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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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