us, because they would be +according to the will of God: we should be fellow-workers with Jesus +Christ in the great work of doing good to this poor distracted world, +and His help and blessing would be with us.</p> +<p>And if you ask me, how can this come to pass, I must answer, as Isaiah +does in this same chapter: “The Lord’s ways are not as our +ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, but higher than ours, as the +heavens are above the earth.” But if we do turn to God, +and repent each man of us of his selfishness, his unfaithfulness, his +hard-heartedness, his covetousness, his self-will, his ungodliness—then +God’s blessing, as Isaiah says, will come down on us, and spring +up among us, we know not how or whence, like the rain and snow, which +comes down from heaven and waters the earth, and makes it bud and bring +forth to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall +be the Lord’s word, which goes out of His mouth; it will not return +to Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases, and prosper in that +whereto He sends it. He will teach us and guide us in the right +way. He will put His word into the mouths of true teachers to +show us our duty. He will pour out His spirit upon us, to make +us love our duty. In one way and another, we know not how, we +shall be taught what is good for England, good for each parish, good +for each family. And wealth, peace, and prosperity for rich and +poor will be the fruit of obeying the word of God, and giving up our +hearts to be led by His spirit. As it was to be in Judæa, +of old, if they repented, so will it be with us. They should go +forth with joy and do their work in peace. The hills should break +before them into singing, and all the trees of the field should clap +their hands; instead of thorns should come up timber-trees: instead +of briers, garden-shrubs. The whole cultivation of the country +was to improve, and be to the Lord for a name, and a sign for ever that +the true way to wealth and prosperity is the way of God, justice, mercy +to each other, and obedience to the will of Him who made heaven and +earth, trees and fruitful fields, rain and sunshine, and gives the blessings +of them freely to His children of mankind, in proportion as they look +up to Him as a loving Father, and return to him day by day, with childlike +repentance, and full desire to amend their lives according to His holy +word.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXIII—THE LOVE OF CHRIST</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that +if one died for all, then were all dead. And that He died for +all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, +but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.—2 COR. v. 14, +15.</p> +<p>What is the use of sermons?—what is the use of books? +Here are hundreds and thousands of people hearing weekly and daily what +is right, and how many <i>do</i> what is right?—much less <i>love</i> +what is right? What can be the reason of this, that men should +know the better and choose the worse? What motive can one find +out?—what reason or argument can one put before people, to make +them do their duty? How can one stir them up to conquer themselves; +to conquer their own love of pleasure, laziness, cowardice, conceit, +above all their own selfishness, and do simply what is right, morning, +noon, and night? That is a question worth asking and considering, +for there ought to be some use in sermons and in books; and there ought +to be some use in every one of us too. Woe to the man who is of +no use! The Lord have mercy on his soul; for he needs it! +It is, indeed, worth his while to take any trouble which will teach +him a motive for being useful; in plain words, stir him up to do his +duty, to do his rights; for a man’s rights are not, as the world +thinks, what is right others should do to him, but what is right he +should do to others. Our duty is our right, the only thing which +is right for us. What motive will constrain us, that is, bind +us, and force us to do that?</p> +<p>Will self-interest? Will a man do right because you tell him +it is his interest, it will pay him to do it? Look round you and +see.—The drunkard knows that drinking will ruin him, and yet he +gets drunk. The spendthrift knows that extravagance will ruin +him, and yet he throws away his money still. The idler knows that +he is wasting his only chance for all eternity, and yet he puts the +thought out of his head, and goes on idling. The cheat knows that +he is in danger of being almost certainly found out sooner or later; +he knows too that he is burdening his own conscience with the curse +of inward shame and self-contempt; and yet he goes on cheating. +The hard master knows, or ought to know (for there is quite enough to +prove it to him) that it would pay him better in the long run to be +more merciful, and less covetous; that by grinding those whom he employs +down to the last farthing, he degrades them till they become burdens +on him and curses to him; that what he gains by high prices, he will +lose in the long run by bad debts; that what he saves in low wages, +he will pay in extra poor-rates; and that even if he does make money +out of the flesh and bones of those beneath him, that money ill gotten +is sure to be ill spent, that there is a curse on it, that it brings +a curse in the gnawing of a man’s own conscience, and a curse +too in the way it flows away from his family as fast as it flowed to +them. “He that by usury and unjust gain increases his wealth, +shall gather for him that will pity the poor.” So said Solomon +of old. And men who worship Mammon find it come true daily, and +see that, taking all things together, a man’s life does not consist +in the abundance of the things which he possesses, and that those who +make such haste to be rich, fall, as the apostle says, “into temptation +and a snare, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.” +Such a man sees his neighbours making money, and making themselves more +unhappy, anxious, discontented by it; he sees, in short, that it is +not his interest to do nothing but make money and save money: and yet +in spite of that, he thinks of nothing else. Self-interest cannot +keep him from that sin. I do not believe that self-interest ever +kept any man from any <i>sin</i>, though it may keep him from many an +imprudence. Self-interest may make many a man respectable, but +whom did it ever make good? You may as well make house-walls of +paper, or take a rush for a walking-stick, as take self-interest to +keep you upright, or even prudent. The first shake—and the +rush bends, and the paper wall breaks, and a man’s selfish prudence +is blown to the winds. Let pleasure tempt him, or ambition, or +the lust of making money by speculation; let him take a spite against +anyone; let him get into a passion; let his pride be hurt; and he will +do the maddest things, which he knows to be entirely contrary to his +own interest, just to gratify the fancy of the moment. Those who +call themselves philosophers, and fancy that men’s self-interest, +if they can only feel it strong enough, would make all men just and +merciful to each other, know as little of human nature as they do of +God or the devil.</p> +<p>What <i>will</i> make a man to do his duty? Will the hope of +heaven? That depends very much upon what you mean by heaven. +But what people commonly mean by going to heaven, is—not going +to hell. They believe that they must go to either one place or +the other. They would much sooner of course stay on earth for +ever, because their treasure is here, and their heart too. But +that cannot be, and as they have no wish to go to hell, they take up +with heaven instead, by way of making the best of a bad matter.</p> +<p>I ask you solemnly, my friends, each one of you, which would you +sooner do—stay here on earth, or go to heaven? You need +not answer <i>me</i>. I am afraid many of you would not dare answer +me as you really felt, because you would be ashamed of not liking to +go to heaven. But answer God. Answer yourselves in the sight +of God. When you keep yourselves back from doing a wrong thing, +because you know it is wrong, is it for love of heaven, or for mere +fear of being punished in hell? Some of you will answer boldly +at once: “For neither one nor the other; when we keep from wrong, +it is because we hate and despise what is wrong: when we do right it +is because it is right and we ought to do it. We can’t explain +it, but there is something in us which tells us we ought to do right.” +Very good, my friends, I shall have a word to say to you presently; +but in the meantime there are some others who have been saying to themselves: +“Well, I know we do right because we are afraid of being punished +if we do not do it, but what of that? at all events we get the right +thing done, and leave the wrong thing undone, and what more do you want? +Why torment us with disagreeable questions as to <i>why</i> we do it?”</p> +<p>Now, my friends, to make the matter simpler, I will take you at your +words, for the sake of argument. Suppose you do avoid sin from +the fear of hell, does that make what you do <i>right</i>? Does +that make <i>you</i> right? Does that make your heart right? +It is a great blessing to a man’s neighbours, certainly, if he +is kept from doing wrong any how—by the fear of hell, or fear +of jail, or fear of shame, or fear of ghosts if you like, or any other +cowardly and foolish motive—a great blessing to a man’s +neighbours: but no blessing, that I can see, to the man himself. +He is just the same; his heart is not changed; his heart is no more +right in the sight of God, or in the sight of any man of common sense +either, than it would be if he did the wrong thing, which he loves and +dare not do. You feel that yourselves about other people. +You will say “That man has a bad heart, for all his respectable +outside. He would be a rogue if he dared, and therefore he <i>is</i> +a rogue.” Just so, I say, my friends, take care lest God +should say of you, “He would be a sinner if he dared, and therefore +he is a sinner.</p> +<p>How can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do right? +The right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be loving, and do loving +things; and can fear of hell do that, or hope of heaven either? +Can a man make himself affectionate to his children because he fancies +he shall be punished if he is not so, and rewarded if he is so? +Will the hope of heaven send men out to feed the hungry, to clothe the +naked, visit the sick, preach the gospel to the poor?—The Papists +say it will. I say it will not. I believe that even in those +who do these things from hope of heaven and fear of hell, there is some +holier, nobler, more spiritual motive, than such everlasting selfishness, +such perfect hypocrisy, as to do loving works for others, for the sake +of one’s own self-love.</p> +<p>What feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do good, +not once in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, not only to +himself, but to all around him? I know but of one, my friends, +and that is Love. There are many sides to love—admiration, +reverence, gratitude, pity, affection—they are all different shapes +of that one great spirit of love. Surely all of you have felt +its power more or less; how wonderfully it can conquer a man’s +whole heart, change his whole conduct. For love of a woman; for +pity to those in distress; for admiration for anyone who is nobler and +wiser than himself; for gratitude to one who has done him kindness; +for loyalty to one to whom he feels he owes a service—a man will +dare to do things, and suffer things, which no self-interest or fear +in the world could have brought him to. Do you not know it yourselves? +Is it not fondness for your wives and children, that will make you slave +and stint yourselves of pleasure more than any hope of gain could ever +do? But there is no one human being, my friends, whom we can meet +among us now, for whom we can feel all these different sorts of love? +Surely not: and yet there must be One Person somewhere for whom God +intends us to feel them all at once; or else He would not have given +all these powers to us, and made them all different branches of one +great root of love. There must be One Person somewhere, who can +call out the whole love in us—all our gratitude; all our pity; +all our admiration; all our loyalty; all our brotherly affection. +<i>And there is One</i>, my friends. One who has done for us more +than ever husband or father, wife or brother, can do to call out our +gratitude. One who has suffered for us more than the saddest wretch +upon this earth can suffer, to call out our pity. One who is nobler, +purer, more lovely in character than all others who ever trod this earth, +to call out our admiration. One who is wiser, mightier than all +rulers and philosophers, to call out all our reverence. One who +is tenderer, more gentle, more feeling-hearted, than the kindest woman +who ever sat by a sick bed, to call out all our love. Of whom +can I be speaking? Of whom but of Jesus; He who for us stooped +out of the heaven of heavens; for us left His eternal glory in the bosom +of the Father; for us took upon Him the form of a servant, and was born +of a village maiden, and was called the son of a carpenter; for us wandered +this earth for thirty years in sorrow and shame; for us gave His back +to the scourge, and His face to shameful spitting; for us hung upon +the cross and died the death of the felon and the slave. Oh! my +friends, if that story will not call out our love, what will? +If we cannot admire Christ, whom can we admire? If we cannot be +grateful to Christ, to whom can we be grateful? If we cannot pity +Christ, whom can we pity? If we cannot feel bound in honour to +live for Christ, to work for Christ, to delight in talking of Christ, +thinking of Christ, to glory in doing Christ’s commandments to +the very smallest point, to feel no sacrifice too great, no trouble +too petty, if we can please Christ by it and help forward Christ’s +kingdom upon earth—if we cannot feel bound in honour to do that +for Christ, what honour is there in us? Again, I say, if we cannot +love Christ, whom can we love? If the remembrance of what He has +worked for us will not stir us up to work for Him, what will stir us +up?</p> +<p>I say it again, we are bound by every tie, by every feeling that +can bind man to man, to devote ourselves to Christ, the Man of all men. +I say this is no dream or fancy, it is an actual fact which thousands +and hundreds of thousands on this earth have felt. Nothing but +love to Christ, nothing but loving Him because He first loved us, can +constrain and force a man as with a mighty feeling which he cannot resist, +to labour day and night for Christ’s sake, and therefore for the +sake of God the Father of Christ. What else do you suppose it +was which could have stirred up the apostles—above all, that wise, +learned, high-born, prosperous man, St. Paul, to leave house and home, +and wander in daily danger of his life? What does St. Paul say +himself? “The love of Christ constraineth us, because we +thus judge, and if one died for all then were all dead, and that He +died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, +but unto Him who died for them.” And what else could have +kept St. Paul through all that labour and sorrow of his own choosing, +of which he speaks in the chapter before?—“We are troubled +on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; +persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing +about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of +Jesus might be made manifest in our body; for we which live are alway +delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus +might be made manifest in our body.”</p> +<p>We may say that St. Paul was an exceedingly benevolent man, and <i>that</i> +made him do it; or that he had found out certain new truths and opinions +which delighted him very much, and therefore he did it. But St. +Paul gives no such account of himself: and we have no right to take +anyone’s account but his own. He knew his own heart best. +He does not say that he came to preach a scheme of redemption, or opinions +about Christ. He says he came to preach nothing but Christ Himself—Christ +crucified—to tell people about the Lord he loved, about the Lord +who loved him, certain that when they had heard the plain story of Him, +their hearts, if they were simple, and true, and loving, would leap +up in answer to his words, and find out, as by instinct, what Christ +had done for them, what they were to do for Christ. Ay, I believe, +my friends—indeed I am certain—from my own reading, that +in every age and country, just in proportion as men have loved Christ +personally as a man would love another man, just in that proportion +have they loved their neighbours, worked for their neighbours, sacrificed +their time, their pleasure, their money, to do good to all, for the +sake of Him who commanded: “If ye love <i>ME</i>, keep my commandments; +and my commandment is this, that ye should love one another as I have +loved you.” That is the only sure motive. All other +motives for doing good or being good, will fail in one case or another +case, because they do not take possession of a man’s whole heart, +but only of some part of his heart. Love—love to Christ, +can alone sweep away a man’s whole heart and soul with it, and +renew it, and transfigure it, and make it strong instead of weak, pure +instead of foul, gentle instead of fierce, brave instead of being vain +and cowardly, and fearing what everyone will say of him. Only +love for Christ, who loved all men unto the death, will make us love +all men too: not only one here and there who may agree with us or help +us; but those who hate us, those who misunderstand us, those who thwart +us, ay, even those who disobey and slight not only us, but Jesus Christ +Himself. <i>That</i> is the hardest lesson of all to learn; but +thousands have learnt it; everyone ought to learn it. In proportion +as a man loves Christ, he will learn to love those who do not love Christ. +For Christ loves them whether they know it or not; Christ died for them +whether they believe it or not; and we must love them because our Saviour +loves them.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, why do so few love Christ? Why do so few live +as those who are not their own, but bought with the price of His precious +blood and bound to devote themselves, body and soul, to His cause? +Why do so many struggle against their sins, while yet they cannot break +off those sins, but go struggling and sinning on, hating their sins +and yet unable to break through their sins, like birds beating themselves +to death against the wires of their cage? Why? Because they +do not know Christ. And how can they know Him, unless they read +their Bibles with simple, childlike hearts, determined to let the Bible +tell its own story: believing that those who walked with Christ on earth, +must know best what He was like? Why? Because they will +not ask Christ to come and show Himself to them, and make them see Him, +and love Him, and admire Him, whether they will or not. Oh! remember, +if Christ be the Son of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, we cannot +go to Him, poor, weak, ignorant creatures as we are. We cannot +ascend up into heaven to bring Christ down. He must come down +out of His own great love and condescension, and dwell in our hearts +as He has promised to do, if we do but love Him. He must come +down and show Himself to us. Oh! read your Bibles—read the +story of Christ, and if that does not stir up in you some love for Him, +you must have hearts of stone, not flesh and blood. And then go +to Him; pray to Him, whether you believe in Him altogether or not, upon +the mere chance of His being able to hear you and help you. You +would not throw away a chance on earth; will you throw away such a chance +in heaven as having the Son of God to help you? Oh, cry to Him; +say out of the depths of your heart: “Thou most blessed and glorious +Being who ever walked this earth, who hast gone blameless through all +sorrow and temptation that man can feel; if Thou dost love anyone, if +Thou canst hear anyone, hear me! If thou canst not help me, no +one can. I have a hundred puzzling questions which I cannot answer +for myself, a hundred temptations which I cannot conquer for myself, +a hundred bad habits which I cannot shake off of myself; and they tell +me that Thou canst teach me, Thou canst guide me, Thou canst strengthen +me, Thou canst take out of my heart this shame and gnawing of an evil +conscience. If Thou be the Son of God, make me clean! If +it be true that Thou lovest all men, show Thy love to me! If it +be true that Thou canst teach all men, teach me! If it be true +that Thou canst help all men, help my unbelief, for if Thou dost not, +there is no help for me in heaven or earth!” You, who are +sinful, distracted, puzzled, broken-hearted, cry to Christ in that way, +if you have no better way, and see if He does not hear you. He +is not one to break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. +He will hear you, for He has heard all who have ever called on Him. +Cry to Him from the bottom of your hearts. Tell Him that you do +<i>not</i> love Him, and that yet you <i>long</i> to love Him. +And see if you do not find it true that those who come to Christ, He +will in no wise cast out. He may not seem to answer you the first +time, or the tenth time, or for years; for Christ has His own deep, +loving, wise ways of teaching each man, and for each man a different +way. But try to learn all you can of Him. Try to know Him. +Pray to know, and understand Him, and love Him. And sooner or +later you will find His words come true, “If a man love me, I +and my Father will come to him, and take up our abode with him.” +And then you will feel arise in you a hungering and a thirsting after +righteousness, a spirit of love, and a desire of doing good, which will +carry you up and on, above all that man can say or do against you—above +all the laziness, and wilfulness, and selfishness, and cowardice which +dwells in the heart of everyone. You will be able to trample it +all under foot for the sake of being good and doing good, in the strength +of that one glorious thought, “Christ lived and died for me, and, +so help me God, I will live and die for Christ.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXIV—DAVID’S VICTORY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: +but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, +whom thou hast defied.—1 SAMUEL xvii. 45.</p> +<p>We have been reading to-day the story of David’s victory over +the Philistine giant, Goliath. Now I think the whole history of +David may teach us more about the meaning of the Old Testament, and +how it applies to us, than the history of any other single character. +David was the great hero of the Jews; the greatest, in spite of great +sins and follies, that has ever been among them; in every point the +king after God’s own heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself +did not disdain to be called especially the Son of David. David +was the author, too, of those wonderful psalms which are now in the +mouths and the hearts of Christian people all over the world; and will +last, as I believe, till the world’s end, giving out fresh depths +of meaning and spiritual experience.</p> +<p>But to understand David’s history, we must go back a little +through the lessons which have been read in church the last few Sundays. +We find in the eighth and in the twelfth chapters of this same book +of Samuel, that the Jews asked Samuel for a king—for a king like +the nations round them. Samuel consulted God, and by God’s +command chose Saul to be their king; at the same time warning them that +in asking for a king they had committed a great and fearful sin, for +“the Lord their God was their king.” And the Lord +said unto Samuel, that in asking for a king they had rejected God from +reigning over them. Now what was this sin which the Jews committed? +for the mere having a king cannot be wrong in itself; else God would +not have anointed Saul and David kings, and blessed David and Solomon; +much less would He have allowed the greater number of Christian nations +to remain governed by kings unto this day, if a king had been a wrong +thing in itself. I think if we look carefully at the words of +the story we shall see what this great sin of the Jews was. In +the first place, they asked Samuel to give them a king—not God. +This was a sin, I think; but it was only the fruit of a deeper sin—a +wrong way of looking at the whole question of kings and government. +And that deeper sin was this: they were a free people, and they wanted +to become slaves. God had made them a free people; He had brought +them up out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery to Pharaoh. He +had given them a free constitution. He had given them laws to +secure safety, and liberty, and equal justice to rich and poor, for +themselves, their property, their children; to defend them from oppression, +and over-taxation, and all the miseries of misgovernment. And +now they were going to trample under foot God’s inestimable gift +of liberty. They wanted a king like the nations round them, they +said. They did not see that it was just their glory <i>not</i> +to be like the nations round them in that. We who live in a free +country do not see the vast and inestimable difference between the Jews +and the other nations. The Jews were then, perhaps, so far as +I can make out, the only free people on the face of the earth. +The nations round them were like the nations in the East, now governed +by tyrants, without law or parliament, at the mercy of the will, the +fancy, the lust, the ambition, and the cruelty of their despotic kings. +In fact, they were as the Eastern people now are—slaves governed +by tyrants. Samuel warned the Jews that it would be just the same +with them; that neither their property, their families, nor their liberty +would be safe under the despots for whom they wished. And yet, +in spite of that warning, they would have a king. And why? +Because they did not like the trouble of being free. They did +not like the responsibility and the labour of taking care of themselves, +and asking counsel of God as to how they were to govern themselves. +So they were ready to sell themselves to a tyrant, that he might fight +for them, and judge for them, and take care of them, while they just +ate and drank, and made money, and lived like slaves, careless of what +happened to them or their country, provided they could get food, and +clothes, and money enough. And as long as they got that, if you +will remark, they were utterly careless as to what sort of king they +had. They said not one word to Samuel about how much power their +king was to have. They made not the slightest inquiry as to whether +Saul was wise or foolish, good or bad. They did not ask God’s +counsel, or trouble themselves about God; so they proved themselves +unworthy of being free. They turned, like a dog to his vomit, +and the sow to her wallowing in the mire, cowardly back again into slavery; +and God gave them what they asked for. He gave them the sort of +king they wanted; and bitterly they found out their mistake during several +hundred years of continually increasing slavery and misery.</p> +<p>There is a deep lesson for us, my friends, in all this. And +that is, that God’s gifts are not fit for us, unless we are more +or less fit for them. That to him that makes use of what he has, +more shall be given; but from him who does not, will be taken away even +what he has. And so even the inestimable gift of freedom is no +use unless men have free hearts in them. God sets a man free from +his sins by faith in Jesus Christ; but unless that man uses His grace, +unless he desires to be free inwardly as well as outwardly—to +be free not only from the punishment of his sins, but from the sins +themselves; unless he is willing to accept God’s offer of freedom, +and go boldly to the throne of grace, and there plead his cause with +his heavenly Father face to face, without looking to any priest, or +saint, or other third person to plead for him; if, in short, a man has +not a free spirit in him, the grace of God will become of no effect +in him, and he will receive the spirit of bondage (of slavery, that +is), again to fear. Perhaps he will fall back more or less into +popery and half-popish superstitions; perhaps, as we see daily round +us, he will fall back again into antinomianism, into the slavery of +those very sins from which God once delivered him. And just the +same is it with a nation. When God has given a nation freedom, +then, unless there be a free heart in the people and true independence, +which is dependence on God and not on man; unless there be a spirit +of justice, mercy, truth, trust of God in them, their freedom will be +of no effect; they will only fall back into slavery, to be oppressed +by fresh tyrants.</p> +<p>So it was with the great Spanish colonies in South America a few +years ago. God gave them freedom from the tyranny of Spain; but +what advantage was it to them? Because there was no righteousness +in them; because they were a cowardly, profligate, false, and cruel +people, therefore they only became the slaves of their own lusts; they +turned God’s great grace of freedom into licentiousness, and have +been ever since doing nothing but cutting each other’s throats; +every man’s hand against his own brother; the slaves of tyrants +far more cruel than those from whom they had escaped.</p> +<p>Look at the French people, too. Three times in the last sixty +years has God delivered them from evil rulers, and given them a chance +of freedom; and three times have they fallen back into fresh slavery. +And why? Because they will not be righteous; because they will +be proud, boastful, lustful, godless, cruel, making a lie and loving +it. God help them! We are not here to judge them, but to +take warning ourselves. Now there is no use in boasting of our +English freedom, unless we have free and righteous hearts in us; for +it is not constitutions, and parliaments, and charters which make a +nation free; they are only the shell, the outside of freedom. +True freedom is of the heart and spirit, and comes down from above, +from the Spirit of God; for where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty, +and there only. Oh, every one of you! high and low, rich and poor, +pray and struggle to get your own hearts free; free from the sins which +beset us Englishmen in these days; free from pride, prejudice, and envy; +free from selfishness and covetousness; free from unchastity and drunkenness; +free from the conceit that England is safe, while all the rest of the +world is shaking. Be sure that the spirit of freedom, like every +other good and perfect gift, is from above, and comes down from God, +the Father of lights; and that to keep that spirit with us, we must +keep ourselves worthy of it, and not expect to remain free if we indulge +ourselves in mean and slavish sins.</p> +<p>So the Jews got the king they wanted—a king to look at and +be proud of. Saul was, we read, a head taller than all the rest +of the people, and very handsome to look at. And he was brave +enough, too, in mere fighting, when he was awakened and stirred up to +act now and then; but there was no wisdom in him; no real trust in God +in him. He took God for an idol, like the heathens’ false +gods, which had to be pleased and kept in good humour by the smell of +burnt sacrifices; and not for a living, righteous Person, who had to +be obeyed. We read of Saul’s misconduct in these respects, +in the thirteenth and fifteenth chapters of the First Book of Samuel. +That was only the beginning of his wickedness. The worst points +in his character, as I shall show in my next sermon, came out afterwards. +But still, his disobedience was enough to make God cast him off, and +leave him to go his own way to ruin.</p> +<p>But God was not going to cast off His people whom He loved. +He deals not with mankind after their sins, neither rewards them according +to their iniquities; and so he chose out for them a king after His own +heart—a true king of God’s making, not a mere sham one of +man’s making. You may think it strange why God should have +given them a second king; why, as soon as Saul died, He did not let +them return back to their old freedom. But that is not God’s +way. He brings good out of evil in His great mercy. But +it is always by strange winding paths. His ways are not as our +ways. First, God gives man what is perfectly proper for him at +that time; sets man in his right place; and then when man falls from +that, God brings him, not back to the place from which he fell, but +on forward into something far higher and better than what he fell from. +He put Adam into Paradise. Adam fell from it, and God made use +of the fall to bring him into a state far better than Paradise—into +the kingdom of God—into everlasting life—into the likeness +of Christ, the new Adam, who is a quickening, life-giving spirit, while +the old Adam was, at best, only a living soul.</p> +<p>So with the church of Christian men. After the apostles’ +time, and even during the apostles’ time, as we read from the +Epistle to the Galatians, they fell away, step by step, from the liberty +of the gospel, till they sunk entirely into popish superstition. +And yet God brought good out of that evil. He made that very popery +a means of bringing them back at the Reformation into clearer light +than any of the first Christians ever had had. He is going on +step by step still, bringing Christians into a clearer knowledge of +the gospel than even the Reformers had.</p> +<p>And so with the Jews. They fell from their liberty and chose +a king. And yet God made use of those kings of theirs, of David, +of Solomon, of Josiah, and Hezekiah, to teach them more and more about +Himself and His law, and to teach all nations, by their example, what +a nation should be, and how He deals with one.</p> +<p>But now let us see what this true king, David, was like, whom God +chose, that He might raise, by his means, the Jews higher than they +ever yet had been, even in their days of freedom. Now remark, +in the first place, that David was not the son of any very great man. +His father seems to have been only a yeoman. He was not bred up +in courts. We find that when Samuel was sent to anoint David king, +he was out keeping his father’s sheep in the field. And +though, no doubt, he had shown signs of being a very remarkable youth +from the first, yet his father thought so little of him, that he was +going to pass him over, and caused all his seven elder sons to pass +before Samuel for his choice first, though there seems to have been +nothing particular in them, except that some of them were fine men and +brave soldiers. So David seems to have been overlooked, and thought +but little of in his youth—and a very good thing for him. +It is a good thing for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth, that +he may be kept humble and low; that he may learn to trust in God, and +not in his own wit. And even when Samuel anointed David, he anointed +him privately. His brothers did not know what a great honour was +in store for him; for we find, in the lesson which we have just read, +that when David came down to the camp, his elder brother spoke contemptuously +to him, and treated him as a child. “I know thy pride,” +he said, “and the naughtiness of thy heart. Thou art come +down to see the battle.” While David answers humbly enough: +“What have I done? is there not a cause?” feeling that there +was more in him than his brother gave him credit for; though he dare +not tell his brother, hardly, perhaps, dare believe himself, what great +things God had prepared for him. So it is yet—a prophet +has no honour in his own country. How many a noble-hearted man +there is, who is looked down upon by those round him! How many +a one is despised for a dreamer, or for a Methodist, by shallow worldly +people, who in God’s sight is of very great price! But God +sees not as man sees. He makes use of the weak people of this +world to confound the strong. He sends about His errands not many +noble, not many mighty; but the poor man, rich in faith, like David. +He puts down the mighty from their seat, and exalts the humble and meek. +He takes the beggar from the dunghill, that He may set him among the +princes of His people. So He has been doing in all ages. +So He will do even now, in some measure, with everyone like David, let +him be as low as he will in the opinion of this foolish world, who yet +puts his trust utterly in God, and goes about all his work, as David +did, in the name of the Lord of hosts. Oh! if a poor man feels +that God has given him wit and wisdom—feels in him the desire +to rise and better himself in life, let him be sure that the only way +to rise is David’s plan—to keep humble and quiet till God +shall lift him up, trusting in God’s righteousness and love to +raise him, and deliver him, and put him in that station, be it high +or low, in which he will be best able to do God’s work, or serve +God’s glory.</p> +<p>And now for the chapter from which the text is taken, which relates +to us David’s first great public triumph—his victory over +Goliath the giant. I will not repeat it to you, because everyone +here who has ears to hear or a heart to feel ought to have been struck +with every word in that glorious story. All I will try to do is, +to show you how the working of God’s Spirit comes out in David +in every action of his on that glorious day. We saw just now David’s +humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of God’s Spirit in him, +in his answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look next at David’s +spirit of trust in God, which, indeed, is the key to his whole life; +that is the reason why he was the man after God’s own heart—not +for any virtues of his own, but for his unshaken continual faith in +God. David saw in an instant why the Israelites were so afraid +of the giant; because they had no faith in God. They forgot that +they were the armies of the living God. David did not: “Who +is this uncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies of the living God?” +And therefore, when Saul tried to dissuade him from attacking the Philistine, +his answer is still the same—full of faith in God. He knew +well enough what a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this giant, +nearly ten feet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which perhaps +no sword or spear which he could use could pierce. It was no wonder, +humanly speaking, that all the Jews fled from him—that his being +there stopped the whole battle. In these days, fifty such men +would make no difference in a battle; bullets and cannon-shot would +mow down them like other men: but in those old times, before firearms +were invented, when all battles were hand-to-hand fights, and depended +so much on each man’s strength and courage, that one champion +would often decide the victory for a whole army, the amount of courage +which was required in David is past our understanding; at least we may +say, David would not have had it but for his trust in God, but for his +feeling that he was on God’s side, and Goliath on the devil’s +side, unjustly invading his country in self-conceit, and cruelty, and +lawlessness. Therefore he tells Saul of his victory over the lion +and the bear. You see again, here, the Spirit of God showing in +his <i>modesty</i>. He does not boast or talk of his strength +and courage in killing the lion and the bear; for he knew that that +strength and courage came from God, not from himself; therefore he says +that the Lord <i>delivered him</i> from them. He knew that he +had been only doing his duty in facing them when they attacked his father’s +sheep, and that it was God’s mercy which had protected him in +doing his duty. He felt now, that if no one else would face this +brutal giant, it was <i>his</i> duty, poor, simple, weak youth as he +was, and therefore he trusted in God to bring him safe through this +danger also. But look again how the Spirit of God shows in his +prudence. He would not use Saul’s armour, good as it might +be, because he was not accustomed to it. He would use his own +experience, and fight with the weapons to which he had been accustomed—a +sling and stone. You see he was none of those presumptuous and +fanatical dreamers who tempt God by fancying that He is to go out of +His way to work miracles for them. He used all the proper and +prudent means to kill the giant, and trusted to God to bless them. +If he had been presumptuous, he might have taken the first stone that +came to hand, or taken only one, or taken none at all, and expected +the giant to fall down dead by a miracle. But no; he <i>chooses +five smooth</i> stones out of the brook. He tried to get the best +that he could, and have more ready if his first shot failed. He +showed no distrust of God in that; for he trusted in God to keep him +cool, and steady, and courageous in the fight, and that, he knew, God +alone could do. The only place, perhaps, where he could strike +Goliath to hurt him was on the face, because every other part of him +was covered in metal armour. And he knew that, in such danger +as he was, God’s Spirit only could keep his eye clear and his +hand steady for such a desperate chance as hitting that one place.</p> +<p>So he went; and as he went his courage rose higher and higher; for +unto him that hath shall more be given; and so he began to boast too—but +not of himself, like the giant. He boasted of the living God, +who was with him. He ran boldly up to the Philistine, and at the +first throw, struck on the forehead, and felled him dead.</p> +<p>So it is; many a time the very blessing which we expect to get only +with great difficulty, God gives us at our first trial, to show that +He is the Giver, to cheer up our poor doubting hearts, and show us that +He is able, and willing too, to give exceeding abundantly more than +we can ask or think.</p> +<p>So David triumphed: and yet that triumph was only the beginning of +his troubles. Sad and weary years had he to struggle on before +he gained the kingdom which God had promised him. So it is often +with God’s elect. He gives them blessings at first, to show +them that He is really with them; and then He lets them be evil-entreated +by tyrants, and suffer persecution, and wander out of the way in the +wilderness, that they may be made perfect by suffering, and purified, +as gold is in the refiner’s fire, from all selfishness, conceit, +ambition, cowardliness, till they learn to trust God utterly, to know +their own weakness, and His strength, and to work only for Him, careless +what becomes of their own poor worthless selves, provided they can help +His kingdom to come, and get His will to be done on earth as it is in +heaven.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, surely there is a lesson in all this for you. +Do you wish to rise like David? Of course not one in ten thousand +can rise as high, but we may all rise somewhat, if not in rank, yet +still, what is far better, in spirit, in wisdom, in usefulness, in manfulness. +Do you wish to rise so? then follow David’s example. Be +truly brave, be truly modest, and in order to be truly brave and truly +modest, that is, be truly manly, be truly godly. Trust in God; +trust in God; that is the key to all greatness. Courage, modesty, +truth, honesty, and gentleness; all things, which are noble, lovely, +and of good report; all things, in short, which will make you men after +God’s own heart, are all only the different fruits of that one +blessed life-giving root—FAITH IN GOD.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXV—DAVID’S EDUCATION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Made perfect through sufferings.—HEBREWS ii. 10.</p> +<p>That is my text; and a very fit one for another sermon about David, +the king after God’s own heart. And a very fit one too, +for any sermon preached to people living in this world now or at any +time. “A melancholy text,” you will say. But +what if it be melancholy? That is not the fault of me, the preacher. +The preacher did not make suffering, did not make disappointment, doubt, +ignorance, mistakes, oppression, poverty, sickness. There they +are, whether we like it or not. You have only to go on to the +common here, or any other common or town in England, to see too much +of them—enough to break one’s heart if—, but I will +not hurry on too fast in what I have to say. What I want to make +you recollect is, that misery is here round us, <i>in</i> us. +A great deal which we bring on ourselves; and a great deal more misery +which we do not, as far as we can see, bring on ourselves; but which +comes, nevertheless, and lets us know plainly enough that it is close +to us. Every man and woman of us have their sorrows. There +is no use shutting our eyes just when we ourselves happen to feel tolerably +easy, and saying, as too many do, “I don’t see so very much +sorrow; I am happy enough!” Are you, friend, happy enough? +So much the worse for you, perhaps. But at all events your neighbours +are not happy enough; most of them are only too miserable. It +is a sad world. A sad world, and full of tears. It is. +And you must not be angry with the preacher for reminding you of what +is.</p> +<p>True; you would have a right to quarrel with the preacher or anyone +else who made you sorrowful with the thoughts of the sorrow round you, +and then gave you no explanation of it—told you of no use, no +blessing in it, no deliverance from it. That would be enough to +break any man’s heart, if all the preacher could say was: “This +wretchedness, and sickness, and death, must go on as long as the world +lasts, and yet it does no good, for God or man.” That thought +would drive any feeling man to despair, tempt him to lie down and die, +tempt him to fancy that God was not God at all, not the God whose name +is Love, not the God who is our Father, but only a cruel taskmaster, +and Lord of a miserable hell on earth, where men and women, and worst +of all, little children, were tortured daily by tens of thousands without +reason, or use, or hope of deliverance, except in a future world, where +not one in ten of them will be saved and happy. That is many people’s +notion of the world—religious people’s even. How they +can believe, in the face of such notions, “that God is love;” +how they can help going mad with pity, if that is all the hope they +have for poor human beings, is more than I can tell. Not that +I judge them—to their own master they stand or fall: but this +I do say, that if the preacher has no better hope to give you about +this poor earth, then I cannot tell what right he has to call himself +a preacher of the gospel—that is, a preacher of good news; then +I do not know what Jesus Christ’s dying to take away the sins +of the world means; then I do not know what the kingdom of God means; +then I do not know why the Lord taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom +come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” if the only +way in which that can be brought about is by His sending ninety-nine +hundredths of mankind to endless torture, over and above all the lesser +misery which they have suffered in this life. What will be the +end of the greater part of mankind we do not know; we were not intended +to know. God is love, and God is justice, and His justice is utterly +loving, as well as His love utterly just; so we may very safely leave +the world in the hands of Him who made the world, and be sure that the +Judge of all the earth will do right, and that what is right is certain +never to be cruel, but rather merciful. But to every one of you +who are here now, a preacher has a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to +say much more than that. He is bound to tell you good news, because +God has called you into His church, and sent you here this day, to hear +good news. He has a right to tell you, as I tell you now, that, +strange as it may seem, whatsoever sufferings you endure are sent to +make you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect; even as +the blessed Lord, whom may you all love, and trust, and worship, for +ever and ever, was made perfect by sufferings, even though He was the +sinless Son of God. Consider that. “It behoved Him,” +says St. Paul, “the Captain of our salvation, to be made perfect +through sufferings.” And why? “Because,” +answers St. Paul, “it was proper for Him to be made in all things +like His brothers”—like us, the children of God—“that +He might be a faithful and merciful high priest;” for, just “because +He has suffered being tempted, He is able to succour us who are tempted.” +A strange text, but one which, I think, this very history of David’s +troubles will help us to understand. For it was by suffering, +long and bitter, that God trained up David to be a true king, a king +over the Jews, “after God’s own heart.”</p> +<p>You all know, I hope, something at least of David’s psalms. +Many of them, seven of them at least, were written during David’s +wanderings in the mountains, when Saul was persecuting him to kill him, +day after day, month after month, as you may read in the First Book +of Samuel, from chapters xix. to xxviii. Bitter enough these troubles +of David would have been to any man, but what must have made them especially +bitter and confusing to him was, that they all arose out of his righteousness. +Because he had conquered the giant, Saul envied him—broke his +promise of giving David his daughter Merab—put his life into extreme +danger from the Philistines, before he would give him his second daughter +Michal; the more he saw that the Lord was with David, and that the young +man won respect and admiration by behaving himself wisely, the more +afraid of him Saul was; again and again he tried to kill him; as David +was sitting harmless in Saul’s house, soothing the poor madman +by the music of his harp, Saul tries to stab him unawares; and not content +with that proceeds deliberately to hunt him down, from town to town, +and wilderness to wilderness; sends soldiers after him to murder him; +at last goes out after him himself with his guards. Was not all +this enough to try David’s faith? Hardly any man, I suppose, +since the world was made, had found righteousness pay him less; no man +was ever more tempted to turn round and do evil, since doing good only +brought him deeper and deeper into the mire. But no, we know that +he did not lose his trust in God; for we have seven psalms, at least, +which he wrote during these very wanderings of his; the fifty-second, +when Doeg had betrayed him to Saul; the fifty-fourth, when Ziphim betrayed +him; the fifty-sixth, when the Philistines took him in Gath; the fifty-seventh, +“when he fled from Saul in the cave;” the fifty-ninth, “when +they watched the house to kill him;” the sixty-third, “when +he was in the wilderness of Judah;” the thirty-fourth, “when +he was driven away by Abimelech;” and several more which appear +to have been written about the same time.</p> +<p>Now, what strikes us first, or ought to strike us, in these psalms, +is David’s utter faith in God. I do not mean to say that +David had not his sad days, when he gave himself up for lost, and when +God seemed to have forsaken him, and forgotten his promise. He +was a man of like passions with ourselves; and therefore he was, as +we should have been, terrified and faint-hearted at times. But +exactly what God was teaching and training him to be, was not to be +fainthearted—not to be terrified. He began in his youth +by trusting God. That made him the man after God’s own heart, +just as it was the want of trust in God which made Saul not the man +after God’s own heart, and lost him his kingdom. In all +those wanderings and dangers of David’s in the wilderness, God +was training, and educating, and strengthening David’s faith according +to His great law: To whomsoever hath shall be given, and he shall have +more abundantly; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even +that which he seems to have. And the first great fruit of David’s +firm trust in God was his patience.</p> +<p>He learned to wait God’s time, and take God’s way, and +be sure that the same God who had promised that he should be king, would +make him king when he saw fit. He knew, as he says himself, that +the Strength of Israel could not lie or repent. He had sworn that +He would not fail David. And he learned that God had sworn by +His holiness. He was a holy, just, righteous God; and David and +David’s country now were safe in His hands. It was his firm +trust in God which gave him strength of mind to use no unfair means +to right himself. Twice Saul, his enemy, was in his power. +What a temptation to him to kill Saul, rid himself of his tormentor, +and perhaps get the kingdom at once! But no. He felt: “This +Saul is a wicked, devil-tormented murderer, a cruel tyrant and oppressor; +but the same God who chose me to be king next, chose him to be king +now. He is the Lord’s anointed. God put him where +he is, and leaves him there for some good purpose; and when God has +done with him, God will take him away, and free this poor oppressed +people; and in the meantime, I, as a private man, have no right to touch +him. I must not do evil that good may come. If I am to be +a true king, a true man at all hereafter, I must keep true now; if I +am to be a righteous lawgiver hereafter, I must respect and obey law +myself now. The Lord be judge between me and Saul; for He is Judge, +and He will right me better than I can ever right myself.” +And thus did trust in God bring out in David that true respect for law, +without which a king, let him be as kind-hearted as he will, is but +too likely to become at last a tyrant and an oppressor.</p> +<p>But another thing which strikes any thinking man in David’s +psalms, is his strong feeling for the poor, and the afflicted, and the +oppressed. That is what makes the Psalms, above all, the poor +man’s book, the afflicted man’s book. But how did +he get that fellow-feeling for the fallen? By having fallen himself, +and tasted affliction and oppression. That was how he was educated +to be a true king. That was how he became a picture and pattern—a +“type,” as some call it, of Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows. +That is why so many of David’s psalms apply so well to the Lord; +why the Lord fulfilled those psalms when He was on earth. David +was truly a man of sorrows; for he had not only the burden of his own +sorrows to bear, but that of many others. His parents had to escape, +and to be placed in safety at the court of a heathen prince. His +friend Abimelech the priest, because he gave David bread when he was +starving, and Goliath’s sword—which, after all, was David’s +own—was murdered by Saul’s hired ruffians, at Saul’s +command, and with him his whole family, and all the priests of the town, +with their wives and children, even to the baby at the breast. +And when David was in the mountains, everyone who was distressed, and +in debt, and discontented, gathered themselves to him, and he became +their captain; so that he had on him all the responsibility, care, and +anxiety of managing all those wild, starving men, many of them, perhaps, +reckless and wicked men, ready every day to quarrel among themselves, +or to break out in open riot and robbery against the people who had +oppressed them; for—(and this, too, we may see from David’s +psalms, was not the smallest part of his anxiety)—the nation of +the Jews seems to have been in a very wretched state in David’s +time. The poor seem in general to have lost their land, and to +have become all but slaves to rich nobles, who were grinding them down, +not only by luxury and covetousness, but often by open robbery and bloodshed. +The sight of the misrule and misery, as well as of the bloody and ruinous +border inroads which were kept up by the Philistines and other neighbouring +tribes, seems for years to have been the uppermost, as well as the deepest +thought in David’s mind, if we may judge from those psalms of +his, of which this is the key-note; and it was not likely to make him +care and feel less about all that misery when he remembered (as we see +from his psalms he remembered daily) that God had set him, the wandering +outlaw, no less a task than to mend it all; to put down all that oppression, +to raise up that degradation, to train all that cowardice into self-respect +and valour, to knit into one united nation, bound together by fellow-feeling +and common faith in God, that mob of fierce, and greedy, and (hardest +task of all, as he himself felt) utterly deceitful men. No wonder +that his psalms begin often enough with sadness, even though they may +end in hope and trust. He had a work around him and before him +which ought to have made his heart sad, which was a great part of his +appointed education, and helped to make him perfect by sufferings.</p> +<p>And so, upon the bare hill-side, in woods and caves of the earth, +in cold and hunger, in weariness and dread of death, did David learn +to be the poor man’s king, the poor man’s poet, the singer +of those psalms which shall endure as long as the world endures, and +be the comfort and the utterance of all sad hearts for evermore. +Agony it was, deep and bitter, and for the moment more hopeless than +the grave itself, which crushed out of the very depths of his heart +that most awful and yet most blessed psalm, the twenty-second, which +we read in church every Good Friday. The “Hind of the Morning” +is its title; some mournful air to which David sang it, giving, perhaps, +the notion of a timorous deer roused in the morning by the hunters and +the hounds. We read that psalm on Good Friday, and all say that +our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled it. What do we mean hereby?</p> +<p>We mean hereby, that we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled +all sorrows which man can taste. He filled the cup of misery to +the brim, and drained it to the dregs. He was afflicted in all +David’s afflictions, in the afflictions of all mankind. +He bare all their sicknesses, and carried all their infirmities; and +therefore we read this psalm upon Good Friday, upon the day in which +He tasted death for every man, and went down into the lowest depths +of terror, and shame, and agony, and death; and, worst of all, into +the feeling that God had forsaken Him, that there was no help or hope +for Him in heaven, as well as earth—no care or love in the great +God, whose Son He was—went down, in a word, into hell; that hell +whereof David and Heman, and Hezekiah after them, had said, “Shall +the dust give thanks unto thee? and shall it declare thy truth?”—“Thou +wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One +to see corruption.”—“My life draweth nigh unto hell. +. . I am like one stript among the dead, like the slain that lie +in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from +thy hand. . . . Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? and shall +the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy wonders be known in +the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of destruction?”—“For +the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that +go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth.”</p> +<p>Even into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one moment, +that God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to God—even into +that Jesus condescended to go down for us. That worst of all temptations, +of which David only tasted a drop when he cried out, “My God, +my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus drained to the +very dregs for us.—He went down into hell for us, and conquered +hell and death, and the darkness of the unknown world, and rose again +glorious from them, that He might teach us not to fear death and hell; +that He might know how to comfort us in the hour of death: and in the +day of judgment, when on our sick bed, or in some bitter shame and trouble, +the lying devil is telling us that we are damned and lost, and forsaken +by God, and every sin we ever did rises up and stares us in the face.</p> +<p>Truly He is a king!—a king for rich and poor, young and old, +Englishmen and negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for them, He +has tasted sorrow for them, far more than David did for those poor, +oppressed, sinful Jews of his. Read those Psalms of David; for +they speak not only of David, now long since dead and gone, but of the +blessed Jesus, who lives and reigns over us now at this very moment. +Read them, for they are inspired; the honest words of a servant of God +crying out to the same God, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we have. +And His love has not changed. His arm is not shortened that He +cannot save. Your words need not change. The words of those +psalms in which David prayed, in them you and I may pray. Right +out of the depths of his poor distracted heart they came. Let +them come out of our hearts too. They belong to us more than even +they did to the Jews, for whom David wrote them—more than even +they did to David himself; for Jesus has fulfilled them—filled +them full—given them boundlessly more meaning than ever they had +before, and given us more hope in using them than ever David had: for +now that love and righteousness of God, in which David only trusted +beforehand, has come down and walked on this earth in the shape of a +poor man, Jesus Christ, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem.</p> +<p>Oh, you who are afflicted, pray to God in those psalms; not merely +in the words of them, but in the spirit of them. And to do that, +you must get from God the spirit in which David wrote them—the +Spirit of God. Pray for that Spirit; for the spirit of patience, +which made David wait God’s good time to right him, instead of +trying, as too many do, to right himself by wrong means; for the spirit +of love, which taught David to return good for evil; for the spirit +of fellow-feeling, which taught David to care for others as well as +himself; and in that spirit of love, do you pray for others while you +are praying for yourself. Pray for that Spirit which taught David +to help and comfort those who were weaker than himself, that you in +your time may be able and willing to comfort and help those who are +weaker than yourselves. And above all, pray for the Spirit of +faith, which made David certain that oppression and wrong-doing could +not stand; that the day must surely come when God would judge the world +righteously, and hear the cry of the afflicted, and deliver the outcast +and poor, that the man of the world might be no more exalted against +them. Pray, in short, for the Spirit of Christ; and then be sure +He will hear your prayers, and answer them, and show Himself a better +friend, and a truer King to you, than ever David showed himself to those +poor Jews of old. He will deliver you out of all your troubles—if +not in this life, yet surely in the life to come; and though you walk +through the valley of the shadow of death, yet the peace of God shall +keep your hearts and minds in Him who loved you, and gave Himself for +you, that you might inherit all heaven and earth in Him.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXVI—THE VALUE OF LAW</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there +is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.—ROMANS +xiii. 1.</p> +<p>What is the difference between a civilised man and a savage? +You will say: A civilised man can read and write; he has books and education; +he knows how to make numberless things which makes his life comfortable +to him. He can get wealth, and build great towns, sink mines, +sail the sea in ships, spread himself over the face of the earth, or +bring home all its treasures, while the savages remain poor, and naked, +and miserable, and ignorant, fixed to the land in which they chance +to have been born.</p> +<p>True: but we must go a little deeper still. Why does the savage +remain poor and wretched, while the civilised people become richer and +more prosperous? Why, for instance, do the poor savage gipsies +never grow more comfortable or wiser—each generation of them remaining +just as low as their forefathers were, or, indeed, getting lower and +fewer? for the gipsies, like all savages, are becoming fewer and fewer +year by year, while, on the other hand, we English increase in numbers, +and in wealth, and knowledge; and fresh inventions are found out year +by year, which give fresh employment and make life more safe and more +pleasant.</p> +<p>This is the reason: That the English have laws and obey them, and +the gipsies have none. This is the whole secret. This is +why savages remain poor and miserable, that each man does what he likes +without law. This is why civilised nations like England thrive +and prosper, because they have laws and obey them, and every man does +not do what he likes, but what the law likes. Laws are made not +for the good of one person here, or the other person there, but for +the good of all; and, therefore, the very notion of a civilised country +is, a country in which people cannot do what they like with their own, +as the savages do. “Not do what he likes with his own?” +Certainly not; no one can or does. If you have property, you cannot +spend it all as you like. You have to pay a part of it to the +government, that is, into the common stock, for the common good, in +the shape of rates and taxes, before you can spend any of it on yourself. +If you take wages, you cannot spend them all upon yourself and do what +you like with them. If you do not support your wife and family +out of them, the law will punish you. You cannot do what you like +with your own gun, for you may not shoot your neighbour’s cattle +or game with it. You cannot do what you like with your own hands, +for the law forbids you to steal with them. You cannot do what +you like with your own feet, for the law will punish you for trespassing +on your neighbour’s ground without his leave. In short, +you can only do with your own what will not hurt your neighbour, in +such matters as the law can take care of. And more, in any great +necessity the law may actually hurt you for the good of the nation at +large. The law may compel you to sell your land, to your own injury, +if it is wanted for a railroad. The law may compel you, as it +did fifty years ago, to serve as a soldier in the militia, to your own +injury, if there is a fear of foreign invasion; so that the law is above +each and all of us. Our own wills are not our masters. No +man is his own master. The law is the master of each and all of +us, and if we will not obey it willingly, it can make us obey unwillingly.</p> +<p>Can make us? Ay, but ought it to make us? Is it right +that the law should over-ride our own free wills, and prevent our doing +what we like with our own?</p> +<p>It is right—absolutely right. St. Paul tells us what +gives law this authority: “There is no power but of God. +The powers that be are ordained of God.” And he tells us +also why this authority is given to the law. “Rulers,” +he says, “are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt +thou then not be afraid of those who administer the law? Do that +which is good, and thou shalt have praise from them, for they are God’s +ministers to thee for good.”</p> +<p>For good, you see. For the good of mankind it was, that God +put into their hearts and reasons, that notion of making laws, and appointing +kings and magistrates to see that those laws are obeyed. For our +good. For without law no man’s life, or family, or property +would be safe. Every man’s private selfishness, and greediness, +and anger, would struggle without check to have its way, and there would +be no bar or curb to keep each and every man from injuring each and +every man else; so the strong would devour the weak, and then tear each +other in pieces afterwards. So it is among the savages. +They have little or no property, for they have no laws to protect property; +and therefore every man expects his neighbour to steal from him, and +finds it his shortest plan to steal from his neighbour, instead of settling +down to sow corn which he will have no chance of eating, or build houses +which may be taken from him at night by some more strong and cunning +savage. There is no law among savages to protect women and children +against the men, and therefore the women are treated worse than beasts, +and the children murdered to save the trouble of rearing them. +Every man’s hand is against his neighbour. No one feels +himself safe, and therefore no one thinks it worth while to lay up for +the morrow. No one expects justice and mercy to be done to him, +and therefore no one thinks it worth while to do justice and mercy to +others. And thus they live in continual fear and quarrelling, +feeding like wild animals on game or roots, often, when they have bad +luck in their hunting, on offal which our dogs would refuse, and dwindle +away and become fewer and wretcheder year by year; in this way do the +savages in New South Wales live to this day, for want of law.</p> +<p>It is for our good, then, that God has put into the heart of man +to make laws, and to obey them as sacred and divine things. For +our good, in order to save us from sinking down into the same state +of poverty and misery in which the savages are. For our good, +because we are fallen creatures, with selfish and corrupt wills, continually +apt to break loose, and please ourselves at the expense of our neighbours. +For our good, because, however fallen we are, we are still brothers, +members of God’s family, bound to each other by duty and relationship, +if not by love.</p> +<p>Just as in a family, if parents, brothers, and sisters will not do +their duty to each other lovingly and of their free will, the law interferes, +and the custom of the country interferes, and the opinion of neighbours +interferes, and says: “You may not love your parents: but you +have no right to leave them to starve.” “You may not +love your brothers: but if you try to injure and slander them, you are +doing an unnatural and hateful thing, abhorred by God and man, and you +must expect us to treat you accordingly, as a wild beast who does not +feel the common laws of nature and right and wrong.” So +with the law of the land. The law is meant to remind us more or +less that we are brothers, members of one body; that we owe a duty to +each other; that we are all equal in God’s sight, who is no respecter +of persons, or of rank, or of riches, any more than the law is when +it punishes the greatest nobleman as severely as the poorest labourer. +The law is meant to remind us that God is just; that when we injure +each other, we sin against God; that God’s rule and law is, that +each transgression should receive its just reward, and that, therefore, +because man is made in the likeness of God, man is bound, as far as +he can, to visit every offence with due and proportionate punishment. +And the law punishes, as St. Paul says, in God’s name, and for +God’s sake. The magistrate is a witness for God’s +righteous government of the world, the minister of God’s vengeance +against evil-doers, to remind all continually that evil-doing has no +place, and cannot prosper, and must not be allowed, upon this God’s +earth whereon we live.</p> +<p>But what if the laws are unfair, and punish only some sorts of evil-doers +and not others? What if they are like spiders’ webs, which +catch the little flies, and let the great wasps break through? +What if they punish poor and weak offenders, and let the rich and powerful +sinners escape? “Obey them still,” says St. Paul. +In his time and country the laws were as unfair in that way as laws +ever were, and yet he tells Christians to obey them for conscience’s +sake. Thank God that they do punish weak offenders. Pray +God that the time may come when they may be strong enough to punish +great offenders also. But, in the meantime, see that they have +not to punish you. As far as the laws go, they are right and good. +As far as they keep down any sort of wrong-doing whatsoever, they are +God’s ordinances, and you must obey them for God’s sake.</p> +<p>But what if the laws are not only unfair and partial, but also unjust +and wrong? Are we to obey them then? Obey them still, says +St. Paul. Of course, if they command you to do a clearly wrong +thing; if, for instance, the law commanded you to worship idols, or +to commit adultery, there is no question then; such laws cannot be God’s +ordinance. The laws can only be God’s ordinance as far as +they agree with what we know of God’s will written in our hearts, +and written in His holy Bible. Then a man must resist the law +to the death, if need be, as the old martyrs did, dying as witnesses +for God’s righteous and eternal law, against man’s false +and unrighteous law. It is a very difficult thing, no doubt, to +tell where to draw the line in such matters. But we, thank God, +here in England now, have no need to puzzle our heads with such questions. +Every man’s conscience is free here, and he has full liberty to +worship God as he thinks best, provided that by so doing he does not +interfere with his neighbour’s character, or property, or comfort. +There is no single law in England now, that I know of, which a man has +any need to refuse to obey, let his conscience be as tender as it may. +And as for laws which we think hurtful to the country, or hurtful to +any particular class in the country, our thinking them hurtful is no +reason that we should not obey them. As long as they are law, +they are God’s ordinance, and we have no right to break them. +They may be useful after all. Or even if they are hurtful in some +way, still God may be bringing good out of them in some other way, of +which we little dream, as He has often done out of laws and customs +which seem at first sight most foolish and hurtful, and yet which He +endured and winked at, for the sake of bringing good out of evil. +At all events, whatsoever laws are here in England, are made by the +men whom we English have chosen, as the men most fit and wise to make +them, and we are bound to abide by them. If Parliament is not +wise enough to make perfectly good laws, that is no one’s fault +but our own; for if we were wise, we should choose wise law-makers, +and we must be filled with the fruit of our own devices. As long +as these laws have been made and passed, by Commons, Lords, and Queen, +according to the ancient forms and constitution which God has taught +our forefathers from time to time for more than a thousand years, and +which have had God’s blessing and favour on them, and made us, +from the least of all nations, the greatest nation on the earth; in +short, as long as those laws are made according to law, so long we are +bound to believe them to be God’s ordinance, and obey them. +But understand; that is no reason why we should not try to get them +improved; for when they are changed and done away according to the same +law which made them, that will be a sign that they are God’s ordinances +no longer; that God thinks we have no more need for them, and does not +require us to keep them. But as long as any law is what St. Paul +calls “the powers that be,” obeyed it must be, not only +for wrath, but for conscience’s sake.</p> +<p>That is a very important part of the matter. Obey the law, +St. Paul says, not only for wrath, that is, not only for fear of punishment, +but for conscience’s sake. Even if you do not expect to +be punished; even if you think no one will ever find out that you have +broken the law, remember it is God’s ordinance. He sees +you. Do not hurt your own conscience, and deaden your own sense +of right and wrong, by breaking the least or the most unjust law in +the slightest point.</p> +<p>For instance: some people think the income-tax is very unfair; and +therefore they think there is no harm in cheating the revenue a little, +by making out their income less than it is. Others, again, think +the laws against smuggling unjust and harsh; and therefore they see +no harm in trying to avoid paying duty on goods which they bring home, +whenever they have an opportunity, or buying cheap goods, which they +must know from their price are smuggled. Others, again, think +the game laws are unfair, and therefore see no harm in going out shooting +on their own lands without a licence; while many see no harm, or say +they see no harm, in poaching on other people’s grounds, and killing +game contrary to law wherever they can. That it is wrong to break +the law in these two first cases, you all know in your own hearts. +On the matter of poaching, some of you, I know, have many very mistaken +notions. But, my friends, I ask you only to look at the sin and +misery which poaching causes, if you want to see that those who break +the law do indeed break the ordinance of God, and that God’s laws +avenge themselves. Look at the idleness, the untidiness, the deceit, +the bad company, the drunkenness, the misery and sin, to man, woman, +and child, which that same poaching brings about, and then see how one +little sin brings on many great ones; how a man, by despising the authority +of law, and fancying that he does no harm in disobeying the laws, from +his own fancy about poaching being no harm, falls into temptation and +a snare, and pierces himself through with many sorrows. My young +friends, believe my words. Avoid poaching, even once in a way. +The beginning of sin is like the letting out of water; no one can tell +where it will stop. He who breaks the law in little things will +be tempted to go on and break it in greater and greater things. +He who begins by breaking man’s law, which is the pattern of God’s +law, will be tempted to go on and break God’s law also. +Is it not so? There is no use telling me, “The game is no +one’s; there is no harm in taking it.” Light words +of that kind will not do to answer God with. You know there is +harm in taking it; for you know, as well as I do, that you cannot go +after game without neglecting your work to get it; or without going +to the worst of public-houses, among the worst of company, to sell it. +You know, as well as I do, that hand in hand with poaching go lying, +and idling, and sneaking, and fear, and boasting, and swearing, and +drinking, and the company of bad men and bad women. And then you +say there is no harm in poaching. Do you suppose that I do not +know, as well as any one of you here, what goes to the snaring of a +hare, and the selling of a hare, and the spending of the ill-got price +of a hare? My dear young men, I know that poaching, like many +other sins, is tempting: but God has told us to flee from temptation—to +resist the devil, and he will flee from us. If we are to give +up ourselves without a struggle to every pleasant thing which tempts +us, we shall soon be at the devil’s door. We were sent into +the world to fight against temptation and to conquer it. We were +sent into the world to do what God likes, not what we like; and therefore +we were sent into the world to obey the laws of the land wherein we +live, be they better or worse; because if we break one law because we +don’t like it, our neighbour may break another because he don’t +like that, and so forth; till there is neither law, nor peace, nor safety, +but every man doing what is right in his own eyes, which is sure to +end by every man’s doing what is right in the devil’s eyes. +We were sent into the world to live as brothers, under laws which make +us give up our own wills and selfish lusts for the common good. +And if we find it difficult to keep the laws, if we are tempted to break +the laws, God has promised His Spirit to those who ask Him. God +has promised His Spirit to us. If we pray for that Spirit night +and morning, He will make it easy for us to keep the laws. He +will make us what our Lord was before us, humble, patient, loving, manful +and strong enough to restrain our fancies and appetites, and to give +up our wills for the good of our neighbours, anxious and careful to +avoid all appearance of evil, trusting that because God is just, and +God is King, all laws which are not wicked are His ordinance, and therefore +being obedient to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, +even as Jesus Christ Himself was, who, though He was Lord of all, paid +taxes and tribute money to the Roman government, like the rest of the +Jews, and kept the law of Moses perfectly, and was baptised with John’s +baptism, to show that in all just and reasonable things we are to obey +the laws and customs of our forefathers, in the country to which it +has pleased the Lord that we should belong.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXVII—THE SOURCE OF LAW</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there +is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.—ROMANS +xiii. 1.</p> +<p>In this chapter, which we read for the second lesson for this afternoon’s +service, St. Paul gives good advice to the Romans, and equally good +advice to us.</p> +<p>Of course what he says must be equally good for us, and for all people, +at all times, in all countries, as long as time shall last; because +St. Paul spoke by the Spirit of God, who is God eternal, and therefore +cannot change His mind, but lays down, by the mouth of His apostles +and prophets, the everlasting laws of right and wrong, which are always +equally good for all.</p> +<p>But there is something in this lesson which makes it especially useful +to us; because we English are in some very important matters very like +the Romans to whom St. Paul wrote; though in others, thanks to Almighty +God, we are still very unlike them.</p> +<p>Now, these old Romans, as I have often told you, had risen to be +the greatest and mightiest people in the world, and to conquer many +foreign countries, and set up colonies of Romans in them, very much +as the English have done in India, and North America, and Australia: +so that the little country of Italy, with its one great city of Rome, +was mistress of vast lands far beyond the seas, ten times as large as +itself, just as this little England is.</p> +<p>But it is not so much this which I have to speak to you about now, +as how this Rome became so great; for it was at first nothing but a +poor little country town, without money, armies, trade, or any of those +things which shallow-minded people fancy are the great strength of a +nation. True, all those things are good; but they are useless +and hurtful—and, what is more, they cannot be got—without +something better than them; something which you cannot see nor handle; +something spiritual, which is the life and heart of a country or nation, +and without which it can never become great. This the old Romans +had; and it made them become great. This we English have had for +now fifteen hundred years; even when our forefathers were heathens, +like the Romans, before we came into this good land of England, while +we were poor and simple people, living in the barren moors of Germany, +and the snowy mountains of Norway; even then we had this wonderful charm, +by which nations are sure to become great and powerful at last; and +in proportion as we have remembered and acted upon it, we English have +thriven and spread; and whenever we have forgotten it and broken it, +we have fallen into distress, and poverty, and shame, over the whole +land.</p> +<p>Now, what is this wonderful charm which made the old Romans and we +English great, which is stronger than money, and armies, and trade, +and all the things which we can see and handle?</p> +<p>St. Paul tells us in the text: “Let every soul be subject to +the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The +powers that be are ordained of God.”</p> +<p>To respect the law; to believe that God wills men to live according +to law; and that He will teach men right and good laws; that magistrates +who enforce the laws are God’s ministers, God’s officers +and servants; that to break the laws is to sin against God;—that +is the charm which worked such wonders, and will work them to the end +of time.</p> +<p>So you see it was a very proper thing for St. Paul, when he wrote +to these Romans after they became Christians, to speak to them as he +does in this chapter. They might have fancied, and many did fancy, +that because they were Jesus Christ’s servants now, they need +not obey their heathen rulers and laws any more. But St. Paul +says: “No; Jesus Christ’s being King of Kings, is only the +strongest possible reason for your obeying these heathen rulers. +For if He is King of all the earth, He is King of Rome also, and of +all her colonies; and therefore you may be sure that He would not leave +these Roman rulers, and laws here if He did not think it right and fitting. +If Jesus Christ is Lord of lords He is Lord of these Roman rulers, and +they are His ministers and stewards; and you must obey them, and pay +taxes to them for conscience’s sake, as unto the Lord, and not +unto man.”</p> +<p>So you see that St. Paul gave these Roman Christians no new commandment +on these matters; nothing different from what their old heathen forefathers +had believed. For the law which he mentions in verse 9, “Thou +shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,” etc., had been for centuries +past part of the old Roman law, as well as of Moses’ law.</p> +<p>Those old heathen Romans believed, and rightly, that all law and +order came from the great God of gods, whom they called in their tongue +Jupiter, that is, the Heavenly Father. They believed that He would +bless those who kept the laws; who kept their oaths and agreements, +and the laws about government, about marriage, about property, about +inheritance; and that He would surely punish those who broke the laws, +who defrauded their neighbours of their rights, who swore falsely against +their neighbour, or broke their agreements, who were unfaithful to their +wives and husbands, or in any way offended against justice between man +and man. And they believed too, and rightly, that as long as they +kept the laws, and lived justly and orderly by them, the great Heavenly +Father would protect and prosper their town of Rome, and make it grow +great and powerful, because they were living as He would have men live; +not doing each what was right in the sight of his own eyes, but conquering +their own selfish wills and private fancies, for the sake of their neighbour’s +good, and the good of his country, that they might all help and trust +each other, as fellow-citizens of one nation.</p> +<p>Only St. Paul had told them: Your forefathers were right in fancying +that law and right came from the great God of gods: but they knew hardly +anything, or rather, in time they forgot almost everything, about that +Heavenly Father. In their ignorance they mixed up the belief in +the one great almighty and good God, which dwells in the hearts of all +men, with filthy fables and superstitions till they came to fancy that +there were many gods and not one, and that these many gods were sinful, +foul, proud, and cruel, as fallen men. But you have been brought +back to the knowledge of the one true, and righteous, and loving God, +which your forefathers lost. He has revealed and shown Himself, +and what He is like, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is love, and +wisdom, and justice, and order itself; and, therefore, you must be sure, +even more sure than your old heathen forefathers, that He cares for +a nation being at peace and unity within itself, governed by wise laws, +doing justice between man and man, and keeping order throughout all +its business, that every man may do his work and enjoy his wages without +hindrance, or confusion, or fear, or robbery and oppression from those +who are stronger than he.</p> +<p>And so St. Paul says to them: “You must believe that power +and law come from God, far more firmly and clearly than ever your heathen +forefathers did.”</p> +<p>Now that St. Paul was right in this we may see from the Old Testament. +In the first lesson for this afternoon’s service, we read how +Jeremiah was sent with the most awful warnings to the king, and the +queen, and the crown prince of his country. And why? Because +they had broken the laws; because, in a word, they had been unfaithful +stewards and ministers of the Lord God, who had given them their power +and kingdom, and would demand a strict account of all which He had committed +to their charge. But in the same book of the prophet Jeremiah +we read more than this; we read exactly what St. Paul says about the +heathen Roman governors: for the Lord God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, +sent Jeremiah with a message to all the heathen kings round about, to +tell them that He was their Lord and Master, that He had given them +their power, heathens as they were, because it seemed fit to Him, and +that now, for their sins, He was going to deliver them over into the +hand of another heathen, His servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; +and that whosoever would not serve Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord God would +punish him with sword, and famine, and pestilence till he had consumed +them. And the first four chapters of the book of Daniel, noble +and wonderful as they are, seem to me to have been put into the Bible +simply to teach us this one thing, that heathen rulers, as well as Christians, +are the Lord’s servants, and that their power is ordained by God. +For these chapters are entirely made up of the history, how God, by +His prophet Daniel, taught the heathen king Nebuchadnezzar that he was +God’s minister and steward. And the latter part of the book +of Daniel is the account of his teaching the same thing to another heathen, +Cyrus the great and good king of Persia. And here St. Paul teaches +the Christian Romans just the same thing about their heathen governors +and heathen laws, that they are the ministers and the ordinance of God.</p> +<p>Now, our own English forefathers, as I said before, believed this +same thing; and if I had time, I could show you, I think, plainly enough +from God’s dealings with England, how He has blest and prospered +us whensoever we have acted up to it. But whether we have believed +it or not, there is enough in our English laws, and in our English Prayer +Book too, to witness for it and remind us of it.</p> +<p>The very title which we give the Queen, “Queen by the grace +of God;” the solemn prayers for her when she is crowned and anointed, +not in her own palace, or in the House of Parliament, but in the Church +of God at Westminster; the prayers which we have just offered up for +the Queen, for the government, and for the magistrates—these are +all so many signs and tokens to us that they are God’s stewards, +called to do God’s work, and that we must pray for God’s +grace to help them to fulfil their calling. And are not those +ten commandments which stand in every church, a witness of the same +thing? They are the very root of all law whatsoever. And +more, the solemn oath which a witness takes in the court of justice, +what is it but a sign of the same thing, that our forefathers, who appointed +these forms, believed that law and justice were holy things, and that +he who goes into a court of law goes into the presence of God Himself, +and confesses, when he promises to speak the truth, so help him God, +that God is the protector and the avenger of law and justice?</p> +<p>But some people, and especially young and light-hearted persons, +are ready to say: “Obey the powers that be, whosoever they may +be, good or bad, and believe that to break their laws is to sin against +God? We might as well be slaves at once. A man has a right +to his own opinion; and if he does not think a law good, how can he +be bound to obey it?”</p> +<p>You will often hear such words as those when you go out into the +world, into great towns, where men meet together much. Let me +give you, young people, a little advice about that beforehand; for, +fine as it sounds, it is hollow and false at root.</p> +<p>If you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like what +is right; and do that, says St. Paul, and then the law will not interfere +with you: “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the +evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that +which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the +minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is +evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the +minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” +And then he sums up what doing right is, in one short sentence: “Love +thy neighbour as thyself; for love is the fulfilling of the law.” +All that the laws want to make you do, is to behave like men who do +love their neighbours as themselves, and therefore do them no harm—to +behave like men who are ready to give up their own private wills and +pleasures, and even their own private property, if wanted, for the good +of their neighbours and their country. Therefore the law calls +on you to pay rates and taxes, which are to be spent for the good of +the nation at large. And if you love your neighbour as yourself, +and have the good of everyone round you at heart, you will no more grudge +paying rates and taxes for their benefit than you will grudge spending +money to support and educate your own children. And so you will +be free, free to do what you like, because you like, from the fear and +love of God, to do those right things which the law is set to make you +do.</p> +<p>But some may say: “That is not what we mean by being free. +We mean having a share in choosing Members of Parliament, and so in +making the laws and governing the country. When people can do +that the country is a free country.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, and it is a strange thing, or rather not a strange +thing, if we will but study our Bibles, that a country cannot be free +in that way, unless the people of it do really believe that the powers +that be are ordained of God. Instead of that faith making the +old Romans slavish, or careless what laws were made, or how they were +governed, as some fancy it would make a people, they were as free a +people, and freer almost than we English now. They chose their +own magistrates, and they made their own laws, and prospered by so doing. +And why? Because they believed that laws came from God; and, therefore, +they not only obeyed the laws when they were made, but they had heart +and spirit to help to make them, because they trusted that The Heavenly +Father, who loved justice, would teach them to be just, and that The +God who protected laws and punished law-breakers, would put into their +minds how to make the laws well; and so they were not afraid to govern +themselves, because they believed that God would enable them to govern +themselves well, and therefore they were free. And so far from +their having a slavish spirit in them, they were the most bold and independent +people of the whole earth. Their soldiers conquered almost every +nation against whom they fought, because they always obeyed their officers +dutifully and faithfully, believing that it was their duty to God to +obey, and to die, if need was, for their country. Old history +is full of tales, which will never be forgotten, I trust, till the world’s +end, of the noble deeds of their men, ay, and even of their women, who +counted their own lives worthless in comparison with the good of their +country, and died in torments rather than break the laws, or do what +they knew would injure the people to whom they belonged.</p> +<p>And so with us English. For hundreds of years we have been +growing more and more free, and more and more well-governed, simply +because we have been acting on St. Paul’s doctrine—obeying +the powers that be, because they are ordained by God. It is the +Englishman’s respect for law, as a sacred thing, which he dare +not break, which has made him, sooner or later, respected and powerful +wherever he goes to settle in foreign lands; because foreigners can +trust us to be just, and to keep our promises, and to abide by the laws +which we have laid down. It is the English respect for law, as +a sacred thing, which has made our armies among the bravest and the +most successful on earth; because they know how to obey their officers, +and are therefore able to fight and to endure as men should do. +And as long as we hold to that belief we shall prosper at home and abroad, +and become more and more free, and more and more strong; because we +shall be united, helping each other, trusting each other, knowing what +to expect of each other, because we all honour and obey the same laws.</p> +<p>And, on the other hand, have we not close to us, in France, a fearful +sign and proof from God that without the fear of God no people can be +free? Three times in the last sixty years have the French risen +up against evil rulers, and driven them out. And have they been +the better for it? They are at this very moment in utter slavery +to a ruler more lawless than ever oppressed them before. And why? +Because they did not believe that law came from God, and that the powers +that be are ordained by Him. Therefore, whenever they were oppressed, +they did not try to right themselves by lawful ways, according to the +old English God-fearing custom, but to break down the old law by riot +and bloodshed, and then to set up new laws of their own. But those +new laws would never stand. They made them, but they would not +obey them when they were made, and they could not make others obey them; +because they had no real reverence for law, and did not believe that +law came from God, or that His Spirit would give them understanding +to make good laws. They talked loud about the power and rights +of the people, and that whatever the people willed was right: but they +said nothing about the power and rights of the Lord God; they forgot +that it is only what God has willed from everlasting that is right; +and so they made laws in the strength of their own hearts, according +to what was right in the sight of their own eyes, to please themselves. +How could they respect the laws, when the laws were only copies of their +own selfish fancies? So, because they made them to please themselves, +they soon broke them to please themselves. And so came more lawlessness +and riot, and confusion worse confounded, till, of course, the strongest, +and cunningest, and most shameless got the upper hand; and they were +plunged, poor creatures! into the same pit of misery out of which they +had been trying to deliver themselves in their own strength, for a sign +and an example that the Lord is King, and not man at all, and that the +fear of the Lord is the only beginning of wisdom.</p> +<p>And very much the same sad fate had happened to the Romans a little +before St. Paul’s time. They gave up their ancient respect +for law; they broke the laws, and ran into all kinds of violence, and +riot, and filthy sin; and therefore God took away their freedom from +them, because they were not fit for it, and delivered them over into +the hand of one cruel tyrant after another; and perhaps the cruellest +of them all was the man who was emperor of Rome in St. Paul’s +time. Therefore it was that St. Paul says to them: Love each other, +and obey the laws, “knowing the time, that now it is high time +to awake out of sleep.”</p> +<p>As much as to say: “Your souls have fallen asleep; you have +been in a dark night, not seeing that God would avenge you of all these +sins of yours; that God’s eye was on them: you have fallen asleep +and forgotten your forefathers’ belief, that God loves law, and +order, and justice, and will punish those who break through them. +But now the Lord Jesus, the light of the world, is come to awaken you, +and to open your eyes to see the truth about this, and to show you that +you are in God’s kingdom, and that God commands you to repent, +and to obey Him, and do justly and righteously. Therefore awake +out of your sleep; give up the works of darkness, those mean and wicked +habits which were contrary to the good old laws of your forefathers, +and which you were at heart ashamed of, and tried to hide even while +you indulged in them. Open your eyes, and see that God is near +you, your Judge, your King, seeing through and through your souls, keen +and sharp to discern the secret thoughts and intents of the heart, so +that all things are naked and open in the sight of Him with whom we +have to do.”</p> +<p>And so I may say to you, my friends, it is high time for us to awake +out of sleep. The people in England, religious as well as others, +have fallen asleep of late years too much about this matter. They +have forgotten that God is King, that magistrates are God’s ministers. +They talk as if laws were meant to be only the device of man’s +will, to serve men’s private interests and selfishness; and therefore +they have lost very much of their respect for law, and their care to +make good laws for the future. And it is high time for us, while +all the nations of Europe are tottering and crumbling round us, to awake +out of sleep on this matter. We must open our eyes and see where +we are. For we are in God’s kingdom. God’s Bible, +God’s churches, God’s commandments, and all the solemn old +law forms of England witness to us that God is King, set in the throne +which judges right; that order and justice, fellow-feeling and public +spirit, are His gifts, His likeness, on which He looks down with loving +care and protection; and that if we forget that, and begin to fancy +that law stands merely by the will of the many, or by the will of the +stronger, or even by the will of the wiser—by any will of man +in short; we shall end by neither being able to make just laws any more, +nor to obey those which we have, by the blessing of God, already.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXVIII—THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of heaven, +all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those that walk +in pride He is able to abase.—DANIEL iv. 37.</p> +<p>We read for the first lesson to-day two chapters out of the book +of Daniel. Those who love to study their Bibles, have read often, +of course, not only these two chapters, but the whole book.</p> +<p>And I would advise all of you who wish to understand God’s +dealings with mankind, to study this book of Daniel, and especially +at this present time.</p> +<p>I do not wish you to study it merely on account of those prophecies +in it, which many wise and good men think foretell the dates of our +Lord’s first and second comings, and of the end of the world. +I am not skilled, my friends, in that kind of wisdom. I cannot +tell you what God will do hereafter. But I think that the book +of Daniel like the other prophets, tells us what God is always doing +on earth, and so gives us certain and eternal rules by which we may +understand strange and terrible events, wars, distress of nations, the +fall of great men, and the suffering of innocent men, when we see them +happen, as we may see any day—perhaps very soon indeed.</p> +<p>The great lesson, I think, that this book of Daniel teaches us is, +that God is not the Lord of the Jews only, or of Christians only, but +of the whole earth; that the heathens are under His moral law and government, +as well as we; and that, as St. Peter says, God is no respecter of persons: +but in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, +is accepted of him. For the history of Nebuchadnezzar seems to +me to be the history of God’s educating a heathen and an idolater +to know Him. And we must always remember, that as far as we can +see, it was because Nebuchadnezzar was faithful to the light which he +had, that God gave him more. Of course he had his sins; the Bible +tells us what they were; just the sins which one would expect of a man +brought up a heathen and an idolater; of one who was a great conqueror, +and had gained many bloody battles, and learned to hold men’s +lives very cheap; of one who was an absolute emperor, with no law but +his own will, furious at any contradiction; of a man of wonderful power +of mind—confident in himself, his own power, his own cunning. +But he seems not to have been a bad man, considering his advantages. +The Bible never speaks harshly of him, though he carried away the Jews +captive to Babylon. In all that fearful war, Nebuchadnezzar was +in the right, and the Jews in the wrong; so at least Jeremiah the prophet +declared. Nebuchadnezzar saved and respected Jeremiah; and Daniel +seems to have regarded the great conqueror with real respect and affection. +When Daniel says to him, “O king, live for ever,” and tells +him that he is the head of gold, and prays that his fearful dream may +come true of his enemies and not of him, I cannot believe that the prophet +was using mere empty phrases of court-flattery. He really felt, +I doubt not, that Nebuchadnezzar was a great and good king, as kings +went then, and his government a gain (as it easily might be) to the +nations whom he had conquered, and that it was good that he should reign +as long as possible.</p> +<p>And we may well believe Daniel’s interest in this great king, +when we consider how teachable Nebuchadnezzar showed himself under God’s +education of him, so proving that there was in him the honest and good +heart, which, when The Word is sown in it, will bring forth fruit, thirty-fold +or a hundred-fold, according to the talents which God has bestowed on +each man.</p> +<p>This first lesson we read in the first chapter of Daniel. He +dreamt a dream. He felt that it was a very wonderful one: but +he forgot what it was. None of the magicians of Babylon could +tell him. A young Jew, named Daniel, told him the dream and its +meaning, and declared at the same time that he had found it out by no +wisdom of his own, but God had revealed it to him. Nebuchadnezzar +learned his lesson, and confessed Daniel’s God to be a God of +gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing that Daniel +could reveal that secret; and forthwith, like a wise prince, advanced +Daniel and his companions to places of the highest authority and trust.</p> +<p>But Nebuchadnezzar required another lesson. He had learned +that the God of the Jews was wiser than all the planets and heavenly +lords and gods whom the Babylonian magicians consulted; he had not learned +that that same God of the Jews was the Creator and Lord of heaven and +earth. He had learned that the God of heaven favoured him, and +had helped him toward his power and glory; but he thought that for that +very reason the power and glory were his own—that he had a right +over the souls and consciences of his subjects, and might make them +worship what he liked, and how he liked.</p> +<p>Three Jews, whom he had set over the affairs of Babylon, refused +to worship the golden image which he had set up, and were cast into +a fiery furnace, and forthwith miraculously delivered, and beheld by +Nebuchadnezzar walking unhurt and loose in the midst of the furnace, +and with them a fourth, whose form was like the form of the Son of God.</p> +<p>So Nebuchadnezzar was taught that this God of the Jews was the Lord +of men’s souls and consciences; that they were to obey God rather +than man. So he was taught that the God of the Jews was no mere +star or heavenly influence who could help men’s fortunes, or bestow +on them a certain fixed destiny; but a living person, the Lord and Master +of the fire, and of all the powers of the earth, who could change and +stop those powers at His will, to deliver those who trusted in Him and +obeyed Him.</p> +<p>And this lesson, too, Nebuchadnezzar learned. He confessed +his mistake upon the spot, just in the way in which we should have expected +a great Eastern king to do, though not in the most enlightened or merciful +way. He “blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, +who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. +Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, +which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses be made a dunghill: +because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.”</p> +<p>But there was still one deep mistake lying in the great king’s +heart which required to be rooted out. He had learnt that Jehovah, +the God of the Jews, was a revealer of secrets, a master of the fire, +a deliverer of those who trusted in Him, a living personal Lord, wise, +just, and faithful, very different from any of his star gods or idols. +But he looked upon Jehovah only as the God of the Jews, as Daniel’s +God. He had not yet learnt that God was <i>his</i> God as well +as Daniel’s; that Jehovah was very near his heart and mind, and +had been near him all his life; that from Jehovah came all his wisdom, +his strength of mind, his success, and all which made him differ, not +only from his fellow-men, but from the beast; that Jehovah, in a word, +was the light and the life of the world, who fills all things and by +whom all things consist, deserted by whose inward light, even for a +moment, man becomes as one of the beasts which perish. In his +own eyes Nebuchadnezzar was still the great self-dependent, self-sufficing +conqueror, wiser and stronger than all the men around him. He +thought, most probably, that on account of his wisdom, and courage, +and royalty of soul, the God of heaven had become fond of him and favoured +him. In short, he was swollen with pride.</p> +<p>God sent him again a strange dream, which made him troubled and afraid. +He told it to his old counsellor Daniel; and Daniel, at the danger of +his life, interpreted it for him; and a very awful meaning it had. +A fearful and shameful downfall was to come upon the king; no less than +the loss of his reason, and with it, of his throne. But whether +this came to pass or not, depended, like all God’s everlasting +promises and threats, on Nebuchadnezzar’s own behaviour. +If he repented, and broke off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities +by showing mercy to the poor, there was good reason to hope that so +his tranquillity might be lengthened.</p> +<p>But the lesson was too hard for the proud conqueror; he did not take +the warning. He could not believe that the Most High ruled in +the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. He still +fancied that he, and such as he, were the lords of the world, and took +from others by their own power and cunning whatsoever they would. +He does not seem to have been angry, however, with Daniel for his plain +speaking. Most Eastern kings like Nebuchadnezzar would have put +Daniel to a cruel death on the spot as the bearer of evil news, speaking +blasphemy against the king; and no one in those times and countries +would have considered him wicked and cruel for so doing; but Nebuchadnezzar +seems to have learnt too much already so to give way to his passion.</p> +<p>Yet, as I said before, he had not learned enough to take God’s +warning. The lesson that he was nothing, and that God is all in +all, was too hard for him. And, alas! my friends, for whom of +us is it not a hard lesson? And yet it is the golden lesson, the +first and the last which man has to learn on earth, ay, and through +all eternity: “I am nothing; God is all in all.” All +in us which is worth calling anything; all in us which is worth having, +or worth being; all in us which is not disobedience and shortcoming, +failure and mistake, ignorance and madness, filthiness and fierceness, +as of the beasts which perish; all strength in us, all understanding, +all prudence, all right-mindedness, all purity, all justice, all love; +all in us which is worth living for, all in us which is really alive, +and not mere death in life, the death of sin and the darkness of the +pit—all is from God the Father of lights, and from Jesus Christ +the life and the light, who lighteth every man who cometh into the world, +shining for ever in the darkness of our spirits, though that darkness, +alas! too often cannot comprehend, and embrace, and confess Him who +is striving to awake it from the dead and give it light. Hardest +of all lessons! Most blessed of all lessons! So blessed, +that if we will not let God teach it us in any other way, it would be +good and advantageous to us for Him to teach it us as He taught it to +Nebuchadnezzar—good for us to become with him for awhile like +the beasts that perish, that we might learn with him to lift up our +eyes to heaven, and so have our understandings return to us, and learn +to bless the Most High, and not our own wit, and cunning, and prudence; +and praise and honour Him that liveth for ever, instead of praising +and honouring our own pitiful paltry selves, who are in death in the +midst of life, who come up and are cut down like the flower, and never +continue in one stay.</p> +<p>“All this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar.” It +seems that after he or his father had destroyed the old Babylon, the +downfall of which Isaiah had prophesied, he built a great city, after +the fashion of Eastern conquerors, near the ruins of the old one; and +“at the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom +of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, +that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, +and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s +mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, +to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee. And they +shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts +of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times +shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the +kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same +hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.”</p> +<p>What a lesson! The great conqueror of all the East now a brutal +madman, hateful and disgusting to all around him—a beast feeding +among the beasts: and yet a cheap price—a cheap price—to +pay for this golden lesson.</p> +<p>Seven times past over him in his madness. What those seven +times were we do not know. They may have been actual years: or +they may have been, as I am inclined to think, changes in his own soul +and state of mind. But, at the end of the days, the truth dawned +on him. He began to see what it all meant. He saw what he +was, and why he was so; and he lifted up his eyes to heaven; and from +that moment his madness past. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. +That is no mere figure of speech: it is an actual truth. Most +madmen, if you watch them, have that down look, or rather that inward +look, as if their eyes were fixed only on their own fancies. They +are thinking only of themselves, poor creatures—of their own selfish +and private suspicions and wrongs—of their own selfish superstitious +dreams about heaven or hell—of their own selfish vanity and ambition—sometimes +of their own frantic self-conceit, or of their selfish lusts and desires—of +themselves, in short. They have lost the one Divine light of reason, +and conscience, and love, which binds men to each other, and are parted +for a while from God and from their kind—alone in their own darkness. +So was Nebuchadnezzar.</p> +<p>At last he looked up, as men do when they pray; up from himself to +One greater than himself; up from the earth to heaven; up from the natural +things which we do see, which are temporal and born to die, to moral +and spiritual things which we do not see, which are real and eternal +in the heavens; up from his own lonely darkness, looking for the light +and the guidance of God; for now he began to see that all the light +which he had ever had, all his wisdom, and understanding, and strength +of will, had come from God, however he might have misused them for his +own selfish ambition; that it was because God had taken from him His +light, who is the Word of God, that he had become a beast. And +then his reason returned to him, and he became again a man, a rational +being, made, howsoever fallen and sinful, in the likeness of God; then +he blessed and praised God. It was not merely that he confessed +that God was strong, and he weak; righteous, and he sinful; wise, and +he foolish; but he blessed and praised God; he felt and confessed that +God had done him a great benefit, and taught him a great lesson—that +God had taught him what he was in himself and without God, that he might +see what he was with God in its true light, and honour and obey Him +from whom his reason and understanding, as well as his power and glory, +came, that so it might be fulfilled which the prophet says: “Let +not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, +nor the rich man in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, +that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise +loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness <i>in the earth</i>; for +in these things I delight, saith the Lord.”</p> +<p>And so was Nebuchadnezzar’s soul brought to utter, in his own +way, the very same glorious song which, or something like it, is said +to have been sung by the three men whom, years before, he had seen delivered +from the fiery furnace, which calls on all the works of the Lord, angels +and heaven, sun and stars, seas and winds, mountains and hills, fowls +and cattle, priests and laymen, spirits and souls of the righteous, +to bless the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever.</p> +<p>And so ends Nebuchadnezzar’s history. We read no more +of him. He had learnt the golden lesson. May God grant that +we may learn it also!</p> +<p>But who tells the story of his madness? He himself. The +whole account is in the man’s own words. It seems to be +some public letter or proclamation, which he either sent round his empire, +or commanded to be laid up among his records; having, as it seems, set +Daniel to write it down from his mouth. This one fact, I think, +justifies me in all that I have said about Nebuchadnezzar’s nobleness, +and Daniel’s affection for him. He does not try to smooth +things over; to pretend that he has not been mad; to find excuses for +himself; to lay any blame on any human being. He repents openly, +confesses openly. Shameful as it may be to him, he tells the whole +story. He confesses that he had fair warning, that all was his +own fault. He justifies God utterly. My friends, we may +read, thank God, many noble, and brave, and righteous speeches of kings +and great men: but never have I read one so noble, so brave, so righteous +as this of the great king of Babylon.</p> +<p>And therefore it is; because this letter of his, in the fourth chapter +of the book of Daniel, is indeed full of the eternal Holy Spirit of +God; therefore it is, I say, that it forms part of the Bible, part of +holy scripture to this day,—a greater honour to Nebuchadnezzar +than all his kingdom; for what greater honour than to have been inspired +to write one chapter, yea, one sentence, of the Book of Books?</p> +<p>My friends, every one of you here is in God’s school-house, +under God’s teaching, far more than Nebuchadnezzar was. +You are baptised men, knowing that blessed name of Father, Son, and +Holy Spirit, which Nebuchadnezzar only saw dimly, and afar off. +Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is striving with your hearts, giving +to them whatsoever light and life they have. You have been taught +from childhood to look up to Him as your King and Deliverer; to His +Father as your Father, to His Holy Spirit as your Inspirer. Take +heed how you listen to His voice within your hearts. Take heed +how you learn God’s lessons; for God is surely educating you, +and teaching you far more than He taught the king of Babylon in old +time. As you learn or despise these lessons of God’s, will +be your happiness or your misery now and for ever. Unto the king +of Babylon little was given, and of him was little required. To +you and me much has been given; of you and me will much be required.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXIX—JEREMIAH’S CALLING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David +a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute +judgment and justice in the earth.—JEREMIAH xxiii. 5.</p> +<p>At the time when Jeremiah the prophet spoke those words to the Jews, +nothing seemed more unlikely than that they would ever come true. +The whole Jewish nation was falling to pieces from its own sins. +Brutish and filthy idolatry in high and low—oppression, violence, +and luxury among the court and the nobility—shame, and poverty, +and ignorance among the lower classes—idleness and quackery among +the priesthood—and as kings over all, one fool and profligate +after another, set on the throne by a foreign conqueror, and pulled +down again by him at his pleasure. Ten out of the twelve tribes +of Israel had been carried off captive, young and old, into a distant +land. The small portion of country which still remained inhabited +round Jerusalem, had been overrun again and again by cruel armies of +heathens. Without Jerusalem was waste and ruins, bloodshed and +wretchedness; within every kind of iniquity and lies, division and confusion. +If ever there was a miserable and contemptible people upon the face +of the earth, it was the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s time. +Jeremiah makes no secret of it. His prophecies are full of it—full +of lamentation and shame: “Oh that my head were a fountain of +tears, to weep for the sins of my people!” He feels that +God has sent him to rebuke those sins, to warn and prophesy to his fellow-countrymen +the certain ruin into which they are rushing headlong; and he speaks +God’s message boldly. From the poor idol-ridden labourer, +offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven to coax her into sending him a +good harvest, to the tyrant king who had built his palace of cedar and +painted it with vermilion, he had a bitter word for every man. +The lying priest tried to silence him; and Jeremiah answered him, that +his wife should be a harlot in the city, and his children sold for slaves. +The king tried to flatter him into being quiet; and he told him in return, +that he should be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged out and +cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. The luxurious queen, +who made her nest in the cedars, would be ashamed and confounded, he +said, for her wickedness. The crown prince was a despised broken +idol—a vessel in which was no pleasure; he should be cast out, +he and his children, into slavery in a land which he knew not. +The whole royal family, he said, would perish; none of them should ever +again prosper or sit upon the throne of David. This was his message; +shame and confusion, woe and ruin, to high and low; every human being +he passed in the street was a doomed man. For the day of the Lord +was at hand, and who should be able to escape it?</p> +<p>A sad calling, truly, to have to work at; and all the more sad because +Jeremiah had no pride, no steadfast opinion of his own excellence to +keep him up. He hates his calling of prophet. At the very +moment he is foretelling woe, he prays God that his prophecy may not +come true; he tries every method to prevent its coming true, by entreating +his countrymen to repent. There runs through all his awful words +a vein of tenderness, and pity, and love unspeakable, which to me is +the one great mark of a true prophet; a sign that Jeremiah spoke by +the Spirit of God; a sign that too many writers nowadays do not speak +by the Spirit of God. If they rebuke the rich and powerful, they +do it generally in a very different spirit from Jeremiah’s—in +a spirit of bitterness and insolence, not very easy to describe, but +easy enough to perceive. They seem to rejoice in evil, to delight +in finding fault, to be sorry, and not glad, when their prophecies of +evil turn out false; to try to set one class against another, one party +against another, as if we were not miserably enough split up already +by class interests and party spirit. They are glad enough to rebuke +the wicked great; but not to their face, not to their own danger and +hurt like Jeremiah. Their plan is to accuse the rich to the poor, +on their own platform, or in their own newspaper, where they are safe; +and, moreover, to make a very fair profit thereby; to say behind the +back of authorities that which they dare not say to their face, and +which they soon give up saying when they have worked their own way into +office; and meanwhile take mighty credit to themselves for seeing that +there is wrong and misery in the world; as if the spirits in hell should +fancy themselves righteous, because they hated the devil! No, +my friends, Jeremiah was of a very different spirit from that. +If he ever was tempted to it when he was young, and began to fancy himself +a very grand person, who had a right to look down on his neighbours, +because God had called him and set him apart to be a prophet from his +mother’s womb, and revealed to him the doom of nations, and the +secrets of His providence—if he ever fancied that in his heart, +God led him through such an education as took all the pride out of him, +sternly and bitterly enough. He was commissioned to go and speak +terrible words, to curse kings and nobles in the name of the Lord: but +he was taught, too, that it was not a pleasant calling, or one which +was likely to pay him in this life. His fellow-villagers plotted +against his life. His wife deserted him. The nobles threw +him into a dungeon, into a well full of mire, whence he had to be drawn +up again with ropes to save his life. He was beaten, all but starved, +kept for years in prison. He had neither child nor friend. +He had his share of all the miseries of the siege of Jerusalem, and +all the horrors of its storm; and when he was set free by Nebuchadnezzar, +and clung to his ruined home, to see if any good could still be done +to the remnant of his countrymen, he was violently carried off into +a heathen land, and at last stoned to death, by those very countrymen +of his whom he had been trying for years to save. In everything, +and by everything, he was taught that he was still a Jew, a brother +to his sinful brothers; that their sorrows were his sorrows, their shame +his shame, their ruin his ruin. In all their afflictions he was +afflicted, even as his Lord was after him.</p> +<p>He struggled, we find, again and again against this strange and sad +calling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony that God had +deceived him; had induced him to become a prophet, and then repaid him +for speaking God’s message with nothing but disappointment and +misery. And yet he felt he must speak; God, he said, was stronger +than he was, and forced him to it. He said: “I will speak +no more words in His name; but the Word of the Lord was as fire within +his bones, and would not let him rest;” and so, in spite of himself, +he told the truth, and suffered for it; and hated to have to tell it, +and pitied and loved the very country which he rebuked till he cursed +“the day in which he saw the light, and the hour in which it was +said to his father, there is a man-child born.” You who +fancy that it is a fine thing, and a paying profession, to be a preacher +of righteousness and a rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and judge! +For as surely as you or any other man is sent by God to do Jeremiah’s +work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah’s wages.</p> +<p>Do you think, then, that Jeremiah was a man only to be pitied? +Pitiable he was indeed, and sad. There was One hung on a cross +eighteen hundred years ago, more pitiable still: and yet He is the Lord +of heaven and earth. Yes; Jeremiah had a sad life to live, and +a sad task to work out; and yet, my friends, was not that a cheap price +to pay for the honour and glory of being taught by God’s Spirit, +and of speaking God’s words? I do not mean the mere honour +of having his fame and name spread over all Christ’s kingdom; +the honour of having his writings read and respected by the wisest and +the holiest to the end of time; that mere earthly fame is but a slight +matter. I mean the real honour, the real glory, of knowing what +was utterly right and true, and therefore of knowing Him who is utterly +right and true; of knowing God; of knowing what God’s character +is: that he is a living God, and not a dead one; a God who is near and +not absent at all, loving and merciful, just and righteous, strong and +mighty to save. Ay, my friends, this is the lesson which God taught +Jeremiah; to know the Lord of heaven and earth, and to see His hand, +His rule, in all that was happening to his fellow-countrymen, and himself; +to know that from the beginning the Lord, the Saviour-God, Jehovah, +the messenger of the covenant, He who brought up the Jews out of Egypt, +was the wise and just and loving King of the Jews, and of all the nations +upon earth; and that some day or other He must and would conquer all +the sinfulness, and misery, and tyranny, and idolatry in the world, +and show Himself openly to men, and fulfil all the piteous longings +after a just and good king which poor wretches had ever felt, and all +the glorious promises of a just and good king which God had made to +the wise men of old time; and, therefore, in the midst of shame and +persecution, despair and ruin, Jeremiah could rejoice. Jehoiakim, +the wicked king, and all his royal house, might be driven out into slavery; +Jerusalem might become a heap of ruins and corpses; the fair land of +Judæa, and the village where he was bred, might become thorns, +and thistles, and heaps of stones; the vineyard which he loved, the +little estate at Anathoth which had belonged to him, might be trodden +down by the stranger, and he himself die in a foreign land; around him +might be nothing but sin and decay, before him nothing but despair and +ruin: yet still there was hope, joy, everlasting certainty for that +poor, childless, captive old man; for he had found out that the Lord +still lived, the Lord still reigned. He could not lie; he could +not forget his people. Could a mother forget her sucking child? +No. When the Jews turned to Him, He would still have mercy. +His punishment of them was a sign that he still cared for them. +If He had forgotten them, He would have let them go on triumphant in +their iniquity. No. All these afflictions were meant to +chasten them, teach them, bring them back to Him. It would be +good for them, an actual blessing to them, to be taken away into captivity +in Babylon. It might be hard to believe, but it must be true. +The Lord of Israel, the Saviour-God, who had been caring for them so +long, rising up early and sending His prophets to them, pleading with +them as a father with his child, He would have mercy; He would teach +them, in sorrow and slavery, the lesson they were too rebellious and +hard-hearted to learn in prosperity and freedom: that the Lord was their +righteousness, and that there was no other name under heaven which could +save them from the plague, and from the famine, from the swords of the +Chaldeans, or from the division, and oppression, and brutishness, and +manifold wickedness, which was their ruin. And then Jeremiah saw +and felt—how we cannot tell—but there his words, the words +of this text, stand to this day, to show that he did see and feel it, +that some day or other, in God’s good time, the Jews would have +a true King—a very different king from Jehoiakim the tyrant—a +son of David in a very different sense from what Jehoiakim was; that +He would come, and must come, sooner or later, The unseen King, who +had all along been governing Jews and heathens, and telling his prophets +that Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, the Chaldee and the Persian, were his +servants as well as they, and that all the nations of the earth could +do but what he chose. “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, +that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign +and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment on the earth.”</p> +<p>This was the blessed knowledge which God gave Jeremiah in return +for all the misery he had to endure in warning his countrymen of their +sins. And this same blessed knowledge, the knowledge that the +earth is the Lord’s, that to Jesus Christ is given, as He said +Himself, all power in heaven and earth, and that He is reigning, and +must reign, and conquer, and triumph till He has put all His enemies +under His feet, God will surely give to everyone, high or low, who follows +Jeremiah’s example, who boldly and faithfully warns the sinner +of his way, who rebukes the wickedness which he sees around him: only +he must do it in the spirit of Jeremiah. He must not be insolent +to the insolent, or proud to the proud. He must not be puffed +up, and fancy that because he sees the evil of sin, and the certain +ruin which is the fruit of it, that he is therefore to keep apart from +his fellow-countrymen, and despise them in Pharisaic pride. No. +The truly Christian man, the man who, like Jeremiah, has the Spirit +of God in him, will feel the most intense pity and tenderness of sinners. +He will not only rebuke the sins of his people, but mourn for them; +he will be afflicted in all their affliction. However harshly +he may have to speak, he will never forget that they are his countrymen, +his brothers, children of the same Father, to be judged by the same +Lord. He will feel with shame and fear that he has in himself +the root of the very same sins which he sees working death around him—that +if others are covetous, he might be so too—if they be profligate, +and deceitful, and hypocritical, without God in the world, he might +be so too. And he must feel not only that he might be as bad as +his neighbours, but that he actually would be, if God withdrew His Spirit +from him for a moment, and allowed him to forget the only faith which +saves him from sin, loyalty to his unseen Saviour, the righteous King +of kings. Therefore he will not only rebuke his sinful neighbours; +but he will tell them, as Jeremiah told his countrymen, that all their +sin and misery proceed from this one thing, that they have forgotten +that the Lord is their King. He will pray daily for them, that +the Lord their King may show Himself to their hearts and thoughts, and +teach them all that He has done for them, and is doing for them; and +may convert them to Himself that they may be truly His people, and His +way may be known upon earth, His saving health among all nations.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXX—THE PERFECT KING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek, +and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.—MATTHEW +xxi. <i>5.</i></p> +<p>You all know that this Sunday is called the First Sunday in Advent. +You all know, I hope, that Advent means coming, and that these four +Sundays before Christmas, as I have often told you, are called Advent +Sundays, because upon them we are called to consider the coming of our +King and Saviour Jesus Christ. If you will look at the Collects, +Epistles, and Gospels for these next four Sundays, you will see at once +that they all bear upon our Lord’s coming. The Gospels tell +us of the prophecies about Christ which He fulfilled when He came. +The Epistles tell us what sort of men we ought to be, both clergy and +people, because He has come and will come again. The Collects +pray that the Spirit of God would make us fit to live and die in a world +into which Christ has come, and in which He is ruling now, and to which +He will come again. The text which I have taken this morning, +you just heard in this Sunday’s Gospel. St. Matthew tells +you that Jesus Christ fulfilled it by riding into Jerusalem in state +upon an ass’s colt; and St. Matthew surely speaks truth. +Let us consider what the prophecy is, and how Jesus Christ fulfilled +it. Then we shall see and believe from the Epistle what effect +the knowledge of it ought to have upon our own souls, and hearts, and +daily conduct.</p> +<p>Now this prophecy, “Behold, thy king cometh unto thee,” +etc., you will find in your Bibles, in the ninth verse of the ninth +chapter of the book of Zechariah. But I do not think that Zechariah +wrote it. St. Matthew does not say he wrote it; he merely calls +it that which was spoken by the prophet, without mentioning his name. +Provided it is an inspired word from God, which it is, it perhaps does +not matter to us so much who wrote it: but I think it was written by +the prophet Jeremiah, perhaps in the beginning of the reign of the good +king Josiah; for the chapter in which this text is, and the two or three +chapters which follow, are not at all like the rest of Zechariah’s +writings, but exactly like Jeremiah’s. They certainly seem +to speak of things which did not happen in Zechariah’s time, but +in the time of Jeremiah, nearly ninety years before. And, above +all, St. Matthew himself seems plainly to have thought that some part, +at least, of those chapters was Jeremiah’s writing; for in the +twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and in the ninth +verse, you will find a prophecy about the potter’s field, which +St. Matthew says was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Now, those +words are not in the book of Jeremiah as it stands in our Bibles: but +they are in the book of Zechariah, in the eleventh chapter, twelfth +and thirteenth verses, coming shortly after my text, and making a part +of the same prophecy. This has puzzled Christians very much, because +it seemed as if St. Matthew has made a mistake, and miscalled Zechariah +Jeremiah. But I believe firmly that, as we are bound to expect, +St. Matthew made no mistake whatsoever, and that Jeremiah did write +that prophecy as St. Matthew said, and the two chapters before it, and +perhaps the two after it, and that they were probably kept and preserved +by Zechariah during the troublous times of the Babylonish captivity, +and at last copied by Nehemiah into Zechariah’s book of prophecy, +where they stand now; and I think it is a comfort to know this, and +to find that the evangelist St. Matthew has not made a mistake, but +knew the Scriptures better than we do.</p> +<p>But I think Jeremiah having written this prophecy in my text, which +I believe he did, is also very important, because it will show us what +the prophet meant when he spoke it, and how it was fulfilled in his +time; and the better we understand that, the better we shall understand +how our blessed Lord fulfilled it afterwards.</p> +<p>Now, when Jeremiah was a young man, the Jews and their king Amon +were in a state of most abominable wickedness. They were worshipping +every sort of idol and false god. And the Bible, the book of God’s +law, was utterly unknown amongst them; so that Josiah the king, who +succeeded Amon, had never seen or heard the book of the law of Moses, +which makes part of our Old Testament, till he had reigned eighteen +years, as you will find if you refer to 2 Kings xxii. 3. But this +Josiah was a gentle and just prince, and finding the book of the law +of God, and seeing the abominable forgetfulness and idolatry into which +his people had fallen, utterly breaking the covenant which God had made +with their forefathers when he brought them up out of Egypt—when +he found the book of the law, I say, and all that he and his people +should have done and had not done, and the awful curses which God threatened +in that book against those who broke His law, “he humbled himself +before God, because his heart was tender, and turned to the Lord, as +no king before him had ever turned,” says the scripture, “with +all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might; so that +there was no such king before him, or either after him.” +The history of the great reformation which this great and good king +worked, you may read at length in 2 Kings xxii. xxiii. and 2 Chron. +xxxiv. xxxv. which I advise you all to read.</p> +<p>And it appears to me that this prophecy in the text first applies +to the gentle and holy king Josiah, the first true and good king the +Jews had had for years, and the best they were ever to have till Christ +came Himself; and that it speaks of Josiah coming to Jerusalem to restore +the worship of God, not with pomp and show, like the wicked kings both +before and after him, but in meekness and humbleness of heart, for all +the sins of his people, as the prophetess said of him in 2 Kings xxii. +19, “that his heart was tender and humble before the Lord;” +neither coming with chariots and guards, like a king and conqueror, +but riding upon an ass’s colt; for that was, in those countries, +the ancient sign of a man’s being a man of peace, and not of war; +a magistrate and lawgiver, and not a soldier and a conqueror. +Various places of holy scripture show us that this was the meaning of +riding upon an ass in Judæa, just as it is in Eastern countries +now.</p> +<p>But some may say, How then is this a prophecy? It merely tells +us what good king Josiah was, and what every king ought to be. +Well, my friends, that is just what makes it a prophecy. If it +tells you what ought to be, it tells you what will be. Yes, never +forget that; whatever ought to be, surely will be; as surely as this +is God’s earth and Christ’s kingdom, and not the devil’s.</p> +<p>Now, it does not matter in the least whether the prophet, when he +spoke these words, knew that they would apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. +We have no need whatsoever to suppose that he did: for scripture gives +us no hint or warrant that he did; and if we have any real or honest +reverence for scripture, we shall be careful to let it tell its own +story, and believe that it contains all things necessary for salvation, +without our patching our own notions into it over and above. Wise +men are generally agreed that those old prophets did not, for the most +part, comprehend the full meaning of their own words. Not that +they were mere puppets and mouthpieces, speaking what to them was nonsense—God +forbid!—But that just because they did thoroughly understand what +was going on round them, and see things as God saw them, just because +they had God’s Eternal Spirit with them, therefore they spoke +great and eternal words, which will be true for ever, and will go on +for ever fulfilling themselves for more and more. For in proportion +as any man’s words are true, and wide, and deep, they are truer, +and wider, and deeper than that man thinks, and will apply to a thousand +matters of which he never dreamt. And so in all true and righteous +speech, as in the speeches of the prophets of old, the glory is not +man’s who speaks them, but God’s who reveals them, and who +fulfils them again and again.</p> +<p>It is true, then, that this text describes what every king should +be—gentle and humble, a merciful and righteous lawgiver, not a +self-willed and capricious tyrant. But Josiah could not fulfil +that. He was a good king: but he could not be a perfect one; for +he was but a poor, sinful, weak, and inconsistent man, as we are. +But those words being inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be fulfilled. +There ought to be a perfect king, perfectly gentle and humble, having +a perfect salvation, a perfect lawgiver; and therefore there must be +such a king; and therefore St. Matthew tells us there came at last a +perfect king—one who fulfilled perfectly the prophet’s words—one +who was not made king of Jerusalem, but was her King from the beginning; +for that is the full meaning of “Thy King cometh to thee.” +To Jerusalem He came, riding on the ass’s colt, like the peaceful +and fatherly judges of old time, for a sign to the poor souls round +Him, who had no lawgivers but the proud and fierce Scribes and Pharisees, +no king but the cruel and godless Cæsar, and his oppressive and +extortionate officers and troops. Meek and lowly He came; and +for once the people saw that He was the true Son of David—a man +and king, like him, after God’s own heart. For once they +felt that He had come in the name of the Lord the old Deliverer who +brought them out of the land of Egypt, and made them into a nation, +and loved and pitied them still, in spite of all their sins, and remembered +His covenant, which they had forgotten. And before that humble +man, the Son of the village maiden, they cried: “Hosanna to the +Son of David. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. +Hosanna in the Highest.”</p> +<p>And do you think He came, the true and perfect King, only to go away +again and leave this world as it was before, without a law, a ruler, +a heavenly kingdom? God forbid! Jesus is the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever. What He was then, when He rode in triumph +into Jerusalem, that is He now to us this day—a king, meek and +lowly, and having salvation; the head and founder of a kingdom which +can never be moved, a city which has foundations, whose builder and +maker is God. To that kingdom this land of England now belongs. +Into it we, as Englishmen, have been christened. And the unchristened, +though they know not of it, belong to it as well. What God’s +will, what Christ’s mercies may be to them, we know not. +That He has mercy for them, if their ignorance is not their own fault, +we doubt not; perhaps, even if their ignorance be their own fault, we +need not doubt that He has mercy for them, considering the mercy which +He has shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His will +to us we do know; and His will is this—our holiness. For +He came not only to assert His own power, to redeem his own world, but +to set His people, the children of men, an example, that they should +follow in His steps. Herein, too, He is the perfect king. +He leads His subjects, He sets a perfect example to His subjects, and +more, He inspires them with the power of following that example, as, +if you will think, a perfect ruler ought to be able to do. Josiah +set the Jews an example, but he could not make them follow it. +They turned to God at the bidding of their good king, with their lips, +in their outward conduct; but their hearts were still far from Him. +Jeremiah complains bitterly of this in the beginning of his prophecies. +He complains that Josiah’s reformation was after all empty, hollow, +hypocritical, a change on the surface only, while the wicked root was +left. They had healed, he said, the hurt of the daughter of his +people slightly, crying, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.” +But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of men’s spirits as well +as of their bodies. He can turn the heart, He can renew the soul. +None so ignorant, none so sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits, +but the Lord will and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him, +strengthen him, if he will but claim his share in his King’s mercy, +his citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune +again with himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all therein.</p> +<p>Keeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our perfect +King, is both the example and the inspirer of our souls and characters, +we may look without fear at the epistle for the day, where it calls +on us to be very different persons from what we are, and declares to +us our duty as subjects of Him who is meek and lowly, just and having +salvation. It is no superstitious, slavish message, saying: “You +have lost Christ’s mercy and Christ’s kingdom; you must +buy it back again by sacrifices, and tears, and hard penances, or great +alms-deeds and works of mercy.” No. It simply says: +“You belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to Him and +follow His example. If He is perfect, His is the example to follow; +if he is perfect, His commandments must be perfect, fit for all places, +all times, all employments; if He is the King of heaven and earth, His +commandments must be in tune with heaven and earth, with the laws of +nature, the true laws of society and trade, with the constitution, and +business, and duty, and happiness of all mankind, and for ever obey +Him.”</p> +<p>Owe no man anything save love, for He owed no man anything. +He gave up all, even His own rights, for a time, for His subjects. +Will you pretend to follow Him while you hold back from your brothers +and fellow-servants their just due? One debt you must always owe; +one debt will grow the more you pay it, and become more delightful to +owe, the greater and heavier you feel it to be, and that is love; love +to all around you, for all around you are your brothers and sisters; +all around you are the beloved subjects of your King and Saviour. +Love them as you love yourself, and then you cannot harm them, you cannot +tyrannise over them, you cannot wish to rise by scrambling up on their +shoulders, taking the bread out of their mouths, making your profit +out of their weakness and their need. This, St. Paul says, was +the duty of men in his time, because the night of heathendom was far +spent, the day of Christianity and the Church was at hand. Much +more is it our duty now—our duty, who have been born in the full +sunshine of Christianity, christened into His church as children, we +and our fathers before us, for generations, of the kingdom of God. +Ay, my friends, these words, that kingdom, that King, witness this day +against this land of England. Not merely against popery, the mote +which we are trying to take out of the foreigner’s eye, but against +Mammon, the beam which we are overlooking in our own. Owe no man +anything save love. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” +That is the law of your King, who loved not Himself or His own profit, +His own glory, but gave Himself even to death for those who had forgotten +Him and rebelled against Him. That law witnesses against selfishness +and idleness in rich and poor. It witnesses against the employer +who grinds down his workmen; who, as the world tells him he has a right +to do, takes advantage of their numbers, their ignorance, their low +and reckless habits, to rise upon their fall, and grow rich out of their +poverty. It witnesses against the tradesman who tries to draw +away his neighbour’s custom. It witnesses against the working +man who spends in the alehouse the wages which might support and raise +his children, and then falls back recklessly and dishonestly on the +parish rates and the alms of the charitable. Against them all +this law witnesses. These things are unfit for the kingdom of +Christ, contrary to the laws and constitution thereof, hateful to the +King thereof; and if a nation will not amend these abominations, the +King will arise out of His place, and with sore judgments and terrible +He will visit His land and purify His temple, saying: “My Father’s +house should be a house of prayer, and ye have made it a den of thieves.” +Ay, woe to any soul, or to any nation, which, instead of putting on +the Lord Jesus Christ, copying His example, obeying His laws, and living +worthy of His kingdom, not only in the church, but in the market, the +shop, the senate, or the palace, give themselves up to covetousness, +which is idolatry; and care only to make provision for the flesh, to +fulfil the lusts thereof. Woe to them; for, let them be what they +will, their King cannot change. He is still meek and lowly; He +is still just and having salvation; and He will purge out of His kingdom +all that is not like Himself, the unchaste and the idle, the unjust +and the unmerciful, and the covetous man, who is an idolater, says the +scripture, though he may call himself seven times a Protestant, and +rail at the Pope in public meetings, while he justifies greediness and +tyranny by glib words about the necessities of business and the laws +of trade, and by philosophy falsely so called, which cometh not from +above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Such a man loves and +makes a lie, and the Lord of truth will surely send him to his own place.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXI—GOD’S WARNINGS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I +purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil +way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.—JEREMIAH +xxxvi. 3.</p> +<p>The first lesson for this evening’s service tells us of the +wickedness of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. How, when Jeremiah’s +prophecies against the sins of Jehoiakim and his people were read before +him, he cut the roll with a penknife, and threw it into the fire. +Now, we must not look on this story as one which, because it happened +among the Jews many hundred years ago, has nothing to do with us; for, +as I continually remind you, the history of the Jews, and the whole +Old Testament, is the history of God’s dealings with man—the +account of God’s plan of governing this world. Now, God +cannot change; but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and +therefore His plan of government cannot change: but if men do as those +did of whom we read in the Old Testament, God will surely deal with +them as He dealt with the men of the Old Testament. This St. Paul +tells us most plainly in the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, where he +says that the whole history of the Jews was written for our example—that +is for the example of those Christian Corinthians, who were not Jews +at all, but Gentiles as we are; and therefore for our example also.</p> +<p>He tells them, that it was Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, +who fed and guided the old Jews in the wilderness, and that the Lord +will deal with us exactly as He dealt with the old Jews.</p> +<p>Therefore it is a great and fearful mistake, to suppose that because +the Jews were a peculiar people and God’s chosen nation, that +therefore the Lord’s way of governing them is in any wise different +from His way of governing us English at this very day; for that fancy +is contrary to the express words of Holy Scripture, in a hundred different +places; it is contrary to the whole spirit of our Prayer Book, which +is written all through on the belief that the Lord deals with us just +as He did with the Jewish nation, and which will not even make sense +if it be understood in any other way; and besides, it is most dangerous +to the souls and consciences of men. It is most dangerous for +us to fancy that God can change; for if God can change, right and wrong +can change; for right is the will of God, and wrong is what is against +His will; and if we once let into our hearts the notion that God can +change His laws of right, our consciences will become daily dimmer and +more confused about right and wrong, till we fall, as too many do, under +the prophet’s curse, “Woe to them who call good evil, and +evil good; who put sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet,” and +fancy, like Ezekiel’s Jews, that God’s ways are unequal; +that is, unlike each other, changeable, arbitrary, and capricious, doing +one thing at one time, and another at another. No. It is +sinful man who is changeable; it is sinful man who is arbitrary. +But The Lord is not a man, that He should lie or repent; for He is the +only-begotten Son, and therefore the express likeness, of The Everlasting +Father, in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.</p> +<p>But some may say, Is not that a gloomy and terrible notion of God, +that He cannot change His purpose? Is not that as much as to say +that there is a dark necessity hanging over each of us; that a man must +just be what God chooses, and do just what He has ordained to do, and +go to everlasting happiness or misery exactly as God has foreordained +from all eternity, so that there is no use trying to do right, or not +to do wrong? If I am to be saved, say such people, I shall be +saved whether I try or not; and if I am to be damned, I shall be damned +whether I try or not. I am in God’s hands like clay in the +hands of the potter; and what I am like is therefore God’s business, +and not mine.</p> +<p>No, my friends, the very texts in the Bible which tell us that God +cannot change or repent, tell us what it is that He cannot change in—in +showing loving-kindness and tender mercy, long-suffering, and repenting +of the evil. Whatsoever else He cannot repent of, He cannot repent +of repenting of the evil.</p> +<p>It is true, we are in His hand as clay in the hand of the potter. +But it is a sad misreading of scripture to make that mean that we are +to sit with our hands folded, careless about our own way and conduct; +still less that we are to give ourselves up to despair, because we have +sinned against God; for what is the very verse which follows after that? +Listen. “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this +potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of +the potter, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant +I shall speak concerning a kingdom, to pull down and destroy it; if +that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I +will repent of the evil which I thought to do to them. And at +what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, +to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not +my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit +them.”</p> +<p>So that the lesson which we are to draw from the parable of the potter’s +clay is just the exact opposite which some men draw. Not that +God’s decrees are absolute: but that they are conditional, and +depend on our good or evil conduct. Not that His election or His +reprobation are unalterable, but that they alter “at that instant” +at which man alters. Not that His grace and will are irresistible, +as the foolish man against whom St. Paul argues fancies: but that we +can resist God’s will, and that our destruction comes only by +resisting His will; in short, that God’s will is no brute material +necessity and fate, but the will of a living, loving Father.</p> +<p>And the very same lesson is taught us in Ezek. xviii., of which I +spoke just now; for if we read that chapter we shall find that the Jews +had a false notion of God that He had changed His character, and had +become in their time unmerciful and unjust. They fancied that +God was, if I may so speak, obstinate—that if His anger had once +arisen, there was no turning it away, but that He would go on without +pity, punishing the innocent children for their father’s sin; +and therefore they fancied God’s ways were unfair, self-willed, +and arbitrary, without any care of what sort of person He afflicted; +punishing the righteous as well as the wicked, after He had promised +in His law to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. They +fancied that His way of governing the world had changed, and that He +did not in their days make a difference between the bad and the good. +Therefore Ezekiel says to them: “When the righteous man turneth +away from his righteousness, he shall die.” “When +the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, he shall live.” +“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith +the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”</p> +<p>This, then, is the good news, that God is love; love when He punishes, +and love when He forgives; very pitiful, and full of long-suffering +and tender mercy and repenting Him, never of the good, but only of the +evil which He threatens.</p> +<p>Both Jeremiah, therefore, and Ezekiel, give us the same lesson. +God does not change, and therefore He never changes His mercy and His +justice: for He is merciful because He is just. If we confess +our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That +is His everlasting law, and has been from the beginning: Punishment, +sure and certain, for those who do not repent; and free forgiveness, +sure and certain also, for those who do repent.</p> +<p>So He spoke to Jeremiah in the time of Jehoiakim: “It may be +that the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose to do +to them; that I may forgive them their iniquity and their sin.” +The Lord, you see, wishes to forgive—longs to forgive. His +heart yearns over sinful men as a father’s over his rebellious +child. But if they will still rebel, if they will still turn their +wicked wills away from Him, He must punish. Why we know not; but +He knows. Punish He must, unless we repent—unless we turn +our wills toward His will. And woe to the stiff-necked and stout-hearted +man who, like the wicked king Jehoiakim, sets his face like a flint +against God’s warnings. How many, how many behave for years, +Sunday after Sunday, just as king Jehoiakim did! When he heard +that God had threatened him with ruin for his sins, he heard also that +God offered him free pardon if he would repent. Jeremiah gave +him free choice to be saved or to be ruined; but his heart and will +were hardened. Hearing that he was wrong only made him angry. +His pride and self-will were hurt by being told that he must change +and alter his ways. He had chosen his way, and he would keep to +it; and he cared nothing for God’s offers of forgiveness, because +he could not be forgiven unless he did what he was too proud to do, +confess himself to be in the wrong, and openly alter his conduct. +And how many, as I first said, are like him! They come to church; +they hear God’s warnings and threats against their evil ways; +they hear God’s offers of free pardon and forgiveness; but being +told that they are in the wrong makes them too angry to care for God’s +offers of pardon. Pride stops their cars. They have chosen +their own way, and they will keep it. They would not object to +be forgiven, if they might be forgiven without repenting. But +they do not like to confess themselves in the wrong. They do not +like to face their foolish companions’ remarks and sneers about +their changed ways. They do not like even good people to say of +them: “You see now that you were in the wrong after all; for you +have altered your mind and your doings yourself, as we told you you +would have to do.” No; anything sooner than confess themselves +in the wrong; and so they turn their backs on God’s mercy, for +the sake of their own carnal pride and self-will.</p> +<p>But, of course, they want an excuse for doing that; and when a man +wants an excuse, the devil will soon fit him with a good one. +Then, perhaps, the foolish sinner behaves as Jehoiakim did. He +tries to forget God’s message in the man who brings it. +He grows angry with the preacher, or goes out and laughs at the preacher +when service is over, as if it was the preacher’s fault that God +had declared what he has; as if it was the preacher’s doing that +God has revealed His anger against all sin and unrighteousness. +So he acts like Jehoiakim, who tried to take Jeremiah the prophet and +punish <i>him</i>, for what not he but the Lord God had declared. +Nay, they will often peevishly hate the very sight of a good book, because +it reminds them of the sins of which they do not choose to be reminded, +just as the young king Jehoiakim was childish enough to vent his spite +on Jeremiah’s book of prophecies, by cutting the roll on which +it was written with a penknife, and throwing it into the fire. +So do sinners who are angry with the preacher who warns them, or hate +the sight of good books. But let such foolish and wilful sinners, +such full-grown children—for, after all, they are no better—hear +the word of the Lord which came to Jehoiakim: “As it is written, +he that despiseth Me shall be despised, saith the Lord.” +And let them not fancy that their shutting their ears will shut the +preacher’s mouth, still less shut up God’s everlasting laws +of punishment for sin. No. God’s word stands true, +and it will happen to them as it did to Jehoiakim. His burning +Jeremiah’s book did not rid him of the book, or save him from +the woe and ruin which was prophesied in it; for we have Jeremiah’s +book here in our Bibles to this day, as a sign and a warning of what +happens to men, be they young or old, be they kings or labouring men, +who fight against God. Jeremiah’s words were not lost after +all; they were all re-written, and there were added to them also many +more like words; for Jehoiakim, by refusing the Lord’s offer of +pardon, had added to his sins, and therefore the Lord added to his punishment.</p> +<p>Perhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another excuse, +and the man says to himself, as the Jews did in Ezekiel’s time: +“The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s +teeth are set on edge. It is not my own fault that I am living +a bad life, but other people’s. My parents ought to have +brought me up better. I have had no chance. My companions +taught me too much harm. I have too much trouble to get my living; +or, I was born with a bad temper; or, I can’t help running after +pleasure. Why did God make me the sort of man I am, and put me +where I am? God is hard upon me; He is unfair to me. His +ways are unequal; He expects as much of me as He does of people who +have more opportunities. He threatens to punish me for other people’s +sins.”</p> +<p>And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and +the devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: “God does not +care for me; God hates me. Luck, and everything else is against +me. There seems to be some curse upon me. Why should I change? +Let God change first to me, and then I will change toward Him. +But God will not change; He is determined to have no mercy on me. +I can see that; for everything goes wrong with me. Then what use +in my repenting? I will just go my own way, and what must be must. +There is no resisting God’s will. If I am to be saved, I +shall be; if I am to be damned, I shall be. I will put all melancholy +thoughts out of my head, and go and enjoy myself and forget all. +At all events, it won’t last long: ‘Let me eat and drink, +for to-morrow I die.’”</p> +<p>Oh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such thoughts? +Then hear the word of the Lord to you: “When—whensoever—whensoever +the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, +and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.” +“Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth? saith the +Lord, and not rather that he should be converted, and live?” +True, most true, that the Lord is unchangeable: but it is in love and +mercy. True, that God’s will and law cannot alter: but what +is God’s will and law? The soul that sinneth, it shall die? +Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from its sin, it shall +live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that God hates +you. Never believe him when he tells you that God has been too +hard on you, and put you into such temptation, or ignorance, or poverty, +or anything else, that you cannot mend. No. That font there +will give the devil the lie. That font says: “Be you poor, +tempted, ignorant, stupid, be you what you will, you are God’s +child—your Father’s love is over you, His mercy is ready +for you.” You feel too weak to change; ask God’s Spirit, +and He will give you a strength of mind you never felt before. +You feel too proud to change; ask God’s Spirit, and He will humble +your proud heart, and soften your hard heart; and you will find to your +surprise, that when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed +of yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel not +worthy to look up to God, that then, instead of pride, will come a nobler, +holier, manlier feeling—self-respect, and a clear conscience, +and the thought that, weak and sinful as you are, you are in the right +way; that God, and the angels of God, are smiling on you; that you are +in tune again with all heaven and earth, because you are what God wills +you to be—not His proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying +yourself strong enough to go alone, when in reality you are the slave +of your own passions and appetites, and the plaything of the devil: +but His loving, loyal son, strong in the strength which God gives you, +and able to do what you will, because what you will God wills also.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXII—PHARAOH’S HEART</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people +go.—Exodus ix. 17.</p> +<p>What lesson, now, can we draw from this story? One, at least, +and a very important one. What effect did all these signs and +wonders of God’s sending, have upon Pharaoh and his servants? +Did they make them better men or worse men? We read that they +made them worse men; that they helped to harden their hearts. +We read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would +not let the children of Israel go. Now, how did the Lord do that? +He did not wish and mean to make Pharaoh more hard-hearted, more wicked. +That is impossible. God, who is all goodness and love, never can +wish to make any human being one atom worse than he is. He who +so loved the world that He came down on earth to die for sinners, and +take away the sins of the world, would never make any human being a +greater sinner than he was before. That is impossible, and horrible +to think of. Therefore, when we read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s +heart, we must be certain that that was Pharaoh’s own fault; and +so, we read, it was Pharaoh’s own fault. The Lord did not +bring all these plagues on Egypt without giving Pharaoh fair warning. +Before each plague, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that the plague was +coming. The Lord told Pharaoh that He was his Master, and the +Master and Lord of the whole earth; that the children of Israel belonged +to Him, and the Egyptians too; that the river, light and darkness, the +weather, the crops, and the insects, and the locusts belonged to Him; +that all diseases which afflict man and beast were in His power. +And the Lord proved that His words were true, in a way Pharaoh could +not mistake, by changing the river into blood, and sending darkness, +and hailstones, and plagues of lice and flies, and at last by killing +the firstborn of all the Egyptians. The Lord gave Pharaoh every +chance; He condescended to argue with him as one man would with another, +and proved His word to be true, and proved that He had a right to command +Pharaoh. And therefore, I say, if Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, +it was his own fault, for the Lord was plainly trying to soften it, +and to bring him to reason. And the Bible says distinctly that +it was Pharaoh’s own fault. For it says that Pharaoh hardened +his own heart, he and his servants, and therefore they would not let +the children of Israel go. Now how could Pharaoh harden his own +heart, and yet the Lord harden it at the same time?</p> +<p>Just in the same way, my friends, as too many of us are apt to make +the Lord harden our hearts by hardening them ourselves, and to make, +as Pharaoh did, the very things which the Lord sends to soften us, the +causes of our becoming more stubborn; the very things which the Lord +sends to bring us to reason, the means of our becoming more mad and +foolish. Believe me, my friends, this is no old story with which +we have nothing to do. What happened to Pharaoh’s heart +may happen to yours, or mine, or any man’s. Alas! alas! +it does happen to many a man’s and woman’s heart every day—and +may the Lord have mercy on them before it be too late,—and yet +how can the Lord have mercy on those who will not let Him have mercy +on them?</p> +<p>What do I mean? This is what I mean, my friends; Oh, listen +to it, and take it solemnly to heart, you who are living still in sin; +take it to heart, lest you, like Pharaoh, die in your sins, and your +latter end will be worse than your beginning.</p> +<p>Suppose a man to be going on in some sinful habit; cheating his neighbours, +grinding his labourers, or getting tipsy, or living with a woman without +being married to her. He comes to church, and there he hears the +word of the Lord, by the Bible, or in sermons, telling him that God +commands him to give up his sin, that God will certainly punish him +if he does not repent and amend. God sends that message to him +in love and mercy, to soften his heart by the terrors of the law, and +turn him from his sin. But what does the man feel? He feels +angry and provoked; angry with the preacher; ay, angry with the Bible +itself, with God’s words. For he hates to hear the words +which tell him of his sin; he wishes they were not in the Bible; he +longs to stop the preacher’s mouth; and, as he cannot do that, +he dislikes going to church. He says: “I cannot, and what +is more, I will not, give up my sinful ways, and therefore I shall not +go to church to be told of them.” So he stops away from +church, and goes on in his sins. So that man’s heart is +hardened, just as Pharaoh’s was. Yet the Lord has come and +spoken to that sinful man in loving warnings: though all the effect +it has had is that the Lord’s message has made him worse than +he was before, more stubborn, more godless, more unwilling to hear what +is good. But men may fall into a still worse state of mind. +They may determine to set the Lord at naught; to hear Him speaking to +their conscience, and know that He is right and they wrong, and yet +quietly put the good thoughts and feelings out of their way, and go +in the course which they know to be the worst. How many a man +in business or the world says to himself, ay, and in his better moments +will say to his friend: “Ah, yes, if one could but be what one +would wish to be. . . . What one’s mother used to say one +might be. . . . But for such a world as this, the gospel ideal +is somewhat too fine and unpractical. One has one’s business +to carry on, or one’s family to provide for, or one’s party +in politics to serve; one must obey the laws of trade, the usages of +society, the interests of one’s class;” and so forth. +And so an excuse is found for every sin, by those who know in their +hearts that they are sinning; for every sin; and among others, too often, +for that sin of Pharaoh’s, of “<i>not letting the people +go</i>.”</p> +<p>And how many, my friends, when they come to church, harden their +hearts in the same quiet, almost good-humoured way, not caring enough +for God’s message to be even angry with it, and take the preacher’s +warnings as they would a shower of rain, as something unpleasant which +cannot be helped; and which, therefore, they must sit out patiently, +and think about it as little as possible? And when the sermon +is over, they take their hats and go out into the churchyard, and begin +talking about something else as quickly as possible, to drive the unpleasant +thoughts, if there are a few left, out of their heads. And thus +they let the Lord’s message to them harden their hearts. +For it does harden them, my friends, if it be taken in this temper. +Every time anyone sits through the service or the sermon in this stupid +and careless mood, he dulls and deadens his soul, till at last he is +able coolly to sit through the most awful warnings of God’s judgment, +the most tender entreaties of God’s love, as if he were a brute +animal without understanding. Ay, he is able to make the responses +to the commandments, and join in the psalms, and so with his own mouth, +before the whole congregation, confess that God’s curse is on +his doings, with no more sense or care of what the words mean, and of +what a sentence he is pronouncing against himself, than if he were a +parrot taught to speak by rote words which he does not understand. +And so that man, by hardening his own heart, makes the Lord harden it +for him.</p> +<p>But there is a third way, and a worse way still, in which people’s +hearts are hardened by the Lord’s speaking to them. A man +is warned of his sins by the preacher; and he says to himself: “If +the minister thinks that he is going to frighten me away from church, +he is very much mistaken. He may go his way, and I shall go mine. +Let him preach at me as much as he will; I shall go to church all the +more for that, to show him that I am not afraid.” And so +the Lord’s warnings harden his heart, and provoke him to set his +face like a flint, and become all the more proud and stubborn.</p> +<p>Now, young people, I speak openly to you as man to man. Will +you tell me that this was not the very way in which some of you took +my sermon last Sunday afternoon, in which I warned you of the misery +which your sinful lives would bring upon you? Was there not more +than one of you, who, as soon as he got outside the church, began laughing +and swaggering, and said to the lad next him: “Well, he gave it +us well in his sermon this afternoon, did he not? But I don’t +care; do you?”</p> +<p>To which the other foolish fellow answered: “Not I. It +is his business to talk like that; he is paid for it, and I suppose +he likes it. So if he does what he likes, we shall do what we +like. Come along.” And at that all the other foolish +fellows round burst out laughing, as if the poor lad had said a very +clever thing; and they all went off together, having their hearts hardened +by the Lord’s warning to them, as Pharaoh’s was.</p> +<p>And they showed, I am afraid, that very evening that their hearts +were hardened. For out of a sort of spite and stubbornness they +took a delight in doing what was wrong, just because they had been told +that it was wrong, and because they were determined to show that they +would not be frightened or turned from what they chose.</p> +<p>And all the while they knew that it was wrong, did those poor foolish +lads. If you had asked one of them openly, “Do you not know +that God has forbidden you to do this?” they would have either +been forced to say, “Yes,” or else they would have tried +to laugh the matter off, or perhaps held their tongues and looked silly, +or perhaps again answered insolently; showing by each and all of these +ways of taking it, that the Lord’s message had come home to their +consciences, and convinced them of their sin, though they were determined +not to own it or obey it. And the way they would have put the +matter by and excused themselves to themselves would have been just +the way in which Pharaoh did it. They would have tried to forget +that the Lord had warned them, and tried to make out to themselves that +it was all the preacher’s doing, and to make it a personal quarrel +between him and them. Just so Pharaoh did when he hardened his +heart. He made the Lord’s message a ground for hating and +threatening Moses and Aaron, as if it was any fault of theirs. +He knew in his heart that the Lord had sent them; but he tried to forget +that, and drove them out from his presence, and told them that if they +dared to appear before him again they should surely die. And just +so, my friends, people will be angry with the preacher for telling them +unpleasant truths, as if it was any more pleasure to him to speak than +for them to hear. Oh, why will you forget that the words which +I speak from this pulpit are not my words, but God’s? It +is not I who warn you of what you are bringing on yourselves by your +sins, it is God Himself. There it is written in His Bible—judge +for yourselves. Read your Bibles for yourselves, and you will +see that I am not speaking my own thoughts and words. And as for +being angry with me for telling you truth, read the ordination service +which is read whenever a clergyman is ordained, and judge for yourselves. +What is a clergyman sent into the world for at all, but to say to you +what I am saying now? What should I be but a hypocrite and a traitor +to the blessed Lord who died for me, and saved me from my sins, and +ordained me to preach to sinners, that they too may be saved from their +sins,—what should I be but a traitor to Him, if I did not say +to you, whenever I see you going wrong:</p> +<p>“O come, let us worship, and fall down and kneel before the +Lord our Maker.</p> +<p>“For He is the Lord our God; and we are the people of His pasture, +and the sheep of His hand.</p> +<p>“To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,</p> +<p>“Lest He sware in His wrath that you shall not enter into His +rest!”</p> +<p>And now, my friends, I will tell you what will happen to you. +You see that I know something, without having been told of what has +been going on in your hearts. I beseech you, believe me when I +tell you what will go on in them. God will chastise you for your +sins. He will; just because He loves you, and does not hate you; +just because you are His children, and not dumb animals born to perish. +Troubles will come upon you as you grow older. Of what sort they +will be I cannot tell; but that they will come, I can tell full well. +And when the Lord sends trouble to you, shall it harden your hearts +or soften them? It depends on you, altogether on you, whether +the Lord hardens your hearts by sending those sorrows, or whether He +softens and turns them and brings them back to the only right place +for them—home to Him. But your trouble may only harden your +heart all the more. The sorrows and sore judgments which the Lord +sent Pharaoh only hardened his heart. It all depends upon the +way in which you take these troubles, my friends. And that not +so much when they come as after they come. Almost all, let their +hearts be right with God or not, seem to take sorrow as they ought, +while the sorrow is on them. Pharaoh did so too. He said +to Moses and Aaron: “I have sinned this time. The Lord is +righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord that +there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go.” +What could be more right or better spoken? Was not Pharaoh in +a proper state of mind then? Was not his heart humbled, and his +will resigned to God? Moses thought not. For while he promised +Pharaoh to pray that the storm might pass over, yet he warned him: “But +as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord +your God.” And so it happened; for, “when Pharaoh +saw that the rain, and hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more, +and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Neither would he +let the children of Israel go.” . . . And so, alas! it happens +to many a man and woman nowadays. They find themselves on a sick-bed. +They are in fear of death, in fear of poverty, in fear of shame and +punishment for their misdeeds. And then they say: “It is +God’s judgment. I have been very wicked. I know God +is punishing me. Oh, if God will but raise me up off this sick-bed; +if He will but help me out of this trouble, I will give up all my wicked +ways. I will repent and amend.” So said Pharaoh; and +yet, as soon as he was safe out of his distress, he hardened his heart. +And so does many a man and woman, who, when they get safe through their +troubles, never give up one of their sins, any more than Pharaoh did. +They really believe that God has punished them. They really intend +to amend, while they are in the trouble: but as soon as they are out +of it, they try to persuade themselves that it was not God who sent +the sorrow, that it came “by accident,” or that “people +must have trouble in this life,” or that “if they had taken +better care, they might have prevented it.”—All of them +excuses to themselves for forgetting God in the matter, and, therefore, +for forgetting what they promised to God in trouble; and so, after all, +they go on just as they went on before. And yet not as they went +on before. For every such sin hardens their hearts; every such +sin makes them less able to see God’s hand in what happens to +them; every such sin makes them more bold and confident in disobeying +God, and saying to themselves: “After all, why should I be so +frightened when I am in trouble, and make such promises to amend my +life? For the trouble goes away, whether I mend my life or not; +and nothing happens to me; God does not punish me for not keeping my +promises to Him. I may as well go on in my own way, for I seem +not the worse off in body or in purse for so doing.” Thus +do people harden their hearts after each trouble, as Pharaoh did; so +that you will see people, by one affliction after another, one loss +after another, all their lives through, warned by God that sin will +not prosper them; and confessing that their sins have brought God’s +punishment on them: and yet going on steadily in the very sins which +have brought on their troubles, and gaining besides, as time runs on, +a heart more and more hardened. And why?</p> +<p>Because they, like Pharaoh, love to have their own way. They +will not submit to God, and do what He bids them, and believe that what +He bids them must be right—good for them, and for all around them.</p> +<p>They promised to mend. But they promised as Pharaoh did. +“If God will take away this trouble, then I will mend”—meaning, +though they do not dare to say it: “And if God will not take away +this trouble, of course He cannot expect me to mend.” In +plain English—If God will not act toward them as they like, then +they will not act toward Him as He likes. My friends, God does +not need us to bargain with Him. We must obey Him whether we like +it or not; whether it seems to pay us or not; whether He takes our trouble +off us or not; we must obey, for He is the Lord; and if we will not +obey, He will prove His power on us, as He did on Pharaoh, by showing +plainly what is the end of those who resist His will.</p> +<p>What, then, are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly +will some day bring us, into trouble?</p> +<p>What we ought to have done at first, my friends. What we ought +to have done in the wild days of youth, and so have saved ourselves +many a dark day, many a sleepless night, many a bitter shame and heartache. +To open our eyes, and see that the only thing for men and women, whom +God has made, is to obey the God who has made them. He is the +Lord. He has made us. He will have us do one thing. +How can we hope to prosper by doing anything else? It is ill fighting +against God. Which is the stronger, my friends, you or God? +Make up your minds on that. It surely will not take you long.</p> +<p>But someone may say: “I do wish and long to obey God; but I +am so weak, and my sins have so entangled me with bad company, or debts, +or—, or—.” We all know, alas! into what a net +everyone who gives way to sin gets his feet: “And therefore I +cannot obey God. I long to do so. I feel, I know, when I +look back, that all my sin, and shame, and unhappiness, come from being +proud and self-willed, and determined to have my own way, and do what +I choose. But I cannot mend.” Do not despair, poor +soul! I had a thousand times sooner hear you say you cannot mend, +than that you can. For those who say they can mend, are apt to +say: “I can mend; and therefore I shall mend when I choose, and +no sooner.” But those who really feel they cannot mend—those +who are really weary and worn out with the burden of their sins—those +who are really tired out with their own wilfulness, and feel ready to +lie down and die, like a spent horse, and say: “God, take me away, +no matter to what place; I am not fit to live here on earth, a shame +and a torment to myself day and night”—those who are in +that state of mind, are very near—very near finding out glorious +news.</p> +<p>Those who cannot mend themselves and know it, God will mend. +God will mend your lives for you. He knows as well as you what +you have to struggle against; ay, a thousand times better. He +knows—what does He not know? Pray to Him, and try what He +does not know. Cry to Him to rid you of your bad companions; He +will find a way of doing it. Cry to Him to bring you out of the +temptations you feel too strong for you; He will find a way for doing +it. Cry to Him to teach you what you ought to do, and He will +send someone, and that the right person, doubt it not, to teach you +in His own good time. Above all, cry and pray to Him to conquer +the pride, and self-conceit, and wilfulness in your heart; to take the +hard proud heart of stone out of you, and give you instead a heart of +flesh, loving, and tender, and kindly to every human creature; and He +will do it. Cry to Him to make your will like His own will, that +you may love what He loves, and hate what He hates, and do what He wishes +you to do. And then you will surely find my words come true: “Those +who long to mend, and yet know that they cannot mend themselves, let +them but pray, and God will mend them.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXIII—THE RED SEA TRIUMPH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p><i>Preached Easter-day Morning</i>, 1852.</p> +<p>This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing the +children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.—EXODUS xii. 42.</p> +<p>You all, my friends, know what is the meaning of Easter-day—that +it is the Day on which The Lord rose again from the dead. You +must have seen that most of the special services for this day, the Collect, +Epistle, and Gospel, and the second lessons, both morning and evening, +reminded you of Christ’s rising again; and so did the proper Psalms +for this day, though it may seem at first sight more difficult to see +what they have to do with the Lord’s rising again.</p> +<p>Now the first lessons, both for the morning and evening services, +were also meant to remind us of the very same thing, though it may seem +even more difficult still, at first sight, to understand how they do +so.</p> +<p>Let us see what these two first lessons are about. The morning +one was from the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and told us what the Passover +was, and what it meant. The first lesson for this afternoon was +the fourteenth chapter of Exodus. Surely you must remember it. +Surely the most careless of you must have listened to that glorious +story, how the Jews went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, +while Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, trying to follow them, were overwhelmed +in the water. Surely you cannot have heard how the poor Jews looked +back from the farther shore, and hardly believed their own eyes for +joy and wonder, when they saw their proud masters swept away for ever, +and themselves safe and free out of the hateful land where they had +been slaves for hundreds of years. You cannot surely, my friends, +have heard that glorious story, and forgotten it again already. +I hope not; for God knows, that tale of the Jews coming safe through +the Red Sea has a deep and blessed meaning enough for you, if you could +but see it.</p> +<p>But some of you may be saying to yourselves: “No doubt it is +a very noble story; and a man cannot help rejoicing at the poor Jews’ +escape, and at the downfall of those cruel Egyptians. It is a +pleasant thought, no doubt, that if it were but for that once, God interfered +to help poor suffering creatures, and rid them of their tyrants. +But what has that to do with Easter Day and Christ’s rising again?”</p> +<p>I will try to show you, my friends. The Jews’ Passover +is the same as our Easter-day, as you know already. But they are +not merely alike in being kept on the same day. They are alike +because they are both of them remembrances and tokens of the Lord Jesus +Christ’s delivering men out of misery and slavery. For never +forget—though, indeed, in these strange times, I ought rather +to say, I beseech you to read your Bibles and see—that it was +Jesus Christ Himself who brought the Jews out of Egypt. St. Paul +tells us so positively, again and again. In 1 Cor. x. 4 he tells +us that it was Christ who followed them through the wilderness. +In verse 9 of the same chapter, he says that it was Christ Himself whom +they tempted in the wilderness. He was the Angel of the Covenant +who went with them. He was the God of Israel whom the elders of +the Jews saw, a few weeks afterwards, on Mount Sinai, and under His +feet a pavement like a sapphire stone. True, the Lord did not +take flesh upon Him till nearly two thousand years after. But +from the very beginning of all things, while He was in the bosom of +the Father, He was the King of men. Man was made in His image, +and therefore in the image of the Father, whose perfect likeness He +is—“the brightness of His glory, and the express image of +His person.” It was He who took care of men, guided and +taught them, and delivered them out of misery, from the very beginning +of the world. St. Paul says the same thing, in many different +ways, all through the epistle to the Hebrews. He says, for instance, +that Moses, when he fled from Pharaoh’s court in Egypt, esteemed +the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for +he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. The Lord said the same +thing of Himself. He said openly that He was the person who is +called, all through the Old Testament, “The Lord.” +He asked the Pharisees: “What think ye of Christ? whose son is +He? They say unto Him, David’s son. Christ answered, +How then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto +my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool?” +So did Christ declare, that He Himself, who was standing there before +them, was the Lord of David, who had died hundreds of years before. +He told them again that their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, +and saw it and was glad; and when they answered, in anger and astonishment, +“Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” +Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” +I am. The Jews had no doubt whom He meant; and we ought to have +none either. For that was the very name by which God had told +Moses to call Him, when he was sent to the Jews: “Thou shalt say +unto them, I AM hath sent me to you.” The Jews, I say, had +no doubt who Jesus said that He was; that He meant them to understand, +once and for all, that He whom they called the carpenter’s son +of Nazareth, was the Lord God who brought their forefathers up out of +the land of Egypt, on the night of the first Passover. So they, +to show how reverent and orthodox they were, and how they honoured the +name of God, took up stones to stone Him—as many a man, who fancies +himself orthodox and reverent, would now, if he dared, stone the preachers +who declare that the Lord Jesus Christ is not changed since then; that +He is as able and as willing as ever to deliver the poor from those +who grind them down, and that He will deliver them, whenever they cry +to Him, with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and that Easter-day +is as much a sign of that to us as the Passover was for the Jews of +old.</p> +<p>But, my friends, if Christ the Lord showed His love and power in +behalf of poor oppressed wretches on that first Passover, surely He +showed it a thousand times more on that first Easter-day. His +great love helped the Jews out of slavery; and that same great love +of His at this Easter-tide, moved Him to die and rise again for the +sins of the whole world. In that first Passover He delivered only +one people. On the first Easter He delivered all mankind. +The Jews were under cruel tyrants in the land of Egypt. So were +all mankind over the world, when Jesus came. The Jews in Egypt +were slaves to worse things than the whip of their task-masters; they +had slaves’ hearts, as well as slaves’ bodies. They +were kept down not only by the Egyptians, but by their own ignorance, +and idolatry, and selfish division, and foul sins. They were spiritually +dead—without a noble, pure, manful feeling left in them. +Their history makes no secret of that. The Bible seems to take +every care to let us see into what a miserable and brutal state they +had fallen. Christ sent Moses to raise them out of that death; +to take them through the Red Sea, as a sign that all that was washed +away, to be forgiven of God and forgotten by them, and that from the +moment they landed, a free people, on the farther shore, they were to +consider all their old life past and a new one begun. So they +were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, as St. Paul says. +And now all was to be new. They had been fancying that they belonged +to the Egyptians. Now they had found out, and had it proved to +them by signs and wonders which they could not mistake, that they belonged +to the Lord. They had been brutal sinners. The Lord began +to teach them that they were to rise above their own appetites and passions. +They had been worshipping only what they could see and handle. +The Lord began to teach them to worship Him—a person whom they +could not see, though He was always near them, and watching over them. +They had been living without independence, fellow-feeling, the sense +of duty, or love of order. The Lord began to teach them to care +for each other, to help each other, to know that they had a duty to +perform towards each other, for which they were accountable to Him. +They had owned no master except the Egyptians, whom they feared and +obeyed unwillingly. The Lord began to teach them to obey Him loyally, +from trust, and gratitude, and love. They had been willing to +remain sinners, and brutes, and slaves, provided they could get enough +to eat and drink. The Lord began to teach them that His favour, +His protection, were better than the flesh-pots of Egypt, and that He +was able to feed them where it seemed impossible to men; to teach them +that “man does not live by bread alone—cheap or dear, my +friends—not by bread alone, but by <i>every</i> word that proceeds +out of the mouth of God, does man live.” That was the meaning +of their being baptized in the cloud and in the sea. That was +the meaning, and only a very small part of the meaning, of their Passover. +Would you not think, my friends, that I had been speaking rather of +our own Baptism, and of our own Supper of the Lord, to which you have +been all called to-day, and that I had been telling you the meaning +of them?</p> +<p>For when Jesus, the Lord, and King, and Head of mankind, died and +rose again, He took away the sin of the world. He was the true +Passover, the Lamb without spot, slain, as the scripture tells us, for +the sins of the whole world. In the Jews’ Passover, when +the angel saw the lamb’s blood on the door of the house, he passed +by, and spared everyone in it. So now. The blood of Jesus, +the Lamb of God, is upon us; and for His sake, God is faithful and just +to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.</p> +<p>But the Lord rose again this day. And when He, the Lord, the +King, and Head of all men, rose, all men rose in Him. “As +in Adam all die,” says St. Paul, “even so in Christ shall +all be made alive.”</p> +<p>Baptism is a sign of that to us, as the going through the Red Sea, +and being baptized to Moses in it, was to the Jews. The passing +of the Red Sea said to the Jews: “You have passed now out of your +old miserable state of slavery into freedom. The sins which you +committed there are blotted out. You are taken into covenant with +God. You are now God’s people, and nothing can lose you +this love and care, except your own sins, your own unfaithfulness to +Him, your own wilful falling back into the slavish and brutal state +from which He has delivered you.”</p> +<p>And just so, baptism says to us: “Your sins are forgiven you. +You are taken into covenant with God. You are God’s people, +God’s family. You must forget and cast away the old Adam, +the old slavish and savage pattern of man, which your Lord died to abolish, +the guilt of which He bore for you on His cross; and you must rise to +the new Adam, the new pattern of man, which is created after God in +righteousness and true holiness, which the Lord showed forth in His +life, and death, and rising again. For now God looks on you not +as a guilty and condemned race of beings, but as a redeemed race, His +children, for the sake of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away +the sins of the world. You have a right to believe that, as human +beings, you are dead with Christ to the old Adam, the old sinful, brutal +pattern of man. Baptism is the sign of it to you. Every +child, let it or its parents be who they may, is freely baptized as +a sign that all that old pattern of man is washed away, that they can +and must have nothing to do with it hence-forward, that it is dead and +buried, and they must flee from it and forget it, as they would a corpse.</p> +<p>And the Lord’s Supper also is a sign to us that, as human beings, +we are risen with Christ, to a new life. A new life is our birthright. +We have a right to live a new life. We have a duty to live a new +life. We have a power, if we will, to live a new life; such a +life as we never could live if we were left to ourselves; a noble, just, +godly, manful, Christlike, Godlike life, bred and nourished in us by +the Spirit of Christ. That is our right; for we belong to Him +who lived that life Himself, and bought us our share in it with His +own death and resurrection. That is our duty; for if we share +the Lord’s blessings, it can only be in order that we may become +like the Lord. Do you fancy that He died to leave us all no better +than we are? His death would have had very little effect if that +was all. No, says St. Paul; if you have a share in Christ, prove +that you believe in your own share by becoming like Christ. You +belong to His kingdom, and you must live as His subjects. He has +bought for you a new and eternal life, and you must use that life. +“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above.” +. . . And what are they? Love, peace, gentleness, mercy, +pity, truth, faithfulness, justice, patience, courage, order, industry, +duty, obedience. . . . All, in short, which is like Jesus Christ. +For these are heavenly things. These are above, where Christ sits +at God’s right hand. These are the likeness of God. +That is God’s character. Let it be your character likewise.</p> +<p>But again; if it is our right and our duty to be like that, it is +also in our power. God would not have commanded us to be, what +He had not given us the power to be. He would not have told us +to seek those things which are above, if He had not intended us to find +them. Wherefore it is written: “Ask, and ye shall receive; +seek, and ye shall find; for if ye, being evil, know how to give good +gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give +His Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”</p> +<p>This is the meaning of that text; namely, that God will give us the +power of living this new and risen life, which we are bound to live. +This is one of the gifts for men, which the scripture tells us that +Christ received when He rose from the dead, and ascended up on high. +This is one of the powers of which He spoke, when after His resurrection +He said, “That all power was given to Him in heaven and earth.” +The Lord’s Supper is at once a sign of who will give us that gift, +and a sign that He will indeed give it us. The Lord’s Supper +is the pledge and token to us that we all have a share in the likeness +of Christ, the true pattern of man; and that if we come and claim our +share, He will surely bestow it on us. He will renew, and change, +and purify our hearts and characters in us, day by day, into the likeness +of Himself. He who is the eternal life of men will nourish us, +body, soul, and spirit, with that everlasting life of His, even as our +bodies are nourished by that bread and wine. And if you ask me +how? When you can tell me why a wheat grain cannot produce an +oak, or an acorn a wheat plant; when you can tell me why our bodies +are, each of them, the very same bodies which they were ten years ago, +though every atom of flesh, and blood, and bone in them has been changed; +when, in short, you, or any other living man, can tell me the meaning +of those three words, body, life, and growth, then it will be time to +ask that question. In the meantime let us believe that He who +does such wonders in the life and growth of every blade of grass, can +and will do far greater wonders for the life and growth of us, immortal +beings, made in His own likeness, redeemed by His blood, and so believe, +and thank, and obey, and wait till another and a nobler life to understand. +And if we never understand at all—what matter, provided the thing +be true?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<h2>XXXIV—CHRISTMAS-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government +shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, +The Mighty God, The Father of an Everlasting age, The Prince of Peace. +Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon +the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish +it with judgment and with justice henceforth even forever.—ISAIAH +ix. 6, 7.</p> +<p>In the time when the prophet Isaiah wrote this prophecy, everything +round him was exactly opposite to his words. The king of Judæa, +the prophet’s country, was not reigning in righteousness. +He was an unrighteous and wicked governor. The princes and great +men were not ruling in judgment. They were unjust and covetous; +they took bribes, and sold justice for money. They were oppressors, +grinding down the poor, and defrauding those below them. So that +the weak, and poor, and needy had no one to right them, no one to take +their part. There was no man to feel for them, and defend them, +and be a hiding-place and a covert for them from their cruel tyrants; +no man to comfort and refresh them as rivers of water refresh a dry +place, or the shadow of a great rock comforts the sunburnt traveller +in the weary deserts.</p> +<p>Neither were these very poor oppressed people of the Jews in a right +state of mind. They were ignorant and stupid, given to worship +false gods. They had eyes, and yet could not use them to see that, +as the psalm told us this morning, the heavens declared the glory of +God, and the firmament showed His handiwork. They were worshipping +the sun, and moon, and stars, in stead of the Lord God who made them. +They were brutish too, and would not listen to teaching. They +had ears, and yet would not hearken with them to God’s prophets. +They were rash, too, living from hand to mouth, discontented, and violent, +as ignorant poor people will be in evil times. And they were stammerers—not +with their tongue, but with their minds and thoughts. They were +miserable; but they could not tell why. They were full of discontent +and longings; but they could not put them into words. They did +not know how to pray, how to open their hearts to God or to man. +They knew of no one who could understand them and their sorrows; they +could not understand them themselves, much less put them into words. +They were altogether confused and stupefied; just in the same state, +in a word, as the poor negro slaves in America, and the heathens ay, +and the Christians too, are in, in all the countries of the world which +do not know the good news of Christmas-day or have forgotten it and +disobeyed it.</p> +<p>But Isaiah had God’s Spirit with him; the Holy Spirit, the +Spirit of holiness, righteousness, justice. And that Holy Spirit +convinced him of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment, as He convinces +every man who gives himself up humbly to God’s teaching.</p> +<p>First, the Spirit convinced Isaiah of sin. He made him feel +that the state of his country was wrong. And He made him feel +why it was wrong; namely, because the men in it were wrong; because +they were thinking wrong notions, feeling wrong feelings, doing wrong +things; and that wrong was sin; and that sin was falling short of being +what a man was made, and what every man ought to be, namely, the likeness +and glory of God; and that so his countrymen the Jews, one and all, +had sinned and come short of the glory of God.</p> +<p>Next, He convinced Isaiah of righteousness. He made Isaiah +feel and be sure that God was righteous; that God was no unjust Lord, +like the wicked king of the Jews; that such evil doings as are going +on were hateful to Him; that all that covetousness, oppression, taking +of bribes, drunkenness, deceit, ignorance, stupid rashness and folly, +of which the land was full, were hateful to God. He must hate +them, for He was a righteous and a good God. They ought not to +be there. For man, every man from the king on his throne to the +poor labourer in the field, was meant to be righteous and good as God +is. “But how will it be altered?” thought Isaiah to +himself. “What hope for this poor miserable sinful world? +People are meant to be righteous and good: but who will make them so? +The king and his princes are meant to be righteous and good, but who +will set them a pattern? When will there be a really good king, +who will be an example to all in authority; who will teach men to do +right, and compel and force them not to do wrong?”</p> +<p>And then the Holy Spirit of God answered that anxious question of +Isaiah’s, and convinced him of judgment.</p> +<p>Yes, he felt sure; he did not know why he felt so sure: but he did +feel sure; God’s Spirit in his heart made him feel sure, that +in some way or other, some day or other, the Lord God would come to +judgment, to judge the wicked princes and rulers of this world, and +cast them out. It must be so. God was a righteous God. +He would not endure these unrighteous doings for ever. He was +not careless about this poor sinful world, and about all the sinful +down-trodden ignorant men, and women, and children in it. He would +take the matter into His own hands. He would show that He was +Lord and Master. If kings would not reign in righteousness, He +would come and reign in righteousness Himself. He would appoint +princes under Him, who would rule in judgment. And He would show +men what true righteousness was; what the pattern of a true ruler was; +namely, to be able to feel for the poor, and the afflicted, and the +needy, to understand the wants, and sorrows, and doubts, and fears of +the lowest and the meanest; in short, to be a man, a true, perfect man, +with a man’s heart, a man’s pity, a man’s fellow-feeling +in Him. Yes. The Lord God would show Himself. He would +set His righteous King to govern. And yet Isaiah did not know +how, but he saw plainly that it must be so, that same righteous King, +who was to set the world right, would be a <i>man</i>. It would +be a man who was to be a hiding-place from the storm and a covert from +the tempest. A man who would understand man, and teach men their +duty.</p> +<p>Then the eyes of the blind would see, and the ears of those who heard +should hearken; for they would hear a loving human voice, the voice +of One who knew what was in man, who could tell them just what they +wanted to know, and put His teaching into the shape in which it would +sink most easily and deeply into their hearts. And then the hearts +of the rash would understand knowledge; and the tongue of the stammerers +would speak plainly. There will be no more confused cries from +poor ignorant brutish oppressed people, like the cries of dumb beasts +in pain; for He who was coming would give them words to utter their +sorrows in. He would teach them how to speak to man and God. +He would teach them how to pray, and when they prayed to say, “Our +Father which art in heaven.”</p> +<p>Then the vile person would be no more called bountiful, or the churl +called liberal: flattery and cringing to the evil great would be at +an end. The people would have sense to see the truth about right +and wrong, and courage to speak it. Men would then be held for +what they really were, and honoured and despised according to their +true merits. Yes, said Isaiah, we shall be delivered from our +wicked king and princes, from the heathen Assyrian armies, who fancy +that they are going to sweep us out of our own land with fire and sword; +from our own sins, and ignorance, and infidelity, and rashness. +We shall be delivered from them all, for The righteous King is coming. +Nay, He is here already, if we could but see. His goings-forth +have been from everlasting. He is ruling us now—this wondrous +Child, this Son of God. Unto us a Child is born already, unto +us a Son is given already. But one day or other He will be revealed, +and made manifest, and shown to men as a man; and then all the people +shall know who He is; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, +the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, Isaiah saw all this but dimly and afar off. +He saw as through a glass darkly. He perhaps thought at times—indeed +we can have little doubt that he thought—that the good young Prince +Hezekiah, “The might of God,” as his name means, who was +growing up in his day to be a deliverer and a righteous king over the +Jews, was to set the world right. No doubt he had Hezekiah in +his mind when he said that a Child was born to the Jews, and a Son given +to them; just as, of course, he meant his own son, who was born to him +by the virgin prophetess, when he called his name Emmanuel, that is +to say, God with us. But he felt that there was more in both things +than that. He felt that his young wife’s conceiving and +bearing a son, was a sign to him that some day or other a more blessed +virgin would conceive and bear a mightier Son. And so he felt +that whether or not Hezekiah delivered the Jews from their sin, and +misery, and ignorance, God Himself would deliver them. He knew, +by the Spirit of God, that his prophecy would come true, and remain +true for ever. And so he died in faith, not having received the +promises, God having prepared some better King for us, and having fulfilled +the words of His prophet in a way of which, as far as we can see, he +never dreamed.</p> +<p>Yes. Hezekiah failed to save the nation of the Jews. +Instead of being the “father of an everlasting age,” and +having “no end of his family on the throne of David,” his +great-grandchildren and the whole nation of the Jews were swept away +into captivity by the Babylonians, and no man of his house, as Jeremiah +prophesied, has ever since prospered or sat on the throne of David. +But still Isaiah’s prophecy was true. True for us who are +assembled here this day.</p> +<p>For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; even the Babe +of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord. The government shall indeed +be upon His shoulder; for it has been there always. For the Father +has committed all things to the Son, that he may be King of kings and +Lord of lords for ever. His name is indeed Wonderful; for what +more wondrous thing was ever seen in heaven or in earth, than that great +love with which He loved us? He is not merely called “The +might of God,” as Hezekiah was,—for a sign and a prophecy; +for He is the mighty God Himself. He is indeed the Counsellor; +for He is the light who lighteth every man who comes into the world. +He is “the Father of an everlasting age.” There were +hopes that Hezekiah would be so; that he would raise the nation of the +Jews again to a reform from which it would never fall away: but these +hopes were disappointed; and the only one who fulfilled the prophecy +is He who has founded His Church for ever on the rock of everlasting +ages, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Hezekiah +was to be the prince of peace for a few short years only. But +the Child who is born to us, the Son who is given to us, is He who gave +eternal peace to all who will accept it; peace which this world can +neither give nor take away; and who will make that peace grow and spread +over the whole earth, till men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, +and their spears into pruning-hooks, and the nations shall not learn +war any more. Of the increase of His government and of His peace +there shall be no end, till the earth be full of the knowledge of the +Lord, as the waters cover the sea, and the spirit of God be poured out +on all flesh, to teach kings to reign in righteousness, after the pattern +of the King of kings, the Babe of Bethlehem; to make the rich and powerful +do justice, to teach the ignorant, to give the rich wisdom, to free +the oppressed, to comfort the afflicted, to proclaim to all mankind +the good news of Christmas Day, the good news that there was a man born +into the world on this day who will be a hiding-place from the storm, +a covert from the tempest, like rivers of water in a dry place, like +the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; even the man Christ Jesus, +who is able and willing to save to the uttermost those who come to God +through Him, seeing that he has been tempted in all things like as we +are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, on that holy table stands the everlasting sign that +Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled to the uttermost. That +bread and that wine declare to us, that to us a Child is born, to us +a Son is given. They declare to us, in a word, that on this blessed +day God was made man, and dwelt among men, and we beheld His glory, +the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.</p> +<p>Oh, come to that table this day, and there claim your share in the +most precious body and blood of the Divine Child of Bethlehem. +Come and ask Him to pour out on you His Spirit, the Spirit which He +poured on Hezekiah of old, “that he might fulfil his own name +and live in the might of God.” So will you live in the might +of God. So you will be able to govern yourselves, and your own +appetites, in righteousness and freedom, and rule your own households, +or whatsoever God has set you to do, in judgment. So you will +see things in their true light, as God sees them, and be ready and willing +to hear good advice, and understand your way in this life, and be able +to speak your hearts out in prayer to God, as to a loving and merciful +Father. And in all your afflictions, let them be what they will, +you will have a comfort, and a sure hope, and a wellspring of peace, +and a hiding-place from the tempest, even The Man Christ Jesus, who +said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; let not +your heart be troubled, neither be ye afraid.” The Man Christ +Jesus, at whose birth the angels sang: “Glory to God in the Highest, +and on earth peace, good-will toward men.”</p> +<p>Now to Him who on this day was born of the blessed virgin, man of +the substance of His mother, yet God the Son of God, be ascribed, with +the Father and the Spirit, all power, glory, majesty, and dominion, +both now and for ever. Amen.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXV—NEW YEAR’S DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(1853.)</p> +<p>But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that +formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called +thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the +waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not +overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be +burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the +Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for +thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious +in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore +will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.—ISAIAH xliii. +1-4.</p> +<p>The New Year has now begun; and I am bound to wish you all a happy +New Year. But I am sent here to do more than that; to teach you +how you may make your own New Year a happy one; or, if not altogether +a happy one—for sorrows may and must come in their turn—yet +still something better than a happy year, namely, a blessed year; a +year on which you will be able to look back this day twelvemonths, and +thank God for it; thank God for the tears which you have shed in it, +as well as for the joy which you have felt; thank God for the dark days +as well as for the light; thank God for what you have lost, as well +as what you have found; and be able to say, “Well, this last year, +if it has not been a happy year for me, at least it has been a blessed +one for me. It has left me a stronger, soberer, wiser, godlier, +better man than it found me.”</p> +<p>How, then, can you make the New Year a blessed one for yourselves? +I know but one way, my friends. The ancient way. The Bible +way. The way by which Abraham, and Jacob, and David, and all the +holy men of old, and all the saints, and martyrs, and righteous and +godly among men, made their lives blessed among themselves, in spite +of sorrow, and misfortune, and distress, and persecution, and torture, +and death itself; the one only old way of being blessed, which was from +the beginning, and will last for ever and ever, through all worlds and +eternities; the way of the old saints, which St. Paul sets forth in +the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews; and that is, <i>faith</i>. +Faith, which is the substance of what we hope for, the evidence of things +not seen. Faith, of which it is written, that the just shall live +by his faith.</p> +<p>But how can faith give you a blessed New Year? In the same +way in which it gave the old saints blessed years all their lives through, +and is giving them a blessed eternity now and for ever before the face +of the Lord Jesus Christ, to which may God in His mercy bring us all +likewise.</p> +<p>They trusted in God. They had faith, not in themselves, like +too many; not in their own good works, like too many; not in their own +faith, in their own frames, and feelings, and assurances, like too many; +but they had faith in God. It was faith in God which made one +of them, the great prophet Isaiah, write the glorious words which I +have chosen for my text this day, to show his countrymen the Jews, even +while they were in the very lowest depths of shame, and poverty, and +misfortune, that God had not forgotten them; that for those who trusted +in Him, a blessed time was surely coming.</p> +<p>And it was faith in God, too, which put it into the minds of the +good men who choose these Sunday lessons out of the Bible, to appoint +such chapters as these to be read year by year, at the coming in of +the new year, for ever. Faith in God, I say, put that into their +minds. For those good men trusted in God, that He would not change; +that hundreds and thousands of years would make no difference in His +love; that the promises made by His Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet +would stand true for ever and ever. And they trusted in God, too, +that what He had spoken by the mouth of His holy apostles was true; +that after the blessed Lord came down on earth, there was to be no difference +between Jews and Gentiles; that the great and precious promises made +by God to the Jews were made also to all the nations of the earth; that +all things written in the Old Testament, from the first chapter of Genesis +to the last of Malachi, were written not for the Jews only, but for +English, French, Italians, Germans, Russians—for all the nations +of the world; that we English were God’s people now, just as much, +ay, far more, than the old Jews were, and that, therefore, the Old Testament +promises, as well as the New Testament ones, were part of our inheritance +as members of Christ’s Church. And therefore they appointed +Old Testament lessons to be read in church, to show us English what +our privileges were, what God’s covenant and promise to us were. +We, as much as the Jews, are called by the name of the Lord who created +us. Were we not baptised into His name at that font? Has +He not loved us? Has He not heaped us English, for hundreds of +years past, with blessings such as He never bestowed on any nation? +Has He not given men for us, and nations for our life? While all +the nations of the world have been at war, slaying and being slain, +has He not kept this fair land of England free and safe from foreign +invaders for more than eight hundred years? Since the world was +made, perhaps, such a thing was never heard of, such a mercy shown to +any nation; that a great and rich country like this should be preserved +for eight hundred years from invasion of foreign armies, and all the +horrors and miseries of war, which have swept, from time to time, every +other nation in the world with the besom of desolation.</p> +<p>Ay, and but sixty years ago, in the time of the French war, when +almost every other nation in Europe was made desolate with fire, and +sword, and war, did not God preserve this land of England, as He never +preserved country before, from all the miseries which were sweeping +over other nations? Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, that +at the very time that the gospel was dying out all over Europe, it was +being lighted again in England; and that while the knowledge of God +was failing elsewhere, it was increasing here! Oh, strange and +wonderful mercy of God, who has given to us English, now for one hundred +and sixty years and more, those very equal laws, and freedom, and rights +of conscience, for which so many other nations of Europe are still crying +and struggling in vain, amid slavery, and oppression, and injustice, +and heavy burdens, such as we here in England should not endure a week! +Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, who but three years ago, when +all the other nations of Europe were shaken with wars, and riots, and +seditions, every man’s hand against his neighbour, kept this land +of England in perfect peace and quiet by those just laws and government, +proving to us the truth of His own promises, that those who seek peace +by righteous dealings, shall find it, and that, as Isaiah says, the +fruit of justice is quietness and assurance for ever! And last, +but not least, my friends, is it not a sign, a sign not to be mistaken, +of God’s good-will and mercy to us, that now, at this very time +of all others, when almost every country in Europe is going to wrack +and ruin through the folly and wickedness of their kings and rulers, +He should have given us here in England a Queen who is a pattern of +goodness and purity, in ruling not only the nation, but her own household, +to every wife and mother, from the highest to the lowest; and a Prince +whose whole heart seems set on doing good, and on helping the poor, +and improving the condition of the labourers? My friends, I say +that we are unthankful and unfaithful. We do not thank God a hundredth +part enough for the blessings which He has given us. We do not +trust Him a hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has in +store for us. If some of us here could but see and feel for a +single month how people are off abroad; if they could change places +with a French, an Italian, a Russian labourer, it would teach them a +lesson about God’s goodness to England which they would not soon +forget. May God grant that we may never have to learn that lesson +in that way! God grant that we may never, to cure us of our unthankfulness +and want of faith, and godless and unmanly grumbling and complaining, +be brought, for a single week, into the same state as some hundred millions +of our fellow-creatures are in foreign parts! Oh, my friends, +let us thank God for the mercies of the past year! Most truly +He has fulfilled to England his promise given by the mouth of the prophet +Isaiah: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with +thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. For +I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One, thy Saviour. Thou hast been +precious in my sight, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men +for thee, and peoples for thy life.”</p> +<p>Away, then, with discontent and anxiety for the coming year. +Or rather, let us be only discontented with ourselves. Let us +only be anxious about our own conduct. God cannot change. +If anything goes wrong, it will be not because He has left us, but because +we have left Him. Is it not written that all things work together +for good to those who love God? Then if things do not work together +for good in this coming year, it will be because we do not love God. +Do not let us say, “I am righteous, but my neighbours are wicked, +and therefore I must be miserable;” neither let us lay the blame +of our misfortunes on our rulers; let us lay it on ourselves.</p> +<p>What was the word of the Lord to the Jews in a like case: “What +means this proverb which you take up, saying, The fathers have eaten +sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? It +is not so, O house of Israel. The son shall not die for the iniquity +of his father, nor the father for the iniquity of the son. The +soul that sinneth, it shall die, saith the Lord.”</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, take this to heart solemnly, in the year to come. +Our troubles, more of them at least than we fancy, are our own fault, +and not our neighbours’, or the government’s, or anyone’s +else. And those which are not our own fault directly are so in +this way, that they are sent as sharp and wholesome lessons to us; and +if we were what we ought to be, we should not want those lessons. +Do not fancy that that is a sad and doleful thought to begin the new +year with. God forbid! It would be doleful and sad indeed +if any one of us, in spite of all his right-doing, might be plunged +into any hopeless misery, through the fault of other people, over whom +he has no control. But thanks be to the Lord, it is not so. +We are His children, and He cares for each and every one of us separately. +Each and every one of us has to answer for himself alone, face to face +with his God, day by day; every man must bear his own burden; and to +every one of us who love God, all things will work together for good. +It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well knew, far from God +to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge of all the +earth will do right. None of us who repents and turns from the +sins he sees round him and in him; none of us who prays for the light +and guiding of God’s Spirit; none of us who struggles day by day +to keep himself unspotted from this evil world, and live as God’s +son, without scandal or ill-name in the midst of a sinful and perverse +generation; none of us who does that, but God’s blessing will +rest on him. What ruins others will only teach and strengthen +him; what brings others to shame, will only bring him to honour, and +make his righteousness plain to be seen by all, that God may be glorified +in His people. Let the coming year be what it may; to the holy, +the humble, the upright, the godly, it will be a blessed year, fulfilling +the blessed promises of the Lord, that those who trust in Him shall +never be confounded.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty God, +who made all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in Him. And when +He bids us, is it not a sin, an insult to Him, not to trust Him—not +to believe His words to us? “Put thou thy trust in the Lord, +and be doing good; dwell in the land,” working where He has set +thee, “and verily thou shalt be fed.” “Thou +shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that +flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten thousand +at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with +thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. +Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge, no plague shall come nigh +thy dwelling. Thou shalt call upon me, I will answer thee. +Because thou hast set thy love on me, I will deliver thee; with long +life will I satisfy thee, and show thee my salvation.”</p> +<p>My friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. Either they +are the most cruel words that ever were spoken on earth to tempt poor +wretches into vain security and fearful disappointment, or they are—what +are they?—the sure and everlasting promise of our Father in heaven +to us His children. We have only to ask for them, and we shall +receive them; to claim them, and they will be fulfilled to us. +“For He who spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him for us, +will He not with Him likewise freely give us all things,” and +make, by His fatherly care, and providence, and education, all our new +years blessed new years, whether or not they are happy ones?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXVI—THE DELUGE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>My spirit shall not always strive with man.—GENESIS vi. 3.</p> +<p>Last Sunday we read in the first lesson of the fall. This Sunday +we read of the flood, the first-fruits of the fall.</p> +<p>It is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will look +at it by faith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful story—a +gospel—a good news of salvation—like every other word in +the Bible, from beginning to end. Ay, and to my mind, the most +hopeful words of all in it, are the very ones which at first sight look +most terrible, the words with which my text begins: “And the Lord +said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”</p> +<p>For is it not good news—the good news of all news—the +news which every poor soul who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, +longs to hear; and when they hear it, feel it to be the good news—the +only news which can give comfort to fallen and sorrowful men, tied and +bound with the chain of their sins, that God’s Spirit does strive +at all with man? That God is looking after men? That God +is yearning over sinners, as the heart of a father yearns over his rebellious +child, as the heart of a faithful and loving husband yearns after an +unfaithful wife? That God does not take a disgust at us for all +our unworthiness, but wills that none should perish, but that all should +come to repentance? Oh joyful news! Man may be, as the text +says that he was in the time of Noah, so low fallen that he is but flesh +like the brutes that perish; the imaginations of his heart may be only +evil continually; his spirit may be dead within him, given up to all +low and fleshly appetites and passions, anger, and greediness, and filth; +and yet the pure and holy Spirit of God condescends to strive and struggle +with him, to convince him of sin, and make him discontented and ashamed +at his own brutishness, and shake and terrify his soul with the wholesome +thought: “I am a sinner—I am wrong—I am living such +a life as God never meant me to live—I am not what I ought to +be—I have fallen short of what God intended me to be. Surely +some evil will come to me from this.” Then the Holy Spirit +convinces man of righteousness. He shows man that what he has +fallen short of is the glory of God; that man was meant to be, as St. +Paul says, the likeness and glory of God; to show forth God’s +glory, and beauty, and righteousness, and love in his own daily life; +as a looking-glass, though it is not the sun, still gives an image and +likeness of the sun, when the sun shines on it, and shows forth the +glory of the sunbeams which are reflected on it.</p> +<p>And then, the Holy Spirit convinces man of judgment. He shows +man that God cannot suffer men, or angels, or any other rational spirits +and immortal souls, to be unlike Himself; that because He is the only +and perfect good, whatsoever is unlike Him must be bad; because He is +the only and perfect love, who wills blessings and good to all, whatsoever +is unlike Him must be unloving, hating, and hateful—a curse and +evil to all around it; because He is the only perfect Maker and Preserver, +whatsoever is unlike Him must be in its very nature hurtful, destroying, +deadly—a disease which injures this good world, and which He will +therefore cut out, burn up, destroy in some way or other, if it will +not submit to be cured. For this, my friends, is the meaning of +God’s judgments on sinners; this is why He sent a flood to drown +the world of the ungodly; this is why He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; +this is why He swept away the nations of Canaan; this is why He destroyed +Jerusalem, His own beloved city, and scattered the Jews over the face +of the whole earth unto this day; this is why He destroyed heathen Rome +of old, and why He has destroyed, from time to time, in every age and +country, great nations and mighty cities by earthquake, and famine, +and pestilence, and the sword; because He knows that sin is ruin and +misery to all; that it is a disease which spreads by infection among +fallen men; and that He must cut off the corrupt nation for the sake +of preserving mankind, as the surgeon cuts off a diseased limb, that +his patient’s whole body may not die. But the surgeon will +not cut off the limb as long as there is a chance of saving it: he will +not cut it off till it is mortified and dead, and certain to infect +the whole body with the same death, or till it is so inflamed that it +will inflame the whole body also, and burn up the patient’s life +with fever. Till then he tends it in hope; tries by all means +to cure it. And so does the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the great Physician, +whom His Father has appointed to heal and cure this poor fallen world. +As long as there is hope of curing any man, any nation, any generation +of men, so long will his Spirit strive lovingly and hopefully with man. +For see the blessed words of the text: “My Spirit shall not always +strive with man. This must end. This must end at some time +or other. This battle between my Spirit and the wicked and perverse +wills of these sinners; this battle between the love and the justice +and the purity which I am trying to teach them, and the corruption and +the violence with which they are filling the earth.” But +there is no passion in the Lord, no spite, no sudden rage, like the +brute passionate anger of weak man. Our anger, if we are not under +the guiding of God’s Spirit, conquers our wills, carries us away, +makes us say and do on the moment—God forgive us for it—whatsoever +our passion prompts us. The Lord’s anger does not conquer +Him. It does not conquer His patience, His love, His steadfast +will for the good of all. Even when it shows itself in the flood +and the earthquake; even though it break up the fountains of the great +deep, and destroy from off the earth both man and beast, yet it is, +and was, and ever will be, the anger of The Lamb—a patient, a +merciful, and a loving anger.</p> +<p>Therefore the Lord says: “Yet his days shall be one hundred +and twenty years.” One hundred and twenty years more he +would endure those corrupt and violent sinners, in the hope of correcting +them. One hundred and twenty years more would God’s Spirit +strive with men. One hundred and twenty years more the long-suffering +of God, as St. Peter says, would wait, if by any means they would turn +and repent. Oh, wonderful love and condescension of God! +God waits for man! The Holy One waits for the unholy! The +Creator waits for the work of His own hands! The wrathful God, +who repents that He has made man upon the earth, waits one hundred and +twenty years for the very creatures whom He repents having made! +Does this seem strange to us—unlike our notions of God? +If it is strange to us, my friends, its being strange is only a proof +of how far we have fallen from the likeness of God, wherein man was +originally created. If we were more like God, then the accounts +of God’s long-suffering, and mercy, and repentance, which we read +in the Bible, would not be so strange to us. We should understand +what God declares of Himself, by seeing the same feelings working in +ourselves, which He declares to be working in Himself. And if +we were more righteous and more loving, we should understand more how +God’s will was a loving and a righteous will; how His justice +was His mercy, and His mercy His justice, instead of dividing His substance, +who is one God, by fancying that His mercy and His justice are two different +attributes, which are at times contrary the one to the other.</p> +<p>We read nothing here about God’s absolute purposes, and fixed +decrees, whereof men talk so often, making a god in their own fallen +image, after their own fallen likeness. The Lord, the Word of +God, of whom the Bible tells us, does not think it beneath his dignity +to say: “It repenteth me that I have made man.” Different, +truly, from that false god which man makes in his own image. Man +is proud, and he fancies that God is proud; man is self-willed and selfish, +and he fancies that God is self-willed and selfish; man is arbitrary +and obstinate, and determined to have his own way just because it is +his own way; and then he fancies that God is arbitrary and obstinate, +and determines to have His own way and will, just because it is His +own way and will. But wilt thou know, oh vain man, why God will +have His own way and will? Because His way is a good way, and +His will a loving will; because the Lord knows that His way is the only +path of life, and joy, and blessing to man and beast, yes, and to the +very hairs of our head, which are all numbered, and to the sparrows, +whereof not one falls to the ground without our Father’s knowledge; +because His will is a loving will, which wills that none should perish, +but that all should come and be saved in body, soul, and spirit. +He will have His own will done, not because it is His own will, but +because it is good, good for men. And if men will change and repent, +then will He change and repent also. If man will resist the striving +of God’s Spirit with him, then will the Lord say: “It repenteth +me that I have made that man.” But if a man will repent +him of the evil, then God will repent Him of the evil also. If +a man will let God’s Spirit convince him, and will open his ears +and hear, and open his eyes and see, and open his heart to take in the +loving thoughts and the right thoughts, and the penitent and humble +thoughts, which do come to him—you know they do come to you all +at times—then the Lord will repent also, as he repents, and repent +concerning the evil which He has declared concerning that man. +So said the Lord, who cannot change, the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever, the same now that He was in the days of the flood, to Jeremiah +the prophet, when He moved him to go down to the potter’s house, +and watch him there at his work.</p> +<p>And the potter made a vessel—something which would be useful +and good for a certain purpose—but the clay was marred in the +hand of the potter. He was good and skilful; but there was a fault +in the clay. What did he do? Throw the clay away as useless? +No. He made it again another vessel. He was determined to +make, not anything, but something useful and good. And if the +clay, being faulty, failed him once, he would try again. He would +change his purpose and plan, but not his right will to make good and +useful vessels; them he <i>would</i> make, if not by one way, then by +another. And Jeremiah watched him; and as he watched, the Spirit +of the Lord came on him, and taught him that that poor potter’s +way of working with his clay, was a pattern and likeness of the Lord’s +work on earth. Oh shame, that this great parable should have been +twisted by men to make out that God is an arbitrary tyrant, who works +by a brute necessity! It taught Jeremiah the very opposite. +It taught him what it ought to teach us, that God does change, because +man changes, that God’s steadfast will is the good of men, and +therefore because men change their weak self-willed course, and fall, +and seek out many inventions, therefore God changes to follow them, +like a good shepherd, tracking and following the lost and wandering +sheep up and down, right and left, over hill and dale, if by any means +He may find him, and bring him home on His shoulders to the fold, calling +upon the angels of God: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my +sheep which I had lost.”</p> +<p>This is the likeness of God. The good and loving will of a +Father following his wandering children. The likeness of a loving +Father repenting that He hath brought into the world sinful children, +to be a misery to themselves and all around them, and yet for the same +reason loving those children, striving with their wicked wills to the +very last, giving them one last chance and time for repentance; as the +Lord did to those evil men of the old world, sending to them Noah, a +preacher of righteousness, if by any means they would turn from their +sins and be saved. Ay, not only preaching to their ears by Noah, +but to their hearts by His Spirit; as St. Peter tells us, He Himself, +Christ the Lord, went Himself by His Spirit to those very sinners before +the flood, and strove to bring them to their reason again. By +His Spirit; by the very same one and only Holy Spirit of God, St. Peter +says, by which Christ Himself was raised from the dead, did He try to +raise the souls of those sinners before the flood, from the death of +sin to the life of righteousness: but they would not. They were +disobedient. Their wills resisted His will to the last; and then +the flood came, and swept them all away.</p> +<p>And so the first work of the heavenly Workman was marred in the making +by no fault of His, but by the fault of what He made. He made +men persons, rational beings with wills, that they might be willingly +like Him: but they used those wills to be unlike Him, to rebel against +Him, and to fill the earth with violence and corruption. And so, +for the good of all mankind to come, He had to sweep them all away. +But of that same sinful clay He made another vessel, as it seemed good +to Him; even Noah and his Sons, whom He saved that He might carry on +the race of the Sons of God unto this day.</p> +<p>And after that again, my friends, in a day more dark and evil still, +when the earth was again corrupt before God, and filled with violence; +when all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth, so that, as St. +Paul said of them, there was none that did good, no not one: then the +same Lord, when He saw that all the world lay in wickedness, and that +the clay of human-kind was marred in the hands of the potter, then did +He cast away that clay as reprobate and useless, and destroy mankind +off the face of the earth? Not so. Then, when there was +none to help, His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness +sustained Him; He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there +was none with Him. His own righteousness sustained Him. +His perfectly good and righteous will never failed Him for a moment; +man He would save, and man He saved. If none else could do it, +He would do it Himself. He would bring salvation with His own +arm. He would fulfil His Father’s will, which is that none +should perish; He would be made flesh, and dwell among men, that man +might behold the likeness of God the Father, full of grace and truth, +and see what they were meant to be. Then, in Him, in Jesus who +wept over Jerusalem, was fully revealed and shown the likeness and glory +of the Lord; the Lord in whose image man was made; who walked and spoke +with Adam in the garden; who was not ashamed to say that it repented +Him that He had made man; whom Ezekiel saw upon His throne, and as it +were upon the throne the appearance of the likeness of a man; whom Daniel +saw, and knew him to be the Son of Man. Not a man, then, of flesh +and blood; but the Eternal Word of God, in whose image man was made, +who could be loving and merciful, long-suffering and repenting Him of +the evil, but never of the good. He came, and He swept away, as +He had told the Apostles that He would do, by such afflictions as man +had never seen since the beginning of the world until then, that Roman +world with all its devilish systems and maxims, whereby the nations +were kept down in slavery and sin; and He founded a new heaven and a +new earth, wherein dwell righteousness, even this Holy Catholic Church, +to which we all belong this day.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there is +a God whose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into His own +likeness. A God who is no dark, obstinate, inexorable Fate, whose +arbitrary decrees must come to pass; but a loving and merciful God, +long-suffering, and who repenteth Him of the evil; who repents Him of +the evil which is in man, and hates it, and has sworn to Himself to +fight against it, till He has put all enemies under His foot, and cast +out of His kingdom all things which offend. Who repents Him of +the evil in man: but who will never again repent Him of having made +man, for then He would repent of having become man; He would repent +of having been conceived of the Holy Ghost; He would repent of having +been born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent of having been crucified, +dead, and buried; He would repent of having risen from the dead, and +ascended up into heaven in His man’s body, and soul, and spirit; +He would repent of sitting on the right hand of God; He would repent +of coming to judge the quick and the dead; He would repent of having +done His Father’s will on earth, even as He did it from all eternity +in the bosom of the Father. For He is a man; and even as the reasonable +soul and body are one man, so God and man are one Christ. As man, +He did His Father’s will in Judæa of old; as man, He will +judge the world; as man He rules it now; as man, St. John saw Him fifty +years after He ascended to heaven, and His eyes were like a flame of +fire, and His hair like fine wool, and He was girt under the bosom with +a golden girdle, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; as +man, He said: “Fear not: I am the first and the last; I am He +that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; +and have the keys of death and hell.” Yes. This is +the gospel, the good news for fallen man, that there is a Man in the +midst of the throne of God, to whom all power is given in heaven and +earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is therein—the +fate of suns and stars—the fate of kings and nations—the +fate of every publican and harlot, and heathen and outcast—the +fate of all who are in death and hell, depends alike upon the sacred +heart of Jesus; the heart which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; +the heart which wept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed +Magdalene, the woman who was a sinner: “Go in peace; thy sins +are forgiven thee;” the heart which now yearns after every sinful +and wandering soul in His church, and all over the earth of God, crying +to you all: “Why will ye die? Have I any pleasure in the +death of him that dieth, saith the Lord, and not rather that he should +turn from his wickedness and live? Come unto me, all ye that are +weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Oh, my +friends, wonderful as my words are—as wonderful to me who speak +them as they can be to you who hear them—yet they are true. +True; for on that table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself +said, standing upon this very earth which He Himself had made: “This +is my body which is given for you; this cup is the new covenant in my +blood, which I will give for the life of the world.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXVII—THE KINGDOM OF GOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>The kingdom of God is within you.—LUKE xvii. 21.</p> +<p>These words are in the second lesson for this morning’s service. +Let us think a little about them.</p> +<p>What they mean must depend on what the kingdom of God means; for +that is the one thing about which they speak.</p> +<p>Now, the kingdom of God is very often spoken of in the New Testament. +Indeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all others. It was +the thing which our Lord went about preaching. It was the thing +of which He spoke in His parables, likening the kingdom of God first +to one thing, then to another, that He might make men understand what +it was like.</p> +<p>Now, it is worth remarking that we—I mean even religious people—speak +very little about the kingdom of God nowadays. One hears less +about it than about any other words, almost, which stand in the New +Testament. Both in sermons and in religious books, and in the +talk of godly people, one hears the kingdom of God spoken of very seldom. +One hears words about the Church, which are very good and true; but +very little, if anything, about the kingdom of God, though both St. +Paul, and St. John, and the blessed Lord Himself, speak of the two together, +as if they could not be parted; as if one could not think of the one +without thinking of the other. And we hear words about the gospel, +too, some of them very good and true, and others, I am sorry to say, +very bad and false: but, true or false, they are not often joined now +in men’s minds, or mouths, or books, with the kingdom of God. +But the New Testament joins them almost always. It says that gospel +must be good news. Therefore the gospel must be good news about +something. But about what? We hear all manner of answers +nowadays; but we hear the right one very seldom. People talk of +the gospel as if it only meant the good news that one man can be saved +here, and another man can be saved there. And that is good news, +certainly. It is good and blessed news to hear that any one poor +sinner can be saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But the +holy scriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel of +the kingdom of God. And I think it best and wisest to call it +oftenest, what the holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to try and +understand, first of all, what that means, what the good news of the +kingdom of God is: and to understand that, we must first understand +what the kingdom of God is.</p> +<p>But some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of salvation. +True, it does, once or twice. But what does that show? Is +that a different gospel from the gospel of the kingdom of God? +Are there two gospels? Surely not. Else why would holy scripture +speak so often of “the gospel”—“the good news,” +by itself, without any word after to show what it was about? It +says often simply “the gospel;” because there is but one +gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if any man or angel preach any other +than that one, “Let him be anathema.”</p> +<p>Therefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the gospel +of the kingdom of God; and, therefore, it seems to me, that salvation +and the kingdom of God must be one and the same thing.</p> +<p>Now, do you think so? When I say “The kingdom of God +is salvation,” do you think it is? Have you even any clear +notion of what I mean when I say it? Some of you have not, I am +afraid; you cannot see at first sight what salvation and the kingdom +of God have to do with each other. And why? You think salvation +means being saved from hell, and going to heaven, when you die. +And so it does: but I trust in God and in God’s holy scripture, +that it means a great deal more; for I think it means being unfit for +hell, and fit for heaven, before we die. At least, so says the +Church Catechism, which teaches every little child to thank his Heavenly +Father for having brought him into such a state of salvation in this +life, even while he is young. Thanks be to The Spirit of God which +taught our fore-fathers to put these precious words into the Church +Catechism, to guard us against falling into the very same mistake as +the Pharisees of old fell into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom +of God was to come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common +enough to fall into the same mistake.</p> +<p>For what was their mistake? They fancied that the kingdom of +God was not yet come. And do not most of you think the same? +They did not deny, of course, that God was almighty, and could rule +and govern all mankind if He chose so to do. But they did not +believe that He was ruling and governing all mankind then, because they +did not know what His rule and government were like. Now, St. +Paul tells us what God’s kingdom is like. The kingdom of +God, he says, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. +So wherever there is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, +there the kingdom of God is. But His kingdom over what? +Over dumb animals, or over men? Over men, certainly; for dumb +animals cannot have righteousness, or joy in the Holy Spirit. +But over what part of a man? Over his body or over his spirit, +as we call it nowadays? Over his spirit, certainly; for it is +only our spirits which can be righteous, or peaceful, or joyful in God’s +Spirit. Therefore God’s kingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, +is a kingdom, a government over the souls, the spirits of men. +Now, are our spirits the inward part of us, or our bodies? Our +spirits, certainly. We all say, and say rightly, that our bodies +are the outward part of us, and that our spirits are within us. +Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly with the blessed Lord’s +saying in the text, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you”—that +is, in your spirits, because it is righteousness, and peace, and joy +in the Holy Spirit; and these are things which only our souls, not our +bodies at all, can have.</p> +<p>But these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and hypocritical +men. Was the kingdom of God within them? The blessed Lord +said plainly that it was. He said not, “The kingdom of God +is within some people’s hearts;” or, “The kingdom +of God is within the hearts of believers;” or, “The kingdom +of God might be within you if you liked.” But He said that +the kingdom of God was then and there within the hearts of those wicked +and unbelieving Pharisees.</p> +<p>Now, how could that be? In the same way that some time before +that, as St. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was present to heal +those same Pharisees; and they were for the time amazed, and glorified +God, and were filled with fear at His mighty works; but not healed. +Their souls were not cured of their sin and folly by any means; for +we find in the very next chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied +man on the Sabbath-day they were filled with madness, and consulted +together how to kill Him.</p> +<p>For, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. God’s +kingdom is within every one of us; but it may make us worse, as well +as make us better. It may fill us with righteousness, and peace, +and joy in the Holy Spirit; or it may fill us, as it filled the Pharisees, +with madness, and hatred of religion and of goodness; as it is written, +that the gospel may be a savour of death unto death to us, as well as +a savour of life unto life. And it depends on us which it shall +be.</p> +<p>This is what I mean: God’s kingdom is within each of us. +God is the King of our hearts and souls; our baptism tells us so; and +it tells us truly. And because God is the King of each of our +hearts, He comes everlastingly to take possession of our hearts, and +continues claiming our souls for His own. He speaks in our hearts +day and night; whenever we have a good thought, He speaks in our hearts, +and says to us: “I am the King of your spirit. It must obey +me. I put this good thought into your hearts, and you are bound +to follow that good thought, because it is a law of my kingdom.” +Or again, God speaks in our hearts, and says to us: “You have +done this wrong thing. You know that it is wrong. You know +that it is an offence against my law. Why have you rebelled against +me?” Or again, when we see anyone do a good, a loving, or +a noble action; or when we read of the lives of good and noble men and +women; above all, when we read or hear of the character and doings of +the blessed Lord Jesus, then and there God speaks in our hearts, and +stirs us up to love and admire these noble and blessed examples, and +says to us: “That is right. That is beautiful. That +is what men should do. That is what you should do. Why are +you not like that man? Why are you not like my saints? Why +are you not like me, the Lord Jesus Christ?”</p> +<p>You all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not mean +that you hear a voice speaking to your ears, but that thoughts and feelings +come into your heart, without you putting them there: ay, often enough, +in spite of your trying to drive them away. Now, those right thoughts +are the kingdom of God within you. They are the voice of the Lord +Jesus Christ speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, and telling +you that He is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; and that obeying +Him means being righteous and good, as He is righteous and good; and +calling on you to give up your own wills and fancies, and to do His +will, and let Him make you holy, even as He is holy. That, I say, +is the kingdom of God showing itself within you, telling you that God +is your King, and telling you how to obey Him.</p> +<p>But what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a man rebels +proudly against the good thoughts that rise in his mind, and tries to +forget them, and grows angry with them, angry with the preacher, the +Church Service, the Bible itself, because they <i>will</i> go on reminding +him of what he knows in his heart to be right? What if those good +thoughts only make him the more stubborn and determined to do his own +pleasure, and follow his own interests, and do his own will?</p> +<p>Do you not see that to that man God’s kingdom over his heart +is a savour of death unto death—that his finding out that God +is his Lord only makes him more rebellious—that God’s Spirit +striving with his heart to bring it right, only stirs up his stubbornness +and self-will, and makes him go the more obstinately wrong?</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can become +worse by God’s loving desire to make him better! But so +it is. So it was with Pharaoh of old. All God’s pleading +with him by the message of Moses and Aaron, by the mighty plagues which +God sent on Egypt, only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The Lord +God spoke to him, and his message only lashed Pharaoh’s proud +and wicked will into greater fury and rebellion, as a vicious horse +becomes the more unmanageable the more you punish it. Therefore, +it is said plainly in scripture, that <i>The Lord</i> hardened Pharaoh’s +heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord’s will was to make Pharaoh +hard-hearted and wicked. God forbid. The Lord is the fountain +of good only, and not He, but we and the devil, make evil. But +the more the Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to bend his will, +the more self-willed he became. The more the Lord showed Pharaoh +that the Lord was King, the more he hated the kingdom and will of God, +the more he determined to be king himself, and to obey no law but his +own wicked fancies and pleasures, and asked: “Who is the Lord, +that I should obey Him?”</p> +<p>And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that +the kingdom of God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts +and minds, and was trying to change their feelings and alter their opinions, +it only maddened them. They were determined not to change. +They were determined not to confess that they had been wrong, and had +mistaken the meaning of holy scripture. They were too proud to +confess what Jesus told them, that they were no better than the poor +ignorant common people whom they despised. And yet they knew in +their hearts that He was right. When the Lord told them the parable +of the vineyard, they answered, “God forbid!” they felt +at once that the parable had to do with them—that they were the +wicked husbandmen on whom He said their master would take vengeance: +but that only maddened them the more, till they ended by crucifying +the Lord of Glory, upon a pretence which they knew was a false and lying +one; and when Judas Iscariot said, “I have betrayed the innocent +blood,” they did not deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all +they answered was, “What is that to us?” They were +determined to have their own way whether He was innocent or not. +They had seen God’s likeness. They had seen what God was +like, by seeing the conduct of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. +And when they saw God’s likeness they hated it, because it was +not like themselves. And the more God strove with their hearts, +and tried to make them obey Him, the more, in short, they felt His kingdom +within them, the more they hated that kingdom of God within them, because +it reproved them, and convinced them of sin. Oh, my friends, young +people especially, beware; beware lest you fall into the same miserable +state of mind. The kingdom of God is within you. The Holy +Spirit, by which you were regenerate in holy baptism, is stirring and +pleading with your hearts, making you happy when you do right, unhappy +when you do wrong. Oh, listen to those good thoughts and feelings +within you! Never fancy that they are your own thoughts and feelings: +else you will fancy that you can put them away and take them back again +when you choose to change and become religious. Do not let the +devil deceive you into that notion. These good thoughts and feelings +are the Spirit of God. They are the signs that the kingdom of +God is within you; that God is King and Master of your hearts and minds; +and that you cannot keep Him out of them: but that He can enter into +them when He likes, and put right thoughts into them. But though +you cannot prevent God and His kingdom entering into you, you can refuse +to enter into it. Alas! alas! how many of you shut your ears to +God’s voice: try to drive God’s Spirit out of your own hearts; +try to forget what is right, because it is unpleasant to remember it, +and say to yourselves, “I will have my own way. I will try +and forget what the clergyman said in his sermon, or what I learnt at +school. I am grown up now, and I will do what I like.” +Oh, my friends, is it a wise or a hopeful battle to fight against the +living God? Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are +sealed to the day of redemption, lest He go away from you and leave +you to yourselves, spiritually dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, +whose end is to be burned. Grieve Him not, lest He depart, and +with Him both the Father and the Son. And then you will not know +right from wrong, because God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of right, +has left you. You will not know what a man ought to be or do, +because the Son of Man, the perfect likeness of God, and therefore the +pattern of man, has left you. You will not know that God the Father +is your Father, but only fancy him a stern taskmaster, reaping where +He has not sown, and requiring of you more than you are bound to pay, +because God the Father has left you.</p> +<p>You may, indeed, keep out ugly thoughts for a time. You may +go on wantonly in sin, and worldliness, and self-will. And then, +by way of falling deeper still, you may take up with some false sort +of religion, which makes people fancy that they know God, and are one +of His elect, while in works they deny Him, and their sinful heart is +unchanged. Then your mouth indeed may be full of second-hand talk +about the gospel. But what gospel? I call that a devil’s +gospel, and not God’s gospel, which makes men fancy that they +may continue in sin that grace may abound. I call any grace which +leaves men in their sins the devil’s grace, and not God’s +grace. Certainly it is not the gospel of the kingdom of God; for +if it was, it would produce in men the fruits of that kingdom, righteousness, +and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, instead of the fruits which we +see too often, bigotry and self-conceit, bitterness, evil-speaking, +and hard judgments, and joy in a most unholy and damnable spirit, not +to mention covetousness and deceitfulness, or even in some cases wantonness +and lust. And yet such men will often fancy that they belong especially +to God, and doubt whether He will have mercy on any who do not exactly +agree with them; while in reality God and His kingdom have utterly left +their hearts, and they are as blind and dark as the beasts which perish. +May God preserve us from that second death which comes on sinners, when, +after a sinful youth, their terrified souls begin to cry out in fear +at the sight of their sins; and they, instead of casting away their +sins, keep their sins, or change old sins for more respectable and safe +new ones, and drug their souls with false doctrines, as foolish nurses +quiet children’s crying by giving them poisonous medicines. +I know men who have fallen, I really fear at times, into that state +of mind, and are like those Pharisees of whom our Lord said: “Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?” Even for them it is not too late: but, let them recollect, +if the kingdom of God is within them, if they have any feelings of right +and wrong left in them, that their covetousness, and lying, and slandering, +and conceit, is fighting against God; that these are just what God desires +to cast out of them; and that unless they give up their hearts to God, +and let Him cast out their sins, and be converted, and become like little +children, gentle, humble, teachable, friendly, and kind-hearted, obedient +to their heavenly Father, God will cast them out of His kingdom among +the things which offend, and bring a bad name on religion; among those +very profligate and open sinners whom they are so ready to despise and +curse.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXVIII—THE LIGHT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: +for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore He saith, +Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall +give thee light.—EPHESIANS v. 13, 14.</p> +<p>St. Paul has been telling the Ephesians who they are; that they are +God’s dear children. To whom they belong; to Christ who +has given Himself for them. What they ought to do; to follow God’s +likeness, and live in love. That they are light in the Lord; and +are to walk as children of the light; and have no fellowship with the +unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. As much +as to say: Do not believe those who tell you that there is no harm in +young people going wrong together before marriage, provided they intend +to marry after all. Do not believe those who tell you that there +is no harm in filthy words, provided you do not do filthy things; and +no harm in swearing, provided you do not mean the curses which you speak. +Do not believe those who tell you there is no harm in poaching another +man’s game, provided you do not steal his poultry, or anything +except his game. Do not believe those who tell you that there +is no harm in being covetous, provided you do not actually cheat your +neighbours; and that the sin lies, not in being covetous at all, but +in being more covetous than the law will let you be.</p> +<p>Do not believe those who say to you that you may keep dark thoughts, +spite, suspicion, envy, cunning, covetousness in your hearts day after +day, year after year, provided you do not openly act on them so as to +do your neighbours any great and notorious injury.</p> +<p>Plenty of people will tell you so, and try to deceive you with vain +words, and give you arguments, and texts of scripture perhaps, to prove +that sin is not sin, and that the children of light may do the works +of darkness. But do not believe them, says St. Paul. They +are deceivers, and their words are vain. These are the very things +which bring down God’s wrath on His disobedient children. +These are the bad ways which make young people, when they are married, +despise, and distrust, and quarrel with each other, and live miserable +lives together, as children of wrath, peevish, and wrathful, and discontented +with each other, because they feel that God is angry with them, just +as Adam in the garden, when he felt that he had sinned, and that God +was wroth with him, laid the blame on his wife, and accused her, whom +he ought to have loved, and protected, and excused.</p> +<p>These are the bad ways which make people ashamed when they meet a +good and a respectable person, make them afraid of being overheard, +afraid of being found out, fond of haunting low and out-of-the-way places +where they will not be seen; fond of prowling and lurching out at night +after their own sinful pleasures, because the darkness hides them from +their neighbours, and seems to hide them from themselves, though it +cannot hide them from God. These are the sins which make men silent, +cunning, dark, sour, double-tongued, afraid to look anyone full in the +face, unwilling to make friends, afraid of opening their minds to anyone, +because they have something on their minds which they dare not tell +their neighbours, which they dare not even tell themselves, but think +about as little as they can help. Do you not know what I mean? +Do you not often see it in others? Have you never felt it in yourselves +when you have done wrong, that dark feeling within which shows itself +in dark looks? You talk of a “dark-looking man,” or +a “dark sort of person;” and you mean, do you not, a man +whom you cannot make out, who does not wish you to make him out; who +keeps his thoughts and his feelings to himself, and is never frank or +free, except with bad companions, when the world cannot see him; who +goes about hanging down his head, and looking out of the corners of +his eyes, as if he were afraid of the very sunshine—afraid of +the light. We know that such a man has something dark on his mind. +We call him a “dark sort of man.” And we are right. +We say of him what St. Paul says of him in this very epistle, when he +says, that sin is darkness, and sinful works the deeds of darkness; +and that goodness, and righteousness, and truth, are light, the very +light of God and the Spirit of God. Our reason, our common sense, +which is given us by God’s Spirit, the Spirit of light, makes +us use the right words, the same words as St. Paul does, and call sin +darkness.</p> +<p>But rather reprove these dark works, says St Paul; that is, look +at them, and see that they are utterly worthless and damnable. +And how? “All things that are reproved,” he says, +“are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever makes manifest +is light.” Whatsoever makes manifest, that is, makes plain +and clear. Whatsoever makes you see anything or person in heaven +or earth as it really is; whatsoever makes you understand more about +anything; whatsoever shows you more what you are, where you are, what +you ought to do; whatsoever teaches you any single hint about your duty +to God, or man, or the dumb beasts which you tend, or the soil which +you till, or the business and line of life which you ought to follow; +whatsoever shows you the right and the wrong in any matter, the truth +and the falsehood in any matter, the prudent course and the imprudent +course in any matter; in a word, whatsoever makes your mind more clear +about any single thing in heaven or earth, is light. For, mind, +St. Paul does not say, whatsoever is light makes things plain; but whatsoever +makes things plain is light. That is saying a great deal more, +thank God; for if he had said, whatsoever is light makes things clear, +we should have been puzzled to know what was light; we should have been +tempted to settle for ourselves what was light. And, God knows, +people in all ages, and people of all religions, Christians as well +as heathens, have been tempted to say so, and to misread this text, +till they said: “Whatsoever agrees with our doctrine is light, +of course, but all other teaching is darkness, and comes from the devil;” +and so they oftentimes blasphemed against God’s Holy Spirit by +calling good actions bad ones, just because they were done by people +who did not agree with them, and fell into the same sin as the Pharisees +of old, who said that the Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince +of the devils.</p> +<p>But St. Paul says, whatsoever makes anything clearer to you, is light. +There is the gospel, and there is the good news of salvation again, +coming out, as it does all through St. Paul’s epistles, at every +turn, just where poor, sinful, dark man least expects it. For, +what does St. Paul say in the very next verse? “Wherefore,” +he says, “arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” +“Christ shall give thee light!” Oh blessed news! +<i>Christ</i> gives us the light, and therefore we need not be afraid +of it, but trust it, and welcome it. And Christ <i>gives</i> us +the light, therefore we have not to hunt and search after it; for He +will give it us. Let us think over these two matters, and see +whether there is not a gospel and good news in them for all wretched, +ignorant, sinful, dark souls, just as much as for those who are learned +and wise, or bright and full of peace.</p> +<p>Christ gives us the light. This agrees with what St. John says, +that “He is the light who lights every man who comes into the +world.” And it agrees also with what St. James says: “Be +not deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect +gift is from above, and cometh down from God, the Father of lights, +with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.” And +it agrees also with what the prophet says, that it is the Spirit of +God which gives man understanding. And it agrees also with what +the Lord Himself promised us when He was on earth, that He would send +down on us the Spirit of God—the Spirit which proceeds alike from +Him and from His Father, to guide us into all truth. Ay, my friends, +if we really believe this, what a solemn and important thing education +would seem to us! If we really believed that all light, all true +understanding of any matter, came from the Lord Jesus Christ: and if +we remember what the Lord Jesus’ character was; how He came to +do good to all; to teach not merely the rich and powerful, but the poor, +the ignorant, the outcast, the sinful: should we not say to ourselves, +then: “If knowledge comes from Christ, who never kept anything +to Himself, how dare we keep knowledge to ourselves? If it comes +from Him who gave Himself freely for all, surely He means that knowledge +should be given freely to all. If He and His Father, and our Father, +will that all should come to the knowledge of the truth, how dare we +keep the truth from anyone?” So we should feel it the will +of our heavenly Father, the solemn command of our blessed Saviour, that +our children, and not only they, but every soul around us, young and +old, should be educated in the best possible way, and in any way whatsoever, +rather than in none at all. The education of the poor would be, +in our eyes, the most sacred duty. A school would be, in our eyes, +as necessary and almost as sacred a thing as a church. And to +neglect sending our children to school, or to leave our servants or +work-people in ignorance, would seem to us an awful sin against the +Father of lights; a rebellion against the Lord Jesus, who lights every +man who comes into the world, and against our Father in heaven, who +willeth not that one of these little ones should perish.</p> +<p>And this is made still more plain and certain by the next word in +the text: “Christ shall <i>give</i> thee light:” not sell +thee light, or allow thee to find light after great struggles, and weary +years of study: but, <i>give</i> thee light. Give it thee of His +free grace and generosity. We might have expected that, merely +from remembering to whom the light belongs. The mere fact that +light belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the express likeness +of His Father, might have made us sure that He would give His light +freely to the unthankful and to the evil, just as His Father makes His +sun to shine alike on the evil and on the good. Therefore this +text does not leave us to find out the good news for ourselves. +It declares to us plainly that He will give it us, as freely as He gives +us all things richly to enjoy.</p> +<p>But, someone will say: You surely cannot mean that we shall have +understanding without study?</p> +<p>You cannot mean that we are to become wise without careful thought, +or that we are to understand books without learning to read? Of +course not, my friends. The text does not say: “Christ will +give thee eyes; Christ will give thee sense:” but, “Christ +will give thee light.” . . . Do you not see the difference? +Of what use would your eyes be without light? And of what use +would light be if your eyes were shut, and you asleep? In darkness +you cannot see. Your eyes are there, as good as ever; the world +is there, as fair as ever: but you cannot see it, because there is no +light. You can only feel it, by groping about with your hands, +and laying hold of whatsoever happens to be nearest you. And do +you think that though your bodily eyes cannot see, unless God puts His +light in the sky, to shine on everything, and show it you, yet your +minds and souls can see without any light from God? Not so, my +friends. What the sun is to this earth, that the Lord Jesus Christ, +the Word of God, is to the spirit—that is, the reason and conscience—of +every man who comes into the world. Now, the good news of holy +baptism is, that the light is here; that God’s Spirit is with +us, to teach us the truth about everything, that we may see it in its +true light, as it is, as God sees it; that the day-spring from on high +has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the +shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace; and that we +are children of the light and of the day. But what if those who +sit in darkness like the darkness; and wilfully shut their eyes tight +that they may not see the day-spring from on high, and the light which +God has sent into the world? Then the light will not profit them, +but they will walk on still in darkness, not knowing whither they are +going.</p> +<p>But some may say, wicked men are very wise; although they rebel against +God’s Spirit, and do not even believe in God’s Spirit, but +say that man’s mind can find out everything for itself, without +God’s help, yet they are very wise. Are they? The +Bible tells us again and again that the wisdom of such men is folly; +that God takes such wise men in their own craftiness. And the +Bible speaks truth. If there is one thing of which I am more certain +than another, my friends, it is that, just in proportion as a man is +bad, just in proportion as he does not believe in a good Spirit of God +who wills to teach him, and gives him light, he is a fool. If +there is one thing more than another which such men’s books have +taught me, it is that they are in darkness, when they fancy they are +in the brightest light; that they make the greatest mistakes when they +intend to say the cleverest things; and when they least fancy it, fall +into nonsense and absurdities, not merely on matters of religion, but +on points which they profess to have studied, and in cases where, by +their own showing, they ought to have known better. But our business +is rather with ourselves. Our business, in this time of Lent, +is to see whether we have been shutting our eyes; whether we have been +walking in darkness, while God’s light is all around us. +And how shall we know that? Let St. John tell us: “He that +saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness until +now, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness has blinded +his eyes.” Hating our brother. Covetousness, which +is indeed hating our brother, for it teaches us to prefer our good to +our neighbour’s good, to fatten ourselves at our neighbour’s +expense, to get his work, his custom, his money, away from him to ourselves; +bigotry, which makes men hate and despise those who differ from them +in religion; spite and malice against those who have injured us; suspicions +and dark distrust of our neighbours, and of mankind in general; selfishness, +which sets us always standing on our own rights, makes us always ready +to take offence, always ready to think that people mean to insult us +or injure us, and makes us moody, dark, peevish, always thinking about +ourselves, and our plans, or our own pleasures, shut up as it were within +ourselves—all these sins, in proportion as anyone gives way to +them, darken the eyes of a man’s soul. They really and actually +make him more stupid, less able to understand his neighbours’ +hearts and minds, less able to take a reasonable view of any matter +or question whatsoever. You may not believe me. But so it +is. I know it by experience to be true. I warn you that +you will find it true one day; that all spite, passion, prejudice, suspicion, +hard judgments, contempt, self-conceit, blind a man’s reason, +and heart, and soul, and make him stumble and fall into mistakes, even +in worldly matters, just as surely as shutting our eyes makes us stumble +in broad daylight. He who gives way to such passions is asleep, +while he fancies himself broad awake. His life is a dream; and +like a dreamer, he sees nothing really, only appearances, fancies, pictures +of things in his own selfish brain. Therefore it is written: “Awake +thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee +life.” You may say: Can I awaken myself? Perhaps not, +unless someone calls you. And therefore Christ calls on you to +awake. He says by my mouth: Awake, thou sleeper, and I will give +thee light; awake, thou dreamer, who fanciest that the sinful works +of darkness can give thee any real profit, any real pleasure; awake, +thou sleep-walker, who art going about the world in a dream, groping +thy way on from day to day and year to year, only kept from fall and +ruin by God’s guiding and preserving mercy. Open thine eyes, +and let in the great eternal loving light, wherein God beholds everything +which He has made, and behold it is very good. Open thine eyes, +for it is day. The light is here if thou wilt but use it. +“I will guide thee,” saith the Lord, “and inform thee +with mine eye, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go.” +Only believe in the light. Believe that all knowledge comes from +God. Expect and trust that He will give thee knowledge. +Pray to Him boldly to give thee knowledge, because thou art sure that +He wishes thee to have knowledge. He wishes thee to know thy duty. +He wishes thee to see everything as He sees it. “If any +man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and +upbraideth not, and he shall receive it.” And when thou +hast prayed for knowledge, expect it to come; as it is written: When +thou prayest for anything, believe that thou wilt receive it, and thou +wilt receive it. If thou dost not believe that thou wilt have +it, of course thou wilt not have it. And why? Because thou +wilt pass by it without seeing it. It will be there ready for +thee in thy daily walks; Wisdom will cry to thee at the head of every +street; God will not deny Himself or break His promise: but thou wilt +go past the place where wisdom is, and miss the lessons which God is +strewing in thy path, because thou art not looking for them. Wisdom +is here, my friends, and understanding is here, and the Spirit of God +is here, if our eyes were but open to see them. Oh my friends, +of all the sins of which we have to repent in this time of Lent, none +ought to give us more solemn and bitter thoughts of shame than the way +in which we overlook the teaching of God’s Spirit, and shut our +eyes to His light, times without number, every day of our lives. +My friends, if our hearts were what they ought to be, if we had humble, +loving, trustful hearts, full of faith and hope in God’s promise +to lead us into all truth, I believe that every joy and every sorrow +which befell us, every book which we opened, every walk which we took +upon the face of God’s earth, ay, every human face into which +we looked, would teach us some lesson, whereby we should be wiser, better, +more aware of where we are and what God requires of us as human beings, +neighbours, citizens, subjects, members of His church. All things +would be clear to us; for we should see them in the light of God’s +Spirit. All things would look bright to us, for we should see +them in the light of God’s love. All things would work together +for good to us, for we should understand each thing as it came before +us, and know what it was, and what God meant it for, and how we were +to use it. And knowing and seeing what was right, we should see +how beautiful it was, and love it, and take delight in doing it, and +so we should walk in the light. Dark thoughts would pass away +from our minds, dark feelings from our hearts, dark looks from our faces. +We should look our neighbours cheerfully and boldly in the face; for +our consciences would be clear of any ill-will or meanness toward them. +We should look cheerfully and boldly up to God our Father; for we should +know that He was with us, guiding and teaching us, well-pleased with +all our endeavours to see things as He sees them, and to live and work +on earth after His image, and in His likeness. We should look +out cheerfully and boldly on the world around us, trying to get knowledge +from everything we see, expecting the light, and welcoming it, and trusting +it, because we know that it comes from Him who is true and cannot lie, +Him who is love and cannot injure, Him who is righteous and cannot lead +us into temptation: Jesus Christ, the Light who lighteth every man that +cometh into the world.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXIX—THE UNPARDONABLE SIN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Wherefore I say unto you: All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be +forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not +be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the +Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word +against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this +world, or in the world to come.—MATTHEW xii. 31, 32.</p> +<p>These awful words were the Lord’s answer to the Pharisees, +when they said of Him: “He casts out devils by Beelzebub, the +prince of the devils.”</p> +<p>What was it now which made this speech of the Pharisees so terrible +a sin, past all forgiveness?</p> +<p>Of course we all feel that they were very sinful; we shrink with +horror from their words as we read them. But why ought they to +have done the same? We know, thank God, who Jesus Christ was. +But they did not; at that time, when He was first beginning to preach, +they hardly could have known. And mind, we must not say: “They +ought to have known that He was the Son of God by His having the <i>power</i> +of casting out devils;” for the Lord Himself says that the sons +of these Pharisees used to cast them out also, or that the Pharisees +believed that they did; and only asks them: “Why do you say of +my casting out devils, what you will not say of your sons’ casting +them out?” Pray bear this in mind; for if you do not—if +you keep in your mind the vulgar and unscriptural notion that the Pharisees’ +sin was not being convinced by the great power of Christ’s miracles, +you will never understand this story, and you will be very likely to +get rid of it altogether as speaking of a sin which does not concern +you, and a sin which you cannot commit. Now, if the Pharisees +did not know that Jesus was the Son of God, the Maker and King of the +world, as we do, why were they so awfully wicked in saying that He cast +out devils by the prince of the devils? Was it anything more than +a mistake of theirs? Was it as wicked as crucifying the Lord? +Could it be a worse sin to make that one mistake, than to murder the +Lord Himself? And yet it must have been a worse sin. For +the Lord prayed for his murderers: “Father, forgive them, for +they know not what they do.” And these Pharisees, they knew +not what they did: and yet the Lord, far from praying for them, told +them that even He did not see how such serpents, such a generation of +vipers, could escape the damnation of hell.</p> +<p>It is worth our while to think over this question, and try and find +out what made the Pharisees’ sin so great. And to do that, +it will be wiser for us, first, to find out what the Pharisees’ +sin was; lest we should sit here this morning, and think them the most +wicked wretches who ever trod the earth; and then go away, and before +a week is over, commit ourselves the very same sin, or one so fearfully +like it, that if other people can see a difference between them, I confess +I cannot. And to commit such a sin, my good friends, is a far +easier thing to do than some people fancy, especially here in England +now.</p> +<p>Now, the worst part of the Pharisees’ sin was not, as we are +too apt to fancy, their insulting the Lord: but their insulting the +Holy Spirit. For what does the Lord Himself say? That all +manner of blasphemy as well as sin should be forgiven; that whosever +spoke a word against Him, the Son of Man, should be forgiven: but that +the unpardonable part of their offence was, that they had blasphemed +the Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of holiness. And +what is holiness? What are the fruits of holiness? For, +as the Lord told the Pharisees on this very occasion, the tree is known +by its fruit. What says St. Paul? The fruit of the Spirit +is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, +temperance. Those who do not show these fruits have not God’s +Spirit in them. Those who are hard, unloving, proud, quarrelsome, +peevish, suspicious, ready to impute bad motives to their neighbours, +have not God’s Spirit in them. Those who do show these fruits; +who are gentle, forgiving, kind-hearted, ready to do good to others, +and believe good of others, have God’s Spirit in them. For +these are good fruits, which, as our Lord tells us, can only spring +from a good root. Those who have the fruit must have the root, +let their doctrines be what they may. Those who have not the fruit +cannot have the root, let their doctrines be what they may.</p> +<p>That is the plain truth; and it is high time for preachers to proclaim +it boldly, and take the consequences from the Scribes and Pharisees +of this generation. That is the plain truth. Let doctrines +be what they will, the tree is known by its fruit. The man who +does wrong things is bad, and the man who does right things is good. +It is a simple thing to have to say, but very few believe it in these +days. Most fancy that the men who can talk most neatly and correctly +about certain religious doctrines are good, and that those who cannot +are bad. That is no new notion. Some people thought so in +St. John’s time; and what did he say of them? “Little +children, let no man deceive you; it is he that doeth righteousness +who is righteous, even as God is righteous.” And again: +“He who says, I know God, and keeps not His commandments, is a +liar, and the truth is not in him.” St. John was the apostle +of love. He was always preaching the love of God to men, and entreating +men to love one another. His own heart was overflowing with love. +Yet when it came to such a question as that; when it came to people’s +pretending to be religious and orthodox, and yet neither obeying God +nor loving their neighbours, he could speak sternly and plainly enough. +He does not say: “My dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ +from you, but I am afraid you are mistaken;” he says: “You +are liars, and there is no truth in you.”</p> +<p>Now this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They had +got to think, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a man’s +having God’s Spirit in him, was his agreeing with them in doctrine. +But if he did not agree with them; if he would not say the words which +they said, and did not belong to their party, and side with them in +despising every one who differed from them, it was no matter to them, +as they proved by their opinion of Jesus Himself, how good he might +be, or how much good he might do; how loving, gentle, patient, benevolent, +helping, and caring for poor people; in short, how like God he was; +all that went for nothing if he was not of their party. For they +had forgotten what God was like. They forgot that God was love +and mercy itself, and that all love and mercy must come from God; and, +that, therefore, no one, let his creed or his doctrine be what it might, +could possibly do a loving or merciful thing, but by the grace and inspiration +of God, the Father of mercies. And yet their own prophets of the +Old Testament had told them so, when they ascribed the good deeds of +heathens to the inspiration of God, just as much as the good deeds of +Jews, and agreed, as they do in many a text, with what St. James, himself +a Jew, said afterwards: “Be not deceived; every good gift, and +every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of +lights.” But the Pharisees, like too many nowadays, did +not think so. They thought that good and perfect gifts might some +of them very well come from below, from the father of darkness and cruelty. +They saw the Lord Jesus Christ doing good things; driving out evil, +and delivering men from the power of it; healing the sick, cleansing +the leper, curing the mad, preaching the gospel to the poor: and yet +they saw in that no proof that God’s Spirit was working in Him. +Of course, if He had been one of their own party, and had held the same +doctrines as they held, they would have praised Him loudly enough, and +held Him up as a great saint of their school, and boasted of all His +good deeds as proofs of how good their party was, and how its doctrines +came from God. But as long as He was not one of them, His good +works went for nothing. They could not see God’s likeness +in that loving and merciful character. All His charity and benevolence +made them only hate Him the more, because it made them the more afraid +that He would draw the people away from them. “And of course,” +they said to themselves, “whosoever draws people away from us, +must be on the devil’s side. We know all God’s law +and will. No one on earth has anything to teach us. And +therefore, as for any one who differs from us, if he cast out devils, +it must be because the devil is helping him, for his own purposes, to +do it.”</p> +<p>In one word, then, the sin of these Pharisees, the unpardonable sin, +which ruins all who give themselves up to it, was bigotry; calling right +wrong, because it did not suit their party prejudices to call it right. +They were fancying themselves very religious and pious, and all the +while they did not know right when they saw it; and when the Lord came +doing right, they called it wrong, because He did not agree with their +doctrines. They fancied they were the only people on earth who +knew how to worship God perfectly; and yet while they pretended to worship +Him, they did not know what He was like. The Lord Jesus came down, +the perfect likeness of God’s glory, and the express pattern of +His character, helping, and healing, and delivering the souls and bodies +of all poor wretches whom He met; and these Pharisees could not see +God’s Spirit in that; and because it was certainly not their own +spirit, called it the spirit of a devil, and blasphemed against the +Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Right and Love.</p> +<p>This was bigotry, the flower and crown of all sins into which man +can fall; the worst of all sins, because a man may keep from every other +sin with all his might and main, as the Pharisees did, and yet be led +by bigotry into almost every one of them without knowing it; into harsh +and uncharitable judgment; into anger, clamour, and railing; into misrepresentation +and slander; and fancying that the God of truth needs the help of their +lying; perhaps, as has often happened, alas! already, into devilish +cruelty to the souls and bodies of men. The worst of all sins; +because a man who has given up his heart to bigotry can have no forgiveness. +He cannot; for how can a man be forgiven unless he repent? and how can +a bigot repent? how can he confess himself in the wrong, while he fancies +himself infallibly in the right? As the Lord said to these very +Pharisees: “If ye had been blind, ye had had no sin: but now ye +say We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”</p> +<p>How can the bigot repent? for repenting is turning to God; and how +can a man turn to God who does not know where to look for God, who does +not know who God is, who mistakes the devil for God, and fancies the +all-loving Father to be a taskmaster, and a tyrant, and an accuser, +and a respecter of persons, without mercy or care for ninety-nine hundredths +of the souls which He has made? How can he find God? He +does not know whom to look for.</p> +<p>How can the bigot repent? for to repent means to turn from wrong +to right; and he has lost the very notion of right and wrong, in the +midst of all his religion and his fine doctrines. He fancies that +right does not mean love, mercy, goodness, patience, but notions like +his own; and that wrong does not mean hatred, and evil-speaking, and +suspicion, and uncharitableness, and slander, and lying, but notions +unlike his own. What he agrees with he thinks is heavenly, and +what he disagrees with is of hell. He has made his own god for +himself out of himself. His own prejudices are his god, and he +worships them right worthily; and if the Lord were to come down on earth +again, and would not say the words which he is accustomed to say, it +would go hard but he would crucify the Lord again, as the Pharisees +did of old.</p> +<p>My friends, there is too much of this bigotry, this blasphemy against +God’s Spirit, abroad in England now. May God keep us all +from it! Pray to Him night and day, to give you His Spirit, that +you may not only be loving, charitable, full of good works yourselves, +but may be ready to praise and enjoy a good, and loving, and merciful +action, whosoever does it, whether he be of your religion or not; for +nothing good is done by any living man without the grace of Christ, +and the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Father of lights, from +whom comes down every good and perfect gift. And whosoever tries +to escape from that great truth, when he sees a man whose doctrines +are wrong doing a right act, by imputing bad motives to him, or saying: +“His actions must be evil, however good they may look, because +his doctrines are wrong,”—that man is running the risk of +committing the very same sin as the Pharisees, and blaspheming against +the Holy Spirit, by calling good evil. And be sure, my friends, +that whosoever indulges, even in little matters, in hard judgments, +and suspicions, and hasty sneers, and loud railing, against men who +differ from him in religion, or politics, or in anything else, is deadening +his own sense of right and wrong, and sowing the seeds of that same +state of mind, which, as the Lord told the Pharisees, is utterly the +worst into which any human being can fall.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XL—THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but +ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.—ROMANS +viii. 15.</p> +<p>Some of you here may not understand this text at all. Some +of you, perhaps, may misunderstand it; for it is not an easy one. +Let us, then, begin, by finding out the meaning of each word in it; +and, let us first see what is the meaning of the spirit of bondage unto +fear. Bondage means slavery; and the spirit of bondage means the +spirit which makes men look up to God as slaves do to their taskmaster. +Now, a slave obeys his master from fear only; not from love or gratitude. +He knows that his master is stronger than he is, and he dreads being +beaten and punished by him; and therefore, he obeys him only by compulsion, +not of his own good will. This is the spirit of bondage; the slavish, +superstitious spirit in religion, into which all men fall, in proportion +as they are mean, and sinful, and carnal, fond of indulging themselves, +and bearing no love to God or right things. They know that God +is stronger than they; they are afraid that God will take away comforts +from them if they offend Him; they have been taught that He will cast +them into endless torment if they offend Him; and, therefore, they are +afraid to do wrong. They love what is wrong, and would like to +do it; but they dare not, for fear of God’s punishment. +They do not really fear God; they only fear punishment, misfortune, +death, and hell. That is better, perhaps, than no religion at +all. But it is not the faith which <i>we</i> ought to have.</p> +<p>In this way the old heathens lived: loving sin and not holiness, +and yet continually tormented with the fear of being punished for the +very sins which they loved; looking up to God as a stern taskmaster; +fancying Him as proud, and selfish, and revengeful as themselves; trying +one day to quiet that wrath of His which they knew they deserved, by +all sorts of flatteries and sacrifices to Him; and the next day trying +to fancy that He was as sinful as themselves, and was well-pleased to +see them sinful too. And yet they could not keep that lie in their +hearts; God’s light, which lights every man who comes into the +world, was too bright for them, and shone into their consciences, and +showed them that the wages of sin was death. The law of God, St. +Paul tells us, was written in their hearts; and how much soever, poor +creatures, they might try to blot it out and forget it, yet it would +rise up in judgment against them, day by day, night by night, convincing +them of sin. So they in their terror sold themselves to false +priests, who pretended to know of plans for helping them to escape from +this angry God, and gave themselves up to superstitions, till they even +sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils, in some sort of +confused hope of buying themselves off from misery and ruin.</p> +<p>And in the same way the Jews lived, for the most part, before the +Lord Jesus came in the flesh of man. Not so viciously and wickedly, +of course, because the law of Moses was holy, and just, and good; the +law which the Lord Himself had given them, because it was the best for +them then; because they were too sinful, and slavish, and stupid, for +anything better. But, as St. Paul says, Moses’s law could +not give them life, any more than any other law can. That is, +it could not make them righteous and good; it could not change their +hearts and lives; it could only keep them from outward wrong-doing by +threats and promises, saying: “Thou shalt not.” It +could, at best, only show them how sinful their own hearts were; how +little they loved what God commanded; how little they desired what He +promised; and so it made them feel more and more that they were guilty, +unworthy to look up to a holy God, deserving His anger and punishment, +worthy to die for their sins; and thus by the law came the knowledge +of sin, a deeper feeling of guilt, and shame, and slavish dread of God, +as St. Paul sets forth, with wonderful wisdom, in the seventh chapter +of Romans.</p> +<p>Now, let us consider the latter half of the text. “But +ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.”</p> +<p>What is this adoption? St. Paul tells us in the beginning of +the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Galatians. He says: As +long as a man’s heir is a child, and under age, there is no difference +in law between him and a slave. He is his father’s property. +He must obey his father, whether he chooses or not; and he is under +tutors and governors, until the time appointed by his father; that is, +until he comes of age, as we call it. Then he becomes his own +master. He can inherit and possess property of his own after that. +And from that time forth the law does not bind him to obey his father; +if he obeys him it is of his own free will, because he loves, and trusts, +and reverences his father.</p> +<p>Now, St. Paul says, this is the case with us. When we were +infants, we were in bondage under the elements of the world; kept straight, +as children are, by rules which they cannot understand, by the fear +of punishment which they cannot escape, with no more power to resist +their father than slaves have to resist their master. But when +the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, +born under a law, that He might redeem those who were under a law, that +we might receive the adoption of sons.</p> +<p>As much as to say: You were God’s <i>children</i> all along: +but now you are more; you are God’s sons. You have arrived +at man’s estate; you are men in body and in mind; you are to be +men in spirit, men in life. You are to look up to the great God +who made heaven and earth, and know, glorious thought! that He is as +truly your Father as the men whose earthly sons you call yourselves. +And if you do this, He will give you the Spirit of adoption, and you +shall be able to call Him Father with your hearts, as well as with your +lips; you shall know and feel that He is your Father; that He has been +loving, watching, educating, leading you home to Him all the while that +you were wandering in ignorance of Him, in childish self-will, and greediness +after pleasure and amusement. He will give you His Spirit to make +you behave like His sons, to obey Him of your own free will, from love, +and gratitude, and honour, and filial reverence. He will make +you love what He loves, and hate what He hates. He will give you +clear consciences and free hearts, to fear nothing on earth or in heaven, +but the shame and ingratitude of disobeying your Father.</p> +<p>The Spirit of adoption, by which you look up to God as your Father, +is your right. He has given it to you, and nothing but your own +want of faith, and wilful turning back to cowardly superstition, and +to the wilful sins which go before superstition, and come after it, +can take it from you. So said St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, +and so I have a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say to every man and +woman in this church this day.</p> +<p>For, my dear friends, if you ask me, what has this to do with us? +Has it not everything to do with us? Whether we are leading good +lives, or middling lives, or utterly bad worthless lives, has it not +everything to do with us? Who is there here who has not at times +said to himself: “God so holy, and pure, and glorious; while I +am so unjust, and unclean, and mean! And God so great and powerful; +while I am so small and weak! What shall I do? Does not +God hate and despise me? Will He not take from me all which I +love best? Will He not hurl me into endless torment when I die? +How can I escape from Him? Wretched man that I am, I cannot escape +from Him! How, then, can I turn away His hate? How can I +make Him change His mind? How can I soothe Him and appease Him? +What shall I do to escape hell-fire?”</p> +<p>Did you ever have such thoughts? But, did you find those thoughts, +that slavish terror of God’s wrath, that dread of hell, made you +any <i>better</i> men? I never did. I never saw them make +any human being better. Unless you go beyond them—as far +beyond them as heaven is beyond hell, as far above them as a free son +is above a miserable crouching slave, they will do you more harm than +good. For this is all that I have seen come of them: That all +this spirit of bondage, this slavish terror, instead of bringing a man +nearer to God, only drove him further from God. It did not make +him hate what was wrong; it only made him dread the punishment of it. +And then, when the first burst of fear cooled down, he began to say +to himself: “I can never atone for my sins. I can never +win back God to love me. What is done, is done. If I cannot +escape punishment, let me be at least as happy as I can while it lasts. +If it does not come to-day, it will come to-morrow. Let me alone, +thou tormenting conscience. Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow +I die!” And so back rushed the poor creature into all his +wrong-doing again, and fell most probably deeper than ever into the +mire, because a certain feeling of desperation and defiance rose up +in him, till he began to fancy that his terror was all a dream—a +foolish accidental rising up of old superstitious words which he learnt +from his mother or his nurse; and he tried to forget it all, and did +forget it—God help him!—and his latter end was worse than +his first.</p> +<p>How then shall a man escape shame and misery, and an evil conscience, +and rise out of these sins of his? For do it he must. The +wages of sin is death—death to body and soul; and from sin he +must escape.</p> +<p>There is but one way, my friends. There never was but one way. +Believe the text, and therefore believe the warrant of your Baptism. +Believe the message of your Confirmation.</p> +<p>Your baptism says to you, God does <i>not</i> hate you, be you the +greatest sinner on earth. He does not hate you. He loves +you; for you are His child. He hateth nothing that He hath made. +He willeth not the death of a sinner, but that <i>all</i> should come +to be saved. And your baptism is the sign of that to you. +But God hates everything that He has not made; for everything which +He has not made is bad; and He has made all things but sin; and therefore +He hates sin, and, loving you, wishes to raise you out of sin; and baptism +is the sign of that also. Man was made originally in the image +and likeness of God, and of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the express +image of God the Father; and therefore everything which is sinful is +unmanly, and everything which is truly manful, and worthy of a man, +is like Jesus Christ; and God’s will is, that you should rise +out of all these unmanly sins, to a truly manful life—a life like +the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. And baptism is God’s +sign of this also. That is the meaning of the words in the Baptism +Service which tell you that you were baptised into Jesus Christ, that +you might put off the old man—the sinful, slavish, selfish, unmanly +pattern of life, which we all lead by nature; and put on the new man—the +holy and noble, righteous and loving pattern of life, which is the likeness +of the Lord Jesus. That is the message of your baptism to you; +that you are God’s children, and that God’s will and wish +is that you should grow up to become His <i>sons</i>, to serve Him lovingly, +trustingly, manfully; and that He can and will give you power to do +so—ay, that He has given you that power already, if you will but +claim it and use it. But you must claim it and use it, because +you are meant not merely to be God’s wilful, ignorant, selfish +children, obeying Him from mere fear of the rod; but to be His willing, +loving, loyal sons. And that is the message which Confirmation +brings you. Baptism says: You are God’s child, whether you +know it or not. Confirmation says: Yes; but now you are to know +it, and to claim your rights as His sons, of full age, reasonable and +self-governing.</p> +<p>Baptism says: You are regenerated and born from above, by water and +the Holy Spirit. Confirmation answers: True, most true; but there +is no use in a child’s being born, if it never comes to man’s +estate, but remains a stunted idiot.</p> +<p>Baptism says: You may and ought to become more or less such a man +as the Lord Jesus was. Confirmation says: You can become such; +for you are no longer children; you are grown to man’s estate +in body, you can grow to man’s estate in soul if you will. +God’s Spirit is with you, to show you all things in their true +light; to teach you to value them or despise them as you ought; to teach +you to love what He loves, and hate what He hates. God wishes +you no longer to be merely His children, obeying Him you know not why; +still less His slaves, obeying Him from mere brute coward fear, and +then breaking loose the moment that you forget Him, and fancy that His +eye is not on you: but He wishes you to be His sons; to claim the right +and the power which He has given you to trample your sins under foot; +to rise up by the strength which God your Father will surely give to +those who ask Him; and so to be new men, free men, true men, who do +look boldly up to God, knowing that, however wicked they may have been, +and however weak they are still, God’s love belongs to them, God’s +help belongs to them, and that those who trust in Him shall never be +confounded, but shall go on from strength to strength to the measure +of the stature of a perfect man, to the noble likeness of the Lord Jesus +Christ Himself.</p> +<p>For this is the message of the blessed sacrament of the body and +blood of Christ, to which you have been all called this day. That +sacrament tells you that in spite of all your daily sins and failings, +you can still look up to God as your Father; to the Lord Jesus Christ +as your life; to the Holy Spirit as your guide and your inspirer; that +though you be prodigal sons, your Father’s house is still open +to you, your Father’s eternal love ready to meet you afar off, +the moment that you cry from your heart: “Father, I have sinned;” +and that you must be converted and turn back to God your Father, not +merely once for all at Confirmation, or at any other time, but weekly, +daily, hourly, as often as you forget and disobey Him; and that he will +receive you. This is the message of the blessed sacrament, that +though you cannot come there trusting in your own righteousness, you +can come trusting in His manifold and great mercies; that though you +are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under His table, yet +He is the same Lord whose property is ever to have mercy; that He will, +as surely as He has appointed that sign of the bread and wine, grant +you so to eat and drink that spiritual flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus +Christ, which is the life of the world, that your sinful bodies may +be made clean by His body, and your souls washed in His most precious +blood, and that you may dwell in Him, and He in you, for ever.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLI—THE FALL</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so +death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.—ROMANS v. 12.</p> +<p>We have been reading the history of Adam’s fall. With +that fall we have all to do; for we all feel the fruits of it in the +sinful corruptions which we bring into the world with us. And +more, every fall which we have is like Adam’s fall: every time +we fall into wilful sin, we do what Adam did, and act over again, each +of us many times in our lives, that which he first acted in the garden +of Paradise. At least, all mankind suffer for something. +Look at the sickness, death, bloodshed, oppression, spite, and cruelty, +with which the world is so full now, of which it has been full, as we +know but too well from history, ever since Adam’s time. +The world is full of misery, there is no denying that. How did +that come? It must have come somehow. There must be some +reason for all this sorrow. The Bible tells us a reason for it. +If anyone does not like the Bible reason, he is bound to find a better +reason. But what if the Bible reason, the story of Adam’s +fall, be the only rational and sensible explanation which ever has been, +or ever will be given, of the way in which death and misery came among +men?</p> +<p>Some people will say: What puzzle is there in it? All animals +die, why should not man? All animals fight and devour each other, +why should not man do so too? But why need we suppose that man +is fallen? Why should he not have been meant by nature to be just +what he is? Some scholars who fancy themselves wise, and think +that they know better than the Bible, will say that now, and pride themselves +on having said a very fine thing; ignorant men, too, often are led into +the same mistake, and are willing enough to say: “What if we are +brutish, and savage, and ignorant, and spiteful, indulging ourselves, +hating and quarrelling with each other? God made us what we are, +and we cannot help it.” But there is a voice in the heart +of every man, and just in proportion as a man is a man, and not a beast +and a savage, that voice cries in his heart more loudly: No; God did +not make you what you are. You are not meant to be what you are, +but something better. You are not meant to fight and devour each +other as the animals do; for you are meant to be better than they. +You are not meant to die as the animals do; for you feel something in +you which cannot die, which hates death. You may try to be a mere +savage and a beast, but you cannot be content to be so. And yet +you feel ready to fall lower, and get more and more brutish. What +can be the reason? There must be something wrong about men, something +diseased and corrupt in them, or they would not have this continual +discontent with themselves for being no better than they are; this continual +hankering and longing after some happiness, some knowledge, some good +and noble state which they do not see round them, and never have felt +in themselves. Man must have fallen, fallen from some good and +right state into which he was put at first, and for which he is hankering +and craving now. There must be an original sin in him; that is, +a sin belonging to his origin, his race, his breed, as we say, which +has been handed down from father to son; an original sin as the church +calls it. And I believe firmly that the heart of man, even among +savages, bears witness to the truth of that doctrine, and confesses +that we are fallen beings, let false philosophers try as they will to +persuade us that we are not.</p> +<p>Then, again, there are another set of people, principally easy, well-to-do, +respectable people, who run into another mistake, the same into which +the Pelagians did in old time. They think: “Man is not fallen. +Every man is born into the world quite good enough, if he chose to remain +good. Every man can keep God’s laws if he likes, or at all +events keep them well enough.” As for his having a sinful +nature which he got from Adam, they do not believe that really, though +often they might not like to say so openly. They think: “Adam +fell, and he was punished; and if I fall I shall be punished; but Adam’s +sin is nothing to me, and has not hurt me. I can be just as good +and right as Adam was, if I like.” That is a comfortable +doctrine enough for easy-going well-to-do folks, who have but few trials, +and few temptations, and who love little because little has been forgiven +them. But what comfort is there in that for poor sinners, who +feel sinful and base passions dragging them down, and making them brutish +and miserable, and yet feel that they cannot conquer their sins of themselves, +cannot help doing wrong, all the while they know that it is wrong? +They feel that they have something more in them than a will and power +to do what they choose. They feel that they have a sinful nature +which keeps their will and reason in slavery, and makes sin a hard bondage, +a miserable prison-house, from which they cannot escape. In short, +they feel and know that they are fallen. Small comfort, too, to +every thinking man, who looks upon the great nations of savages, which +have lived, and live still, upon God’s earth, and sees how, so +far from being able to do right if they choose, they go on from father +to son, generation after generation, doing wrong, more and more, whether +they like or not; how they become more and more children of wrath, given +up to fierce wars, and cruel revenge, and violent passions, all their +thought, and talk, and study, being to kill and to fight; how they become +more and more children of darkness, forgetting more and more the laws +of right and wrong, becoming stupid and ignorant, until they lose the +very knowledge of how to provide themselves with houses, clothes, fire, +or even to till the ground, and end in feeding on roots and garbage, +like the beasts which perish. And how, too, long before they fall +into that state, death works in them. How, the lower they fall, +and the more they yield to their original sin and their corrupt nature, +they die out. By wars with each other; by murdering their own +children, to avoid the trouble of rearing them; by diseases which they +know not how to cure, and which they too often bring on themselves by +their own brutishness; by bad food, and exposure to the weather, they +die out, and perish off the face of the earth, fulfilling the Lord’s +words to Adam: “Thou shalt surely die.” I do not say +that their souls go to hell. The Bible tells us nothing of where +they go to. God’s mercy is boundless. And the Bible +tells us that sin is not imputed where there is no law, as there is +none among them. So we may have hope for them, and leave them +in God’s hand. But what can we hope for them who are utterly +dead in trespasses and sins? Well for them, if, having fallen +to the likeness of the brutes, they perish with the brutes. I +fancy if you, as some may, ever go to Australia, and there see the wretched +black people, who are dying out there, faster and faster, year by year, +after having fallen lower than the brutes, then you will understand +what original sin may bring a man to, what it would have brought us +to, had not God in His mercy raised us and our forefathers up from that +fearful down-hill course, when we were on it fifteen hundred years ago.</p> +<p>And another thing which shows that these poor savages are not as +God intended them to be, but are falling, generation after generation, +by the working of original sin, is, that they, almost all of them, show +signs of having been better off long ago. Many, like the South +Sea Islanders, have curious arts remaining among them in spite of their +brutish ignorance, which they could only have learned when they were +far more clever and civilised than they are now. And almost all +of them have some sad remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept +up in songs and foolish tales, of having been richer, and more prosperous, +and more numerous, a long while ago. They will confess to you, +if you ask them, that they are worse than their fathers—that they +are going down, dying out—that the gods are angry with them, as +they say. The Lord have mercy upon them! But what is, to +my mind, the most awful part of the matter remains yet to be told—and +it is this: That man may actually fall by original sin too low to receive +the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be recovered again by it. For +the negroes of Africa and the West Indies, though they have fallen very +low, have not fallen too low for the gospel. They have still understanding +left to take it in, and conscience, and sense of right and wrong enough +left to embrace it; thousands of them do embrace it, and are received +unto righteousness, and lead such lives as would shame many a white +Englishman, born and bred under the gospel.</p> +<p>But the black people in Australia, who are exactly of the same race +as the African negroes, cannot take in the gospel. They seem to +have become too stupid to understand it; they seem to have lost the +sense of sin and of righteousness too completely to care about it. +All attempts to bring them to a knowledge of the true God have as yet +failed utterly. God’s grace is all-powerful; He is no respecter +of persons; and He may yet, by some great act of His wisdom, quicken +the dead souls of these poor brutes in human shape. But, as far +as we can see, there is no hope for them: but, like the Canaanites of +old, they must perish off the face of the earth, as brute beasts.</p> +<p>I have said so much to show you that man is fallen; that there is +original sin, an inclination to sin and fall, sink down lower and lower, +in man. Now comes the question: What is this fall of man? +I said that the Bible tells us rationally enough. And I have also +made use several times of words, which may have hinted to some of you +already what Adam’s fall was. I have spoken of the likeness +of the beasts, and of men becoming like beasts by original sin. +And this is why I said it.</p> +<p>If you want to understand what Adam’s fall was, you must understand +what he fell from, and what he fell to. That is plain.</p> +<p>Now, the Bible tells us, that he fell from God’s grace to nature.</p> +<p>What is nature? Nature means what is born, and lives, and dies, +and is parted and broken up, that the parts of it may go into some new +shape, and be born and live, and die again. So the plants, trees, +beasts, are a part of nature. They are born, live, die; and then +that which was them goes into the earth, or into the stomachs of other +animals, and becomes in time part of that animal, or part of the tree +or flower, which grows in the soil into which it has fallen. So +the flesh of a dead animal may become a grain of wheat, and that grain +of wheat again may become part of the body of an animal. You all +see this every time you manure a field, or grow a crop. Nature +is, then, that which lives to die, and dies to live again in some fresh +shape. And, in the first chapter of Genesis, you read of God creating +nature—earth, and water, and light, and the heavens, and the plants +and animals each after their kind, born to die and change, made of dust, +and returning to the dust again. But after that we read very different +words; we read that when God created man, He said:</p> +<p>“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let +them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the +air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping +thing that creepeth upon the earth.” He was made in God’s +likeness; therefore he could only be right in as far as he was like +God. And he could not be like God if he did not will what God +willed, and wish what God wished. He was to live by faith in God; +he was justified by faith in God, and by that only.</p> +<p>Never fancy that Adam had any righteousness of his own, any goodness +of which he could say: “This is mine, part of me; I may pride +myself on it.” God forbid. His righteousness consisted, +as ours must, in looking up to God, trusting Him utterly, believing +that he was to do God’s will, and not his own. His spirit, +his soul, as we call it, was given to him for that purpose, and for +none other, that it might trust in God and obey God, as a child does +his father. He had a free will; but he was to use that will as +we must use our wills, by giving up our will to God’s will, by +clinging with our whole hearts and souls to God.</p> +<p>Adam fell. He let himself be tempted by a beast, by the serpent. +How, we cannot tell: but so we read. He took the counsel of a +brute animal, and not of God. He chose between God and the serpent, +and he chose wrong. He wanted to be something in himself; to have +a knowledge and power of his own, to use it as he chose. He was +not content to be in God’s likeness; he wanted to be as a god +himself. And so he threw away his faith in God, and disobeyed +Him. And instead of becoming a god, as he expected, he became +an animal; he put on the likeness of the brutes, who cannot look up +to God in trust and love, who do not know God, do not obey Him, but +follow their own lusts and fancies, as they may happen to take them. +Whether the change came on him all at once, the Bible does not say: +but it did come on him; for from him it has been handed down to all +his children even to this day. Then was fulfilled against him +the sentence, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. +Not that he died that moment; but death began to work in him. +He became like the branch of a tree cut off from the stem, which may +not wither at the instant it is cut off, but it is yet dead, as we find +out by its soon decaying. He had come down from being a son of +God, and he had taken his place in nature, among the things which grow +only to die; and death began to work in him, and in his children after +him. He handed down his nature to his children as the animals +do; his children inherited his faults, his weaknesses, his diseases, +the seed of death which was in him, just as the animals pass down to +their breed, their defects, and diseases, and certainty of dying after +their appointed life is past.</p> +<p>For this, my friends, is the lesson which Adam’s fall teaches +us, that in God alone is the life of immortal souls, whether of men, +or of angels, or of archangels; and in God alone is righteousness; in +God alone is every good thing, and all good in men or angels comes from +Him, and is only His pattern, His likeness; and that the moment either +man or angel sets up his will against God’s, he falls into sin, +a lie, and death. That He has given us reasonable souls for that +one purpose, that with our souls we may look up to Him, with our souls +we may cling to Him, with our souls we may trust in Him, with our souls +we may understand His will, and see that it is a good, and a right, +and a loving will, and delight in it, and obey it, and find all our +delight and glory, even as the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, the New Adam, +did, in doing not our own will, but the will of our Father.</p> +<p>For, as St. Augustine says, man may live in two ways, either according +to himself, or according to God; by self-will or by faith. He +may determine to do his own will or to do God’s will, to be his +own master or to let God be his master, to seek his own glory, and try +to be something fine and grand in himself: or he may seek God’s +glory and obey Him, believing that what God commands is the only good +for him, what makes God to be honoured in the eyes of his neighbours +is the only real honour for him.</p> +<p>But, says St. Augustine, if he tries to live according to himself, +he falls into misery, because he was meant to live according to God. +So he puts himself into a lie, into a false and wrong state; and because +he has cut himself off from God he falls below what a man should be; +and puts on more and more of the likeness of the beast, and is more +and more the slave of his own lusts, and passions, and fancies, as the +dumb animals are. And, as St. Paul says, the animal man, the carnal +man, understands not the things of God. And we need no one to +tell us that this is the state of nature which we bring into the world +with us. We feel it; from our very childhood, from the earliest +time we can recollect, have we not had the longing to do what we liked? +to please ourselves, to pride ourselves on ourselves, to set up our +own wills against our parents, against what we learnt out of the Bible? +Ay, has not this wilful will of ours been so strong, that often we would +long after a thing, we would determine to have it, only because we were +forbidden to have it; we might not care about the thing when we had +it, but we would have our own way just because it was our own way. +In short, like Adam, we would be as gods, knowing good and evil, and +choosing for ourselves what we should call good and what we shall call +evil. And, my dear friends, consider: did not every wrong that +we ever did come from this one root of all sin—determining to +have our own way? That root-sin of self-will first brought death +and misery among mankind; that sin of self-will keeps it up still: that +sin of self-will it is which hinders sinners from giving themselves +up to God; and that sin must be broken through, or religion is a mockery +and a dream.</p> +<p>Oh my friends, say to yourselves once for all, I was made in God’s +likeness; and therefore His will, and not my own, I must do. I +have no wisdom of my own, no strength of mind of my own, no goodness +of my own, no lovingness of my own. God has them all; God, who +is wisdom, strength, goodness, love; and I have none. And then, +when the fearful thought comes over you: “I have no goodness, +and I cannot have any. I cannot do right. There is no use +struggling and trying to be better. My passions, my lusts, my +fancies are too strong for me. If I am brutish and low, brutish +and low I must remain. If I have fallen in Adam, I must lie in +the mire till I die—”</p> +<p>Then, then, my friends, answer yourselves: “No! Not so. +Man fell in the first Adam: but man rose again in the second Adam, the +Lord Jesus Christ. I belong no more to the old Adam, who fell +in Paradise. I belong to the New Adam, who was conceived without +sin, and born of a pure virgin, who lived by perfect faith, in perfect +obedience, doing His Father’s will only, even to the death upon +the cross, wherein He took away the sins of the whole world. And +now for His sake my original sin, my fallen, brutish nature, is forgiven +me. God does not hate me for it. He loves me, because I +belong to His Son. My baptism is a witness and a warrant, a sign +and a covenant between me and God, that I belong not to old Adam of +Paradise, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at God’s right +hand. The cross which was signed on my forehead when I was baptised +is God’s sign to me that I am to sacrifice myself and give up +my own will to do God’s will, even as the Lord Jesus did when +He gave Himself to die, because it was His Father’s will. +And because I belong to Jesus Christ, because God has called me to be +His child, therefore He will help me. He will help me to conquer +this low, brutish nature of mine. He will put His Spirit into +me, the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ, that I may trust Him, cry to +Him, My Father! that I may love Him; understand His will, and see how +good, and noble, and beautiful, and full of peace and comfort it is; +delight in obeying Him; glory in sacrificing my own fancies and pleasures +for His sake; and find my only honour, my only happiness, in doing His +will on earth as saints and angels do it in heaven.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLII—GOD’S COVENANTS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant +between me and the earth.—GENESIS ix. 13.</p> +<p>The text says that God made a covenant with Noah, and with his seed +after him—that is, with all mankind; with us who sit here, and +our children after us, and with all human beings who will ever live +upon the face of the earth. God made a covenant with them. +Now, what is a covenant? We say that two men make a covenant with +each other when they make a bargain, an agreement; in this way: If you +will do this thing, then I will do that; but if you will not do this +thing, I will not do that. If you do not keep to our agreement, +I am free of it. If I do not do my part of the agreement, you +are free. Is not that what we call a covenant—a bargain +between two parties, which, if either party breaks it, becomes null +and void, and binds neither? Let us see whether God’s covenants +with man are of this kind.</p> +<p>Does God say to Noah: “If you and your children are righteous, +I will look upon the rainbow, and remember my covenant: but if you and +your children are unrighteous, I will not look on the rainbow, and I +will break my covenant because you have broken it?” We read +no such words; God made no conditions with Noah and his sons. +Whether they forgot the covenant or not, God would remember it. +It was a covenant of free grace, even as all God’s covenants are. +Not a bargain, but a promise. “By Myself have I sworn, saith +the Lord, that I will not fail David.” By Himself He sware +to Abraham: “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying +I will multiply thee.” That is the form of God’s covenants. +God swears by Himself—by God who cannot change. If God can +change, then His covenant can change. If God can fail Himself, +then can He fail His covenant to which He has sworn by Himself. +If it had been a mere bargain, like men’s bargains, and not a +promise out of His absolute love, His free grace, His boundless mercy, +would He have sworn by Himself? Nay, rather, He would have sworn +by Abraham: “By thy obedience or disobedience I swear to bless +thee or curse thee.” But He swore by Himself, the absolute, +the unchangeable, the Giver whose name is Love.</p> +<p>Consider now the token of the covenant which God gave to Noah. +It was the rainbow. What is the rainbow? Sunlight turned +back to our eye, through drops of falling rain. What sign could +be more simple? And yet what sign could be more perfect? +Noah’s sons would fear that another flood was coming, perhaps +flood after flood. The token of the rainbow said to them, No. +Floods and rain are not to be the custom of this earth. Sunshine +is to be the custom of it. Do not fear the clouds and storm and +rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in the very rain itself. That +is a sign that the sun, though you cannot see it, is shining still. +That up above, beyond the cloud, is still sunlight, and warmth, and +cloudless blue sky. Believe in God’s covenant. Believe +that the sun will conquer the clouds, warmth will conquer cold, calm +will conquer storm, fair will conquer foul, light will conquer darkness, +joy will conquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer destruction +and the devouring floods; because God is light, God is love, God is +life, God is peace and joy eternal and without change, and labours to +give life, and joy, and peace, to man and beast and all created things. +This was the meaning of the rainbow. Not a sudden or strange token, +a miracle, as men call it, like as some voice out of the sky, or fiery +comet, might have been; but a regular, orderly, and natural sign, to +witness that God is a God of order. Whenever there was a rainy +day there might be a rainbow. It came by the same laws by which +everything else comes in the world. It was a witness that God +who made the world is the friend and preserver of man; that His promises +are like the everlasting sunshine which is above the clouds, without +spot or fading, without variableness or shadow of turning.</p> +<p>And do you fancy, my friends, that the new covenant, the covenant +which God made with all mankind in the blood of His only-begotten Son, +is narrower or weaker than the covenant which He made with Noah, Abraham, +and David? He asked no conditions from them. Do you think +He asks them from us? He called them by free grace. Do you +think He calls us by anything less? He swore by Himself to them. +How much more has He sworn by Himself to us? He who was born, +and died, and rose again for us, who now sits at the right hand of the +Father, very Man of the substance of a human mother, yet very God of +very God begotten.</p> +<p>His covenants of old stood true and faithful, however disobedient +and unfaithful men might be; as it is written: “I have sworn once +for all by my holiness, that I will not fail David.” And +those words, the New Testament declares to us, again and again, are +true of the new covenant, and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, into +whose name we are baptized. Yes; into whose name we are baptized. +There is the sign of the new covenant; of a covenant of free grace. +Therefore we can bring our children to be baptized as we were baptized +ourselves, before they have done either good or evil, for a sign that +God’s love is over them, God’s kingdom is their inheritance, +God’s love their everlasting portion.</p> +<p>But we may fall from grace; and then what good will our baptism be +to us? We shall be lost, just as if we had never been baptized.</p> +<p>My friends, if, though the sun was shining in the sky, you shut your +eyes close, and kept out the light, what use would the sunlight be to +you? You would stumble, and fall, and come to harm, as certainly +as in the darkest night. But would the sun go out of the sky, +my friends, because you were unwise enough to shut your eyes to it? +The sun would still be there, shining as bright as ever. You would +have only to be reasonable and to open your eyes, and you would see +your way again as well as ever.</p> +<p>So it is with holy baptism. In it we were made members of Christ, +children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. God’s +love is above us and around us, like a warm, bright, life-giving sun. +We may shut our eyes to it, but it is there still. We may disbelieve +our baptism covenant, but it is true still. We are children of +God; and nothing that we can do, no sin, no unfaithfulness of ours, +can make us anything else. We can no more become not God’s +children, than a child can become not his own father’s son. +But this we can do by sinning, by disbelieving that we are God’s +children, by behaving as the devil’s children when we are God’s; +we can believe ourselves not God’s children when we are; we can +try to be what we are not; we can enter into a lie, and into the misery +to which all lies lead; we can walk in darkness, and stumble, and fall, +when all the while we are children of the light, and have only to open +our eyes to walk in the light. Ay, we can shut our eyes to the +light so long, that at last we forget that there is any light at all; +and that is the gate of hell. We may wrap ourselves up in our +selfishness, in selfish pleasures, selfish cunning, selfish covetousness, +and selfish pride, till we forget that there is anything better for +us than selfishness, till we forget that God is love, and that we His +children are meant to be loving even as He is loving; and that also +is the gate of hell. And worst and darkest of all, when in that +stupid, sinful, loveless state of mind, God’s loving Spirit still +strives and pleads with us, and tries to awaken us, and terrify us with +the sight of the everlasting misery and ruin into which we have thrown +ourselves, we may turn those pleadings of God’s Spirit, by our +own evil wills, into a darker curse than all which have gone before. +We may refuse to believe that God is love, and fancy Him as hard, and +cruel, and proud, and spiteful, and unloving as we ourselves are. +We may refuse, though Scripture, Prayer-book, sacraments, preachers, +assure us of it, that God is our Father still; and deny His covenant +of baptism, and blaspheme His holy name, by fancying Him our tyrant +and taskmaster, who hates us, and willeth the death of a sinner, and +has pleasure in the death of him that dieth. And then we may behave +according to the lie which we ourselves have invented, and all sorts +of inventions of our own to escape God’s wrath, when, in reality, +it is He who is wishing to turn His wrath away from us; and to win back +His favour, when, in reality, it is not we who are out of favour with +Him, but He who is out of favour with us, who dread Him and shrink from +Him; we may try to deliver ourselves from Him, when all the while it +is He, the very God whom we are dreading and flying from, who alone +is able and willing to deliver us; and with all our fears, and self-tormentings, +and faithless terrors, and blasphemings of God by fancying Him the very +opposite to what He has declared Himself, we shall get no peace of conscience, +no deliverance from sins, or from the fear of punishment, but only a +fearful and fiery looking forward to judgment, which is hell. +That is superstition; hell on earth; when men have so utterly forgotten +the likeness of God, which He manifested in His Son Jesus Christ, that +they look on Him as a stern and dreadful taskmaster, a tyrant, and not +a deliverer. Hell on earth, which may and must lead to hell hereafter; +a hell of fear, and doubt, and hatred of Him who is all lovely; the +hell whereof it is written, that its worst torment is being cast out +from the sight of God: unless the hapless sinner opens his eye and believes +the covenant of his baptism, and sees that God cannot lie, God cannot +change, cannot break His covenant, cannot alter His love; that though +he have left his Father’s house, and wandered into far countries, +and wasted his Father’s substance in riotous living, he is still +his Father’s son, his Father’s house is still where it was +from the beginning, his Father’s heart still what it was from +the beginning; and so arises and goes back to his Father’s house, +confessing that he is no more worthy to be called His son, willing to +be only as one of His hired servants; and then—sees not the stern +countenance, the cruel punishments which he dreaded: but—“While +he was yet afar off, his Father saw him, and ran, and fell on his neck, +and kissed him!”</p> +<p>And if, in our sins, our only hope of comfort, and peace, and strength, +lies in remembering our baptismal covenant, and being sure and certain +that though we have changed, God has not; that though we are dark, God’s +love shines bright and clear for ever, how much more when the dark day +of affliction comes? Why should I speak of this and that affliction? +Each heart knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each +man’s life has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all his +joys seem flown away by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and the desire +of his eyes is taken from him, and all his hopes and plans, all which +he intended to do or to enjoy, are hid with blinding mist, so that he +cannot see his way before him, and knows not whither to go, and whither +to flee for help; when faith in God seems broken up for the moment, +when he feels no strength, no will, no purpose, and knows not what to +determine, what to do, what to believe, what to care for; when the very +earth seems reeling under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are +broken up: then let him think of God’s covenant, and take heart; +let him think of his baptism, and be at peace. Is the sun’s +warmth perished out of the sky, because the storm is cold with hail +and bitter winds? Is God’s love changed, because we cannot +feel it in our trouble? Is the sun’s light perished out +of the sky, because the world is black with cloud and mist? Has +God forgotten to give light to suffering souls, because we cannot see +our way for a few short days of perplexity?</p> +<p>For this is the gospel, this is the message which we have received +from God, to preach to every sad and desolate heart on earth, that God +is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. That God is love, +and in Him there is no cruelty at all. That God is one, and in +Him there is no change at all. And therefore, we all, the most +ignorant of us as well as the wisest, the most sinful of us as well +as the holiest, the saddest and most wretched of us as well as the happiest, +have a right to join in that Litany which is offered up here thrice +every week during the time of Lent, and to call upon God to deliver +us and all mankind, not merely because we wish to be delivered from +evil, but because God wishes to deliver us from evil. If we pray +that Litany in any dark dread of God, in doubt of His love and goodwill +towards us, like terrified slaves crying out to a hard taskmaster, and +entreating him not to torment them, we do not pray that Litany aright; +we do not pray it at all. For it asks God not to leave us alone, +but to come to us; not to stop punishing us, but actually Himself to +deliver us, to defend us, to set us free. Therefore it begins +by calling on God the Father, because He is our Father; on God the Son, +because He has already redeemed and bought us for His own; on God the +Holy Spirit, because He has been striving with our wilful hearts from +our youth up till now, lovingly desiring to teach us, to change us, +to sanctify us. Therefore it calls on the holy, blessed, and glorious +Trinity, three Persons and one God, because the Son does not love us +better than the Father does, or than the Holy Spirit does, but in the +life and death of the Man Christ Jesus, whom we call on to deliver us +by His birth, His baptism, His death, His resurrection, by all that +His manhood did and suffered here on earth, in His life and death, I +say, were shown forth bodily the glory, and condescension, and love, +and goodwill of the fulness of the Godhead, of all three Persons of +the one and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Therefore +we may pray boldly to Him to spare us, because we know that we are already +His people, already redeemed with his most precious blood, already declared +by holy baptism to be bound to Him in an everlasting covenant. +Therefore we may pray boldly to Him not to be angry with us for ever, +because we know that He desires to bless us for ever, if we will only +let Him; if we will only let His love have free course, and not shut +our hearts to it, and turn our backs upon it. Therefore we can +ask Him to deliver us in all time of our tribulation and misery; in +all time of the still more dangerous temptations which wealth and prosperity +bring with them; in the hour of death, whether of our own death or the +death of those we love; in the day of judgment, whereof it is written: +“It is God who justifieth us, who is he that condemneth? +It is Christ who died, yea rather who is risen again, who even now maketh +intercession for us.” To that boundless love of God which +He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that utter and perfect +will to deliver us, which God showed forth in the death of Christ Jesus, +when the Father spared not His only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him +for us; to that boundless love we may trust ourselves, our fortunes, +our families, our bodies, our souls, the souls of those we love. +Trusting in that great love, we may pray in that Litany for deliverance; +to be delivered from distress and accidents, from all sins which drag +us down, and make us miserable, ashamed, confused, terrified, selfish, +hateful, and hating each other. We may pray to be delivered from +evil, because God is righteousness, and hates evil. We may pray +to be delivered from our sins, because God is righteousness, and hates +our sins. We may pray for the Queen, her ministers, her parliament, +because God’s love and care is over them; for all orders and ranks +of men, whether laymen or clergymen, high or low, in God’s holy +church; for all who are afflicted and desolate; for all who are wandering +in ignorance, and mistakes, and sin; ay, for all mankind, for God loves +them all, the Son of God has bought them all with His most precious +blood. And however dark, and sad, and sinful the world may seem +around us; however dark, and sad, and sinful our own hearts may be within +us, we may find comfort in that Litany, and pour out in it our sorrows +and our fears, if we begin only as it begins, with the thought of God +who is righteousness, God who is love, God who is the Deliverer. +And then, as the rainbow reflects the sunbeams for a sign and token +that the sun is shining, though we see it not; so will that blessed +Litany, with its sacred name of God, its calls to Him who was born of +the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate; its entreaties +to God to deliver us, because He is a deliverer; to hear us, and send +us good, because He is a good Lord Himself; its remembrances of the +noble works which God did in our fathers’ days, and in the old +time before them; its noble declaration that God does not despise the +sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of a humble spirit, and +that it is the very glory of His name to turn from us those evils which +we most justly have deserved—that Litany, I say, will be like +a rainbow declaring to our dark and stormy hearts that the sun is shining +still above the clouds; that over and above us, and all mankind, and +all the changes and chances of this mortal life, is the still bright +sunshine, the life-giving warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, the absolute +eternal love of our Father who is in heaven, who, as he has declared +by the mouth of His only-begotten Son, is perfect in this, that He does +not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities, +but is good to the unthankful and the evil, sending His rain alike upon +the just and on the unjust, and making His sun to shine alike upon the +evil and the good.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLIII—THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, +justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed +on in the world, received up into glory.—1 TIMOTHY iii. 16.</p> +<p>St. Paul here sums up in one verse the whole of Christian truth. +He gives us in a few words what he says is the great mystery of godliness.</p> +<p>Now, men had been inventing for themselves all kinds of mysteries +of godliness; all sorts of mysterious and wonderful notions about God; +all sorts of mysterious and strange ceremonies, and ways of pleasing +God, or turning away His anger.</p> +<p>And Christian men are apt to do so also, as well as those old heathens. +They feel that they are very mysterious and wonderful beings themselves, +simply because they are men. They say to themselves: “How +strange that I should have a body of flesh and blood, and appetites +and passions, like the animals, and yet that I should have an immortal +spirit in me. How strange this notion of duty which I have, and +which the other animals have not; this notion of its being right to +do some things, and wrong to do others! From whence did that notion +come? And again, this strange notion which I have, and cannot +help having, that I ought to be like God: and yet I do not know what +God is like. From whence did that notion come?”</p> +<p>Again: “I fancy that God ought to be good. But how do +I know that He really is good? I see the world full of injustice, +and misery, and death. How do I know that this is not God’s +doing, God’s fault in some way?”</p> +<p>Again, says a man to himself: “I have a fair right to believe +that mankind are not the only persons in the universe—that there +are other beings beside God whom I cannot see. I call them angels. +I hardly know what I mean by that. The really important question +about them to me is: Will they do me harm? Can they do me good? +Are they stronger than I?—Ought I not to fear them, to try to +please them, to keep them favourable to me?”</p> +<p>Again, he asks: “Does God care whether I know what is right? +Does God care to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that +I should do my duty? For if He does not care about my being good, +why should I care about it?”</p> +<p>Again, he asks: “But if I knew my duty, might I not find it +something too far-fetched, too difficult, for poor simple folk to do: +so that I should be forced to leave a right life to great scholars, +and to rich people, or to people of a very devout delicate temper of +mind, who have a natural turn that way?”</p> +<p>And last of all: “Even if I did struggle to do right; even +if I gave up everything for the sake of doing right; how do I know that +it will profit me to do so? I shall die as every man dies, and +then what will become of me? Shall I be a man still, or only—horrible +thought!—some sort of empty ghost, a spirit without body, of which +I dream, and shudder while I dream of it?”</p> +<p>Men in all ages, heathens and Christians, have been puzzled by such +thoughts as these, as soon as they began to feel that there was a world +which they could not see, as well as a world which they could see; a +spiritual world, wherein God the Spirit, and their own spirits, and +spiritual things, such as right, wrong, duty, reason, love, dwell for +ever; and a strange hidden duty on all men to obey that unseen God, +and the laws of that spiritual world; in short a mystery of godliness.</p> +<p>Then they have tried to answer these questions for themselves; and +have run thereby into all manner of follies and superstitions, and often, +too, into devilish cruelties, in the hope of pleasing God according +to some mystery of godliness of their own invention.</p> +<p>But to each of these puzzles St. Paul gives an answer in the text. +Let us take them each in its order, and you will see what I mean.</p> +<p>The first puzzle was: How is it that while I am like the animals +in some things, and yet feel as if I ought to be, and can be, like God +in other things? How is it that I feel two powers in me; one dragging +me downward to make me lower than the beasts, the other lifting me upwards—I +dare not think whither? It seems to me to be my body, my bodily +appetites and tempers which drag me down. Is my body me, part +of me, or a thing I should be ashamed of, and long to be rid of? +I fancy that I can be like God. But can my body be like God? +Must I not crush it, neglect it, get rid of it before I can follow the +good instinct which draws me upward?</p> +<p>To which St. Paul told Timothy to answer: God was manifest in the +flesh. God sent down His only-begotten Son, co-equal and co-eternal +with Himself, very God of very God, the very same person who had been +putting into men’s minds those two notions of which we spoke, +that there is a right and a wrong, and that men ought to be like God; +Him the Father sent into the world that He might be born, and live, +and die, and rise again, as a man; that so men might see from His example, +manifestly and plainly, what God was like, and what man ought to be +like. And so Jesus Christ was God, manifested in the flesh.</p> +<p>Now we do know what God is like. We know that He is so like +man, that He can take upon Him man’s flesh and blood without changing, +or lowering, or defiling Himself. That proves that man must have +been originally made in God’s likeness; that man’s being +fallen, means man’s falling from the likeness of God, and taking +up instead with the likeness of the brutes which perish; that the fault +cannot be in our bodies, but in our spirits which have yielded to our +bodies, and become their slaves instead of their masters, as Christ’s +Spirit was master of His body. But the Son of God, by being born +and living as a man, showed us that we are not fallen past hope, not +fallen so low that we cannot rise again. He showed that though +mankind are sinful, yet they need not be sinful; for He was a man as +exactly, and perfectly, and entirely as we are, and yet in Him was no +sin. So He showed that brutishness and sinfulness is not our proper +state, but our disease and our fall; and a disease of which we can be +cured, a fall out of which we can rise and be renewed into the true +and real pattern of mankind, the new Adam, Jesus the sinless Son of +Man and Son of God.</p> +<p>The next question, I said, that rose in men’s mind was: “How +do I know that God is good, as I fancy sometimes that He must be? +I see the world full of sin, and injustice, and misery, and death. +Perhaps that is God’s doing, God’s fault.” That +is a common puzzle enough, and a sad and fearful one. The sin +and the misery and the death are here. If God did not bring it +here, yet why did He let it come here? He could have stopped if +He would, and kept out all this wretchedness: why did He not? +Was He just or loving in letting sin into the world?</p> +<p>To all which St. Paul answers: “God was justified in the Spirit.”</p> +<p>You do not see what that has to do with it? Then let me show +you.</p> +<p>To be justified means to be shown and proved to be just, righteous. +Now what justified God to man was the Spirit of God, as He showed Himself +in the Lord Jesus Christ. For when God became man and dwelt among +men, what sort of works were His? What was His conduct, His character; +of what sort of spirit did He show Himself to be? He went, we +read, doing good, for God was with Him. Not of His own will, but +to do His Father’s will, and because He was filled without measure +by the Spirit of God, He did good, He healed the sick, He rebuked the +proud and self-conceited hypocrite, He proclaimed pardon and mercy to +the broken-hearted sinner, wearied and worn out by the burden of his +sins. Thus, in every action of His life, He was fighting against +evil and misery, and conquering it; and so showing that God hates evil +and misery, and that the evil and the misery in the world are here against +God’s will. Strange as it may seem to have to say it, so +it is. Jesus Christ showed that howsoever sin and sorrow came +into the world, it is God’s will and purpose to root them out +of the world, and that He is righteous, He is loving, He is merciful, +He does and will fight against evil, for those who are crushed by it; +and help poor sufferers always when they call upon Him, and often, often, +of His most undeserved condescension and free grace, when they are forgetting +and disobeying Him. And so by the good, and loving, and just spirit +which Jesus showed, God was justified before men, and showed to be a +God of goodness and justice.</p> +<p>The next puzzle, I said, was about angels and spirits, whether we +need to pray to them to help us, and not to hurt us. St. Paul +answers: God, when He was manifested in the flesh of a man, was seen +by these angels. And that is enough for us. They saw the +Lord God condescend to be born in a stable, to live as a poor man, to +die on the cross. They saw that His will to man was love. +And they do His will. And therefore they love men, they help men, +they minister to men, because they follow the Lord’s example, +and do the will of their Father in Heaven, even as we ought to do it +on earth. Therefore we have no need to fear them, for they love +us already. And, on the other hand, we have no need to pray to +them to help us, for they know already that it is their duty to help +us. They know that the Son of God has put on us a higher honour +than He ever put on them; for He took not on Him the nature of angels, +He took on Him the nature of man; and thus, though man was made a little +lower than the angels, yet by Christ’s taking man’s nature, +man is crowned with a glory and honour higher than the angels. +Know ye not, says St. Paul, that we shall judge angels? And the +angels, as they told St. John, are our fellow-servants, not our masters; +and they know that; for they saw the Son of God doing utterly His Father’s +will, and therefore they know that their duty is to do their Father’s +will also; not to do their own wills, and set themselves up as our masters, +to be pleaded with by us. They saw the Son of God take our nature +on Him, when they sang to the shepherds on the first Christmas night: +“Peace on earth, and good-will toward men;” and therefore +they look on us with love and honour, because we wear the human nature +which Christ their Master wore, and are partakers of the Holy Spirit +of God, even as they are. For no angel or archangel could do a +right thing, any more than we, except by the Holy Spirit of God. +And that Holy Spirit is bestowed on the poorest man who asks for it, +as freely as upon the highest of the heavenly host.</p> +<p>And this leads us on to the next puzzle of which I spoke: Men were +apt, and are apt now, to say to themselves: Does God care whether I +know what is right? Does God care to teach me about Himself? +Is God desirous that I should do my duty? For if He does not care +about my being good, why should I care about it?</p> +<p>To this St. Paul answers: “God, who was manifest in the flesh, +was preached to the Gentiles.”</p> +<p>God does care that men should know about God; for He loves them. +He yearns after them as a father after his children, and He knows that +to know God, to know the truth about God, is the beginning of all wisdom, +the root of all safety and honour and happiness. He willeth not +that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of +the truth. And, therefore, when the Son of God died for our sins, +He did not stop at that great deed of love; but He ordained Apostles, +and put upon them especially and above all men, His Holy Spirit, that +they might go and preach to all nations the good news that God had become +flesh, and dwelt among men, and borne their sorrows and infirmities, +and to baptize them into the very name of God itself, into the name +of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; that so, instead +of fancying now that God did not care for them, they might be sure that +God so longed to teach them, that He called every child, even from its +cradle, to come into His kingdom, and be taught the whole mystery of +godliness.</p> +<p>The next puzzle I mentioned was: “But this right life, this +mystery of godliness, is it not something very strange and difficult, +and past the understanding of simple men who are not extraordinarily +clever and learned scholars or deep philosophers?” To that +St. Paul answers: No. It is not past any man. It is not +too deep or too difficult for the simplest, the most unlearned countryman. +For, says St. Paul in the text, we Apostles have had proof of that; +we have tried it; we Apostles preached the mystery of godliness, and +it was believed on in the world. People of the world, plain working +men and women going about their worldly business, who had no time to +be great readers, or great thinkers, or to shut themselves up in monasteries +to meditate on heavenly things, but had to live and work in the commonplace, +busy, workday world—they believed our message. We Apostles +told them that the Son of God had showed Himself in the likeness of +man, and called on every man to repent, and to be such a man as He was. +And worldly people believed us, and tried, and found that without giving +up their worldly work, or deserting the station in which God had put +them, they could live godlike lives, and become the sons of God without +rebuke. They saw that scholarship was not wanted, leisure was +not wanted, but only the humble heart which hungers and thirsts after +righteousness. About their daily work, by their cottage firesides, +among their poor neighbours, the Spirit of Almighty God gave them strength +to live as Jesus their pattern lived; He filled them with all holy, +pure, noble, brave, loving thoughts and feelings, fit for angels and +archangels. He enabled them to rise out of their sins, to trample +their temptations under foot, to leave their old low brutish sinful +way of life behind them, and become new men, and persevere in every +word, and thought, and action, in virtues such as the greatest heathen +sages could not copy; ay, even to shed their life-blood freely and boldly +in martyrdom, for the sake of God and the truth of God. They, +these plain simple people, living in the world, could still live the +life of God, and die like heroes for the sake of God.</p> +<p>And this again brings us to the last puzzle of which I spoke: “But +what became of those holy and godlike people when they died? What +reward did they receive for all they had done, and given up, and suffered? +What will become of us after we die? What will the next world +be like? What is heaven like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? +Shall I be a man there, or only a ghost, a spirit without a body?”</p> +<p>To this St. Paul answers: That Christ, the Son of God, after He was +manifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. He does not +tell us what heaven is like; for though he had been caught up into the +third heaven, yet what he saw there, he says, was unspeakable. +He neither ought to tell, or could tell, what he saw. Neither +does St. Paul tell us what the next life will be like; for as far as +we can find, God had not told him. All he says is: The man Christ +Jesus, who walked this earth like other men, was received up into glory; +and He did not leave His man’s mind, His man’s heart, even +His man’s body, behind Him. He carried up into heaven with +Him His whole manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even to the print of +the nails in His hands and in His most holy feet, and the wound of the +spear in His most holy side. And that is enough for us. +Because the man Christ Jesus is in heaven, we as men may ascend to heaven. +Where He is we shall be. And what He is, in as far as He is man, +we shall be. What we shall be we know not; but this we know, that +we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And He is +a man still; for it is written: “There is one Mediator between +God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” And He will be a man +at the day of judgment; for it is written that: “God hath ordained +a day in which He will judge the world by a man whom He hath chosen.” +And He will be a man for ever; for it is written: “This man abideth +for ever.” And He Himself said to His disciples: “I +will not drink of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it new with you +in the kingdom of my Father.” And again He declared, even +when he was on earth, that He was the Son of Man who is in heaven. +And in heaven nothing can grow less. But if Christ were not man +for ever as well as God, He would become less; for He is now God and +man also at once; but if He laid down His manhood, and so became not +man any more, but God only, He would become less, which is not to be +believed of Him of whom it is written: That Jesus Christ is the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For, as the Athanasian creed +teaches us, He is not God alone, nor man alone, but God and man is one +Christ; and therefore, when St. John declares that Christ shall reign +for ever and ever, he declares that He shall reign not only as God, +but as man also. Therefore whatever we do not know about the next +life, we know this, that we shall be men there; not sinful, weak, and +mortal, as we are here, but holy, strong, immortal, after the likeness +of our Lord, the firstborn from the dead, who has ascended up on high +and raised our human nature to the heaven of heavens, and is gone to +prepare a place for us, into which we too shall enter in that day when +He shall change these mortal and fallen bodies which we now wear, the +bodies of our humiliation, the bodies by wearing which we are now a +little lower than the angels; them the Lord will change, that they may +be made like unto His glorious body, according to the mighty working +whereby He subdueth all things unto Himself, that we may see Him face +to face, and dwell with Him in the glory of God the Father for ever.</p> +<p>Oh my friends, who is sufficient for these things? What shall +we say of man? Is he not indeed fearfully and wonderfully made? +Here we are, weak creatures, more liable to disease and death than the +dumb beasts round us; full of poverty, and adversity, and longings which +are never satisfied; our minds full of mistakes, our hearts full of +false conceit, full of spite and folly, struggles, murmurings, quarrellings; +our consciences full of the remembrance of sins without number. +The greatest of all heathen poets said, that there was not a more miserable +and pitiable animal upon the earth than man. He knew no better. +He could not know better. How could he, when God had not yet been +manifest in the flesh? How could he dream that the Lord God would +condescend to be made flesh, and dwell among us, and show man His glory, +the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth—how +could he dream that? And more than all, how could he dream that +God, instead of throwing away our human nature when He rose again, as +if it was too great a degradation for Him to be a man one moment more, +should condescend to take up His human nature, His man’s body, +soul, and spirit, with Him into everlasting glory, that He might feed +with it for ever the bodies and souls of those who trust in Him, so +as to make them fit for us at the last day, to share in His everlasting +life? The old heathen poet knew as well as you or I that there +was an everlasting life beyond the grave; that men’s souls were +immortal, and could not die: but the thought of it was all dark, and +dreary, and uncertain to him and to all mankind, till the Son of God +brought life and immortality to light, when He was manifest in the flesh.</p> +<p>Wonderful mystery of godliness! Wonderful love of God to man! +Wonderful condescension of God to man! Still more wonderful patience +of God to man!</p> +<p>Oh you who live still in sin, when the Son of God died and rose again +to make you righteous; you who defile your bodies with sins worse than +the brutes, when the Son of God offers to raise those bodies of yours +to be equal with the angels; how shall you escape if you neglect so +great salvation; if you despise this unspeakable love; if you trample +under foot, like swine, the everlasting glory and happiness which God +offers you freely, without fee or price, for the sake of His only-begotten +Son, Jesus Christ, who died to buy them for you?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLIV—THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I +depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will +reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of +sin, because they believe not on me: of righteousness, because I go +to my Father, and ye see me no more: of judgment, because the prince +of this world is judged.—JOHN xvi. 7-11.</p> +<p>I no not pretend to be able to explain to you the whole meaning of +this text, or even more than a very small part of it. For it speaks +of God; of God the Holy Spirit. And God is boundless; and, therefore, +every text which speaks of God is boundless too, as God is. No +man can ever see the whole meaning of it, or do more than understand +dimly a little of its truth. But what we can see, we must think +over and make use of. What can we see, now, from this text? +First, we may see that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, +is a person. Not a mere thing, or a state of our own hearts, or +a feeling in us, or a power, like the powers and laws by which the trees +and plants grow, and the sun and moon move in their courses; but a person, +just as each of us is a person. He, the Holy Spirit, gives life +to trees and plants, sun and moon: but He is not their life. He +gives them their life; and, therefore, that life of theirs is not He, +or He could not give it; for you can only give something which is not +you.</p> +<p>The Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit, not as it, but as He; as +a person, and not as a thing; as a person who can speak to men’s +souls, guide and teach them.</p> +<p>“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into +all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself.”</p> +<p>But we may see also that the Holy Spirit is neither God the Father, +nor the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord speaks of Him, the Holy +Spirit, as a different person either from Him or from the Father. +“The Spirit,” He says, “shall glorify me; for He shall +receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.”</p> +<p>But we may see also that there is no difference in will, or opinion, +or love, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Son. For +the Spirit does not speak of Himself; there is no self-will in Him. +There is not one will of the Father, and another of the Son, and another +of the Holy Ghost; or, one love of the Father, another love of the Son, +and another of the Holy Ghost; or, one righteousness of the Father, +another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost: or, one mercy and grace +of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost. +For then there would be three Gods and three Lords; and the substance +of God would be divided. But they have all one will, and one love, +and one righteousness, and one mercy. And such as the Father is, +such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p>And remember always, that the Holy Spirit is very and indeed God. +For He is the Spirit of holiness itself, of righteousness itself, of +goodness itself, of love itself, of truth itself; and, therefore, He +is the Spirit of God, who is the perfect holiness, and righteousness, +and truth, and love. All other holiness, and righteousness, and +truth, and love, are only pictures and patterns of God, just as the +sun’s reflection in water, or in a glass, is a picture and pattern +of the sun. As the Epistle for to-day tells us: “Every good +gift and every perfect is from above, and cometh down from the Father +of lights.”</p> +<p>But the Spirit of God must be God. For else what do the words +mean? Is not the spirit of a man, a man? Is not your spirit, +what you call your soul, you? Is not your soul you, just as much +as your body is you; ay, a hundred times more? Just so, the Spirit +of God is God, God Himself; and the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, +of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.</p> +<p>This, then, is the glorious promise made to you, and to me, and to +all who believe and are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, +and the Holy Spirit; that that Spirit will come to us, and take charge +of our spirits, and work in them, and teach them. We cannot see +Him with our eyes, or hear Him with our ears; we cannot even feel Him +at work in our hearts and thoughts. For He is a Spirit; and His +likeness, the thing in this world which is a pattern of Him, is the +wind; as indeed the name Spirit means. You cannot see the wind, +you cannot even really feel the wind or hear it: you only know it by +its effects, by what it does: by the noise among the branches, the force +against your faces, the bending boughs, and flying dust. The Spirit +bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst +not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; even so is every one +who is born of the Spirit. On him the Spirit of God will work +unseen, and unfelt, only to be discovered by the change which He makes +in the man’s heart and thoughts; and first by the way in which +He convinces him of sin, because men believe not on Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>The Holy Spirit shows men that the sins of the world, the sin of +all sins, the sin which is the root of all other sins, is not believing +on the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was because they would not believe +on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they had been falling into every other +sort of sin.</p> +<p>But you may say: “How could they believe on Him before He came, +and was born in Judæa of the Virgin Mary? How could they +believe on Him when He was not there?” Ah! my friends, who +told you that the Lord Jesus Christ was not there in the world all along? +Not the Bible, certainly. For the Bible tells us that He is the +Light who lights every man who cometh into the world; that from Him +came, and have come, all the right thoughts and feelings which ever +arose in the heart of every human being. The Bible tells us that +when God created the world, He was daily rejoicing in the habitable +parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men. +The Bible tells us that He was in the world, and the world knew Him +not; that all along, through the dark times of heathendom, the Lord +Jesus Christ was a light shining in darkness, which the darkness could +not close round, and hide and quench.</p> +<p>Not merely to the Jews, but to all heathens who hungered and thirsted +after righteousness, did the Lord Jesus show something of His truth; +as it is written, God is no acceptor of persons; that is, no shower +of partiality, or unjust favour: but in every nation, he that feareth +God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.</p> +<p>But at the time that the Lord Jesus sent down His Holy Spirit, men +were not working righteousness. There was not one who did good, +no not one. For men had forgotten what righteousness was like, +what a righteous man ought to do and be. Men are ready to forget +it every day. You and I are ready to forget it, and invent some +false righteousness of our own, not like Jesus Christ, but like what +we in our private fancies think is most graceful, or most agreeable, +or most easy; or most grand, and far-fetched, and difficult. But +the Holy Spirit came to convince men of righteousness; to show them +what true righteousness was like.</p> +<p>And how? In the same way that He must convince us of righteousness, +if we are ever to know what righteousness is, or are ever to be righteous +ourselves. He must show us goodness; or we shall never see it, +or receive it, or copy it.</p> +<p>And where is this righteousness, this perfect goodness of which the +Holy Spirit will convince us? Where, but in the Lord Jesus Christ? +In the Lord Jesus’s character, the Lord Jesus’s good works; +His love, His patience, His perfect obedience, His life, His death. +The Holy Spirit, if we give up our hearts to be taught by Him, will +make us believe, and be sure, and feel in our very inmost hearts, how +noble, how beautiful, how holy, how perfectly Godlike, was He who was +born of a poor virgin, who walked this earth for thirty-three years +in toil and sorrow, who gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks +to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not His face from shame and +spitting, who died upon a cross between two thieves. And the Holy +Spirit will convince us of righteousness, by making us feel what the +Lord Jesus’s righteousness consisted in; what was the root of +all His goodness and holiness, namely His perfect obedience to His Father +and our Father in heaven. That is the righteousness, which is +not our own, but God’s; the righteousness which comes by faith; +not to trust in ourselves, but in God; not to please ourselves, but +God; not to do our own will, but God’s will. That is the +righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God set His seal on and approved, +when He exalted Him far above all principality and powers, and set Him +at His own right hand for a sign to all men, and angels, and archangels; +that righteousness means to trust and to obey God even to the death.</p> +<p>3. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.</p> +<p>This may seem a puzzling speech at first. We shall understand +it best, I think, by considering who the prince of this world was in +our Lord’s time, and what he was like. A little before our +Lord’s time the Roman emperor had conquered almost the whole world +which was then known, and kept all nations in slavery, careless about +their doing right, provided they obeyed him and paid him tribute; nay, +forcing them and tempting them into all brutal and foul sin and ignorance, +that he might keep up his own power over man.</p> +<p>But now the Lord of all the earth, and the Prince of men’s +hearts and thoughts, was come to visit that poor enslaved and sinful +world. He came; the princes of this world knew Him not, and crucified +the Lord of Glory. They crucified the righteous and the just One; +and so they were judged. They judged themselves; they condemned +themselves. For they showed that what they admired and what they +wanted was not righteousness and love, but wealth and power. They +showed that no doing of good, no healing of the sick, or giving of sight +to the blind, or preaching the gospel to the poor, no holiness, no love, +not the perfect likeness of God’s own goodness, which shone forth +in the spotless Jesus, was anything to them; was any reason why they +should not put Him to death with the most cruel torments, because they +were afraid of His taking away their power. He said He was a King; +and therefore they crucified Him, lest His kingdom should interfere +with theirs; and for the same reason these same Roman emperors and their +magistrates, for hundreds of years afterwards, persecuted the Christians, +and hunted them down like wild beasts, and put them to death by all +horrible tortures, for the same reason that Cain slew Abel; became his +brother’s deeds were righteous, and his own wicked.</p> +<p>So these Roman emperors, and their magistrates and generals were +judged. They had shown what was in their evil hearts. They +had been tried in God’s balances, and found wanting. The +sentence of the Lord God had gone forth against them. The man +Christ Jesus, whom they rejected, God accepted, and raised to His own +right hand. They crucified Him; but God gave Him all power in +heaven and earth: and the Lord Jesus used His power; yea, and uses it +still. He gave His saints and martyrs strength to defy those Roman +tyrants, and to witness to all the earth that the righteous Son of God +was the King of heaven and earth, and that the princes of this world, +who wished to break His yoke off their necks, and crush all nations +to powder for their own pleasure, and fatten themselves upon the plunder +of all the earth, would surely come to naught, as it is written in the +second Psalm: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the +rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed. +Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou shalt break +them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s +vessel.”</p> +<p>And they did come to naught. That great Roman empire rotted +away miserably after years of such distress as had never been seen on +the earth before; and the emperors came, one after another, to shameful +or dreadful deaths. And all the while the gospel spread, and the +Church grew, till all the kingdoms of the Roman empire had become the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working +in men’s hearts, and showing them, as our Lord said He would, +that Jesus of Nazareth was both Lord and King. And so was fulfilled +the Lord’s words in the gospel for to-day: “The Holy Spirit +shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto +you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said +I that He should take of mine, and show it unto you.”</p> +<p>Oh my friends, pray for yourselves, and join me while I pray for +you, that the holy and righteous Spirit of God may convince you, and +me, and all mankind, more and more, day by day, of sin, of righteousness, +and of judgment.</p> +<p>Pray to that Holy Spirit to convince you of sin day by day, whensoever +you do the least wrong thing. Pray to Him to keep your consciences +tender and quick, that you may feel instantly, and lament deeply, every +wrong thing you do.</p> +<p>Pray to Him to give you, every time you do wrong, that godly sorrow +which brings peace and health, that heart-repentance never to be repented +of. Pray to Him to convince you more and more, as you grow older, +that all sin comes from not believing in Jesus Christ, not believing +that He is near you, with you, in you, putting into your hearts all +right thoughts and good desires, and willing, if you will, to help you +to put those thoughts and desires into good practice.</p> +<p>Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of righteousness; +to make you see what righteousness is; that it is the very character +and likeness of God the Father, because it is the character and likeness +of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the brightness of the Father’s +glory, and the express image of His person. Pray to Him to make +you see the beauty of holiness: how fair, and noble, and glorious a +thing goodness is; how truly Solomon says: “that all the things +that may be desired are not to be compared to it.”</p> +<p>Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of judgment, +and to make you sure that the Lord is King, a righteous Judge, of purer +eyes than to behold iniquity, whose fan is in His hand, who thoroughly +purges His floor, who comes quickly, and His reward is with Him, and +who surely casts out of His kingdom, sooner or later, all things that +offend, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Pray to Him to +make you sure by faith, though you cannot see it, that the prince of +this world is judged; that evil doing, oppression, tyranny, injustice, +cheating, neglect of man by man, cannot and will not prosper upon the +face of God’s earth; for the everlasting sentence and wrath of +God is revealed forth every moment against all unrighteousness of men, +which He will surely punish, yea, and does hourly punish by Him by whom +He judges the world, Jesus Christ, the Lord, who is exalted high above +all principalities and powers, and has all power given to Him in heaven +and earth, which He uses, as He used it in Judæa of old, utterly +and always for the good of all mankind, whom He hath redeemed with His +most precious blood.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLV—THE GOSPEL</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached +unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which +also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless +ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of all that +which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to +the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third +day according to the scriptures.—1 CORINTHIANS xv. 1-4.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s account of the gospel; the good news which +he preached to the sinful and profligate Corinthians, when they were +sunk lower than the beasts which perish. And because they believed +this good news, he said, they were saved then and there, and would be +safe only as long as they believed that good news, and kept it in their +memories. Now, from what did this good news save them? From +their sins. There was something in St. Paul’s good news +which made them hate their sins, and repent of them, and throw them +away, and rise up to be new men and women, living new lives in godliness +and purity and justice, such as they had never lived before. Now +mind, it was not bad news which made the Corinthians repent of their +sins; it was good news. It was not that St. Paul told them that +God was going to cast them into endless torment for their sins, and +that therefore they were terrified and afraid, and so repented. +Doubtless St. Paul told them, as he told other heathens, that the wrath +of God was revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness; that tribulation +and anguish was laid up in store for every soul of man who worketh evil. +But still, St. Paul says plainly here, that what saved the Corinthians +was not that or any other fearful and terrifying news, but a gospel—good +news. And he says that this good news did not merely, as some +would wish it to do, make them comfortable in their minds while they +went on in their old wicked ways. No. He says that it made +them stand. That is, made them upright, strong-minded, righteous, +self-restraining people; and that they were saved by it from those sins +which had been dragging them down, and keeping them diseased in soul, +weak, miserable, the slaves of their own passions and foul pleasures.</p> +<p>What wonderful good news was this, then, which could work so strange +a change in these poor heathens, and how could it change them?</p> +<p>Let us see, first, what it was.</p> +<p>“That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, +and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according +to the scriptures; and that He was seen of Peter, then of the twelve; +after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom +the greater part remained unto this day, but some are fallen asleep. +After that He was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And +last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”</p> +<p>You see here, that St. Paul, for some good reason, says much more +about the Lord’s rising again than even about His most precious +death and passion on the cross, while about His ascending into heaven +he says nothing. And you will find in the New Testament that the +Apostles often did the same. They spoke of the Lord rising again +as if that was the great wonder, the great glory, the great good news; +and as if His most precious death was not perfect without that. +They said that the especial office for which the Lord had ordained them, +was to be witnesses of His resurrection. They said that the Lord +rose again for our justification. They said: “If thou shalt +confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart +that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” +Here again, just as in the text, believing in the Lord’s resurrection +is made the great article of faith. Why is this? Because +that last verse which I quoted may tell us, if we consider it carefully.</p> +<p>What does confessing the Lord Jesus with our mouth mean? It +means what we ought to mean when we say, in the Apostles’ Creed, +I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Not merely, +I believe that there is an only Son of God: but I believe in a certain +man, with a certain character, who is that only Son of God.</p> +<p>And what, you will ask, does that mean?</p> +<p>To know that, I fear, we must go back many many hundred years, to +the times when the old martyrs confessed the Lord Jesus Christ before +the heathen. Those were times in which it was not enough to say +the Apostles’ Creed in church. Men, ay, and tender women, +and little children, had to stand by it through terror and shame, and +to die in torments unspeakable, because they chose to say: “I +believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Now, what was it which +made the heathen hate and persecute and torture, and murder them for +saying that? What was there in those plain words of the Apostles’ +Creed which made the great heathen emperors of Rome, and their officers +and judges hunt the Christians down like wild beasts for 300 years, +and declare that they were not fit to live? I will tell you. +When the Christians were brought before the emperor’s judges for +being Christians, they did not merely say: “I believe that Jesus +Christ’s blood will save my soul after death.” They +said that: but they said a great deal more than that. If that +had been all that the Christians said, the judge would have answered: +“What care I for your souls, or for your notions about what will +happen to them when you are dead? Go your way. You may be +of what religion you like, and talk and think about your own souls as +much as you like, provided you do not trouble the Roman emperor’s +power.” But the heathen judge did not make that answer; +because he knew well enough that what the Christians believed was not +a mere religion about what would happen to their souls after death; +but something which, if it gained ground, would utterly destroy the +Roman emperor’s power. He used generally to say to the Christians +only this: “Will you burn those few grains of incense in honour +of the emperor of Rome?” And he knew, and the Christians +knew well enough, that those words meant: “Will you confess with +your mouth the emperor of Rome? Will you confess that he is the +only lord and king of this whole earth, and of your bodies and souls, +and that there is no power or authority but of him, for the gods have +delivered all things into his hands?” And then came out +what confessing the Lord Jesus really means. For the Christians +used to answer: “No. The emperor of Rome is the lord and +master of our bodies, and we will obey his laws so far as we can without +doing wrong: but we cannot obey them when they are contrary to the laws +of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ, +who was crucified and rose again the third day, He, and not the emperor +of Rome at all, is the Lord and King of the whole earth, and of our +bodies and souls; and we must obey Him before we obey anyone else. +Power and authority come not from the emperor of Rome, but from the +Lord Jesus Christ; and the emperor is only His servant and steward, +and must obey Him just as much as we, or the Lord will punish him as +surely and easily as He will the meanest slave. For God has delivered +all things, and the emperor of Rome among the rest, into the hand of +His Son Jesus Christ, who sits a King over all, God blessed for ever.” +That was confessing Christ.</p> +<p>And to that the heathen judges used to make but one answer—for +there was but one to make. Those heathen judges’ guilty +consciences, as well as their worldly cunning, told them plainly enough +exactly what St. Paul told the Christians; that those Christians, by +confessing Christ, were not fighting against flesh and blood, and setting +up their selfish interests against other people’s selfish interests: +but that the battle they were fighting was a much deeper and more terrible +one; that by saying that One who had walked the earth as a poor man, +and yet a perfectly righteous and loving man, doing nothing but good, +and sacrificing Himself utterly for poor fallen creatures, they were +fighting against the whole state of things all over the world; against +the government, and principles, and religion of that whole unjust and +tyrannical Roman empire, and all its rulers, and generals, and judges; +against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of +the darkness of those times; against spiritual wickedness in heavenly +things. For if Jesus Christ’s life was the right life, those +rulers must be utterly wrong; for it was exactly opposite to His.</p> +<p>If Jesus Christ was really the Governor of the earth, there was no +hope for them; for their way of governing was exactly opposite to His. +So as I say, they made but one answer; because there was but one to +make: “You say that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of +lords. I say the emperor of Rome is. You say you must obey +Christ first, and the emperor of Rome afterwards. I say that you +must obey the emperor first, and Christ afterwards. At all events, +if you do not, you have no right on this earth of the emperor’s; +either the emperor’s power must fall, or your notion about Jesus +Christ’s power must. And we will see whether your heavenly +King of whom you talk can deliver you out of the emperor’s hand.” +And then came the scourge, and the red-hot iron, and the wild beasts, +and the cross, and all devilish tortures which man’s evil will +could invent, brought to bear without shame or mercy upon aged men, +and tender girls, and even little children, just to make them say that +the earth belonged to the emperor, and not to Jesus Christ. Those +who died bravely under those tortures without denying Christ were called +martyrs, which means witnesses—people who bore witness before +God and man that Jesus Christ was King and Lord. Those who did +not die under the tortures, but escaped after all, were called confessors—people +who had confessed with their mouths that Jesus Christ was King and Lord, +in spite of their terror and agony. . . . That was what confessing +Jesus Christ meant in the old times. And that was what it ought +to mean now, even though there is no persecution or torture for Christians +in these happier times.</p> +<p>And now, we may see perhaps why St. Paul spoke so much of our Lord’s +rising again as the most important part of the gospel.</p> +<p>Because he wanted Christians to believe, not merely in a Christ who +once died, but in Him who died and is alive for evermore; in a Christ +who rose again, body, soul, and spirit, and sat at God’s right +hand, praying for poor creatures when they were tempted, and persecuted, +and tormented for righteousness’ sake. St. Paul knew well +that such fearful times as those of which I have been speaking were +coming on the people to whom he wrote. And he knew equally well +that the only thought which could save them, when the heathen judges +commanded them to deny the Lord Jesus, was the thought that He was really +risen. The only thought which could make them bold enough to face +all the horrors of death, was the thought that the Lord Jesus had not +merely tasted death, but conquered it, and risen again from it. +And therefore it is that St. Paul speaks so often of Christ’s +resurrection, and that in the text he takes so much pains to prove that +Christ had really risen, by telling them how many persons, well known +to him who wrote to them, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ after He rose, +and talked with Him, and were sure that He was the very same person +still, with the same countenance, and body, and soul, and spirit, as +He had when He was nailed to the cross, and laid in the sepulchre.</p> +<p>What a thought for a poor creature in the last agony of fear and +shame, expecting presently to be torn in pieces, or burnt alive: “Death, +this horrible death, cannot conquer me, weak and fearful as I am; for +my Lord and Master, for whom I am going to suffer, has conquered death, +and He will not let it conquer me. He is stronger than death and +hell, and He will not suffer me at my last hour for any pains of death +to fall from Him. He is King of heaven and earth, and He will +take care of His own!” What a comfortable thought to be +able to say: “Ay, I am torn from wife and child, and all which +I love on earth. But not for ever, not for ever. For Christ +rose from the dead. And I who belong to Christ, shall rise as +He did. This poor flesh of mine may be burnt in flames, devoured +by ravenous beasts. What matter? Christ the King of men, +has risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. +That same Spirit of His, which brought back His body from the grave +and hell, will bring our bodies also from the grave and hell, to a nobler, +happier life with Him in glory unspeakable. Christ is risen, and +I shall rise with Him at the last day. Christ sits at God’s +right hand, watching me, pitying me, and blessing me, holding out to +me a crown of glory which shall never fade away!” That was +the thought which gave Stephen courage to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, +amid to die in peace and the murderous blows of the Jews. For +by faith he saw, as he said, the heavens opened, and Jesus sitting at +the right hand of God. He knew that his Lord was risen, and that +He would hear his dying cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”</p> +<p>And so with us, my friends; we have no martyrdom to go through, thank +God; but it is just as true of us as it was of the blessed martyrs and +confessors, that there is no other name under heaven by which we can +be saved but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved; not only +from hell, but from sin, from giving way to temptation, from denying +Christ. Oh, pray for faith. Pray for faith. Pray to +be able really to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Pray +to believe with your hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. +Then when you are tempted to do wrong, you, like Stephen, will see, +not with your bodily eyes, but by faith, the Lord Jesus sitting at God’s +right hand, and be able to say to Him: “Lord Jesus, who hast conquered +all temptation, help me to conquer this. Thine eye is on me; how +can I do this great wickedness and sin against Thee?” When +you are in terror, and trouble, and affliction, and know not where to +turn, that same blessed thought—“Christ is risen from the +dead”—will be a shield and a strength to you which no other +thought can give. “My Lord is risen; He is here still—a +man, with His man’s body, and His man’s spirit—His +man’s love and tenderness; He has taken them all up to heaven +with Him. He is a man still, though He is very God of very God. +He rose from the dead as a man, and therefore He can understand me, +and feel for me still, now, here in England in this very year, 1852, +just as much as He could when He was walking upon earth in Judæa +of old.”</p> +<p>Ay, and in the black jaws of death, when this world is vanishing +from our eyes, and we are going we know not whither, leaving behind +us all we know, and love, and understand; then that thought of all thoughts—“Christ +is risen from the dead”—is the only one which will save +us from dark sad thoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid carelessness, +and the death of a brute beast, such as too many die. “Christ +is risen and I shall rise. Christ has conquered death for Himself, +and He will conquer it for me. Christ took His man’s body +and soul with Him from the tomb to God’s right hand, and He will +raise my man’s body and soul at the last day, that I may be with +Him for ever, and see Him where He is.” In life and in death +this is the only thing which shall save us from sin, from terror, and +from the dread of death; the same good news which St. Paul preached +to the Corinthians; the same good news which made St. Stephen, and the +martyrs and confessors of old brave to endure all misery for the sake +of the good and blessed news, that God had raised His Son Jesus from +the dead.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLVI—GOD’S WAY WITH MAN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you +for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according +to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.—EZEKIEL +xx. 44.</p> +<p>In this chapter the prophet Ezekiel argues with his sinful and rebellious +countrymen, and puts them in mind of all that God has done for them +and with them, from the time when He brought them out of Egypt to that +day.</p> +<p>And now comes the old question, What has this to do with us! +St. Paul tells us that all things which happened to the old Jews happened +for our example. What example can we learn from this chapter?</p> +<p>This, I think, we may learn: Is not the way in which God taught these +Jews the same way in which He teaches many a man—perhaps every +man? Which of us, when we were young, has not had his teaching +from God? The old Catechism which our mothers taught us, was not +that a word from God Himself to us? The voice of conscience, which +made us happy when we had done right, and uneasy and ashamed when we +had gone wrong; was not that a word from God to us? Yes, my friends, +those child’s feelings of ours about right and wrong, were none +other than the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the +Light which lightens every man who comes into the world. I tell +you, every right thought and wish, every longing to be better than you +were, which ever came into any one of your hearts, came from Him, the +Lord Jesus. It was His word, His voice, His Spirit, speaking to +your spirit, just as really as He spoke to His prophet Ezekiel, of whom +we have been reading. Think of that. Recollect, never, never +forget, that all your good thoughts and feelings are not your own, not +your own at all, but the Lord’s; that without His light your hearts +are nothing but darkness, blind ignorance, and blind selfishness, and +blind passions and lusts; that it is He, he Himself, who has been fighting +against the darkness in you all your life long. Oh think, then, +what your sin has been in putting aside those good thoughts and longings! +You were turning your back, you were shutting your doors to the Lord +God Himself, very God of very God begotten, by whom all things were +made. The Creator came to visit His creature, and His creature +shut Him out. The Almighty God pleaded with mortal man, and mortal +man bade God go, and come back at a more convenient season! A +voice in your heart seemed to say: “Oh, if I could but be a better +man! How I wish that I could but give up these bad habits, and +mend! I hate and despise myself for being so bad.” +And then you fancied that that voice was your own voice, that those +good thoughts were your own thoughts. If you had really known +whose they were; if you had really known, as the Bible tells you, that +they were the Word of the Lord, the only-begotten Son of the Father, +speaking to your heart, I hardly think that you would have been so ready +to say yourself: “Well, then, I will mend; but not just now: some +day or other; somehow or other, I hope, I shall be a better man. +It will be time enough to make my peace with God when I am growing old.” +You would not have dared to thrust away the good thoughts, and keep +them waiting, while you took your pleasure in a few more years’ +sin; if you had guessed <i>whom</i> you were thrusting away; if you +had guessed whom you were keeping waiting.</p> +<p>And, my good friends, has not God been saying to us many a time from +our youth up, as He did to the Jews of old: “Do not walk in the +statutes of your fathers, nor defile yourselves with their idols?” +Do you ask me how? Why, thus. Have you never said to yourself: +“How ill my father prospered, because he would do wrong!” +Or, again: “See how evil doing brings its own punishment. +There is so and so growing rich, by his cheating and his covetousness, +and yet, for all his money, I would not change places with him. +God forbid that I should have on my mind what he has on his mind!” +Why should I make a long story of so simple a matter? Which of +us has not felt at times that thought? How much misery has come +in this very parish from the ill-doing of the generation who are gone +to their account, and from the ill-training which they gave their children?</p> +<p>And what was that but the Word of the Lord Himself speaking to our +hearts, and saying to us: “Do not defile yourselves with their +idols; do not hurt your souls by hunting after the things which they +loved better than they loved Me: money, pleasure, drink, fighting, smuggling, +poaching, wantonness, and lust; I am the Lord your God?”</p> +<p>And yet, young people will not listen to that warning voice of God. +They see other people, even their own fathers and mothers, punished +for their sins; perhaps made poor by their sins, perhaps made unhealthy +by their sins, perhaps made miserable and ill-tempered by their sins: +and yet they go and fall into, or rather walk open-eyed into, the very +same sins which made their parents wretched. Oh, how many a young +person sees their home made a complete hell on earth by ungodliness, +and the ill-temper and selfishness which come from ungodliness; and, +then, as soon as they have a home of their own, set to work to make +their own family as miserable as their father’s was before them.</p> +<p>But people say often: “How could we help it? We had no +chance; we were brought up in bad ways; we had a bad example set us; +how can you expect us to be better than our fathers and mothers, and +our elder brothers and sisters? If we had had a fair chance, we +might have been different: but we had none; and we could not help going +the bad way, for we were set in it the day we were born.”</p> +<p>Well, my dear friends, God shall judge you, not I. If little +is given to a man little is required of him. But not nothing at +all; because more than nothing was given him. A little is given +to every man; and, therefore, a little is required of every man. +And so, he who knew not his Master’s will shall be beaten with +few stripes. But he will be beaten with some stripes, because +he ought to have known something, at least of his Master’s will. +If you were dumb animals, which can only follow their own lusts and +passions, and must be what nature has made them, then your excuse would +be good enough; but your excuse is not good now, just because you are +men and women, and not dumb beasts, and, therefore, can rise above your +natures, and conquer your lusts and passions, as they cannot, and can +do what you do not like, because, though you dislike it, you know that +it is right. And, therefore, God does not take that excuse which +sinners make, that they have had no teaching. But what does he +do to them?</p> +<p>Suppose, now, that you had a dog which would not be taught, or broken +in, or cured of biting, or made useful, or bearable in any way, what +would you do to that dog? I suppose that you would kill it; you +would say: “It is an ill-conditioned animal, and there is no making +it any better; so the only thing is to put it out of the way, and not +let it eat food which might be better spent.” Now, does +God deal so with sinners? When young people rush headlong into +sin, and become a nuisance to themselves and their neighbours, does +God kill them at once, that better men may step into their place? +No. And why? Just because they are not dumb animals, which +cannot be made better, but God’s children, who can be made better. +If there were really no hope of a sinner repenting and amending, I think +God would not leave him long alive to cumber the ground. But there +is hope for every one; because God the Father loves all; the loving +heart of the Lord Jesus Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, which +proceeds from the Father and the Son, strives with the hearts of all; +therefore God, in His patience and tender mercy, tries to bring his +foolish children to their senses. And how? Often in the +very same way, in which Ezekiel says He tried to bring the Jews to their +senses, by letting them go on in the road of sin, till they see what +an ugly pit that same road ends in. If your child would not believe +you when you warned and assured him that the fire would burn him, would +it not be the very best way of bringing him to his senses, to tell him: +“Very well; go your own way; put your hand into the fire, and +see what comes of it; you will not believe me; you will believe your +own feelings, when your hand is burnt.” So did the Lord +to those rebellious Jews when they would go after their fathers’ +sins. He gave them statutes which were not good, and judgments +by which they could not live, to the end that they might know that He +was the Lord. God did not make them commit any sins. God +forbid! He only took away His Spirit, His light and teaching, +from them, and let them go on in the light of their own foolish and +bewildered hearts, till their sin bred misery and shame to them, and +they were filled with the fruit of their own devices. Then, after +all their wealth was gone, and their land was wasted by cruel enemies, +and they themselves were carried away captive into Babylon, they began +to awake, and say to themselves: “We were wrong after all, and +the Lord was right. He knew what was really good for us better +than we did. We thought that we could do without Him, disobey +Him. But He is the Lord after all. He has been too strong +for us; He has punished us. If we had listened to His warnings +years ago, we might have been saved all this misery.”</p> +<p>Ah, how many a poor foolish creature, in misery and shame, with a +guilty conscience and a sad heart, sits down, like the prodigal son, +among the swinish bad company into which his sins have brought him, +longing to fill his belly with the husks which the swine eat! but he +cannot. He tries to forget his sorrow by drinking, by bad company, +by gambling, by gossiping, like the fools around him: but he cannot. +He finds no more pleasure in sin. He is sick and tired of it. +He has had enough of it and too much. He is miserable, and he +hardly knows why. But miserable he is. There is a longing, +and craving, and hunger at his heart after something better; at least +after something different. Then he begins to remember his heavenly +Father’s house. Old words which he learnt at his mother’s +knee, good old words out of his Catechism and his Bible, start up strangely +in his mind. He had forgotten them, laughed at them, perhaps, +in his wild days. But now they come up, he does not know where +from, like beautiful ghosts gliding in. And he is ashamed of them; +they reproach him, the dear old lessons; and yet they seem pleasant +to him, though they make him blush. And at last he says to himself: +“Would God that I were a little child again; once more an innocent +little child at my mother’s knee! I thought myself clever +and cunning. I thought I could go my own way and enjoy myself. +But I cannot. Perhaps I have been a fool; and the old Sunday books +were right after all. At least I am miserable. I thought +I was my own master. But perhaps He about whom I used to read +in the Sunday books is my Master after all. At least I am not +my own master; I am a slave. Perhaps I have been fighting against +Him, against the Lord God, all this time, and now He has shown me that +He is the stronger of the two. . . . And so the poor man learns +in trouble and shame to know, like the Jews of old, who is the Lord.</p> +<p>And when the Lord has drawn a man thus far, does He stop? Not +so. He does not leave His work half done. If the work is +half done, it is that we stop, not that He stops. Whosoever comes +to Him, howsoever confusedly, or clumsily, or even lazily they may come, +He will in no wise cast out. He may afflict them still more to +cure that confusion and laziness; but He is a physician who never sends +a willing patient away, or keeps him waiting for a single hour.</p> +<p>How then does the Lord deal with such a man? Does He drive +him further? Not if he will go without being driven. You +would call it cruel to drive a beast on with blows, when it was willing +to be led peaceably. And be sure God is not more cruel than man. +As soon as we are willing to be led, He will take His rod off from us, +and lead us tenderly enough. For I have known God do this to a +man, and a sinful man as ever trod this earth. I have known such +a man brought into utter misery and shame of heart, and heavy affliction +in outward matters, till his spirit was utterly broken, and he was ready +to say: “I am a beast and a fool. I am not worth the bread +I eat. Let me lie down and die.” And then, when the +Lord had driven that man so far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, +how the Lord turned and looked on that man as he turned and looked on +Peter, and brought his poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter’s, +by a loving smile, and not an angry frown. I have seen the Lord +heap that man with all manner of unexpected blessings, and pay him back +sevenfold for all his affliction, and raise him up, body and soul, and +satisfy him with good things, so that his youth was renewed like the +eagle’s. And so the man’s conversion to God, though +it was begun by God’s chastisements and afflictions, was brought +to perfection by God’s mercy and bounty; and it happened to that +man, as Ezekiel prophesied that it would happen to the Jews, that not +fear and dread, but honour, gratitude, and that noble shame of which +no man need be ashamed, brought him home to God at last. “And +you shall remember your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have been +defiled: and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the +evils which you have committed. And you shall know that I am the +Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according +to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of +Israel, saith the Lord God.”</p> +<p>You see that God’s mercy to them would not make them conceited +or careless. It would increase their shame and confusion when +they found out what sort of a Lord He was against whom they had been +rebellious; long-suffering and of tender mercy, returning good for evil +to His disobedient children. That feeling would awake in them +more shame and more confusion than ever: but it would be a noble shame, +a happy confusion, and tears of joy and gratitude, not of bitterness. +Such a shame, such a confusion, such tears, as the blessed Magdalene’s +when she knelt at the Lord’s feet, and found that, instead of +bating her and thrusting her away for all her sins, He told her to go +in peace, pardoned and happy. Then she knew the Lord; she found +out His character—His name; for she found out that His name was +love. Oh, my friends, this is the great secret; the only knowledge +worth living for, because it is the only knowledge which will enable +you to live worthily—to know the Lord. That knowledge will +enable you to live a life which will last, and grow, and prosper for +ever, beyond the grave, and death, and judgment, and eternities of eternities. +As the Lord Himself said, when He was upon earth, “This is eternal +life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast +sent.” Therefore there is no use my warning you against +sin, and telling you, do not do this, and do not do that, unless I tell +you at the same time who is the Lord. For till you know that The +Good God is the Lord, you will have no real, sound, heartfelt reason +for giving up your sins; and what is more, you will not be able to give +them up. You may alter your sort of sins from fear of this and +that; but the root of sin will be there still; and if it cannot bear +one sort of fruit it will bear another. If you dare not drink +or riot, you may become covetous and griping; if you dare not give way +to young men’s sins, you will take to old men’s sins instead; +if you dare not commit open sins you will commit secret ones in your +thoughts. Sin is much too stout a plant to be kept from bearing +some sort of fruit. As long as it is not rooted up the root will +breed death in you of some sort or other; and the only feeling which +can root up sin is to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is your +Lord, and that your Lord condescended to die upon the cross for you; +that you must be the Lord’s, and are not your own, but bought +with the price of His most precious blood, that you may glorify God +with your body and your soul, which are His.</p> +<p>Just so, the blessed St. Augustine found that he could never conquer +his own sins by arguing with himself, or by any other means, till he +got to know God, and to see that God was the Lord. And when his +spirit was utterly broken; when he saw himself, in spite of all his +wonderful cleverness and learning, to have been a fool and blind all +along, though people round him were flattering him, and running after +him to hear his learning; then the old words which he learnt at his +mother’s knee came up in his mind, and he knew that God was the +Lord after all, and that God had been watching him, guiding him, letting +him go wrong only to show him the folly of going wrong, caring for him +even when He left him to himself and his sins, and the sad ways of his +sins; bearing with him, pleading with his conscience, alluring him back +to the only true happiness, as a loving father with a rebellious and +self-willed child. And then, when St. Augustine had found out +at last that God was his Lord, who had been taking the charge of him +all through his heathen youth, he became a changed man. He was +able to conquer his sins; for God conquered them for him. He was +able to give up the profligate life which he had been leading; not from +fear of punishment, but from the Spirit of God—the spirit of gratitude, +honour, trust, and love toward God, which made him abide in God, and +God abide in him. To that blessed state may God of His great mercy +bring us all. To it He will bring us all unless we rebel and set +up our foolish and selfish will against His loving and wise will. +And if He does bring us to it, it is little matter whether He brings +us to it through joy or through sorrow, through honour or through shame, +through the garden of Eden, or through the valley of the shadow of death. +For, my dear friends, what matter how bitter the medicine is, if it +does but save our lives?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLVII—THE MARRIAGE AT CANA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus +was there. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the +marriage.—JOHN ii. 1, 2.</p> +<p>It is, I think, in the first place, an important, as well as a pleasant +thing, to know that the Lord’s glory, as St. Paul says, was first +shown forth at a wedding, at a feast. Not at a time of sorrow, +but of joy. Not about some strange affliction or disease, such +as is the lot of very few, but about a marriage, that which happens +in the ordinary lot of all mankind. Not in any fearful judgment +or destruction of sinners, but in blessing wedlock, by which, whether +among saints or sinners, mankind is increased. Not by helping +some great philosopher to think more deeply, or some great saint to +perform more wonderful acts of holiness, but in giving the simple pleasure +of wine to simple commonplace people, of whom we neither read that they +were rich or righteous. We do not even read whether the master +of the feast ever found out that Jesus had worked a miracle, or whether +any of the company ever believed in Him, on the strength of that miracle, +except His mother and the disciples, and the servants, who were probably +the poor slaves of people in a low or middling class of life. +But that is the way of the Lord. He is no respecter of persons. +Rich and poor are alike in His sight; and the poor need Him most, and +therefore He began his work with the poor in Cana, as He did in St. +James’s time, when the poor of this world were rich in faith, +and the rich of this world were oppressors and taskmasters. So +He does in every age. Though no one else cares for the poor, He +cares for them. With their hearts He begins His work, even as +He did in England sixty years ago, by the preaching of Whitfield and +Wesley. Do you wish to know if anything is the Lord’s work? +See if it is a work among the poor. Do you wish to know whether +any preaching is the true gospel of the Lord? See whether it is +a gospel, a good news to the poor. I know no other test than that. +By doing that, by preaching the gospel to the poor, by working miracles +for the poor, He has showed forth His glory, and proved Himself the +true, and just, and loving Lord of all.</p> +<p>But again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He does +not demand from us: He gives to us. He had been giving from the +foundation of the world. Corn and wine, rain and sunshine, and +fruitful seasons had been his sending. And now He was come to +show it. He was come to show men who it was who had been filling +their heart with joy and gladness; who had been bringing out of the +earth and air, by His unseen chemistry, the wine which maketh glad the +heart of man. In every grape that hangs upon the vine, water is +changed into wine, as the sap ripens into rich juice. He had been +doing that all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that was His +glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil of +custom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had seen the +grapes ripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, as every one +of us is tempted now: “It is the sun and the air, the nature of +the vine, and the nature of the climate, which makes the wine.” +Jesus comes and answers: “Not so. I make the wine; I have +been making it all along. The vines, the sun, the weather, are +only my tools wherewith I worked, turning rain and sap into wine; and +I am greater than they; I made them; I do not depend on them; I can +make wine from water without vines or sunshine. Behold, and drink, +and see my glory <i>without</i> the vineyard, since you had forgotten +how to see it <i>in</i> the vineyard! For I am now, even as I +was in Paradise, The Word of the Lord God; and now, even as in Paradise, +I walk among the trees of the garden, and they know me and obey me, +though the world knows me not. I have been all along in the world, +and the world knows me not. Know me now, lest you lose the knowledge +of me for ever!”</p> +<p>Those of the Jews who received that message, as the disciples did, +found out their ancient Lord, and clung to Him, and know now, in the +world of spirits, that His message was indeed a true one. Those +who did not, lost sight of Him; to this day their eyes are blinded; +to this day they have utterly forgotten that they have a Lord and Ruler, +who is the Word and Son of God. Their faith is no more like the +faith of David than their understanding of the Scriptures is like his. +The Bible is a dead letter to them. The kingdom and government +of God is forgotten by them. Of all God-worshipping people in +the world, the Jews are the least godly, the most given up to the worship +of this world, and the things which they can see, and taste, and handle, +and, therefore, to covetousness, cheating, lying, tyranny, and all the +sins which spring from forgetting that this world belongs to the Lord +and that He rules and guides it, that its blessings are His gifts, and +we His stewards, to use them for the good of all. May God help, +and forgive, and convert them! Doubt not that He will do so in +His good time. But let us beware, my friends, lest we fall into +the same sin. Do not fancy that we are not in just the same danger. +It would be a cowardly thing of a preacher to call Jews, or heathens, +or any other absent persons hard names, unless their mistakes and their +sins were such as his own people wanted warnings against, ay, perhaps, +had the very root of them in their hearts already. And we have +the root of the Jews’ sin in our own hearts. Why is this +one miracle read in our churches to this day, if we do not stand just +as much in need of the lesson as those for whom it was first worked? +We, as well as they, are in danger of forgetting who it is that sends +us corn and wine, and fruitful seasons, love and marriage, and all the +blessings of this life. We, as well as the Jews, are continually +fancying that these outward earthly things, as we call them in our shallow +carnal conceits, have nothing to do with Jesus or His kingdom, but that +we may compete, and scrape, even cheat and lie to get them, and when +we have them, misuse them selfishly, as if they belonged to no one but +ourselves, as if we had no duty to perform about them, as if we owed +God no service for them.</p> +<p>And again, we are, just as much as the Jews were, in danger of spiritual +pride; in danger of fancying that because we are religious, and have, +or fancy we have, deep experiences and beautiful thoughts about God +and Christ and our own souls, therefore we can afford to despise those +who do not know as much as ourselves; to despise the common pleasures +and petty sorrows of poor creatures, whose souls and bodies are grovelling +in the dust, busied with the cares of this world, at their wits’ +end to get their daily bread; to despise the merriment of young people, +the play of children, and all those everyday happinesses which, though +we may turn from them with a sneer, are precious in the sight of Him +who made heaven and earth. All such proud thoughts, all such contempt +of those who do not seem as spiritual as we fancy ourselves, is evil. +It is from the devil, and not from God. It is the same vile spirit +which made the Pharisees of old say: “This people—these +poor worldly drudging wretches—who know not the law, are accursed.” +And mind, this is not a sin of rich, and learned, and highborn men only. +They may be more tempted to it than others; but poor men, when they +become, by the grace of God, wiser, more spiritual, more holy than others, +are tempted, just as much as the rich, to despise their poor neighbours +to whom God has not given the same light as themselves; and surely in +them it shows ugliest of all. A learned and high-born man may +be excused for looking down upon the sinful poor, because he does not +understand their temptations, because he never has been ignorant and +struggling as they are. But a poor man who despises the poor—he +has no excuse. He ought above all men to feel for them, for he +has been tempted even as they are. He knows their sorrows; he +has been through their dark valley of bad food, bad lodging, want of +work, want of teaching, low cares which drag the soul to earth. +Surely a poor man who has tasted God’s love and Christ’s +light, ought, above all others, instead of turning his back on his class, +to pity them, to make common cause with them, to teach them, guide them, +comfort them, in a way no rich man can. Yes; after all, it is +the poor must help the poor; the poor must comfort the poor; the poor +must teach and convert the poor.</p> +<p>See, in the epistle for this day, St. Paul makes no distinction between +rich and poor. This epistle is joined with the gospel for the +day, to show us what ought to be the conduct of Christians, who believe +in the miracle of Cana; what men should do who believe that they have +a Lord in heaven, by whose command suns shine, fruits ripen, men enjoy +the blessings of harvest, of marriage, of the comforts which the heathen +and the savage, as well as the Christian man, partake; what men should +do who believe that they have a Lord in heaven who entered into the +common joys and sorrows of lowly men, who was once Himself a poor villager, +who ate with publicans and sinners, who condescended to join in a wedding +feast, and increase the mere animal enjoyment of the guests. And +what is St. Paul’s command to poor as well as rich? Read +the epistle for this day and see.</p> +<p>You see at once that this epistle is written in the same spirit as +our Lord’s words: by God’s Spirit, in short; the Spirit +which brought the Lord Jesus so condescendingly to the wedding feast; +the Spirit which made Him care so heartily for the common pleasures +of those around Him. My friends, these are not commands to one +class, but to all. Poor as well as rich may show mercy with cheerfulness, +and love without dissimulation. Poor as well as rich may minister +to others with earnestness, and condescend to those of low estate. +Not a word in this whole epistle which does not apply equally to every +rank, and sex, and age.</p> +<p>Neither are these commands to each of us by ourselves, but to all +of us together, as members of a family. If you will look through +them they are not things to be done to ourselves, but to our neighbours; +not experiences to be felt about our own souls: but rules of conduct +to our fellow-men. They are all different branches and flowers +from that one root: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”</p> +<p>Do we live thus, rich or poor? Can we look each other in the +face this afternoon and say, each man to his neighbour: “I have +behaved like a brother to you. I have rejoiced at your good fortune, +and grieved at your sorrow. I have preferred you to myself. +I have loved you without dissimulation. I have been earnest in +my place and duty in the parish for the sake of the common good of all. +I have condescended to those of lower rank than myself. I have—” +Ah, my dear friends, I had better not go on with the list. God +forgive us all! The less we try to justify ourselves on this score +the better. Some of us do indeed try to behave like brothers and +sisters to their neighbours; but how few of us; and those few how little! +And yet we are brothers. We are members of one family, sons of +one Father, joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who sat eating and +drinking at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and mixed freely in +the joys and the sorrows of the poorest and meanest. Joint-heirs +with Christ; yet how unlike Him! My friends, we need to repent +and amend our ways; we need to confess, every one of us, rich and poor, +the pride, the selfishness, the carelessness about each other, which +keeps us so much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so +little for each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of +you. Those who have behaved most like brothers, will be most ready +to confess how little they have behaved like brothers. Confess: +“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am +no more worthy to be called thy son, for I have not loved, cared for, +helped my brothers and sisters round, who are just as much thy children +as I am.” Pray for the spirit of Jesus, the spirit of condescension, +love, fellow-feeling; that spirit which rejoices simply and heartily +with those who are happy, and feels for another’s sorrows as if +they were its own. Pray for it; for till it comes, there will +be no peace on earth. Pray for it; for when it comes and takes +possession of your hearts, and you all really love and live like brothers, +children of one Father, the kingdom of God will be come indeed, and +His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLVIII—PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked +how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, when thou art +bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest +a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee +and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with +shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and +sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he +may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship +in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever +exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall +be exalted.—LUKE xiv. 7-11.</p> +<p>We heard in the gospel for to-day how the Lord Jesus put forth a +parable to those who were invited to a dinner with Him at the Pharisee’s +house. A parable means an example of any rules or laws; a story +about some rule, by hearing which people may see how the rule works +in practice, and understand it. Now, our Lord’s parables +were about the kingdom of God. They were examples of the rules +and laws by which the kingdom of God is governed and carried on. +Therefore He begins many of His parables by saying, The kingdom of God +is like something—something which people see daily, and understand +more or less. “The kingdom of God is like a field;” +“The kingdom of God is like a net;” “The kingdom of +God is like a grain of mustard seed;” and so forth. And +even where He did not begin one of His parables by speaking of the kingdom +of God, we may be still certain that it has to do with the kingdom of +God. For the one great reason why the Lord was made flesh and +dwelt among us, was to preach the kingdom of God, His Father and our +Father, and to prove to men that God was their King, even at the price +of his most precious blood. And, therefore, everything which He +ever did, and everything which He ever spoke, had to do with this one +great work of His. This parable, therefore, which you heard read +in the gospel for to-day, has to do with the kingdom of God, and is +an example of the laws of it.</p> +<p>Now, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while to consider. +For at baptism we were declared members of the kingdom of God; we were +to renounce the world, and to live according to the kingdom of God. +The kingdom of God is simply the way in which God governs men; and the +world is the way in which men try to manage without God’s help +or leave. That is the difference between them; and a most awful +difference it is. Men fancy that they can get on well enough without +God; that the ways of the world are very reasonable, and useful, and +profitable, and quite good enough to live by, if not to die by. +But all the while God is King, let them fancy what they like; and this +earth, and everything on it, from the king on his throne to the gnat +in the sunbeam, is under His government, and must obey His laws or die. +We are in God’s kingdom, my good friends, every one of us, whether +we like it or not, and we shall be there for ever and ever. And +our business is, therefore, simply to find out what are the laws of +that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as possible, and live +for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and get in their way, they +should grind us to powder.</p> +<p>Now, here is one of the laws of God’s kingdom: “Whosoever +exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall +be exalted.” That is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, +sets himself up, will be pulled down again: while he who is contented +to keep low, and think little of himself, will be raised up and set +on high. Now the world’s rule is the exact opposite of this. +The world says, Every man for himself. The way of the world is +to struggle and strive for the highest place; to be a pushing man, and +a rising man, and a man who will stand stiffly by his rights, and give +his enemy as good as he brings, and beat his neighbour out of the market, +and show off himself to the best advantage, and try to make the most +of whatever wit or money he has to look well in the world, that people +may look up to him and flatter him and obey him; and so the world has +no objection to people’s pretending to be better than they are. +Every man must do the best he can for himself, the world says, and never +mind his neighbours: they must take care of themselves; and if they +are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the worse for them. +So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when he has anything +to sell, making it out better than it really is, and hiding the fault +in it as far as he can. When a tradesman or manufacturer sends +about “puffs” of his goods, and pretends that they are better +and cheaper than other people’s, just to get custom by it, the +world does not call that what it is—boasting and lying. +It says: “Of course a man must do the best he can for himself. +If a man does not praise himself, nobody else will praise him; he cannot +expect his neighbours to take him for better than his own words.” +So again, if a man wants a place or situation, the world thinks it no +harm if he gives the most showy character of himself, and gets his friends +to say all the good of him they can, and a great deal more, and to say +none of the harm—in short, to make himself out a much better, +or shrewder, or worthier man than he really is. The world does +not call that either what it is—boasting, and lying, and thrusting +oneself into callings to which God has not called us. The world +says: “Of course a man must turn his best side outwards. +You cannot expect a man to tell tales on himself.”</p> +<p>And, my friends, the world would be quite right, and reasonable, +and prudent, in telling us to push, and boast, and lie, and puff ourselves +and our goods, if it were not for one thing which the foolish blind +world is always forgetting, and that is, that there is a God who judges +the earth. If God were not our King; if He took no care of us +men and our doings; if mankind had it all their own way on earth, and +were forced to shift for themselves without any laws of God to guide +them, then the best thing every man could do would be to fight for himself; +to get all he could for himself, and leave as little as he could for +his neighbours; to make himself out as great, and wise, and strong, +as he could, and try to make his neighbours buy him at his own price. +That would be the best plan for every man, if God was not King; and +therefore the world says that that is the best plan for every man, because +the world does not believe that God is King, and hates the notion that +God is King, and laughs at and persecutes, as Jesus Christ said it would, +those who preach the kingdom of God, and tell men, as I tell you in +God’s name: “You were not made to be selfish; you were not +meant to rise in the world by boasting and pushing down and deceiving +your neighbours. For you are subjects of God’s kingdom; +and to do so is to break his laws, and to put yourselves under His curse; +and however worldly-wise all this selfishness and boasting may seem, +it is sin, whose wages are death and ruin.”</p> +<p>For, my friends, let the world try to forget God as it will, He does +not forget the world. Let men try to make rules and laws for themselves, +rules about religion, rules about government, rules about trade, rules +about morals and what they fancy is just and fair; let them make as +many rules as they like, they are only wasting their time; for God has +made His rules already, and revealed them to us in the Bible, and told +us that the earth and mankind are governed in His way, and not in ours, +and that He will not alter His everlasting rules to suit our new ones. +As David says: “Let the people be never so unquiet, still the +Lord is King.”</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, it is very easy to say all this, but it is not so +easy to believe it. Every one, every respectable person at least, +is ready enough to talk about God, and God’s will, and so forth. +But when it comes to practice; when it comes to doing God’s will, +and not our own; when it comes to obeying His direct and plain commands, +and not the fashions and maxims which men have invented for themselves; +when it comes to giving up what we long for, because He has said that +if we try after it in our own way, and not in His, we shall never have +it at all, then comes the trial; then comes the time to see whether +we believe that God is the King of the earth or not; then comes the +time to see whether we have renounced the world, and determined to live +as God’s sons in God’s kingdom, or whether our religion +is some form of words, or way of thinking and feeling which we hope +may save our souls from hell, but which has nothing to do with our daily +life and conduct, and leaves us just as worldly as any heathen, in all +our dealings with our fellow-men, from Monday morning to Saturday night. +Then comes the time to try our faith in God.</p> +<p>And then, alas! it comes out, in these evil, and godless, and hypocritical +times in which we live, that many a man who fancies himself religious, +and respectable, and blameless, and what not, no more really believes +that he is living in God’s kingdom than the heathen do. +And if you ask him, you will find out most probably that he fancies +that God’s kingdom is not on earth now, but that it will be on +earth some day. A cunning delusion of the devil, that, my friends! +To make us go his way while we fancy that we are going our own way. +To make us say to ourselves: “Ah! it is very unfortunate that +God is not King of the earth now. Of course He will be after the +resurrection, in the new heaven and the new earth, where there will +be no sin. But He is not King now; this world is given over to +sin and the devil, so fallen and ruined and corrupt that—that—that, +in short, we cannot be expected to behave like God’s children +in it, but must just follow the ways of the world, and live by ambition, +and selfishness, and cunning, and boasting, and competing in this life; +a life of love, and justice, and humbleness, and fellow-help, and mercy, +and self-sacrifice is impossible in such a world as this; we cannot +live like angels, till we get to heaven!” So say nine people +out of ten; the devil deceiving them, and their own hearts, alas! being +but too glad to catch at the excuse for sin which the devil gives them, +when he tells them that this present earth is not God’s kingdom; +and so they go and act accordingly, selfish, grudging, pushing, boastful, +every man’s hand against his neighbour and for himself, till they +succeed too often in making this earth as fearfully like the devil’s +kingdom as it is possible for God’s kingdom to be made.</p> +<p>But what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that he +who sets himself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself low shall +be set up? What has it to do with the text? It has everything +to do with the text. If people really believed that they were +God’s subjects and children in God’s kingdom, they would +not need to ask that question long.</p> +<p>If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in anyone +setting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those +who set up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their +high thoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God +is really the King of the earth, He must be the one to set people up, +and not they themselves. Look again at the parable. The +man who asks the guests to dine with him has surely a right to place +each of them where he likes. The house is his, the dinner is his. +He has a right to invite whom he likes; and he has a right to settle +where they shall sit. If they choose their own places—if +any guest takes upon himself to seat himself at the head of the table, +because he thinks it his right, he offends against all rules of right +feeling and propriety toward the man who has invited him. All +he has a right to expect is, that his host will not put him in the wrong +place, that he will settle all places at his table according to people’s +real rank and deserts, and as our Testaments say, put “the worthiest +man in the highest room.” And if people really believed +in God, which very few do, they would surely expect no less of God. +What gentleman, farmer, or labourer is there, with common sense and +good feeling, who would not show most respect to the most respectable +persons who came into his house, and send his best and trustiest workmen +about his most important errands? True, he might make mistakes, +and worse. Being a weak man, he might be tempted to put the rich +sinner in a higher place than the poor saint: or he might, from private +fancy, be blinded about his workmen’s characters, and so send +a worse man, because he was his favourite, to do what another man whom +he did not fancy as well might do a great deal better. But you +cannot suspect God of that. He is no respecter of persons—whether +a man be rich or poor, no matter to God: all which He inquires into +is—Is he righteous or unrighteous, wise or foolish, able to do +his work or unable? And God can make no mistakes about people’s +characters. As St. Paul says of the Lord Jesus: “The Word +of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing through to the dividing +of the very joints and marrow, so that all things are naked and open +in the sight of Him with whom we have to do.” There is no +blinding God, no hiding from God, no cheating God, just as there is +no flattering God. He knows what each and every one of us is fit +for. He knows what each and every one of us is worth; and what +is more, He knows what we ought to know, that each and every one of +us is worth nothing without Him. Therefore there is no use pretending +to be better than we are. God knows just how good we are, and +will reward us, even in this life only according as we deserve, in spite +of all our boasting. There is no use pretending to be wiser than +we are. For all the wisdom we have comes from God; and if we pretend +to have more than we have, and by that greatest act of folly, show that +we have no wisdom at all, He will take from us even what we have, and +make all our cunning plans come to nothing, and prove us fools, just +when we fancy ourselves most clever. There is no use being ambitious +and pushing, and trying to scramble up on our neighbours’ shoulders. +For we were not sent into this world to do what we like, but what God +likes; not to work for ourselves, but to work for God; and God knows +exactly how much good each of us can do, and what is the best place +for us to do it in, and how to teach and enable us to do it; and if +we choose to be taught, He will teach us; and if we choose to go His +way, and do His work, He will help us to it. But if we will not +have his way, He will not let us have our own way—not at first, +at least. He will bring our plans to nothing, and let us make +fools of ourselves, and bring in sudden accidents of which we never +dreamed, just to show us that we are not our own masters, and cannot +cut out our own roads through life. And if we take His lesson, +and go to Him to teach and strengthen us—well: and if not—then +perhaps—which is the most awful misery which can happen to any +man in earth—God may give up teaching us during this life, and +let us have our own way, and be filled with the fruit of our own devices; +from which worst of punishments may He in His mercy, save you, and me, +and all belonging to us, in this life and in the life to come.</p> +<p>But some of you may say: “We understand the first half of the +text very well, and like it very well; we all think it just that those +who set themselves up should have a fall, and we are very glad to see +them have a fall: but we do not see why he who abases himself should +have any right to be exalted.” Ah, my friends, it is much +easier, and needs much less knowledge of God, and much less of the likeness +of Christ, to see what is wrong, than to see what is right. Every +man knows when a bone is broken, but it is not every one who can set +it again. Nevertheless, there is a sort of left-handed reason +in that argument. For a man has no more right to make himself +out worse than he is, than he has to make himself out better than he +is. A man should confess to being just what he is, neither more +nor less. Nevertheless, he who humbles himself shall be exalted.</p> +<p>Of course I do not mean those who, like some I know, make a fawning +humble way of talking a cloak for their own self-conceit; who call themselves +miserable sinners all the time that they are fancying that they are +almost the only people in the world who are sure of being saved, whatever +they do; who, as some do, actually pride themselves on their own convictions +of sin, and glory in their own shame, and despise those who will not +slander themselves as they do.</p> +<p>They are equally hateful to God and to God’s enemies. +If you and I are disgusted at such hypocritical self-conceit, be sure +the Lord Jesus is far more pained at it than we are; for as a wise man +says: “The devil’s darling sin is the pride that apes humility.”</p> +<p>But let a man really be convinced of sin; let a man really believe +in the Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement; let a man really believe +in the Holy Spirit; and that man will have little need to ask why he +should humble himself more than he deserves, and little wish to boast +of himself, and push himself forward, and get praise, or riches, or +power in the world. For that man would say to himself: “I, +sinner as I am; I, who know that I do so many wrong things daily; things +so wrong that it required the blood of the Son of God to wash out the +guilt of them—who am I to set myself up? I cannot be faithful +in a little—why should I try to be ruler over much? I cannot +use properly the blessings and the power which God does give me—must +I not take for granted that, if I had more riches, more power, I should +use them still worse? I know well enough of a thousand sins, and +weaknesses and ignorances in myself which my neighbours never see. +I believe, therefore, my neighbours have much too good an opinion of +me, and not too bad a one; and therefore I am not going to boast or +puff myself to them. I can only thank God they do not see the +inside of this foolish heart of mine as well as He does! In short, +I am not going to set myself up, and try to get a higher place among +men than I have already, because I am certain that I have already a +ten times better one than I deserve.”</p> +<p>Or again, if a man really believed in the Holy Ghost, which is much +the same as really believing in the kingdom of God; if he really believed +that God was the King and Master of his heart and soul; if he really +believed that everything good, and right, and wise in him came from +God’s Holy Spirit, and that everything wrong and foolish in him +came from himself and the devil; then he would surely say to himself: +“Who am I to try to set myself up above my neighbours, and get +power over them; what have I that I did not receive? Whatever +money, or station, or cleverness, or power of mind I have, God has given +me, and without Him I should be nothing. Therefore, He only gave +me these talents to use for Him, and if I use them for my own ends, +I shall be misusing them, and trying to rob God of His own. I +am His child, His subject, His steward; He has put me just in that place +in His earth which is most fit for me, and my business is, not to try +to desert my post, and to wander out of the place here He has put me, +but to see that I do the duty which lies nearest me, so that I shall +be able to give an account to Him. It is only if I am faithful +in a few things, that I can expect God to make me ruler over many things.” +Ah, my friends, if we could but see ourselves, not as we fancy we are, +nor as others fancy we are, but just as we really are, then, instead +of pushing, and boasting, and standing stiffly by our rights, and fancying +that God and man are unjust to us, we should be crying out all day long +with the prodigal son: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, +and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” +We should say with St. Paul—who, after all, remember, was the +wisest, and most learned, and noblest-hearted of all the Apostles—that +we are at best the chief of sinners. We should feel like the dear +and blessed Magdalene of old, the pattern for ever of all true penitents, +that it was quite honour enough to be allowed to wash Christ’s +feet with our tears, while every one round us sneered at us and looked +down upon us—as, after all, we deserve. And so, believe +me, we should be exalted. It would pay us, if payment is what +we want. For so we should be in a more right, more true, more +healthy, more wise, more powerful state of mind; more like Jesus Christ, +and therefore more likely to be sent to do Christ’s work, and +share Christ’s reward. For this is the great law of the +kingdom of God in which we live, that man is nothing, and God is everything; +and that we are strong and wise, and something, only when we find out +that we are weak and foolish, and nothing, and go to our Father in heaven +for strength, and wisdom, and spiritual eternal life. And then +we find out how true it is that he who humbles himself, as he deserves, +will be raised up; how he who loses his life will save it; how blessed +are the poor in spirit, those who feel that they have nothing but what +God chooses to give them; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! +How blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; who +feel that they are not doing right, and yet cannot rest till they do +right; for they shall be filled! How blessed are the meek, who +do not set up themselves, or try to fight their own battles, and compete +with their neighbours in the great scramble and struggle of this world; +for they—just the last persons whom the world would expect to +do it—shall inherit the earth! Choose, my friends, choose! +The world says: “Push upwards, praise yourself, help yourself, +put your best side outwards.” The great God who made heaven +and earth says: “Know that you are weak, and foolish, and sinful +in yourself. Know that whatever wisdom you have, I the Lord lent +you; and I the Lord expect the interest of my loan. Know that +you are my child in my Kingdom. Stay where I have put you, and +when I want you for something better, I will call you; and if you try +to rise without my calling you, I will only drive you back again. +So the only way to be ruler over much, is first to be faithful in a +little. My friends, which of the two do you think is likely to +know best, man or God?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<p><a name="footnote217"></a><a href="#citation217">{217}</a> +In 1848-49.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS ***</p> +<pre> + +******This file should be named snsb10h.htm or snsb10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, snsb11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, snsb10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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