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diff --git a/old/snsb10h.htm b/old/snsb10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cd7353 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/snsb10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13355 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Sermons on National Subjects</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">Sermons on National Subjects, by Charles Kingsley</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sermons on National Subjects, by Charles Kingsley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Sermons on National Subjects + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: June, 2005 [EBook #8202] +[This file was first posted on July 1, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h1>SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS</h1> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h2>I—THE KING OF THE EARTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT.<br />[<i>Preached in</i> 1849.]</p> +<p>Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.—MATTHEW xxi. 4.</p> +<p>This Sunday is the first of the four Sundays in Advent. During +those four Sundays, our forefathers have advised us to think seriously +of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ—not that we should neglect +to think of it at all times. As some of you know, I have preached +to you about it often lately. Perhaps before the end of Advent +you will all of you, more or less, understand what all that I have said +about the cholera, and public distress, and the sins of this nation, +and the sins of the labouring people has to do with the coming of our +Lord Jesus Christ. But I intend, especially in my next four sermons, +to speak my whole mind to you about this matter as far as God has shown +it to me; taking the Collect, Epistle, and Gospels, for each Sunday +in Advent, and explaining them. I am sure I cannot do better; +for the more I see of those Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, and the +way in which they are arranged, the more I am astonished and delighted +at the wisdom with which they are chosen, the wise order in which they +follow each other, and fit into each other. It is very fit, too, +that we should think of our Lord’s coming at this season of the +year above all others; because it is the hardest season—the season +of most want, and misery, and discontent, when wages are low, and work +is scarce, and fuel is dear, and frosts are bitter, and farmers and +tradesmen, and gentlemen, too, are at their wits’ end to square +their accounts, and pay their way. Then is the time that the evils +of society come home to us—that our sins, and our sorrows, which, +after all, are the punishment of our sins, stare us in the face. +Then is the time, if ever, for men’s hearts to cry out for a Saviour, +who will deliver them out of their miseries and their sins; for a Heavenly +King who will rule them in righteousness, and do justice and judgment +on the earth, and see that those who are in need and necessity have +right; for a Heavenly Counsellor who will guide them into all truth—who +will teach them what they are, and whither they are going, and what +the Lord requires of them. I say the hard days of winter are a +fit time to turn men’s hearts to Christ their King—the fittest +of all times for a clergyman to get up in his pulpit, as I do now, and +tell his people, as I tell you, that Jesus Christ your King has not +forgotten you—that He is coming speedily to judge the world, and +execute justice and judgment for the meek of the earth.</p> +<p>Now do not be in a hurry, and fancy from what I have just said, that +I am one of those who think the end of the world is at hand. It +may be, for aught I know. “Of that day and that hour knoweth +no man, not even the angels of God, nor the Son, but the Father only.” +If you wish for my own opinion, I believe that what people commonly +call the end of the world, that is, the end of the earth and of mankind +on it, is not at hand at all. As far as I can judge from Scripture, +and from the history of all nations, the earth is yet young, and mankind +in its infancy. Five thousand years hence, our descendants may +be looking back on us as foolish barbarians, in comparison with what +they know: just as we look back upon the ignorance of people a thousand +years ago. And yet I believe that the end of this world, in the +real Scripture sense of the word “world,” is coming very +quickly and very truly—The end of this system of society, of these +present ways in religion, and money-making, and conducting ourselves +in all the affairs of life, which we English people have got into nowadays. +The end of it is coming. It cannot last much longer; for it is +destroying itself. It will not last much longer; for Christ and +not the devil is the King of the earth. As St. Paul said to his +people, so say I to you, “The night is far spent, the day is at +hand.”</p> +<p>These may seem strange words, but almost every one is saying them, +in his own way. One large party among religious people in these +days is complaining that Christ has left His Church, and that the cause +of Christianity will be ruined and lost, unless some great change takes +place. Another large party of religious people say, that the prophecies +are on the point of being all fulfilled that the 1260 days, spoken of +by the prophet Daniel, are just coining to an end; and that Christ is +coming with His saints, to reign openly upon earth for a thousand years. +The wisest philosophers and historians of late years have been all foretelling +a great and tremendous change in England, and throughout all Europe; +and in the meantime, manufacturers and landlords, tradesmen and farmers, +artisans and labourers, all say, that there <i>must</i> be a change +and will be a change. I believe they are all right, every one +of them. They put it in their words; I think it better to put +it in the Scripture words, and say boldly, “Jesus Christ, the +King of the earth, is coming.”</p> +<p>But you will ask, “What right have you to stand up and say +anything so surprising?” My friends, the world is full of +surprising things, and this age above all ages. It was not sixty +years ago, that a nobleman was laughed at in the House of Lords for +saying that he believed that we should one day see ships go by steam; +and now there are steamers on every sea and ocean in the world. +Who expected twenty years ago to see the whole face of England covered +with these wonderful railroads? Who expected on the 22nd of February +last year, that, within a single month, half the nations of Europe, +which looked so quiet and secure, would be shaken from top to bottom +with revolution and bloodshed—kings and princes vanishing one +after the other like a dream—poor men sitting for a day as rulers +of kingdoms, and then hurled down again to make room for other rulers +as unexpected as themselves? Can anyone consider the last fifty +years?—can anyone consider that one last year, 1848, and then +not feel that we do live in a most strange and awful time? a time for +which nothing is too surprising—a time in which we all ought to +be prepared, from the least to the greatest, to see the greatest horrors +and the greatest blessings come suddenly upon us, like a thief in the +night? So much for Christ’s coming being too wonderful a +thing to happen just now. Still you are right to ask: “What +do you mean by Christ’s being our King? what do you mean by His +coming to us? What reason have you for supposing that He is coming +<i>now</i>, rather than at any other time? And if He be coming, +what are we to do? What is there we ought to repent of? what is +there we ought to amend?”</p> +<p>Well, my friends—it is just these very questions which I hope +and trust God will help me to answer to you, in my next few sermons—I +am perfectly convinced that we must get them answered and act upon them +speedily. I am perfectly convinced that if we go on as most of +us are going in England now, the Lord of us all will come in an hour +when we are not aware, and cut us asunder in the deepest and most real +sense, as He came and cut asunder France, Germany, and Austria only +last year, and appoint us our portion with the unbelievers. And +I believe that our punishment will be seven times as severe as that +of either France, Germany, or Austria, because we have had seven times +their privileges and blessings, seven times their Gospel light and Christian +knowledge, seven times their freedom and justice in laws and constitution; +seven times their wealth, and prosperity, and means of employing our +population. Much has been given to England, and of her much will +be required. And if you could only see the state of mankind over +the greatest part of the globe, how infinitely fewer opportunities they +have of knowing God’s will than you have, you would feel that +to you, poor and struggling as some of you are—to you much has +been given, and of you much will be required.</p> +<p>Now first, what do I mean by Christ being our king? I daresay +there are some among you who are inclined to think that, when we talk +of Christ being a king, that the word king means something very different +from its common meaning—and, God knows, that that is true enough. +Our blessed Lord took care to make people understand that—how +He was not like one of the kings of the nations, how His kingdom was +not of this world. But yet the Bible tells us again and again +that all good kings, all real kings, are patterns of Christ; and, therefore, +that when we talk of Christ being a king, we mean that He is a king +in everything that a king ought to be; that He fulfils perfectly all +the duties of a king; that He is the pattern which all kings ought to +copy. Kings have been in all ages too apt to forget that, and, +indeed, so have the people too. We English have forgotten most +thoroughly in these days, that Christ is our king, or even a king at +all. We talk of Christ being a “spiritual” king, and +then we say that that merely means that He is king of Christians’ +hearts. And when anyone asks what that means, it comes out, that +all we mean is, that Christ has a very great influence over the hearts +of believing Christians—when He can obtain it; or else that it +means that He is king of a very small number of people called the elect, +whom He has chosen out, but that He has absolutely nothing to do with +the whole rest of the world. And then, when anyone stands up with +the Bible in his hand, and says, in the plain words of Scripture: “Christ +is not only the king of believers, He is the king of the whole earth; +the king of the clouds and the thunder, the king of the land and the +cattle, and the trees, and the corn, and to whomsoever He will He giveth +them. Christ is not only the king of believers—He is the +king of all—the king of the wicked, of the heathen, of those who +do not believe Him, who never heard of Him. Christ is not only +the king of a few individual persons, one here and one there in every +parish, but He is the king of every nation. He is the king of +England, by the grace of God, just as much as Queen Victoria is, and +ten thousand times more.” If any man talks in this way, +people stare—think him an enthusiast—ask him what new doctrine +this is, and call his words unscriptural, just because they come out +of Scripture and not out of men’s perversions and twistings of +Scripture. Nevertheless Christ is King; really and truly King +of Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will make men know it. What +He was, that He is and ever will be; there is no change in Him; His +kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion endureth throughout +all ages, and woe unto those, small or great, who rebel against Him!</p> +<p>But what sort of a king is He? He is a king of law, and order, +and justice. He is not selfish, fanciful, self-willed. He +said himself that He came not to do His own will, but His Father’s. +He is a king of gentleness and meekness too: but do not mistake that. +There is no weak indulgence in Him. A man may be very meek, and +yet stern enough and strong enough. Moses was the meekest of men, +we read, and yet He made those who rebelled against him feel that he +was not to be trifled with. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram found that +to their cost. He would not even spare his own brother Aaron, +his own sister Miriam, when they rebelled. And he was right. +He showed his love by it; indulgence is not love. It is no sign +of meekness, but only of cowardice and carelessness, to be afraid to +rebuke sin. Moses knew that he was doing God’s work, that +he was appointed to make a great nation of those slavish besotted Jews, +his countrymen; that he was sent by God with boundless blessings to +them; and woe to whoever hindered him from that. Because he loved +the Jews, therefore he dared punish those who tempted them to forget +the promised land of Canaan, or break God’s covenant, in which +lay all their hope.</p> +<p>And such a one is our King, my friends; Jesus Christ the Son of God. +Like Moses, says St. Paul, He is faithful in all His office. Therefore +He is severe as well as gentle. He was so when on earth. +With the poor, the outcast, the neglected, those on whom men trampled, +who was gentler than the Lord Jesus? To the proud Pharisee, the +canting Scribe, the cunning Herodian, who was sterner than the Lord +Jesus? Read that awful 23rd chapter of St. Matthew, and then see +how the Saviour, the lamb dumb before His shearers, He of whom it was +said “He shall not strive nor cry, nor shall His voice be heard +in the streets”—how He could speak when He had occasion. +. . . “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” +“Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation +of hell?”</p> +<p>My friends, those were the words of our King; of Him in whom was +neither passion nor selfishness; who loved us even to the death, and +endured for us the scourge, the cross, the grave. And believe +me, such are His words now; though we do not hear Him, the heaven and +the earth hear Him and obey Him. His message is pardon, mercy, +deliverance to the sorrowful, and the oppressed, and the neglected; +and to the proud, the tyrannical, the self-righteous, the hypocritical, +tribulation and anguish, shame and woe.</p> +<p>Because He is the Saviour, therefore He is a consuming fire to all +those who try to hinder Him from saving men. Because He is the +Son of God, He will sweep out of His Father’s kingdom all who +offend, and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie. Because He is boundless +mercy and love, therefore He will show no mercy to those who try to +stop His purposes of love. Because He is the King of men, the +enemies of mankind are His enemies; and He will reign till He has put +them all under His feet.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>II—HOLY SCRIPTURE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p>Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our example, +that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have +hope.—ROMANS xv. 4.</p> +<p>“Whatsoever was written aforetime.” There is no +doubt, I think, that by these words St. Paul means the Bible; that is, +the Old Testament, which was the only part of the Bible already written +in his time. For it is of the Psalms which he is speaking. +He mentions a verse out of the 69th Psalm, “The reproaches of +Him that reproached thee fell on me;” which, he says, applies +to Christ just as much as it did to David, who wrote it. Christ, +he says, pleased not Himself any more than David, but suffered willingly +and joyfully for God’s sake, because He knew that He was doing +God’s work. And we, he goes on to say, must do the same; +do as Christ did; we must not please ourselves, but every one of us +please our brother for his good and edification; that is, in order to +build him up, strengthen him, make him wiser, better, more comfortable. +For, he says, Christ pleased not Himself, but like David, lived only +to help others; and therefore this verse out of David’s Psalms, +“The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me,” +is a lesson to us; a pattern of what we ought to feel, and do, and suffer. +“For whatsoever was written aforetime,” all these ancient +psalms and prophets, and histories of men and nations who trusted in +God, “were written for our example, that we, through patience +and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.”</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is true; and the longer you live a life of +faith and godliness, the longer you read and study that precious Book +of books which God has put so freely into your hands in these days, +the more true you will find it. And if it was true of the Old +Testament, written before the Lord came down and dwelt among men, how +much more must it be true of the New Testament, which was written after +His coming by apostles and evangelists, who had far fuller light and +knowledge of the Lord than ever David or the old prophets, even in their +happiest moments, had. Ah, what a treasure you have, every one +of you, in those Bibles of yours, which too many of you read so little! +From the first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelations, it is +all written for our example, all profitable for teaching, for reproof, +for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God +may be perfect, thoroughly furnished for all good works. Ah! friends, +friends, is not this the reason why so many of you do not read your +Bibles, that you do not wish to be furnished for good works?—do +not wish to be men of God, godly and godlike men, but only to be men +of the world, caring only for money and pleasure?—some of you, +alas! not wishing to be men and women at all, but only a sort of brute +beasts with clothes on, given up to filth and folly, like the animals +that perish, or rather worse than the animals, for they could be no +better if they tried, but you might be. Oh! what might you not +be, what are you not already, if you but knew it! Members of Christ, +children of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, heirs of a hope undying, +pure, that will never fade away, having a right given you by the promise +and oath of Almighty God himself, to hope for yourselves, for your neighbours, +for this poor distracted world, for ever and ever; a right to believe +that there is an everlasting day of justice, and peace, and happiness +in store for the whole world, and that you, if you will, may have your +share in that glorious sunrise which shall never set again. You +may have your share in it, each and every one of you; and if you ask +why, go to the Scriptures, and there read the promises of God, the grounds +of your just hope, for all heaven and earth.</p> +<p>First, of hope for yourselves.—I say first for yourselves, +not because a man is right in being selfish, and caring only for his +own soul, but because a man must care for his own soul first, if he +ever intends to care for others; a man must have hope for himself first, +if he is to have hope for others. He may stop there, and turn +his religion into a selfish superstition, and spend his life in asking +all day long, “Shall I be saved, shall I be damned?” or +worse still, in chuckling over his own good fortune, and saying to himself, +“I shall be saved, whoever else is damned;” but whether +he ends there or not, he must begin there; begin by trying to get himself +saved. For if he does not know what is right and good for himself, +how can he tell what is right and good for others? If he wishes +to bring his neighbours out of their sins, he must surely first have +been brought out of his own sins, and so know what forgiveness and sanctification +means. If he wishes to make others at peace with God, he must +first be at peace with God himself, to know what God’s peace is. +If he wants to teach others their duty, he must first know his own duty, +for all men’s duty is one and the same. If he wishes to +have hope for the world, he must first have hope for himself, for he +is in the world, a part of it, and he must learn what blessings God +intends for him, and they will teach him what blessings God has in store +for the earth. Faith and hope, like charity, must begin at home. +By learning the corruption of our own hearts, we learn the corruption +of human nature. By learning what is the only medicine which can +cure our own sick hearts, we learn what is the only medicine which can +cure human nature. We learn by our own experience, that God is +all-forgiving love; that His peace shines bright upon the soul which +casts itself utterly on Jesus Christ the Lord for pardon, strength, +and safety; that God’s Spirit is ready and able to raise us out +of all our sin, and sottishness, and weakness, and wilfulness, and selfishness, +and renew us into quite new men, different characters from what we used +to be; and so, by having hope for ourselves, we learn step by step and +year by year to have hope for our friends, for our neighbours, and for +the whole world.</p> +<p>For that is another great lesson which the Bible teaches us—hope +for the world. Men say to us, “This world has always gone +on ill, and will always go on so. Tyrants and knaves and hypocrites +have always had the power in it; idlers have always had the enjoyment +of it; while the humble, and industrious, and godly, who would not foul +their hands with the wicked ways of the world, have been always laughed +at, neglected, oppressed, persecuted. The world,” they say, +“is very bad, and we cannot live in it without giving way a little +to its badness, and going the old road.”</p> +<p>But he who, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, has hope, +can answer “Yes—and yet no.” “Yes—we +agree that the world has gone on badly enough: perhaps we think the +world worse than it thinks itself; for God’s Spirit has taught +us to see sin, and shame, and ruin, in many a thing which the world +thinks right and reasonable. And yet,” says the true Christian +man, “although we think the world worse than anyone else thinks +it, and are more unhappy than anyone else about all the sin, and injustice, +and misery we see in it, we have the very strongest faith—we are +perfectly certain—we are as sure as if we saw it coming to pass +here before us, that the world will come right at last. For the +Bible tells us that the Son of God is the king of the world; that He +has been the master and ruler of it from the beginning. He, the +Bible tells us, condescended to come down on earth and be born in the +likeness of a poor man, and die on the cross for this poor world of +His, that He might take away the sins of it.” “Behold +the Lamb of God,” said John the Baptist, “who takes away +the sin of the world.” How dare we, who call ourselves Christians, +we who have been baptized into His name, we who have tasted of His mercy, +we who know the might of His love, the converting and renewing power +of His Spirit—how dare we doubt but that He <i>will</i> take away +the sins of the world? Ay; step by step, nation by nation, year +by year, the Lord shall conquer; love, and justice, and wisdom shall +spread and grow; for He must reign till He has put all enemies under +His feet. He has promised to take away the sins of the world, +and He is God, and cannot lie. There is the Christian’s +hope: let him leave infidels to say “The world always was bad, +and it must remain so to the end;” the Christian ought to be able +to answer, “The world was bad, and is bad; but for that very reason +it will <i>not</i> remain so to the end: for the Lord and king of the +earth is boundless love, justice, goodness itself, and He will thoroughly +purge His floor, and cast out of His kingdom all things that offend, +and make in His good time the kingdoms of this world, the kingdoms of +God and of His Christ.”</p> +<p>“Ah but,” someone may say, “that, if it ever happens +at all, will not happen till we are dead, and what part or lot shall +<i>we</i> have in it? we who die in the midst of all this sin, and injustice, +and distress?” There again the Bible gives us hope: “I +believe,” says the Creed, “in the resurrection of the flesh.” +The Bible teaches us to believe, that we, each of us, as human beings, +men and women, shall have a share in that glorious day; not merely as +ghosts, and disembodied spirits—of which the Bible, thanks be +to God, says little or nothing, but as real live human beings, with +new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new heaven. “Therefore,” +says David, “my flesh shall rest in hope;” not merely my +soul, my ghost, but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died, +but rose again with His body, shall raise our bodies, according to the +mighty working by which He subdues all things to Himself; and then the +whole manhood of each of us, body, soul, and spirit, shall have one +perfect consummation and bliss, in His eternal and everlasting glory.—That +is our hope. If that is not a gospel, and good news from heaven +to poor distressed creatures in hovels, and on sick beds, to people +racked with life-long pain and disease, to people in crowded cities, +who never from week’s end to week’s end look on the green +fields and bright sky—if that is not good news, and a dayspring +of boundless hope from on high for them, what news can be?</p> +<p>But how are we to get this hope? The text tells us; through +comfort of the Scriptures; through the strengthening and comforting +promises, and examples, and rules of God’s gracious dealings which +we find therein. Through comfort of the Scriptures, but also through +patience. Ah, my friends, of that too we must think; we must, +as St. James says, “let patience have her perfect work,” +or else we shall not be perfect ourselves. If we are hasty, self-conceited, +covetous, ready to help ourselves by the first means that come to hand; +if we are full of hard judgments about our neighbours, and doubts about +God’s good purpose toward the world; in short, if we are not <i>patient</i>, +the Bible will teach us little or nothing. It may make us superstitious, +bigoted, fanatical, conceited, pharisaical, but like Jesus Christ the +Lord it will not make us, unless we have patience.</p> +<p>And where are we to get patience? God knows it is hard in such +a world as this for poor creatures to be patient always. But faith +can breed patience, though patience cannot breed itself;—and faith +in whom? Faith in our Father in heaven, even in the Almighty God +Himself. He calls Himself “the God of Patience and Consolation.” +Pray for His Holy Spirit, and He will make you patient; pray for His +Holy Spirit, and He will console and comfort you. He has promised +That Spirit of His, The Spirit of love, trust, and patience—The +Comforter—to as many as ask Him. Ask Him now, this day—come +to His holy table this day, and ask Him to make you patient; ask Him +to take all the hastiness, and pride, and ill-temper, and self-will, +and greediness out of you, and to change your wills into the likeness +of His will. Then your eyes will be opened to understand His law. +Then you will see in the Scriptures a sure promise of hope and glory +and redemption for yourself and all the world. Then you will see +in the blessed sacrament of the Lord’s body and blood, a sure +sign and warrant, handed down from land to land, and age to age, from +year to year, and from father to son, that these promises shall come +true; that hope shall become fact; that not one of the Lord’s +words shall fail, or pass away, till all be fulfilled.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>III—THE KINGDOM OF GOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p>The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me +to preach good tidings to the meek; He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, +to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to +them that are bound.—ISAIAH lxi. 1.</p> +<p>My friends, I do entreat those of you who wish to get any real good +from this sermon, to listen to me carefully all through it. Not +that I have to complain of you in general for not attending to me. +I thank God, and thank you, that you do listen to what is said in this +pulpit. But there are many people who have a bad trick of minding +the preacher carefully enough for a minute or two, and then letting +their wits wander, and think about something else; and then if any word +in the sermon strikes them, waking up suddenly, and thinking again for +a little, and then letting their thoughts run wild again; and so on. +Whereby it happens that they only recollect a few scraps of the sermon, +a word here, and a sentence there, and get into their heads all sorts +of mistakes and false notions about the preacher’s meaning.</p> +<p>That is not right; that is not worthy of reasonable grown men: that +is only pardonable in little scatter-brained children. Men and +women should listen steadily, reverently throughout; so, and so only, +will they be able to judge of the message which the preacher brings +them. Listen to me, therefore, all through this sermon, and may +God give you grace to understand it and lay it to heart, for it is the +good news of the kingdom of God.</p> +<p>You recollect, I hope, that I have often told you, that the Lord +Jesus Christ’s words would never pass away; that His prophecies +are continually coming true, and being fulfilled over and over again. +Now this text is not one of His prophecies, but it is a prophecy about +Him; one which He fulfilled, and which He has been fulfilling again +and again. He is fulfilling it, as I believe, more than ever, +now in these very days.</p> +<p>If you will look at the 61st chapter of Isaiah, you will find this +prophecy; and you will find, too, what will surprise you at first, that +Isaiah was speaking of himself. He says, “That the Spirit +of the Lord was upon <i>him</i>”—Isaiah—“because +the Lord had appointed <i>him</i> to preach good tidings to the meek, +to bind up the broken-hearted, and deliverance to the captives, to preach +the acceptable year of the Lord.” Isaiah must have spoken +truly about himself. He could not have meant to tell a falsehood, +to say a thing was true of himself which was only true of Jesus, who +did not come till 800 years afterwards. And he did speak the truth: +you cannot read his prophecies without seeing that the Spirit of the +Lord was indeed upon him; that the words which he spoke must have comforted +all those who were sorrowing for their sins and the sins of the nation +in their time. We know, for a fact, that his prophecies came true; +that the Jewish captives were delivered and brought back out of Judæa +to Jerusalem again, and that Jerusalem was rebuilt as Isaiah prophesied, +and the Jewish nation raised to far greater holiness, and prosperity, +and happiness than it had ever been in before. And yet 800 years +afterwards the Lord took those very same words to Himself, and said, +that <i>He</i> fulfilled them. He read them aloud once in a Jewish +synagogue, out of the book of the prophet Isaiah; and then told the +congregation, “This day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears.” +And again, as we read in the Gospel for this day, when John the Baptist +sent to ask Him if He was really the Christ, He made use of another +prophecy of Isaiah, and told John’s disciples that He <i>was</i> +the Christ, because He was fulfilling that prophecy; because He <i>was</i> +making the deaf hear, and the blind see, and preaching the gospel to +the poor. Now, how is that? Could Isaiah be right in applying +those words to himself, and yet Christ be right in applying them to +Himself? Can a prophecy be fulfilled twice over?</p> +<p>No doubt it can, my friends, and two hundred times over. No +prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation, says St. Peter. +That is, it does not apply to any one private, particular thing that +is to happen. Every prophecy of Scripture goes on fulfilling itself +more and more, as time rolls on and the world grows older. St. +Peter tells us the reason why. No prophecy of Scripture is of +private interpretation; because it does not come from the will of man, +from any invention or discovery of poor short-sighted human beings, +who can only judge by what they see around them in their own times: +but holy men of old spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. +And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God; the everlasting +Spirit; the Spirit who cannot change, for He <i>is</i> God. The +Spirit who searcheth the deep things of God, and teaches them to men. +And what are the deep things of God? They are eternal as God is. +Eternal laws; everlasting rules which cannot alter. That is the +meaning of it all. The Spirit of God is the Spirit which teaches +men the laws of God; the unchangeable rules and ordinances by which +He governs all heaven and earth, and men, and nations; the laws which +come into force, not once only, but always; the laws of God which are +working round us now, just as much as they were eighteen hundred years +ago, just as much as they were in Isaiah’s time. Therefore +it is, that I said that these old Jewish prophecies, which were inspired +by the Holy Spirit, are coming true now, and will keep on coming true, +time after time, in their proper place and order, and whensoever the +times are fit for them, even to the end of the world.</p> +<p>But again, we read that the Spirit of God takes of the things of +Christ, and shows them unto us. And what are the things of Christ? +They must be eternal things, unchangeable things, for Christ is unchangeable—Jesus +Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. He is over all, +God blessed for ever. To Him all power is given in heaven and +earth. He reigns, and He will reign. Do you think He is +less a Saviour now, than He was when He spoke those things to John’s +disciples? Do you think He is less able to hear and to help than +He was in John’s time? Do you think He used to care about +people’s bodies then, but that He only cares about their souls +now? Do you think that He is less compassionate, and less merciful, +as well as less powerful, than He was when He made the blind see, and +the lame walk, and the deaf hear, in Judæa of old?</p> +<p>Less powerful! less compassionate! One would have expected +that Christ was <i>more</i> powerful, <i>more</i> compassionate, if +that were possible. At least one would expect that His power and +compassion would show itself more and more, and make itself felt more +and more, year by year, and age by age; more and more healing disease; +more and more comforting sorrow; more and still more casting out cunning +and evil spirits, till He had put all under His feet. He Himself +said it should be so. He always spoke of His own kingdom as a +thing which was to grow and increase by laws of its own, men knew not +how, but He knew. Like seed cast into the ground, His kingdom +was, He said, at first the smallest of all seeds; but it was to grow, +and take root, and spread into a mighty tree, He said, till the very +birds in the air lodged in the branches of it; and David’s words +should be fulfilled, “Thou, Lord, shalt save both man and beast.” +And does not St. Paul speak of His kingdom in the same way, as a kingdom +which should grow? that He was to reign till He had put all enemies +under His feet? that He would deliver at last the whole creation? the +earth on which we stand, the dumb animals around us? For, as St. +Paul says, the whole creation is groaning in labour-pangs, waiting to +be raised into a higher state. And it shall be raised. The +whole creation shall be set free into the glorious liberty of the children +of God.</p> +<p>What does that mean? How can I tell you?</p> +<p>This I can tell you, that it cannot mean that Jesus Christ was merciful +enough to heal people’s bodies at first, but that He has given +up doing it now, and will never do it again. “Well, but,” +some would say, “what does all this come to? You are merely +telling us what we knew before—that if any of us are cured from +disease, or raised up from a sick bed, it is all the Lord’s doing.” +If you do believe that, really, my friends, happy are you! Many +of you, I think, do believe it. The poor are more inclined to +believe it, I think, than the rich. But even in the mouths of +the poor one often hears words which make one suspect that they do <i>not</i> +believe it. I am very much afraid that a great many have got into +the trick of saying that it was God’s mercy that they were cured, +and that it pleased the Lord to raise them up from a sick bed, very +much as a piece of cant. They say the words by rote, because they +have been accustomed to hear them said by others, without thinking of +the meaning of them; just as, on the other hand, a great many people +curse and swear without thinking of the awful oaths they use. +Ay, and often enough the very same persons will say that it was the +Lord’s mercy they were cured of their sickness; and then, if they +get into a passion, pray the very same Lord to do that to the bodies +and souls of their neighbours which it is a shame to speak of here. +Out of the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings: showing that whether +or not they are in earnest in cursing, they are not earnest in blessing.</p> +<p>Again: If people really believed that it was the Lord Jesus Christ +who cured their sicknesses for them, they would behave, when they got +well, more as the Lord Jesus Christ would wish them to behave. +They would show forth their thankfulness not only with their lips, but +in their lives. You who believe—you who say—that Christ +has cured your sicknesses, show your faith by your works. Live +like those who are alive again from the dead; who are not your own, +but bought with a price, and bound to work for God with your bodies +and your spirits, which are His—then, and then only, can either +God or man believe you.</p> +<p>Again: There is a third reason which makes one suspect that people +do not mean what they say about this matter. I think too many +say, “It has pleased God,” merely as an empty form of words, +when all they mean is, “What must be, must, and it cannot be helped.” +Else, why do they say, “It has pleased the Lord to send me sickness?” +What is the use of saying, “It has pleased the Lord to cure me,” +when you say in the same breath, “It has pleased the Lord to make +me ill?” I know you will say that, “Of course, whatever +happens must be the Lord’s will; if it did not please Him it would +not happen.” I do not care for such words; I will have nothing +to do with them. I will neither entangle you nor myself in those +endless disputings and questions about freewill and necessity, which +never yet have come to any conclusion, and never will, because they +are too deep for poor short-sighted human beings like us. “To +the law and to the testimony,” say I. I will hold to the +words of the Bible; what it says, I will say; what it does not say I +will not say, to please any man’s system of doctrines. And +I say from the Bible that we have no more right to say, “It has +pleased the Lord to make me sick,” than, “It has pleased +the Lord to make me a sinner.” Scripture everywhere speaks +of sickness as a real evil and a curse—a breaking of the health, +and order, and strength, and harmony of God’s creation. +It speaks of madmen as possessed with evil spirits; did <i>that</i> +please God? The woman who was bowed with a spirit of infirmity, +and could not lift herself up—did our Lord say that it had pleased +God to make her a wretched cripple? No; he spoke of her as this +daughter of Israel, whom Satan had bound, and not God, this eighteen +years; and that was His reason for healing her, even on the sabbath-day, +because her disease was not the work of God, but of the cruel, disordering, +destroying evil spirit which is at enmity with God. That was why +Christ cured her. And <i>that</i>—for this is the point +I have been coming to, step by step—that was the reason why, when +John the Baptist sent to ask if Jesus was the Christ, our Lord answered: +“Go and show John again those things which ye do see and hear: +the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, +and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel +preached to them.”</p> +<p>Do not be in a hurry, my friends, and suppose that our Lord meant +merely: “Tell John what wonderful miracles I am working.” +If He had meant that why would He have put in as the last proof that +He was the Christ, that He was preaching the gospel to the poor? +What wonderful miracle was there in <i>that</i>? No: it was as +if He had said: “Go and tell John that I am the Christ, because +I am the great physician, the healer and deliverer of body and soul: +one who will and can cure the loathsome diseases, the uselessness, the +misery, the ignorance of the poorest and meanest.” He has +proved Himself the Christ by showing not only His boundless power, but +His boundless love and mercy; and <i>that</i>, not only to men’s +souls, but to their bodies also. To prove Himself the Christ by +wonderful and astonishing miracles was exactly what He would not do. +He refused, when the Scribes and Pharisees came and asked of Him a sign +from heaven to prove that He was Christ—wanting Him, I suppose, +to bring some apparition, or fiery comet, or great voice out of the +sky, to astonish them with His power; He told them peremptorily that +He would give them no such thing: and yet He said that His mighty works +did prove Him to be Christ; He pronounced woe against Chorazin and Bethsaida +for not believing Him on account of His mighty works: He told the Scribes +and Pharisees that they ought to believe on Him merely for His works’ +sake. And why would they not believe on Him? Just because +they could not see that God’s power was shown more in healing +and delivering sufferers, than in astonishing and destroying. +They could not see that God’s perfect likeness shone out in Christ—that +He was the express image of the Father, just because He went about doing +good, and healing all manner of sicknesses and all manner of infirmities +among the people. But so it is, my friends! Jesus is the +Saviour, the deliverer, the great physician, the healer of soul and +body. Not a pang is felt or a tear shed on earth, but He sorrows +over it. Not a human being on earth dies young, but He, as I believe, +sorrows over it. What it is which prevents Him healing every sickness, +soothing every sorrow, wiping away every tear <i>now</i>, we cannot +tell. But this we can tell, that it is His will that none should +perish. This we <i>can</i> tell; that He is willing as ever to +heal the sick, to cleanse the leper, to cast out devils, to teach the +ignorant, to bind up the broken-hearted. This we <i>can</i> tell; +that He will go on doing so more and more, year by year, and age by +age. This we <i>can</i> tell, from Scripture, that Christ is stronger +than the devil. This we can tell; that Christ, and all good men, +the spirits of just men made perfect, the wise and the great in God’s +sight, who have left us their books, their sayings, their writings, +as precious health-giving heirlooms—have been fighting, and are +fighting, and will fight to the end against the devil, and sin, and +oppression, and misery, and disease, and everything which spoils and +darkens the face of God’s good earth. And this we <i>can</i> +tell; that they will conquer at the last, because Christ is stronger +than the devil; good is stronger than evil; light is stronger than darkness; +God’s Spirit, the giver of life, and health, and order, is stronger +than all the evil customs, and ignorance, and carelessness, and cruelty, +and superstition, which makes miserable the lives and, as far as we +can see, destroys the souls of thousands. Yes, I say, Christ’s +kingdom is a kingdom of health and deliverance for body and soul; and +it will conquer, and it will spread, and it will grow, till the nations +of the world have become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. +Christ reigns, and Christ will reign till He has put all His enemies +under His feet; and the last of His enemies which shall be destroyed +is <i>Death</i>. Death is His enemy. He has conquered death +by rising from the dead. And the day will come when death will +be no more—when sickness and sorrow shall be unknown, and God +shall wipe away tears from all eyes. I say it again—never +forget it—Christ is King, and His kingdom is a kingdom of health, +and life, and deliverance from all evil. It always has been so, +from the first time our Lord cured the leper in Galilee; it will be +so to the end of the world. And, therefore—to come back +to the very place from which I started at the beginning of my sermon—therefore, +whenever one of the days of the Lord is at hand, whenever God’s +kingdom makes a great step forward, this same prophecy in our text is +fulfilled in some striking and wonderful way. And I say it is +fulfilled now in these days more than it ever has been. Christ +is healing the sick, cleansing the leper, giving sight to the blind, +raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor, seven times +more in these days in which we live than He did when He walked upon +earth in Judæa.</p> +<p>Do you doubt my words? At all events you confess that the cure +of all diseases comes from Christ. Then consider, I beseech you, +how many more diseases are cured now than were formerly. One may +say that the knowledge of medicine is not one hundred years old. +Nothing, my friends, makes me feel more strongly what a wonderful and +blessed time we live in, and how Christ is showing forth mighty works +among us, than this same sudden miraculous improvement in the art of +healing, which has taken place within the memory of man. Any country +doctor now knows more, thank God, or ought to know, than the greatest +London physicians did two generations ago. New cures for deafness, +blindness, lameness, every disease that flesh is heir to, are being +discovered year by year. Oh, my friends! you little know what +Christ is doing among you, for your bodies as well as for your souls. +There is not a parish in England now in which the poorest as well as +the richest are not cured yearly of diseases, which, if they had lived +a hundred years ago, would have killed them without hope or help. +And then, when one looks at these great and blessed plans for what is +called sanitary reform, at the sickness and the misery which has been +done away with already by attending to them, even though they have only +just begun to be put in practice—our hearts must be hard indeed +if we do not feel that Christ is revealing to us the gifts of healing +far more bountifully and mercifully than even He did to the first apostles.</p> +<p>But you will say, perhaps, the dead are not raised in these days. +Oh, my friends! which shows Christ’s mercy most, to raise those +who are already dead, or to save those alive who are about to die? +Those in this church who have read history know as well as I, how in +our forefathers’ time people died in England by thousands of diseases +which are scarcely ever deadly now; ay, of diseases which have now actually +vanished out of the land, before the new light of medicine and of civilisation +which Christ has revealed to us in these days. For one child who +lived and grew up in old times, two live and grow up now. In London +alone there are not half as many deaths in proportion to the number +of people as there were a hundred years ago. And is not that a +mightier work of Christ’s power and love than if He had raised +a few dead persons to life?</p> +<p>And now for the last part of our Lord’s witness about Himself. +To the poor the gospel is preached. Oh! my friends, is not <i>that</i> +coming true in our days as it never came true before? Look back +only fifty years, and consider the difference between the doctrines +which were preached to the poor and the doctrines which are preached +to them now. Look round you and see how everywhere earnest and +godly ministers have sprung up, of all sects and opinions, as well as +of the Church of England, not only to preach the gospel in the pulpit, +but to carry it to the sick bedside of the lonely cottage, to the prison, +and to those fearful sties, worse than prisons, where in our great cities +the heathen poor live crowded together. Look at the teaching which +the poor man can get now, compared to what he used to—the sermons, +the Bibles, the tracts, the lending libraries, the schools—just +consider the hundreds of thousands of pounds which are subscribed every +year to educate the children of the poor, and then say whether Christ +is not working a mighty work among us in these days. I know that +not half as much is done as ought to be done in that way; not half as +much as will be done; and what is done will have to be done better than +it has been done yet; but still, can anyone in this church who is fifty +years old deny that there is a most enormous and blessed improvement +which is growing and spreading every year? Can anyone deny that +the gospel is preached to the poor now in a way that it never was before +within the memory of man?</p> +<p>Now, recollect that this is an Advent sermon—a sermon which +proclaims to you that Christ is <i>come</i>; yes, He is come—come +never to leave mankind again! Christ reigns over the earth, and +will reign for ever. At certain great and important times in the +world’s history, like this present time, times which He Himself +calls “days of the Lord,” He shows forth His power, and +the mightiness and mercy of His kingdom, more than at others. +But still He is always with us; we have no need to run up and down to +look for Christ: to say, Who shall ascend into heaven to bring Him down? +Who shall descend into the deep to bring Him up? For the kingdom +of God, as He told us Himself, is among us, and within us. Yes, +within us. All these wonderful improvements and discoveries, all +things beneficial to men which are found out year by year, though they +seem to be of men’s invention, are really of Christ’s revealing, +the fruits of the kingdom of God within us, of the Spirit of God, who +is teaching men, though they too often will not believe it; though they +disclaim God’s Spirit and take all the glory to themselves. +Truly Christ is among us; and our eyes are held, and we see Him not. +That is our English sin—the sin of unbelief, the root of every +other sin. Christ works among us, and we will not own Him. +Truly, Jesus Christ may well say of us English at this day, There were +ten cleansed, but where are the nine? How few are there, who return +to give glory to God! Oh, consider what I say; the kingdom of +God is among us now; its blessings are growing richer, fuller among +us every day. Beware, lest if we refuse to acknowledge that kingdom +and Christ the King of it, it be taken away from us, and given to some +other nation, who will bring forth the fruits of it, fellow-help and +brotherly kindness, purity and sobriety, and all the fruits of the Spirit +of God.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>IV—A PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT.</p> +<p>Rejoice in the Lord always.—PHILIPPIANS iv. 4.</p> +<p>This is the beginning of the Epistle for to-day, the Sunday before +Christmas. We will try to find out why it was chosen for to-day, +and what lesson we may learn from it.</p> +<p>Now Christmas-time was always a time of rejoicing among many heathen +nations, and long before the Lord Jesus Christ came. That was +natural and reasonable enough, if you will consider it. For now +the shortest day is past. The sun is just beginning to climb higher +and higher in the sky each day, and bring back with him longer sunshine, +and shorter darkness, and spring flowers, and summer crops, and a whole +new year, with new hopes, new work, new lessons, new blessings. +The old year, with all its labours and all its pleasures, and all its +sorrows and all its sins, is dying, all but gone. It lies behind +us, never to return. The tears which we shed, we never can shed +again. The mistakes we made, we have a chance of mending in the +year to come. And so the heathens felt, and rejoiced that another +year was dying, another year going to be born.</p> +<p>And Christmas was a time of rejoicing too, because the farming work +was done. The last year’s crop was housed; the next year’s +wheat was sown; the cattle were safe in yard and stall; and men had +time to rest, and draw round the fire in the long winter nights, and +make merry over the earnings of the past year, and the hopes and plans +of the year to come. And so over all this northern half of the +world Christmas was a merry time.</p> +<p>But the poor heathens did not know the Lord. They did not know +who to thank for all their Christmas blessings. And so some used +to thank the earth for the crops, and the sun for coming back again +to lengthen the days, as if the earth and sun moved of themselves. +And some used to thank false gods and ancient heroes, who, perhaps, +never really lived at all. And some, perhaps the greater number, +thanked nothing and no one, but just enjoyed themselves, and took no +thought, as too many do now at Christmas-time. So the world went +on, Christmas after Christmas; and the times of that ignorance, as St. +Paul says, God winked at. But when the fulness of time was come, +He sent forth His Son, made of a woman, to be the judge and ruler of +the world; and commanded all men everywhere to repent, and turn from +all their vanities to serve the living God, who had made heaven and +earth, and all things in them.</p> +<p>He did not wish them to give up their Christmas mirth. No: +all along He had been trying to teach them by it about His love to them. +As St. Paul told them once, God had not left Himself without witness, +in that He gave them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts +with joy and gladness.</p> +<p>God did not wish them, or us, to give up Christmas mirth. The +apostles did not wish it. The great men, true followers of the +apostles, who shaped our Prayer-book for us, and sealed it with their +life-blood, did not wish it. They did not wish farmers, labourers, +servants, masters, to give up one of the old Christmas customs; but +to remember who made Christmas, and its blessings; in short, to rejoice +in The Lord. Our forefathers had been thanking the wrong persons +for Christmas. Henceforward we were to thank the right person, +The Lord, and rejoice in Him. Our forefathers had been rejoicing +in the sun, and moon, and earth; in wise and valiant kings who had lived +ages before; in their own strength, and industry, and cunning. +Now they were to rejoice in Him who made sun, and moon, and earth; in +Him who sent wise and valiant kings and leaders; in Him who gives all +strength, and industry, and cunning; by whose inspiration comes all +knowledge of agriculture, and manufacture, and all the arts which raise +men above the beasts that perish. So their Christmas joys were +to go on, year by year while the world lasted: but they were to go on +rightly, and not wrongly. Men were to rejoice in The Lord, and +then His blessing would be on them, and the thanks and praise which +they offered Him, He would return with interest, in fresh blessings +for the coming year.</p> +<p>Therefore, I think, this Epistle was chosen for to-day, the Sunday +before Christmas, to show us in whom we are to rejoice; and, therefore, +to show us how we are to rejoice. For we must not take the first +verse of the Epistle and forget the rest. That would neither be +wise nor reverent toward St. Paul, who wrote the whole, and meant the +whole to stand together as one discourse; or to the blessed and holy +men who chose it for our lesson on this day. Let us go on, then, +with the Epistle, line by line, throughout.</p> +<p>“Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice.” +As much as to say, you cannot rejoice too much, you cannot overdo your +happiness, thankfulness, merriment. You do not know half—no, +not the thousandth part of God’s love and mercy to you, and you +never will know. So do not be afraid of being too happy, or think +that you honour God by wearing a sour face, when He is heaping blessings +on you, and calling on you to smile and sing. But “let your +moderation be known unto all men.” There is a right and +a wrong way of being merry. There is a mirth, which is no mirth; +whereof it is written, in the midst of that laughter there is a heaviness, +and the end thereof is death. Drunkenness, gluttony, indecent +words and jests and actions, these are out of place on Christmas-day, +and in the merriment to which the pure and holy Lord Jesus calls you +all. They are rejoicing in the flesh and the devil, and not in +the Lord at all; and whosoever indulges in them, and fancies them merriment, +is keeping the devil’s Christmas, and not Jesus Christ’s. +So let your moderation be known to all men. Be <i>merry and wise</i>. +The fool lets his mirth master him, and carry him away, till he forgets +himself, and says and does things of which he is ashamed when he gets +up next morning, sick and sad at heart. The wise man remembers +that, let the occasion be as joyful a one as it may, “the Lord +is at hand.” Christ’s eye is on him, while he is eating, +and drinking, and laughing. He is not afraid of Christ’s +eye, because, though it is Divine it is a human, loving, smiling eye; +rejoicing in the happiness of His poor, hard-worked brothers here below. +But he remembers that it is a holy eye, too; an eye which looks with +sadness and horror on anything which is wrong; on all drunkenness, quarrelling, +indecency; and so on in all his merriment, he is still master of himself. +He remembers that his soul is nobler than his body; that his will must +be stronger than his appetite; and so he keeps himself in check; he +keeps his tongue from evil, and his stomach from sottishness, and though +he may be, and ought to be, the merriest of the whole party, yet he +takes care to let his moderation, his sobriety, be known and plain to +everyone, remembering that the Lord is at hand.</p> +<p>And that man—I will stand surety for him—will be the +one who will rise from his bed next morning, best able to carry out +the next verse of the Epistle, and “be careful for nothing.”</p> +<p>Now that is no easy matter here in England; to rich and poor, Christmas +is the time for settling accounts and paying debts. And therefore +in England, where living is dear, and everyone, more or less, struggling +to pay his way, Christmas is often a very anxious, disturbing time of +year. Many a family, for all their economy, cannot clear themselves +at the year’s end; and though they are able to forget that now +and then, thank God, through great part of the year, yet they cannot +forget it at Christmas. But, as I said, the man who at Christmas-time +will be most able to be careful for nothing, will be the man whose moderation +has been known to everyone; for he will, if he has lived the year through +in the same temper in which he has spent Christmas, have been moderate +in his expenses; he will have kept himself from empty show, and pretending +to be richer than he is. He will have kept himself from throwing +away his money in drink, and kept his daughters from throwing away money +in dress, which is just what too many, in their foolish, godless, indecent +hurry to get rid of their own children off their hands do not do.</p> +<p>And he will be the man who will be in the best humour, and have the +clearest brain, to kneel down when he gets up to his daily work, and +“in everything, by prayer and supplication, make his requests +known to God.” And then, whether he can make both ends meet +or not, whether he can begin next year free from debt or not, still +“the peace of God will keep his heart.” He may be +unable to clear himself, but still he will know that he has a loving +and merciful Father in heaven, who has allowed distress and difficulty +to come on him only as a lesson and an education. That this distress +came because God chose, and that when God chooses it will go away—and +that till then—considering that the Lord God sent it—it +had better <i>not</i> go away. He will believe that God’s +gracious promises stand true—that the Lord will never let those +who trust in Him be confounded and brought to shame—that He will +let none of us be tempted beyond what we are able, but will always with +the temptation make a way for us to escape, that we may be able to bear +it. And so the peace of God which passes understanding, will keep +that man’s mind. And in whom? “In Jesus Christ.” +Now what did St. Paul mean by putting in the Lord Jesus Christ’s +name there? what is the meaning of “in Jesus Christ”? +This is what it means; it means what Christmas-day means. A man +may say, “Your sermon promises fine things, but I am miserable +and poor; it promises a holy and noble rejoicing to everyone, but I +am unholy and mean. It promises peace from God, and I am sure +I am not at peace: I am always fretting and quarrelling; I quarrel with +my wife, my children, and my neighbours, and they quarrel with me; and +worst of all,” says the poor man, “I quarrel with myself. +I am full of discontented, angry, sulky, anxious, unhappy thoughts; +my heart is dark and sad and restless within me—would God I were +peaceful, but I am not: look in my face and see!”</p> +<p>True, my friend, but on Christmas-day the Son of God was born into +the world, a man like you.</p> +<p>“Well,” says the poor man, “but what has that to +do with my anxiety and my ill-temper?”</p> +<p>It would take the whole year through, my friend, to show you all +that it has to do with you and your unhappiness. All the Lessons, +Epistles, and Gospels of the year are set out to show you what it has +to do with you. But in the meanwhile, before Christmas-day comes, +consider this one thing: Why are you anxious? Because you do not +know what is to happen to you? Then Christmas-day is a witness +to you, that whatsoever happens to you, happens to you by the will and +rule of Jesus Christ, The perfect man; think of that. <i>The perfect +man</i>—who understands men’s hearts and wants, and all +that is good for them, and has all the wisdom and power to give us what +is good, which we want ourselves. And what makes you unhappy, +my friends? Is it not at heart just this one thing—you are +unhappy because you are not pleased with yourselves? And you are +not pleased with yourselves because you know you ought not to be pleased +with yourselves; and you know you ought not to be pleased with yourselves, +because you know, in the bottom of your hearts, that God is not pleased +with you? What cure, what comfort for such thoughts can we find?—This.</p> +<p>The child who was born in a manger on Christmas-day, and grew up +in poverty, and had not where to lay his head, went through all shame +and sorrow to which man is heir. He, Jesus, the poor child of +Bethlehem, is Lord and King of heaven and earth. He will feel +for us; He will understand our temptations; He has been poor himself, +that He might feel for the poor; He has been evil spoken of, that He +might feel for those whose tempers are sorely tried. He bore the +sins and felt the miseries of the whole world, that He might feel for +us when we are wearied with the burden of life, and confounded by the +remembrance of our own sins.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, consider only Who was born into the world on Christmas-day; +and that thought alone will be enough to fill you with rejoicing and +hope for yourselves and all the world, and with the peace of God which +passes understanding, the peace which the angels proclaimed to the shepherds +on the first Christmas night—“On earth peace, and good will +toward men”—and if God wills us good, my friend; what matter +who wishes us evil?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>V—CHRISTMAS-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a +slave.—PHILIPPIANS ii. 7.</p> +<p>On Christmas-day, 1851 years ago, if we had been at Rome, the great +capital city, and mistress of the whole world, we should have seen a +strange sight—strange, and yet pleasant. All the courts +of law were shut; no war was allowed to be proclaimed, and no criminals +punished. The sorrow and the strife of that great city had stopped, +in great part, for three days, and all people were giving themselves +up to merriment and good cheer—making up quarrels, and giving +and receiving presents from house to house. And we should have +seen, too, a pleasanter sight than that. For those three days +of Christmas-time were days of safety and merriment for the poor slaves—tens +of thousands of whom—men, women, and children—the Romans +had brought out of all the countries in the world—many of our +forefathers and mothers among them—and kept them there in cruel +bondage and shame, worked and fed, bought and sold, like beasts, and +not like human beings, not able to call their lives or their bodies +their own, forced to endure any shame or sin which their tyrants required +of them, and liable any moment to be beaten, tortured, or crucified +at the mercy of cruel and foul masters and mistresses. But on +that Christmas-day, according to an old custom, they were allowed for +once in the whole year to play at being free, to dress in their masters’ +and mistresses’ clothes, to say what they thought of them boldly, +without fear of punishment, and to eat and drink at their masters’ +tables, while their masters and mistresses waited on them. It +was an old custom, that, among the heathen Romans, which their forefathers, +who were wiser and better than they, had handed down to them. +They had forgotten, perhaps, what it meant: but still we may see what +it must have meant: That the old forefathers of the Romans had intended +to remind their children every year by that custom, that their poor +hard-worked slaves were, after all, men and women as much as their masters; +that they had hearts and consciences, and sense in them, and a right +to speak what they thought, as much as their masters; that they, as +much as their masters, could enjoy the good things of God’s earth, +from which man’s tyranny had shut them out; and to remind those +cruel masters, by making them once every year wait on their own slaves +at table, that they were, after all, equal in the sight of God, and +that it was more noble for those who were rich, and called themselves +gentlemen, to help others, than to make others slave for them.</p> +<p>I do not mean, of course, that those old heathens understood all +this clearly. You will see, by the latter part of my sermon, why +they could not understand it clearly. But there must have been +some sort of dim, confused suspicion in their minds that it was wrong +and cruel to treat human beings like brute beasts, which made them set +up that strange old custom of letting their slaves play at being free +once every Christmas-tide.</p> +<p>But if on this same day, 1851 years ago, instead of being in the +great city of Rome, we had been in the little village of Bethlehem in +Judæa, we might have seen a sight stranger still; a sight which +we could not have fancied had anything to do with that merrymaking of +the slaves at Rome, and yet which had everything to do with it.</p> +<p>We should have seen, in a mean stable, among the oxen and the asses, +a poor maiden, with her newborn baby laid in the manger, for want of +any better cradle, and by her her husband, a poor carpenter, whom all +men thought to be the father of her child. . . . There, in the +stable, amid the straw, through the cold winter days and nights, in +want of many a comfort which the poorest woman, and the poorest woman’s +child would need, they stayed there, that young maiden and her newborn +babe. That young maiden was the Blessed Virgin Mary, and that +poor baby was the Son of God. The Son of God, in whose likeness +all men were made at the beginning; the Son of God, who had been ruling +the whole world all along; who brought the Jews out of slavery, a thousand +years before, and destroyed their cruel tyrants in the Red Sea; the +Son of God, who had been all along punishing cruel tyrants and oppressors, +and helping the poor out of misery, whenever they called on Him. +The Light which lightens every man who comes into the world, was that +poor babe. It was He who gives men reason, and conscience, and +a tender heart, and delight in what is good, and shame and uneasiness +of mind when they do wrong. It was He who had been stirring up, +year by year, in those cruel Romans’ hearts, the feeling that +there was something wrong in grinding down their slaves, and put into +their minds the notion of giving them their Christmas rest and freedom. +He had been keeping up that good old custom for a witness and a warning +that all men were equal in His sight; that all men had a right to liberty +of speech and conscience; a right to some fair share in the good things +of the earth, which God had given to all men freely to enjoy. +But those old Romans would not take the warning. They kept up +the custom, but they shut their eyes to the lesson of it. They +went on conquering and oppressing all the nations of the earth, and +making them their slaves. And now He was come—He Himself, +the true Lord of the earth, the true pattern of men. He was come +to show men to whom this world belonged: He was come to show men in +what true power, true nobleness consisted—not in making others +minister to us, but in ministering to them: He was come to set a pattern +of what a man should be; He was the Son of Man—THE MAN of all +men—and therefore He had come with good news to all poor slaves, +and neglected, hard-worked creatures: He had come to tell them that +He cared for them; that He could and would deliver them; that they were +God’s children, and His brothers, just as much as their Roman +masters; and that He was going to bring a terrible time upon the earth—“days +of the Son of Man,” when He would judge all men, and show who +were true men and who were not—such a time as had never been before, +or would be again; when that great Roman empire, in spite of all its +armies, and its cunning, and its riches, plundered from every nation +under heaven, would crumble away and perish shamefully and miserably +off the face of the earth, before tribes of poor, untaught, savage men, +the brothers and countrymen of those very slaves whom the Romans fancied +were so much below them, that they had a right to treat them like the +beasts which perish.</p> +<p>That was the message which that little child lying in the manger +there at Bethlehem, had been sent out from God to preach. Do you +not see now what it had to do with that strange merrymaking of the poor +slaves in Rome, which I showed you at the beginning of my sermon?</p> +<p>If you do not, I must remind you of the song, which, St. Luke says, +the shepherds in Judæa heard the angels sing, on this night 1851 +years ago. That song tells us the meaning of that babe’s +coming. That song tells us what that babe’s coming had to +do with the poor slaves of Rome, and with all poor creatures who have +suffered and sorrowed on this earth, before or since.</p> +<p>“Glory to God in the highest,” they sang, “and +on earth peace, good will to men.”</p> +<p>Glory to God in the highest. That little babe, lying in the +manger among the cattle, was showing what was the very highest glory +of the great God who had made heaven and earth. Not to show His +power and His majesty, but to show His condescension and His love. +To stoop, to condescend, to have mercy, to forgive, that is the highest +glory of God. That is the noblest, the most Godlike thing for +God or man. And God showed that when He sent down His only-begotten +Son—not to strike the world to atoms with a touch, not to hurl +sinners into everlasting flame, but to be born of a village maiden, +to take on Himself all the shame and weakness and sorrow, to which man +is heir, even to death itself; to make Himself of no reputation, and +take on Himself the form of a slave, and forgive sinners, and heal the +sick, and comfort the outcast and despised, that He might show what +God was like—show forth to men, as a poor maiden’s son, +the brightness of God’s glory, and the express likeness of His +person.</p> +<p>“And on earth peace” they sang. Men had been quarrelling +and fighting then, and men are quarrelling and fighting now. That +little babe in the manger was come to show them how and why they were +all to be at peace with each other. For what causes all the war +and quarrelling in the world, but selfishness? Selfishness breeds +pride, passion, spite, revenge, covetousness, oppression. The +strong care for themselves, and try to help themselves at the expense +of the weak, by force and tyranny; the weak care for themselves in their +turn, and try to help themselves at the expense of the strong, by cunning +and cheating. No one will condescend, give way, sacrifice his +own interest for his neighbour’s, and hence come wars between +nations, quarrels in families, spite and grudges between neighbours. +But in the example of that little child of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the +Lord, God was saying to men, “Acquaint yourselves with Me, and +be at peace.” God is not selfish; it is our selfishness +which has made us unlike God. God so loved the sinful world, that +He gave His only-begotten Son for it. Is that an action like ours? +The Son of God so obeyed His Father, and so loved this world, that He +made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the likeness of a slave, +and became obedient to death, even to the most fearful and shameful +of all deaths, the death of the cross; not for Himself, but for those +who did not know Him, hated Him, killed Him. In short, He sacrificed +Himself for us. That is God’s likeness. Self-sacrifice. +Jesus Christ, the babe of Bethlehem, proved Himself the Son of God, +and the express likeness of the Father, by sacrificing Himself for us. +Sacrifice yourselves then for each other! Give up your own pride, +your own selfishness, your own interest for each other, and you will +be all at peace at once.</p> +<p>But the angels sang, “Good will toward men.” Without +that their song would not have been complete. For we are all ready +to say, at such words as I have been speaking, “Ah! pleasant enough, +and pretty enough, if they were but possible; but they are not possible. +It is in the nature of man to be selfish. Men have gone on warring, +grudging, struggling, competing, oppressing, cheating from the beginning, +and they will do so to the end.”</p> +<p>Yes, it is not in the <i>nature</i> of man to do otherwise. +In as far as man yields to his nature, and is like the selfish brute +beasts, it is not possible for him to do anything but go on quarrelling, +and competing, and cheating to the last. But what man’s +nature cannot do, God’s grace can. God’s good will +is toward you. He loves you, He wills—and if He wills, what +is too hard for Him?—He wills to raise you out of this selfish, +quarrelsome life of sin, into a loving, brotherly, peaceful life of +righteousness. His spirit, the spirit of love by which He made +and guides all heaven and earth, the spirit of love in which He gave +His only Son for you, the spirit of love in which His Son Jesus Christ +sacrificed Himself for you, and took on Himself a meaner state than +any of you can ever have—the likeness of a slave—that spirit +is promised to you, and ready for you. That little baby in the +manger at Bethlehem—God sacrificing Himself for you in the spirit +of love—is a sign that that spirit of love is the spirit of God, +and therefore the only right spirit for you and me, who are men and +women made in the image of God. That babe in the manger at Bethlehem +is a sign to you and me, that God will freely give us that spirit of +love if we ask for it. For He would not have set us that example, +if He had not meant us to follow it, and He would not ask us to follow +it, if He did not intend to give us the means of following it. +Therefore, my friends, it is written, Ask and ye shall receive. +If your heavenly Father spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him +for you, will He not with Him likewise freely give you all things? +Oh! ask and you shall receive. However poor, ignorant, sinful +you may be, God’s promises are ready for you, signed and sealed +by the bread and wine on that table, the memorial of Jesus, the babe +of Bethlehem. Ask, and you shall receive! Comfort from sorrow, +peaceful assurance of God’s good will toward you, deliverance +from your sins, and a share in the likeness of Him who on this day made +Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the form of a slave.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>VI—TRUE ABSTINENCE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT.</p> +<p>I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.—1 COR. +ix. 27.</p> +<p>In the Collect for this day we have just been praying to God, to +give us grace to use such abstinence, that our flesh being subdued to +our spirit, we may follow His godly motions.</p> +<p>Now we ought to have meant something when we said these words. +What did we mean by them? Perhaps some of us did not understand +them. They could not be expected to mean anything by them. +But it is a sad thing, a very sad thing, that people will come to church +Sunday after Sunday, and repeat by rote words which they do not understand, +words by which they therefore mean nothing, and yet never care or try +to understand them.</p> +<p>What are the words there for, except to be understood? All +of you call people foolish, who submit to have prayers read in their +churches in a foreign language, which none, at least of the poor, can +understand. But what right have you to call them foolish, if you, +whose Prayer-books are written in English, take no trouble to find out +the meaning of them? Would to Heaven that you would try to find +out the meaning of the Prayer-book! Would to Heaven that the day +would come, when anyone in this parish who was puzzled by any doctrine +of religion, or by any text in the Bible, or word in the Prayer-book, +would come confidently to me, and ask me to explain it to him! +God knows, I should think it an honour and a pleasure, as well as a +duty. I should think no time better spent than in answering your +questions. I do beseech you to ask me, every one of you, when +and where you like, any questions about religion which come into your +minds. Why am I put in this parish, except to teach you? and how +can I teach you better, than by answering your questions? As it +is, I am disheartened, and all but hopeless, at times, about the state +of this parish, and the work I am trying to do here; because, though +you will come and hear me, thank God, willingly enough, you do not seem +yet to have gained confidence enough in me, or to have learnt to care +sufficiently about the best things, to ask questions of me about them. +My dear friends, if you wanted to get information about anything you +really cared for, you would ask questions enough. If you wanted +to know some way to a place on earth you would ask it; why not ask your +way to things better than this earth can give? But whether or +not you will question me I must go on preaching to you, though whether +or not you care to listen is more, alas! than I can tell.</p> +<p>But listen to me, now, I beseech you, while I try to explain to you +the meaning of the words which you have been just using in this Collect. +You have asked God to give you grace to use abstinence. Now what +is the meaning of abstinence? Abstinence means abstaining, refraining, +keeping back of your own will from doing something which you might do. +Take an example. When a man for his health’s sake, or his +purse’s sake, or any other good reason, drinks less liquor than +he might if he chose, he abstains from liquor. He uses abstinence +about liquor. There are other things in which a man may abstain. +Indeed, he may abstain from doing anything he likes. He may abstain +from eating too much; from lying in bed too long; from reading too much; +from taking too much pleasure; from making money; from spending money; +from right things; from wrong things; from things which are neither +right nor wrong; on all these he may use abstinence. He may abstain +for many reasons; for good ones, or for bad ones. A miser will +abstain from all sorts of comforts to hoard up money. A superstitious +man may abstain from comforts, because he thinks God grudges them to +him, or because he thinks God is pleased by the unhappiness of His creatures, +or because he has been taught, poor wretch, that if he makes himself +uncomfortable in this life, he shall have more comfort, more honour, +more reason for pride and self-glorification, in the life to come. +Or a man may abstain from one pleasure, just to be able to enjoy another +all the more; as some great gamblers drink nothing but water, in order +to keep their heads clear for cheating. All these are poor reasons; +some of them base, some of them wicked reasons for abstaining from anything. +Therefore, abstinence is not a good thing in itself; for if a thing +is good in itself, it can never be wrong. Love is good in itself, +and, therefore, you cannot love anyone for a bad reason. Justice +is good in itself, pity is good in itself, and, therefore, you can never +be wrong in being just or pitiful.</p> +<p>But abstinence is not a good thing in itself. If it were, we +should all be bound to abstain always from everything pleasant, and +make ourselves as miserable and uncomfortable as possible, as some superstitious +persons used to do in old times. Abstinence is only good when +it is used for a good reason. If a man abstains from pleasure +himself, to save up for his children; if he abstains from over eating +and over drinking, to keep his mind clear and quiet; if he abstains +from sleep and ease, in order to have time to see his business properly +done; if he abstains from spending money on himself, in order to spend +it for others; if he abstains from any habit, however harmless or pleasant, +because he finds it lead him towards what is wrong, and put him into +temptation; then he does right; then he is doing God’s work; then +he may expect God’s blessing; then he is trying to do what we +all prayed God to help us to do, when we said, “Give us grace +to use such abstinence;” then he is doing, more or less, what +St. Paul says he did, “Keeping his body under, and bringing it +into subjection.”</p> +<p>For, see, the Collect does not say, “Give us grace to use abstinence,” +as if abstinence were a good thing in itself, but “to use such +abstinence, that”—to use a certain kind of abstinence, and +that for a certain purpose, and that purpose a good one; such abstinence +that our flesh may be subdued to our spirit; that our flesh, the animal, +bodily nature which is in us, loving ease and pleasure, may not be our +master, but our servant; so that we may not follow blindly our own appetites, +and do just what we like, as brute beasts which have no understanding. +And our flesh is to be subdued to our spirit for a certain purpose; +not because our flesh is bad, and our spirit good; not in order that +we may puff ourselves up and admire ourselves, and say, as the philosophers +among the heathen used, “What a strong-minded, sober, self-restraining +man I am! How fine it is to be able to look down on my neighbours, +who cannot help being fond of enjoying themselves, and cannot help caring +for this world’s good things. I am above all that. +I want nothing, and I feel nothing, and nothing can make me glad or +sorry. I am master of my own mind, and own no law but my own will.” +The Collect gives us the true and only reason, for which it is right +to subdue our appetites; which is, that we may keep our minds clear +and strong enough to listen to the voice of God within our hearts and +reasons; to obey the motions of God’s Spirit in us; not to make +our bodies our masters, but to live as God’s servants.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s meaning, when he speaks of keeping under +his body, and bringing it into subjection. The exact word which +he uses, however, is a much stronger one than merely “keeping +under;” it means simply, to beat a man’s face black and +blue; and his reason for using such a strong word about the matter is, +to show us that he thought no labour too hard, no training too sharp, +which teaches us how to restrain ourselves, and keep our appetites and +passions in manful and godly control.</p> +<p>Now, a few verses before my text, St. Paul takes an example from +foot-racers. “These foot-racers,” he says, “heathens +though they are, and only trying to win a worthless prize, the petty +honour of a crown of leaves, see what trouble they take; how they exercise +their limbs; how careful and temperate they are in eating and drinking, +how much pain and fatigue they go through to get themselves into perfect +training for a race. How much more trouble ought we to take to +make ourselves fit to do God’s work? For these foot-racers +do all this only to gain a garland which will wither in a week; but +we, to gain a garland which will never fade away; a garland of holiness, +and righteousness, and purity, and the likeness of Jesus Christ.”</p> +<p>The next example of abstinence which St. Paul takes, is from the +prize-fighters, who were very numerous and very famous, in the country +in which the Corinthians lived. “I fight,” he says, +“not like one who beats the air;” that is, not like a man +who is only brandishing his hands and sparring in jest, but like a man +who knows that he has a fight to fight in hard earnest; a terrible lifelong +fight against sin, the world, and the devil; “and, therefore,” +he says, “I do as these fighters do.” They, poor savage +and brutal heathens as they are, go through a long and painful training. +Their very practice is not play; it is grim earnest. They stand +up to strike, and be struck, and are bruised and disfigured as a matter +of course, in order that they may learn not to flinch from pain, or +lose their tempers, or turn cowards, when they have to fight. +“And so do I,” says St. Paul; “they, poor men, submit +to painful and disagreeable things to make them brave in their paltry +battles. I submit to painful and disagreeable things, to make +me brave in the great battle which I have to fight against sin, and +ignorance, and heathendom.” “Therefore,” he +says, in another place, “I take pleasure in afflictions, in persecutions, +in necessities, in distresses;” and that not because those things +were pleasant, they were just as unpleasant to him as to anyone else; +but because they taught him to bear, taught him to be brave; taught +him, in short, to become a perfect man of God.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s account of his own training: in the Epistle +for to-day we have another account of it; a description of the life +which he led, and which he was content to lead—“in much +suffering, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in +watching, in fastings”—and an account, too, of the temper +which he had learnt to show amid such a life of vexation, and suffering, +and shame, and danger—“approving himself in all things the +minister of God, by pureness, by wisdom, by longsuffering, by kindness, +by the spirit of holiness, by love unfeigned;” “as dying, +and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet +always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, +yet possessing all things.”—In all things proving himself +a true messenger from God, by being able to dare and to endure for God’s +sake, what no man ever would have dared and endured for his own sake.</p> +<p>“But”—someone may say—“St. Paul was +an apostle; he had a great work to do in the world; he had to turn the +heathen to God; and it is likely enough that he required to train himself, +and keep strict watch over all his habits, and ways of thinking and +behaving, lest he should grow selfish, lazy, cowardly, covetous, fond +of ease and amusement. He had, of course, to lead a life of strange +suffering and danger; and he had therefore to train himself for it. +But what need have we to do as St. Paul did?”</p> +<p>Just as much need, my good friends, if you could see it.</p> +<p>Which of us has not to lead a life of suffering? We shall each +and all of us, have our full share of trouble before we die, doubt it +not.</p> +<p>And which of us has not to lead a life of danger? I do not +mean bodily danger; of that, there is little enough—perhaps too +little—in England now; but of danger to our hearts, minds, characters? +Oh, my friends, I pity those who do not think themselves in danger every +day of their lives, for the less danger they see around them, the more +danger there is. There is not only the common danger of temptation, +but over and above it, the worse danger of not knowing temptation when +it comes. Who will be most likely to walk into pits and mires +upon the moor—the man who knows that they are there around him, +or the man who goes on careless and light of heart, fancying that it +is all smooth ground? Woe to you, young people, if you fancy that +you are to have no woe! Danger to you, young people, if you fancy +yourselves in no danger!</p> +<p>“This is sad and dreary news”—some of you may say. +Ay, my friends, it would be sad and dreary news indeed; and this earth +would be a very sad and dreary place; and life with all its troubles +and temptations, would not be worth having, if it were not for the blessed +news which the Gospel for this day brings us. That makes up for +all the sadness of the Epistle; that gives us hope; that tells us of +one who has been through life, and through death too, yet without sin. +That tells us of one who has endured a thousand times more temptation +than we ever shall, a thousand times more trouble than we ever shall, +and yet has conquered it all; and that He who has thus been through +all our temptations, borne all our weaknesses, is our King, our Saviour, +who loves us, who teaches us, who has promised us His Holy Spirit, to +make us like Himself, strong, brave, and patient, to endure all that +man or devil, or our own low animal tempers and lusts, can do to hurt +us. The Gospel for this day tells us how He went and was alone +in the wilderness with the wild beasts, and yet trusted in God, His +Father and ours, to keep Him safe. How He went without food forty +days and nights, and yet in His extreme hunger, refused to do the least +self-willed or selfish thing to get Himself food. Is that no lesson, +no message of hope for the poor man who is tempted by hunger to steal, +or tempted by need to do a mean and selfish thing, to hear that the +Lord Jesus Christ, who bore need and hunger far worse than his, understands +all his temptations, and feels for him, and pities him, and has promised +him God’s Spirit to make him strong, as He himself was?</p> +<p>Is it no comfort to young people who are tempted to vanity, and display, +and self-willed conceited longings, tempted to despise the advice of +their parents and elders, and set up for themselves, and choose their +own way—Is it no good news, I say, for them to hear that their +Lord and Saviour was tempted to it also, and conquered it?—That +He will teach them to answer the temptation as He did, when He refused +even to let angels hold Him over the temple, up between earth and heaven, +for a sign and a wonder to all the Jews, because God His Father had +not bidden Him to do it, and therefore He would not tempt the Lord His +God?</p> +<p>Is it no good news, again, to those who are tempted to do perhaps +one little outward wrong thing, to yield on some small point to the +ways of the world, in order to help themselves on in life, to hear that +their Lord and Saviour conquered that temptation too?—That he +refused all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, when the +devil offered them, because he knew that the devil could not give them +to Him; that all wealth, and power, and glory belonged to God, and was +to be got only by serving Him?</p> +<p>Oh do you all, young people especially, think of this. As you +grow up and go out into life, you will be tempted in a hundred different +ways, by things which are pleasant—everyone knows that they are +pleasant enough—but wrong. One will be tempted to be vain +of dress; another to be self-conceited; another to be lazy and idle; +another to be extravagant and roving; another to be over fond of amusement; +another to be over fond of money; another to be over fond of liquor; +another to go wrong, as too many young men and young women do, and bring +themselves, and those with whom they keep company, and whom they ought, +if they really love them, to respect and honour, down into sin and shame. +You will all be tempted, and you will all be troubled; one by poverty, +one by sickness, one by the burden of a family, one by being laughed +at for trying to do right. But remember, oh remember, whenever +a temptation comes upon you, that the blessed Jesus has been through +it all, and conquered all, and that His will is, that you shall be holy +and pure like Him, and that, therefore, if you but ask Him, He will +give you strength to keep pure. When you are tempted, pray to +Him: the struggle in your own minds will, no doubt, be very great; it +will be very hard work for you—sin looks so pleasant on the outside! +Poor souls, it is a sad struggle for you! Many a poor young fellow, +who goes wrong, deserves rather to be pitied than to be punished. +Well then, if no man else will pity him, Jesus, the Man of all men, +will. Pray to Him! Cry aloud to Him! Ask Him to make +you stout-hearted, patient, really manful, to fight against temptation. +Ask Him to give you strength of mind to fight against all bad habits. +Ask Him to open your eyes to see when you are in danger. Ask Him +to help you to keep out of the way of temptation. Ask Him, in +short, to give you grace to use such abstinence that your flesh may +be subdued to your spirit. And then you will not follow, as the +beasts do, just what seems pleasant to your flesh; no, you will be able +to obey Christ’s godly motions, that is, to do, as well as to +love, the good desires which He puts into your hearts. You will +do not merely what is pleasant, but what is right; you will not be your +own slaves, you will be your own masters, and God’s loyal and +obedient sons; you will not be, as too many are, mere animals going +about in the shape of men, but truly men at heart, who are not afraid +of pain, poverty, shame, trouble, or death itself, when they are in +the right path, about the work to which God has called them.</p> +<p>But if you ask Christ to make true men and women of you, you must +believe that He will give you what you ask; if you ask Him to help you, +you must believe that He will and does help you—you must believe +that it is He Himself who has put into your hearts the very desire of +being holy and strong at all; and therefore you must believe that you +can help yourselves. Help yourselves, and He will help you. +If you ask for His help, He will give it. But what is the use +of His giving it, if you do not use it? To him who has shall be +given, and he shall have more; but from him who has not shall be taken +away even what he seems to have. Therefore do not merely pray, +but struggle and try <i>yourselves</i>. Train yourselves as St. +Paul did; train yourselves to keep your temper; train yourselves to +bear unpleasant things for the sake of your duty; train yourselves to +keep out of temptation; train yourselves to be forgiving, gentle, thrifty, +industrious, sober, temperate, cleanly, as modest as little children +in your words, and thoughts, and conduct. And God, when He sees +you trying to be all this, will help you to be so. It may be hard +to educate yourselves. Life is a hard business at best—you +will find it a thousand times harder, though, if you are slaves to your +own fleshly sins. But the more you struggle against sin, the less +hard you will find it to fight; the more you resist the devil, the more +he will flee from you; the more you try to conquer your own bad passions, +the more God will help you to conquer them; it may be a hard battle, +but it is a sure one. No fear but that everyone can, if he will, +work out his own salvation, for it is God Himself who works in us to +will and to do of His good pleasure. All you have to do is to +give yourselves up to Him, to study His laws, to labour as well as long +to keep them, and He will enable you to keep them; He will teach you +in a thousand unexpected ways; He will daily renew and strengthen your +hearts by the working of His Spirit, that you may more and more know, +and love, and do, what is right; and you will go on from strength to +strength, to the height of perfect men, to the likeness of Jesus Christ +the Lord, who conquered all human temptations for your sake, that He +might be a high-priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, +because He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>VII—GOOD FRIDAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence +saved them. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and +He bare them and carried them all the days of old.—ISAIAH lxiii. +9.</p> +<p>On this very day, at this very hour, 1817 years ago, hung one nailed +to a cross; bruised and bleeding, pierced and naked, dying a felon’s +death between two thieves; in perfect misery, in utter shame, mocked +and insulted by all the great, the rich, the learned of His nation; +one who had grown up as a man of low birth, believed by all to be a +carpenter’s son; without scholarship, money, respectability; even +without a home wherein to lay His head—and here was the end of +His life! True, He had preached noble words, He had done noble +deeds: but what had they helped Him? They had not made the rich, +the learned, the respectable, the religious believe on Him; they had +not saved Him from persecution, and insult, and death. The only +mourners who stood by to weep over His dying agonies were His mother, +a poor countrywoman; a young fisherman; and one who had been a harlot +and a sinner. There was an end!</p> +<p>Do you know who that Man was? He was your King; the King of +rich and poor; and He was your King, not in spite of His suffering all +that shame and misery, but just because He suffered it; because He chose +to be poor, and miserable, and despised; because He endured the cross, +despising the shame; because He took upon Himself to fulfil His Father’s +will, all ills which flesh is heir to—therefore He is now your +King, the Saviour of the world, the poor man’s friend, the Lord +of heaven and earth. Is He such a King as <i>you</i> wish for?</p> +<p>Is He the sort of King you want, my friends? Does He fulfil +your notions of what the poor man’s friend should be? Do +you, in your hearts, wish He had been somewhat richer, more glorious, +more successful in the world’s eyes—a wealthy and prosperous +man, like Solomon of old? Are any of you ready to say, as the +money-blinded Jews said, when they demanded their true King to be crucified, +“We have no king but Cæsar?—Provided the law-makers +and the authorities take care of our interests, and protect our property, +and do not make us pay too many rates and taxes, that is enough for +us.” Will you have no king but Cæsar? Alas! +those who say that, find that the law is but a weak deliverer, too weak +to protect them from selfishness, and covetousness, and decent cruelty; +and so Cæsar and the law have to give place to Mammon, the god +of money. Do we not see it in these very days? And Mammon +is weak, too. This world is not a shop, men are not merely money-makers +and wages-earners. There are more things in heaven and earth than +are dreamt of in that sort of philosophy. Self-interest and covetousness +cannot keep society orderly and peaceful, let sham philosophers say +what they will. And then comes tyranny, lawlessness, rich and +poor staining their hands in each other’s blood, as we saw happen +in France two years ago; and so, after all, Mammon has to give place +to Moloch, the fiend of murder and cruelty; and woe to rich and poor +when he reigns over them! Ay, woe—woe to rich and poor when +they choose anyone for their king but their real and rightful Lord and +Master, Jesus, the poor man, afflicted in all their afflictions, the +Man of sorrows, crucified on this day.</p> +<p>Is He the kind of King you like? Make up your minds, my friends—make +up your minds! For whether you like Him or not, your King He was, +your King He is, your King He will be, blessed be God, for ever. +Blessed be God, indeed! If He were not our King; if anyone in +heaven or earth was Lord of us, except the Man of sorrows, the Prince +of sufferers, what hope, what comfort would there be? What a horrible, +black, fathomless riddle this sad, diseased, moaning world would be! +No king would suit us but the Prince of sufferers—Jesus, who has +borne all this world’s griefs, and carried all its sorrows—Jesus, +who has Himself smarted under pain and hunger, oppression and insult, +treachery and desertion, who knows them all, feels for them all, and +will right them all, in His own good time.</p> +<p>Believing in Jesus, we can travel on, through one wild parish after +another, upon English soil, and see, as I have done, the labourer who +tills the land worse housed than the horse he drives, worse clothed +than the sheep he shears, worse nourished than the hog he feeds—and +yet not despair: for the Prince of sufferers is the labourer’s +Saviour; He has tasted hunger, and thirst, and weariness, poverty, oppression, +and neglect; the very tramp who wanders houseless on the moorside is +His brother; in his sufferings the Saviour of the world has shared, +when the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, while +the Son of God had not where to lay His head. He is the King of +the poor, firstborn among many brethren; His tenderness is Almighty, +and for the poor He has prepared deliverance, perhaps in this world, +surely in the world to come—boundless deliverance, out of the +treasures of His boundless love.</p> +<p>Believing in Jesus, we can pass by mines, and factories, and by dungeons +darker and fouler still, in the lanes and alleys of our great towns +and cities, where thousands and tens of thousands of starving men, and +wan women, and children grown old before their youth, sit toiling and +pining in Mammon’s prison-house, in worse than Egyptian bondage, +to earn such pay as just keeps the broken heart within the worn-out +body;—ay, we can go through our great cities, even now, and see +the women, whom God intended to be Christian wives and mothers, the +slaves of the rich man’s greed by day, the playthings of his lust +by night—and yet not despair; for we can cry, No! thou proud Mammon, +money-making fiend! These are not thine, but Christ’s; they +belong to Him who died on the cross; and though thou heedest not their +sighs, He marks them all, for He has sighed like them; though there +be no pity in thee, there is in Him the pity of a man, ay, and the indignation +of a God! He treasures up their tears; He understands their sorrows; +His judgment of their guilt is not like thine, thou Pharisee! +He is their Lord, who said, that to those to whom little was given, +of them shall little be required. Generation after generation, +they are being made perfect by sufferings, as their Saviour was before +them; and then, woe to thee! For even as He led Israel out of +Egypt with a mighty hand, and a stretched-out arm, and signs and wonders, +great and terrible, so shall He lead the poor out of their misery, and +make them households like a flock of sheep; even as He led Israel through +the wilderness, tender, forbearing, knowing whereof they were made, +having mercy on all their brutalities, and idolatries, murmurings, and +backslidings, afflicted in all their afflictions—even while He +was punishing them outwardly, as He is punishing the poor man now—even +so shall He lead this people out in His good time, into a good land +and large, a land of wheat and wine, of milk and honey; a rest which +He has prepared for His poor, such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive. He can +do it; for the Almighty Deliverer is His name. He will do it; +for His name is Love. He knows how to do it; for He has borne +the griefs, and carried the sorrows of the poor.</p> +<p>Oh, sad hearts and suffering! Anxious and weary ones! +Look to the cross this day! There hung your king! The King +of sorrowing souls, and more, the King of sorrows. Ay, pain and +grief, tyranny and desertion, death and hell, He has faced them one +and all, and tried their strength, and taught them His, and conquered +them right royally! And, since He hung upon that torturing cross, +sorrow is divine, god-like, as joy itself. All that man’s +fallen nature dreads and despises, God honoured on the cross, and took +unto Himself, and blessed, and consecrated for ever. And now, +blessed are the poor, if they are poor in heart, as well as purse; for +Jesus was poor, and theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are +the hungry, if they hunger for righteousness as well as food; for Jesus +hungered, and they shall be filled. Blessed are those who mourn, +if they mourn not only for their afflictions, but for their sins, and +for the sins they see around them; for on this day, Jesus mourned for +our sins; on this day He was made sin for us, who knew no sin; and they +shall be comforted. Blessed are those who are ashamed of themselves, +and hate themselves, and humble themselves before God this day; for +on this day Jesus humbled Himself for us; and they shall be exalted. +Blessed are the forsaken and the despised.—Did not all men forsake +Jesus this day, in His hour of need? and why not thee, too, thou poor +deserted one? Shall the disciple be above his Master? No; +everyone that is perfect, must be like his master. The deeper, +the bitterer your loneliness, the more are you like Him, who cried upon +the cross, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” +He knows what that grief, too, is like. He feels for thee, at +least. Though all forsake thee, He is with thee still; and if +He be with thee, what matter who has left thee for a while? Ay, +blessed are those that weep now, for they shall laugh. It is those +whom the Lord loveth that He chasteneth. And because He loves +the poor, He brings them low. All things are blessed now, but +sin; for all things, excepting sin, are redeemed by the life and death +of the Son of God. Blessed are wisdom and courage, joy, and health, +and beauty, love and marriage, childhood and manhood, corn and wine, +fruits and flowers, for Christ redeemed them by His life. And +blessed, too, are tears and shame, blessed are weakness and ugliness, +blessed are agony and sickness, blessed the sad remembrance of our sins, +and a broken heart, and a repentant spirit. Blessed is death, +and blessed the unknown realms, where souls await the resurrection day, +for Christ redeemed them by His death. Blessed are all things, +weak, as well as strong. Blessed are all days, dark, as well as +bright, for all are His, and He is ours; and all are ours, and we are +His, for ever.</p> +<p>Therefore sigh on, ye sad ones, and rejoice in your own sadness; +ache on, ye suffering ones, and rejoice in your own sorrows. Rejoice +that you are made free of the holy brotherhood of mourners, that you +may claim your place, too, if you will, among the noble army of martyrs. +Rejoice that you are counted worthy of a fellowship in the sufferings +of the Son of God. Rejoice and trust on, for after sorrow shall +come joy. Trust on; for in man’s weakness God’s strength +shall be made perfect. Trust on, for death is the gate of life. +Endure on to the end, and possess your souls in patience for a little +while, and that, perhaps, a very little while. Death comes swiftly; +and more swiftly still, perhaps, the day of the Lord. The deeper +the sorrow, the nearer the salvation:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>The night is darkest before the dawn;<br />When the pain is sorest +the child is born;<br />And the day of the Lord is at hand.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Ay, if the worst should come; if neither the laws of your country +nor the benevolence of the righteous were strong enough to defend you; +if one charitable plan after another were to fail; if the labour-market +were getting fuller and fuller, and poverty were spreading wider and +wider, and crime and misery were breeding faster and still faster every +year than education and religion; all hope for the poor seemed gone +and lost, and they were ready to believe the men who tell them that +the land is over-peopled—that there are too many of us, too many +industrious hands, too many cunning brains, too many immortal souls, +too many of God’s children upon God’s earth, which God the +Father made, and God the Son redeemed, and God the Holy Spirit teaches: +then the Lord, the Prince of sufferers, He who knows your every grief, +and weeps with you tear for tear, He would come out of His place to +smite the haughty ones, and confound the cunning ones, and silence the +loud ones, and empty the full ones; to judge with righteousness for +the meek of the earth, to hearken to the prayer of the poor, whose heart +he has been preparing, and to help the fatherless and needy to their +right, that the man of the world may be no more exalted against them.</p> +<p>In that day men will find out a wonder and miracle. They will +see many that are first last, and many that are last first. They +will find that there were poor who were the richest after all; the simple +who were wisest, and gentle who were bravest, and weak who were strongest; +that God’s ways are not as men’s ways, nor God’s thoughts +as men’s thoughts. Alas, who shall stand when God does this? +At least He who will do it is Jesus, who loved us to the death; boundless +love and gentleness, boundless generosity and pity; who was tempted +even as we are, who has felt our every weakness. In that thought +is utter comfort, that our Judge will be He who died and rose again, +and is praying for us even now, to His Father and our Father. +Therefore fear not, gentle souls, patient souls, pure consciences and +tender hearts. Fear not, you who are empty and hungry, who walk +in darkness and see no light; for though He fulfil once more, as He +has again and again, the awful prophecy before the text; though He tread +down the people in His anger, and make them drunk in His fury, and bring +their strength to the earth; though kings with their armies may flee, +and the stars which light the earth may fall, and there be great tribulation, +wars, and rumours of wars, and on earth distress of nations with perplexity—yet +it is when the day of His vengeance is at hand, that the year of His +redeemed is come. And when they see all these things, let them +rejoice and lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh.</p> +<p>Do you ask how I know this? Do you ask for a sign, for a token +that these my words are true? I know that they are true. +But, as for tokens, I will give you but this one, the sign of that bread +and that wine. When the Lord shall have delivered His people out +of all their sorrows, they shall eat of that bread and drink of that +wine, one and all, in the kingdom of God.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>VIII—EASTER-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, +where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God—COLOSSIANS iii. +1.</p> +<p>I know no better way of preaching to you the gospel of Easter, the +good news which this day brings to all men, year after year, than by +trying to explain to you the Epistle appointed for this day, which we +have just read.</p> +<p>It begins, “If ye then be risen with Christ.” Now +that does not mean that St. Paul had any doubt whether the Colossians, +to whom he was speaking, were risen with Christ or not. He does +not mean, “I am not sure whether you are risen or not; but perhaps +you are not; but if you are, you ought to do such and such things.” +He does not mean that. He was quite sure that these Colossians +were risen with Christ. He had no doubt of it whatsoever. +If you look at the chapter before, he says so. He tells them that +they were buried with Christ in baptism, in which also they were risen +with Christ, through faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him +from the dead.</p> +<p>Now what reason had St. Paul to believe that these Colossians were +risen with Jesus Christ? Because they had given up sin and were +leading holy lives? That cannot be. The Epistle for this +day says the very opposite. It does not say, “You are risen, +because you have left off sinning.” It says, “You +must leave off sinning, because you are risen.” Was it then +on account of any experiences, or inward feeling of theirs? Not +at all. He says that these Colossians had been baptized, and that +they had believed in God’s work of raising Jesus Christ from the +dead, and that therefore they were risen with Christ. In one word, +they had believed the message of Easter-day, and therefore they shared +in the blessings of Easter-day; as it is written in another place, “If +thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe +in thy heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”</p> +<p>Now these seem very wide words, too wide to please most people. +But there are wider words still in St. Paul’s epistles. +He tells us again and again that God’s mercy is a free gift; that +He has made to us a free present of His Son Jesus Christ. That +He has taken away the effect of all men’s sin, and more than that, +that men are God’s children; that they have a right to believe +that they are so, because they are so. For, He says, the free +gift of Jesus Christ is not like Adam’s offence. It is not +less than it, narrower than it, as some folks say. It is not that +by Adam’s sin all became sinners, and by Jesus Christ’s +salvation an elect few out of them shall be made righteous. If +you will think a moment, you will see that it cannot be so. For +Jesus Christ conquered sin and death and the devil. But if, as +some think, sin and death and the devil have destroyed and sent to hell +by far the greater part of mankind, then they have conquered Christ, +and not Christ them. Mankind belonged to Christ at first. +Sin and death and the devil came in and ruined them, and then Christ +came to redeem them; but if all that He has been able to do is to redeem +one out of a thousand, or even nine out of ten, of them, then the devil +has had the best of the battle. He, and not Christ, is the conqueror. +If a thief steals all the sheep on your farm, and all that you can get +back from him is a part of the whole flock, which has had the best of +it, you or the thief? If Christ’s redemption is meant for +only a few, or even a great many elect souls out of all the millions +of mankind, which has had the best of it, Christ, the master of the +sheep, or the devil, the robber and destroyer of them? Be sure, +my friends, Christ is stronger than that; His love is deeper than that; +His redemption is wider than that. How strong, how deep, how wide +it is, we never shall know. St. Paul tells us that we never shall +know, for it is boundless; but that we shall go on knowing more and +more of its vastness for ever, finding it deeper, wider, loftier than +our most glorious dreams could ever picture it. But this, he says, +we do know, that we have gained more than Adam lost. For if by +one man’s offence many were made sinners, much more shall they +who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign +in life by one even Jesus Christ. For, he says, where sin abounded, +God’s grace and free gift has much more abounded. Therefore, +as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, +even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men +to justification of life. Upon all men, you see. There can +be no doubt about it. Upon you and me, and foreigners, and gipsies, +and heathens, and thieves, and harlots—upon all mankind, let them +be as bad or as good, as young or as old, as they may, the free gift +of God has come to justification of life; they are justified, pardoned, +and beloved in the sight of Almighty God; they have a right and a share +to a new life; a different sort of life from what they are inclined +to lead, and do lead, by nature—to a life which death cannot take +away, a life which may grow, and strengthen, and widen, and blossom, +and bear fruit for ever and ever. They have a share in Christ’s +resurrection, in the blessing of Easter-day. They have a share +in Christ, every one of them whether they claim that share or not. +How far they will be punished for not claiming it, is a very different +matter, of which we know nothing whatsoever. And how far the heathen +who have never heard of Christ, or of their share in Him, will be punished, +we know not—we are not meant to know. But we know that to +their own Master they stand or fall, and that their Master is our Master +too, and that He is a just Master, and requires little of him to whom +He gives little; a just and merciful Master, who loved this sinful world +enough to come down and die for it, while mankind were all rebels and +sinners, and has gone on taking care of it, and improving it, in spite +of all its sin and rebellion ever since, and that is enough for us.</p> +<p>St. Paul knew no more. It was a mystery, he says, a wonderful +and unfathomable matter, which had been hidden since the foundation +of the world, of which he himself says that he saw only through a glass +darkly; and we cannot expect to have clearer eyes than he. But +this he seems to have seen, that the Lord, when He rose again, bought +a blessing even for the dumb beasts and the earth on which we live. +For he says, the whole creation is now groaning in the pangs of labour, +being about to bring forth something; and the whole creation will rise +again; how, and when, and into what new state, we cannot tell. +But St. Paul seems to say that when the Lord shall destroy death, the +last of his enemies, then the whole creation shall be renewed, and bring +forth another earth, nobler and more beautiful than this one, free from +death, and sin, and sorrow, and redeemed into the glorious liberty of +the children of God.</p> +<p>But this, on the other hand, St. Paul did see most clearly, and preached +it to all to whom he spoke, that the ground and reason of this great +and glorious mystery was the thing which happened on the first Easter-day, +namely, the Lord Jesus rising from the dead. About that, at least, +there was no doubt at all in his mind. We may see it by the Easter +anthem, which we read this morning, taken out of the fifteenth chapter +of his first epistle to the Corinthians:</p> +<p>“Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits +of them that slept.</p> +<p>“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection +of the dead.</p> +<p>“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made +alive.”</p> +<p>Now he is not talking here merely of the rising again of our bodies +at the last day. That was in his mind only the end, and outcome, +and fruit, and perfecting, of men’s rising from the dead in this +life. For he tells these same Corinthians, and the Colossians, +and others to whom he wrote, that life, the eternal life which would +raise their bodies at the last day, was even then working in them.</p> +<p>Neither is he speaking only of a few believers. He says that, +owing to the Lord’s rising on this day, all shall be made alive—not +merely all Christians, but all men. For he does not say, as in +Adam all Christians die, but all men; and so he does not say, all Christians +shall be made alive, but all men. For here, as in the sixth chapter +of Romans, he is trying to make us understand the likeness between Adam +and Jesus Christ, whom he calls the new Adam. The first Adam, +he says, was only a living soul, as the savages and heathens are; but +the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, the true pattern of men, is a +quickening, life-giving spirit, to give eternal life to every human +being who will accept His offer, and claim his share and right as a +true man, after the likeness of the new Adam, Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>We then, every one of us who is here to-day, have a right to believe +that we have a share in Christ’s eternal life: that our original +sin, that is, the sinfulness which we inherited from our forefathers, +is all forgiven and forgotten, and that mankind is now redeemed, and +belongs to the second Adam, the true and original head and pattern of +man, Jesus Christ, in whom was no sin; and that because mankind belongs +to him, God is well pleased with them, and reconciled to them, and looks +on them not as a guilty, but as a pardoned and beloved race of beings.</p> +<p>And we have a right to believe also, that because all power is given +to Christ in heaven and earth, there is given to Him the power of making +men what they ought to be—like His own blessed, and glorious, +and perfect self. Ask him, and you shall receive; knock at the +gate of His treasure-house, and it shall be opened. Seek those +things that are above, and you shall find them. You shall find +old bad habits die out in you, new good habits spring up in you; old +meannesses become weaker, new nobleness and manfulness become stronger; +the old, selfish, covetous, savage, cunning, cowardly, brutal Adam dying +out, the new, loving, brotherly, civilised, wise, brave, manful Adam +growing up in you, day by day, to perfection, till you are changed from +grace to grace, and glory to glory into the likeness of the Lord of +men.</p> +<p>“These are great promises,” you may say, “glorious +promises; but what proof have you that they belong to us? They +sound too good to be true; too great for such poor creatures as we are; +give us but some proof that we have a right to them; give us but a pledge +from Jesus Christ; give us but a sign, an assurance from God, and we +may believe you then.”</p> +<p>My friends, I am certain—and the longer I live I am the more +certain—that there is no argument, no pledge, no sign, no assurance, +like the bread and the wine upon that table. Assurances in our +own hearts and souls are good, but we may be mistaken about them; for, +after all, they are our own thoughts, notions in our own souls, these +inward experiences and assurances; delightful and comforting as they +are at times, yet we cannot trust them—we cannot trust our own +hearts, they are deceitful above all things, who can know them? +Yes: our own hearts may tell us lies; they may make us fancy that we +are pleasing God, when we are doing the things most hateful to Him. +They have made thousands fancy so already. They may make us fancy +we are right in God’s sight, when we are utterly wrong. +They have made thousands fancy so already. These hearts of ours +may make us fancy that we have spiritual life in us; that we are in +a state higher and nobler than the sinners round us, when all the while +our spirits are dead within us. They made the Pharisees of old +fancy that their souls were alive, and pure, and religious, when they +were dead and damned within them; and they may make us fancy so too. +No: we cannot trust our hearts and inward feelings; but that bread, +that wine, we can trust. Our inward feelings are a sign from man; +that bread and wine are a sign from God. Our inward feelings may +tell us what we feel toward God: that bread, that wine, tell us something +ten thousand times more important; they tell us what God feels towards +us. And God must love us before we can love Him; God must pardon +us before we can have mercy on ourselves; God must come to us, and take +hold of us, before we can cling to Him; God must change us, before we +can become right; God must give us eternal life in our hearts before +we can feel and enjoy that new life in us. Then that bread, that +wine, say that God has done all that for us already; they say: “God +does love you; God has pardoned you; God has come to you; God is ready +and willing to change and convert you; God has given you eternal life; +and this love, this mercy, this coming to find you out while you are +wandering in sin, this change, this eternal life, are all in His Son +Jesus Christ; and that bread, that wine, are the signs of it. +It is for the sake of Jesus’ blood that God has pardoned you, +and that cup is the new covenant in His blood. Come and drink, +and claim your pardon. It is simply because Jesus Christ was man, +and you, too, are men and women, wearing the flesh and blood which Christ +wore; eating and drinking as Christ ate and drank, and not for any works +or faith of your own, that God loves you, and has come to you, and called +you into His family. This is the Gospel, the good news of Christ’s +free grace, and pardon, and salvation; and that bread, that wine, the +common food of all men, not merely of the rich, or the wise, or the +pious, but of saints and penitents, rich and poor. Christians +and heathens, alike—that plain, common, every-day bread and wine—are +the signs of it. Come and take the signs, and claim your share +in God’s love, in God’s family. And it is in Jesus +Christ, too, that you have eternal life. It is because you belong +to Jesus Christ, to mankind, of which He is the head and king, that +God will change you, strengthen your soul to rise above your sins, raise +you up daily more and more out of spiritual death, out of brutishness, +and selfishness, and ignorance, and malice, into an eternal life of +wisdom, and love, and courage, and mercifulness, and patience, and obedience; +a life which shall continue through death, and beyond death, and raise +you up again for ever at the last day, because you belong to Christ’s +body, and have been fed with Christ’s eternal life. And +that bread, that wine are the signs of it. “Take, eat,” +said Jesus, “this is my body; drink, this is my blood.” +Those are the signs that God has given you eternal life, and that this +life is in His Son. What better sign would you have? There +is no mistaking their message; they can tell you no lies. And +they can, and will, bring your own Gospel-blessings to your mind, as +nothing else can. They will make you feel, as nothing else can, +that you are the beloved children of God, heirs of all that your King +and Head has bought for you, when He died, and rose again upon this +day. He gave you the Lord’s Supper for a sign. Do +you think that He did not know best what the best sign would be? +He said: “Do this in remembrance of me.” Do you think +that He did not know better than you, and me, and all men, that if you +did do it, it would put you in remembrance of Him?</p> +<p>Oh! come to His table, this day of all days in the year; and claim +there your share in His body and His blood, to feed the everlasting +life in you; which, though you see it not now, though you feel it not +now, will surely, if you keep it alive in you by daily faith, and daily +repentance, and daily prayer, and daily obedience, raise you up, body +and soul, to reign with Him for ever at the last day.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>IV—THE COMFORTER</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER.</p> +<p>If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I +depart, I will send Him unto you—JOHN xvi. 7.</p> +<p>We are now coming near to two great days, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday, +which our forefathers have appointed, year by year, to put us continually +in mind of two great works, which the Lord worked out for us, His most +unworthy subjects, and still unworthier brothers.</p> +<p>On Ascension-day He ascended up into Heaven, and received gifts for +men, even for His enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them; +and on Whit-Sunday, He sent down those gifts. The Spirit of God +came down to dwell in the hearts of men, to be the right of everyone +who asks for it, white or black, young or old, rich or poor, and never +to leave this earth as long as there is a human being on it. And +because we are coming near to these two great days, the Prayer-book, +in the Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, tries to put us in mind of those +days, and to make us ready to ask for the blessings of which they are +the yearly signs and witnesses. The Gospel for last Sunday told +us how the Lord told His disciples just before His death, that for a +little while they should not see Him; and again a little while and they +should see Him, because he was going to the Father, and that they should +have great sorrow, but that their sorrow should be turned into joy. +And the Gospel for to-day goes further still, and tells us why He was +going away—that He might send to them the Comforter, His Holy +Spirit, and that it was expedient—good for them, that He should +go away; for that if He did not, the Comforter would not come to them. +Now, in these words, I do not doubt He was speaking of Ascension-day, +and of Whit-Sunday; and therefore it is that these Gospels have been +chosen to be read before Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday; and in proportion +as we attend to these Gospels, and take in the meaning of them, and +act accordingly, Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be a blessing and +a profit to us; and in proportion as we neglect them, or forget them, +Ascension-day and Whit-Sunday will be witnesses against our souls at +the day of judgment, that the Lord Himself condescended to buy for us +with His own blood, blessings unspeakable, and offer them freely unto +us, in spite of all our sins, and yet we would have none of them, but +preferred our own will to God’s will, and the little which we +thought we could get for ourselves, to the unspeakable treasures which +God had promised to give us, and turned away from the blessings of His +kingdom, to our own foolish pleasure and covetousness, like “the +dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the +mire.”</p> +<p>I said that God had promised to us an unspeakable treasure: and so +He has; a treasure that will make the poorest and weakest man among +us, richer than if he had all the wealth gathered from all the nations +of the world, which everyone is admiring now in that Great Exhibition +in London, and stronger than if he had all the wisdom which produced +that wealth. Let us see now what it is that God has promised us—and +then those to whom God has given ears to hear, and hearts to understand, +will see that large as my words may sound, they are no larger than the +truth.</p> +<p>Christ said, that if He went away, He would send down the Comforter, +the Holy Spirit of God. The Nicene Creed says, that the Holy Spirit +of God is the Lord and Giver of life; and so He is. He gives life +to the earth, to the trees, to the flowers, to the dumb animals, to +the bodies and minds of men; all life, all growth, all health, all strength, +all beauty, all order, all help and assistance of one thing by another, +which you see in the world around you, comes from Him. He is the +Lord and Giver of life; in Him, the earth, the sun and stars, all live +and move and have their being. He is not them, or a part of them, +but He gives life to them. But to men He is more than that—for +we men ourselves are more than that, and need more. We have immortal +spirits in us—a reason, a conscience, and a will; strange rights +and duties, strange hopes and fears, of which the beasts and the plants +know nothing. We have hearts in us which can love, and feel, and +sorrow, and be weak, and sinful, and mistaken; and therefore we want +a Comforter. And the Lord and Giver of life has promised to be +our Comforter; and the Father and the Son, from both of whom He proceeds, +have promised to send Him to us, to strengthen and comfort us, and give +our spirits life and health, and knit us together to each other, and +to God, in one common bond of love and fellow-feeling even as He the +Spirit knits together the Father and the Son.</p> +<p>I said that we want a Comforter. If we consider what that word +Comforter means, we shall see that we do want a Comforter, and that +the only Comforter which can satisfy us for ever and ever, must be He, +the very Spirit of God, the Lord and Giver of life.</p> +<p>Now Comforter means one who gives comfort; so the meaning of it will +depend upon what comfort means. Our word comfort, comes from two +old Latin words, which mean <i>with</i> and <i>to strengthen</i>. +And, therefore, a Comforter means anyone who is with us to strengthen +us, and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. You will +see that this is the proper meaning of the word, when you remember what +bodily things we call comforts. You say that a person is comfortable, +or lives in comfort, if he has a comfortable income, a comfortable house, +comfortable clothes, comfortable food, and so on. Now all these +things, his money, his house, his clothes, his food, are not himself. +They make him stronger and more at ease. They make his life more +pleasant to him. But they are not <i>him</i>; they are round him, +with him, to strengthen him. So with a person’s mind and +feelings; when a man is in sorrow and trouble, he cannot comfort himself. +His friends must come to him and comfort him; talk to him, advise him, +show their kind feeling towards him, and in short, be with him to strengthen +him in his afflictions. And if we require comfort for our bodies, +and for our minds, my friends, how much more do we for our spirits—our +souls, as we call them! How weak, and ignorant, and self-willed, +and perplexed, and sinful they are—surely our souls require a +comforter far more than our bodies or our minds do! And to comfort +our spirits, we require a spirit; for we cannot see our own spirits, +our own souls, as we can our bodies. We cannot even tell by our +feelings what state they are in. We may deceive ourselves, and +we do deceive ourselves, again and again, and fancy that our souls are +strong when they are weak—that they are simple and truthful when +they are full of deceit and falsehood—that they are loving God +when they are only loving themselves—that they are doing God’s +will when they are only doing their own selfish and perverse wills. +No man can take care of his own spirit, much less give his own spirit +life; “no man can quicken his own soul,” says David, that +is, no man can give his own soul life. And therefore we must have +someone beyond ourselves to give life to our spirits. We must +have someone to teach us the things that we could never find out for +ourselves, someone who will put into our hearts the good desires that +could never come of themselves. We must have someone who can change +these wills of ours, and make them love what they hate by nature, and +make them hate what they love by nature. For by nature we are +selfish. By nature we are inclined to love ourselves, rather than +anyone else; to take care of ourselves, rather than anyone else. +By nature we are inclined to follow our own will, rather than God’s +will, to do our own pleasure, rather than follow God’s commandments, +and therefore by nature our spirits are dead; for selfishness and self-will +are <i>spiritual death</i>. Spiritual life is love, pity, patience, +courage, honesty, truth, justice, humbleness, industry, self-sacrifice, +obedience to God, and therefore to those whom God sends to teach and +guide us. <i>That</i> is spiritual life. That is the life +of Jesus Christ; His character, His conduct, was like that—to +love, to help, to pity, all around—to give up Himself even to +death—to do His Father’s will and not His own. That +was His life. Because He was the Son of God He did it. In +proportion as we live like Him, we shall he living like sons of God. +In proportion as we live like Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our spirits +will be alive. For he that hath Jesus Christ the Son of God in +him, hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life, +says St. John. But who can raise us from the death of sin and +selfishness, to the life of righteousness and love? Who can change +us into the likeness of Jesus Christ? Who can even show us what +Jesus Christ’s likeness is, and take the things of Christ and +show them to us; so that by seeing what He was, we may see what we should +be? And who, if we have this life in us, will keep it alive in +us, and be with us to strengthen us? Who will give us strength +to force the foul and fierce and false thoughts out of our mind, and +say, “Get thee behind me, Satan?” Who will give our +spirits life? and who will strengthen that life in us?</p> +<p>Can we do it for ourselves? Oh! my friends, I pity the man +who is so blind and ignorant, who knows so little of himself, upon whom +the lessons which his own mistakes, and sins, and failings should have +taught him, have been so wasted that he fancies that he can teach and +guide himself without any help, and that he can raise his own soul to +life, or keep it alive without assistance. Can his body do without +its comforts? Then how can his spirit? If he left his house, +and threw away his clothes, and refused all help from his fellow-men, +and went and lived in the woods like a wild beast, we should call him +a madman, because he refused the help and comfort to his body which +God has made necessary for him. But just as great a madman is +he who refuses the help and the strengthening which God has made necessary +for his spirit—just as great a madman is he who fancies that his +soul is any more able than his body is, to live without continual help. +It is just because man is nobler than the beast that he requires help. +The fox in the wood needs no house, no fire; he needs no friends; he +needs no comforts, and no comforters, because he is a beast—because +he is meant to live and die selfish and alone; therefore God has provided +him in himself with all things necessary to keep the poor brute’s +selfish life in him for a few short years. But just because man +is nobler than that; just because man is not intended to live selfish +and alone; just because his body, and his mind, and his spirit are beautifully +and delicately made, and intended for all sorts of wonderful purposes, +therefore God has appointed that from the moment he is born to all eternity +he cannot live alone; he cannot support himself; he stands in continual +need of the assistance of all around him, for body, and soul, and spirit; +he needs clothes, which other men must make; houses, which other man +must build; food, which other men must produce; he has to get his livelihood +by working for others, while others get their livelihood in return by +working for him. As a child he needs his parents to be his comforters, +to take care of him in body and mind. As he grows up he needs +the care of others; he cannot exist a day without his fellow-men: he +requires school-masters to educate him; books and masters to teach him +his trade; and when he has learnt it, and settled himself in life, he +requires laws made by other men, perhaps by men who died hundreds of +years before he was born, to secure to him his rights and property, +to secure to him comforts, and to make him feel comfortable in his station; +he needs friends and family to comfort him in sorrow and in joy, to +do for him the thousand things which he cannot do for himself. +In proportion as he is alone and friendless he is pitiable and miserable, +let him be as rich as Solomon himself. From the moment, I say, +he is born, he needs continual comforts and comforters for his body, +and mind, and heart. And then he fancies that, though his body +and his mind cannot exist safely, or grow up healthily, without the +continual care and comforting of his fellow-men, that yet his soul, +the part of him which is at once the most important and the most in +danger; the part of him of which he knows least; the part of him which +he understands least; the part of him of which his body and mind cannot +take care, because it has to take care of them, can live, and grow, +and prosper without any help whatsoever!</p> +<p>And if we cannot strengthen our own souls no man can strengthen them +for us. No man can raise our bodies to life, much less can he +raise our souls. The physician himself cannot cure the sicknesses +of our bodies; he can only give us fit medicines, and leave them to +cure us by certain laws of nature, which he did not make, and which +he cannot alter. And though the physician can, by much learning, +understand men’s bodies somewhat, who can understand men’s +souls? We cannot understand our own souls; we do not know what +they are, how they live; whence they come, or whither they go. +We cannot cure them ourselves, much less can anyone cure them for us. +The only one who can cure our souls is He that made our souls; the only +one who can give life to our souls is He who gives life to everything. +The only one who can cure, and strengthen, and comfort our spirits, +is He who understands our spirits, because He himself is the Spirit +of all spirits, the Spirit who searcheth all things, even the deep things +of God; because He is the Spirit of God the Father, who made all heaven +and earth, and of Jesus Christ the Son, who understands the heart of +man, who can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and hath +been tempted in all things, just as we are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>He is the Comforter which God has promised to our spirits, the only +Comforter who can strengthen our spirits; and if we have Him with us, +if He is strengthening us, if He is leading us, if He is abiding with +us, if He is changing us day by day, more and more into the likeness +of Jesus Christ, are we not, as I said at the beginning of my sermon, +richer than if we possessed all the land of England, stronger than if +we had all the armies of the world at our command? For what is +more precious than—God Himself? What is stronger than—God +Himself? The poorest man in whom God’s Spirit dwells is +greater than the greatest king in whom God’s Spirit does not dwell. +And so he will find in the day that he dies. Then where will riches +be, and power? The rich man will take none of them away with him +when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him. Naked came he +into this world, and naked shall he return out of it, to go as he came, +and carry with him none of the comforts which he thought in this life +the only ones worth having. But the Spirit of God remains with +us for ever; that treasure a man shall carry out of this world with +him, and keep to all eternity. That friend will never forsake +him, for He is the Spirit of Love, which abideth for ever. That +Comforter will never grow weak, for He is Himself the very eternal Lord +and Giver of Life; and the soul that is possessed by Him must live, +must grow, must become nobler, purer, freer, stronger, more loving, +for ever and ever, as the eternities roll by. That is what He +will give you, my friends; that is His treasure; that is the Spirit-life, +the true and everlasting life, which flows from Him as the stream flows +from the fountain-head.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>X—WHIT-SUNDAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, +goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—against such there is no +law.—GALATIANS v. 22, 23.</p> +<p>In all countries, and in all ages, the world has been full of complaints +of Law and Government. And one hears the same complaints in England +now. You hear complaints that the laws favour one party and one +rank more than another, that they are expensive, and harsh, and unfair, +and what not?—But I think, my friends, that for us, and especially +on this Whit-Sunday, it will be much wiser, instead of complaining of +the laws, to complain of ourselves, for needing those laws. For +what is it that makes laws necessary at all, except man’s sinfulness? +Adam required no laws in the garden of Eden. We should require +no laws if we were what we ought to be—what God has offered to +make us. We may see this by looking at the laws themselves, and +considering the purposes for which they were made. We shall then +see, that, like Moses’ Laws of old, the greater part of them have +been added because of transgressions.—In plain English—to +prevent men from doing things which they ought not to do, and which, +if they were in a right state of mind, they would not do. How +many laws are passed, simply to prevent one man, or one class, from +oppressing or ill-using some other man or class? What a vast number +of them are passed simply to protect property, or to protect the weak +from the cruel, the ignorant from the cunning! It is plain that +if there was no cruelty, no cunning, no dishonesty, these laws, at all +events, would not be needed. Again, one of the great complaints +against the laws and the government, is that they are so expensive, +that rates and taxes are heavy burdens—and doubtless they are: +but what makes them necessary except men’s sin? If the poor +were more justly and mercifully treated, and if they in their turn were +more thrifty and provident, there would be no need of the expenses of +poor rates. If there was no love of war and plunder, there would +be no need of the expense of an army. If there was no crime, there +would be no need of the expense of police and prisons. The thing +is so simple and self-evident, that it seems almost childish to mention +it. And yet, my friends, we forget it daily. We complain +of the laws and their harshness, of taxes and their expensiveness, and +we forget all the while that it is our own selfishness and sinfulness +which brings this expense upon us, which makes it necessary for the +law to interfere and protect us against others, and others against us. +And while we are complaining of the government for not doing its work +somewhat more cheaply, we are forgetting that if we chose, we might +leave government very little work to do—that every man if he chose, +might be his own law-maker and his own police—that every man if +he will, may lead a life “against which there is no law.”</p> +<p>I say again, that it is our own fault, the fault of our sinfulness, +that laws are necessary for us. In proportion as we are what Scripture +calls “natural men,” that is, savage, selfish, divided from +each other, and struggling against each other, each for his own interest; +as long as we are not renewed and changed into new men, so long will +laws, heavy, severe, and burdensome, be necessary for us. Without +them we should be torments to ourselves, to our neighbours, to our country. +But these laws are only necessary as long as we are full of selfishness +and ungodliness. The moment we yield ourselves up to God’s +law, man’s laws are ready enough to leave us alone. Take, +for instance, a common example; as long as anyone is a faithful husband +and a good father, the law does not interfere with his conduct towards +his wife and children. But it is when he is unfaithful to them, +when he ill-treats them, or deserts them, that the law interferes with +its “Thou shalt not,” and compels him to behave, against +his will, in the way in which he ought to have behaved of his own will. +It was free to the man to have done his duty by his family, without +the law—the moment he neglects his duty, he becomes amenable to +it.</p> +<p>But the law can only force a man’s actions: it cannot change +his heart. In the instance which I have been just mentioning, +the law can say to a man, “You shall not ill-treat your family; +you shall not leave them to starve.” But the law cannot +say to him “You shall love your family.” The law can +only command from a man outward obedience; the obedience of the heart +it cannot enforce. The law may make a man do his duty, it cannot +make a man <i>love</i> his duty. And therefore laws will never +set the world right. They can punish persons after the wrong is +done, and that not certainly nor always: but they cannot certainly prevent +the wrongs being done. The law can punish a man for stealing: +and yet, as we see daily, men steal in the face of punishment. +Or even if the law, by its severity, makes persons afraid to commit +certain particular crimes, yet still as long as the sinful heart is +left in them unchanged, the sin which is checked in one direction is +sure to break out in another. Sin, like every other disease, is +sure, when it is driven onwards, to break out at a fresh point, or fester +within some still more deadly, because more hidden and unsuspected, +shape. The man who dare not be an open sinner for fear of the +law, can be a hypocrite in spite of it. The man who dare not steal +for fear of the law, can cheat in spite of it. The selfish man +will find fresh ways of being selfish, the tyrannical man of being tyrannical, +however closely the law may watch him. He will discover some means +of evading it; and thus the law, after all, though it may keep down +crime, multiplies sin; and by the law, as St. Paul says, is the knowledge +of sin.</p> +<p>What then will do that for this poor world which the law cannot do—which, +as St. Paul tells us, not even the law of God given on Mount Sinai, +holy, just, good as it was, could do, because no law can give life? +What will give men a new heart and a new spirit, which shall love its +duty and do it willingly, and not by compulsion, everywhere and always, +and not merely just as far as it commanded? The text tells us +that there is a Spirit, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, +gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; a character such +as no laws can give to a man, and which no law dare punish in a man. +Look at this character as St. Paul sets it forth—and then think +what need would there be of all these burdensome and expensive laws, +if all men were but full of the fruits of that Spirit which St. Paul +describes?</p> +<p>I know what answer will be ready, in some of your minds at least, +to all this. You will be ready to reply, almost angrily, “Of +course if everyone was perfect, we should need no laws: but people are +not perfect, and you cannot expect them to be.” My friends, +whether or not <i>we</i> expect baptized people, living in a Christian +country, to be perfect, God expects them to be perfect; for He has said, +by the mouth of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, “Be ye therefore +perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.” And +He has told us what being perfect is like; you may read it for yourselves +in His sermon on the Mount; and you may see also that what He commands +us to do in that sermon, from the beginning to the end, is the exact +opposite and contrary of the ways and rules of this world, which, as +I have shown, make burdensome laws necessary to prevent our devouring +each other. Now, do you think that God would have told us to be +perfect, if He knew that it was impossible for us? Do you think +that He, the God of truth, would have spoken such a cruel mockery against +poor sinful creatures like us, as to command us a duty without giving +us the means of fulfilling it? Do you think that He did not know +ten thousand times better than I what I have been just telling you, +that laws could not change men’s hearts and wills; that commanding +a man to love and like a thing will not make him love and like it; that +a man’s heart and spirit must be changed in him from within, and +not merely laws and commandments laid on him from without? Then +why has He commanded us to love each other, ay, to love our enemies, +to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who use us spitefully? +Do you think the Lord meant to make hypocrites of us; to tell us to +go about, as some who call themselves religious do go about, with their +lips full of meek, and humble, and simple, and loving words, while their +hearts are full of pride, and spite, and cunning, and hate, and selfishness, +which are all the more deadly for being kept in and plastered over by +a smooth outside? God forbid! He tells us to love each other, +only because He has promised us the spirit of love. He tells us +to be humble, because He can make us humble-hearted. He tells +us to be honest, because He can make us love and delight in honesty. +He tells us to refrain ourselves from foul thoughts as well as from +foul actions, because He can take the foul heart out of us, and give +us instead the spirit of purity and holiness. He tells us to lead +new lives after the new pattern of Himself, because He can give us new +hearts and a new spring of life within us; in short, He bids us behave +as sons of God should behave, because, as He said Himself, “If +we, being evil, know how to give our children what is good for them, +much more will our heavenly Father give His Holy Spirit to those who +ask him.” If you would be perfect, ask your Father in heaven +to make you perfect. If you feel that your heart is wrong, ask +Him to give you a new and a right heart. If you feel yourselves—as +you are, whether you feel it or not—too weak, too ignorant, too +selfish, to guide yourselves, ask Him to send His Spirit to guide you; +ask for the Spirit from which comes all love, all light, all wisdom, +all strength of mind. Ask for that Spirit, and you <i>shall</i> +receive it; seek for it, and you shall find it; knock at the gate of +your Father’s treasure-house, and it shall be surely opened to +you.</p> +<p>But some of you, perhaps, are saying to yourselves, “How will +my being changed and renewed by the Spirit of God, render the laws less +burdensome, while the crime and sin around me remain unchanged? +It is others who want to be improved as much, and perhaps more than +I do.” It may be so, my friends; or, again, it may not; +those who fancy that others need God’s Spirit more than they do, +may be the very persons who need it really the most; those who say they +see, may be only proving their blindness by so saying; those who fancy +that their souls are rich, and are full of all knowledge, and understand +the whole Bible, and want no further teaching, may be, as they were +in St. John’s time, just the ones who are wretched, and miserable, +and poor, and blind, and naked in soul, and do not know it. But +at all events, if you think others need to be changed by God’s +Spirit, <i>pray</i> that God’s Spirit may change them. For +believe me, unless you pray for God’s Spirit for each other, ay, +for the whole world, there is no use asking for yourselves. This, +I believe, is one of the reasons, perhaps the chief reason, why the +fruits of God’s Spirit are so little seen among us in these days; +why our Christianity is become more and more dead, and hollow, and barren, +while expensive and intricate laws and taxes are becoming more and more +necessary every year; because our religion has become so selfish, because +we have been praying for God’s Spirit too little for each other. +Our prayers have become too selfish. We have been looking for +God’s Spirit not so much as a means to enable us to do good to +others, but as some sort of mysterious charm which was to keep us ourselves +from the punishment of our sins in the next life, or give us a higher +place in heaven; and, therefore, St. James’s words have been fulfilled +to us, even in our very prayers for God’s Spirit, “Ye ask +and have not, because ye ask amiss, to consume it upon your lusts”—save +our selfish souls from the pains of hell; to give our selfish souls +selfish pleasures and selfish glorification in the world to come: but +not to spread God’s kingdom upon earth, not to make us live on +earth such lives as Christ lived; a life of love and self-sacrifice, +and continual labour for the souls of others. Therefore it is, +that God’s Spirit is not poured out upon us in these days; for +God’s Spirit is the spirit of love and brotherhood, which delivers +a man from his selfishness; and if we do not desire to be delivered +from our selfishness, we do not desire the Spirit of God, and the Spirit +of God will not be bestowed upon us. And no man desires to be +delivered from his own selfishness, who in his very prayers, when he +ought to be thinking least about himself alone, is thinking about himself +most of all, and forgetting that he is the member of a family—that +all mankind are his brethren—that he can claim nothing for himself +to which every sinner around him has an equal right—that nothing +is necessary for him, which is not equally necessary for everyone around +him; that he has all the world besides himself to pray for, and that +his prayers for himself will be heard only according as he prays for +all the world beside. Baptism teaches us this, when it tells us +that our old selfish nature is to be washed away, and a new character, +after the pattern of Christ, is to live and grow up in us; that from +the day we are baptized, to the day of our death, we should live not +for ourselves, but for Jesus, in whom was no selfishness; when it teaches +us that we are not only children of God, but members of Christ’s +Family, and heirs of God’s kingdom, and therefore bound to make +common cause with all other members of that Family, to live and labour +for the common good of all our fellow-citizens in that kingdom. +The Lord’s prayer teaches us this, when He tells us to pray, not +“My Father,” but “Our Father;” not “my +soul be saved,” but “Thy kingdom come;” not “give +<i>me</i>,” but “give <i>us</i> our daily bread;” +not “forgive <i>me</i>,” but “forgive <i>us</i> our +trespasses,” and that only as we forgive others; not “lead +<i>me</i> not,” but “lead <i>us</i> not into temptation;” +not “deliver <i>me</i>,” but “deliver <i>us</i> from +evil.” After <i>that</i> manner the Lord told us to pray; +and, in proportion as we pray in that manner, asking for nothing for +ourselves which we do not ask for everyone else in the whole world, +just so far and no farther will God <i>hear</i> our prayers. He +who asks for God’s Spirit for himself only, and forgets that all +the world need it as much as he, is not asking for God’s Spirit +at all, and does not know even what God’s Spirit is. The +mystery of Pentecost, too, which came to pass on this day 1818 years +ago, teaches us the same thing also. Those cloven tongues of fire, +the tokens of God’s Spirit, fell not upon one man, but upon many; +not when they were apart from each other, but when they were together; +and what were the fruits of that Spirit in the Apostles? Did they +remain within that upper room, each priding himself upon his own gifts, +and trying merely to gain heaven for his own soul? If they had +any such fancies, as they very likely had before the Spirit fell upon +them, they had none such afterwards. The Spirit must have taken +all such thoughts from them, and given them a new notion of what it +was to be devout and holy: for instead of staying in that upper room, +they went forth instantly into the public place to preach in foreign +tongues to all the people. Instead of keeping themselves apart +from each other in silence, and fancying, as some have done, and some +do now, that they pleased God by being solitary, and melancholy, and +selfish—what do we read? the fruit of God’s Spirit was in +them; that they and the three thousand souls who were added to them, +on the first day of their preaching, “were all together, and had +all things common, and sold their possessions, and goods, and parted +them to all men, as every man had need, and continuing daily with one +accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat +their bread in gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having +favour with all the people.” Those were the fruits of God’s +Spirit in <i>them</i>. Till we see more of that sort of life and +society in England, we shall not be able to pride ourselves on having +much of God’s Spirit among us.</p> +<p>But above all, if anything will teach us that the strength of God’s +Spirit is not a strength which we must ask for for ourselves alone; +that the blessings of God’s kingdom are blessings which we cannot +have in order to keep them to ourselves, but can only enjoy in as far +as we share them with those around us; if anything, I say, ought to +teach us that lesson, it is the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. +Just consider a moment, my friends, what a strange thing it is, if we +will think of it, that the Lord’s Supper, the most solemn and +sacred thing with which a man can have to do upon earth, is just a thing +which he cannot transact for himself, or by himself. Not alone +in secret, in his chamber, but, whether he will or not, in the company +of others, not merely in the company of his own private friends, but +in the company of any or everyone, rich or poor, who chooses to kneel +beside him; he goes with others, rich and poor alike, to the Lord’s +Table, and there the same bread, and the same wine, is shared among +all by the same priest. If that means anything, it means this—that +rich and poor alike draw life for their souls from the same well, not +for themselves only, not apart from each other, but all in common, all +together, because they are brothers, members of one family, as the leaves +are members of the same tree; that as the same bread and the same wine +are needed to nourish the bodies of all, the same spirit of God is needed +to nourish the souls of all; and that we cannot have this spirit, except +as members of a body, any more than a man’s limb can have life +when it is cut off and parted from him. This is the reason, and +the only reason, why Protestant clergymen are forbidden, thank God! +to give the Holy Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, to any one person +singly. If a clergyman were to administer the Lord’s Supper, +to himself in private, without any congregation to partake with him, +it would not be the Lord’s Supper, it would be nothing, and worse +than nothing; it would be a sham and a mockery, and, I believe, a sin. +I do not believe that Christ would be present, that God’s Spirit +would rest on that man. For our Lord says, that it is where two +or three are gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst +of them. And it was at a supper, at a feast, where all the Apostles +were met together, that our Lord divided the bread amongst them, and +told them to share the cup amongst themselves, just as a sign that they +were all members of one body—that the welfare of each of them +was bound up in the welfare of all the rest that God’s blessing +did not rest upon each singly, but upon all together. And it is +just because we have forgotten this, my friends—because we have +forgotten that we are all brothers and sisters, children of one family, +members of one body—because in short, we have carried our selfishness +into our very religion, and up to the altar of God, that we neglect +the Lord’s Supper as we do. People neglect the Lord’s +Supper because they either do not know or do not like that, of which +the Lord’s Supper is the token and warrant. It is not merely +that they feel themselves unfit for the Lord’s Supper, because +they are not in love and charity with all men. Oh! my dear friends, +do not some of your hearts tell you, that the reason why you stay away +from the Lord’s Supper is because you do not <i>wish</i> to be +fit for the Lord’s Supper—because you do not like to be +in love and charity with all men—because you do not wish to be +reminded that you are equals in God’s sight, all equally sinful, +all equally pardoned—and to see people whom you dislike or despise, +kneeling by your side, and partaking of the same bread and wine with +you, as a token that God sees no difference between you and them; that +God looks upon you all as brothers, however little brotherly love or +fellow-feeling there may be, alas! between you? Or, again, do +not some of you stay away from the Lord’s Supper, because you +see no good in going? because it seems to make those who go no better +than they were before? Shall I tell you the reason of that? +Shall I tell you why, as is too true, too many do come to the Lord’s +Supper, and so far from being the better for it, seem only the worse? +Because they come to it in selfishness. We have fallen into the +same false and unscriptural way of looking at the Lord’s Supper, +into which the Papists have. People go to the Lord’s Supper +nowadays too much to get some private good for their own souls, and +it would not matter to many of them, I am afraid, if not another person +in the parish received it, provided they can get, as they fancy, the +same blessing from it. Thus they come to it in an utterly false +and wrong temper of mind. Instead of coming as members of Christ’s +body, to get from Him life and strength, to work, in their places, as +members of that body, they come to get something for themselves, as +if there was nobody else’s soul in the world to be saved but their +own. Instead of coming to ask for the Spirit of God to deliver +them from their selfishness, and make them care less about themselves, +and more about all around them, they come to ask for the Spirit of God +because they think it will make themselves higher and happier in heaven. +And of course they do not get what they come for, because they come +for the wrong thing. Thus those who see them, begin to fancy that +the Lord’s Supper is not, after all, so very important for the +salvation of their souls; and not finding in the Bible actually written +these words, “Thou shalt perish everlastingly unless thou take +the Lord’s Supper,” they end by staying away from it, and +utterly neglecting it, they and their children after them; preferring +their own selfishness, to God’s Spirit of love, and saying, like +Esau of old, “I am hungry, and I must live. I must get on +in this selfish world by following its selfish ways; what is the use +of a spirit of love and brotherhood to me? If I were to obey the +Gospel, and sacrifice my own interest for those around me, I should +starve; what good will my birthright do me?”</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, I pray God that some of you, at least, may change +your mind. I pray God that some of you may see at last, that all +the misery and the burdens of this time, spring from one root, which +is selfishness; and that the reason why we are selfish, is because we +have not with us the Spirit of God, which is the spirit of brotherhood +and love. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to take that selfishness +out of all our hearts. Let us pray God now, and henceforth, to +pour upon us, and upon all our countrymen, ay, and upon the whole world, +the spirit of friendship and fellow-feeling, the spirit which when men +have among them, they need no laws to keep them from supplanting, and +oppressing, and devouring each other, because its fruits are love, cheerfulness, +peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, honesty, meekness, temperance +Then there will be no need, my friends, for me to call you to the Supper +of the Lord. You will no more think of staying away from it, than +the Apostles did, when the Spirit was poured out on them. For +what do we read that they did after the first Whit-Sunday? That +altogether with one accord, they broke bread daily; that is, partook +of the Lord’s Supper every day, from house to house. They +did not need to be told to do it. They did it, as I may say, by +instinct. There was no question or argument about it in their +minds. They had found out that they were all brothers, with one +common cause in joy and sorrow—that they were all members of one +body—that the life of their souls came from one root and spring, +from one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the light and the life of men, +in whom they were all one, members of each other; and therefore, they +delighted in that Lord’s Supper, just because it brought them +together; just because it was a sign and a token to them that they did +belong to each other, that they had one Lord, one faith, one interest, +one common cause for this life, and for all eternity. And therefore +the blessing of that Lord’s Supper did come to them, and in it +they did receive strength to live like children of God and members of +Christ, and brothers to each other and to all mankind. They proved +by their actions what that Communion Feast, that Sacrament of Brotherhood, +had done for them. They proved it by not counting their own lives +dear to them, but going forth in the face of poverty and persecution, +and death itself, to preach to the whole world the good news that Christ +was their King. They proved it by their conduct to each other +when they had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, +and parted them to all, as every man had need. They proved it +by needing no laws to bind them to each other from without, because +they were bound to each other from within, by the love which comes down +from God, and is the very bond of peace, and of every virtue which becomes +a man.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XI—ASCENSION-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And Jesus led them out as far as to Bethany; and he lifted up his +hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, +he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they +worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem, with great joy; and were continually +in the temple, praising and blessing God—LUKE xxiv. 50-53.</p> +<p>On this day it is fit and proper for us—if we have understood, +and enjoyed, and profited by the wonder of the Lord’s Ascension +into Heaven—to be in the same state of mind as the Apostles were +after His Ascension: for what was right for them is right for us and +for all men; the same effects which it produced on them it ought to +produce on us. And we may know whether we are in the state in +which Christian men ought to be, by seeing how far we are in the same +state of mind as the Apostles were. Now the text tells us in what +state of mind they were; how that, after the Lord Jesus was parted from +them, and carried up into Heaven, they worshipped Him, and returned +to Jerusalem, with great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising +and blessing God. It seems at first sight certainly very strange +that they should go back with great joy. They had just lost their +Teacher, their Master—One who had been more to them than all friends +and fathers could be; One who had taken them, poor simple fishermen, +and changed the whole course of their lives, and taught them things +which He had taught to no one else, and given them a great and awful +work to do—the work of changing the ways and thoughts and doings +of the whole world. He had sent them out—eleven unlettered +working men—to fight against the sin and the misery of the whole +world. And He had given them open warning of what they were to +expect; that by it they should win neither credit, nor riches, nor ease, +nor anything else that the world thinks worth having. He gave +them fair warning that the world would hate them, and try to crush them. +He told them, as the Gospel for to-day says, that they should be driven +out of the churches; that the religious people, as well as the irreligious, +would be against them; that the time would come when those who killed +them would think that they did God service; that nothing but labour, +and want, and persecution, and slander, and torture, and death was before +them—and now He had gone away and left them. He had vanished +up into the empty air. They were to see His face, and hear His +voice no more. They were to have no more of His advice, no more +of His teaching, no more of His tender comfortings; they were to be +alone in the world—eleven poor working men, with the whole world +against them, and so great a business to do that they would not have +time to get their bread by the labour of their hands. Is it not +wonderful that they did not sit down in despair, and say, “What +will become of us?” Is it not wonderful that they did not +give themselves up to grief at losing the Teacher who was worth all +the rest of the world put together? Is it not wonderful that they +did not go back, each one to his old trade, to his fishing and to his +daily labour, saying, “At all events we must eat; at all events +we must get our livelihood;” and end, as they had begun, in being +mere labouring men, of whom the world would never have heard a word? +And instead of that we read that they went back with great joy not to +their homes but to Jerusalem, the capital city of their country, and +“were continually in the temple blessing and praising God.” +Well, my friends, and if it is possible for one man to judge what another +man would have done—if it is possible to guess what we should +have done in their case—common-sense must show us this, that if +He was merely their Teacher, they would have either given themselves +up to despair, or gone back, some to their plough, some to their fishing-nets, +and some, like Matthew, to their counting-houses, and we should never +have heard a word of them. But if you will look in your Bibles, +you will find that they thought Him much more than a teacher—that +they thought Him to be the Lord and King of the whole world; and you +will find that the great joy with which the disciples went back, after +He ascended into heaven, came from certain very strange words that He +had been speaking to them just before He ascended—words about +which they could have but two opinions: either they must have thought +that they were utter falsehood, and self-conceit, and blasphemy; and +that Jesus, who had been all along speaking to them such words of wisdom +and holiness as never man spake before, had suddenly changed His whole +character at the last, and become such a sort of person as it is neither +fit for me to speak of, or you to hear me speak of, in God’s church, +and in Jesus Christ’s hearing, even though it be merely for the +sake of argument; or else they must have thought <i>this</i> about His +words, that they were the most joyful and blessed words that ever had +been spoken on the earth; that they were the best of all news; the most +complete of all Gospels for this poor sinful world; that what Jesus +had said about Himself was true; and that as long as it was true, it +did not matter in the least what became of them; it did not matter in +the least what difficulties stood in their way, for they would be certain +to conquer them all; it did not matter in the least how men might persecute +and slander them, for they would be sure to get their reward; it did +not matter in the least how miserable and sinful the world might be +just then, for it was certain to be changed, and converted, and brought +to God, to righteousness, to love, to freedom, to light, at last.</p> +<p>If you look at the various accounts, in the four gospels, of the +Lord’s last words on earth, you will see, surely, what I mean. +Let us take them one by one.</p> +<p>St. Matthew tells us that, a few days before the Lord’s ascension, +He met His disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where he had appointed +them to await him; and there told them, that all power was given to +Him in heaven and earth. Was not that blessed news—was not +that a gospel? That all the power in heaven and earth belonged +to <i>Him</i>? To Him, who had all His life been doing good? +To Him, in whom there had never been one single stain of tyranny or +selfishness? To Him, who had been the friend of publicans and +sinners? To Him, who had rebuked the very richest, and loved the +very poorest? To him, who had shown that He had both the power +and the will to heal every kind of sickness and disease? To Him, +who had conquered and driven out, wherever He met them, all the evil +spirits which enslave and torment poor sinful men? To Him, who +had shown by rising from the dead, that He was stronger than even death +itself? To Him, who had declared that He was the Son of God the +Father, that the great God who had made heaven and earth, and all therein, +was perfectly pleased and satisfied with Him, that He was come to do +His Father’s will, and not His own; that He was the ancient Lord +of the earth, the I AM who was before Abraham? And He was now +to have all power in heaven and earth! Everything which was done +right in the world henceforth, was to be His doing. The kingdom +and rule over the whole universe, was to be His. So He said; and +His disciples believed Him; and if they believed Him, how could they +but rejoice? How could they but rejoice at the glorious thought +that He, the son of the village maiden, the champion of the poor and +the suffering, was to have the government of the world for ever? +That He, who all the while He had been on earth had showed that He was +perfect justice, perfect love, perfect humanity, was to reign till He +had put all His enemies under His feet? How could the world but +prosper under such a King as that? How could wickedness triumph, +while He, the perfectly righteous one, was King? How could misery +triumph, while He, the perfectly merciful one, was King? How could +ignorance triumph, while He, the perfectly wise one, who had declared +that God the Father hid nothing from Him, was King? Unless the +disciples had been more dull and selfish than the dumb beasts around +them, what could they do but rejoice at that news? What matter +to them if Jesus were taken out of their sight, as long as all power +was given to Him in heaven and earth?</p> +<p>But He had told them more. He had told them that they were +not to keep this glorious secret to themselves. No: they were +to go forth and preach the gospel of it, the good news of it, to every +creature—to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. The +good news that God was the King of men, after all; that cruel tyrants +and oppressors, and conquerors, were not their kings; that neither the +storms over their heads, nor the earth under their feet, nor the clouds +and the rivers whom the heathens used to worship in the hope of persuading +the earth and the weather to be favourable to them, and bless their +harvests, were their kings; that idols of wood and stone, and evil spirits +of lust, and cruelty, and covetousness, were not their kings; but that +God was their King; that He loved them, He pitied them in spite of all +their sins; that He had sent His only begotten Son into the world to +teach them, to live for them—to die for them—to claim them +for His own. And, therefore, they were to go and baptize all nations, +as a sign that they were to repent, and change, and put away all their +old false and evil heathen life, and rise to a new life, they and their +children after them, as God’s children, God’s family, brothers +of the Son of God. And they were to baptize them into a name; +showing that they belonged to those into whose name they were baptized; +into the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. +They were to be baptized into the name of the Father, as a sign that +God was their Father, and they His children. They were to be baptized +into the name of the Son, as a sign that the Son, Jesus Christ, was +their King and head; and not merely their King and head, but their Saviour, +who had taken away the sin of the world, and redeemed it for God, with +His own most precious blood; and not merely their Saviour, but their +pattern; that they might know that they were bound to become as far +as is possible for mortal man such sons of God as Jesus himself had +been, like Him obedient, pure, forgiving, brotherly, caring for each +other and not for themselves, doing their heavenly Father’s will +and not their own. And they were to baptize all nations into the +name of the Holy Spirit, for a sign that God’s Spirit, the Lord +and giver of life, would be with them, to give them new life, new holiness, +new manfulness; to teach, and guide, and strengthen them for ever. +That was the gospel which they had to preach. The good news that +the Son of God was the King of men. That was the name into which +they were to baptize all nations—the name of children of God, +members of Christ, heirs of a heavenly and spiritual kingdom, which +should go on age after age, for ever, growing and spreading men knew +not how, as the grains of mustard-seed, which at first the least of +all seeds, grows up into a great tree, and the birds of the air come +and lodge in the branches of it—to go on, I say, from age to age, +improving, cleansing, and humanising, and teaching the whole world, +till the kingdoms of the earth became the kingdoms of God and of His +Christ. That was the work which the Apostles had given them to +do. Do you not see, friends, that unless those Apostles had been +the most selfish of men, unless all they cared for was their own gain +and comfort, they must have rejoiced? The whole world was to be +set right—what matter what happened to them? And, therefore, +I said at the beginning of my sermon, that a sure way to know whether +our minds were in a right state, was to see whether we felt about it +as the Apostles felt. The Bible tells us to rejoice always, to +praise and give thanks to God always. If we believe what the Apostles +believed, we shall be joyful; if we do not, we shall not be joyful. +If we believe in the words which the Lord spoke before He ascended on +high, we shall be joyful. If we believe that all power in heaven +and earth is His, we shall be joyful. If we believe that the son +of the village maiden has ascended up on high, and received gifts for +men, we shall be joyful. If we believe that, as our baptism told +us, God is our Father, the Son of God our Saviour, the Spirit of God +ready to teach and guide us, we shall be joyful. Do you answer +me, “But the world goes on so ill; there is so much sin, and misery, +and folly, and cruelty in it; how can we be joyful?” I answer: +There was a hundred times as much sin, and misery, and folly, and cruelty, +in the Apostles’ time, and yet they were joyful, and full of gladness, +blessing and praising God. If you answer, “But we are so +slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, and hard-worked, and ill-treated; +we have no time to enjoy ourselves, or do the things which we should +like best. How can we be joyful?” I answer: So were the +Apostles. They knew that they would be a hundred times as much +slandered, and neglected, and misunderstood, as you can ever be; that +they would have far less time to enjoy themselves, far less opportunity +of doing the things which they liked best, than you can ever have; they +knew that misery, and persecution, and a shameful death were before +them, and yet they were joyful and full of gladness, blessing and praising +God. And why should you not be? For what was true for them +is true for you. They had no blessing, no hope, but what you have +just as good a right to as they had. They were joyful, because +God was their Father, and God is your Father. They were joyful +because they and all men belonged to God’s family; and you belong +to it. They were joyful, because God’s Spirit was promised +to them, to make them like God; and God’s Spirit was promised +to you. They were joyful, because a poor man was king of heaven +and earth; and that poor man, Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, +is as much your King now as He was theirs then. They were joyful, +because the whole world was going to improve under His rule and government; +and the whole world is improving, and will go on improving for ever. +They were joyful, because Jesus, whom they had known as a poor, despised, +crucified man on earth, had ascended up to heaven in glory; and if you +believe the same, you will be joyful too. In proportion as you +believe the mystery of Ascension-day; if you believe the words which +the Lord spoke before He ascended, you will have cheerful, joyful, hopeful +thoughts about yourselves, and about the whole world; if you do not, +you will be in continual danger of becoming suspicious and despairing, +fancying the world still worse than it is, fancying that God has neglected +and forgotten it, fancying that the devil is stronger than God, and +man’s sins wider than Christ’s redemption till you will +think it neither worth while to do right yourselves, nor to make others +do right towards you.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XII—THE FOUNT OF SCIENCE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>A Sermon Preached at St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster, +May 4th</i>, 1851<i>, in behalf of the Westminster Hospital</i>.)</p> +<p>When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and received +gifts for men, yea, even for his enemies, that the Lord God might dwell +among them.—PSALM lxviii. 18, and EPHESIANS iv. 8.</p> +<p>If, a thousand years ago, a congregation in this place had been addressed +upon the text which I have chosen, they would have had, I think, little +difficulty in applying its meaning to themselves, and in mentioning +at once innumerable instances of those gifts which the King of men had +received for men, innumerable signs that the Lord God was really dwelling +amongst them. But amongst those signs, I think, they would have +mentioned several which we are not now generally accustomed to consider +in such a light. They would have pointed not merely to the building +of churches, the founding of schools, the spread of peace, the decay +of slavery; but to the importation of foreign literature, the extension +of the arts of reading, writing, painting, architecture, the improvement +of agriculture, and the introduction of new and more successful methods +of the cure of diseases. They might have expressed themselves +on these points in a way that we consider now puerile and superstitious. +They might have attributed to the efficacy of prayer, many cures which +we now attribute—shall I say? to no cause whatsoever. They +may have quoted as an instance of St. Cuthbert’s sanctity, rather +than of his shrewd observations, his discovery of a spring of water +in the rocky floor of his cell, and his success in growing barley upon +the barren island where wheat refused to germinate; and we might have +smiled at their superstition, and smiled, too, at their seeing any consequence +of Christianity, any token that the kingdom of God was among them, in +Bishop Wilfred’s rescuing the Hampshire Saxons from the horrors +of famine, by teaching them the use of fishing-nets. But still +so they would have spoken—men of a turn of mind no less keen, +shrewd, and practical than we, their children; and if we had objected +to their so-called superstition that all these improvements in the physical +state of England were only the natural consequences of the introduction +of Roman civilisation by French and Italian missionaries, they would +have smiled at us in their turn, not perhaps without some astonishment +at our stupidity, and asked: “Do you not see, too, that <i>that</i> +is in itself a sign of the kingdom of God—that these nations who +have been for ages selfishly isolated from each other, except for purposes +of conquest and desolation, should be now teaching each other, helping +each other, interchanging more and more, generation by generation, their +arts, their laws, their learning becoming fused down under the influence +of a common Creed, and loyalty to one common King in Heaven, from their +state of savage jealousy and warfare, into one great Christendom, and +family of God?” And if, my friends, as I think, those forefathers +of ours could rise from their graves this day, they would be inclined +to see in our hospitals, in our railroads, in the achievements of our +physical Science, confirmation of that old superstition of theirs, proofs +of the kingdom of God, realisations of the gifts which Christ received +for men, vaster than any of which they had ever dreamed. They +might be startled at God’s continuing those gifts to us, who hold +on many points a creed so different from theirs. They might be +still more startled to see in the Great Exhibition of all Nations, which +is our present nine-days’ wonder, that those blessings were not +restricted by God even to nominal Christians, but that His love, His +teaching, with regard to matters of civilisation and physical science, +were extended, though more slowly and partially, to the Mahometan and +the Heathen. And it would be a wholesome lesson to them, to find +that God’s grace was wider than their narrow theories; perhaps +they may have learnt it already in the world of spirits. But of +its <i>being</i> God’s grace, there would be no doubt in their +minds. They would claim unhesitatingly, and at once, that great +Exhibition established in a Christian country, as a point of union and +brotherhood for all people, for a sign that God was indeed claiming +all the nations of the world as His own—proving by the most enormous +facts that He had sent down a Pentecost, gifts to men which would raise +them not merely spiritually, but physically and intellectually, beyond +anything which the world had ever seen, and had poured out a spirit +among them which would convert them in the course of ages, gradually, +but most surely and really, from a pandemonium of conquerors and conquered, +devourers and devoured, into a family of fellow-helping brothers, until +the kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of God and of His Christ.</p> +<p>But I think one thing, if anything, would stagger their simple old +Saxon faith; one thing would make them fearful, as indeed it makes the +preacher this day, that the time of real brotherhood and peace is still +but too far off; and that the achievements of our physical science, +the unity of this great Exhibition, noble as they are, are still only +dim forecastings and prophecies, as it were, of a higher, nobler reality. +And they would say sadly to us, their children: “Sons, you ought +to be so near to God; He seems to have given you so much and to have +worked among you as He never worked for any nation under heaven. +How is it that you give the glory to yourselves, and not to Him?”</p> +<p>For do we give the glory of our scientific discoveries to God, in +any real, honest, and practical sense? There may be some official +and perfunctory talk of God’s blessing on our endeavours; but +there seems to be no real belief in us that God, the inspiration of +God, is the very fount and root of the endeavours themselves; that He +teaches us these great discoveries; that He gives us wisdom to get this +wondrous wealth; that He works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. +True, we keep up something of the form and tradition of the old talk +about such things; we join in prayer to God to bless our great Exhibition, +but we do not believe—we do not believe, my friends—that +it was God who taught us to conceive, build, and arrange that Great +Exhibition; and our notion of God’s blessing it, seems to be God’s +absence from it; a hope and trust that God will leave it and us alone, +and not “visit” it or us in it, or “interfere” +by any “special providences,” by storms, or lightning, or +sickness, or panic, or conspiracy; a sort of dim feeling that we could +manage it all perfectly well without God, but that as He exists, and +has some power over natural phenomena, which is not very exactly defined, +we must notice His existence over and above our work, lest He should +become angry and “visit” us . . . And this in spite of words +which were spoken by one whose office it was to speak them, as the representative +of the highest and most sacred personage in these realms; words which +deserve to be written in letters of gold on the high places of this +city; in which he spoke of this Exhibition as an “approach to +a more complete fulfilment of the great and sacred mission which man +has to perform in the world;” when he told the English people +that “man’s reason being created in the image of God, he +has to discover the laws by which Almighty God governs His creations, +and by making these laws the standard of his action, to conquer nature +to his use, himself a divine instrument;” when he spoke of “thankfulness +to Almighty God for what he has already <i>given</i>,” as the +first feeling which that Exhibition ought to excite in us; and as the +second, “the deep conviction that those blessings can only be +realised in proportion to”—not, as some would have it, the +rivalry and selfish competition—but “in proportion to the +<i>help</i> which we are prepared to render to each other; and, therefore, +by peace, love, and ready assistance, not only between individuals, +but between all nations of the earth.” We read those great +words; but in the hearts of how few, alas! to judge from our modern +creed on such matters, must the really important and distinctive points +of them find an echo! To how few does this whole Exhibition seem +to have been anything but a matter of personal gain or curiosity, for +national aggrandisement, insular self-glorification, and selfish—I +had almost said, treacherous—rivalry with the very foreigners +whom we invited as our guests?</p> +<p>And so, too, with our cures of diseases. We speak of God’s +blessing the means, and God’s blessing the cure. But all +we really mean by blessing them, is permitting them. Do not our +hearts confess that our notion of His blessing the means, is His leaving +the means to themselves and their own physical laws—leaving, in +short, the cure to us and not preventing our science doing its work, +and asserting His own existence by bringing on some unexpected crisis, +or unfortunate relapse—if, indeed, the old theory that He does +bring on such, be true?</p> +<p>Our old forefathers, on the other hand, used to believe that in medicine, +as in everything else, God taught men all that they knew. They +believed the words of the Wise Man when he said that “the Spirit +of God gives man understanding.” The method by which Solomon +believed himself to have obtained all his physical science and knowledge +of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop which groweth on the +wall, was in their eyes the only possible method. They believed +the words of Isaiah when he said of the tillage and the rotation of +crops in use among the peasants of his country, that their God instructed +them to discretion and taught them; and that even the various methods +of threshing out the various species of grain came “forth from +the Lord of hosts, who is excellent in counsel, and wonderful in working.”</p> +<p>Such a method, you say, seems to you now miraculous. It did +not seem to our forefathers miraculous that God should teach man; it +seemed to them most simple, most rational, most natural, an utterly +every-day axiom. They thought it was because so few of the heathen +were taught by God that they were no wiser than they were. They +thought that since the Son of God had come down and taken our nature +upon Him, and ascended up on high and received gifts for men, that it +was now the right and privilege of every human being who was willing +to be taught of God, as the prophet foretold in those very words; and +that baptism was the very sign and seal of that fact—a sign that +for every human being, whatever his age, sex, rank, intellect, or race, +a certain measure of the teaching of God and of the Spirit of God was +ready, promised, sure as the oath of Him that made heaven and the earth, +and all things therein. That was Solomon’s belief. +We do not find that it made him a fanatic and an idler, waiting with +folded hands for inspiration to come to him he knew not how nor whence. +His belief that wisdom was the revelation and gift of God did not prevent +him from seeking her as silver, and searching for her as hid treasures, +from applying his heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning +all things that are done under heaven; and we do not find that it prevented +our forefathers. Ceadmon’s belief that God inspired him +with the poetic faculty, did not make him the less laborious and careful +versifier. Bishop John’s blessing the dumb boy’s tongue +in the name of Him whom he believed to be Word of God and the Master +of that poor dumb boy, did not prevent his anticipating some of the +discoveries of our modern wise men, in setting about a most practical +and scientific cure. Alfred’s continual prayers for light +and inspiration made him no less a laborious and thoughtful student +of war and law, of physics, language, and geography. These old +Teutons, for all these superstitions of theirs, were perhaps as businesslike +and practical in those days as we their children are in these. +But that did not prevent their believing that unless God showed them +a thing, they could not see it, and thanking Him honestly enough for +the comparative little which He did show them. But we who enjoy +the accumulated teaching of ages—we to whose researches He is +revealing year by year, almost week by weeks wonders of which they never +dreamed—we whom He has taught to make the lame to walk, the dumb +to speak, the blind to see, to exterminate the pestilence and defy the +thunderbolt, to multiply millionfold the fruits of learning, to annihilate +time and space, to span the heavens, and to weigh the sun—what +madness is this which has come upon us in these last days, to make us +fancy that we, insects of a day, have found out these things for ourselves, +and talk big about the progress of the species, and the triumphs of +intellect, and the all-conquering powers of the human mind, and give +the glory of all this inspiration and revelation, not to God, but to +ourselves? Let us beware, beware—lest our boundless pride +and self-satisfaction, by some mysterious yet most certain law, avenge +itself—lest like the Assyrian conqueror of old, while we stand +and cry, “Is not this great Babylon which I have built?” +our reason, like his, should reel and fall beneath the narcotic of our +own maddening self-conceit, and while attempting to scale the heavens +we overlook some pitfall at our feet, and fall as learned idiots, suicidal +pedants, to be a degradation, and a hissing, and a shame.</p> +<p>However strongly you may differ from these opinions of our own forefathers +with regard to the ground and cause of physical science, and the arts +of healing, I am sure that the recollection of the thrice holy ground +upon which we stand, beneath the shadow of venerable piles, witnesses +for the creeds, the laws, the liberties, which those our ancestors have +handed down to us, will preserve you from the temptation of dismissing +with hasty contempt their thoughts upon any subject so important; will +make you inclined to listen to their opinion with affection, if not +with reverence; and save, perhaps, the preacher from a sneer when he +declares that the doctrine of those old Saxon men is, in his belief, +not only the most Scriptural, but the most rational and scientific explanation +of the grounds of all human knowledge.</p> +<p>At least, I shall be able to quote in support of my own opinion a +name from which there can be no appeal in the minds of a congregation +of educated Englishmen—I mean Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, the +spiritual father of the modern science, and, therefore, of the chemistry +and the medicine of the whole civilised world. If there is one +thing which more than another ought to impress itself on the mind of +a careful student of his works, it is this—that he considered +science as the inspiration of God, and every separate act of induction +by which man arrives at a physical law, as a revelation from the Maker +of those laws; and that the faith which gave him daring to face the +mystery of the universe, and proclaim to men that they could conquer +nature by obeying her, was his deep, living, practical belief that there +was One who had ascended up on high and led captive in the flesh and +spirit of a man those very idols of sense which had been themselves +leading men’s minds captive, enslaving them to the illusions of +their own senses, forcing them to bow down in vague awe and terror before +those powers of Nature, which God had appointed, not to be their tyrants, +but their slaves. I will not special-plead particulars from his +works, wherein I may consider that he asserts this. I will rather +say boldly that the idea runs through every line he ever wrote; that +unless seen in the light of that faith, the grounds of his philosophy +ought to be as inexplicable to us, as they would, without it, have been +impossible to himself. As has been well said of him: “Faith +in God as the absolute ground of all human as well as of all natural +laws; the belief that He had actually made Himself known to His creatures, +and that it was possible for them to have a knowledge of Him, cleared +from the phantasies and idols of their own imaginations and understandings; +this was the necessary foundation of all that great man’s mind +and speculations, to whatever point they were tending, and however at +times they might be darkened by too close a familiarity with the corruptions +and meannesses of man, or too passionate an addiction to the contemplation +of Nature. Nor should it ever be forgotten that he owed all the +clearness and distinctness of his mind to his freedom from that Pantheism +which naturally disposes to a vague admiration and adoration of Nature, +to the belief that it is stronger and nobler than ourselves; that we +are servants, and puppets, and portions of it, and not its lords and +rulers. If Bacon had in anywise confounded Nature with God—if +he had not entertained the strongest practical feeling that men were +connected with God through One who had taken upon Him their nature, +it is impossible that he could have discovered that method of dealing +with physics which has made a physical science possible.”</p> +<p>No really careful student of his works, but must have perceived this, +however glad, alas! he may have felt at times to thrust the thought +of it from him, and try to think that Francis Bacon’s Christianity +was something over and above his philosophy—a religion which he +left behind him at the church-door—or only sprinkled up and down +his works so much of it as should shield him in a bigoted age from the +suspicion of materialism. A strange theory, and yet one which +so determined is man to see nothing, whether it be in the Bible or in +the Novum Organum, but what each wishes to see, has been deliberately +put forth again and again by men who fancy, forsooth, that the greatest +of English heroes was even such an one as themselves. One does +not wonder to find among the general characteristics of those writers +who admire Bacon as a materialist, the most utter incapacity of philosophising +on Bacon’s method, the very restless conceit, the hasty generalisation, +the hankering after cosmogonic theories, which Bacon anathematises in +every page. Yes, I repeat it, we owe our medical and sanitary +science to Bacon’s philosophy; and Bacon owed his philosophy to +his Christianity.</p> +<p>Oh! it is easy for us, amid the marvels of our great hospitals, now +grown commonplace in our eyes from very custom, to talk of the empire +of mind over matter; for us—who reap the harvest whereof Bacon +sowed the seed. But consider, how great the faith of that man +must have been, who died in hope, not having received the promises, +but seeing them afar off, and haunted to his dying day with glorious +visions of a time when famine and pestilence should vanish before a +scientific obedience—to use his own expression—to the will +of God, revealed in natural facts. Thus we can understand how +he dared to denounce all that had gone before him as blind and worthless +guides, and to proclaim himself to the world as the one restorer of +true physical philosophy. Thus we can understand how he, the cautious +and patient man of the world, dared indulge in those vast dreams of +the scientific triumphs of the future. Thus we can understand +how he dared hint at the expectation that men would some day even conquer +death itself; because he believed that man had conquered death already, +in the person of its King and Lord—in the flesh of Him who ascended +up on high, and led captivity captive, and received gifts for men. +The “empire of mind over matter?” What practical proof +had he of it amid the miserable alternations of empiricism and magic +which made up the pseudo-science of his time; amid the theories and +speculations of mankind, which, as he said, were “but a sort of +madness—useless alike for discovery or for operation.” +What right had he, more than any other man who had gone before him, +to believe that man could conquer and mould to his will the unseen and +tremendous powers which work in every cloud and every flower? that he +could dive into the secret mysteries of his own body, and renew his +youth like the eagle’s? This ground he had for that faith—that +he believed, as he says himself, that he must “begin from God; +and that the pursuit of physical science clearly proceeds from Him, +the Author of good, and Father of light.” This gave him +faith to say that in this as in all other Divine works, the smallest +beginnings lead assuredly to some result, and that the “remark +in spiritual matters, that the kingdom of God cometh without observation, +is also found to be true in every great work of Divine Providence; so +that everything glides on quietly without confusion or noise, and the +matter is achieved before men either think or perceive that it is commenced.” +This it was which gave him courage to believe that his own philosophy +might be the actual fulfilment of the prophecy, that in the last days +many should run to and fro, and knowledge should be increased—words +which, like hundreds of others in his works, sound like the outpourings +of an almost blasphemous self-conceit, till we recollect that he looked +on science only as the inspiration of God, and man’s empire over +nature only as the consequence of the redemption worked out for him +by Christ, and begin to see in them the expressions of the deepest and +most divine humility.</p> +<p>I doubt not that many here will be far more able than I am practically +to apply the facts which I have been adducing to the cause of the hospital +for which I am pleading. But there is one consequence of them +to which I must beg leave to draw attention more particularly, especially +at the present era of our nation. If, then, these discoveries +of science be indeed revelations and inspirations from God, does it +not follow that all classes, even the poorest and the most ignorant, +the most brutal, have an equal right to enjoy the fruits of them? +Does it not follow that to give to the poor their share in the blessings +which chemical and medical science are working out for us, is not a +matter of charity or benevolence, but of <i>duty</i>, of indefeasible, +peremptory, immediate duty? For consider, my friends; the Son +of God descends on earth, and takes on Him not only the form, but the +very nature, affections, trials, and sorrows of a man. He proclaims +Himself as the person who has been all along ruling, guiding, teaching, +improving men; the light who lighteth every man who cometh into the +world. He proclaims Himself by acts of wondrous power to be the +internecine foe and conqueror of every form of sorrow, slavery, barbarism, +weakness, sickness, death itself. He proclaims Himself as One +who is come to give His life for His sheep—One who is come to +restore to men the likeness in which they were originally created, the +likeness of their Father in Heaven, who accepteth the person of no man—who +causeth His sun to shine on the evil and on the good, who sendeth His +rain on the just and on the unjust, in whose sight the meanest publican, +if his only consciousness be that of his own baseness and worthlessness, +is more righteous than the most learned, respectable, and self-satisfied +pharisee. He proclaims Himself the setter-up of a kingdom into +which the publican and the harlot will pass sooner than the rich, the +mighty, and the noble; a kingdom in which all men are to be brothers, +and their bond of union loyalty to One who spared not His own life for +the sheep, who came not to do His own, but the will of the Father who +had sent Him, and who showed by His toil among the poor, the outcast, +the ignorant, and the brutal, what that same will was like. With +His own life-blood He seals this Covenant between God and man. +He offers up His own body as the first-fruits of this great kingdom +of self-sacrifice. He takes poor fishermen and mechanics, and +sends them forth to acquaint all men with the good news that God is +their King, and to baptize them as subjects of that kingdom, bound to +rise in baptism to a new life, a life of love, and brotherhood, and +self-sacrifice, like His own. He commands them to call all nations +to that sacred Feast wherein there is neither rich nor poor, but the +same bread and the same wine are offered to the monarch and to the slave, +as signs of their common humanity, their common redemption, their common +interest—signs that they derive their life, their health, their +reason, their every faculty of body, soul, and spirit, from One who +walked the earth as the son of a poor carpenter, who ate and drank with +publicans and sinners. He sends down His Spirit on them with gifts +of language, eloquence, wisdom, and healing, as mere earnests and first-fruits; +so they said, of that prophecy that He would pour out His Spirit upon +all flesh, even upon slaves and handmaids. And these poor fishermen +feel themselves impelled by a divine and irresistible impulse to go +forth to the ends of the world, and face persecution, insult, torture, +and death—not in order that they may make themselves lords over +mankind, but that they may tell them that One is their Master, even +Jesus Christ, both God and man—that <i>He</i> rules the world, +and will rule it, and <i>can</i> rule it, that in His sight there is +no distinction of race, or rank, or riches, neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, +Scythian, bond or free. And, as a fact, their message has prevailed +and been believed; and in proportion as it has prevailed, not merely +individual sanctity or piety, but liberty, law, peace, civilisation, +learning, art, science, the gifts which he bought for men with His blood, +have followed in its train: while the nations who have not received +that message that God was their King, or having received it have forgotten +it, or perverted it into a superstition and an hypocrisy, have in exactly +that proportion fallen back into barbarism and bloodshed, slavery and +misery. My friends, if this philosophy of history, this theory +of human progress, or as I should call it, this Gospel of the Kingdom +of God mean anything—does it not mean this? this which our forefathers +believed, dimly and inconsistently perhaps, but still believed it, else +we had not been here this day—that we are not our own, but the +servants of Jesus Christ, and brothers of each other—that the +very constitution and ground-law of this human species which has been +redeemed by Christ, is the self-sacrifice which Christ displayed as +the one perfection of humanity—that all rank, property, learning, +science, are only held by their possessors in trust from that King who +has distributed them to each according as He will, that each might use +them for the good of all, certain—as certain as God’s promise +can make man—that if by giving up our own interest for the interest +of others, we seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness between +man and man, which we call <i>mercy</i>, according to which it is constituted, +all other things, health, wealth, peace, and every other blessing which +humanity can desire, shall be added unto us over and above, as the natural +and necessary fruits of a society founded according to the will of God, +and declared in his Son Jesus Christ, and therefore according to those +physical laws, whereof He is at once the Creator, the Director, and +the Revealer?</p> +<p>This was the faith of our forefathers, both laity and clergy—that +the Lord was King, be the people never so unquiet; that men were His +stewards and His pupils only, and not His vicars; that they were equal +in His sight, and not the slaves and tyrants of each other; and that +the help that was done upon earth, He did it all Himself. Dimly, +doubtless, they saw it, and inconsistently: but they saw it, and to +their faith in that great truth we owe all that has made England really +noble among the nations. Of the fruits of that faith every venerable +building around us should remind us. To that faith in the laity, +we owe the abolition of serfdom, the freedom of our institutions, the +laws which provide equal justice between man and man; to that faith +in the clergy, and especially in the monastic orders, we owe the endowment +of our schools and universities, the improvement of agriculture, the +preservation and the spread of all the liberal arts and sciences, as +far as they were then discovered; so that every one of those abbeys +which we now revile so ignorantly, became a centre of freedom, protection, +healing, and civilisation, a refuge for the oppressed, a well-spring +of mercy for the afflicted, a practical witness to the nation that property +and science were not the private and absolute possession of men, but +only held in trust from God for the benefit of the common weal: and +just in proportion as in the 14th and 15th centuries those institutions +fell from their first estate, and began to fancy that their wealth and +wisdom was their own, acquired by their own cunning, to be used for +their own aggrandizement, they became an imposture and imbecility, an +abomination and a ruin. And it was this faith, too, in a still +nobler and clearer form, which at the Reformation inspired the age which +could produce a Ridley, a Latimer, an Elizabeth, a Shakspeare, a Spenser, +a Raleigh, a Bacon, and a Milton; which knit together, in spite of religious +feuds and social wrongs, the nation of England with a bond which all +the powers of hell endeavoured in vain to break. Doubtless, there +too there was inconsistency enough. Elizabeth may have mixed up +ambitious dynastic dreams with her intense belief that God had given +her her wisdom, her learning, her mighty will, only to be the servant +of His servants and defender of the faith. Men like Drake and +Raleigh, while they were believing that God had sent them forth to smite +with the sword of the Lord the devourers of the earth, the destroyers +of religion, freedom, civilisation, and national life, may have been +unfaithful to what they believed their divine mission, and fancied that +they might use their wisdom and valour that God gave them for their +selfish ends, till they committed (as some say) acts of rapacity and +cruelty worthy of the merest buccaneer. But <i>that</i> was not +what made them conquer—that was not what made the wealth and the +might of Spain melt away before their little bands of heroes; but the +same old faith, shining out in all their noblest acts and words, that +“the Lord <i>was</i> King, and that the help that was done upon +earth, He did it all Himself?” So again, Bacon may have +fancied, and did fancy in his old age, that he might use his deep knowledge +of mankind for his own selfish ends—that he might indulge himself +in building himself up a name that might fill all the earth, that he +who had done so much for God and for mankind, might be allowed to do +at last somewhat for himself, and tempted, by a paltry bribe, fall for +awhile, as David did before him, that God, and not he, might have the +glory of all his wisdom. But then he was less than himself; then +he had but lost sight of his lode-star. Then he had forgotten, +but only for awhile, that he owed all to the teaching of that God who +had given to the young and obscure advocate the mission of affecting +the destinies of nations yet unborn.</p> +<p>And believe me, my friends, even as it has been with our forefathers, +so it will be with us. According to our faith will it be unto +us, now as it was of old. In proportion as we believe that wealth, +science, and civilisation are the work and property of man, in just +that proportion we shall be tempted to keep them selfishly and exclusively +to ourselves. The man of science will be tempted to hide his discoveries, +though men may be perishing for lack of them, till he can sell them +to the highest bidder; the rich man will be tempted to purchase them +for himself, in order that he may increase his own comfort and luxury, +and feel comparatively lazy and careless about their application to +the welfare of the masses; he will be tempted to pay an exorbitant price +for anything that can increase his personal convenience, and yet when +the question is about improving the supply of necessaries to the poor, +stand haggling about considerations of profitable investment, excuse +himself from doing the duty which lies nearest to him by visions of +distant profit, of which a thousand unexpected accidents may deprive +him after all, and make his boasted scientific care for the wealth of +the nation an excuse for leaving tens of thousands worse housed and +worse fed than his own beasts of burden. The poor man will be +tempted franctically to oppose his selfishness and unbelief to the selfishness +and unbelief of the rich, and clutch from him by force the comfort which +really belong to neither of them, in order that he may pride himself +in them and misuse them in his turn; and the clergy will be tempted, +as they have too often been tempted already, to fancy that reason is +the enemy, and not the twin sister of faith; to oppose revelation to +science, as if God’s two messages could contradict each other; +to widen the Manichæan distinction between secular and spiritual +matters, so pleasant to the natural atheism of fallen man; to fancy +that they honour God by limiting as much as possible His teaching, His +providence, His wisdom, His love, and His kingdom, and to pretend that +they are defending the creeds of the Catholic Church, by denying to +them any practical or real influence on the economic, political, and +physical welfare of mankind. But in proportion as we hold to the +old faith of our forefathers concerning science and civilisation, we +shall feel it not only a duty, but a glory and a delight, to make all +men sharers in them; to go out into the streets and lanes of the city +and call in the maimed, and the halt, and the blind, that they may sit +down and take their share of the good things which God has provided +in His kingdom for those who obey Him. Every new discovery will +be hailed by us as a fresh boon from God to be bestowed by the rain +and the sunshine freely upon us all. The sight of every sufferer +will make us ready to suspect and to examine ourselves lest we should +be in some indirect way the victim of some neglect or selfishness of +our own. Every disease will be a sign to us that in some respect +or other, the physical or moral laws of human nature have been overlooked +or broken. The existence of an unhealthy locality, the recurrence +of an epidemic, will be to us a subject of public shame and self-reproach. +Men of science will no longer go up and down entreating mankind in vain +to make use of their discoveries; the sanitary reformer will be no longer +like Wisdom crying in the streets and no man regarding her; and in every +ill to which flesh is heir we shall see an enemy of our King and Lord, +and an intruder into His Kingdom, against which we swore at our baptism +to fight with an inspiring and delicious certainty that God will prosper +the right; that His laws cannot change; that nature, and the disturbances +and poisons, and brute powers thereof, were meant to be the slaves, +and not the tyrants of a race whose head has conquered the grave itself.</p> +<p>This is no speculative dream. The progress of science is daily +proving it to be an actual truth; proving to us that a large proportion +of diseases—how large a proportion, no man yet dare say—are +preventible by science under the direction of that common justice and +mercy which man owes to man. The proper cultivation of the soil, +it is now clearly seen, will exterminate fevers and agues, and all the +frightful consequences of malaria. An attention to those simple +decencies and cleanlinesses of life of which even the wild animals feel +the necessity, will prevent the epidemics of our cities, and all the +frightful train of secondary diseases which follow them, or supply their +place. The question which is generally more and more forcing itself +on the minds of scientific men is not how many diseases are, but how +few are not, the consequences of man’s ignorance, barbarism, and +folly. The medical man is felt more and more to be as necessary +in health as he is in sickness, to be the fellow-workman not merely +of the clergyman, but of the social reformer, the political economist, +and the statesman; and the first object of his science to be prevention, +and not cure. But if all this be true, as true it is, we ought +to begin to look on hospitals as many medical men I doubt not do already, +in a sadder though in a no less important light. When we remember +that the majority of cases which fill their wards are cases of more +or less directly preventible diseases, the fruits of our social neglect, +too often of our neglect of the sufferers themselves, too often also +our neglect of their parents and forefathers; when we think how many +a bitter pang is engendered and propagated from generation to generation +in the noisome alleys and courts of this metropolis, by foul food, foul +bedrooms, foul air, foul water, by intemperance, the natural and almost +pardonable consequence of want of water, depressing and degrading employments, +and lives spent in such an atmosphere of filth as our daintier nostrils +could not endure a day: then we should learn to look upon these hospitals +not as acts of charity, supererogatory benevolences of ours towards +those to whom we owe nothing, but as confessions of sin, and worthy +fruits of penitence; as poor and late and partial compensation for misery +which we might have prevented. And when again, taking up scientific +works, we find how vast a proportion of the remaining cases of disease +are produced directly or indirectly by the unhealthiness of certain +occupations, so certainly that the scientific man can almost prophesy +the average shortening of life, and the peculiar form of disease, incident +to any given form of city labour—when we find, to quote a single +instance, that a large proportion—one half, as I am informed—of +the female cases in certain hospitals, are those of women-servants suffering +from diseases produced by overwork in household labour, especially by +carrying heavy weights up the steep stairs of our London houses—when +we consider the large proportion of accident cases which are the result, +if not always of neglect in our social arrangements, still of danger +incurred in labouring for us, we shall begin to feel that our debts +towards the poorer classes, for whom this and other hospitals are instituted, +swells and mounts up to a burden which ought to be and would be intolerable +to us, if we had not some such means as this hospital affords of testifying +our contrition for neglect for which we cannot atone, and of practically +claiming in the hospital our brotherhood with those masses whom we pass +by so carelessly in the workshop and the street. What matters +it that they have undertaken a life of labour from necessity, and with +a full consciousness of the dangers they incur in it? For whom +have they been labouring, but for us? Their handiwork renders +our houses luxurious. We wear the clothes they make. We +eat the food they produce. They sit in darkness and the shadow +of death that we may enjoy light and life and luxury and civilisation. +True, they are free men, in name, not free though from the iron necessity +of crushing toil. Shall we make their liberty a cloak for our +licentiousness? and because they are our brothers and not our slaves, +answer with Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” +What if we have paid them the wages which they ask? We do not +feed our beasts of burden only as long as they are in health, and when +they fall sick leave them to cure themselves and starve—and these +are not our beasts of burden; they are members of Christ, children of +God, inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Prove it to them, then, +for they are in bitter danger of forgetting it in these days. +Prove to them, by helping to cure their maladies, that they are members +of Christ, that they do indeed belong to Him who without fee or payment +freely cured the sick of Judæa in old time. Prove to them +that they are children of God by treating them as such—as children +of Him without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, children of Him +whose love is over all His works, children of Him who defends the widow +and the fatherless, and sees that those who are in need or necessity +have right, and who maketh inquiry for the blood of the innocent. +Prove to them that they are inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven, by +proving to them first of all that the Kingdom of Heaven exists, that +all, rich and poor alike, are brothers, and One their Master, He who +ascended up on high and led captivity captive, and received gifts for +men, the gifts of healing, the gifts of science, the gifts of civilisation, +the gifts of law, the gifts of order, the gifts of liberty, the gifts +of the spirit of love and brotherhood, of fellow-feeling and self-sacrifice, +of justice and humility, a spirit fit for a world of redeemed and pardoned +men, in which mercy is but justice, and self-sacrifice the truest self-interest; +a world, the King and Master of which is One who poured out his own +life-blood for the sake of those who hated him, that men should henceforth +live not for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again, and ascended +up on high and received gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell +among them.</p> +<p>And because all general truths can only be verified in particular +instances, verify your general faith in that Christianity which you +profess in this particular instance, by doing the duty which lies nearest +to you, and <i>giving</i>, <i>as it is called</i>, to this hospital +for which I now plead.</p> +<p>Thanks to the spirit and the attainments of the average of English +medical men and chaplains, to praise the management of any hospital +which is under their care, is a needless impertinence. Do you +find funds, there will be no fear as to their being well employed; and +no fear, alas! either of their services being in full demand, while +the sanitary state of vast streets of South London, lying close to this +hospital, are in a state in which they are, and in which private cupidity +and neglect seem willing to compel them to remain. It is on account +of its contiguity to these neglected, destitute, and poisonous localities, +that this hospital seems to me especially valuable. But though +situated in a part of London where its presence is especially needed, +it has not, from various causes which have arisen from no fault of its +own, attracted as much public notice as some other more magnificent +foundations; while it possesses one feature, peculiar I believe to it, +among our London hospitals, which seems to me to render it especially +deserving of support: I speak of the ward for incurable patients, in +which, instead of ending their days in the melancholy wards of a workhouse, +or amid those pestilential and crowded dwellings which have perhaps +produced their maladies, and which certainly will aggravate them, they +may have their heavy years of hopeless suffering softened by a continued +supply of constant comforts, and constant medical solicitude, such as +the best-conducted workhouse, or the most laborious staff of parish +surgeons, and district visitors, ay, not even the benevolence and self-sacrifice +of friends and relations, can possibly provide. I beseech you, +picture to yourselves the amount of mere physical comfort, not to mention +the higher blessings of spiritual teaching and consolation, accruing +to some poor tortured cripple, in the wards of this hospital; compare +it with the very brightest lot possible for him in the dwellings of +the lower, or even of the middle classes of the metropolis; then recollect +that these hospital luxuries, which would be unattainable by him elsewhere, +are but a tithe of those which you, in his situation, would consider +absolute necessaries, without which a life of suffering, ay, even of +health, were intolerable—and do unto others this day, as you would +that others should do unto you!</p> +<p>I might have taken some other and more popular method of drawing +your attention to this institution.</p> +<p>I might have tried to excite your feelings and sympathies by attempts +at pathetic or picturesque descriptions of suffering. But the +minister of a just God is bound to proclaim that God demands not <i>sentiment</i>, +but <i>justice</i>. The Bible knows nothing of the “religious +sentiments and emotions,” whereof we hear so much talk nowadays. +It speaks of <i>duty</i>. “Beloved, if God so loved us, +we <i>ought</i> to love one another.”</p> +<p>I might also have attempted to flatter you into giving, by representing +this as a “<i>good work</i>,” a work of charity and piety, +well pleasing to God; a sort of work of Protestant supererogation, fruits +of faith which we may show, if we like, up to a certain not very clearly +defined point of benevolence, but the absence of which probably will +not seriously affect our eternal salvation, still less our right to +call ourselves orthodox, Protestants, churchmen, worthy, kind-hearted, +respectable, blameless. The Bible knows nothing of such a religion; +it neither coaxes nor flatters, it <i>commands</i>. It demands +mercy, because mercy is justice; and declares with what measure we mete +to others, it shall be surely measured to us again. If therefore +my words shall seem to some here, to be not so much a humble request +as a peremptory demand, I cannot help it. I have pleaded the cause +of this hospital on the only solid ground of which I am aware, for doing +anything but evil to everyone around us who is not a private friend, +or a member of one’s own family. I ask you to help the poor +to their share in the gifts which Christ received for men, because they +are His gifts, and neither ours nor any man’s. Among these +venerable buildings, the signs and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, +and the blessings of that Kingdom which for a thousand years have been +spreading and growing among us—I ask it of you as citizens of +that Kingdom. Prove your brotherhood to the poor by restoring +to them a portion of that wealth which, without their labour, you could +never have possessed. Prove your brotherhood to them in a thousand +ways—in every way—in this way, because at this moment it +happens to be the nearest and the most immediate, and because the necessity +for it is nearer, more immediate, to judge by the signs of the times, +and most of all by their self-satisfied unconsciousness of danger, their +loud and shallow self-glorification, than ever it was before. +Work while it is called to-day, lest the night come wherein no man can +work, but only take his wages.</p> +<p>Again I say, I may seem to some here to have pleaded the cause of +this hospital in too harsh and peremptory a tone. . . . And yet +I have a ground of hope, in the English love of simple justice, in the +noble instances of benevolence and self-sacrifice among the wealthy +and educated, which are, thank God! increasing in number daily, as the +need of them increases—in these, I say, I have a ground of hope +that there are many here to-day who would sooner hear the language of +truth than of flattery; who will be more strongly moved toward a righteous +deed by being told that it is their duty toward God, their country, +and their fellow-citizens, than by any sentimental baits for personal +sympathy, or for the love of Pharisaic ostentation.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XIII—FIRST SERMON ON THE CHOLERA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Sunday Morning</i>, <i>September</i> 27th, 1849.)</p> +<p>God’s judgments are from above, out of the sight of the wicked.—PSALM +X. 5.</p> +<p>We have just been praying to God to remove from us the cholera, which +we call a judgment of God, a chastisement; and God knows we have need +enough to do so. But we can hardly expect God to withdraw His +chastisement unless we correct the sins for which He chastised us, and +therefore unless we find out what particular sins have brought the evil +on us. For it is mere cant and hypocrisy, my friends, to tell +God, in a general way, that we believe He is punishing us for our sins, +and then to avoid carefully confessing any particular sin, and to get +angry with anyone who tells us boldly <i>which</i> sin God is punishing +us for. But so goes the world. Everyone is ready to say, +“Oh! yes, we are all great sinners, miserable sinners!” +and then if you charge them with any particular sin, they bridle up +and deny <i>that</i> sin fiercely enough, and all sins one by one, confessing +themselves great sinners, and yet saying that they don’t know +what sins they have committed. No man really believes himself +a sinner, no man really confesses his sins, but the man who can honestly +put his finger on <i>this</i> sin or <i>that</i> sin which he has committed, +and is not afraid to confess to God, “<i>This</i> sin and <i>that</i> +sin have I done—<i>this</i> bad habit and <i>that</i> bad habit +have I cherished within me.” Therefore, I say, it is no +use for us Englishmen to dream that we can flatter and persuade the +great God of Heaven and earth into taking away the cholera from us, +unless we find out and confess openly what we have done to bring on +the cholera, and unless we repent and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, +by amending our habits on that point, and doing everything for the future +which shall not bring on the cholera, but keep it off.</p> +<p>Do not let us believe this time, my friends, in the pitiable, insincere +way in which all England believed when the cholera was here sixteen +years ago. When they saw human beings dying by thousands, they +all got frightened, and proclaimed a Fast and confessed their sins and +promised repentance in a general way. But did they repent of and +confess those sins which had caused the cholera? Did they repent +of and confess the covetousness, the tyranny, the carelessness, which +in most great towns, and in too many villages also, forces the poor +to lodge in undrained stifling hovels, unfit for hogs, amid vapours +and smells which send forth on every breath the seeds of rickets and +consumption, typhus and scarlet fever, and worse and last of all, the +cholera? Did they repent of their sin in that? Not they. +Did they repent of the carelessness and laziness and covetousness which +sends meat and fish up to all our large towns in a half-putrid state; +which fills every corner of London and the great cities with slaughter-houses, +over-crowded graveyards, undrained sewers? Not they. To +confess their sins in a general way cost them a few words; to confess +and repent of the real particular sins in themselves, was a very different +matter; to amend them would have touched vested interests, would have +cost money, the Englishman’s god; it would have required self-sacrifice +of pocket, as well as of time. It would have required manful fighting +against the prejudices, the ignorance, the self-conceit, the laziness, +the covetousness of the wicked world. So they could not afford +to repent and amend of all <i>that</i>. And when those great and +good men, the Sanitary Commissioners, proved to all England fifteen +years ago, that cholera always appeared where fever had appeared, and +that both fever and cholera always cling exclusively to those places +where there was bad food, bad air, crowded bedrooms, bad drainage and +filth—that such were the laws of God and Nature, and always had +been; they took no notice of it, because it was the poor rather than +the rich who suffered from those causes. So the filth of our great +cities was left to ferment in poisonous cesspools, foul ditches and +marshes and muds, such as those now killing people by hundreds in the +neighbourhood of Plymouth; for one house or sewer that was improved, +a hundred more were left just as they were in the first cholera; as +soon as the panic of superstitious fear was past, carelessness and indolence +returned. Men went back, the covetous man to his covetousness, +and the idler to his idleness. And behold! sixteen years are past, +and the cholera is as bad as ever among us.</p> +<p>But you will say, perhaps, it is presumptuous to say that Englishmen +have brought the cholera on themselves, that it is God’s judgment, +and that we cannot explain His inscrutable Providence. Ah! my +friends, that is a poor excuse and a common one, for leaving a great +many sins as they are! When people do not wish to do God’s +will, it is a very pleasant thing to talk about God’s will as +something so very deep and unfathomable, that poor human beings cannot +be expected to find it out. It is an old excuse, and a great favourite +with Satan, I have no doubt. Why cannot people find out God’s +will?—Because they do not <i>like</i> to find it out, lest it +should shame them and condemn them, and cost them pleasure or money—because +their eyes are blinded with covetousness and selfishness, so that they +cannot see God’s will, even when they <i>do</i> look for it, and +then they go and cant about God’s judgments; while those judgments, +as the text says, are far above out of their mammon-blinded and prejudice-blinded +sight. What do they mean by that word? Come now, my friends! +let us face the question like men. What do you mean really when +you call the cholera, or fever, or affliction at all, God’s judgment? +Do you merely mean that God is punishing you, you don’t know for +what, and you can’t find out for what? but that all which He expects +of you is to bear it patiently, and then go and do afterwards just what +you did before? Dare anyone say that who believes that God is +a God of justice, much less a God of love? What would you think +of a father who punished his children, and then left them to find out +as they could what they were punished for? And yet that is the +way people talk of pestilence and of great afflictions, public and private. +They are not ashamed to accuse God of a cruelty and an injustice which +they would be ashamed to confess themselves! How can men, even +religious men often, be so blasphemous? Mainly, I think, because +they do not really believe in God at all, they only believe about Him—they +believe that they ought to believe in Him. They have no living +personal faith in God or Christ; they do not know God; they do not know +God’s character, and what to believe of Him, and what to expect +of Him; or what they ought to say of Him; because they do not know, +they have not studied, they have not loved the character of Christ, +who is the express image and likeness of God. Therefore God’s +judgments are far away out of their sight; therefore they make themselves +a God in their own image and after their own likeness, lazy, capricious, +revengeful; therefore they are not afraid or ashamed to say that God +sends pestilence into a country without showing that country why it +is sent. But another great reason, I believe, why God’s +judgments in this and other matters are far above out of our sight, +is the careless, insincere way of using words which we English have +got into, even on the most holy and awful matters. I suppose there +never was a nation in the world so diseased through and through with +the spirit of cant, as we English are now: except perhaps the old Jews, +at the time of our Lord’s coming. You hear men talking as +if they thought God did not understand English, because they cling superstitiously +to the letter of the Bible in proportion as they lose its spirit. +You hear men taking words into their mouths which might make angels +weep and devils tremble, with a coolness and oily, smooth carelessness +which shows you that they do not feel the force of what they are saying. +You hear them using the words of Scripture, which are in themselves +stricter and deeper than all the books of philosophy in the world, in +such a loose unscriptural way, that they make them mean anything or +nothing. They use the words like parrots, by rote, just because +their forefathers used them before them. They will tell you that +cholera is a judgment for our sins, “in a sense,” but if +you ask them for what sins, or in what sense, they fly off from that +<i>home</i> question, and begin mumbling commonplaces about the inscrutable +decrees of Providence, and so on. It is most sad, all this; and +most fearful also.</p> +<p>Therefore, I asked you, my friends, what is the meaning of that word +judgment? In common talk, people use it rightly enough, but when +they begin to talk of God’s judgments, they speak as if it merely +meant punishments. Now judgment and punishment are two things. +When a judge gives judgment, he either acquits or condemns the accused +person; he gives the case for the plaintiff, or for the defendant: the +punishment of the guilty person, if he be guilty, is a separate thing, +pronounced and inflicted afterwards. His judgment, I say, is his +<i>opinion</i> about the person’s guilt, and even so God’s +judgments are the expression of His opinion about our guilt. But +there is this difference between man and God in this matter—a +human judge gives his opinion in words, God gives His in events: therefore +there is no harm for a human judge when he has told a person why he +must punish, to punish him in some way that has nothing to do with his +crime—for instance, to send a man to prison because he steals, +though it would be far better if criminals could be punished in kind, +and if the man who stole could be forced either to make restitution, +or work out the price of what he stole in hard labour. For this +is God’s plan—God always pays sinners back in kind, that +He may not merely punish them, but <i>correct</i> them; so that by the +kind of their punishment, they may know the kind of their sin. +God punishes us, as I have often told you, not by His caprice, but by +His laws. He does not <i>break His laws</i> to harm us; the laws +themselves harm us, when we break them and get in their way. It +is always so, you will find, with great national afflictions. +I believe, when we know more of God and His laws, we shall find it true +even in our smallest private sorrows. God is unchangeable; He +does not lose His temper, as heathens and superstitious men fancy, to +punish us. He does not change His order to punish us. <i>We</i> +break His order, and the order goes on in spite of us and crushes us: +and so we get God’s judgment, God’s opinion of our breaking +His laws. You will find it so almost always in history. +If a nation is laid waste by war, it is generally their own fault. +They have sinned against the law which God has appointed for nations. +They have lost courage and prudence, and trust in God, and fellow-feeling +and unity, and they have become cowardly and selfish and split up into +parties, and so they are easily conquered by their own fault, as the +Bible tells us the Jews were by the Chaldeans; and their ruin is God’s +judgment, God’s opinion plainly expressed of what He thinks of +them for having become cowardly and selfish, and factious and disinterested. +So it is with famine again. Famines come by a nation’s own +fault—they are God’s plainly spoken opinion of what <i>He</i> +thinks of breaking His laws of industry and thrift, by improvidence +and bad farming. So when a nation becomes poor and bankrupt, it +is its own fault; that nation has broken the laws of political economy +which God has appointed for nations, and its ruin is God’s judgment, +God’s plain-spoken opinion again of the sins of extravagance, +idleness, and reckless speculation.</p> +<p>So with pestilence and cholera. They come only because we break +God’s laws; as the wise poet well says:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Voices from the depths <i>of Nature</i> borne<br />Which vengeance +on the guilty head proclaim.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>—“Of nature;” of the order and constitution which +God has made for this world we live in, and which if we break them, +though God in his mercy so orders the world that punishment comes but +seldom even to our worst offences, yet surely do bring punishment sooner +or later if broken, in the common course of nature. Yes, my friends, +as surely and naturally as drunkenness punishes itself by a shaking +hand and a bloated body, so does filth avenge itself by pestilence. +Fever and cholera, as you would expect them to be, are the expression +of God’s judgment, God’s opinion, God’s handwriting +on the wall against us for our sins of filth and laziness, foul air, +foul food, foul drains, foul bedrooms. Where they are, there is +cholera. Where they are not, there is none, and will be none, +because they who do not break God’s laws, God’s laws will +not break them. Oh! do not think me harsh, my friends; God knows +it is no pleasant thing to have to speak bitter and upbraiding words; +but when one travels about this noble land of England, and sees what +a blessed place it might be, if we would only do God’s will, and +what a miserable place it is just because we will not do God’s +will, it is enough to make one’s soul boil over with sorrow and +indignation; and then when one considers that other men’s faults +are one’s own fault too, that one has been adding to the heap +of sins by one’s own laziness, cowardice, ignorance, it is enough +to break one’s heart—to make one cry with St. Paul, “Oh +wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” +Ay, my friends, the state of things in England now is enough to drive +an earnest man to despair, if one did not know that all our distresses, +and this cholera, like the rest, are indeed <i>God’s</i> judgments; +the judgments and expressed opinions, not of a capricious tyrant, but +of a righteous and loving Father, who chastens us just because He loves +us, and afflicts us only to teach us His will, which alone is life and +happiness. Therefore we may believe that this very cholera is +meant to be a blessing; that if we will take the lesson it brings, it +will be a blessing to England. God grant that all ranks may take +the lesson—that the rich may amend their idleness and neglect, +and the poor amend their dirt and stupid ignorance; then our children +will have cause to thank God for the cholera, if it teaches us that +cleanliness is indeed next to holiness, if it teaches us, rich and poor, +to make the workman’s home what it ought to be. And believe +me, my friends, that day will surely come; and these distresses, sad +as they are for the time, are only helping to hasten it—the day +when the words of the Hebrew prophets shall be fulfilled, where they +speak of a state of comfort and prosperity, and civilisation, such as +men had never reached in their time—how the wilderness shall blossom +like the rose, and there shall be heaps of corn high on the mountain-tops, +and the cities shall be green as grass on the earth, instead of being +the smoky, stifling hot-beds of disease which they are now—and +how from the city of God streams shall flow for the healing of the nations: +strange words, those, and dim; too deep to be explained by any one meaning, +or many meanings, such as our small minds can give them; but full of +blessed cheering hope. For of whatever they speak, they speak +at least of this—of a time when all sorrow and sighing shall be +done away, when science and civilisation shall go hand in hand with +godliness—when God shall indeed dwell in the hearts of men, and +His kingdom shall be fulfilled among them, when “His ways shall +be known upon earth at last, and His saving health among all nations”—of +a time when all shall know Him, from the least unto the greatest, and +be indeed His children, doing no sin, because they will have given up +themselves, their selfishness and cruelty and covetousness, and stupidity +and laziness, to be changed and renewed into God’s likeness. +Then all these distresses and pestilences, which, as I have shown you, +come from breaking the will of God, will have passed away like ugly +dreams, and all the earth shall be blessed, because all the earth shall +at last be fulfilling the words of the Lord’s Prayer, and God’s +will shall be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. Oh! +my friends, have hope. Do you think Christ would have bid us pray +for what would never happen? Would He have bid us all to pray +that God’s will might be done unless He had known surely that +God’s will would one day be done by men on earth below even as +it is done in heaven?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XIV—SECOND SERMON ON THE CHOLERA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children.—EXODUS +xx. 5.</p> +<p>In my sermon last Sunday I said plainly that cholera, fever, and +many more diseases were man’s own fault, and that they were God’s +judgments just because they were man’s own fault, because they +were God’s plainspoken opinion of the sin of filth and of habits +of living unfit for civilised Christian men.</p> +<p>But there is an objection which may arise in some of your minds, +and if it has not risen in <i>your</i> minds, still it has in other +people’s often enough; and therefore I will state it plainly, +and answer it as far as God shall give me wisdom. For it is well +to get to the root of all matters, and of this matter of Pestilence +among others; for if we do believe this Pestilence to be God’s +judgment, then it is a spiritual matter most proper to be spoken of +in a place like this church, where men come as spiritual beings to hear +that which is profitable for their souls. And it <i>is</i> profitable +for their souls to consider this matter; for it has to do, as I see +more and more daily, with the very deepest truths of the Gospel; and +accordingly as we believe the Gospel, and believe really that Jesus +Christ is our Saviour and our King, the New Adam, the firstborn among +many brethren, who has come down to proclaim to us that we are all brothers +in Him—in proportion as we believe <i>that</i>, I say, shall we +act upon this very matter of public cleanliness.</p> +<p>The objection which I mean is this: people say it is very hard and +unfair to talk of cholera or fever being people’s own fault, when +you see persons who are not themselves dirty, and innocent little children, +who if they are dirty are only so because they are brought up so, catch +the infection and die of it. You cannot say it is their fault. +Very true. I did not say it was their fault. I did not say +that each particular person takes the infection by his own fault, though +I do say that nine out of ten do. And as for little children, +of course it is not their fault. But, my friends, it must be someone’s +fault. No one will say that the world is so ill made that these +horrible diseases must come in spite of all man’s care. +If it was so, plagues, pestilences, and infectious fevers would be just +as common now in England, and just as deadly as they were in old times; +whereas there is not one infectious fever now in England for ten that +there used to be five hundred years ago. In ancient times fevers, +agues, plague, smallpox, and other diseases, whose very names we cannot +now understand, so completely are they passed away, swept England from +one end to the other every few years, killing five people where they +now kill one. Those diseases, as I said, have many of them now +died out entirely; and those which remain are becoming less and less +dangerous every year. And why? Simply because people are +becoming more cleanly and civilised in their habits of living; because +they are tilling and draining the land every year more and more, instead +of leaving it to breed disease, as all uncultivated land does. +It is not merely that doctors are becoming wiser: we ourselves are becoming +more reasonable in our way of living. For instance, in large districts +both of Scotland and of the English fens, where fever and ague filled +the country and swept off hundreds every spring and fall thirty years +ago, fever and ague are now almost unknown, simply because the marshes +have all been drained in the meantime. So you see that people +can prevent these disorders, and therefore it must be someone’s +fault if they come. Now, whose fault is it? You dare not +lay the blame on God. And yet you do lay the fault on God if you +say that it is no <i>man’s</i> fault that children die of fever. +But I know what the answer to that will be: “We do not accuse +God—it is the fault of the fall, Adam’s curse which brought +death and disease into the world.” That is a common answer, +and the very one I want to hear. What? is it just to say, as many +do, that all the diseases which ever tormented poor little innocent +children all over the world, came from Adam’s sinning six thousand +years ago, and yet that it is unfair to say that one little child’s +fever came from his parents’ keeping a filthy house a month ago? +That is swallowing a camel and straining at a gnat—that God should +be just in punishing all mankind for Adam’s sin, and yet unjust +in punishing one little child for its parents’ sin. If the +one is just the other must be just too, I think. If you believe +the one, why not believe the other? Why? Because Adam’s +curse and “original” sin, as people call it, is a good and +pleasant excuse for laying our sins and miseries at Adam’s door; +but the same rule is not so pleasant in the case of filth and fever, +when it lays other people’s miseries at our door.</p> +<p>I believe that all the misery in the world sprung from Adam’s +disobedience and falling from God. “By one man sin entered +the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men, even on +those who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam’s transgression.” +So says the Bible, and I believe it says so truly. For this is +the law of the earth, God’s law which He proclaimed in the text. +He does visit the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third +and fourth generation of those who hate Him. It is so. You +see it around you daily. No one can deny it. Just as death +and misery entered into the world by one man, so we see death and misery +entering into many a family. A man or woman is a drunkard, or +a rogue, or a swearer: how often their children grow up like them! +We have all seen that, God knows, in this very parish. How much +more in great cities, where boys and girls by thousands—oh, shame +that it should be so in a Christian land!—grow up thieves from +the breast, and harlots from the cradle. And why? Why are +there, as they say, and I am afraid say too truly, in London alone upwards +of 10,000 children under sixteen who live by theft and harlotry? +Because the parents of these children are as bad as themselves—drunkards, +thieves, and worse—and they bring up their children to follow +their crimes. If that is not the fathers’ sins being visited +on the children, what is?</p> +<p>How often, again, when we see a wild young man, we say, and justly: +“Poor fellow! there are great excuses for him, he has been so +badly brought up.” True, but his wildness will ruin him +all the same, whether it be his father’s fault or his own that +he became wild. If he drinks he will ruin his health; if he squanders +his money he will grow poor. God’s laws cannot stop for +him; he is breaking them, and they will avenge themselves on him. +You see the same thing everywhere. A man fools away his money, +and his innocent children suffer for it. A man ruins his health +by debauchery, or a woman hers by laziness or vanity or self-indulgence, +and her children grow up weakly and inherit their parents’ unhealthiness. +How often again, do we see passionate parents have passionate children, +stupid parents stupid children, mean and lying parents mean and lying +children; above all, ignorant and dirty parents have ignorant and dirty +children. How can they help being so? They cannot keep themselves +clean by instinct; they cannot learn without being taught: and so they +suffer for their parents’ faults. But what is all this except +God’s visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children? +Look again at a whole parish; how far the neglect or the wickedness +of one man may make a whole estate miserable. There is one parish +in this very union, and the curse of the whole union it is, which will +show us that fearfully enough. See, too, how often when a good +and generous young man comes into his estate, he finds it so crippled +with debts and mortgages by his forefathers’ extravagance, that +he cannot do the good he would to his tenants, he cannot fulfil his +duty as landlord where God has placed him, and so he and the whole estate +must suffer for the follies of generations past. If that is not +God visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, what is it?</p> +<p>Look again at a whole nation; the rulers of two countries quarrel, +or pretend to quarrel, and go to war—and some here know what war +is—just because there is some old grudge of a hundred years standing +between two countries, or because rulers of whose names the country +people, perhaps, never heard, have chosen to fall out, or because their +forefathers by cowardice, or laziness, or division, or some other sin, +have made the country too weak to defend itself; and for that poor people’s +property is destroyed, and little infants butchered, and innocent women +suffer unspeakable shame. If that is not God visiting the sins +of the fathers on the children, what is it?</p> +<p>It is very awful, but so it is. It is the law of this earth, +the law of human kind, that the innocent often suffer for other’s +faults, just as you see them doing in cholera, fever, ague, smallpox, +and other diseases which man can prevent if he chooses to take the trouble. +There it is. We cannot alter it. Those who will may call +God unjust for it. Let them first see, whether He is not only +most just, but most merciful in making the world so, and no other way. +I do not merely mean that whatever God does must be right. That +is true, but it is a poor way of getting over the difficulty. +God has taught us what is right and wrong, and He will be judged by +His own rules. As Abraham said to Him when Sodom was to be destroyed: +“That be far from Thee, to punish the righteous with the wicked. +Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Abraham +knew what was right, and he expected God not to break that law of right. +And we may expect the same of God. And I may be able, I hope, +in my sermon next Sunday, to show you that in this matter God does break +the law of right. Nevertheless, in the meantime, this is His way +of dealing with men. When Sodom was destroyed He brought righteous +Lot out of it. But Sodom was destroyed, and in it many a little +infant who had never known sin. And just so when Lisbon was swallowed +up by an earthquake, ninety years ago, the little children perished +as well as the grown people—just as in the Irish famine fever +last year, many a doctor and Roman Catholic priest, and Protestant clergyman, +caught the fever and died while they were piously attending on the sick. +They were acting like righteous men doing their duty at their posts; +but God’s laws could not turn aside for them. Improvidence, +and misrule, which had been working and growing for hundreds of years, +had at last brought the famine fever, and even the righteous must perish +by it. They had their sins, no doubt, as we all have; but then +they were doing God’s work bravely and honestly enough, yet the +fever could not spare them any more than it could spare the children +of the filthy parents, though they had not kept pigsties under their +windows, nor cesspools at their doors. It could not spare them +any more than it can spare the tenants of the negligent or covetous +house-owner, because it is his fault and not theirs that his houses +are undrained, overcrowded, destitute—as whole streets in many +large towns are—of the commonest decencies of life. It may +be the landlord’s fault, but the tenants suffer. God visits +the sins of the fathers upon the children, and landlords ought to be +fathers to their tenants, and must become fathers to them some day, +and that soon, unless they intend that the Lord should visit on them +all their sins, and their forefathers’ also, even unto the third +and fourth generation.</p> +<p>For do not fancy that because the innocent suffer with the guilty +that therefore the guilty escape. Seldom do they escape in this +world, and in the world to come never. The landlord who, as too +many do, neglects his cottages till they become man-sties, to breed +pauperism and disease—the parents whose carelessness and dirt +poison their children and neighbours into typhus and cholera—their +brother’s blood will cry against them out of the ground. +It will be required at their hands sooner or later, by Him who beholds +iniquity and wrong, and who will not be satisfied in the day of His +vengeance by Cain’s old answer, “Am I my brother’s +keeper?”</p> +<p>We are every one of us our brother’s keeper; and if we do not +choose to confess that, God will prove it to us in a way that we cannot +mistake. A wise man tells a story of a poor Irish widow who came +to Liverpool and no one would take her in or have mercy on her, till, +from starvation and bad lodging, as the doctor said, she caught typhus +fever, and not only died herself, but gave the infection to the whole +street, and seventeen persons died of it. “See,” says +the wise man, “the poor Irish widow was the Liverpool people’s +sister after all. She was of the same flesh and blood as they. +The fever that killed her killed them, but they would not confess that +they were her brothers. They shut their doors upon her, and so +there was no way left for her to prove her relationship, but by killing +seventeen of them with fever.” A grim jest that, but a true +one, like Elijah’s jest to the Baal priests on Carmel. A +true one, I say, and one that we have all need to lay to heart.</p> +<p>And I do earnestly trust in you that you will lay it to heart. +We have had our fair warning here. We have had God’s judgment +about our cleanliness; His plain spoken opinion about the sanitary state +of this parish. We deserve the fever, I am afraid; not a house +in which it has appeared but has had some glaring neglect of common +cleanliness about it; and if we do not take the warning God will surely +some day repeat it. It will repeat itself by the necessary laws +of nature; and we shall have the fever among us again, just as the cholera +has reappeared in the very towns, and the very streets, where it was +seventeen years ago, wherever they have not repented of and amended +their filth and negligence. And I say openly, that those who have +escaped this time may not escape next. God has made examples, +and by no means always of the worst cottages. God’s plan +is to take one and leave another by way of warning. “It +is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole +nation perish not” is a great and a sound law, and we must profit +by it. So let not those who have escaped the fever fancy that +they must needs be without fault. “Think ye that those sixteen +on whom the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, were sinners above all +those that dwelt at Jerusalem? I say unto you, Nay, but except +ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”</p> +<p>And I say again, as I said last Sunday, that this is a spiritual +question, a Gospel sermon; for by your conduct in this matter will your +faith in the Gospel be proved. If you really believe that Jesus +Christ came down from heaven and sacrificed Himself for you, you will +be ready to sacrifice yourselves in this matter for those for whom He +died; to sacrifice, without stint, your thought, your time, your money, +and your labour. If you really believe that He is the sworn enemy +of all misery and disease, you will show yourselves too the sworn enemies +of everything that causes misery and disease, and work together like +men to put all pestilential filth and damp out of this parish. +If you really believe that you are all brothers, equal in the sight +of God and Christ, you will do all you can to save your brothers from +sickness and the miseries which follow it. If you really believe +that your children are God’s children, that at baptism God declares +your little ones to be His, you will be ready to take any care or trouble, +however new or strange it may seem, to keep your children safe from +all foul smells, foul food, foul water, and foul air, that they may +grow up healthy, hearty, and cleanly, fit to serve God as christened, +free, and civilised Englishmen should in this great and awful time, +the most wonderful time that the earth has ever seen, into which it +has pleased God of His great mercy to let us all be born.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XV—THIRD SERMON ON THE CHOLERA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the +Fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them +that hate me.—EXODUS xx. 6.</p> +<p>Many of you were perhaps surprised and puzzled by my saying in my +last sermon that God’s visiting the sins of the fathers on the +children, and letting the innocent suffer for the guilty, was a blessing +and not a curse—a sign of man’s honour and redemption, not +of his shame and ruin. But the more I have thought of those words, +the more glad I am that I spoke them boldly, the more true I find them +to be.</p> +<p>I say that there is in them the very deepest and surest ground for +hope. “Yes,” some of you may say, “to be sure +when we see the innocent suffering for the guilty, it is a plain proof +that another world must come some day, in which all that unfairness +shall be set right.” Well, my friends, it does prove that, +but I should be very sorry if it did not prove a great deal more than +that—this suffering of the innocent for the guilty. I have +no heart to talk to you about the next life, unless I can give you some +comfort, some reason for trusting in God in this life. I never +saw much good come of it. I never found it do my own soul any +good, to be told: “<i>This</i> life and <i>this</i> world in which +you now live are given up irremediably to misrule and deceit, poverty +and pestilence, death and the devil. You cannot expect to set +this world right—you must look to the next world. Everything +will be set right there.” That sounds fine and resigned; +and there seems to be a great deal of trust in God in it; but, as I +think, there is little or none; and I say so from the fruits I see it +bear. If people believe that this world is the devil’s world, +and only the next world God’s, they are easily tempted to say: +“Very well, then, we must serve the devil in this world, and God +in the next. We must, of course, take great care to get our souls +saved when we die, that we may go to heaven and live for ever and ever; +but as to this world and this life, why, we must follow the ways of +the world. It is not our fault that they have nothing to do with +God. It is not our fault that society and the world are all rotten +and accursed; we found them so when we were born, and we must make the +best of a bad matter and sail as the world does, and be covetous and +mean and anxious—how can we help it?—and stand on our own +rights, and take care of number one; and even do what is not quite right +now and then—for how can we help it?—or how else shall we +get on in this poor lost, fallen, sinful world!”</p> +<p>And so it comes, my friends, that you see people professing—ay, +and believing, Gospel doctrines, and struggling and reading, and, as +they fancy, praying, morning, noon, and night, to get their own souls +saved—who yet, if you are to judge by their conduct, are little +better than rogues and heathens; whose only law of life seems to be +the fear of what people will say of them; who, like Balaam the son of +Bosor, are trying daily to serve the devil without God finding it out, +worshipping the evil spirit, as that evil spirit wanted our blessed +Lord to do, because they believed his lie, which Christ denied—that +the glory of this world belongs to the evil one; and then comforting +themselves like Balaam their father, in the hope that they shall die +the death of the righteous, and their last end be like his.</p> +<p>Now I say my friends that this is a lie, and comes from the father +of lies, who tempts every man, as he tempted our Lord, to believe that +the power and glory of this world are his, that man’s flesh and +body, if not his soul, belongs to him. I say, it is no such thing. +The world is God’s world. Man is God’s creature, made +in God’s image, and not in that of a beast or a devil. The +kingdom, the power, and the glory, <i>are</i> God’s now. +You say so every day in the Lord’s Prayer—believe it. +St. James tells you not to curse men, because they are made in the likeness +of God now—not <i>will</i> be made in God’s likeness after +they die. Believe that; do not be afraid of it, strange as it +may seem to understand. It is in the Bible, and you profess to +believe that what is in the Bible is true. And I say that this +suffering of the innocent for the guilty is a proof of that. If +man was not made so that the innocent could suffer for the guilty, he +could not have been redeemed at all, for there would have been no use +or meaning in Christ’s dying for us, the just for the unjust. +And more, if the innocent could not suffer for the guilty we should +be like the beasts that perish.</p> +<p>Now, why? Because just in proportion as any creature is low—I +mean in the scale of life—just in that proportion it does without +its fellow-creatures, it lives by itself and cares for no other of its +kind. A vegetable is a meaner thing than an animal, and one great +sign of its being meaner is, that vegetables cannot do each other any +good—cannot help each other—cannot even hurt each other, +except in a mere mechanical way, by overgrowing each other or robbing +each other’s roots; but what would it matter to a tree if all +the other trees in the world were to die? So with wild animals. +What matters it to a bird or a beast, whether other birds and beasts +are ill off or well off, wise or stupid? Each one takes care of +itself—each one shifts for itself. But you will say “Bees +help each other and depend upon each other for life and death.” +True, and for that very reason we look upon bees as being more wise +and more wonderful than almost any animals, just because they are so +much like us human beings in depending on each other. You will +say again, that among dogs, a riotous hound will lead a whole pack wrong—a +staunch and well-broken hound will keep a whole pack right; and that +dogs do depend upon each other in very wonderful ways. Most true, +but that only proves more completely what I want to get at. It +is the <i>tame</i> dog, which man has taken and broken in, and made +to partake more or less of man’s wisdom and cunning, who depends +on his fellow-dogs. The wild dogs in foreign countries, on the +other hand, are just as selfish, living every one for himself, as so +many foxes might be. And you find this same rule holding as you +rise. The more a man is like a wild animal, the more of a <i>savage</i> +he is, so much more he depends on himself, and not on others—in +short, the less civilised he is; for civilised means being a citizen, +and learning to live in cities, and to help and depend upon each other. +And our common English word “civil” comes from the same +root. A man is “civil” who feels that he depends upon +his neighbours, and his neighbours on him; that they are his fellow-citizens, +and that he owes them a duty and a friendship. And, therefore, +a man is truly and sincerely civil, just in proportion as he is civilised; +in proportion as he is a good citizen, a good Christian—in one +word, a <i>good man.</i></p> +<p>Ay, that is what I want to come to, my friends—that word <i>man</i>, +and what it means. The law of man’s life, the constitution +and order on which, and on no other, God has made man, is <i>this</i>—to +depend upon his fellow-men, to be their brothers, in flesh and in spirit; +for we are brothers to each other. God made of one blood all nations +to dwell on the face of the earth. The same food will feed us +all alike. The same cholera will kill us all alike. And +we can give the cholera to each other; we can give each other the infection, +not merely by our touch and breath, for diseased beasts can do that, +but by housing our families and our tenants badly, feeding them badly, +draining the land around them badly. This is the secret of the +innocent suffering for the guilty, in pestilences, and famines, and +disorders, which are handed down from father to child, that we are all +of the same blood. This is the reason why Adam’s sin infected +our whole race. Adam died, and through him all his children have +received a certain property of sinfulness and of dying, just as one +bee transmits to all his children and future generations the property +of making honey, or a lion transmits to all its future generations the +property of being a beast of prey. For by sinning and cutting +himself off from God Adam gave way to the lower part of him, his flesh, +his animal nature, and therefore he died as other animals do. +And we his children, who all of us give way to our flesh, to our animal +nature, every hour, alas! we die too. And in proportion as we +give way to our animal natures we are liable to die; and the less we +give way to our animal natures, the less we are liable to die. +We have all sinned; we have all become fleshly animal creatures more +or less; and therefore we must all die sooner or later. But in +proportion as we become Christians, in proportion as we become civilised, +in short, in proportion as we become true men, and conquer and keep +in order this flesh of ours, and this earth around us, by the teaching +of God’s spirit, as we were meant to do, just so far will length +of life increase and population increase. For while people are +savages, that is, while they give themselves up utterly to their own +fleshly lusts, and become mere animals like the wild Indians, they cannot +increase in number. They are exposed, by their own lusts and ignorance +and laziness, to every sort of disease; they turn themselves into beasts +of prey, and are continually fighting and destroying each other, so +that they, seldom or never increase in numbers, and by war, drunkenness, +smallpox, fevers, and other diseases too horrible to mention, the fruit +of their own lusts, whole tribes of them are swept utterly off the face +of the earth. And why? They are like the beasts, and like +the beasts they perish. Whereas, just in proportion as any nation +lives according to the spirit and not according to the flesh; in proportion +as it conquers its own fleshly appetites which tempt it to mere laziness, +pleasure, and ignorance, and lives according to the spirit in industry, +cleanliness, chaste marriage, and knowledge, earthly and heavenly, the +length of life and the number of the population begin to increase at +once, just as they are doing, thank God! in England now; because Englishmen +are learning more and more that this earth is God’s earth, and +that He works it by righteous and infallible laws, and has put them +on it to till it and subdue it; that civilisation and industry are the +cause of Christ and of God; and that without them His kingdom will not +come, neither will His will be done on earth.</p> +<p>But now comes a very important question. The beasts are none +the worse for giving way to their flesh and being mere animals. +They increase and multiply and are happy enough; whereas men, if they +give way to their flesh and become animals, become fewer and weaker, +and stupider, and viler, and more miserable, generation after generation. +Why? Because the animals are meant to be animals, and men are +not. Men are meant to be men, and conquer their animal nature +by the strength which God gives to their spirits. And as long +as they do not do so; as long as they remain savage, sottish, ignorant, +they are living in a lie, in a diseased wrong state, just as God did +<i>not</i> mean them to live; and therefore they perish; therefore these +fevers, and agues, and choleras, war, starvation, tyranny, and all the +ills which flesh is heir to, crush them down. Therefore they are +at the mercy of the earth beneath their feet, and the skies above their +head; at the mercy of rain and cold; at the mercy of each other’s +selfishness, laziness, stupidity, cruelty; in short, at the mercy of +the brute material earth, and their own fleshly lusts and the fleshly +lusts of others, because they love to walk after the flesh and not after +the spirit—because they like the likeness of the old Adam who +is of the earth earthy, better than that of the new Adam who is the +Lord from heaven—because they like to be animals, when Christ +has made them in his own image, and redeemed them with His own blood, +and taught them with His own example, and made them men. He who +will be a man, let him believe that he is redeemed by Christ, and must +be like Christ in everything he says and does. If he would carry +that out, if he would live perfectly by faith in God, if he would do +God’s will utterly and in all things he would soon find that those +glorious old words still stood true: “Thou shalt not be afraid +of the arrow by night, nor of the pestilence which walketh in the noonday; +a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, +but it shall not come nigh thee.” For such a man would know +how to defend himself against evil; God would teach him not only to +defend himself, but to defend those around him. He would be like +his Lord and Master, a fountain of wisdom and healing and safety to +all his neighbours. We might any one of us be that. It is +everyone’s fault more or less that he is not. Each of us +who is educated, civilised, converted to the knowledge and love of God, +it is his sin and shame that he is <i>not</i> that. Above all, +it is the clergyman’s sin and shame that he is not. Ay, +believe me, when I blame you, I blame myself ten thousand times more. +I believe there is many a sin and sorrow from which I might have saved +you here, if I had dealt with you more as a man should deal who believes +that you and I are brothers, made in the same image of God, redeemed +by the same blood of Christ. And I believe that I shall be punished +for every neglect of you for which I have been ever guilty. I +believe it, and I thank God for it; for I do not see how a clergyman, +or anyone else, can learn his duty, except by God’s judging him, +and punishing him, and setting his sins before his face.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, it is good for us to be afflicted, good for us to +suffer anything that will teach us this great truth, that we are our +brother’s keepers; that we are all one family, and that where +one of the members suffers, all the other members suffer with it; and +that if one of the members has cause to rejoice, all the others will +have cause to rejoice with it. A blessed thing to know, is that—though +whether we know it or not, we shall find it true. If we give way +to our animal nature, and try to live as the beasts do, each one caring +for his own selfish pleasure—still we shall find out that we cannot +do it. We shall find out, as those Liverpool people did with the +Irish widow, that our fellow-men <i>are</i> our brothers—that +what hurts them will be sure in some strange indirect way to hurt us. +Our brothers here have had the fever, and we have escaped; but we have +felt the fruits of it, in our purses—in fear, and anxiety, and +distress, and trouble—we have found out that they could not have +the fever without our suffering for it, more or less. You see +we are one family, we men and women; and our relationship will assert +itself in spite of our forgetfulness and our selfishness. How +much better to claim our brotherhood with each other, and to act upon +it—to live as brothers indeed. That would be to make it +a blessing, and not a curse; for as I said before, just because it is +in our power to injure each other, therefore it is in our power to help +each other. God has bound us together for good and for evil, for +better for worse. Oh! let it be henceforward in this parish for +better, and not for worse. Oh! every one of you, whether you be +rich or poor, farmer or labourer, man or woman, do not be ashamed to +own yourselves to be brothers and sisters, members of one family, which +as it all fell together in the old Adam, so it has all risen together +in the new Adam, Jesus Christ. There is no respect of persons +with God. We are all equal in His sight. He knows no difference +among men, except the difference which God’s Spirit gives, in +proportion as a man listens to the teaching of that Spirit—rank +in godliness and true manhood. Oh! believe that—believe +that because you owe an infinite debt to Christ and to God—His +Father and your Father—therefore you owe an infinite debt to your +neighbours, members of Christ and children of God just as you are—a +debt of love, help, care, which you <i>can</i>, pay, just because you +are members of one family; for because you are members of one family, +for that very reason every good deed you do for a neighbour does not +stop with that neighbour, but goes on breeding and spreading, and growing +and growing, for aught we know, for ever. Just as each selfish +act we do, each bitter word we speak, each foul example we set, may +go on spreading from mouth to mouth, from heart to heart, from parent +to child, till we may injure generations yet unborn; so each noble and +self-sacrificing deed we do, each wise and loving word we speak, each +example we set of industry and courage, of faith in God and care for +men, may and will spread on from heart to heart, and mouth to mouth, +and teach others to do and be the like; till people miles away, who +never heard of our names, may have cause to bless us for ever and ever. +This is one and only one of the glorious fruits of our being one family. +This is one and only one of the reasons which make me say that it was +a good thing mankind was so made that the innocent suffer for the guilty. +For just as the innocent are injured by the guilty in this world, even +so are the guilty preserved, and converted, and brought back again by +the innocent. Just as the sins of the fathers are visited on the +children, so is the righteousness of the fathers a blessing to the children; +else, says St. Paul, our children would be unclean, but now they are +holy. For the promises of God are not only to us, but to our children, +even to as many as the Lord our God shall call. And thus each +generation, by growing in virtue and wisdom and the knowledge of God, +will help forward all the generations which follow it to fuller light +and peace and safety; and each parent in trying to live like a Christian +man himself, will make it easier for his children to live like Christians +after him. And this rule applies even in the things which we are +too apt to fancy unimportant—every house kept really clean, every +family brought up in habits of neatness and order, every acre of foul +land drained, every new improvement in agriculture and manufactures +or medicine, is a clear gain to all mankind, a good example set which +is sure sooner or later to find followers, perhaps among generations +yet unborn, and in countries of which we never heard the name.</p> +<p>Was I not right then in saying that this earth is not the devil’s +earth at all, but a right good earth, of God’s making and ruling, +wherein no good deed will perish fruitless, but every man’s works +will follow him—a right good earth, governed by a righteous Father, +who, as the psalm says “is merciful,” just “because +He rewards every man according to his work.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XVI—ON THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(Nov. 15th, 1849.)</p> +<p>God hath visited his people.—LUKE vii. 16.</p> +<p>We are assembled this day to thank God solemnly for the passing away +of the cholera from England; and we must surely not forget to thank +Him at the same time for the passing away of the fever, which has caused +so much expense, sorrow, and death among us. Now I wish to say +a very few words to you on this same matter, to show you not only how +to be thankful to God, but what to be thankful for. You may say: +It is easy enough for us to know what to thank God for in this case. +We come to thank Him, as we have just said in the public prayers, for +having withdrawn this heavy visitation from us. If so, my friends, +what we shall thank Him for depends on what we mean by talking of a +visitation from God.</p> +<p>Now I do not know what people may think in this parish, but I suspect +that very many all over England do <i>not</i> know what to thank God +for just now; and are altogether thanking him for the wrong thing—for +a thing which, very happily for them, He has <i>not</i> done for them, +and which, if He had done it for them, would have been worse for them +than all the evil which ever happened to them from their youth up until +now. To be plain then, many, I am afraid, are thanking God for +having gone away and left them. While the cholera was here, they +said that God was visiting them; and now that the cholera is over, they +consider that God’s visit is over too, and are joyful and light +of heart thereat. If God’s visit is over, my friends, and +He is gone away from us; if He is not just as near us now as He was +in the height of the cholera, the best thing we can do is to turn to +Him with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and roll ourselves in the +dust, and instead of thanking our Father for going away, pray to Him, +of his infinite mercy, to condescend to come back again and visit us, +even though, as superstitious and ignorant men believe, God’s +visiting us were sure to bring cholera, or plague, or pestilence, or +famine, or some other misery. For I read, that in His presence +is life and not death—at His right hand is fulness of joy, and +not tribulation and mourning and woe; but if not, it were better to +be with God in everlasting agony, than to be in everlasting happiness +without God.</p> +<p>Here is a strange confusion—people talking one moment like +St. Paul himself, desiring to be with Christ and God for ever, and then +in the same breath talking like the Gadarenes of old, when, after Christ +had visited them, and judged their sins by driving their unlawful herd +of swine into the sea, they answered by beseeching Him to depart out +of their coasts.</p> +<p>Why is this confusion?—Because people do not take the trouble +to read their Bibles; because they bring their own loose, careless, +cant notions with them when they open their Bibles, and settle beforehand +what the Bible is to tell them, and then pick and twist texts till they +make them mean just what they like and no more. There is no folly, +or filth, or tyranny, or blasphemy, which men have not defended out +of the Bible by twisting it in this way. The Bible is better written +than that, my friends. He that runs may read, if he has sense +to read. The wayfaring man, though simple, shall make no such +mistake therein, if he has God’s Spirit in him—the spirit +of faith, which believes that the Bible is God’s message to men—the +humble spirit, which is willing to listen to that message, however strange +or new it may seem to him—the earnest spirit, which reads the +Bible really to know what a man shall do to be saved. Look at +your Bibles thus, my friends, about this matter. Read all the +texts which speak of God’s visiting and God’s visitation, +and you will find all the confusion and strangeness vanish away. +For see! The Bible talks of the Lord visiting people in His wrath—visiting +them for their sins—visiting them with sore plagues and punishments, +about forty times. But the Bible speaks very nearly as often of +God’s visiting people to bring them blessings and not punishments. +The Bible says God visited Sarah and Hannah to give them what they most +desired—children. God visited the people of Israel in Egypt +to deliver them out of slavery. In the book of Ruth we read how +the Lord visited His people in giving them bread. The Psalmist, +in the captivity at Babylon, <i>prays</i> God to visit him with His +salvation. The prophet Jeremiah says that it was a sign of God’s +anger against the Jews that He had not visited them; and the prophets +promised again and again to their countrymen, how, after their seventy +years’ captivity in Babylon, the Lord would visit them, and what +for?—To bring them back into their own land with joy, and heap +them with every blessing—peace and wealth, freedom and righteousness. +So it is in the New Testament too. Zacharias praised God: “Blessed +be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people; +through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on +high hath visited us.” And that was the reason why I chose +Luke vii. 16, for my text—only because it is an example of the +same thing. The people, it says, praised God, saying: “A +great Prophet is risen up among us, and God hath visited His people.” +And in the 14th of Acts we read how God visited the Gentiles, not to +punish them, but to take out of them a people for His name, namely, +Cornelius and his household. And lastly, St. Peter tells Christian +people to glorify God in the day of visitation, as I tell you now—whether +His visitation comes in the shape of cholera, or fever, or agricultural +distress; or whether it comes in the shape of sanitary reform, and plenty +of work, and activity in commerce; whether it seems to you good or evil, +glorify God for it. Thank Him for it. Bless Him for it. +Whether His visitation brings joy or sorrow, it surely brings a blessing +with it. Whether God visits in wrath or in love, still God visits. +God shows that He lives; God shows us that He has not forgotten us; +God shows us that He is near us. Christ shows us that His words +are true: “Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world.”</p> +<p>That is a hard lesson to learn and practise, though not a very difficult +one to understand. I will try now to make you understand it—God +alone can teach you to practise it. I pray and hope, and I believe +too, that He will—that these very hard times are meant to teach +people <i>really</i> to believe in God and Jesus Christ, and that they +<i>will</i> teach people. God knows we need, and thanks be to +Him that He <i>does</i> know that we need, to be taught to believe in +Him. Nothing shows it to me more plainly than the way we talk +about God’s visitations, as if God was usually away from us, and +came to us only just now and then—only on extraordinary occasions. +People have gross, heathen, fleshly, materialist notions of God’s +visitations, as if He was some great earthly king who now and then made +a journey about his dominions from place to place, rewarding some and +punishing others. God is not in any place, my friends. God +is a Spirit. The heaven and the heaven of heavens could not contain +Him if He wanted a place to be in, as, glory be to His name, He does +not. If He is near us or far from us, it is not that He is near +or far from our bodies, as the Queen might be nearer to us in London +than in Scotland, which is most people’s notion of God’s +nearness. He is near, not our bodies, but our spirits, our souls, +our hearts, our thoughts—as it is written, “The kingdom +of God is <i>within</i> you.” Do not fancy that when the +cholera was in India, God was nearer India than He was to England, and +that as the cholera crawled nearer and nearer, God came nearer and nearer +too; and that now the cholera is gone away somewhere or other, God is +gone away somewhere or other too, to leave us to our own inventions. +God forbid a thousand times! As St. Paul says: “He is not +far from any one of us.” “In Him we live and move +and have our being,” cholera or none. Do you think Christ, +the King of the earth, is gone away either—that while things go +on rightly, and governments, and clergy, and people do right, Christ +is there then, filling them all with His Spirit and guiding them all +to their duty; but that when evil times come, and rulers are idle, and +clergy dumb dogs, and the rich tyrannous, and the poor profligate, and +men are crying for work and cannot get it, and every man’s hand +is against his fellow, and no one knows what to do or think; and on +earth is distress of nations with perplexity, men’s hearts failing +them for fear, and for dread of those things which are coming on the +earth—do you think that in such times as those, Christ is the +least farther off from us than He was at the best of times?—The +least farther off from us now than He was from the apostles at the first +Whitsuntide? God forbid!—God forbid a thousand times! +He has promised Himself, He that is faithful and true, He that will +never deny Himself, though men deny Him, and say He is not here, because +their eyes are blinded with love of the world, and covetousness and +bigotry, and dread lest He, their Master, should come and find them +beating the men-servants and maid-servants, and eating and drinking +with the drunken in the high places of the earth, and saying: “Tush! +God hath forgotten it”—ay, though men have forgotten Him +thus, and—worse than thus, yet He hath said it—“Lo, +I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Why, +evil times are the very times of which Christ used to speak as the “days +of the Lord,” and the “days of the Son of man.” +Times when we hear of wars and rumours of wars, and on earth distress +of nations with perplexity—what does He tell men to do in them? +To go whining about, and say that Christ has left His Church? +No! “Then,” He says, “when all these things +come to pass, then rejoice and lift up your heads, for your redemption +draweth nigh.”</p> +<p>And yet the Scripture does most certainly speak of the Lord’s +coming out of His place to visit—of the Son of Man coming, and +not coming to men—of His visiting us at one time and not at another. +How does that agree with what I have just said? My dear friends, +we shall see that it agrees perfectly with what I have said, if we will +only just remember that we are not beasts, but men. It may seem +a strange thing to have to remind people of, but it is just what they +are always forgetting. My friends, we are not animals, we are +not spiders to do nothing but spin, or birds only to build nests for +ourselves, much less swine to do nothing but dig after roots and fruits, +and get what we can out of the clods of the ground. We are the +children of the Most High God; we have immortal souls within us; nay, +more, we are our souls: our bodies are our husk—our shell—our +clothes—our house—changing day by day, and year by year +upon us, one day to drop off us till the Resurrection. But <i>we</i> +are our <i>souls</i>, and when God visits, it is our souls He visits, +not merely our bodies. There is the whole secret. People +forget God, and therefore they are glad to fancy that He has forgotten +them, and has nothing to do with this world of His which they are misusing +for their own selfish ends; and then God in His mercy visits them. +He knocks at the door of their hearts, saying: “See! I was +close to you all the while.” He forces them to see Him and +to confess that He is there whether they choose or not. God is +not away from the world. He is away from people’s hearts, +because He has given people free wills, and with free wills the power +of keeping Him out of their hearts or letting Him in. And when +God visits He forces Himself on our attention. He knocks at the +door of our hard hearts so loudly and sharply that He forces all to +confess that He is there—all who are not utterly reprobate and +spiritually dead. In blessings as well as in curses, God knocks +at our hearts. By sudden good fortune, as well as by sudden mishap; +by a great deliverance from enemies, by an abundant harvest, as well +as by famine and pestilence. Therefore this cholera has been a +true visitation of God. The poor had fancied that they might be +as dirty, the rich had fancied that they might be as careless, as they +chose; in short, that they might break God’s laws of cleanliness +and brotherly care without His troubling Himself about the matter. +And lo! He has visited us; and shown us that He does care about the +matter by taking it into His own hands with a vengeance. He who +cannot see God’s hand in the cholera must be as blind—as +blind as who?—as blind as he that cannot see God’s hand +when there is no cholera; as blind as he who cannot see God’s +hand in every meal he eats, and every breath he draws; for that man +is stone blind—he can be no blinder. The cholera came; everyone +ought to see that it did not come by blind chance, but by the will of +some wise and righteous Person; for in the first place God gave us fair +warning. The cholera came from India at a steady pace. We +knew to a month when it would arrive here. And it came, too, by +no blind necessity, as if it was forced to take people whether it liked +or not. Just as it was in the fever here, so it was in the cholera, +“One shall be taken and another left.” It took one +of a street and left another; took one person in a family and left another: +it took the rich man who fancied he was safe, as well as the poor man +who did not care whether he was safe or not. The respectable man +walking home to his comfortable house, passed by some untrapped drain, +and then poisonous gas struck him and he died. The rich physician +who had been curing others, could not save himself from the poison of +the crowded graveyard which had been allowed to remain at the back of +his house. By all sorts of strange and unfathomable judgments +the cholera showed itself to be working, not by a blind necessity, but +at the will of a thinking Person, of a living God, whose ways are not +as our own ways, and His paths are in the great deep. And yet +the cholera showed—and this is what I want to make you feel—that +it was working at the will of the same God in whom we live and move +and have our being, who sends the food we eat, the water in which we +wash, the air we breathe, and who has ordained for all these things +natural laws, according to which they work, and which He never breaks, +nor allows us to break them. For every case of cholera could be +traced to some breaking of these laws—foul air—foul food—foul +water, or careless and dirty contact with infected persons; so that +by this God showed that He and not chance ruled the world, and that +he was indeed the living and willing God. He showed at the same +time that He was the wise God of order and of law; and that gas and +earth, wind and vapour, fulfil His word, without His having to break +His laws, or visit us by moving, as people fancy, out of a Heaven where +He was, down to an earth, where He was not.</p> +<p>But, lastly, remember what I told you before, that the cholera being +a visitation means that God, by it, has been visiting our hearts, knocking +loudly at them that He may awaken us, and teach us a lesson. And +be sure that in the cholera, and this our own parish fever, there is +a lesson for each and every one of us if we will learn it. To +the simple poor man, first and foremost, God means by the cholera to +teach the simple lesson of cleanliness; to the house-owner He means +to teach that each man is his brother’s keeper, and responsible +for his property not being a nest of disease; to rulers it is intended +to teach the lesson that God’s laws cannot be put off to suit +their laziness, cowardice, or party squabbles. But beside that, +to each person, be sure such a visitation as this brings some private +lesson. Perhaps it has taught many a widow that she has a Friend +stronger and more loving than even the husband whom she has lost by +the pestilence—the God of the widow and the fatherless. +Perhaps it has taught many a strong man not to trust in his strength +and his youth, but in the God who gave them to him. Perhaps it +has taught many a man, too, who has expected public authorities to do +everything for him, “not to put his trust in princes, nor in any +child of man, for there is no help in them,” but to hear God’s +advice, “Help thyself and God will help thee.” Perhaps +it has stirred up many a benevolent man to find out fresh means for +rooting out the miseries of society. Perhaps it has taught many +a philosopher new deep truths about the laws of God’s world, which +may enable him to enlighten and comfort ages yet unborn. Perhaps +it has awakened many a slumbering heart, and brought many a careless +sinner (for the first time in his life) face to face with God and his +own sins. God’s judgments are manifold; they are meant to +work in different ways on different hearts. But oh! believe and +be sure that they are meant to work upon all hearts—that they +are not the punishments of a capricious tyrant, but the rod of a loving +Father, who is trying to drive us home into His fold, when gentle entreaties +and kind deeds have failed to allure us home. Oh my friends! if +you wish really to thank God for having preserved you from these pestilences, +show your thankfulness by learning the lesson which they bring. +God’s love has spoken of each and every one of us in the cholera. +Be sure He has spoken so harshly only because a gentler tone of voice +would have had no effect upon us. Thank Him for His severity. +Thank Him for the cholera, the fever. Thank Him for anything which +will awaken us to hear the Word of the Lord. But till you have +learnt the lessons which these visitations are meant to teach you, there +is no use thanking Him for taking them away. And therefore I beseech +you solemnly, each and all, before you leave this church, now to pray +to God to show you what lesson He means to teach you by this past awful +visitation, and also by sparing you and me who are here present, not +merely from cholera and fever, but from a thousand mishaps and evils, +which we have deserved, and from which only His goodness has kept us. +Oh may God stir up your hearts to ask advice of Him this day! and may +He in His great mercy so teach us all His will on this day of joy, that +we may not need to have it taught us hereafter on some day of sorrow.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XVII—THE COVENANT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>The Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his own possession. +For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. +Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and earth, and in +the sea, and in all deep places.—PSALM cxxxv. 4, 5, 6.</p> +<p>Were you ever puzzled to find out why the Psalms are read every Sunday +in Church, more read, indeed, than any other part of the Bible? +If any of you say, No, I shall not think you the wiser. It is +very easy not to be puzzled with a deep matter, if one never thinks +about it at all. But when a man sets his mind to work seriously, +to try to understand what he hears and sees around him, then he will +be puzzled, and no shame to him; for he will find things every day of +his life which will require years of thought to understand, ay, things +which, though we see and know that they are true, and can use and profit +by them, we can never understand at all, at least in this life.</p> +<p>But I do not think that God meant it to be so with these Psalms. +He meant the Bible for a poor man’s book: and therefore the men +who wrote the Bible were almost all of them poor men, at least at one +time or other of their life; and therefore we may expect that they would +write as poor men would write, and such things as poor men may understand, +if they are fairly and simply explained. Therefore I do not think +you need be puzzled long to find out why these Psalms are read every +Sunday. For the men who wrote them had God’s spirit with +them; and God’s spirit is the spirit in which God made and governs +this world, and just as God cannot change, so God’s spirit cannot +change; and therefore the rules and laws according to which the world +runs on cannot change; and therefore these rules about God’s government +of the world, which God’s spirit taught the old Hebrew Psalmists, +are the very same rules by which He governs it now; and therefore all +the rules in these Psalms, making allowance for the difference of circumstances, +have just as much to do with France, and Germany, and England now, as +they had with the Jews, and the Canaanites, and the Babylonians then.</p> +<p>St. Paul tells us so. He tells us that all that happened to +the old Jews was written as an example to Christians, to the intent +that they might not sin as the Jews did, and so (God’s laws and +ways being the same now as then) be punished as the Jews were. +Moreover, St. Paul says, that Christians now are just as much God’s +chosen people as the Jews were. God told the Jews that they were +to be a nation of kings and priests to Him. And St. John opens +the Revelations by saying: “Unto Him that loved us and washed +us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests +unto God and His Father, to Him be glory.” St. Paul tells +the Ephesians, who had not a drop of Jewish blood in their veins, that +through Jesus Christ both Jews and Gentiles had “access by one +Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore,” he goes on, “ye +are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, +and of the household of God.” In fact, he tells the Christians +of every country to which he writes, that all the promises which God +made to the Jews belonged to them just as much, that there was no more +any difference between Jew and Gentile, that the Lord Jesus Christ was +just as really among them, and with them, ruling and helping each people +in their own country, as He was in Jerusalem when Isaiah saw His glory +filling the Temple, and when Zion was called the place of His inheritance. +Indeed, the Lord Jesus said the same thing Himself, for He said that +all power was given to Him in heaven and earth; that He was with His +churches (that is, with all companies of Christian people, such as England) +even to the end of the world; that wherever two or three were gathered +together in His name, He would be in the midst of them; and if those +blessed words and good news be true, we Englishmen have a right to believe +firmly that we belong to Him just as much as the old Jews did; and when +we read these Psalms, to take every word of their good news—and +their warnings also—to ourselves, and to our own land of England. +And when we read in the text, that the Lord chose Jacob unto Himself +and Israel for His own possession, we have a right to say: “And +the Lord has chosen also England unto himself, and this favoured land +of Britain for his own possession.” When we say in the Psalm: +“The Lord did what He pleased in heaven, and earth, and sea,” +to educate and deliver the people of the Jews, we have a right to say +just as boldly: “And so He has done for England, for us, and for +our forefathers.”</p> +<p>This then is the reason, the chief reason, why these Psalms are appointed +to be read every Sunday in church, and every morning and evening where +there is daily service—to teach us that the Lord takes care not +only of one man’s soul here, and another woman’s soul there, +but of the whole country of England; of its wars and its peace; of its +laws and government, its progress and its afflictions; of all, in short, +that happens to it as a nation, as one body of men, which it is. +It must be so, my good friends, else we should be worse off than the +old Jews, and not better off, as all the New Testament solemnly assures +us a thousand times over that we are.</p> +<p>For in the covenant which God made with the Jews, and in the strange +events, good and bad, which He caused to happen to their nation, not +only the great saints among them were taken care of, but all classes, +and all characters, good and bad, even those who had not wisdom or spiritual +life enough to seek God for themselves, still had their share in the +good laws, in the teaching and guiding, and in the national blessings +which He sent on the whole nation. They had a chance given them +of rising, and improving, and prospering, as the rest of their countrymen +rose, and improved, and prospered. And when the Lord came to visit +Judæa in flesh and blood, we find that He went on the same method. +He did not merely go to such men as Philip and Nathaniel, to the holy +and elect ones among the Jews, but to the whole people; to the <i>lost</i> +sheep, as well as to those who were not lost. He did not part +the good from the bad before he healed their sicknesses, and fed them +with the loaves and fishes. It was enough for Him that they were +Jews, citizens of the Jewish nation. God’s promises belonged +not to one Jew or another, but to the Jewish nation; and even the ignorant +and the sinful had a share in the blessings of the covenant, great or +small in proportion as they chose to live as Jews ought, or to forget +and deny that they belonged to God’s people.</p> +<p>Now, surely the Lord cannot be less merciful now than He was then. +He cannot care less for poor orphans, and paupers, and wild untaught +creatures, in England now, than he cared for them in Judæa of +old. And we see that in fact He does not. For as the wealth +of England improves, and the laws improve, and the knowledge of God +improves, the condition of all sorts of poor creatures improves too, +though they had no share in bringing about the good change. But +we are all members of one body, from the Queen on her throne to the +tramper under the hedge; and as St. Paul says: “If one member +suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one member rejoices, +all the others” sooner or later “rejoice with it.” +For we, too, are one of the Lord’s nations. He has made +us one body, with one common language, common laws, common interest, +common religion for all; and what He does for one of us He does for +all. He orders all that happens to us; whether it be war or peace, +prosperity or dearth, He orders it all; and He orders things so that +they shall work for the good, not merely of a few, but of as many as +possible—not merely for His elect, but for those who know Him +not. As He has been from the beginning, when He heaped blessings +on the stiff-necked and backsliding Israelites—as He was when +He endured the cross for a world lying not in obedience, but in wickedness; +so is He now; the perfect likeness of His father, who is no respecter +of persons, but causes “His sun to shine alike on the evil on +the good, and His rain to fall on the just and on the unjust.”</p> +<p>But now, there is one thing against which I have to warn you most +solemnly, and especially in such days as these. You may believe +my words to your own ruin, or to your own salvation. They are +“the Gospel,” “the good news of the Kingdom of God”—that +is, the good news that God has condescended to become our King, to govern +and guide us, to order all things for our good. But as St. Paul +says, the Gospel may be a savour of death unto death, as well as a savour +of life unto life. And I will tell you now; that you have only +to do what the Jews just before the coming of our Lord did, and give +way to the same thoughts as they, and then, like them, it were better +for you that you had never heard of God, and been like the savages, +to whom little or no sin is imputed, because they are all but without +law. How is this?</p> +<p>As I said before—take your covenant privileges as the Pharisees +took theirs, and they will turn you into devils while you are fancying +yourselves God’s especial favourites. Now this was what +happened to the Pharisees: they could not help knowing that God had +shown especial favour to them; and that He had taught them more about +God than He had taught the heathen. But instead of feeling all +the more humble and thankful for this, and of remembering day and night +that because much had been given to them much would be required of them, +they thought more about the honour and glory which God had put on them. +They forgot what God had declared, namely, that it was not for their +own goodness that He had taught them, for that they were in themselves +not a whit better than the heathen around them. They forgot that +the reason why He taught them was, that they were to do His work on +earth, by witnessing for His name, and telling the heathen that God +was their Lord, as well as Lord of the Jews. Now David, and the +old Psalmists and Prophets, did not forget this. Their cry is: +“Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King.” +“Worship the Son of God, ye kings of the earth, and make your +peace with Him lest He be angry.” “It was in vain,” +he told the heathen kings, “to try to cast away God’s government +from them, and break His bonds from off them,” for “the +Lord was King, let the nations be never so unquiet.”</p> +<p>But the Jews gradually forgot this, and their daily boast was, that +God had nothing to do with the heathen; that He did not care for them, +and actually hated them; that they, as it were, had the true God all +to themselves for their own private property; and that He had neither +love nor mercy, except for them and their proselytes, that is, the few +heathens whom they could persuade and entice not to worship the true +God after the customs of their own country—that would not have +suited the Jews’ bigotry and pride—but to turn Jews, and +forget their own people among whom they were born, and ape them in everything. +And so, as our Lord told them, after compassing sea and land to make +one of these proselytes, they only made him after all twice as much +the child of hell as themselves. For they could not teach the +heathen anything worth knowing about God, when they had forgotten themselves +what God was like. They could tell them that there was one God, +and not two—but what was the use of that? As St. James says, +the devils believe as much as that, and yet the knowledge does not make +them holy, but only increases their fear and despair. And so with +these Pharisees. They had forgotten that God was love. They +had forgotten that God was merciful. They had forgotten that God +was just. And therefore, while they were talking of God and pretending +to worship God, they knew nothing of God, and they did not do God’s +will, and act like God; for (as we find from the Gospels) they were +unjust, tyrannous, proud, conceited, covetous themselves; and while +they were looking down on the poor heathens, these very heathens, the +Lord told them, would rise up in judgment against them: for they, knowing +little, acted up to the light which they had, better than the Pharisees +who knew so much. And so it will be with us, my friends, if we +fancy that God’s great favours to us are a reason for our priding +ourselves on them, and despising papists and foreigners instead of remembering +that just because God has given us so much, He will require more of +us. It is true, we do know more of the Gospel than the papists, +how, though they believe in Jesus Christ, worship the Virgin Mary and +the Saints, and idols of wood and stone. But if they, who know +so little of God’s will, yet act faithfully up to what they do +know, will they not rise up in judgment against us, who know so much +more, if we act worse than they? Instead of despising them, we +had better despise ourselves. Instead of fancying that God’s +love is not over them, and so sinning against God’s Holy Spirit +by denying and despising the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit in them, +we had much better, we Protestants, be repenting of our own sins. +We had better pray God to open our eyes to our own want of faith, and +want of love, and want of honesty, and want of cleanly and chaste lives; +lest God in His anger should let us go on in our evil path, till we +fall into the deep darkness of mind of the Pharisees of old. For +then while we were boasting of England as the most Christian nation +in the world, we might become the most unchristian, because the most +unlike Christ; the most wanting in love and fellow-feeling, and self-sacrifice, +and honour, and justice, and honesty; wanting, in short, in the fruits +of the Spirit. And without them there is no use crying: “We +are God’s chosen people, He Has put His name among us, we alone +hate idols, we alone have the pure word of God, and the pure sacraments, +and the pure doctrine;” for God may answer us, as he answered +the Jews of old: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have +Abraham for our father: Verily, I say unto you, God is able of these +stones to raise up children to Abraham.” . . . “The +Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing +forth the fruits thereof.” Oh! my friends, let us pray, +one and all, that God will come and help us, and with great might succour +us, “that whereas through our sins and wickedness we are sore +let and hindered in running the race set before us, God’s bountiful +grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us,” and enable +us to live faithfully up to the glorious privileges which He has bestowed +on us, in calling us “members of Christ, children of God, and +inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven;” in giving us His Bible, +in allowing us to be born into this favoured land of England, in preserving +us to this day, in spite of all that we have thought, and said, and +done, unworthy of the name of Christians and Englishmen.</p> +<p>And then we may be certain that God will also fulfil to us the glorious +promises which we find in another Psalm: “If thy children will +keep my covenant and my testimonies, which I shall learn them, this +land shall be my rest for ever. Here will I dwell, for I have +a delight therein. I will bless her victuals with increase, and +satisfy her poor with bread. I will deck her priests with health, +and her holy people shall rejoice and sing.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XVIII—NATIONAL REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all; that ye +say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to +serve wood and stone. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with +a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, +will I rule over you. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord.—EZEKIEL +xx. 32, 33, 38.</p> +<p>A father has two ways of showing his love to his child—by caressing +it and by punishing it. His very anger may be a sign of his love, +and ought to be. Just because he loves his child, just because +the thing he longs most to see is that his child should grow up good, +therefore he must be, and ought to be, angry with it when it does wrong. +Therefore anger against sin is a part of God’s likeness in us; +and he who does not hate sin is not like God. For if sin is the +worst evil—perhaps the only real evil in the world—and the +end of all sin is death and misery, then to indulge people in sin is +to show them the very worst of cruelty.</p> +<p>To sit by and see iniquity going on without trying to stop it, is +mere laziness. The parent, when his child does wrong, does not +show his love to the child by indulging it, all he shows is, that he +himself is carnal and fleshly; that he does not like to take the trouble +of punishing it, or does not like to give himself the pain of punishing +it; that, in short, he had sooner let his child grow up in bad habits, +which must lead to its misery and ruin for years and years, if not for +ever, than make himself uncomfortable by seeing it uncomfortable for +a few minutes. That is not love, but selfishness. True love +is as determined to punish the sin as it is to forgive the sinner. +Therefore, St. Paul tells us, that we can be angry without sinning; +that is that there is an anger which comes from hatred of sin and love +to the sinner. Therefore, Solomon tells us to punish our children +when they do wrong, and not to hold our hands for their crying. +It is better for them that they should cry a little now, than have long +years of shame and sorrow hereafter. Therefore, in all countries +which are properly governed, the law punishes in the name of God those +who break the laws of God, and punishes them even with death, for certain +crimes; because it is expedient that one man die for the people, and +that the whole nation perish not.</p> +<p>And this is God’s way of dealing with each and every one of +us. This is God’s way of dealing with Christian nations, +just as it was His way of dealing with the Jews of old. He never +allowed the Jews to prosper in sin. He punished them at once, +and sternly, whenever they rebelled against Him; not because He hated +them, but because He loved them. His love to them showed itself +whenever they went well with Him, in triumphs and blessings; and when +they rebelled against Him, and broke His laws, He showed that very same +love to them in plague, and war, and famine, and a mighty hand, and +fury poured out. His love had not changed—they had changed; +and now the best and only way of showing His love to them, was by making +them feel His anger; and the best and only way of being merciful to +them, was to show them no indulgence.</p> +<p>Now the wish of the Jews all along, and especially in Ezekiel’s +time, was to be like the heathen—like the nations round them. +They said to themselves: “These heathen worship idols, and yet +prosper very well. Their having gods of wood and stone, and their +indulging their passions, and being profligate and filthy, covetous, +unjust, and tyrannical, does not prevent their being just as happy as +we are—ay, and a great deal happier. They have no strict +law of Moses, as we have threatening us and keeping us in awe, and making +us uncomfortable, and telling us at every turn, ‘Thou shalt not +do this pleasant thing, and thou shalt not do that pleasant thing.’ +And yet God does not punish them, as Moses’ law says He will punish +us. These Assyrians and Babylonians above all—they are stronger +than we, and richer, and better clothed, and cleverer; they have horses +and chariots, and all sorts of luxuries and comforts which we Jews cannot +get. Instead of being like us, in continual trouble from earthquakes, +and drought, and famine, and war, attacked, plundered by all the nations +round us, one after another, they go on conquering, and spreading, and +succeeding in all they lay their hand to. Look at Babylon,” +said these foolish Jews, perhaps, to themselves; “a few generations +ago it was nothing of a city, and now it is the greatest, richest, and +strongest nation in the whole world. God has not punished it for +worshipping gods of wood and stone, why should He punish us? These +Babylonians have prospered well enough with their gods, why should not +we? Perhaps it is these very gods of wood and stone who have helped +them to become so great. Why should they not help us? We +will worship them, then, and pray to them. We will not give up +worshipping our own God, of course, lest we should offend Him; but we +will worship Him and the Babylonian idols at the same time; then we +shall be sure to be right if we have Jehovah and the idols both on our +side.” So said the Jews to themselves. But what did +Ezekiel answer them? “Not so, my foolish countrymen,” +said he, “God will not have it so. He has taught you that +these Babylonian idols are nothing and cannot help you; He has taught +you that He can and will help you, that He can and will be everything +to you; He has taught you that He alone is God, who made heaven and +earth, who orders all things therein, who alone gives any people power +to get wealth; and He will not have you go back and fall from that for +any appearances or arguments whatsoever, because it is true. He +has chosen you to witness to these heathen about Him, to declare His +name to them, that they may give up their idols and serve the true God, +in whom alone is strength. He chose you to be these heathens’ +teachers, and He will not let you become their scholars. He meant +the heathen to copy you, and He will not let you copy them. If +He does, in His love and mercy, let these poor heathen prosper in spite +of their idols, what is that to you? It is still the Lord who +makes them prosper, and not the idols, whether they know it or not. +They know no better, and He will not impute sin to them where He has +given them no law. But you do know better; by a thousand mighty +signs and wonders and deliverances, the Lord has been teaching you ever +since you came up through the Red Sea, that He is all-sufficient for +you, that all power is His in heaven and earth. He has promised +to you, and sworn to you by Himself, that if you keep His law and walk +in His commandments, you shall want no manner of good thing; that you +shall have no cause to envy these heathen their riches and prosperity, +for the Lord will bless you in house and land, by day and night, at +home and abroad, with every blessing that a nation can desire. +Moses’ law tells you this, God’s prophets have been telling +you this, God’s wonderful dealings with you have been telling +you this, that the Lord God is enough for you. And if you, who +are meant to be a nation of kings and priests to God, to teach all nations +and serve solely Him, fancy that you will be allowed to throw away the +high honour which God has put upon you, and lower yourselves to the +follies and sins of these heathen round you, you are mistaken. +You were meant to be above such folly, you can be above it; and you +shall not prosper by serving God and idols at once; you shall not even +prosper by serving idols alone. God will visit you with a mighty +hand, and with fury poured out, and you shall know that He is the Lord.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, and what has this to do with us? This it +has to do with us—that if God taught the Jews about Himself, He +has taught us still more. If he has shown signs and wonders of +His love, and wrought mightily for the Jews, He has wrought far more +mightily for us; for He spared not His own Son, but gave Him freely +for us. If He promised to teach the Jews, He has promised still +more to teach us; for He has promised His Holy Spirit freely to young +and old, rich and poor, to as many as ask Him, to guide us into all +truth. If he expected the Jews to set an example to all the nations +around, He expects us to do so still more. And if He punished +the Jews, and drove them back again by shame, and affliction, and disappointment, +whenever they went after other gods, and tried to be like the heathen +around, and despised their high calling, and their high privileges, +He will punish us, and drive us back again still more fiercely, and +still more swiftly. God has called us to be a nation of Christians, +and He will not let us be a nation of heathens. We are longing +to do in these days very much as the Jews did of old; we are all too +apt to say to ourselves: “Of course we must love God, or He might +be angry with us; and besides, how else should we get our souls saved? +But the old heathen nations, and a great many nations now, and a great +many rich and comfortable people in England now, too, get on very well +without God, by just worshipping selfishness, and money, and worldly +cunning, and why should not we do the same?—why should we not +worship God and Mammon at once, and serve God on Sundays, and the selfish +ways of the world all the week? Surely then we should be doubly +safe; we should have God and the world on our side both at once.”</p> +<p>Now, my friends, God will not allow us to succeed on that plan. +We are members of His Church, whose head is Jesus, who gave Himself +for sinners; whose members are all brothers of His Church, which is +held together by self-sacrifice and fellow-help. If we try to +be like the heathens, and fancy that we can succeed by selfishness, +and cunning, and covetousness, God will not let us fall from the honour +which He has put on us, and trample our blessings under foot. +He will bring our plans to nought. Whomsoever he may let prosper +in sin, He will not let those who have heard the message prosper in +it. Whatever nation He may let become great by covetousness, and +selfish competing and struggling of man against man, He will not let +England grow great by it. He loves her too well to let her fall +so, and cast away her high honour of being a Christian nation. +By great and sore afflictions, by bringing our cleverest plans to nothing, +He will teach us that we cannot worship God and Mammon at once; that +the sure riches, either for a man or for a nation, are not money, but +righteousness love, justice, wisdom; that this new idol of selfish competition +which men worship nowadays, and fancy that it is the secret cause of +all plenty, and cheapness, and civilisation, has no place in the church +of Jesus Christ, who gave up His own life for those who hated Him, and +came not to do His own will, but the will of His Father; not to enable +men to go to heaven after a life of selfishness here; but by the power +of His Spirit—the spirit of love and fellowship to sweep all selfishness +off the face of God’s good earth. By sore trials and afflictions +will God in His mercy teach this to England, and to every man in England +who is deluded into fancying that he can serve God, and selfishness +at once, till we learn once more, as our forefathers did of old, that +He is the Lord. Because we are His children God will chasten us; +because He receives us, He will scourge us back to Him; because He has +prepared for us things such as eye hath not seen, He will not let us +fill our bellies with the husks which the swine eat, and like the dumb +beasts, snarl and struggle one against the other for a place at His +table, as if it were not wide enough for all His creatures, and for +ten times as many more, forgetting that He is the giver, and fancying +that we are to be the takers, and spoiling the gift itself in our hurry +to snatch it out of our neighbours’ hands. In one word, +God will not give us false prosperity, as the children of the world, +the flesh, and the devil, because he wishes to give us real prosperity +as the sons of God, in the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, who died +on the cross for us.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XIX—THE DELIVERANCE OF JERUSALEM</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And it came to pass that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote +in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and eighty five thousand: and +when they arose in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.—2 +KINGS xix. 35.</p> +<p>You heard read in the first lesson last Sunday afternoon, the threats +of the king of Assyria against Jerusalem, and his defiance of the true +Lord whose temple stood there. In the first lesson for this morning’s +service, you heard of king Hezekiah’s fear and perplexity; of +the Lord’s answer to him by Isaiah, and of the great and wonderful +destruction of the Assyrian army, of which my text tells you. +Of course you have a right to ask: “This which happened in a foreign +country more than two thousand years ago, what has it to do with us?” +And, of course, my preaching about it will be of no use whatsoever, +unless I can show you what it has to do with us; what lesson we English +here, in the year 1851, are to draw, from the help which God sent the +Jews.</p> +<p>But to find out that, we must hear the whole story. Before +we can find out why God drove the Assyrians out of Judæa, we must +find out, it seems to me, why He sent them, or allowed them to come +into Judæa; and to find out that, we must first see how the Jews +were behaving in those times, and what sort of state their country was +in; and we must find out, too, what sort of a man this great king of +Assyria was, and what sort of thoughts were in his heart.</p> +<p>Now, by the favour of God, we can find out this. You will see, +in the first thirty-seven chapters of Isaiah’s prophecies, a full +account of the ways of the Jews in that time, and the reasons why God +allowed so fearful a danger to come upon them. The whole first +thirty-five chapters belong to each other, and are, so to speak, a spiritual +history of the Jews, and the Assyrians, and all the nations round them, +for many years. A spiritual history—that is, not merely +a history of what they did, but of what they were, what was in their +inmost hearts, and thoughts, and spirits; a spiritual history—that +is, not merely of what they thought they were doing, but of what God +saw that they were doing—a history of God’s mind about them +all. Isaiah had God’s spirit on him; and so he saw what +was going on round him in the same light in which God saw it, and hated +it, or praised it, only according as it was good, and according to the +good Spirit of God, or bad, and contrary to that Spirit. So Isaiah’s +history of his own nation, and the nations around him, was very unlike +what they would have written for themselves; just as I am afraid he +would write a very different history of England now, from what we should +write, if we were set to do it. Now what Isaiah thought of the +doings of his countrymen, the Jews, I must tell you in another sermon, +next Sunday. It will be enough this morning to speak of the king +of Assyria.</p> +<p>These kings of Assyria thought themselves the greatest and strongest +beings in the world; they thought that their might was right, and that +they might conquer, and ravage, and plunder and oppress every country +round them for thousands of miles, without being punished. They +thought that they could overcome the true God of Judæa, as they +had conquered the empty idols and false gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and +Iva. But Isaiah saw that they were wrong. He told his countrymen: +“These Assyrian kings are strong, but there is a stronger King +than they, Jehovah the Lord of all the earth. It is He who sent +them to punish nation after nation, Sennacherib is the rod of Jehovah’s +anger; but he is a fool after all; for all his cunning, for all his +armies, he is a fool rushing on his ruin. He may take Tyre, Damascus, +Babylon, Egypt itself, and cast their gods into the fire, for they are +no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone; but let +him once try his strength against the real living God; let the axe once +begin to boast itself against Him that hews therewith; and he will find +out that there is one stronger than he, one who has been using him as +a ‘tool, and who will crush him like a moth the moment he rebels. +His father destroyed Samaria and her idols, but he shall not destroy +Jerusalem. He may ravage Ephraim, and punish the gluttony and +drunkenness, and oppression of the great landlords of Bashan; he may +bring misery and desolation through the length and breadth of the land: +there is reason, and reason but too good for that: but Jerusalem, the +place where God’s honour dwells, the temple without idols, which +is the sign that Jehovah is a living God, against it he shall not cast +up a bank, or shoot an arrow into it.’ “I know,” +said Isaiah, “what he is saying of himself, this proud king of +Assyria: but this is what God says of him, that he is only a puppet, +a tool in the hand of God, to punish these wicked nations whom he is +conquering one by one, and us Jews among the rest. He, this proud +king of Assyria, thinks that he is the chosen favourite of the sun, +and the moon, and the stars, whom, in his folly, he worships as gods. +He will find out who is the real Lord of the earth; he will find out +that this great world is ruled by that very God of Israel whom he despises. +He will find that there is something in this earth, of which he fancies +himself lord and master, which is too strong for him, which will obey +God, and not him. God rules the earth, and God rules Tophet, and +the great fire-kingdoms which boil and blaze for ever in the bowels +of the earth, and burst up from time to time in earthquakes and burning +mountains; and God has ordained that they shall conquer this proud king +of Assyria, though we Jews are too weak and cowardly, and split up into +parties by our wickedness, to make a stand against him.” . . .</p> +<p>This great eruption or breaking out of burning mountains, which would +destroy the king of Assyria’s army, was to happen, Isaiah says, +close to Jerusalem, nay, it was to shake Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem +was to be brought to great misery by everlasting burnings, as well as +by being besieged by the Assyrians; and yet the very shaking of the +earth and eruption of fire which was nearly to destroy it, was to be +the cause of its deliverance. So Isaiah prophesied, and we cannot +doubt his words came true. For this may explain to us the way +in which the king of Assyria’s army was destroyed. The text +says, that when they encamped near Jerusalem the messenger of the Lord +went out, and slew in one night one hundred and eighty thousand of them, +who were all found dead in the morning. How they were killed we +cannot exactly tell, most likely by a stream of poisonous vapour, such +as often comes forth out of the ground during earthquakes and eruptions +of burning mountains, and kills all men and animals who breathe it. +That this was the way that this great army was destroyed, I have little +doubt, not only on account of what Isaiah says in his prophecies of +God’s “sending a blast” upon the king of Assyria, +but because it was just like the old lesson which God had been teaching +the Jews all along, that the earth and all in it was His property, and +obeyed Him. For what could teach them that more strongly than +to see that the earthquakes and burning mountains, of all things on +earth the most awful and most murderous, the very things against which +man has no defence, obeyed God; burst forth when He chose, and did His +work as He willed? For man can conquer almost everything in the +world except these burning mountains and earthquakes. He can sail +over the raging sea in his ships; he can till the most barren soils; +he can provide against famine, rain, and cold, ay, against the thunder +itself: but the earthquakes alone are too strong for him. Against +them no cunning or strength of man is of any use. Without warning, +they make the solid ground under his feet heave, and reel, and sink, +hurling down whole towns in a moment, and burying the inhabitants under +the ruins, as an earthquake did in Italy only a month ago. Or +they pour forth streams of fire, clouds of dust, brimstone, and poisonous +vapour, destroying for miles around the woods and crops, farms and cities, +and burying them deep in ashes, as they have done again and again, both +in Italy and Iceland, and in South America, even during the last few +years. How can man stand against them? What greater warning +or lesson to him than they, that God is stronger than man; that the +earth is not man’s property, and will not obey him, but only the +God who made it? Now that was just what God intended to teach +the Jews all along; that the earth and heaven belonged to Him and obeyed +Him; that they were not to worship the sun and stars, as the Assyrians +and Canaanites did, nor the earth and the rivers as the Egyptians did: +but to worship the God who made sun and stars, earth and rivers, and +to put their trust in Him to guide all heaven and earth aright; and +to make all things, sun, earth, and weather, ay, and the very burning +mountains and earthquakes, work together for good for them if they loved +God. Therefore it was that God gave His law to Moses on the burning +mountain of Sinai, amid thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes, to +show them that the lightnings and the mountains obeyed Him. Therefore +it was that the earthquake opened the ground and swallowed up Korah, +Dathan, and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses. Therefore it was +that God once used an earthquake and eruption to preserve David from +his enemies, as we read in the eighteenth Psalm. And all through +David’s Psalms we find how well he had learnt this great lesson +which God had taught him. Again and again we find verses which +show that he knew well enough who was the Lord of all the earth.</p> +<p>In Isaiah’s time, it seems, God taught the Jews once more the +same thing. He taught them, and the proud king of Assyria, once +and for all, that He was indeed the Lord—Lord of all nations, +and King of kings, and also Lord of the earth, and all that therein +is. He taught it to the poor oppressed Jews by that miraculous +deliverance. He taught it to the cruel invading king by that miraculous +destruction. Just in the height of his glory, after he had conquered +almost every nation in the east, and overcome the whole of Judæa, +except that one small city of Jerusalem, Sennacherib’s great army +was swept away, he neither knew how nor why, in a single night, and +utterly disheartened and abashed, he returned to his own land; and even +there he found that the God of Israel had followed him—that the +idols whom he worshipped could not save him from the wrath of that God +to whom Assyria, just as much as Jerusalem, belonged. For as he +was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, his two sons smote +him with the sword, and there was an end of all his pride and conquests. +. . . Now Nisroch was the name of a star—the star which we call +the planet Saturn; and the Assyrians fancied in their folly, that whosoever +worshipped any particular star, that star would protect and help him. +. . . But, alas for the king of Assyria, there was One above who +had made the stars, and from whose vengeance the stars could not save +him; and so even while he was worshipping, and praying to, this favourite +star of his which could not hear him, he fell dead, a murdered man, +and found out too late how true were the great words of Isaiah when +he prophesied against him.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is the lesson which the Jews had to learn, +and which the king of Assyria had to learn, and which we have to learn +also; and which God will, in His great mercy, teach us over and over +again by bitter trials whensoever we forget it; that The Lord is King; +that He is near us, living for ever, all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving; +that those who really trust in Him shall never be confounded; that those +who trust in themselves are trying their paltry strength against the +God who made heaven and earth, and will surely find out their own weakness, +just when they fancy themselves most successful. So it was in +Hezekiah’s time; so it is now, hard as it may be to us to believe +it. The Lord Jehovah, Jesus Christ, who saved Jerusalem from the +Assyrians, He still is King, let the earth be never so unquiet. +And all men, or governments, or doctrines, or ways of thinking and behaving, +which are contrary to His will, or even pretend that they can do without +Him, will as surely come to nought as that great and terrible king of +Assyria. Though man be too weak to put them down, Christ is not. +Though man neglect to put them down, Christ will not. If man dare +not fight on the Lord’s side against sin and evil, the Lord’s +earth will fight for Him. Storm and tempest, blight and famine, +earthquakes and burning mountains, will do His work, if nothing else +will. As He said Himself, if man stops praising Him, the very +stones will cry out, and own Him as their King. Not that the blessed +Lord is proud, or selfish, or revengeful; God forbid! He is boundless +pity, and love, and mercy. But it is just because He is perfect +love and pity that He hates sin, which makes all the misery upon earth. +He hates it, and he fights against it for ever; lovingly at first, that +He may lead sinners to repentance; for He wills the death of none, but +rather that all should come to repentance. But if a man will not +turn, He will whet his sword; and then woe to the sinner. Let +him be as great as the king of Assyria, he must down. For the +Lord will have none guide His world but Himself, because none but He +will ever guide it on the right path. Yes—but what a glorious +thought, that He will guide it, and us, on that right path. Oh +blessed news for all who are in sorrow and perplexity! Whatsoever +it is that ails you—and who is there, young or old, rich or poor, +who has not their secret ailments at heart?—whatsoever ails you, +whatsoever terrifies you, whatsoever tempts you, trust in the same Lord +who delivered Jerusalem from the Assyrians, and He will deliver you. +He will never suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but +will with the temptation also make a way for you to escape, that you +may be able to bear it. This has been His loving way from the +beginning, and this will be His way until the day when He wipes away +tears from all eyes.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XX—PROFESSION AND PRACTICE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Though they say, “The Lord liveth,” surely they swear +falsely.—JEREMIAH v. 2.</p> +<p>I spoke last Sunday morning of the wonderful way in which the Lord +delivered the Jews from the Assyrian army, and I promised to try and +explain to you this morning, the reason why the Lord allowed the Assyrians +to come into Judæa, and ravage the whole country except the one +small city of Jerusalem.</p> +<p>My text is taken from the first lesson, from the book of the prophet +Jeremiah. And it, I think, will explain the reason to us.</p> +<p>For though Jeremiah lived more than a hundred years after Isaiah, +yet he had much the same message from God to give, and much the same +sins round him to rebuke. For the Jews were always, as the Bible +calls them, “a backsliding people;” and, as the years ran +on, and they began to forget their great deliverance from the Assyrians, +they slid back into the very same wrong state of mind in which they +were in Isaiah’s time, and for which God punished them by that +terrible invasion.</p> +<p>Now, what was this?</p> +<p>One very remarkable thing strikes us at once. That when the +Assyrians came into Judæa, the Jews were <i>not</i> given up to +worshipping false gods. On the contrary, we find, both from the +book of Kings and the book of Chronicles, that a great reform in religion +had taken place among them a few years before. Their king Hezekiah, +in the very first year of his reign, removed the high places, and cut +down the groves (which are said to have been carved idols meant to represent +the stars of heaven), and even broke in pieces the brazen serpent which +Moses had made, because the Jews had begun to worship it for an idol. +He trusted in the Lord God, and obeyed Him, more than any king of Judah. +He restored the worship of the true God in the temple, according to +the law of Moses, with such pomp and glory as had never been seen since +Solomon’s time. And not only did he turn to the true God, +but his people also. From the account which we find in Chronicles, +they seemed to have joined him in the good work. They offered +sin-offerings as a token of the wickedness of which they have been guilty, +in leaving the true God for idols; and all other kinds of offerings +freely and willingly. “And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the +people that God had prepared the people. Moreover, Hezekiah called +all the men in Judæa up to Jerusalem, to keep the passover according +to the law of Moses,” which they had neglected to do for many +years, and the people answered his call and “came, and kept the +feast at Jerusalem seven days, with joy and great gladness, offering +peace-offerings, and making confession to the God of their fathers. +So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon there +was not the like in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites +arose, and blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their +prayer came up to the Lord’s holy dwelling, even to heaven.” +And when it was all finished, the people went out of their own accord, +and destroyed utterly all the idols, and high places, and altars throughout +the land, and returned to their houses in peace.</p> +<p>Now does not all this sound very satisfactory and excellent? +What better state of mind could people be in? What a wonderful +reform, and spread of true religion! The only thing like it, that +we know, is the wonderful reform and spread of religion in England in +the last sixty years, after all the ungodliness and wickedness that +went on from the year 1660 to the time of the French war; the building +of churches, the founding of schools, the spread of Bibles, and tracts, +and the wonderful increase of gospel preachers, so that every old man +will tell you, that religion is talked about and written about now, +a thousand times more than when he was a boy. Indeed, unless a +man makes a profession of some sort of religion or other, nowadays, +he can hardly hope to rise in the world, so religious are we English +become.</p> +<p>Now let us hear what Isaiah thought of all that wonderful spread +of true religion in his time; and then, perhaps, we may see what he +would think of ours now, if he were alive. His opinion is sure +to be the right one. His rules can never fail, for he was an inspired +prophet, and saw things as they are, as God sees them; and therefore +his rules will hold good for ever. Let us see what they were.</p> +<p>The first chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah is called “The +vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and +Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.” +Now this is one prophecy by itself, in the shape of a poem; for in the +old Hebrew it is written in regular verses. The second chapter +begins with another heading, and is the beginning of a different poem; +so that this first chapter is, as it were, a summing up of all that +he is going to say afterwards; a short account of the state of the Jews +for more than forty years. And what is more, this first chapter +of Isaiah must have been written in the reign of Hezekiah, in those +very religious days of which I was just speaking; for it says that the +country was desolate, and Jerusalem alone left. And this never +happened during Isaiah’s lifetime, till the fourteenth year of +Hezekiah, that is, till this great spread of the true religion had been +going on for thirteen years. Now what was Isaiah’s vision? +What did he, being taught by God’s Spirit, <i>see</i> was God’s +opinion of these religious Jews? Listen, my friends, and take +it solemnly to heart!</p> +<p>“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto +the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is +the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full +of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts: and I delight +not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When +ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to +tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination +unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot +away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons +and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; +I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, +I will hide my eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will +not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; +put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do +evil; learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge +the fatherless, plead for the widow. . . . How is the faithful +city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged +in it; but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine +mixed with water; thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; +every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not +the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. +Therefore, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, +Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies.” +. . .</p> +<p>Again, I say, my friends, listen to it, and take it solemnly to heart! +That is God’s opinion of religion, even the truest and soundest +in worship and doctrine, when it is without godliness, without holiness; +when it goes in hand with injustice, and covetousness, and falsehood, +and cheating, and oppression, and neglect of the poor, and keeping company +with the wicked, because it is profitable; in short, when it is like +too much of the religion which we see around us in the world at this +day.</p> +<p>Yes—it was of no use holding to the letter of the law while +they forgot its spirit. God had commanded church-going, and woe +to those, then or now, who neglect it. Yet the Lord asks, “Who +hath required this at your hands, to tread my courts?”. . . +He had commanded the Sabbath-day to be kept holy; and woe to those, +then or now, who neglect it. Yet He says, “Your Sabbaths +I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.” +The Lord had appointed feasts: and yet He says that His soul hated them; +they were a trouble to Him; He was weary to bear them. The Lord +had commanded prayer; and woe to those, then or now, in England, as +in Judæa, who neglect to pray. And yet He says: “When +ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when +ye make many prayers, I will not hear.” And why?—He +himself condescends to tell them the reason, which they ought to have +known for themselves: “Because,” He says, “your hands +are full of blood.” This was the reason why all their religiousness, +and orthodoxy, and church-going, and praying, was only disgusting to +God; because there was no righteousness with it. Their faith was +only a dead, rotten, sham faith, for it brought forth no fruits of justice +and love; and their religion was only hypocrisy, for it did not make +them holy. No doubt they thought themselves pious and sincere +enough; no doubt they thought that they were pleasing God perfectly, +and giving Him all that He could fairly ask of them; no doubt they were +fiercely offended at Isaiah’s message to them; no doubt they could +not understand what he meant by calling them a hypocritical nation, +a second Sodom and Gomorrah, while they were destroying idols, and keeping +the law of Moses, and worshipping God more earnestly than He had been +worshipped since Solomon’s time. But so it was. That +was the message of God to them; that was the vision of Isaiah concerning +them; that there was no soundness in the whole of the nation, “from +the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, nothing but wounds, and +bruises, and putrefying sores”—that is, that the whole heart +and conscience, and ways of thinking, were utterly rotten, and abominable +in the sight of God, even while they were holding the true doctrines +about them, and keeping up the pure worship of Him. This, says +the Lord, is not the way to please me. “He hath showed thee, +oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee, +but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” +To do justly, to love mercy, and then to walk humbly, sure that when +you seem to have done all your duty, you have left only too much of +it undone; even as St. Paul felt when he said, that though he knew nothing +against himself; though he could not recollect a single thing in which +he had failed of his duty to the Corinthians, yet that did not justify +him. “For he that judgeth me,” he says, “is +the Lord.” He sees deeper than I can; and He, alas! may +take a very different view of my conduct from what I do; and this life +of mine, which looks to me, from my ignorance, so spotless and perfect, +may be, in His eyes, full of sins, and weakness, and neglects, and shameful +follies. “To walk humbly with God.” Not to believe +that because you read the Bible, and have heard the gospel, and are +sharp at finding out false doctrine in preachers, and belong to the +Church of England, that therefore you know all about God, and can look +down upon poor papists, and heathens, and say: “This people, which +knoweth not the law, is accursed: but <i>we</i> are enlightened, we +understand the whole Bible, we know everything about God’s will, +and man’s duty; and whosoever differs from us, or pretends to +teach us anything new about God, must be wrong.” Not to +do so, my friends, but to believe what St. Paul tells us solemnly, “That +if any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he +ought to know”—to believe that the Great God, and the will +of God, and the love of God, and the mystery of Redemption, and the +treasures of wisdom which are in His Bible, are, as St. Paul told you, +boundless, like a living well, which can never be fathomed, or drawn +dry, but fills again with fresh water as fast as you draw from it. +That is walking humbly with God; and those who do not do so, but like +the Pharisees of old, believe that they have all knowledge, and can +understand all the mysteries of the Bible, and go through the world, +despising and cursing all parties but their own—let them beware, +lest the Lord be saying of them, as He said of the church of Sardis, +of old: “Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and +have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, +and poor, and blind, and naked.”</p> +<p>How is this? What is this strange thing, without which even +the true knowledge of doctrine is of no use; which, if a man, or a nation +has not, he is poor, and blind, and wretched, and naked in soul, in +spite of all his religion? Isaiah will tell us—What did +he say to the Jews in his day?</p> +<p>“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings +from before my eyes. Do justice to the fatherless, and relieve +the widow!” “Do that,” says the Lord, “and +then your repentance will be sincere. Church building and church +going are well—but they are not repentance—churches are +not souls. I ask you for your hearts, and you give me fine stones +and fine words. I want souls—I want <i>your</i> souls—I +want you to turn to me. And what am I? saith the Lord. I +am justice, I am love, I am the God of the oppressed, the fatherless, +the widow.—That is my character. Turn to justice, turn to +love, turn to mercy; long to be made just, and loving, and merciful; +see that your sin has been just this, and nothing else, that you have +been unjust, unloving, unmerciful. Repent for your neglect and +cruelty, and repent in dust and ashes, when you see what wretched hypocrites +you really are. And then, my boundless mercy and pardon shall +be open to you. As you wish to be to me, so will I be to you; +if you wish to become merciful, you shall taste my mercy; if you wish +to become loving to others, you shall find that I love you; if you wish +to become just, you shall find that I am just, just to deal by you as +you deal by others; faithful and just to forgive you your sins, and +to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And then, all shall be +forgiven and forgotten; “though your sins be as scarlet, they +shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall +be as wool.”</p> +<p>Surely, my friends, these things are worth taking to heart; for this +is the sin which most destroys all men and nations—high religious +profession with an ungodly, covetous, and selfish life. It is +the worst and most dangerous of all sins; for it is like a disease which +eats out the heart and life without giving pain; so that the sick man +never suspects that anything is the matter with him, till he finds himself, +to his astonishment, at the point of death. So it was with the +Jews, three times in their history. In the time of Isaiah, under +King Hezekiah; in the time of Jeremiah, under King Josiah; and last +and worst of all, in the time of Jesus Christ. At each of these +three times the Jews were high religious professors, and yet at each +of these three times they were abominable before God, and on the brink +of ruin. In Isaiah’s time their eyes seemed to have been +opened at last to their own sins. Their fearful danger, and wonderful +deliverance from the Assyrians of which you heard last Sunday, seem +to have done that for them; as God intended it should. During +the latter part of Hezekiah’s reign they seemed to have turned +to God with their hearts, and not with their lips only; and Isaiah can +find no words to express the delight which the blessed change gives +him. Nevertheless, they soon fell back again into idolatry; and +then there was another outward lip-reformation under the good King Josiah; +and Jeremiah had to give them exactly the same warning which Isaiah +had given them nearly a hundred years before. But that time, alas! +they would not take the warning; and then all the evil which had been +prophesied against them came on them. From hypocritical profession, +they fell back again into their old idolatry; their covetousness, selfishness, +party-quarrels, and profligate lives made them too weak and rotten to +stand against Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, when he attacked them; +and Jerusalem was miserably destroyed, the temple burnt, and the Jews +carried captives to Babylon. There they repented in bitter sorrow +and slavery; and God allowed them after seventy years to return to their +own land. Then at first they seemed to be a really converted people, +and to be worshipping God in spirit and in truth. They never again +fell back into the idolatry of the heathen. So far from it, they +became the greatest possible haters of it; they went on keeping the +law of God with the utmost possible strictness, even to the day when +the Lord Jesus appeared among them. Their religious people, the +Scribes and Pharisees, were the most strict, moral, devout people of +the whole world. They worshipped the very words and letters of +the Bible; their thoughts seemed filled with nothing but God and the +service of God: and yet the Lord Jesus told them that they were in a +worse state, greater sinners in the sight of God, than they had ever +been; that they, who hated idolatry, were filling up the measure of +their idolatrous forefathers’ iniquity; that the guilt of all +the righteous blood shed on earth was to fall on them; that they were +a race of serpents, a generation of vipers; and that even He did not +see how they could escape the damnation of hell. And they proved +how true His words were, by crucifying the very Lord of whom their much-prized +Scriptures bore witness, whom they pretended to worship day and night +continually; and received the just reward of their deeds in forty years +of sedition, bloodshed, and misery, which ended by the Romans coming +and sweeping the nation of the Jews from off the face of the earth.</p> +<p>So much for profession without practice. So much for true doctrine +with dishonest and unholy lives. So much for outward respectability +with inward sinfulness. So much for hating idolatry, while all +the while men’s hearts are far from God!</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, let us all search our hearts carefully in these times +of high profession and low practice; lest we be adding our drop of hypocrisy +to the great flood of it which now stifles this land of England, and +so fall into the same condemnation as the Jews of old, in spite of far +nobler examples, brighter and wider light, and more wonderful and bounteous +blessings.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXI—THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; +and shall begin to beat the men servants and the maid servants, and +to eat and drink and to be drunken; the lord of that servant will come +in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not +aware, and will cut him asunder, and will appoint him his portion with +the unbelievers.—LUKE xii. 45, 46.</p> +<p>But why with the unbelievers? The man had not disbelieved that +he had any Lord at all; he had only believed that his Lord delayed his +coming. And why was he to be put with those who do not believe +in him at all? This is a very fearful question, friends, for us, +when we think how it is the fashion among us now, to believe that our +Lord delays His coming.—And surely most of us do believe that? +For is it not our notion that, when the Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, +He went away a great distance off, perhaps millions of miles beyond +the stars; and that He will not come back again till the last—which, +for aught we know, and as we rather expect, may not happen for hundreds +or thousands of years to come? Is not that most people’s +notion, rich as well as poor? And if that is not believing that +our Lord delays His coming, what is?</p> +<p>But, you may answer, the Creed says plainly, that He ascended into +heaven and sits at the right hand of God. Ah! my friends, those +great words of the Creed which you take into your lips every Sunday, +mean the very opposite to what most people fancy. They do not +say, “The Lord Jesus has left this poor earth to itself and its +misery:” but they say, “Lo, He is with you, even to the +end of the world.” True, He is ascended into heaven. +And how far off is heaven?—for so far off is the Lord Jesus, and +no farther. Not so far off, my friends, after all, if you knew +where to find it. Truly said the great and good poet, now gone +home to his reward:</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>Heaven lies about us in our infancy.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>And if we lose sight of it as we grow up to be men and women, it +is not because heaven goes farther off, but because we grow less heavenly. +Even now, so close is heaven to us, that any one of us might enter into +heaven this moment, without stirring from his seat. One real cry +from the depths of your heart—“Father, forgive thy sinful +child!”—one real feeling of your own worthlessness, and +weakness, and emptiness, and of God’s righteousness, and love, +and mercy, ready for you—and you are in heaven there and then, +as near the feet of the blessed Lord Jesus, as Mary Magdalen was, when +she tried to clasp them in the garden. I am serious, my friends; +I am not given to talk fine figures of poetry; I am talking sober, straightforward, +literal truth. And the Lord sits at God’s right hand too? +you believe that? Then how far off is God?—for as far off +as God is, so far off is the Lord Jesus, and no farther. What +says St. Paul? That “God is not far off from any one of +us—for in Him we live, and move, and have our being” . . +. IN Him . . . . How far off is that? And is not God everywhere, +if indeed we can say that He is any where? Then the Lord Jesus, +who is at God’s right hand, is everywhere also—here, now, +with us this day. One would have thought that there was no need +to prove that by argument, considering that His own blessed lips told +us: “Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the world;” and +again: “Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, +there am I in the midst of them.” And this is the Lord whom +people fancy is gone away far above the stars, till the end of time! +Oh, my friends, rather bow your heads before Him here this moment. +For here He is among us now, listening to every thought of our poor +sinful hearts. . . . He is where God is—God <i>in</i> whom +we live, and move, and have our being—and that is everywhere. +Do you wish Him to be any nearer, my friends? Or do you—do +you—take care what your hearts answer, for He is watching them—do +you in the depth of your hearts wish that He were a little farther off? +Does the notion of His being here on this earth, watching and interfering +(as we call it nowadays in our atheism) with us and everything, seem +unpleasant and burdensome? Is it more comfortable to you to think +that He is away far up beyond the stars? Do you feel the lighter +and freer for fancying that He will not visit the earth for many a year +to come? In short, is it in your <i>hearts</i> that you are saying, +The Lord delays His coming?</p> +<p>That is a very important question. For mind, a pious man might +be, as many a pious man has been in these days, deceived by bad teaching +into the notion that Jesus Christ was gone far away. But if he +were a truly pious man, if he truly loved the Lord, that would be a +painful thought—as I should have fancied, an unbearable thought—to +him, when he looked out upon this poor miserable, confused world. +He would be crying night and day: “Oh, that thou wouldest rend +the heavens and come down!” He would be in an agony of pity +for this poor deserted earth, and of longing for the Saviour of it to +come back and save it. He would never have a moment’s peace +of mind till he had either seen the Lord come back again in His glory, +or till he had found out—what I am sure the blessed Lord would +teach him as a reward for his love—that it was all a dream and +a nightmare, and that the Lord of the earth was in the earth, and close +to him, all along; only that his weak eyes were held so that he did +not know the Lord and the Lord’s works when he saw them.</p> +<p>But that was not the temper of this servant in the Lord’s parable. +I am afraid it is by no means the temper of many of us nowadays. +The servant said <i>in his heart</i>, that his master would be long +away. It was his heart put the thought into his head. He +took to the notion <i>heartily</i>, as we say, because he was glad to +believe it was true; glad to think that his master would not come to +“interfere” with him; and that in the meantime he might +be lord and master himself, and treat everyone in the house as if he +himself was the owner of it, and tyrannise over his fellow-servants, +and enjoy himself in luxury and good living. So says David of +the fool: “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God;” +his heart puts that thought into his head. He wishes to believe +that there is no God; and when there is a will there is a way; and he +soon finds out reasons and arguments enough to prove what he is so very +anxious to prove.</p> +<p>Now, my friends, I am afraid that there is not so much difference +as people fancy, between the fool who says in his heart, “There +is no God,” and the fool who says in his heart, “My master +delays His coming.”—“God has left the world to us, +and we must shift for ourselves in it.” The man who likes +to be what St. Paul calls “without God in the world,” is +he so very much wiser than the man who likes to have no God at all? +St. James did not think so; for what does he say: “Thou believest +that there is one God? Thou doest well—the devils also believe +and tremble.” They know as much as that; but it does them +no good—only increases their fear. “But wilt thou +know, oh! vain man, that faith without works,” believing without +doing, “is dead?” And are not too many, as I said +just now, afraid of the thought of God; so afraid of it that they wish +to allow the Son of God as little share as possible in the management +of this world? Have not too many a belief without works; a mere +belief that there is one God and not two, which hardly, from one year’s +end to another, makes them do one single thing which they would not +have done if they had believed that there was no God at all? Fear +of the law, fear of the policeman, fear of losing their work or their +custom; fear of losing their neighbour’s good word—that +is what keeps most people from breaking loose. There is not much +of the fear of God in that, or the love of God either as far as I can +see. They go through life as if they had made a covenant with +God, that He should have his own way in the world to come, if He would +only let them have their way in this world. Oh! my friends, my +friends, do you think God is God of the next world and not of this also? +Do you think the kingdom, and the power, and the glory will be His a +great many hundreds of years hence, in what you call heaven; and will +not see what every page of Scripture tells you, what you yourself say +every time you repeat the Lord’s Prayer, that the Kingdom, and +the Power and the Glory are His now, here in this life, and that He +has committed all things to His Son Jesus Christ and given the power +into His hand, that He may rule this earth in righteousness now, here, +in this life, and conquer back for God one by one, if it be possible, +every creature upon earth? So says the Bible—and people +profess nowadays to believe their Bibles. My friends, too many, +nowadays, while they profess very loudly to believe what the Bible says, +only believe what their favourite teachers tell them that the Bible +says. If they really read their Bibles for themselves, and took +God at His word, there would be less tyrannising of one man over another, +less grinding down of men by masters, and of men by each other—for +the poor are often very hard on each other in England, now, my friends—very +envious and spiteful, and slanderous about each other. They say +that dog won’t eat dog—yet how many a poor man grudges and +supplants his neighbour, and tries to get into his place and beat him +down in his wages? And there are those who call themselves learned +men, who tell the poor that that is God’s will, and the way by +which God intends them to prosper. If those men believed their +Bibles, they would be repenting in sackcloth and ashes for having preached +such a devil’s sermon to God’s children. If men really +read their Bibles, there would be less eating and drinking with the +drunken; less idleness and luxury among the rich; less fancying that +a man has a right to do what he likes with his own, because all men +would know that they were only the Lord’s stewards, bound to give +an account to him of the good which they had done with what he has lent +them. There would be fewer parents fancying that they can tyrannise +over their children, bringing them up as heathens for the sake of the +few pence they earn; using bad language, and doing shameful things before +them, which they dared not do if they recollected that the Lord was +looking on; beating and scolding them as if they were brutes or slaves, +to save themselves the trouble of teaching them gently what the poor +little creatures cannot know without being taught: and most shameful +of all, robbing the poor children of their little earnings to spend +it themselves in drunkenness. Ah, blessed Lord! if people did +but know how near Thou wert to them, all that would vanish out of England, +as the night clouds vanish away before the sun!</p> +<p>And He is near, my friends: He is watching; He is governing; He is +at hand: and in this life or in the life to come, forget Him as we choose, +He will make us know plain enough, and without any doubt whatsoever, +that He is the Lord.</p> +<p>He has fulfilled this awful parable of his about the unfaithful servant +already; many a time, against many a man, many a great king, and prince, +and nation; and he will fulfil it against each and every man, from the +nobleman in his castle to the labourer in his cottage, who says in his +heart, “My Lord delays his coming,” and begins to tyrannise +over those who are weaker than himself, and to enjoy himself as he likes, +and forget that he is not his own, but bought with the price of Christ’s +blood, and bound to work for Christ’s kingdom and glory.</p> +<p>So he punished the popes of Rome, three hundred years ago. +When all the nations in Europe were listening to them and obeying them, +and they had put into their hands by God a greater power of doing good +than He ever gave to any human being before or since, what did they +do? Instead of using their power for Christ, they used it for +themselves. Instead of preaching to all nations the good news +that Christ the Son of God was their King, they said: “I, the +pope, am your king. Christ is gone far away into heaven, and has +committed all power on earth to us; we are Christ’s vicars; we +are in Christ’s place; He has entrusted to our keeping all the +treasures of His merits and His grace, and no one can get any blessing +from Christ, unless we choose to give it him.” So they said +in their hearts just what the foolish servant in the parable said: and +fancying that they were lords and masters, naturally enough went on +to behave as such; to beat the men-servants and maid-servants, that +is, to oppress and tyrannise over the bodies and minds and consciences +of men, and women too, God knows; and to eat and drink with the drunken, +to live in riot and debauchery. But the Lord was not so far off +as those foolish popes fancied. And in an hour when they were +not aware, He came and cut them asunder. He snatched from them +one-half of the nations of Europe, and England among the rest; He punished +them by doubt, ignorance, confusion, and utter blindness, and appointed +them their portion among the unbelievers in such terrible earnest, that +to this very day, to judge by the things which they say and do, it is +difficult to persuade ourselves that the popes really believe in any +God at all.</p> +<p>So He did, only three years ago, to many kings and princes on the +Continent. <a name="citation217"></a><a href="#footnote217">{217}</a> +They professed to be Christians; but they had forgotten that they were +Christ’s stewards, that all their power came from Him, and that +he had given it them only to use for the good of their subjects. +And they too went on saying: “The Lord delays His coming, +we are rulers in this world, and God is ruler in the world to come.” +So they, too, oppressed their subjects, and lived in ease on what they +wrung out of the poor wretches below them. But the Lord was nearer +them, too, than they fancied; and all at once—as they were fancying +themselves all safe and prosperous, and saying, “We are those +who ought to speak, who is Lord over us?”—their fool’s +paradise crumbled from under their feet. A few paltry mobs of +foolish starving people, without weapons, without leaders, without good +counsel to guide them, rose against them. And what did they do? +They might have crushed down the rebels most of them, in a week, if +they had had courage. And in the only country where the rebels +were really strong, that is, in Austria, all might have been quiet again +at once, if the king had only had the heart to do common justice, and +keep his own solemn oaths. But no—the terror of the Lord +came upon them. He most truly cut them in sunder. They were +every man of a different mind, and none of them in the same mind a day +together; they became utterly conscience-stricken, terrified, perplexed, +at their wit’s end, not having courage or determination to do +anything, or even to do nothing, and fled shamefully away one after +another, to their everlasting disgrace. And those of them who +have got back their power since are showing sadly enough, by their obstinate +folly and wickedness, that the Lord has appointed them their portion +with the unbelievers, and left them to fill up the measure of their +iniquity, and drink deep the cup of wrath which is in His hand, full +and mixed for those who forget God.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, let us lay these things solemnly to heart. +Do not fancy that the Lord will punish the wicked great, and forget +the wicked small. In His sight there is neither great nor small; +all are small enough for Him to crush like the moth; and all are too +great to be overlooked, or forgotten by Him, without whom not a sparrow +falls to the ground. Again I say, my friends, let us lay His parable +to heart. Let us who have property, and station, and education, +never forget who has given it us, and for whom we must use it. +Let us never forget that to whom much is given, of them will much be +required. Let us pray to the Lord daily to write upon our inmost +hearts those solemn words: “Who made thee to differ from another; +and what hast thou which thou didst not receive?” Let us +look on our servants, our labourers, on every human being over whom +we have any influence, as weaker brothers whom God has commanded us +to help, teach, and guide in body, mind, and spirit, not that we may +make them our slaves, but make them free, manful, self-helping, and +in due time independent of us and of everyone except God.</p> +<p>And you young people, who have no authority over anyone, but over +your own bodies; to whom the Lord has given little or nothing to manage +and take care of except your own health and strength—do not let +the devil tempt you to believe that that health and strength is your +own property, to do what you like with. It belongs to the Lord +who died for you, and He will require an account from you how you have +used it. Do not let the devil tempt you to believe that the Lord +delays His coming to you—that you may do what you like now, in +the prime of your years, and that it will be time enough to think about +God and religion when God visits you with cares, and sickness, and old +age. That is the fancy of too many; but it will surely turn out +to be a mistake. Those who misuse their youth, and health, and +strength, in tyrannising over those who are weaker than themselves, +and laughing at those who are not as clever as themselves, and eating +and drinking with the drunken—the Lord will come to them in an +hour when they are not aware, and cut them asunder, in some way or other, +by loss of work, or poverty, or sickness, or doubt and confusion, and +bitter shame and perplexity of mind; till they find out, poor things, +that they have been living like the unbelievers all their youth, without +God in the world, while God’s love and God’s teaching, and +God’s happiness was ready for them; and have to go back again +to their Father and their Lord, and cry: “Father, we have sinned +against heaven and before Thee, and are no more worthy to be called +Thy children!” Oh, you who have been fancying that the Lord +was gone far away, and that you had a right to do what you liked with +the powers which He has given you, go back to Him, now at once, and +confess that you, and all belonging to you, belong to Him, and ask Him +to teach you how to use it aright. Ask Him to teach you how to +please Him with it, and not yourselves only. Ask Him to teach +you how to do good to all around you, and not merely to do what you +like. Ask Him to show you how to do your duty to Him, and to your +neighbours, for whom He died on the cross, in that station of life to +which He has called you. Ask Him to show you how to use your property, +your knowledge, your business, your strength, your health, so that you +may be a blessing and a help to those whom He blesses and helps, and +who, He wishes, should bless and help each other. Go back to Him +at once, my friends. You will not have far to go, seeing that +He is now even among us here hearing my clumsy words; and I do hope, +and trust, and pray, bringing them home to some of your hearts with +that spirit and power of His, which is like a two-edged sword, piercing +to the very depths of a man’s heart, and showing him how ugly +it is—and how noble the Lord will make it, if he will but repent +and pray to Him who never cast out any that came to Him.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXII—THE WAY TO WEALTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He +is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon +him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.—ISAIAH lv. +6, 7.</p> +<p>Some of you, surely, while the first lesson was being read this morning, +must have felt the beauty of it; and if you were thoughtful, perplexed, +weary, sad at heart, perhaps you felt that it was more than beautiful—that +it was full of comfort. And so it should be full of comfort to +you, my friends. God meant it to give you comfort. For though +it was written and spoken by a man of like passions with ourselves, +it was just as truly written and spoken by God, who made heaven and +earth. It is true and everlasting, the message which it brings, +and like all true and everlasting words, it is the voice of God who +cannot change; who makes no difference between Jew and Gentile, between +us in England here, and nations which perished hundreds of years ago.</p> +<p>And what is its message? What was God’s word to the old +Jews, among all their sin, and sorrow, and labour?</p> +<p>Is it the message of a stern judge, saying: “Pay me that thou +owest, to the uttermost farthing; and if you cannot do that, fret and +torment yourselves in shame and terror here on earth, for all your sins, +if, possibly, you may chance to change my mind, and find forgiveness +at the last day?”</p> +<p>Is it the message of a proud tyrant, saying: “If you are miserable, +and fallen, and sinful, what is that to me? I am perfect, blest, +contented with myself, alone in my glory, far away beyond the sight +of men, beyond the sun and stars—what are you worms of earth to +me?”</p> +<p>Or is it the voice of a loving Father, calling to his self-willed +children who have gone proudly and boldly away from their Father’s +house, and thrown off their Father’s government, and said in their +conceit: “We are men. Do not we know good and evil? +Do we not know what is our interest? Cannot we judge for ourselves, +and shift for ourselves, and take care of ourselves? Why are we +to be barred from pleasant things here, and profitable things there? +We will be our own masters.”</p> +<p>To self-willed children who have said thus, and done thus in their +foolish hearts, and have found all their conceit, and shrewdness, only +lead them into sorrow, and perplexity, and distress.—Who have +found that with all their cleverness they could not get the very good +things for which they left their Father’s house; or if they get +them, find no enjoyment in them, but only discontent, and shame, and +danger, and a sad self-accusing heart—spending their money for +that which does not feed them after all, and labouring hard for things +which do not satisfy them; always longing for something more—always +finding the pleasure, or the profit, or the honour which a little way +off looked so fine, looked quite ugly and worthless, when they come +up to it and get hold of it—finding all things full of labour; +the eye never satisfied with seeing, or the ear with hearing; the same +thing coming over and over again. Each young man starting with +gay hopes, as if he were the first man that ever was born, and he was +going to do out of hand such fine things as man never did before, and +make his own fortune, and set the world to right at once; and then as +he grows older, falling into the same weary ruts as his forefathers +went dragging on it, every fresh year bringing its own labour and its +own sorrow; and dying like them, taking nothing away with him of all +he has earned, and crying with his last breath: “That which is +crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be +numbered. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh +under the sun, for all is vanity and vexation of spirit?”</p> +<p>To self-willed children, who have tried their own way ever since +they were born, they and their fathers before them, and found it go +round in a ring and leave them just where they started in heart and +soul, and, on their death-beds, in purse and power also—</p> +<p>To such struggling, dissatisfied beings—such as nine-tenths +of the men and women on this earth, alas! are still—comes the +word of this loving Father:</p> +<p>“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters! and he +that hath no money, come, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and +milk without money, and without price.” Why do you fancy +that money can give you all you want? Why this labouring and straining +after money, as if it was God, as if it made heaven and earth, and all +therein? Is money a God? or money’s worth? “I am God,” +saith the Lord, “and beside me there is none else. It is +I who give, and not money. It is I who save men, and not money. +And I do save, and I do give freely to all. Come, and try my mercy, +and see if my word be not true.”</p> +<p>This struggling and snarling, like dogs over a bone—what profit +comes of it? are you happier? are you wiser? are you better? are you +more at peace with your neighbours; more at peace with your own hearts +and consciences? If you are, money has not made you so, nor plotting, +and scraping, and struggling, and pushing your neighbour down, that +you may rise a few inches on his shoulders. No. Hear what +the voice of your Father says is the true way to wealth and comfort, +after which you all struggle and labour so hard in vain.—“Hearken +diligently unto me, and you shall eat that which is good, and your soul +shall delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto +me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting +covenant with you, even the sure mercies,” or rather “the +faithful oath which I sware unto David?” And what is this +faithful oath which God sware to David.—“Of the fruit of +thy body, I will set on thy seat.” A promise of a righteous +king who should arise in David’s family. How far David understood +the full meaning of that glorious promise we cannot tell. He thought +most probably, at first, that Solomon, his son, was to be the king who +would fulfil it. But all through many of his psalms, there are +deep and great words about some nobler and more perfect king than Solomon—about +one who, as Isaiah says here, would perfectly witness to the people +that God was their King; one who would be a perfect leader and commander +of the people; a holy one of Israel, who would sit on God’s right +hand; to hear the good news of whom, the Jews would call nations whom +they then did not know of, and for whose sake nations who did not know +them would run to them. And dimly David did see this, that God +would raise up a true Christ, that is, one truly anointed by God, chosen +and sent out by God, to sit on his throne, and be perfectly what David +was only in part; a King made perfect by suffering, a King of poor men, +a King who bore the sins and carried the iniquities of all His people, +from the highest to the lowest. We know who that was. We +know clearly what David only knew dimly, what Isaiah only knew a little +more clearly. We know who was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified +under Pontius Pilate, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right +hand of God, ever praying for us, ruling the world in righteousness, +Jesus the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, to whom all power is given in +heaven and earth.</p> +<p>But Isaiah, though he knew Him only dimly, still knew Him. +He did not know that the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, would take on +Himself the form of a poor man, and be called the son of the carpenter. +Such boundless love and condescension in the Son of God he never could +have fancied for himself, and God had not chosen to reveal it to him; +or to anyone else in those days. But this he did see, that the +Lord Jesus, He whom he calls the Holy One of Israel, was near the Jews +in his time; that He was watching over them, mourning over their sins, +arguing with them, and calling them to return to Him with most human +love and tenderness, as a husband to the woman whom he loves in spite +of her unfaithfulness to him. As he says to his sinful and distressed +country in the chapter before this: “Thy Maker is thy husband: +the Lord of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, +the Lord of the whole earth shall He be called. For the Lord hath +called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. For a small +moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. +In a little anger I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting +kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.”</p> +<p>This, then, Isaiah knew—that the heart of the Holy Lord pitied +and yearned after those poor sinful Jews, as a husband’s after +a foolish and sinful wife. And how much more should we believe +the same, how much more should we believe that His heart pities and +yearns for all foolish and sinful people here in England now! +We who know a thousand times more than Isaiah knew of His love, His +pity, His condescension, which led Him to sacrifice Himself upon the +cross for us? Surely, surely, if Isaiah had a right to say to +those Jews, “Seek the Lord while He may be found,” I have +a thousand times as much right to say it to you. If Isaiah had +a right to say to those Jews, “Let the wicked forsake his ways +and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, +and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly +pardon,” then I have a right to say it to you.</p> +<p>Free mercy, utter pardon, pardon for all, even for the worst. +And what is the argument which Isaiah uses to make his countrymen repent? +Is it “Repent, or you shall be damned: Repent because God’s +wrath and curse is against you. The Lord hates you and despises +you, and you must crawl to His feet like beaten hounds, and entreat +Him not to strike you into hell as He intends”? Not so; +it was because God loved the Jews, that they were to repent. It +is because God loves you that you must repent. “Incline +your ear,” saith the Lord, “and come unto me, hear, and +your soul shall live; and you shall eat that which is good, and your +soul shall delight itself in fatness.” Yes, God is love. +God’s delight and glory is to give; in spite of all our sins He +gives and gives, sending rain and fruitful seasons to just and unjust, +to fill their hearts with joy and gladness; and all the while men fancy +that it is not God that gives, but they who take. God has not +left Himself, as St. Paul says, without a witness; every fruitful shower +and quickening gleam of sunshine cries to us—See! God is love: +He is the giver. And men will not hear that voice. They +say in their hearts, “The Lord is far away above the skies; He +does not care for us: we must help ourselves, each man to what he can +get off this earth; nay, even, when we are hard put to it for a living, +we must break God’s laws to keep ourselves alive, and so steal +from God’s table the very good things which He offers us freely.”</p> +<p>But some will say: “He does not give freely; we must work and +struggle. Why do you mock poor hard-worked creatures with such +words as these?”</p> +<p>Ask that question of God, my friends, and not of me. Isaiah +said that those who hearkened to God diligently should eat what is good. +The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said the same—that if we seek first +the kingdom of God and His justice, all other things should be added +to them. He did not mean us to be idle, God forbid! but this He +meant, that if we, each in his business and calling, put steadily before +ourselves what is right, what God would wish us, His subjects, to be +in His Kingdom—if instead of making our first thought in every +business we take in hand, “What will suit my interest best, what +will raise most money, what will give me most pleasure?” we said +to ourselves all day long, “What will be most right, and just, +and merciful for us to do; what will be most pleasing to a God who is +love and justice itself? what will do most good to my neighbour as well +as myself?” then all things would go well with us. Then +we should be prosperous and joyful. Then our plans would succeed +and our labour bring forth real profit to us, because they would be +according to the will of God: we should be fellow-workers with Jesus +Christ in the great work of doing good to this poor distracted world, +and His help and blessing would be with us.</p> +<p>And if you ask me, how can this come to pass, I must answer, as Isaiah +does in this same chapter: “The Lord’s ways are not as our +ways, nor His thoughts as our thoughts, but higher than ours, as the +heavens are above the earth.” But if we do turn to God, +and repent each man of us of his selfishness, his unfaithfulness, his +hard-heartedness, his covetousness, his self-will, his ungodliness—then +God’s blessing, as Isaiah says, will come down on us, and spring +up among us, we know not how or whence, like the rain and snow, which +comes down from heaven and waters the earth, and makes it bud and bring +forth to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall +be the Lord’s word, which goes out of His mouth; it will not return +to Him void, but will accomplish what He pleases, and prosper in that +whereto He sends it. He will teach us and guide us in the right +way. He will put His word into the mouths of true teachers to +show us our duty. He will pour out His spirit upon us, to make +us love our duty. In one way and another, we know not how, we +shall be taught what is good for England, good for each parish, good +for each family. And wealth, peace, and prosperity for rich and +poor will be the fruit of obeying the word of God, and giving up our +hearts to be led by His spirit. As it was to be in Judæa, +of old, if they repented, so will it be with us. They should go +forth with joy and do their work in peace. The hills should break +before them into singing, and all the trees of the field should clap +their hands; instead of thorns should come up timber-trees: instead +of briers, garden-shrubs. The whole cultivation of the country +was to improve, and be to the Lord for a name, and a sign for ever that +the true way to wealth and prosperity is the way of God, justice, mercy +to each other, and obedience to the will of Him who made heaven and +earth, trees and fruitful fields, rain and sunshine, and gives the blessings +of them freely to His children of mankind, in proportion as they look +up to Him as a loving Father, and return to him day by day, with childlike +repentance, and full desire to amend their lives according to His holy +word.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXIII—THE LOVE OF CHRIST</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that +if one died for all, then were all dead. And that He died for +all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, +but unto Him which died for them, and rose again.—2 COR. v. 14, +15.</p> +<p>What is the use of sermons?—what is the use of books? +Here are hundreds and thousands of people hearing weekly and daily what +is right, and how many <i>do</i> what is right?—much less <i>love</i> +what is right? What can be the reason of this, that men should +know the better and choose the worse? What motive can one find +out?—what reason or argument can one put before people, to make +them do their duty? How can one stir them up to conquer themselves; +to conquer their own love of pleasure, laziness, cowardice, conceit, +above all their own selfishness, and do simply what is right, morning, +noon, and night? That is a question worth asking and considering, +for there ought to be some use in sermons and in books; and there ought +to be some use in every one of us too. Woe to the man who is of +no use! The Lord have mercy on his soul; for he needs it! +It is, indeed, worth his while to take any trouble which will teach +him a motive for being useful; in plain words, stir him up to do his +duty, to do his rights; for a man’s rights are not, as the world +thinks, what is right others should do to him, but what is right he +should do to others. Our duty is our right, the only thing which +is right for us. What motive will constrain us, that is, bind +us, and force us to do that?</p> +<p>Will self-interest? Will a man do right because you tell him +it is his interest, it will pay him to do it? Look round you and +see.—The drunkard knows that drinking will ruin him, and yet he +gets drunk. The spendthrift knows that extravagance will ruin +him, and yet he throws away his money still. The idler knows that +he is wasting his only chance for all eternity, and yet he puts the +thought out of his head, and goes on idling. The cheat knows that +he is in danger of being almost certainly found out sooner or later; +he knows too that he is burdening his own conscience with the curse +of inward shame and self-contempt; and yet he goes on cheating. +The hard master knows, or ought to know (for there is quite enough to +prove it to him) that it would pay him better in the long run to be +more merciful, and less covetous; that by grinding those whom he employs +down to the last farthing, he degrades them till they become burdens +on him and curses to him; that what he gains by high prices, he will +lose in the long run by bad debts; that what he saves in low wages, +he will pay in extra poor-rates; and that even if he does make money +out of the flesh and bones of those beneath him, that money ill gotten +is sure to be ill spent, that there is a curse on it, that it brings +a curse in the gnawing of a man’s own conscience, and a curse +too in the way it flows away from his family as fast as it flowed to +them. “He that by usury and unjust gain increases his wealth, +shall gather for him that will pity the poor.” So said Solomon +of old. And men who worship Mammon find it come true daily, and +see that, taking all things together, a man’s life does not consist +in the abundance of the things which he possesses, and that those who +make such haste to be rich, fall, as the apostle says, “into temptation +and a snare, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows.” +Such a man sees his neighbours making money, and making themselves more +unhappy, anxious, discontented by it; he sees, in short, that it is +not his interest to do nothing but make money and save money: and yet +in spite of that, he thinks of nothing else. Self-interest cannot +keep him from that sin. I do not believe that self-interest ever +kept any man from any <i>sin</i>, though it may keep him from many an +imprudence. Self-interest may make many a man respectable, but +whom did it ever make good? You may as well make house-walls of +paper, or take a rush for a walking-stick, as take self-interest to +keep you upright, or even prudent. The first shake—and the +rush bends, and the paper wall breaks, and a man’s selfish prudence +is blown to the winds. Let pleasure tempt him, or ambition, or +the lust of making money by speculation; let him take a spite against +anyone; let him get into a passion; let his pride be hurt; and he will +do the maddest things, which he knows to be entirely contrary to his +own interest, just to gratify the fancy of the moment. Those who +call themselves philosophers, and fancy that men’s self-interest, +if they can only feel it strong enough, would make all men just and +merciful to each other, know as little of human nature as they do of +God or the devil.</p> +<p>What <i>will</i> make a man to do his duty? Will the hope of +heaven? That depends very much upon what you mean by heaven. +But what people commonly mean by going to heaven, is—not going +to hell. They believe that they must go to either one place or +the other. They would much sooner of course stay on earth for +ever, because their treasure is here, and their heart too. But +that cannot be, and as they have no wish to go to hell, they take up +with heaven instead, by way of making the best of a bad matter.</p> +<p>I ask you solemnly, my friends, each one of you, which would you +sooner do—stay here on earth, or go to heaven? You need +not answer <i>me</i>. I am afraid many of you would not dare answer +me as you really felt, because you would be ashamed of not liking to +go to heaven. But answer God. Answer yourselves in the sight +of God. When you keep yourselves back from doing a wrong thing, +because you know it is wrong, is it for love of heaven, or for mere +fear of being punished in hell? Some of you will answer boldly +at once: “For neither one nor the other; when we keep from wrong, +it is because we hate and despise what is wrong: when we do right it +is because it is right and we ought to do it. We can’t explain +it, but there is something in us which tells us we ought to do right.” +Very good, my friends, I shall have a word to say to you presently; +but in the meantime there are some others who have been saying to themselves: +“Well, I know we do right because we are afraid of being punished +if we do not do it, but what of that? at all events we get the right +thing done, and leave the wrong thing undone, and what more do you want? +Why torment us with disagreeable questions as to <i>why</i> we do it?”</p> +<p>Now, my friends, to make the matter simpler, I will take you at your +words, for the sake of argument. Suppose you do avoid sin from +the fear of hell, does that make what you do <i>right</i>? Does +that make <i>you</i> right? Does that make your heart right? +It is a great blessing to a man’s neighbours, certainly, if he +is kept from doing wrong any how—by the fear of hell, or fear +of jail, or fear of shame, or fear of ghosts if you like, or any other +cowardly and foolish motive—a great blessing to a man’s +neighbours: but no blessing, that I can see, to the man himself. +He is just the same; his heart is not changed; his heart is no more +right in the sight of God, or in the sight of any man of common sense +either, than it would be if he did the wrong thing, which he loves and +dare not do. You feel that yourselves about other people. +You will say “That man has a bad heart, for all his respectable +outside. He would be a rogue if he dared, and therefore he <i>is</i> +a rogue.” Just so, I say, my friends, take care lest God +should say of you, “He would be a sinner if he dared, and therefore +he is a sinner.</p> +<p>How can the hope of heaven, or the fear of hell, make a man do right? +The right thing, the true thing for a man, is to be loving, and do loving +things; and can fear of hell do that, or hope of heaven either? +Can a man make himself affectionate to his children because he fancies +he shall be punished if he is not so, and rewarded if he is so? +Will the hope of heaven send men out to feed the hungry, to clothe the +naked, visit the sick, preach the gospel to the poor?—The Papists +say it will. I say it will not. I believe that even in those +who do these things from hope of heaven and fear of hell, there is some +holier, nobler, more spiritual motive, than such everlasting selfishness, +such perfect hypocrisy, as to do loving works for others, for the sake +of one’s own self-love.</p> +<p>What feeling then is there left which will bind a man to do good, +not once in a way, but always and habitually? to do good, not only to +himself, but to all around him? I know but of one, my friends, +and that is Love. There are many sides to love—admiration, +reverence, gratitude, pity, affection—they are all different shapes +of that one great spirit of love. Surely all of you have felt +its power more or less; how wonderfully it can conquer a man’s +whole heart, change his whole conduct. For love of a woman; for +pity to those in distress; for admiration for anyone who is nobler and +wiser than himself; for gratitude to one who has done him kindness; +for loyalty to one to whom he feels he owes a service—a man will +dare to do things, and suffer things, which no self-interest or fear +in the world could have brought him to. Do you not know it yourselves? +Is it not fondness for your wives and children, that will make you slave +and stint yourselves of pleasure more than any hope of gain could ever +do? But there is no one human being, my friends, whom we can meet +among us now, for whom we can feel all these different sorts of love? +Surely not: and yet there must be One Person somewhere for whom God +intends us to feel them all at once; or else He would not have given +all these powers to us, and made them all different branches of one +great root of love. There must be One Person somewhere, who can +call out the whole love in us—all our gratitude; all our pity; +all our admiration; all our loyalty; all our brotherly affection. +<i>And there is One</i>, my friends. One who has done for us more +than ever husband or father, wife or brother, can do to call out our +gratitude. One who has suffered for us more than the saddest wretch +upon this earth can suffer, to call out our pity. One who is nobler, +purer, more lovely in character than all others who ever trod this earth, +to call out our admiration. One who is wiser, mightier than all +rulers and philosophers, to call out all our reverence. One who +is tenderer, more gentle, more feeling-hearted, than the kindest woman +who ever sat by a sick bed, to call out all our love. Of whom +can I be speaking? Of whom but of Jesus; He who for us stooped +out of the heaven of heavens; for us left His eternal glory in the bosom +of the Father; for us took upon Him the form of a servant, and was born +of a village maiden, and was called the son of a carpenter; for us wandered +this earth for thirty years in sorrow and shame; for us gave His back +to the scourge, and His face to shameful spitting; for us hung upon +the cross and died the death of the felon and the slave. Oh! my +friends, if that story will not call out our love, what will? +If we cannot admire Christ, whom can we admire? If we cannot be +grateful to Christ, to whom can we be grateful? If we cannot pity +Christ, whom can we pity? If we cannot feel bound in honour to +live for Christ, to work for Christ, to delight in talking of Christ, +thinking of Christ, to glory in doing Christ’s commandments to +the very smallest point, to feel no sacrifice too great, no trouble +too petty, if we can please Christ by it and help forward Christ’s +kingdom upon earth—if we cannot feel bound in honour to do that +for Christ, what honour is there in us? Again, I say, if we cannot +love Christ, whom can we love? If the remembrance of what He has +worked for us will not stir us up to work for Him, what will stir us +up?</p> +<p>I say it again, we are bound by every tie, by every feeling that +can bind man to man, to devote ourselves to Christ, the Man of all men. +I say this is no dream or fancy, it is an actual fact which thousands +and hundreds of thousands on this earth have felt. Nothing but +love to Christ, nothing but loving Him because He first loved us, can +constrain and force a man as with a mighty feeling which he cannot resist, +to labour day and night for Christ’s sake, and therefore for the +sake of God the Father of Christ. What else do you suppose it +was which could have stirred up the apostles—above all, that wise, +learned, high-born, prosperous man, St. Paul, to leave house and home, +and wander in daily danger of his life? What does St. Paul say +himself? “The love of Christ constraineth us, because we +thus judge, and if one died for all then were all dead, and that He +died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, +but unto Him who died for them.” And what else could have +kept St. Paul through all that labour and sorrow of his own choosing, +of which he speaks in the chapter before?—“We are troubled +on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; +persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing +about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of +Jesus might be made manifest in our body; for we which live are alway +delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus +might be made manifest in our body.”</p> +<p>We may say that St. Paul was an exceedingly benevolent man, and <i>that</i> +made him do it; or that he had found out certain new truths and opinions +which delighted him very much, and therefore he did it. But St. +Paul gives no such account of himself: and we have no right to take +anyone’s account but his own. He knew his own heart best. +He does not say that he came to preach a scheme of redemption, or opinions +about Christ. He says he came to preach nothing but Christ Himself—Christ +crucified—to tell people about the Lord he loved, about the Lord +who loved him, certain that when they had heard the plain story of Him, +their hearts, if they were simple, and true, and loving, would leap +up in answer to his words, and find out, as by instinct, what Christ +had done for them, what they were to do for Christ. Ay, I believe, +my friends—indeed I am certain—from my own reading, that +in every age and country, just in proportion as men have loved Christ +personally as a man would love another man, just in that proportion +have they loved their neighbours, worked for their neighbours, sacrificed +their time, their pleasure, their money, to do good to all, for the +sake of Him who commanded: “If ye love <i>ME</i>, keep my commandments; +and my commandment is this, that ye should love one another as I have +loved you.” That is the only sure motive. All other +motives for doing good or being good, will fail in one case or another +case, because they do not take possession of a man’s whole heart, +but only of some part of his heart. Love—love to Christ, +can alone sweep away a man’s whole heart and soul with it, and +renew it, and transfigure it, and make it strong instead of weak, pure +instead of foul, gentle instead of fierce, brave instead of being vain +and cowardly, and fearing what everyone will say of him. Only +love for Christ, who loved all men unto the death, will make us love +all men too: not only one here and there who may agree with us or help +us; but those who hate us, those who misunderstand us, those who thwart +us, ay, even those who disobey and slight not only us, but Jesus Christ +Himself. <i>That</i> is the hardest lesson of all to learn; but +thousands have learnt it; everyone ought to learn it. In proportion +as a man loves Christ, he will learn to love those who do not love Christ. +For Christ loves them whether they know it or not; Christ died for them +whether they believe it or not; and we must love them because our Saviour +loves them.</p> +<p>Oh! my friends, why do so few love Christ? Why do so few live +as those who are not their own, but bought with the price of His precious +blood and bound to devote themselves, body and soul, to His cause? +Why do so many struggle against their sins, while yet they cannot break +off those sins, but go struggling and sinning on, hating their sins +and yet unable to break through their sins, like birds beating themselves +to death against the wires of their cage? Why? Because they +do not know Christ. And how can they know Him, unless they read +their Bibles with simple, childlike hearts, determined to let the Bible +tell its own story: believing that those who walked with Christ on earth, +must know best what He was like? Why? Because they will +not ask Christ to come and show Himself to them, and make them see Him, +and love Him, and admire Him, whether they will or not. Oh! remember, +if Christ be the Son of God, the Lord of heaven and earth, we cannot +go to Him, poor, weak, ignorant creatures as we are. We cannot +ascend up into heaven to bring Christ down. He must come down +out of His own great love and condescension, and dwell in our hearts +as He has promised to do, if we do but love Him. He must come +down and show Himself to us. Oh! read your Bibles—read the +story of Christ, and if that does not stir up in you some love for Him, +you must have hearts of stone, not flesh and blood. And then go +to Him; pray to Him, whether you believe in Him altogether or not, upon +the mere chance of His being able to hear you and help you. You +would not throw away a chance on earth; will you throw away such a chance +in heaven as having the Son of God to help you? Oh, cry to Him; +say out of the depths of your heart: “Thou most blessed and glorious +Being who ever walked this earth, who hast gone blameless through all +sorrow and temptation that man can feel; if Thou dost love anyone, if +Thou canst hear anyone, hear me! If thou canst not help me, no +one can. I have a hundred puzzling questions which I cannot answer +for myself, a hundred temptations which I cannot conquer for myself, +a hundred bad habits which I cannot shake off of myself; and they tell +me that Thou canst teach me, Thou canst guide me, Thou canst strengthen +me, Thou canst take out of my heart this shame and gnawing of an evil +conscience. If Thou be the Son of God, make me clean! If +it be true that Thou lovest all men, show Thy love to me! If it +be true that Thou canst teach all men, teach me! If it be true +that Thou canst help all men, help my unbelief, for if Thou dost not, +there is no help for me in heaven or earth!” You, who are +sinful, distracted, puzzled, broken-hearted, cry to Christ in that way, +if you have no better way, and see if He does not hear you. He +is not one to break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking flax. +He will hear you, for He has heard all who have ever called on Him. +Cry to Him from the bottom of your hearts. Tell Him that you do +<i>not</i> love Him, and that yet you <i>long</i> to love Him. +And see if you do not find it true that those who come to Christ, He +will in no wise cast out. He may not seem to answer you the first +time, or the tenth time, or for years; for Christ has His own deep, +loving, wise ways of teaching each man, and for each man a different +way. But try to learn all you can of Him. Try to know Him. +Pray to know, and understand Him, and love Him. And sooner or +later you will find His words come true, “If a man love me, I +and my Father will come to him, and take up our abode with him.” +And then you will feel arise in you a hungering and a thirsting after +righteousness, a spirit of love, and a desire of doing good, which will +carry you up and on, above all that man can say or do against you—above +all the laziness, and wilfulness, and selfishness, and cowardice which +dwells in the heart of everyone. You will be able to trample it +all under foot for the sake of being good and doing good, in the strength +of that one glorious thought, “Christ lived and died for me, and, +so help me God, I will live and die for Christ.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXIV—DAVID’S VICTORY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: +but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, +whom thou hast defied.—1 SAMUEL xvii. 45.</p> +<p>We have been reading to-day the story of David’s victory over +the Philistine giant, Goliath. Now I think the whole history of +David may teach us more about the meaning of the Old Testament, and +how it applies to us, than the history of any other single character. +David was the great hero of the Jews; the greatest, in spite of great +sins and follies, that has ever been among them; in every point the +king after God’s own heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself +did not disdain to be called especially the Son of David. David +was the author, too, of those wonderful psalms which are now in the +mouths and the hearts of Christian people all over the world; and will +last, as I believe, till the world’s end, giving out fresh depths +of meaning and spiritual experience.</p> +<p>But to understand David’s history, we must go back a little +through the lessons which have been read in church the last few Sundays. +We find in the eighth and in the twelfth chapters of this same book +of Samuel, that the Jews asked Samuel for a king—for a king like +the nations round them. Samuel consulted God, and by God’s +command chose Saul to be their king; at the same time warning them that +in asking for a king they had committed a great and fearful sin, for +“the Lord their God was their king.” And the Lord +said unto Samuel, that in asking for a king they had rejected God from +reigning over them. Now what was this sin which the Jews committed? +for the mere having a king cannot be wrong in itself; else God would +not have anointed Saul and David kings, and blessed David and Solomon; +much less would He have allowed the greater number of Christian nations +to remain governed by kings unto this day, if a king had been a wrong +thing in itself. I think if we look carefully at the words of +the story we shall see what this great sin of the Jews was. In +the first place, they asked Samuel to give them a king—not God. +This was a sin, I think; but it was only the fruit of a deeper sin—a +wrong way of looking at the whole question of kings and government. +And that deeper sin was this: they were a free people, and they wanted +to become slaves. God had made them a free people; He had brought +them up out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery to Pharaoh. He +had given them a free constitution. He had given them laws to +secure safety, and liberty, and equal justice to rich and poor, for +themselves, their property, their children; to defend them from oppression, +and over-taxation, and all the miseries of misgovernment. And +now they were going to trample under foot God’s inestimable gift +of liberty. They wanted a king like the nations round them, they +said. They did not see that it was just their glory <i>not</i> +to be like the nations round them in that. We who live in a free +country do not see the vast and inestimable difference between the Jews +and the other nations. The Jews were then, perhaps, so far as +I can make out, the only free people on the face of the earth. +The nations round them were like the nations in the East, now governed +by tyrants, without law or parliament, at the mercy of the will, the +fancy, the lust, the ambition, and the cruelty of their despotic kings. +In fact, they were as the Eastern people now are—slaves governed +by tyrants. Samuel warned the Jews that it would be just the same +with them; that neither their property, their families, nor their liberty +would be safe under the despots for whom they wished. And yet, +in spite of that warning, they would have a king. And why? +Because they did not like the trouble of being free. They did +not like the responsibility and the labour of taking care of themselves, +and asking counsel of God as to how they were to govern themselves. +So they were ready to sell themselves to a tyrant, that he might fight +for them, and judge for them, and take care of them, while they just +ate and drank, and made money, and lived like slaves, careless of what +happened to them or their country, provided they could get food, and +clothes, and money enough. And as long as they got that, if you +will remark, they were utterly careless as to what sort of king they +had. They said not one word to Samuel about how much power their +king was to have. They made not the slightest inquiry as to whether +Saul was wise or foolish, good or bad. They did not ask God’s +counsel, or trouble themselves about God; so they proved themselves +unworthy of being free. They turned, like a dog to his vomit, +and the sow to her wallowing in the mire, cowardly back again into slavery; +and God gave them what they asked for. He gave them the sort of +king they wanted; and bitterly they found out their mistake during several +hundred years of continually increasing slavery and misery.</p> +<p>There is a deep lesson for us, my friends, in all this. And +that is, that God’s gifts are not fit for us, unless we are more +or less fit for them. That to him that makes use of what he has, +more shall be given; but from him who does not, will be taken away even +what he has. And so even the inestimable gift of freedom is no +use unless men have free hearts in them. God sets a man free from +his sins by faith in Jesus Christ; but unless that man uses His grace, +unless he desires to be free inwardly as well as outwardly—to +be free not only from the punishment of his sins, but from the sins +themselves; unless he is willing to accept God’s offer of freedom, +and go boldly to the throne of grace, and there plead his cause with +his heavenly Father face to face, without looking to any priest, or +saint, or other third person to plead for him; if, in short, a man has +not a free spirit in him, the grace of God will become of no effect +in him, and he will receive the spirit of bondage (of slavery, that +is), again to fear. Perhaps he will fall back more or less into +popery and half-popish superstitions; perhaps, as we see daily round +us, he will fall back again into antinomianism, into the slavery of +those very sins from which God once delivered him. And just the +same is it with a nation. When God has given a nation freedom, +then, unless there be a free heart in the people and true independence, +which is dependence on God and not on man; unless there be a spirit +of justice, mercy, truth, trust of God in them, their freedom will be +of no effect; they will only fall back into slavery, to be oppressed +by fresh tyrants.</p> +<p>So it was with the great Spanish colonies in South America a few +years ago. God gave them freedom from the tyranny of Spain; but +what advantage was it to them? Because there was no righteousness +in them; because they were a cowardly, profligate, false, and cruel +people, therefore they only became the slaves of their own lusts; they +turned God’s great grace of freedom into licentiousness, and have +been ever since doing nothing but cutting each other’s throats; +every man’s hand against his own brother; the slaves of tyrants +far more cruel than those from whom they had escaped.</p> +<p>Look at the French people, too. Three times in the last sixty +years has God delivered them from evil rulers, and given them a chance +of freedom; and three times have they fallen back into fresh slavery. +And why? Because they will not be righteous; because they will +be proud, boastful, lustful, godless, cruel, making a lie and loving +it. God help them! We are not here to judge them, but to +take warning ourselves. Now there is no use in boasting of our +English freedom, unless we have free and righteous hearts in us; for +it is not constitutions, and parliaments, and charters which make a +nation free; they are only the shell, the outside of freedom. +True freedom is of the heart and spirit, and comes down from above, +from the Spirit of God; for where the Spirit of God is, there is liberty, +and there only. Oh, every one of you! high and low, rich and poor, +pray and struggle to get your own hearts free; free from the sins which +beset us Englishmen in these days; free from pride, prejudice, and envy; +free from selfishness and covetousness; free from unchastity and drunkenness; +free from the conceit that England is safe, while all the rest of the +world is shaking. Be sure that the spirit of freedom, like every +other good and perfect gift, is from above, and comes down from God, +the Father of lights; and that to keep that spirit with us, we must +keep ourselves worthy of it, and not expect to remain free if we indulge +ourselves in mean and slavish sins.</p> +<p>So the Jews got the king they wanted—a king to look at and +be proud of. Saul was, we read, a head taller than all the rest +of the people, and very handsome to look at. And he was brave +enough, too, in mere fighting, when he was awakened and stirred up to +act now and then; but there was no wisdom in him; no real trust in God +in him. He took God for an idol, like the heathens’ false +gods, which had to be pleased and kept in good humour by the smell of +burnt sacrifices; and not for a living, righteous Person, who had to +be obeyed. We read of Saul’s misconduct in these respects, +in the thirteenth and fifteenth chapters of the First Book of Samuel. +That was only the beginning of his wickedness. The worst points +in his character, as I shall show in my next sermon, came out afterwards. +But still, his disobedience was enough to make God cast him off, and +leave him to go his own way to ruin.</p> +<p>But God was not going to cast off His people whom He loved. +He deals not with mankind after their sins, neither rewards them according +to their iniquities; and so he chose out for them a king after His own +heart—a true king of God’s making, not a mere sham one of +man’s making. You may think it strange why God should have +given them a second king; why, as soon as Saul died, He did not let +them return back to their old freedom. But that is not God’s +way. He brings good out of evil in His great mercy. But +it is always by strange winding paths. His ways are not as our +ways. First, God gives man what is perfectly proper for him at +that time; sets man in his right place; and then when man falls from +that, God brings him, not back to the place from which he fell, but +on forward into something far higher and better than what he fell from. +He put Adam into Paradise. Adam fell from it, and God made use +of the fall to bring him into a state far better than Paradise—into +the kingdom of God—into everlasting life—into the likeness +of Christ, the new Adam, who is a quickening, life-giving spirit, while +the old Adam was, at best, only a living soul.</p> +<p>So with the church of Christian men. After the apostles’ +time, and even during the apostles’ time, as we read from the +Epistle to the Galatians, they fell away, step by step, from the liberty +of the gospel, till they sunk entirely into popish superstition. +And yet God brought good out of that evil. He made that very popery +a means of bringing them back at the Reformation into clearer light +than any of the first Christians ever had had. He is going on +step by step still, bringing Christians into a clearer knowledge of +the gospel than even the Reformers had.</p> +<p>And so with the Jews. They fell from their liberty and chose +a king. And yet God made use of those kings of theirs, of David, +of Solomon, of Josiah, and Hezekiah, to teach them more and more about +Himself and His law, and to teach all nations, by their example, what +a nation should be, and how He deals with one.</p> +<p>But now let us see what this true king, David, was like, whom God +chose, that He might raise, by his means, the Jews higher than they +ever yet had been, even in their days of freedom. Now remark, +in the first place, that David was not the son of any very great man. +His father seems to have been only a yeoman. He was not bred up +in courts. We find that when Samuel was sent to anoint David king, +he was out keeping his father’s sheep in the field. And +though, no doubt, he had shown signs of being a very remarkable youth +from the first, yet his father thought so little of him, that he was +going to pass him over, and caused all his seven elder sons to pass +before Samuel for his choice first, though there seems to have been +nothing particular in them, except that some of them were fine men and +brave soldiers. So David seems to have been overlooked, and thought +but little of in his youth—and a very good thing for him. +It is a good thing for a young man to bear the yoke in his youth, that +he may be kept humble and low; that he may learn to trust in God, and +not in his own wit. And even when Samuel anointed David, he anointed +him privately. His brothers did not know what a great honour was +in store for him; for we find, in the lesson which we have just read, +that when David came down to the camp, his elder brother spoke contemptuously +to him, and treated him as a child. “I know thy pride,” +he said, “and the naughtiness of thy heart. Thou art come +down to see the battle.” While David answers humbly enough: +“What have I done? is there not a cause?” feeling that there +was more in him than his brother gave him credit for; though he dare +not tell his brother, hardly, perhaps, dare believe himself, what great +things God had prepared for him. So it is yet—a prophet +has no honour in his own country. How many a noble-hearted man +there is, who is looked down upon by those round him! How many +a one is despised for a dreamer, or for a Methodist, by shallow worldly +people, who in God’s sight is of very great price! But God +sees not as man sees. He makes use of the weak people of this +world to confound the strong. He sends about His errands not many +noble, not many mighty; but the poor man, rich in faith, like David. +He puts down the mighty from their seat, and exalts the humble and meek. +He takes the beggar from the dunghill, that He may set him among the +princes of His people. So He has been doing in all ages. +So He will do even now, in some measure, with everyone like David, let +him be as low as he will in the opinion of this foolish world, who yet +puts his trust utterly in God, and goes about all his work, as David +did, in the name of the Lord of hosts. Oh! if a poor man feels +that God has given him wit and wisdom—feels in him the desire +to rise and better himself in life, let him be sure that the only way +to rise is David’s plan—to keep humble and quiet till God +shall lift him up, trusting in God’s righteousness and love to +raise him, and deliver him, and put him in that station, be it high +or low, in which he will be best able to do God’s work, or serve +God’s glory.</p> +<p>And now for the chapter from which the text is taken, which relates +to us David’s first great public triumph—his victory over +Goliath the giant. I will not repeat it to you, because everyone +here who has ears to hear or a heart to feel ought to have been struck +with every word in that glorious story. All I will try to do is, +to show you how the working of God’s Spirit comes out in David +in every action of his on that glorious day. We saw just now David’s +humbleness and gentleness, the fruits of God’s Spirit in him, +in his answer to his proud and harsh brother. Look next at David’s +spirit of trust in God, which, indeed, is the key to his whole life; +that is the reason why he was the man after God’s own heart—not +for any virtues of his own, but for his unshaken continual faith in +God. David saw in an instant why the Israelites were so afraid +of the giant; because they had no faith in God. They forgot that +they were the armies of the living God. David did not: “Who +is this uncircumcised, that he shall defy the armies of the living God?” +And therefore, when Saul tried to dissuade him from attacking the Philistine, +his answer is still the same—full of faith in God. He knew +well enough what a fearful undertaking it was to fight with this giant, +nearly ten feet high, armed from head to foot with mail, which perhaps +no sword or spear which he could use could pierce. It was no wonder, +humanly speaking, that all the Jews fled from him—that his being +there stopped the whole battle. In these days, fifty such men +would make no difference in a battle; bullets and cannon-shot would +mow down them like other men: but in those old times, before firearms +were invented, when all battles were hand-to-hand fights, and depended +so much on each man’s strength and courage, that one champion +would often decide the victory for a whole army, the amount of courage +which was required in David is past our understanding; at least we may +say, David would not have had it but for his trust in God, but for his +feeling that he was on God’s side, and Goliath on the devil’s +side, unjustly invading his country in self-conceit, and cruelty, and +lawlessness. Therefore he tells Saul of his victory over the lion +and the bear. You see again, here, the Spirit of God showing in +his <i>modesty</i>. He does not boast or talk of his strength +and courage in killing the lion and the bear; for he knew that that +strength and courage came from God, not from himself; therefore he says +that the Lord <i>delivered him</i> from them. He knew that he +had been only doing his duty in facing them when they attacked his father’s +sheep, and that it was God’s mercy which had protected him in +doing his duty. He felt now, that if no one else would face this +brutal giant, it was <i>his</i> duty, poor, simple, weak youth as he +was, and therefore he trusted in God to bring him safe through this +danger also. But look again how the Spirit of God shows in his +prudence. He would not use Saul’s armour, good as it might +be, because he was not accustomed to it. He would use his own +experience, and fight with the weapons to which he had been accustomed—a +sling and stone. You see he was none of those presumptuous and +fanatical dreamers who tempt God by fancying that He is to go out of +His way to work miracles for them. He used all the proper and +prudent means to kill the giant, and trusted to God to bless them. +If he had been presumptuous, he might have taken the first stone that +came to hand, or taken only one, or taken none at all, and expected +the giant to fall down dead by a miracle. But no; he <i>chooses +five smooth</i> stones out of the brook. He tried to get the best +that he could, and have more ready if his first shot failed. He +showed no distrust of God in that; for he trusted in God to keep him +cool, and steady, and courageous in the fight, and that, he knew, God +alone could do. The only place, perhaps, where he could strike +Goliath to hurt him was on the face, because every other part of him +was covered in metal armour. And he knew that, in such danger +as he was, God’s Spirit only could keep his eye clear and his +hand steady for such a desperate chance as hitting that one place.</p> +<p>So he went; and as he went his courage rose higher and higher; for +unto him that hath shall more be given; and so he began to boast too—but +not of himself, like the giant. He boasted of the living God, +who was with him. He ran boldly up to the Philistine, and at the +first throw, struck on the forehead, and felled him dead.</p> +<p>So it is; many a time the very blessing which we expect to get only +with great difficulty, God gives us at our first trial, to show that +He is the Giver, to cheer up our poor doubting hearts, and show us that +He is able, and willing too, to give exceeding abundantly more than +we can ask or think.</p> +<p>So David triumphed: and yet that triumph was only the beginning of +his troubles. Sad and weary years had he to struggle on before +he gained the kingdom which God had promised him. So it is often +with God’s elect. He gives them blessings at first, to show +them that He is really with them; and then He lets them be evil-entreated +by tyrants, and suffer persecution, and wander out of the way in the +wilderness, that they may be made perfect by suffering, and purified, +as gold is in the refiner’s fire, from all selfishness, conceit, +ambition, cowardliness, till they learn to trust God utterly, to know +their own weakness, and His strength, and to work only for Him, careless +what becomes of their own poor worthless selves, provided they can help +His kingdom to come, and get His will to be done on earth as it is in +heaven.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, surely there is a lesson in all this for you. +Do you wish to rise like David? Of course not one in ten thousand +can rise as high, but we may all rise somewhat, if not in rank, yet +still, what is far better, in spirit, in wisdom, in usefulness, in manfulness. +Do you wish to rise so? then follow David’s example. Be +truly brave, be truly modest, and in order to be truly brave and truly +modest, that is, be truly manly, be truly godly. Trust in God; +trust in God; that is the key to all greatness. Courage, modesty, +truth, honesty, and gentleness; all things, which are noble, lovely, +and of good report; all things, in short, which will make you men after +God’s own heart, are all only the different fruits of that one +blessed life-giving root—FAITH IN GOD.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXV—DAVID’S EDUCATION</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Made perfect through sufferings.—HEBREWS ii. 10.</p> +<p>That is my text; and a very fit one for another sermon about David, +the king after God’s own heart. And a very fit one too, +for any sermon preached to people living in this world now or at any +time. “A melancholy text,” you will say. But +what if it be melancholy? That is not the fault of me, the preacher. +The preacher did not make suffering, did not make disappointment, doubt, +ignorance, mistakes, oppression, poverty, sickness. There they +are, whether we like it or not. You have only to go on to the +common here, or any other common or town in England, to see too much +of them—enough to break one’s heart if—, but I will +not hurry on too fast in what I have to say. What I want to make +you recollect is, that misery is here round us, <i>in</i> us. +A great deal which we bring on ourselves; and a great deal more misery +which we do not, as far as we can see, bring on ourselves; but which +comes, nevertheless, and lets us know plainly enough that it is close +to us. Every man and woman of us have their sorrows. There +is no use shutting our eyes just when we ourselves happen to feel tolerably +easy, and saying, as too many do, “I don’t see so very much +sorrow; I am happy enough!” Are you, friend, happy enough? +So much the worse for you, perhaps. But at all events your neighbours +are not happy enough; most of them are only too miserable. It +is a sad world. A sad world, and full of tears. It is. +And you must not be angry with the preacher for reminding you of what +is.</p> +<p>True; you would have a right to quarrel with the preacher or anyone +else who made you sorrowful with the thoughts of the sorrow round you, +and then gave you no explanation of it—told you of no use, no +blessing in it, no deliverance from it. That would be enough to +break any man’s heart, if all the preacher could say was: “This +wretchedness, and sickness, and death, must go on as long as the world +lasts, and yet it does no good, for God or man.” That thought +would drive any feeling man to despair, tempt him to lie down and die, +tempt him to fancy that God was not God at all, not the God whose name +is Love, not the God who is our Father, but only a cruel taskmaster, +and Lord of a miserable hell on earth, where men and women, and worst +of all, little children, were tortured daily by tens of thousands without +reason, or use, or hope of deliverance, except in a future world, where +not one in ten of them will be saved and happy. That is many people’s +notion of the world—religious people’s even. How they +can believe, in the face of such notions, “that God is love;” +how they can help going mad with pity, if that is all the hope they +have for poor human beings, is more than I can tell. Not that +I judge them—to their own master they stand or fall: but this +I do say, that if the preacher has no better hope to give you about +this poor earth, then I cannot tell what right he has to call himself +a preacher of the gospel—that is, a preacher of good news; then +I do not know what Jesus Christ’s dying to take away the sins +of the world means; then I do not know what the kingdom of God means; +then I do not know why the Lord taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom +come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” if the only +way in which that can be brought about is by His sending ninety-nine +hundredths of mankind to endless torture, over and above all the lesser +misery which they have suffered in this life. What will be the +end of the greater part of mankind we do not know; we were not intended +to know. God is love, and God is justice, and His justice is utterly +loving, as well as His love utterly just; so we may very safely leave +the world in the hands of Him who made the world, and be sure that the +Judge of all the earth will do right, and that what is right is certain +never to be cruel, but rather merciful. But to every one of you +who are here now, a preacher has a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to +say much more than that. He is bound to tell you good news, because +God has called you into His church, and sent you here this day, to hear +good news. He has a right to tell you, as I tell you now, that, +strange as it may seem, whatsoever sufferings you endure are sent to +make you perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect; even as +the blessed Lord, whom may you all love, and trust, and worship, for +ever and ever, was made perfect by sufferings, even though He was the +sinless Son of God. Consider that. “It behoved Him,” +says St. Paul, “the Captain of our salvation, to be made perfect +through sufferings.” And why? “Because,” +answers St. Paul, “it was proper for Him to be made in all things +like His brothers”—like us, the children of God—“that +He might be a faithful and merciful high priest;” for, just “because +He has suffered being tempted, He is able to succour us who are tempted.” +A strange text, but one which, I think, this very history of David’s +troubles will help us to understand. For it was by suffering, +long and bitter, that God trained up David to be a true king, a king +over the Jews, “after God’s own heart.”</p> +<p>You all know, I hope, something at least of David’s psalms. +Many of them, seven of them at least, were written during David’s +wanderings in the mountains, when Saul was persecuting him to kill him, +day after day, month after month, as you may read in the First Book +of Samuel, from chapters xix. to xxviii. Bitter enough these troubles +of David would have been to any man, but what must have made them especially +bitter and confusing to him was, that they all arose out of his righteousness. +Because he had conquered the giant, Saul envied him—broke his +promise of giving David his daughter Merab—put his life into extreme +danger from the Philistines, before he would give him his second daughter +Michal; the more he saw that the Lord was with David, and that the young +man won respect and admiration by behaving himself wisely, the more +afraid of him Saul was; again and again he tried to kill him; as David +was sitting harmless in Saul’s house, soothing the poor madman +by the music of his harp, Saul tries to stab him unawares; and not content +with that proceeds deliberately to hunt him down, from town to town, +and wilderness to wilderness; sends soldiers after him to murder him; +at last goes out after him himself with his guards. Was not all +this enough to try David’s faith? Hardly any man, I suppose, +since the world was made, had found righteousness pay him less; no man +was ever more tempted to turn round and do evil, since doing good only +brought him deeper and deeper into the mire. But no, we know that +he did not lose his trust in God; for we have seven psalms, at least, +which he wrote during these very wanderings of his; the fifty-second, +when Doeg had betrayed him to Saul; the fifty-fourth, when Ziphim betrayed +him; the fifty-sixth, when the Philistines took him in Gath; the fifty-seventh, +“when he fled from Saul in the cave;” the fifty-ninth, “when +they watched the house to kill him;” the sixty-third, “when +he was in the wilderness of Judah;” the thirty-fourth, “when +he was driven away by Abimelech;” and several more which appear +to have been written about the same time.</p> +<p>Now, what strikes us first, or ought to strike us, in these psalms, +is David’s utter faith in God. I do not mean to say that +David had not his sad days, when he gave himself up for lost, and when +God seemed to have forsaken him, and forgotten his promise. He +was a man of like passions with ourselves; and therefore he was, as +we should have been, terrified and faint-hearted at times. But +exactly what God was teaching and training him to be, was not to be +fainthearted—not to be terrified. He began in his youth +by trusting God. That made him the man after God’s own heart, +just as it was the want of trust in God which made Saul not the man +after God’s own heart, and lost him his kingdom. In all +those wanderings and dangers of David’s in the wilderness, God +was training, and educating, and strengthening David’s faith according +to His great law: To whomsoever hath shall be given, and he shall have +more abundantly; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even +that which he seems to have. And the first great fruit of David’s +firm trust in God was his patience.</p> +<p>He learned to wait God’s time, and take God’s way, and +be sure that the same God who had promised that he should be king, would +make him king when he saw fit. He knew, as he says himself, that +the Strength of Israel could not lie or repent. He had sworn that +He would not fail David. And he learned that God had sworn by +His holiness. He was a holy, just, righteous God; and David and +David’s country now were safe in His hands. It was his firm +trust in God which gave him strength of mind to use no unfair means +to right himself. Twice Saul, his enemy, was in his power. +What a temptation to him to kill Saul, rid himself of his tormentor, +and perhaps get the kingdom at once! But no. He felt: “This +Saul is a wicked, devil-tormented murderer, a cruel tyrant and oppressor; +but the same God who chose me to be king next, chose him to be king +now. He is the Lord’s anointed. God put him where +he is, and leaves him there for some good purpose; and when God has +done with him, God will take him away, and free this poor oppressed +people; and in the meantime, I, as a private man, have no right to touch +him. I must not do evil that good may come. If I am to be +a true king, a true man at all hereafter, I must keep true now; if I +am to be a righteous lawgiver hereafter, I must respect and obey law +myself now. The Lord be judge between me and Saul; for He is Judge, +and He will right me better than I can ever right myself.” +And thus did trust in God bring out in David that true respect for law, +without which a king, let him be as kind-hearted as he will, is but +too likely to become at last a tyrant and an oppressor.</p> +<p>But another thing which strikes any thinking man in David’s +psalms, is his strong feeling for the poor, and the afflicted, and the +oppressed. That is what makes the Psalms, above all, the poor +man’s book, the afflicted man’s book. But how did +he get that fellow-feeling for the fallen? By having fallen himself, +and tasted affliction and oppression. That was how he was educated +to be a true king. That was how he became a picture and pattern—a +“type,” as some call it, of Jesus Christ, the man of sorrows. +That is why so many of David’s psalms apply so well to the Lord; +why the Lord fulfilled those psalms when He was on earth. David +was truly a man of sorrows; for he had not only the burden of his own +sorrows to bear, but that of many others. His parents had to escape, +and to be placed in safety at the court of a heathen prince. His +friend Abimelech the priest, because he gave David bread when he was +starving, and Goliath’s sword—which, after all, was David’s +own—was murdered by Saul’s hired ruffians, at Saul’s +command, and with him his whole family, and all the priests of the town, +with their wives and children, even to the baby at the breast. +And when David was in the mountains, everyone who was distressed, and +in debt, and discontented, gathered themselves to him, and he became +their captain; so that he had on him all the responsibility, care, and +anxiety of managing all those wild, starving men, many of them, perhaps, +reckless and wicked men, ready every day to quarrel among themselves, +or to break out in open riot and robbery against the people who had +oppressed them; for—(and this, too, we may see from David’s +psalms, was not the smallest part of his anxiety)—the nation of +the Jews seems to have been in a very wretched state in David’s +time. The poor seem in general to have lost their land, and to +have become all but slaves to rich nobles, who were grinding them down, +not only by luxury and covetousness, but often by open robbery and bloodshed. +The sight of the misrule and misery, as well as of the bloody and ruinous +border inroads which were kept up by the Philistines and other neighbouring +tribes, seems for years to have been the uppermost, as well as the deepest +thought in David’s mind, if we may judge from those psalms of +his, of which this is the key-note; and it was not likely to make him +care and feel less about all that misery when he remembered (as we see +from his psalms he remembered daily) that God had set him, the wandering +outlaw, no less a task than to mend it all; to put down all that oppression, +to raise up that degradation, to train all that cowardice into self-respect +and valour, to knit into one united nation, bound together by fellow-feeling +and common faith in God, that mob of fierce, and greedy, and (hardest +task of all, as he himself felt) utterly deceitful men. No wonder +that his psalms begin often enough with sadness, even though they may +end in hope and trust. He had a work around him and before him +which ought to have made his heart sad, which was a great part of his +appointed education, and helped to make him perfect by sufferings.</p> +<p>And so, upon the bare hill-side, in woods and caves of the earth, +in cold and hunger, in weariness and dread of death, did David learn +to be the poor man’s king, the poor man’s poet, the singer +of those psalms which shall endure as long as the world endures, and +be the comfort and the utterance of all sad hearts for evermore. +Agony it was, deep and bitter, and for the moment more hopeless than +the grave itself, which crushed out of the very depths of his heart +that most awful and yet most blessed psalm, the twenty-second, which +we read in church every Good Friday. The “Hind of the Morning” +is its title; some mournful air to which David sang it, giving, perhaps, +the notion of a timorous deer roused in the morning by the hunters and +the hounds. We read that psalm on Good Friday, and all say that +our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled it. What do we mean hereby?</p> +<p>We mean hereby, that we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled +all sorrows which man can taste. He filled the cup of misery to +the brim, and drained it to the dregs. He was afflicted in all +David’s afflictions, in the afflictions of all mankind. +He bare all their sicknesses, and carried all their infirmities; and +therefore we read this psalm upon Good Friday, upon the day in which +He tasted death for every man, and went down into the lowest depths +of terror, and shame, and agony, and death; and, worst of all, into +the feeling that God had forsaken Him, that there was no help or hope +for Him in heaven, as well as earth—no care or love in the great +God, whose Son He was—went down, in a word, into hell; that hell +whereof David and Heman, and Hezekiah after them, had said, “Shall +the dust give thanks unto thee? and shall it declare thy truth?”—“Thou +wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One +to see corruption.”—“My life draweth nigh unto hell. +. . I am like one stript among the dead, like the slain that lie +in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from +thy hand. . . . Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? and shall +the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy wonders be known in +the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of destruction?”—“For +the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that +go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth.”</p> +<p>Even into that lowest darkness, where man feels, even for one moment, +that God is nothing to him, and he is nothing to God—even into +that Jesus condescended to go down for us. That worst of all temptations, +of which David only tasted a drop when he cried out, “My God, +my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Jesus drained to the +very dregs for us.—He went down into hell for us, and conquered +hell and death, and the darkness of the unknown world, and rose again +glorious from them, that He might teach us not to fear death and hell; +that He might know how to comfort us in the hour of death: and in the +day of judgment, when on our sick bed, or in some bitter shame and trouble, +the lying devil is telling us that we are damned and lost, and forsaken +by God, and every sin we ever did rises up and stares us in the face.</p> +<p>Truly He is a king!—a king for rich and poor, young and old, +Englishmen and negro; all alike He knows them, He feels for them, He +has tasted sorrow for them, far more than David did for those poor, +oppressed, sinful Jews of his. Read those Psalms of David; for +they speak not only of David, now long since dead and gone, but of the +blessed Jesus, who lives and reigns over us now at this very moment. +Read them, for they are inspired; the honest words of a servant of God +crying out to the same God, the same Saviour and Deliverer as we have. +And His love has not changed. His arm is not shortened that He +cannot save. Your words need not change. The words of those +psalms in which David prayed, in them you and I may pray. Right +out of the depths of his poor distracted heart they came. Let +them come out of our hearts too. They belong to us more than even +they did to the Jews, for whom David wrote them—more than even +they did to David himself; for Jesus has fulfilled them—filled +them full—given them boundlessly more meaning than ever they had +before, and given us more hope in using them than ever David had: for +now that love and righteousness of God, in which David only trusted +beforehand, has come down and walked on this earth in the shape of a +poor man, Jesus Christ, the Son of the maiden of Bethlehem.</p> +<p>Oh, you who are afflicted, pray to God in those psalms; not merely +in the words of them, but in the spirit of them. And to do that, +you must get from God the spirit in which David wrote them—the +Spirit of God. Pray for that Spirit; for the spirit of patience, +which made David wait God’s good time to right him, instead of +trying, as too many do, to right himself by wrong means; for the spirit +of love, which taught David to return good for evil; for the spirit +of fellow-feeling, which taught David to care for others as well as +himself; and in that spirit of love, do you pray for others while you +are praying for yourself. Pray for that Spirit which taught David +to help and comfort those who were weaker than himself, that you in +your time may be able and willing to comfort and help those who are +weaker than yourselves. And above all, pray for the Spirit of +faith, which made David certain that oppression and wrong-doing could +not stand; that the day must surely come when God would judge the world +righteously, and hear the cry of the afflicted, and deliver the outcast +and poor, that the man of the world might be no more exalted against +them. Pray, in short, for the Spirit of Christ; and then be sure +He will hear your prayers, and answer them, and show Himself a better +friend, and a truer King to you, than ever David showed himself to those +poor Jews of old. He will deliver you out of all your troubles—if +not in this life, yet surely in the life to come; and though you walk +through the valley of the shadow of death, yet the peace of God shall +keep your hearts and minds in Him who loved you, and gave Himself for +you, that you might inherit all heaven and earth in Him.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXVI—THE VALUE OF LAW</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there +is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.—ROMANS +xiii. 1.</p> +<p>What is the difference between a civilised man and a savage? +You will say: A civilised man can read and write; he has books and education; +he knows how to make numberless things which makes his life comfortable +to him. He can get wealth, and build great towns, sink mines, +sail the sea in ships, spread himself over the face of the earth, or +bring home all its treasures, while the savages remain poor, and naked, +and miserable, and ignorant, fixed to the land in which they chance +to have been born.</p> +<p>True: but we must go a little deeper still. Why does the savage +remain poor and wretched, while the civilised people become richer and +more prosperous? Why, for instance, do the poor savage gipsies +never grow more comfortable or wiser—each generation of them remaining +just as low as their forefathers were, or, indeed, getting lower and +fewer? for the gipsies, like all savages, are becoming fewer and fewer +year by year, while, on the other hand, we English increase in numbers, +and in wealth, and knowledge; and fresh inventions are found out year +by year, which give fresh employment and make life more safe and more +pleasant.</p> +<p>This is the reason: That the English have laws and obey them, and +the gipsies have none. This is the whole secret. This is +why savages remain poor and miserable, that each man does what he likes +without law. This is why civilised nations like England thrive +and prosper, because they have laws and obey them, and every man does +not do what he likes, but what the law likes. Laws are made not +for the good of one person here, or the other person there, but for +the good of all; and, therefore, the very notion of a civilised country +is, a country in which people cannot do what they like with their own, +as the savages do. “Not do what he likes with his own?” +Certainly not; no one can or does. If you have property, you cannot +spend it all as you like. You have to pay a part of it to the +government, that is, into the common stock, for the common good, in +the shape of rates and taxes, before you can spend any of it on yourself. +If you take wages, you cannot spend them all upon yourself and do what +you like with them. If you do not support your wife and family +out of them, the law will punish you. You cannot do what you like +with your own gun, for you may not shoot your neighbour’s cattle +or game with it. You cannot do what you like with your own hands, +for the law forbids you to steal with them. You cannot do what +you like with your own feet, for the law will punish you for trespassing +on your neighbour’s ground without his leave. In short, +you can only do with your own what will not hurt your neighbour, in +such matters as the law can take care of. And more, in any great +necessity the law may actually hurt you for the good of the nation at +large. The law may compel you to sell your land, to your own injury, +if it is wanted for a railroad. The law may compel you, as it +did fifty years ago, to serve as a soldier in the militia, to your own +injury, if there is a fear of foreign invasion; so that the law is above +each and all of us. Our own wills are not our masters. No +man is his own master. The law is the master of each and all of +us, and if we will not obey it willingly, it can make us obey unwillingly.</p> +<p>Can make us? Ay, but ought it to make us? Is it right +that the law should over-ride our own free wills, and prevent our doing +what we like with our own?</p> +<p>It is right—absolutely right. St. Paul tells us what +gives law this authority: “There is no power but of God. +The powers that be are ordained of God.” And he tells us +also why this authority is given to the law. “Rulers,” +he says, “are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt +thou then not be afraid of those who administer the law? Do that +which is good, and thou shalt have praise from them, for they are God’s +ministers to thee for good.”</p> +<p>For good, you see. For the good of mankind it was, that God +put into their hearts and reasons, that notion of making laws, and appointing +kings and magistrates to see that those laws are obeyed. For our +good. For without law no man’s life, or family, or property +would be safe. Every man’s private selfishness, and greediness, +and anger, would struggle without check to have its way, and there would +be no bar or curb to keep each and every man from injuring each and +every man else; so the strong would devour the weak, and then tear each +other in pieces afterwards. So it is among the savages. +They have little or no property, for they have no laws to protect property; +and therefore every man expects his neighbour to steal from him, and +finds it his shortest plan to steal from his neighbour, instead of settling +down to sow corn which he will have no chance of eating, or build houses +which may be taken from him at night by some more strong and cunning +savage. There is no law among savages to protect women and children +against the men, and therefore the women are treated worse than beasts, +and the children murdered to save the trouble of rearing them. +Every man’s hand is against his neighbour. No one feels +himself safe, and therefore no one thinks it worth while to lay up for +the morrow. No one expects justice and mercy to be done to him, +and therefore no one thinks it worth while to do justice and mercy to +others. And thus they live in continual fear and quarrelling, +feeding like wild animals on game or roots, often, when they have bad +luck in their hunting, on offal which our dogs would refuse, and dwindle +away and become fewer and wretcheder year by year; in this way do the +savages in New South Wales live to this day, for want of law.</p> +<p>It is for our good, then, that God has put into the heart of man +to make laws, and to obey them as sacred and divine things. For +our good, in order to save us from sinking down into the same state +of poverty and misery in which the savages are. For our good, +because we are fallen creatures, with selfish and corrupt wills, continually +apt to break loose, and please ourselves at the expense of our neighbours. +For our good, because, however fallen we are, we are still brothers, +members of God’s family, bound to each other by duty and relationship, +if not by love.</p> +<p>Just as in a family, if parents, brothers, and sisters will not do +their duty to each other lovingly and of their free will, the law interferes, +and the custom of the country interferes, and the opinion of neighbours +interferes, and says: “You may not love your parents: but you +have no right to leave them to starve.” “You may not +love your brothers: but if you try to injure and slander them, you are +doing an unnatural and hateful thing, abhorred by God and man, and you +must expect us to treat you accordingly, as a wild beast who does not +feel the common laws of nature and right and wrong.” So +with the law of the land. The law is meant to remind us more or +less that we are brothers, members of one body; that we owe a duty to +each other; that we are all equal in God’s sight, who is no respecter +of persons, or of rank, or of riches, any more than the law is when +it punishes the greatest nobleman as severely as the poorest labourer. +The law is meant to remind us that God is just; that when we injure +each other, we sin against God; that God’s rule and law is, that +each transgression should receive its just reward, and that, therefore, +because man is made in the likeness of God, man is bound, as far as +he can, to visit every offence with due and proportionate punishment. +And the law punishes, as St. Paul says, in God’s name, and for +God’s sake. The magistrate is a witness for God’s +righteous government of the world, the minister of God’s vengeance +against evil-doers, to remind all continually that evil-doing has no +place, and cannot prosper, and must not be allowed, upon this God’s +earth whereon we live.</p> +<p>But what if the laws are unfair, and punish only some sorts of evil-doers +and not others? What if they are like spiders’ webs, which +catch the little flies, and let the great wasps break through? +What if they punish poor and weak offenders, and let the rich and powerful +sinners escape? “Obey them still,” says St. Paul. +In his time and country the laws were as unfair in that way as laws +ever were, and yet he tells Christians to obey them for conscience’s +sake. Thank God that they do punish weak offenders. Pray +God that the time may come when they may be strong enough to punish +great offenders also. But, in the meantime, see that they have +not to punish you. As far as the laws go, they are right and good. +As far as they keep down any sort of wrong-doing whatsoever, they are +God’s ordinances, and you must obey them for God’s sake.</p> +<p>But what if the laws are not only unfair and partial, but also unjust +and wrong? Are we to obey them then? Obey them still, says +St. Paul. Of course, if they command you to do a clearly wrong +thing; if, for instance, the law commanded you to worship idols, or +to commit adultery, there is no question then; such laws cannot be God’s +ordinance. The laws can only be God’s ordinance as far as +they agree with what we know of God’s will written in our hearts, +and written in His holy Bible. Then a man must resist the law +to the death, if need be, as the old martyrs did, dying as witnesses +for God’s righteous and eternal law, against man’s false +and unrighteous law. It is a very difficult thing, no doubt, to +tell where to draw the line in such matters. But we, thank God, +here in England now, have no need to puzzle our heads with such questions. +Every man’s conscience is free here, and he has full liberty to +worship God as he thinks best, provided that by so doing he does not +interfere with his neighbour’s character, or property, or comfort. +There is no single law in England now, that I know of, which a man has +any need to refuse to obey, let his conscience be as tender as it may. +And as for laws which we think hurtful to the country, or hurtful to +any particular class in the country, our thinking them hurtful is no +reason that we should not obey them. As long as they are law, +they are God’s ordinance, and we have no right to break them. +They may be useful after all. Or even if they are hurtful in some +way, still God may be bringing good out of them in some other way, of +which we little dream, as He has often done out of laws and customs +which seem at first sight most foolish and hurtful, and yet which He +endured and winked at, for the sake of bringing good out of evil. +At all events, whatsoever laws are here in England, are made by the +men whom we English have chosen, as the men most fit and wise to make +them, and we are bound to abide by them. If Parliament is not +wise enough to make perfectly good laws, that is no one’s fault +but our own; for if we were wise, we should choose wise law-makers, +and we must be filled with the fruit of our own devices. As long +as these laws have been made and passed, by Commons, Lords, and Queen, +according to the ancient forms and constitution which God has taught +our forefathers from time to time for more than a thousand years, and +which have had God’s blessing and favour on them, and made us, +from the least of all nations, the greatest nation on the earth; in +short, as long as those laws are made according to law, so long we are +bound to believe them to be God’s ordinance, and obey them. +But understand; that is no reason why we should not try to get them +improved; for when they are changed and done away according to the same +law which made them, that will be a sign that they are God’s ordinances +no longer; that God thinks we have no more need for them, and does not +require us to keep them. But as long as any law is what St. Paul +calls “the powers that be,” obeyed it must be, not only +for wrath, but for conscience’s sake.</p> +<p>That is a very important part of the matter. Obey the law, +St. Paul says, not only for wrath, that is, not only for fear of punishment, +but for conscience’s sake. Even if you do not expect to +be punished; even if you think no one will ever find out that you have +broken the law, remember it is God’s ordinance. He sees +you. Do not hurt your own conscience, and deaden your own sense +of right and wrong, by breaking the least or the most unjust law in +the slightest point.</p> +<p>For instance: some people think the income-tax is very unfair; and +therefore they think there is no harm in cheating the revenue a little, +by making out their income less than it is. Others, again, think +the laws against smuggling unjust and harsh; and therefore they see +no harm in trying to avoid paying duty on goods which they bring home, +whenever they have an opportunity, or buying cheap goods, which they +must know from their price are smuggled. Others, again, think +the game laws are unfair, and therefore see no harm in going out shooting +on their own lands without a licence; while many see no harm, or say +they see no harm, in poaching on other people’s grounds, and killing +game contrary to law wherever they can. That it is wrong to break +the law in these two first cases, you all know in your own hearts. +On the matter of poaching, some of you, I know, have many very mistaken +notions. But, my friends, I ask you only to look at the sin and +misery which poaching causes, if you want to see that those who break +the law do indeed break the ordinance of God, and that God’s laws +avenge themselves. Look at the idleness, the untidiness, the deceit, +the bad company, the drunkenness, the misery and sin, to man, woman, +and child, which that same poaching brings about, and then see how one +little sin brings on many great ones; how a man, by despising the authority +of law, and fancying that he does no harm in disobeying the laws, from +his own fancy about poaching being no harm, falls into temptation and +a snare, and pierces himself through with many sorrows. My young +friends, believe my words. Avoid poaching, even once in a way. +The beginning of sin is like the letting out of water; no one can tell +where it will stop. He who breaks the law in little things will +be tempted to go on and break it in greater and greater things. +He who begins by breaking man’s law, which is the pattern of God’s +law, will be tempted to go on and break God’s law also. +Is it not so? There is no use telling me, “The game is no +one’s; there is no harm in taking it.” Light words +of that kind will not do to answer God with. You know there is +harm in taking it; for you know, as well as I do, that you cannot go +after game without neglecting your work to get it; or without going +to the worst of public-houses, among the worst of company, to sell it. +You know, as well as I do, that hand in hand with poaching go lying, +and idling, and sneaking, and fear, and boasting, and swearing, and +drinking, and the company of bad men and bad women. And then you +say there is no harm in poaching. Do you suppose that I do not +know, as well as any one of you here, what goes to the snaring of a +hare, and the selling of a hare, and the spending of the ill-got price +of a hare? My dear young men, I know that poaching, like many +other sins, is tempting: but God has told us to flee from temptation—to +resist the devil, and he will flee from us. If we are to give +up ourselves without a struggle to every pleasant thing which tempts +us, we shall soon be at the devil’s door. We were sent into +the world to fight against temptation and to conquer it. We were +sent into the world to do what God likes, not what we like; and therefore +we were sent into the world to obey the laws of the land wherein we +live, be they better or worse; because if we break one law because we +don’t like it, our neighbour may break another because he don’t +like that, and so forth; till there is neither law, nor peace, nor safety, +but every man doing what is right in his own eyes, which is sure to +end by every man’s doing what is right in the devil’s eyes. +We were sent into the world to live as brothers, under laws which make +us give up our own wills and selfish lusts for the common good. +And if we find it difficult to keep the laws, if we are tempted to break +the laws, God has promised His Spirit to those who ask Him. God +has promised His Spirit to us. If we pray for that Spirit night +and morning, He will make it easy for us to keep the laws. He +will make us what our Lord was before us, humble, patient, loving, manful +and strong enough to restrain our fancies and appetites, and to give +up our wills for the good of our neighbours, anxious and careful to +avoid all appearance of evil, trusting that because God is just, and +God is King, all laws which are not wicked are His ordinance, and therefore +being obedient to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, +even as Jesus Christ Himself was, who, though He was Lord of all, paid +taxes and tribute money to the Roman government, like the rest of the +Jews, and kept the law of Moses perfectly, and was baptised with John’s +baptism, to show that in all just and reasonable things we are to obey +the laws and customs of our forefathers, in the country to which it +has pleased the Lord that we should belong.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXVII—THE SOURCE OF LAW</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there +is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.—ROMANS +xiii. 1.</p> +<p>In this chapter, which we read for the second lesson for this afternoon’s +service, St. Paul gives good advice to the Romans, and equally good +advice to us.</p> +<p>Of course what he says must be equally good for us, and for all people, +at all times, in all countries, as long as time shall last; because +St. Paul spoke by the Spirit of God, who is God eternal, and therefore +cannot change His mind, but lays down, by the mouth of His apostles +and prophets, the everlasting laws of right and wrong, which are always +equally good for all.</p> +<p>But there is something in this lesson which makes it especially useful +to us; because we English are in some very important matters very like +the Romans to whom St. Paul wrote; though in others, thanks to Almighty +God, we are still very unlike them.</p> +<p>Now, these old Romans, as I have often told you, had risen to be +the greatest and mightiest people in the world, and to conquer many +foreign countries, and set up colonies of Romans in them, very much +as the English have done in India, and North America, and Australia: +so that the little country of Italy, with its one great city of Rome, +was mistress of vast lands far beyond the seas, ten times as large as +itself, just as this little England is.</p> +<p>But it is not so much this which I have to speak to you about now, +as how this Rome became so great; for it was at first nothing but a +poor little country town, without money, armies, trade, or any of those +things which shallow-minded people fancy are the great strength of a +nation. True, all those things are good; but they are useless +and hurtful—and, what is more, they cannot be got—without +something better than them; something which you cannot see nor handle; +something spiritual, which is the life and heart of a country or nation, +and without which it can never become great. This the old Romans +had; and it made them become great. This we English have had for +now fifteen hundred years; even when our forefathers were heathens, +like the Romans, before we came into this good land of England, while +we were poor and simple people, living in the barren moors of Germany, +and the snowy mountains of Norway; even then we had this wonderful charm, +by which nations are sure to become great and powerful at last; and +in proportion as we have remembered and acted upon it, we English have +thriven and spread; and whenever we have forgotten it and broken it, +we have fallen into distress, and poverty, and shame, over the whole +land.</p> +<p>Now, what is this wonderful charm which made the old Romans and we +English great, which is stronger than money, and armies, and trade, +and all the things which we can see and handle?</p> +<p>St. Paul tells us in the text: “Let every soul be subject to +the higher powers. For there is no power but of God. The +powers that be are ordained of God.”</p> +<p>To respect the law; to believe that God wills men to live according +to law; and that He will teach men right and good laws; that magistrates +who enforce the laws are God’s ministers, God’s officers +and servants; that to break the laws is to sin against God;—that +is the charm which worked such wonders, and will work them to the end +of time.</p> +<p>So you see it was a very proper thing for St. Paul, when he wrote +to these Romans after they became Christians, to speak to them as he +does in this chapter. They might have fancied, and many did fancy, +that because they were Jesus Christ’s servants now, they need +not obey their heathen rulers and laws any more. But St. Paul +says: “No; Jesus Christ’s being King of Kings, is only the +strongest possible reason for your obeying these heathen rulers. +For if He is King of all the earth, He is King of Rome also, and of +all her colonies; and therefore you may be sure that He would not leave +these Roman rulers, and laws here if He did not think it right and fitting. +If Jesus Christ is Lord of lords He is Lord of these Roman rulers, and +they are His ministers and stewards; and you must obey them, and pay +taxes to them for conscience’s sake, as unto the Lord, and not +unto man.”</p> +<p>So you see that St. Paul gave these Roman Christians no new commandment +on these matters; nothing different from what their old heathen forefathers +had believed. For the law which he mentions in verse 9, “Thou +shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal,” etc., had been for centuries +past part of the old Roman law, as well as of Moses’ law.</p> +<p>Those old heathen Romans believed, and rightly, that all law and +order came from the great God of gods, whom they called in their tongue +Jupiter, that is, the Heavenly Father. They believed that He would +bless those who kept the laws; who kept their oaths and agreements, +and the laws about government, about marriage, about property, about +inheritance; and that He would surely punish those who broke the laws, +who defrauded their neighbours of their rights, who swore falsely against +their neighbour, or broke their agreements, who were unfaithful to their +wives and husbands, or in any way offended against justice between man +and man. And they believed too, and rightly, that as long as they +kept the laws, and lived justly and orderly by them, the great Heavenly +Father would protect and prosper their town of Rome, and make it grow +great and powerful, because they were living as He would have men live; +not doing each what was right in the sight of his own eyes, but conquering +their own selfish wills and private fancies, for the sake of their neighbour’s +good, and the good of his country, that they might all help and trust +each other, as fellow-citizens of one nation.</p> +<p>Only St. Paul had told them: Your forefathers were right in fancying +that law and right came from the great God of gods: but they knew hardly +anything, or rather, in time they forgot almost everything, about that +Heavenly Father. In their ignorance they mixed up the belief in +the one great almighty and good God, which dwells in the hearts of all +men, with filthy fables and superstitions till they came to fancy that +there were many gods and not one, and that these many gods were sinful, +foul, proud, and cruel, as fallen men. But you have been brought +back to the knowledge of the one true, and righteous, and loving God, +which your forefathers lost. He has revealed and shown Himself, +and what He is like, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is love, and +wisdom, and justice, and order itself; and, therefore, you must be sure, +even more sure than your old heathen forefathers, that He cares for +a nation being at peace and unity within itself, governed by wise laws, +doing justice between man and man, and keeping order throughout all +its business, that every man may do his work and enjoy his wages without +hindrance, or confusion, or fear, or robbery and oppression from those +who are stronger than he.</p> +<p>And so St. Paul says to them: “You must believe that power +and law come from God, far more firmly and clearly than ever your heathen +forefathers did.”</p> +<p>Now that St. Paul was right in this we may see from the Old Testament. +In the first lesson for this afternoon’s service, we read how +Jeremiah was sent with the most awful warnings to the king, and the +queen, and the crown prince of his country. And why? Because +they had broken the laws; because, in a word, they had been unfaithful +stewards and ministers of the Lord God, who had given them their power +and kingdom, and would demand a strict account of all which He had committed +to their charge. But in the same book of the prophet Jeremiah +we read more than this; we read exactly what St. Paul says about the +heathen Roman governors: for the Lord God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, +sent Jeremiah with a message to all the heathen kings round about, to +tell them that He was their Lord and Master, that He had given them +their power, heathens as they were, because it seemed fit to Him, and +that now, for their sins, He was going to deliver them over into the +hand of another heathen, His servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; +and that whosoever would not serve Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord God would +punish him with sword, and famine, and pestilence till he had consumed +them. And the first four chapters of the book of Daniel, noble +and wonderful as they are, seem to me to have been put into the Bible +simply to teach us this one thing, that heathen rulers, as well as Christians, +are the Lord’s servants, and that their power is ordained by God. +For these chapters are entirely made up of the history, how God, by +His prophet Daniel, taught the heathen king Nebuchadnezzar that he was +God’s minister and steward. And the latter part of the book +of Daniel is the account of his teaching the same thing to another heathen, +Cyrus the great and good king of Persia. And here St. Paul teaches +the Christian Romans just the same thing about their heathen governors +and heathen laws, that they are the ministers and the ordinance of God.</p> +<p>Now, our own English forefathers, as I said before, believed this +same thing; and if I had time, I could show you, I think, plainly enough +from God’s dealings with England, how He has blest and prospered +us whensoever we have acted up to it. But whether we have believed +it or not, there is enough in our English laws, and in our English Prayer +Book too, to witness for it and remind us of it.</p> +<p>The very title which we give the Queen, “Queen by the grace +of God;” the solemn prayers for her when she is crowned and anointed, +not in her own palace, or in the House of Parliament, but in the Church +of God at Westminster; the prayers which we have just offered up for +the Queen, for the government, and for the magistrates—these are +all so many signs and tokens to us that they are God’s stewards, +called to do God’s work, and that we must pray for God’s +grace to help them to fulfil their calling. And are not those +ten commandments which stand in every church, a witness of the same +thing? They are the very root of all law whatsoever. And +more, the solemn oath which a witness takes in the court of justice, +what is it but a sign of the same thing, that our forefathers, who appointed +these forms, believed that law and justice were holy things, and that +he who goes into a court of law goes into the presence of God Himself, +and confesses, when he promises to speak the truth, so help him God, +that God is the protector and the avenger of law and justice?</p> +<p>But some people, and especially young and light-hearted persons, +are ready to say: “Obey the powers that be, whosoever they may +be, good or bad, and believe that to break their laws is to sin against +God? We might as well be slaves at once. A man has a right +to his own opinion; and if he does not think a law good, how can he +be bound to obey it?”</p> +<p>You will often hear such words as those when you go out into the +world, into great towns, where men meet together much. Let me +give you, young people, a little advice about that beforehand; for, +fine as it sounds, it is hollow and false at root.</p> +<p>If you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like what +is right; and do that, says St. Paul, and then the law will not interfere +with you: “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the +evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that +which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the +minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is +evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the +minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” +And then he sums up what doing right is, in one short sentence: “Love +thy neighbour as thyself; for love is the fulfilling of the law.” +All that the laws want to make you do, is to behave like men who do +love their neighbours as themselves, and therefore do them no harm—to +behave like men who are ready to give up their own private wills and +pleasures, and even their own private property, if wanted, for the good +of their neighbours and their country. Therefore the law calls +on you to pay rates and taxes, which are to be spent for the good of +the nation at large. And if you love your neighbour as yourself, +and have the good of everyone round you at heart, you will no more grudge +paying rates and taxes for their benefit than you will grudge spending +money to support and educate your own children. And so you will +be free, free to do what you like, because you like, from the fear and +love of God, to do those right things which the law is set to make you +do.</p> +<p>But some may say: “That is not what we mean by being free. +We mean having a share in choosing Members of Parliament, and so in +making the laws and governing the country. When people can do +that the country is a free country.”</p> +<p>Well, my friends, and it is a strange thing, or rather not a strange +thing, if we will but study our Bibles, that a country cannot be free +in that way, unless the people of it do really believe that the powers +that be are ordained of God. Instead of that faith making the +old Romans slavish, or careless what laws were made, or how they were +governed, as some fancy it would make a people, they were as free a +people, and freer almost than we English now. They chose their +own magistrates, and they made their own laws, and prospered by so doing. +And why? Because they believed that laws came from God; and, therefore, +they not only obeyed the laws when they were made, but they had heart +and spirit to help to make them, because they trusted that The Heavenly +Father, who loved justice, would teach them to be just, and that The +God who protected laws and punished law-breakers, would put into their +minds how to make the laws well; and so they were not afraid to govern +themselves, because they believed that God would enable them to govern +themselves well, and therefore they were free. And so far from +their having a slavish spirit in them, they were the most bold and independent +people of the whole earth. Their soldiers conquered almost every +nation against whom they fought, because they always obeyed their officers +dutifully and faithfully, believing that it was their duty to God to +obey, and to die, if need was, for their country. Old history +is full of tales, which will never be forgotten, I trust, till the world’s +end, of the noble deeds of their men, ay, and even of their women, who +counted their own lives worthless in comparison with the good of their +country, and died in torments rather than break the laws, or do what +they knew would injure the people to whom they belonged.</p> +<p>And so with us English. For hundreds of years we have been +growing more and more free, and more and more well-governed, simply +because we have been acting on St. Paul’s doctrine—obeying +the powers that be, because they are ordained by God. It is the +Englishman’s respect for law, as a sacred thing, which he dare +not break, which has made him, sooner or later, respected and powerful +wherever he goes to settle in foreign lands; because foreigners can +trust us to be just, and to keep our promises, and to abide by the laws +which we have laid down. It is the English respect for law, as +a sacred thing, which has made our armies among the bravest and the +most successful on earth; because they know how to obey their officers, +and are therefore able to fight and to endure as men should do. +And as long as we hold to that belief we shall prosper at home and abroad, +and become more and more free, and more and more strong; because we +shall be united, helping each other, trusting each other, knowing what +to expect of each other, because we all honour and obey the same laws.</p> +<p>And, on the other hand, have we not close to us, in France, a fearful +sign and proof from God that without the fear of God no people can be +free? Three times in the last sixty years have the French risen +up against evil rulers, and driven them out. And have they been +the better for it? They are at this very moment in utter slavery +to a ruler more lawless than ever oppressed them before. And why? +Because they did not believe that law came from God, and that the powers +that be are ordained by Him. Therefore, whenever they were oppressed, +they did not try to right themselves by lawful ways, according to the +old English God-fearing custom, but to break down the old law by riot +and bloodshed, and then to set up new laws of their own. But those +new laws would never stand. They made them, but they would not +obey them when they were made, and they could not make others obey them; +because they had no real reverence for law, and did not believe that +law came from God, or that His Spirit would give them understanding +to make good laws. They talked loud about the power and rights +of the people, and that whatever the people willed was right: but they +said nothing about the power and rights of the Lord God; they forgot +that it is only what God has willed from everlasting that is right; +and so they made laws in the strength of their own hearts, according +to what was right in the sight of their own eyes, to please themselves. +How could they respect the laws, when the laws were only copies of their +own selfish fancies? So, because they made them to please themselves, +they soon broke them to please themselves. And so came more lawlessness +and riot, and confusion worse confounded, till, of course, the strongest, +and cunningest, and most shameless got the upper hand; and they were +plunged, poor creatures! into the same pit of misery out of which they +had been trying to deliver themselves in their own strength, for a sign +and an example that the Lord is King, and not man at all, and that the +fear of the Lord is the only beginning of wisdom.</p> +<p>And very much the same sad fate had happened to the Romans a little +before St. Paul’s time. They gave up their ancient respect +for law; they broke the laws, and ran into all kinds of violence, and +riot, and filthy sin; and therefore God took away their freedom from +them, because they were not fit for it, and delivered them over into +the hand of one cruel tyrant after another; and perhaps the cruellest +of them all was the man who was emperor of Rome in St. Paul’s +time. Therefore it was that St. Paul says to them: Love each other, +and obey the laws, “knowing the time, that now it is high time +to awake out of sleep.”</p> +<p>As much as to say: “Your souls have fallen asleep; you have +been in a dark night, not seeing that God would avenge you of all these +sins of yours; that God’s eye was on them: you have fallen asleep +and forgotten your forefathers’ belief, that God loves law, and +order, and justice, and will punish those who break through them. +But now the Lord Jesus, the light of the world, is come to awaken you, +and to open your eyes to see the truth about this, and to show you that +you are in God’s kingdom, and that God commands you to repent, +and to obey Him, and do justly and righteously. Therefore awake +out of your sleep; give up the works of darkness, those mean and wicked +habits which were contrary to the good old laws of your forefathers, +and which you were at heart ashamed of, and tried to hide even while +you indulged in them. Open your eyes, and see that God is near +you, your Judge, your King, seeing through and through your souls, keen +and sharp to discern the secret thoughts and intents of the heart, so +that all things are naked and open in the sight of Him with whom we +have to do.”</p> +<p>And so I may say to you, my friends, it is high time for us to awake +out of sleep. The people in England, religious as well as others, +have fallen asleep of late years too much about this matter. They +have forgotten that God is King, that magistrates are God’s ministers. +They talk as if laws were meant to be only the device of man’s +will, to serve men’s private interests and selfishness; and therefore +they have lost very much of their respect for law, and their care to +make good laws for the future. And it is high time for us, while +all the nations of Europe are tottering and crumbling round us, to awake +out of sleep on this matter. We must open our eyes and see where +we are. For we are in God’s kingdom. God’s Bible, +God’s churches, God’s commandments, and all the solemn old +law forms of England witness to us that God is King, set in the throne +which judges right; that order and justice, fellow-feeling and public +spirit, are His gifts, His likeness, on which He looks down with loving +care and protection; and that if we forget that, and begin to fancy +that law stands merely by the will of the many, or by the will of the +stronger, or even by the will of the wiser—by any will of man +in short; we shall end by neither being able to make just laws any more, +nor to obey those which we have, by the blessing of God, already.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXVIII—THE EDUCATION OF A HEATHEN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and extol, and honour the King of heaven, +all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment; and those that walk +in pride He is able to abase.—DANIEL iv. 37.</p> +<p>We read for the first lesson to-day two chapters out of the book +of Daniel. Those who love to study their Bibles, have read often, +of course, not only these two chapters, but the whole book.</p> +<p>And I would advise all of you who wish to understand God’s +dealings with mankind, to study this book of Daniel, and especially +at this present time.</p> +<p>I do not wish you to study it merely on account of those prophecies +in it, which many wise and good men think foretell the dates of our +Lord’s first and second comings, and of the end of the world. +I am not skilled, my friends, in that kind of wisdom. I cannot +tell you what God will do hereafter. But I think that the book +of Daniel like the other prophets, tells us what God is always doing +on earth, and so gives us certain and eternal rules by which we may +understand strange and terrible events, wars, distress of nations, the +fall of great men, and the suffering of innocent men, when we see them +happen, as we may see any day—perhaps very soon indeed.</p> +<p>The great lesson, I think, that this book of Daniel teaches us is, +that God is not the Lord of the Jews only, or of Christians only, but +of the whole earth; that the heathens are under His moral law and government, +as well as we; and that, as St. Peter says, God is no respecter of persons: +but in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, +is accepted of him. For the history of Nebuchadnezzar seems to +me to be the history of God’s educating a heathen and an idolater +to know Him. And we must always remember, that as far as we can +see, it was because Nebuchadnezzar was faithful to the light which he +had, that God gave him more. Of course he had his sins; the Bible +tells us what they were; just the sins which one would expect of a man +brought up a heathen and an idolater; of one who was a great conqueror, +and had gained many bloody battles, and learned to hold men’s +lives very cheap; of one who was an absolute emperor, with no law but +his own will, furious at any contradiction; of a man of wonderful power +of mind—confident in himself, his own power, his own cunning. +But he seems not to have been a bad man, considering his advantages. +The Bible never speaks harshly of him, though he carried away the Jews +captive to Babylon. In all that fearful war, Nebuchadnezzar was +in the right, and the Jews in the wrong; so at least Jeremiah the prophet +declared. Nebuchadnezzar saved and respected Jeremiah; and Daniel +seems to have regarded the great conqueror with real respect and affection. +When Daniel says to him, “O king, live for ever,” and tells +him that he is the head of gold, and prays that his fearful dream may +come true of his enemies and not of him, I cannot believe that the prophet +was using mere empty phrases of court-flattery. He really felt, +I doubt not, that Nebuchadnezzar was a great and good king, as kings +went then, and his government a gain (as it easily might be) to the +nations whom he had conquered, and that it was good that he should reign +as long as possible.</p> +<p>And we may well believe Daniel’s interest in this great king, +when we consider how teachable Nebuchadnezzar showed himself under God’s +education of him, so proving that there was in him the honest and good +heart, which, when The Word is sown in it, will bring forth fruit, thirty-fold +or a hundred-fold, according to the talents which God has bestowed on +each man.</p> +<p>This first lesson we read in the first chapter of Daniel. He +dreamt a dream. He felt that it was a very wonderful one: but +he forgot what it was. None of the magicians of Babylon could +tell him. A young Jew, named Daniel, told him the dream and its +meaning, and declared at the same time that he had found it out by no +wisdom of his own, but God had revealed it to him. Nebuchadnezzar +learned his lesson, and confessed Daniel’s God to be a God of +gods and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing that Daniel +could reveal that secret; and forthwith, like a wise prince, advanced +Daniel and his companions to places of the highest authority and trust.</p> +<p>But Nebuchadnezzar required another lesson. He had learned +that the God of the Jews was wiser than all the planets and heavenly +lords and gods whom the Babylonian magicians consulted; he had not learned +that that same God of the Jews was the Creator and Lord of heaven and +earth. He had learned that the God of heaven favoured him, and +had helped him toward his power and glory; but he thought that for that +very reason the power and glory were his own—that he had a right +over the souls and consciences of his subjects, and might make them +worship what he liked, and how he liked.</p> +<p>Three Jews, whom he had set over the affairs of Babylon, refused +to worship the golden image which he had set up, and were cast into +a fiery furnace, and forthwith miraculously delivered, and beheld by +Nebuchadnezzar walking unhurt and loose in the midst of the furnace, +and with them a fourth, whose form was like the form of the Son of God.</p> +<p>So Nebuchadnezzar was taught that this God of the Jews was the Lord +of men’s souls and consciences; that they were to obey God rather +than man. So he was taught that the God of the Jews was no mere +star or heavenly influence who could help men’s fortunes, or bestow +on them a certain fixed destiny; but a living person, the Lord and Master +of the fire, and of all the powers of the earth, who could change and +stop those powers at His will, to deliver those who trusted in Him and +obeyed Him.</p> +<p>And this lesson, too, Nebuchadnezzar learned. He confessed +his mistake upon the spot, just in the way in which we should have expected +a great Eastern king to do, though not in the most enlightened or merciful +way. He “blessed the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, +who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. +Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, +which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and +Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses be made a dunghill: +because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.”</p> +<p>But there was still one deep mistake lying in the great king’s +heart which required to be rooted out. He had learnt that Jehovah, +the God of the Jews, was a revealer of secrets, a master of the fire, +a deliverer of those who trusted in Him, a living personal Lord, wise, +just, and faithful, very different from any of his star gods or idols. +But he looked upon Jehovah only as the God of the Jews, as Daniel’s +God. He had not yet learnt that God was <i>his</i> God as well +as Daniel’s; that Jehovah was very near his heart and mind, and +had been near him all his life; that from Jehovah came all his wisdom, +his strength of mind, his success, and all which made him differ, not +only from his fellow-men, but from the beast; that Jehovah, in a word, +was the light and the life of the world, who fills all things and by +whom all things consist, deserted by whose inward light, even for a +moment, man becomes as one of the beasts which perish. In his +own eyes Nebuchadnezzar was still the great self-dependent, self-sufficing +conqueror, wiser and stronger than all the men around him. He +thought, most probably, that on account of his wisdom, and courage, +and royalty of soul, the God of heaven had become fond of him and favoured +him. In short, he was swollen with pride.</p> +<p>God sent him again a strange dream, which made him troubled and afraid. +He told it to his old counsellor Daniel; and Daniel, at the danger of +his life, interpreted it for him; and a very awful meaning it had. +A fearful and shameful downfall was to come upon the king; no less than +the loss of his reason, and with it, of his throne. But whether +this came to pass or not, depended, like all God’s everlasting +promises and threats, on Nebuchadnezzar’s own behaviour. +If he repented, and broke off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities +by showing mercy to the poor, there was good reason to hope that so +his tranquillity might be lengthened.</p> +<p>But the lesson was too hard for the proud conqueror; he did not take +the warning. He could not believe that the Most High ruled in +the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. He still +fancied that he, and such as he, were the lords of the world, and took +from others by their own power and cunning whatsoever they would. +He does not seem to have been angry, however, with Daniel for his plain +speaking. Most Eastern kings like Nebuchadnezzar would have put +Daniel to a cruel death on the spot as the bearer of evil news, speaking +blasphemy against the king; and no one in those times and countries +would have considered him wicked and cruel for so doing; but Nebuchadnezzar +seems to have learnt too much already so to give way to his passion.</p> +<p>Yet, as I said before, he had not learned enough to take God’s +warning. The lesson that he was nothing, and that God is all in +all, was too hard for him. And, alas! my friends, for whom of +us is it not a hard lesson? And yet it is the golden lesson, the +first and the last which man has to learn on earth, ay, and through +all eternity: “I am nothing; God is all in all.” All +in us which is worth calling anything; all in us which is worth having, +or worth being; all in us which is not disobedience and shortcoming, +failure and mistake, ignorance and madness, filthiness and fierceness, +as of the beasts which perish; all strength in us, all understanding, +all prudence, all right-mindedness, all purity, all justice, all love; +all in us which is worth living for, all in us which is really alive, +and not mere death in life, the death of sin and the darkness of the +pit—all is from God the Father of lights, and from Jesus Christ +the life and the light, who lighteth every man who cometh into the world, +shining for ever in the darkness of our spirits, though that darkness, +alas! too often cannot comprehend, and embrace, and confess Him who +is striving to awake it from the dead and give it light. Hardest +of all lessons! Most blessed of all lessons! So blessed, +that if we will not let God teach it us in any other way, it would be +good and advantageous to us for Him to teach it us as He taught it to +Nebuchadnezzar—good for us to become with him for awhile like +the beasts that perish, that we might learn with him to lift up our +eyes to heaven, and so have our understandings return to us, and learn +to bless the Most High, and not our own wit, and cunning, and prudence; +and praise and honour Him that liveth for ever, instead of praising +and honouring our own pitiful paltry selves, who are in death in the +midst of life, who come up and are cut down like the flower, and never +continue in one stay.</p> +<p>“All this came upon the King Nebuchadnezzar.” It +seems that after he or his father had destroyed the old Babylon, the +downfall of which Isaiah had prophesied, he built a great city, after +the fashion of Eastern conquerors, near the ruins of the old one; and +“at the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom +of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, +that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, +and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s +mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, +to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee. And they +shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts +of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times +shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the +kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. The same +hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar.”</p> +<p>What a lesson! The great conqueror of all the East now a brutal +madman, hateful and disgusting to all around him—a beast feeding +among the beasts: and yet a cheap price—a cheap price—to +pay for this golden lesson.</p> +<p>Seven times past over him in his madness. What those seven +times were we do not know. They may have been actual years: or +they may have been, as I am inclined to think, changes in his own soul +and state of mind. But, at the end of the days, the truth dawned +on him. He began to see what it all meant. He saw what he +was, and why he was so; and he lifted up his eyes to heaven; and from +that moment his madness past. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. +That is no mere figure of speech: it is an actual truth. Most +madmen, if you watch them, have that down look, or rather that inward +look, as if their eyes were fixed only on their own fancies. They +are thinking only of themselves, poor creatures—of their own selfish +and private suspicions and wrongs—of their own selfish superstitious +dreams about heaven or hell—of their own selfish vanity and ambition—sometimes +of their own frantic self-conceit, or of their selfish lusts and desires—of +themselves, in short. They have lost the one Divine light of reason, +and conscience, and love, which binds men to each other, and are parted +for a while from God and from their kind—alone in their own darkness. +So was Nebuchadnezzar.</p> +<p>At last he looked up, as men do when they pray; up from himself to +One greater than himself; up from the earth to heaven; up from the natural +things which we do see, which are temporal and born to die, to moral +and spiritual things which we do not see, which are real and eternal +in the heavens; up from his own lonely darkness, looking for the light +and the guidance of God; for now he began to see that all the light +which he had ever had, all his wisdom, and understanding, and strength +of will, had come from God, however he might have misused them for his +own selfish ambition; that it was because God had taken from him His +light, who is the Word of God, that he had become a beast. And +then his reason returned to him, and he became again a man, a rational +being, made, howsoever fallen and sinful, in the likeness of God; then +he blessed and praised God. It was not merely that he confessed +that God was strong, and he weak; righteous, and he sinful; wise, and +he foolish; but he blessed and praised God; he felt and confessed that +God had done him a great benefit, and taught him a great lesson—that +God had taught him what he was in himself and without God, that he might +see what he was with God in its true light, and honour and obey Him +from whom his reason and understanding, as well as his power and glory, +came, that so it might be fulfilled which the prophet says: “Let +not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, +nor the rich man in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, +that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise +loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness <i>in the earth</i>; for +in these things I delight, saith the Lord.”</p> +<p>And so was Nebuchadnezzar’s soul brought to utter, in his own +way, the very same glorious song which, or something like it, is said +to have been sung by the three men whom, years before, he had seen delivered +from the fiery furnace, which calls on all the works of the Lord, angels +and heaven, sun and stars, seas and winds, mountains and hills, fowls +and cattle, priests and laymen, spirits and souls of the righteous, +to bless the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever.</p> +<p>And so ends Nebuchadnezzar’s history. We read no more +of him. He had learnt the golden lesson. May God grant that +we may learn it also!</p> +<p>But who tells the story of his madness? He himself. The +whole account is in the man’s own words. It seems to be +some public letter or proclamation, which he either sent round his empire, +or commanded to be laid up among his records; having, as it seems, set +Daniel to write it down from his mouth. This one fact, I think, +justifies me in all that I have said about Nebuchadnezzar’s nobleness, +and Daniel’s affection for him. He does not try to smooth +things over; to pretend that he has not been mad; to find excuses for +himself; to lay any blame on any human being. He repents openly, +confesses openly. Shameful as it may be to him, he tells the whole +story. He confesses that he had fair warning, that all was his +own fault. He justifies God utterly. My friends, we may +read, thank God, many noble, and brave, and righteous speeches of kings +and great men: but never have I read one so noble, so brave, so righteous +as this of the great king of Babylon.</p> +<p>And therefore it is; because this letter of his, in the fourth chapter +of the book of Daniel, is indeed full of the eternal Holy Spirit of +God; therefore it is, I say, that it forms part of the Bible, part of +holy scripture to this day,—a greater honour to Nebuchadnezzar +than all his kingdom; for what greater honour than to have been inspired +to write one chapter, yea, one sentence, of the Book of Books?</p> +<p>My friends, every one of you here is in God’s school-house, +under God’s teaching, far more than Nebuchadnezzar was. +You are baptised men, knowing that blessed name of Father, Son, and +Holy Spirit, which Nebuchadnezzar only saw dimly, and afar off. +Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is striving with your hearts, giving +to them whatsoever light and life they have. You have been taught +from childhood to look up to Him as your King and Deliverer; to His +Father as your Father, to His Holy Spirit as your Inspirer. Take +heed how you listen to His voice within your hearts. Take heed +how you learn God’s lessons; for God is surely educating you, +and teaching you far more than He taught the king of Babylon in old +time. As you learn or despise these lessons of God’s, will +be your happiness or your misery now and for ever. Unto the king +of Babylon little was given, and of him was little required. To +you and me much has been given; of you and me will much be required.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXIX—JEREMIAH’S CALLING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David +a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute +judgment and justice in the earth.—JEREMIAH xxiii. 5.</p> +<p>At the time when Jeremiah the prophet spoke those words to the Jews, +nothing seemed more unlikely than that they would ever come true. +The whole Jewish nation was falling to pieces from its own sins. +Brutish and filthy idolatry in high and low—oppression, violence, +and luxury among the court and the nobility—shame, and poverty, +and ignorance among the lower classes—idleness and quackery among +the priesthood—and as kings over all, one fool and profligate +after another, set on the throne by a foreign conqueror, and pulled +down again by him at his pleasure. Ten out of the twelve tribes +of Israel had been carried off captive, young and old, into a distant +land. The small portion of country which still remained inhabited +round Jerusalem, had been overrun again and again by cruel armies of +heathens. Without Jerusalem was waste and ruins, bloodshed and +wretchedness; within every kind of iniquity and lies, division and confusion. +If ever there was a miserable and contemptible people upon the face +of the earth, it was the Jewish nation in Jeremiah’s time. +Jeremiah makes no secret of it. His prophecies are full of it—full +of lamentation and shame: “Oh that my head were a fountain of +tears, to weep for the sins of my people!” He feels that +God has sent him to rebuke those sins, to warn and prophesy to his fellow-countrymen +the certain ruin into which they are rushing headlong; and he speaks +God’s message boldly. From the poor idol-ridden labourer, +offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven to coax her into sending him a +good harvest, to the tyrant king who had built his palace of cedar and +painted it with vermilion, he had a bitter word for every man. +The lying priest tried to silence him; and Jeremiah answered him, that +his wife should be a harlot in the city, and his children sold for slaves. +The king tried to flatter him into being quiet; and he told him in return, +that he should be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged out and +cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. The luxurious queen, +who made her nest in the cedars, would be ashamed and confounded, he +said, for her wickedness. The crown prince was a despised broken +idol—a vessel in which was no pleasure; he should be cast out, +he and his children, into slavery in a land which he knew not. +The whole royal family, he said, would perish; none of them should ever +again prosper or sit upon the throne of David. This was his message; +shame and confusion, woe and ruin, to high and low; every human being +he passed in the street was a doomed man. For the day of the Lord +was at hand, and who should be able to escape it?</p> +<p>A sad calling, truly, to have to work at; and all the more sad because +Jeremiah had no pride, no steadfast opinion of his own excellence to +keep him up. He hates his calling of prophet. At the very +moment he is foretelling woe, he prays God that his prophecy may not +come true; he tries every method to prevent its coming true, by entreating +his countrymen to repent. There runs through all his awful words +a vein of tenderness, and pity, and love unspeakable, which to me is +the one great mark of a true prophet; a sign that Jeremiah spoke by +the Spirit of God; a sign that too many writers nowadays do not speak +by the Spirit of God. If they rebuke the rich and powerful, they +do it generally in a very different spirit from Jeremiah’s—in +a spirit of bitterness and insolence, not very easy to describe, but +easy enough to perceive. They seem to rejoice in evil, to delight +in finding fault, to be sorry, and not glad, when their prophecies of +evil turn out false; to try to set one class against another, one party +against another, as if we were not miserably enough split up already +by class interests and party spirit. They are glad enough to rebuke +the wicked great; but not to their face, not to their own danger and +hurt like Jeremiah. Their plan is to accuse the rich to the poor, +on their own platform, or in their own newspaper, where they are safe; +and, moreover, to make a very fair profit thereby; to say behind the +back of authorities that which they dare not say to their face, and +which they soon give up saying when they have worked their own way into +office; and meanwhile take mighty credit to themselves for seeing that +there is wrong and misery in the world; as if the spirits in hell should +fancy themselves righteous, because they hated the devil! No, +my friends, Jeremiah was of a very different spirit from that. +If he ever was tempted to it when he was young, and began to fancy himself +a very grand person, who had a right to look down on his neighbours, +because God had called him and set him apart to be a prophet from his +mother’s womb, and revealed to him the doom of nations, and the +secrets of His providence—if he ever fancied that in his heart, +God led him through such an education as took all the pride out of him, +sternly and bitterly enough. He was commissioned to go and speak +terrible words, to curse kings and nobles in the name of the Lord: but +he was taught, too, that it was not a pleasant calling, or one which +was likely to pay him in this life. His fellow-villagers plotted +against his life. His wife deserted him. The nobles threw +him into a dungeon, into a well full of mire, whence he had to be drawn +up again with ropes to save his life. He was beaten, all but starved, +kept for years in prison. He had neither child nor friend. +He had his share of all the miseries of the siege of Jerusalem, and +all the horrors of its storm; and when he was set free by Nebuchadnezzar, +and clung to his ruined home, to see if any good could still be done +to the remnant of his countrymen, he was violently carried off into +a heathen land, and at last stoned to death, by those very countrymen +of his whom he had been trying for years to save. In everything, +and by everything, he was taught that he was still a Jew, a brother +to his sinful brothers; that their sorrows were his sorrows, their shame +his shame, their ruin his ruin. In all their afflictions he was +afflicted, even as his Lord was after him.</p> +<p>He struggled, we find, again and again against this strange and sad +calling of a prophet. He cried out in bitter agony that God had +deceived him; had induced him to become a prophet, and then repaid him +for speaking God’s message with nothing but disappointment and +misery. And yet he felt he must speak; God, he said, was stronger +than he was, and forced him to it. He said: “I will speak +no more words in His name; but the Word of the Lord was as fire within +his bones, and would not let him rest;” and so, in spite of himself, +he told the truth, and suffered for it; and hated to have to tell it, +and pitied and loved the very country which he rebuked till he cursed +“the day in which he saw the light, and the hour in which it was +said to his father, there is a man-child born.” You who +fancy that it is a fine thing, and a paying profession, to be a preacher +of righteousness and a rebuker of sin, look at Jeremiah, and judge! +For as surely as you or any other man is sent by God to do Jeremiah’s +work, so surely he must expect Jeremiah’s wages.</p> +<p>Do you think, then, that Jeremiah was a man only to be pitied? +Pitiable he was indeed, and sad. There was One hung on a cross +eighteen hundred years ago, more pitiable still: and yet He is the Lord +of heaven and earth. Yes; Jeremiah had a sad life to live, and +a sad task to work out; and yet, my friends, was not that a cheap price +to pay for the honour and glory of being taught by God’s Spirit, +and of speaking God’s words? I do not mean the mere honour +of having his fame and name spread over all Christ’s kingdom; +the honour of having his writings read and respected by the wisest and +the holiest to the end of time; that mere earthly fame is but a slight +matter. I mean the real honour, the real glory, of knowing what +was utterly right and true, and therefore of knowing Him who is utterly +right and true; of knowing God; of knowing what God’s character +is: that he is a living God, and not a dead one; a God who is near and +not absent at all, loving and merciful, just and righteous, strong and +mighty to save. Ay, my friends, this is the lesson which God taught +Jeremiah; to know the Lord of heaven and earth, and to see His hand, +His rule, in all that was happening to his fellow-countrymen, and himself; +to know that from the beginning the Lord, the Saviour-God, Jehovah, +the messenger of the covenant, He who brought up the Jews out of Egypt, +was the wise and just and loving King of the Jews, and of all the nations +upon earth; and that some day or other He must and would conquer all +the sinfulness, and misery, and tyranny, and idolatry in the world, +and show Himself openly to men, and fulfil all the piteous longings +after a just and good king which poor wretches had ever felt, and all +the glorious promises of a just and good king which God had made to +the wise men of old time; and, therefore, in the midst of shame and +persecution, despair and ruin, Jeremiah could rejoice. Jehoiakim, +the wicked king, and all his royal house, might be driven out into slavery; +Jerusalem might become a heap of ruins and corpses; the fair land of +Judæa, and the village where he was bred, might become thorns, +and thistles, and heaps of stones; the vineyard which he loved, the +little estate at Anathoth which had belonged to him, might be trodden +down by the stranger, and he himself die in a foreign land; around him +might be nothing but sin and decay, before him nothing but despair and +ruin: yet still there was hope, joy, everlasting certainty for that +poor, childless, captive old man; for he had found out that the Lord +still lived, the Lord still reigned. He could not lie; he could +not forget his people. Could a mother forget her sucking child? +No. When the Jews turned to Him, He would still have mercy. +His punishment of them was a sign that he still cared for them. +If He had forgotten them, He would have let them go on triumphant in +their iniquity. No. All these afflictions were meant to +chasten them, teach them, bring them back to Him. It would be +good for them, an actual blessing to them, to be taken away into captivity +in Babylon. It might be hard to believe, but it must be true. +The Lord of Israel, the Saviour-God, who had been caring for them so +long, rising up early and sending His prophets to them, pleading with +them as a father with his child, He would have mercy; He would teach +them, in sorrow and slavery, the lesson they were too rebellious and +hard-hearted to learn in prosperity and freedom: that the Lord was their +righteousness, and that there was no other name under heaven which could +save them from the plague, and from the famine, from the swords of the +Chaldeans, or from the division, and oppression, and brutishness, and +manifold wickedness, which was their ruin. And then Jeremiah saw +and felt—how we cannot tell—but there his words, the words +of this text, stand to this day, to show that he did see and feel it, +that some day or other, in God’s good time, the Jews would have +a true King—a very different king from Jehoiakim the tyrant—a +son of David in a very different sense from what Jehoiakim was; that +He would come, and must come, sooner or later, The unseen King, who +had all along been governing Jews and heathens, and telling his prophets +that Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, the Chaldee and the Persian, were his +servants as well as they, and that all the nations of the earth could +do but what he chose. “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, +that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign +and prosper, and shall execute justice and judgment on the earth.”</p> +<p>This was the blessed knowledge which God gave Jeremiah in return +for all the misery he had to endure in warning his countrymen of their +sins. And this same blessed knowledge, the knowledge that the +earth is the Lord’s, that to Jesus Christ is given, as He said +Himself, all power in heaven and earth, and that He is reigning, and +must reign, and conquer, and triumph till He has put all His enemies +under His feet, God will surely give to everyone, high or low, who follows +Jeremiah’s example, who boldly and faithfully warns the sinner +of his way, who rebukes the wickedness which he sees around him: only +he must do it in the spirit of Jeremiah. He must not be insolent +to the insolent, or proud to the proud. He must not be puffed +up, and fancy that because he sees the evil of sin, and the certain +ruin which is the fruit of it, that he is therefore to keep apart from +his fellow-countrymen, and despise them in Pharisaic pride. No. +The truly Christian man, the man who, like Jeremiah, has the Spirit +of God in him, will feel the most intense pity and tenderness of sinners. +He will not only rebuke the sins of his people, but mourn for them; +he will be afflicted in all their affliction. However harshly +he may have to speak, he will never forget that they are his countrymen, +his brothers, children of the same Father, to be judged by the same +Lord. He will feel with shame and fear that he has in himself +the root of the very same sins which he sees working death around him—that +if others are covetous, he might be so too—if they be profligate, +and deceitful, and hypocritical, without God in the world, he might +be so too. And he must feel not only that he might be as bad as +his neighbours, but that he actually would be, if God withdrew His Spirit +from him for a moment, and allowed him to forget the only faith which +saves him from sin, loyalty to his unseen Saviour, the righteous King +of kings. Therefore he will not only rebuke his sinful neighbours; +but he will tell them, as Jeremiah told his countrymen, that all their +sin and misery proceed from this one thing, that they have forgotten +that the Lord is their King. He will pray daily for them, that +the Lord their King may show Himself to their hearts and thoughts, and +teach them all that He has done for them, and is doing for them; and +may convert them to Himself that they may be truly His people, and His +way may be known upon earth, His saving health among all nations.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXX—THE PERFECT KING</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh to thee, meek, +and sitting upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass.—MATTHEW +xxi. <i>5.</i></p> +<p>You all know that this Sunday is called the First Sunday in Advent. +You all know, I hope, that Advent means coming, and that these four +Sundays before Christmas, as I have often told you, are called Advent +Sundays, because upon them we are called to consider the coming of our +King and Saviour Jesus Christ. If you will look at the Collects, +Epistles, and Gospels for these next four Sundays, you will see at once +that they all bear upon our Lord’s coming. The Gospels tell +us of the prophecies about Christ which He fulfilled when He came. +The Epistles tell us what sort of men we ought to be, both clergy and +people, because He has come and will come again. The Collects +pray that the Spirit of God would make us fit to live and die in a world +into which Christ has come, and in which He is ruling now, and to which +He will come again. The text which I have taken this morning, +you just heard in this Sunday’s Gospel. St. Matthew tells +you that Jesus Christ fulfilled it by riding into Jerusalem in state +upon an ass’s colt; and St. Matthew surely speaks truth. +Let us consider what the prophecy is, and how Jesus Christ fulfilled +it. Then we shall see and believe from the Epistle what effect +the knowledge of it ought to have upon our own souls, and hearts, and +daily conduct.</p> +<p>Now this prophecy, “Behold, thy king cometh unto thee,” +etc., you will find in your Bibles, in the ninth verse of the ninth +chapter of the book of Zechariah. But I do not think that Zechariah +wrote it. St. Matthew does not say he wrote it; he merely calls +it that which was spoken by the prophet, without mentioning his name. +Provided it is an inspired word from God, which it is, it perhaps does +not matter to us so much who wrote it: but I think it was written by +the prophet Jeremiah, perhaps in the beginning of the reign of the good +king Josiah; for the chapter in which this text is, and the two or three +chapters which follow, are not at all like the rest of Zechariah’s +writings, but exactly like Jeremiah’s. They certainly seem +to speak of things which did not happen in Zechariah’s time, but +in the time of Jeremiah, nearly ninety years before. And, above +all, St. Matthew himself seems plainly to have thought that some part, +at least, of those chapters was Jeremiah’s writing; for in the +twenty-seventh chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and in the ninth +verse, you will find a prophecy about the potter’s field, which +St. Matthew says was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. Now, those +words are not in the book of Jeremiah as it stands in our Bibles: but +they are in the book of Zechariah, in the eleventh chapter, twelfth +and thirteenth verses, coming shortly after my text, and making a part +of the same prophecy. This has puzzled Christians very much, because +it seemed as if St. Matthew has made a mistake, and miscalled Zechariah +Jeremiah. But I believe firmly that, as we are bound to expect, +St. Matthew made no mistake whatsoever, and that Jeremiah did write +that prophecy as St. Matthew said, and the two chapters before it, and +perhaps the two after it, and that they were probably kept and preserved +by Zechariah during the troublous times of the Babylonish captivity, +and at last copied by Nehemiah into Zechariah’s book of prophecy, +where they stand now; and I think it is a comfort to know this, and +to find that the evangelist St. Matthew has not made a mistake, but +knew the Scriptures better than we do.</p> +<p>But I think Jeremiah having written this prophecy in my text, which +I believe he did, is also very important, because it will show us what +the prophet meant when he spoke it, and how it was fulfilled in his +time; and the better we understand that, the better we shall understand +how our blessed Lord fulfilled it afterwards.</p> +<p>Now, when Jeremiah was a young man, the Jews and their king Amon +were in a state of most abominable wickedness. They were worshipping +every sort of idol and false god. And the Bible, the book of God’s +law, was utterly unknown amongst them; so that Josiah the king, who +succeeded Amon, had never seen or heard the book of the law of Moses, +which makes part of our Old Testament, till he had reigned eighteen +years, as you will find if you refer to 2 Kings xxii. 3. But this +Josiah was a gentle and just prince, and finding the book of the law +of God, and seeing the abominable forgetfulness and idolatry into which +his people had fallen, utterly breaking the covenant which God had made +with their forefathers when he brought them up out of Egypt—when +he found the book of the law, I say, and all that he and his people +should have done and had not done, and the awful curses which God threatened +in that book against those who broke His law, “he humbled himself +before God, because his heart was tender, and turned to the Lord, as +no king before him had ever turned,” says the scripture, “with +all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might; so that +there was no such king before him, or either after him.” +The history of the great reformation which this great and good king +worked, you may read at length in 2 Kings xxii. xxiii. and 2 Chron. +xxxiv. xxxv. which I advise you all to read.</p> +<p>And it appears to me that this prophecy in the text first applies +to the gentle and holy king Josiah, the first true and good king the +Jews had had for years, and the best they were ever to have till Christ +came Himself; and that it speaks of Josiah coming to Jerusalem to restore +the worship of God, not with pomp and show, like the wicked kings both +before and after him, but in meekness and humbleness of heart, for all +the sins of his people, as the prophetess said of him in 2 Kings xxii. +19, “that his heart was tender and humble before the Lord;” +neither coming with chariots and guards, like a king and conqueror, +but riding upon an ass’s colt; for that was, in those countries, +the ancient sign of a man’s being a man of peace, and not of war; +a magistrate and lawgiver, and not a soldier and a conqueror. +Various places of holy scripture show us that this was the meaning of +riding upon an ass in Judæa, just as it is in Eastern countries +now.</p> +<p>But some may say, How then is this a prophecy? It merely tells +us what good king Josiah was, and what every king ought to be. +Well, my friends, that is just what makes it a prophecy. If it +tells you what ought to be, it tells you what will be. Yes, never +forget that; whatever ought to be, surely will be; as surely as this +is God’s earth and Christ’s kingdom, and not the devil’s.</p> +<p>Now, it does not matter in the least whether the prophet, when he +spoke these words, knew that they would apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. +We have no need whatsoever to suppose that he did: for scripture gives +us no hint or warrant that he did; and if we have any real or honest +reverence for scripture, we shall be careful to let it tell its own +story, and believe that it contains all things necessary for salvation, +without our patching our own notions into it over and above. Wise +men are generally agreed that those old prophets did not, for the most +part, comprehend the full meaning of their own words. Not that +they were mere puppets and mouthpieces, speaking what to them was nonsense—God +forbid!—But that just because they did thoroughly understand what +was going on round them, and see things as God saw them, just because +they had God’s Eternal Spirit with them, therefore they spoke +great and eternal words, which will be true for ever, and will go on +for ever fulfilling themselves for more and more. For in proportion +as any man’s words are true, and wide, and deep, they are truer, +and wider, and deeper than that man thinks, and will apply to a thousand +matters of which he never dreamt. And so in all true and righteous +speech, as in the speeches of the prophets of old, the glory is not +man’s who speaks them, but God’s who reveals them, and who +fulfils them again and again.</p> +<p>It is true, then, that this text describes what every king should +be—gentle and humble, a merciful and righteous lawgiver, not a +self-willed and capricious tyrant. But Josiah could not fulfil +that. He was a good king: but he could not be a perfect one; for +he was but a poor, sinful, weak, and inconsistent man, as we are. +But those words being inspired by the Holy Spirit, must be fulfilled. +There ought to be a perfect king, perfectly gentle and humble, having +a perfect salvation, a perfect lawgiver; and therefore there must be +such a king; and therefore St. Matthew tells us there came at last a +perfect king—one who fulfilled perfectly the prophet’s words—one +who was not made king of Jerusalem, but was her King from the beginning; +for that is the full meaning of “Thy King cometh to thee.” +To Jerusalem He came, riding on the ass’s colt, like the peaceful +and fatherly judges of old time, for a sign to the poor souls round +Him, who had no lawgivers but the proud and fierce Scribes and Pharisees, +no king but the cruel and godless Cæsar, and his oppressive and +extortionate officers and troops. Meek and lowly He came; and +for once the people saw that He was the true Son of David—a man +and king, like him, after God’s own heart. For once they +felt that He had come in the name of the Lord the old Deliverer who +brought them out of the land of Egypt, and made them into a nation, +and loved and pitied them still, in spite of all their sins, and remembered +His covenant, which they had forgotten. And before that humble +man, the Son of the village maiden, they cried: “Hosanna to the +Son of David. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. +Hosanna in the Highest.”</p> +<p>And do you think He came, the true and perfect King, only to go away +again and leave this world as it was before, without a law, a ruler, +a heavenly kingdom? God forbid! Jesus is the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever. What He was then, when He rode in triumph +into Jerusalem, that is He now to us this day—a king, meek and +lowly, and having salvation; the head and founder of a kingdom which +can never be moved, a city which has foundations, whose builder and +maker is God. To that kingdom this land of England now belongs. +Into it we, as Englishmen, have been christened. And the unchristened, +though they know not of it, belong to it as well. What God’s +will, what Christ’s mercies may be to them, we know not. +That He has mercy for them, if their ignorance is not their own fault, +we doubt not; perhaps, even if their ignorance be their own fault, we +need not doubt that He has mercy for them, considering the mercy which +He has shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His will +to us we do know; and His will is this—our holiness. For +He came not only to assert His own power, to redeem his own world, but +to set His people, the children of men, an example, that they should +follow in His steps. Herein, too, He is the perfect king. +He leads His subjects, He sets a perfect example to His subjects, and +more, He inspires them with the power of following that example, as, +if you will think, a perfect ruler ought to be able to do. Josiah +set the Jews an example, but he could not make them follow it. +They turned to God at the bidding of their good king, with their lips, +in their outward conduct; but their hearts were still far from Him. +Jeremiah complains bitterly of this in the beginning of his prophecies. +He complains that Josiah’s reformation was after all empty, hollow, +hypocritical, a change on the surface only, while the wicked root was +left. They had healed, he said, the hurt of the daughter of his +people slightly, crying, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.” +But Jesus, the perfect King, is King of men’s spirits as well +as of their bodies. He can turn the heart, He can renew the soul. +None so ignorant, none so sinful, none so crushed down with evil habits, +but the Lord will and can forgive him, raise him up, enlighten him, +strengthen him, if he will but claim his share in his King’s mercy, +his citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, and so put himself in tune +again with himself, and with heaven, and earth, and all therein.</p> +<p>Keeping in mind these things, that Jesus, because He is our perfect +King, is both the example and the inspirer of our souls and characters, +we may look without fear at the epistle for the day, where it calls +on us to be very different persons from what we are, and declares to +us our duty as subjects of Him who is meek and lowly, just and having +salvation. It is no superstitious, slavish message, saying: “You +have lost Christ’s mercy and Christ’s kingdom; you must +buy it back again by sacrifices, and tears, and hard penances, or great +alms-deeds and works of mercy.” No. It simply says: +“You belong to Christ already, give up your hearts to Him and +follow His example. If He is perfect, His is the example to follow; +if he is perfect, His commandments must be perfect, fit for all places, +all times, all employments; if He is the King of heaven and earth, His +commandments must be in tune with heaven and earth, with the laws of +nature, the true laws of society and trade, with the constitution, and +business, and duty, and happiness of all mankind, and for ever obey +Him.”</p> +<p>Owe no man anything save love, for He owed no man anything. +He gave up all, even His own rights, for a time, for His subjects. +Will you pretend to follow Him while you hold back from your brothers +and fellow-servants their just due? One debt you must always owe; +one debt will grow the more you pay it, and become more delightful to +owe, the greater and heavier you feel it to be, and that is love; love +to all around you, for all around you are your brothers and sisters; +all around you are the beloved subjects of your King and Saviour. +Love them as you love yourself, and then you cannot harm them, you cannot +tyrannise over them, you cannot wish to rise by scrambling up on their +shoulders, taking the bread out of their mouths, making your profit +out of their weakness and their need. This, St. Paul says, was +the duty of men in his time, because the night of heathendom was far +spent, the day of Christianity and the Church was at hand. Much +more is it our duty now—our duty, who have been born in the full +sunshine of Christianity, christened into His church as children, we +and our fathers before us, for generations, of the kingdom of God. +Ay, my friends, these words, that kingdom, that King, witness this day +against this land of England. Not merely against popery, the mote +which we are trying to take out of the foreigner’s eye, but against +Mammon, the beam which we are overlooking in our own. Owe no man +anything save love. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” +That is the law of your King, who loved not Himself or His own profit, +His own glory, but gave Himself even to death for those who had forgotten +Him and rebelled against Him. That law witnesses against selfishness +and idleness in rich and poor. It witnesses against the employer +who grinds down his workmen; who, as the world tells him he has a right +to do, takes advantage of their numbers, their ignorance, their low +and reckless habits, to rise upon their fall, and grow rich out of their +poverty. It witnesses against the tradesman who tries to draw +away his neighbour’s custom. It witnesses against the working +man who spends in the alehouse the wages which might support and raise +his children, and then falls back recklessly and dishonestly on the +parish rates and the alms of the charitable. Against them all +this law witnesses. These things are unfit for the kingdom of +Christ, contrary to the laws and constitution thereof, hateful to the +King thereof; and if a nation will not amend these abominations, the +King will arise out of His place, and with sore judgments and terrible +He will visit His land and purify His temple, saying: “My Father’s +house should be a house of prayer, and ye have made it a den of thieves.” +Ay, woe to any soul, or to any nation, which, instead of putting on +the Lord Jesus Christ, copying His example, obeying His laws, and living +worthy of His kingdom, not only in the church, but in the market, the +shop, the senate, or the palace, give themselves up to covetousness, +which is idolatry; and care only to make provision for the flesh, to +fulfil the lusts thereof. Woe to them; for, let them be what they +will, their King cannot change. He is still meek and lowly; He +is still just and having salvation; and He will purge out of His kingdom +all that is not like Himself, the unchaste and the idle, the unjust +and the unmerciful, and the covetous man, who is an idolater, says the +scripture, though he may call himself seven times a Protestant, and +rail at the Pope in public meetings, while he justifies greediness and +tyranny by glib words about the necessities of business and the laws +of trade, and by philosophy falsely so called, which cometh not from +above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Such a man loves and +makes a lie, and the Lord of truth will surely send him to his own place.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXI—GOD’S WARNINGS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I +purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil +way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.—JEREMIAH +xxxvi. 3.</p> +<p>The first lesson for this evening’s service tells us of the +wickedness of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. How, when Jeremiah’s +prophecies against the sins of Jehoiakim and his people were read before +him, he cut the roll with a penknife, and threw it into the fire. +Now, we must not look on this story as one which, because it happened +among the Jews many hundred years ago, has nothing to do with us; for, +as I continually remind you, the history of the Jews, and the whole +Old Testament, is the history of God’s dealings with man—the +account of God’s plan of governing this world. Now, God +cannot change; but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and +therefore His plan of government cannot change: but if men do as those +did of whom we read in the Old Testament, God will surely deal with +them as He dealt with the men of the Old Testament. This St. Paul +tells us most plainly in the tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, where he +says that the whole history of the Jews was written for our example—that +is for the example of those Christian Corinthians, who were not Jews +at all, but Gentiles as we are; and therefore for our example also.</p> +<p>He tells them, that it was Christ Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, +who fed and guided the old Jews in the wilderness, and that the Lord +will deal with us exactly as He dealt with the old Jews.</p> +<p>Therefore it is a great and fearful mistake, to suppose that because +the Jews were a peculiar people and God’s chosen nation, that +therefore the Lord’s way of governing them is in any wise different +from His way of governing us English at this very day; for that fancy +is contrary to the express words of Holy Scripture, in a hundred different +places; it is contrary to the whole spirit of our Prayer Book, which +is written all through on the belief that the Lord deals with us just +as He did with the Jewish nation, and which will not even make sense +if it be understood in any other way; and besides, it is most dangerous +to the souls and consciences of men. It is most dangerous for +us to fancy that God can change; for if God can change, right and wrong +can change; for right is the will of God, and wrong is what is against +His will; and if we once let into our hearts the notion that God can +change His laws of right, our consciences will become daily dimmer and +more confused about right and wrong, till we fall, as too many do, under +the prophet’s curse, “Woe to them who call good evil, and +evil good; who put sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet,” and +fancy, like Ezekiel’s Jews, that God’s ways are unequal; +that is, unlike each other, changeable, arbitrary, and capricious, doing +one thing at one time, and another at another. No. It is +sinful man who is changeable; it is sinful man who is arbitrary. +But The Lord is not a man, that He should lie or repent; for He is the +only-begotten Son, and therefore the express likeness, of The Everlasting +Father, in whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.</p> +<p>But some may say, Is not that a gloomy and terrible notion of God, +that He cannot change His purpose? Is not that as much as to say +that there is a dark necessity hanging over each of us; that a man must +just be what God chooses, and do just what He has ordained to do, and +go to everlasting happiness or misery exactly as God has foreordained +from all eternity, so that there is no use trying to do right, or not +to do wrong? If I am to be saved, say such people, I shall be +saved whether I try or not; and if I am to be damned, I shall be damned +whether I try or not. I am in God’s hands like clay in the +hands of the potter; and what I am like is therefore God’s business, +and not mine.</p> +<p>No, my friends, the very texts in the Bible which tell us that God +cannot change or repent, tell us what it is that He cannot change in—in +showing loving-kindness and tender mercy, long-suffering, and repenting +of the evil. Whatsoever else He cannot repent of, He cannot repent +of repenting of the evil.</p> +<p>It is true, we are in His hand as clay in the hand of the potter. +But it is a sad misreading of scripture to make that mean that we are +to sit with our hands folded, careless about our own way and conduct; +still less that we are to give ourselves up to despair, because we have +sinned against God; for what is the very verse which follows after that? +Listen. “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this +potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of +the potter, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. At what instant +I shall speak concerning a kingdom, to pull down and destroy it; if +that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I +will repent of the evil which I thought to do to them. And at +what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, +to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not +my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit +them.”</p> +<p>So that the lesson which we are to draw from the parable of the potter’s +clay is just the exact opposite which some men draw. Not that +God’s decrees are absolute: but that they are conditional, and +depend on our good or evil conduct. Not that His election or His +reprobation are unalterable, but that they alter “at that instant” +at which man alters. Not that His grace and will are irresistible, +as the foolish man against whom St. Paul argues fancies: but that we +can resist God’s will, and that our destruction comes only by +resisting His will; in short, that God’s will is no brute material +necessity and fate, but the will of a living, loving Father.</p> +<p>And the very same lesson is taught us in Ezek. xviii., of which I +spoke just now; for if we read that chapter we shall find that the Jews +had a false notion of God that He had changed His character, and had +become in their time unmerciful and unjust. They fancied that +God was, if I may so speak, obstinate—that if His anger had once +arisen, there was no turning it away, but that He would go on without +pity, punishing the innocent children for their father’s sin; +and therefore they fancied God’s ways were unfair, self-willed, +and arbitrary, without any care of what sort of person He afflicted; +punishing the righteous as well as the wicked, after He had promised +in His law to reward the righteous and punish the wicked. They +fancied that His way of governing the world had changed, and that He +did not in their days make a difference between the bad and the good. +Therefore Ezekiel says to them: “When the righteous man turneth +away from his righteousness, he shall die.” “When +the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness, he shall live.” +“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith +the Lord God, and not that he should return from his ways, and live?”</p> +<p>This, then, is the good news, that God is love; love when He punishes, +and love when He forgives; very pitiful, and full of long-suffering +and tender mercy and repenting Him, never of the good, but only of the +evil which He threatens.</p> +<p>Both Jeremiah, therefore, and Ezekiel, give us the same lesson. +God does not change, and therefore He never changes His mercy and His +justice: for He is merciful because He is just. If we confess +our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. That +is His everlasting law, and has been from the beginning: Punishment, +sure and certain, for those who do not repent; and free forgiveness, +sure and certain also, for those who do repent.</p> +<p>So He spoke to Jeremiah in the time of Jehoiakim: “It may be +that the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose to do +to them; that I may forgive them their iniquity and their sin.” +The Lord, you see, wishes to forgive—longs to forgive. His +heart yearns over sinful men as a father’s over his rebellious +child. But if they will still rebel, if they will still turn their +wicked wills away from Him, He must punish. Why we know not; but +He knows. Punish He must, unless we repent—unless we turn +our wills toward His will. And woe to the stiff-necked and stout-hearted +man who, like the wicked king Jehoiakim, sets his face like a flint +against God’s warnings. How many, how many behave for years, +Sunday after Sunday, just as king Jehoiakim did! When he heard +that God had threatened him with ruin for his sins, he heard also that +God offered him free pardon if he would repent. Jeremiah gave +him free choice to be saved or to be ruined; but his heart and will +were hardened. Hearing that he was wrong only made him angry. +His pride and self-will were hurt by being told that he must change +and alter his ways. He had chosen his way, and he would keep to +it; and he cared nothing for God’s offers of forgiveness, because +he could not be forgiven unless he did what he was too proud to do, +confess himself to be in the wrong, and openly alter his conduct. +And how many, as I first said, are like him! They come to church; +they hear God’s warnings and threats against their evil ways; +they hear God’s offers of free pardon and forgiveness; but being +told that they are in the wrong makes them too angry to care for God’s +offers of pardon. Pride stops their cars. They have chosen +their own way, and they will keep it. They would not object to +be forgiven, if they might be forgiven without repenting. But +they do not like to confess themselves in the wrong. They do not +like to face their foolish companions’ remarks and sneers about +their changed ways. They do not like even good people to say of +them: “You see now that you were in the wrong after all; for you +have altered your mind and your doings yourself, as we told you you +would have to do.” No; anything sooner than confess themselves +in the wrong; and so they turn their backs on God’s mercy, for +the sake of their own carnal pride and self-will.</p> +<p>But, of course, they want an excuse for doing that; and when a man +wants an excuse, the devil will soon fit him with a good one. +Then, perhaps, the foolish sinner behaves as Jehoiakim did. He +tries to forget God’s message in the man who brings it. +He grows angry with the preacher, or goes out and laughs at the preacher +when service is over, as if it was the preacher’s fault that God +had declared what he has; as if it was the preacher’s doing that +God has revealed His anger against all sin and unrighteousness. +So he acts like Jehoiakim, who tried to take Jeremiah the prophet and +punish <i>him</i>, for what not he but the Lord God had declared. +Nay, they will often peevishly hate the very sight of a good book, because +it reminds them of the sins of which they do not choose to be reminded, +just as the young king Jehoiakim was childish enough to vent his spite +on Jeremiah’s book of prophecies, by cutting the roll on which +it was written with a penknife, and throwing it into the fire. +So do sinners who are angry with the preacher who warns them, or hate +the sight of good books. But let such foolish and wilful sinners, +such full-grown children—for, after all, they are no better—hear +the word of the Lord which came to Jehoiakim: “As it is written, +he that despiseth Me shall be despised, saith the Lord.” +And let them not fancy that their shutting their ears will shut the +preacher’s mouth, still less shut up God’s everlasting laws +of punishment for sin. No. God’s word stands true, +and it will happen to them as it did to Jehoiakim. His burning +Jeremiah’s book did not rid him of the book, or save him from +the woe and ruin which was prophesied in it; for we have Jeremiah’s +book here in our Bibles to this day, as a sign and a warning of what +happens to men, be they young or old, be they kings or labouring men, +who fight against God. Jeremiah’s words were not lost after +all; they were all re-written, and there were added to them also many +more like words; for Jehoiakim, by refusing the Lord’s offer of +pardon, had added to his sins, and therefore the Lord added to his punishment.</p> +<p>Perhaps, again, the devil finds the wilful sinner another excuse, +and the man says to himself, as the Jews did in Ezekiel’s time: +“The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s +teeth are set on edge. It is not my own fault that I am living +a bad life, but other people’s. My parents ought to have +brought me up better. I have had no chance. My companions +taught me too much harm. I have too much trouble to get my living; +or, I was born with a bad temper; or, I can’t help running after +pleasure. Why did God make me the sort of man I am, and put me +where I am? God is hard upon me; He is unfair to me. His +ways are unequal; He expects as much of me as He does of people who +have more opportunities. He threatens to punish me for other people’s +sins.”</p> +<p>And then comes another and a darker temptation over the man, and +the devil whispers to him such thoughts as these: “God does not +care for me; God hates me. Luck, and everything else is against +me. There seems to be some curse upon me. Why should I change? +Let God change first to me, and then I will change toward Him. +But God will not change; He is determined to have no mercy on me. +I can see that; for everything goes wrong with me. Then what use +in my repenting? I will just go my own way, and what must be must. +There is no resisting God’s will. If I am to be saved, I +shall be; if I am to be damned, I shall be. I will put all melancholy +thoughts out of my head, and go and enjoy myself and forget all. +At all events, it won’t last long: ‘Let me eat and drink, +for to-morrow I die.’”</p> +<p>Oh, my dear friends, have not some of you sometimes had such thoughts? +Then hear the word of the Lord to you: “When—whensoever—whensoever +the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness which he hath committed, +and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.” +“Have I any pleasure in the death of him that dieth? saith the +Lord, and not rather that he should be converted, and live?” +True, most true, that the Lord is unchangeable: but it is in love and +mercy. True, that God’s will and law cannot alter: but what +is God’s will and law? The soul that sinneth, it shall die? +Yes. But also, the soul that turneth away from its sin, it shall +live. Never believe the devil when he tells you that God hates +you. Never believe him when he tells you that God has been too +hard on you, and put you into such temptation, or ignorance, or poverty, +or anything else, that you cannot mend. No. That font there +will give the devil the lie. That font says: “Be you poor, +tempted, ignorant, stupid, be you what you will, you are God’s +child—your Father’s love is over you, His mercy is ready +for you.” You feel too weak to change; ask God’s Spirit, +and He will give you a strength of mind you never felt before. +You feel too proud to change; ask God’s Spirit, and He will humble +your proud heart, and soften your hard heart; and you will find to your +surprise, that when your pride is gone, when you are utterly ashamed +of yourself, and see your sins in their true blackness, and feel not +worthy to look up to God, that then, instead of pride, will come a nobler, +holier, manlier feeling—self-respect, and a clear conscience, +and the thought that, weak and sinful as you are, you are in the right +way; that God, and the angels of God, are smiling on you; that you are +in tune again with all heaven and earth, because you are what God wills +you to be—not His proud, peevish, self-willed child, fancying +yourself strong enough to go alone, when in reality you are the slave +of your own passions and appetites, and the plaything of the devil: +but His loving, loyal son, strong in the strength which God gives you, +and able to do what you will, because what you will God wills also.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXII—PHARAOH’S HEART</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people +go.—Exodus ix. 17.</p> +<p>What lesson, now, can we draw from this story? One, at least, +and a very important one. What effect did all these signs and +wonders of God’s sending, have upon Pharaoh and his servants? +Did they make them better men or worse men? We read that they +made them worse men; that they helped to harden their hearts. +We read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would +not let the children of Israel go. Now, how did the Lord do that? +He did not wish and mean to make Pharaoh more hard-hearted, more wicked. +That is impossible. God, who is all goodness and love, never can +wish to make any human being one atom worse than he is. He who +so loved the world that He came down on earth to die for sinners, and +take away the sins of the world, would never make any human being a +greater sinner than he was before. That is impossible, and horrible +to think of. Therefore, when we read that the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s +heart, we must be certain that that was Pharaoh’s own fault; and +so, we read, it was Pharaoh’s own fault. The Lord did not +bring all these plagues on Egypt without giving Pharaoh fair warning. +Before each plague, He sent Moses to tell Pharaoh that the plague was +coming. The Lord told Pharaoh that He was his Master, and the +Master and Lord of the whole earth; that the children of Israel belonged +to Him, and the Egyptians too; that the river, light and darkness, the +weather, the crops, and the insects, and the locusts belonged to Him; +that all diseases which afflict man and beast were in His power. +And the Lord proved that His words were true, in a way Pharaoh could +not mistake, by changing the river into blood, and sending darkness, +and hailstones, and plagues of lice and flies, and at last by killing +the firstborn of all the Egyptians. The Lord gave Pharaoh every +chance; He condescended to argue with him as one man would with another, +and proved His word to be true, and proved that He had a right to command +Pharaoh. And therefore, I say, if Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, +it was his own fault, for the Lord was plainly trying to soften it, +and to bring him to reason. And the Bible says distinctly that +it was Pharaoh’s own fault. For it says that Pharaoh hardened +his own heart, he and his servants, and therefore they would not let +the children of Israel go. Now how could Pharaoh harden his own +heart, and yet the Lord harden it at the same time?</p> +<p>Just in the same way, my friends, as too many of us are apt to make +the Lord harden our hearts by hardening them ourselves, and to make, +as Pharaoh did, the very things which the Lord sends to soften us, the +causes of our becoming more stubborn; the very things which the Lord +sends to bring us to reason, the means of our becoming more mad and +foolish. Believe me, my friends, this is no old story with which +we have nothing to do. What happened to Pharaoh’s heart +may happen to yours, or mine, or any man’s. Alas! alas! +it does happen to many a man’s and woman’s heart every day—and +may the Lord have mercy on them before it be too late,—and yet +how can the Lord have mercy on those who will not let Him have mercy +on them?</p> +<p>What do I mean? This is what I mean, my friends; Oh, listen +to it, and take it solemnly to heart, you who are living still in sin; +take it to heart, lest you, like Pharaoh, die in your sins, and your +latter end will be worse than your beginning.</p> +<p>Suppose a man to be going on in some sinful habit; cheating his neighbours, +grinding his labourers, or getting tipsy, or living with a woman without +being married to her. He comes to church, and there he hears the +word of the Lord, by the Bible, or in sermons, telling him that God +commands him to give up his sin, that God will certainly punish him +if he does not repent and amend. God sends that message to him +in love and mercy, to soften his heart by the terrors of the law, and +turn him from his sin. But what does the man feel? He feels +angry and provoked; angry with the preacher; ay, angry with the Bible +itself, with God’s words. For he hates to hear the words +which tell him of his sin; he wishes they were not in the Bible; he +longs to stop the preacher’s mouth; and, as he cannot do that, +he dislikes going to church. He says: “I cannot, and what +is more, I will not, give up my sinful ways, and therefore I shall not +go to church to be told of them.” So he stops away from +church, and goes on in his sins. So that man’s heart is +hardened, just as Pharaoh’s was. Yet the Lord has come and +spoken to that sinful man in loving warnings: though all the effect +it has had is that the Lord’s message has made him worse than +he was before, more stubborn, more godless, more unwilling to hear what +is good. But men may fall into a still worse state of mind. +They may determine to set the Lord at naught; to hear Him speaking to +their conscience, and know that He is right and they wrong, and yet +quietly put the good thoughts and feelings out of their way, and go +in the course which they know to be the worst. How many a man +in business or the world says to himself, ay, and in his better moments +will say to his friend: “Ah, yes, if one could but be what one +would wish to be. . . . What one’s mother used to say one +might be. . . . But for such a world as this, the gospel ideal +is somewhat too fine and unpractical. One has one’s business +to carry on, or one’s family to provide for, or one’s party +in politics to serve; one must obey the laws of trade, the usages of +society, the interests of one’s class;” and so forth. +And so an excuse is found for every sin, by those who know in their +hearts that they are sinning; for every sin; and among others, too often, +for that sin of Pharaoh’s, of “<i>not letting the people +go</i>.”</p> +<p>And how many, my friends, when they come to church, harden their +hearts in the same quiet, almost good-humoured way, not caring enough +for God’s message to be even angry with it, and take the preacher’s +warnings as they would a shower of rain, as something unpleasant which +cannot be helped; and which, therefore, they must sit out patiently, +and think about it as little as possible? And when the sermon +is over, they take their hats and go out into the churchyard, and begin +talking about something else as quickly as possible, to drive the unpleasant +thoughts, if there are a few left, out of their heads. And thus +they let the Lord’s message to them harden their hearts. +For it does harden them, my friends, if it be taken in this temper. +Every time anyone sits through the service or the sermon in this stupid +and careless mood, he dulls and deadens his soul, till at last he is +able coolly to sit through the most awful warnings of God’s judgment, +the most tender entreaties of God’s love, as if he were a brute +animal without understanding. Ay, he is able to make the responses +to the commandments, and join in the psalms, and so with his own mouth, +before the whole congregation, confess that God’s curse is on +his doings, with no more sense or care of what the words mean, and of +what a sentence he is pronouncing against himself, than if he were a +parrot taught to speak by rote words which he does not understand. +And so that man, by hardening his own heart, makes the Lord harden it +for him.</p> +<p>But there is a third way, and a worse way still, in which people’s +hearts are hardened by the Lord’s speaking to them. A man +is warned of his sins by the preacher; and he says to himself: “If +the minister thinks that he is going to frighten me away from church, +he is very much mistaken. He may go his way, and I shall go mine. +Let him preach at me as much as he will; I shall go to church all the +more for that, to show him that I am not afraid.” And so +the Lord’s warnings harden his heart, and provoke him to set his +face like a flint, and become all the more proud and stubborn.</p> +<p>Now, young people, I speak openly to you as man to man. Will +you tell me that this was not the very way in which some of you took +my sermon last Sunday afternoon, in which I warned you of the misery +which your sinful lives would bring upon you? Was there not more +than one of you, who, as soon as he got outside the church, began laughing +and swaggering, and said to the lad next him: “Well, he gave it +us well in his sermon this afternoon, did he not? But I don’t +care; do you?”</p> +<p>To which the other foolish fellow answered: “Not I. It +is his business to talk like that; he is paid for it, and I suppose +he likes it. So if he does what he likes, we shall do what we +like. Come along.” And at that all the other foolish +fellows round burst out laughing, as if the poor lad had said a very +clever thing; and they all went off together, having their hearts hardened +by the Lord’s warning to them, as Pharaoh’s was.</p> +<p>And they showed, I am afraid, that very evening that their hearts +were hardened. For out of a sort of spite and stubbornness they +took a delight in doing what was wrong, just because they had been told +that it was wrong, and because they were determined to show that they +would not be frightened or turned from what they chose.</p> +<p>And all the while they knew that it was wrong, did those poor foolish +lads. If you had asked one of them openly, “Do you not know +that God has forbidden you to do this?” they would have either +been forced to say, “Yes,” or else they would have tried +to laugh the matter off, or perhaps held their tongues and looked silly, +or perhaps again answered insolently; showing by each and all of these +ways of taking it, that the Lord’s message had come home to their +consciences, and convinced them of their sin, though they were determined +not to own it or obey it. And the way they would have put the +matter by and excused themselves to themselves would have been just +the way in which Pharaoh did it. They would have tried to forget +that the Lord had warned them, and tried to make out to themselves that +it was all the preacher’s doing, and to make it a personal quarrel +between him and them. Just so Pharaoh did when he hardened his +heart. He made the Lord’s message a ground for hating and +threatening Moses and Aaron, as if it was any fault of theirs. +He knew in his heart that the Lord had sent them; but he tried to forget +that, and drove them out from his presence, and told them that if they +dared to appear before him again they should surely die. And just +so, my friends, people will be angry with the preacher for telling them +unpleasant truths, as if it was any more pleasure to him to speak than +for them to hear. Oh, why will you forget that the words which +I speak from this pulpit are not my words, but God’s? It +is not I who warn you of what you are bringing on yourselves by your +sins, it is God Himself. There it is written in His Bible—judge +for yourselves. Read your Bibles for yourselves, and you will +see that I am not speaking my own thoughts and words. And as for +being angry with me for telling you truth, read the ordination service +which is read whenever a clergyman is ordained, and judge for yourselves. +What is a clergyman sent into the world for at all, but to say to you +what I am saying now? What should I be but a hypocrite and a traitor +to the blessed Lord who died for me, and saved me from my sins, and +ordained me to preach to sinners, that they too may be saved from their +sins,—what should I be but a traitor to Him, if I did not say +to you, whenever I see you going wrong:</p> +<p>“O come, let us worship, and fall down and kneel before the +Lord our Maker.</p> +<p>“For He is the Lord our God; and we are the people of His pasture, +and the sheep of His hand.</p> +<p>“To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,</p> +<p>“Lest He sware in His wrath that you shall not enter into His +rest!”</p> +<p>And now, my friends, I will tell you what will happen to you. +You see that I know something, without having been told of what has +been going on in your hearts. I beseech you, believe me when I +tell you what will go on in them. God will chastise you for your +sins. He will; just because He loves you, and does not hate you; +just because you are His children, and not dumb animals born to perish. +Troubles will come upon you as you grow older. Of what sort they +will be I cannot tell; but that they will come, I can tell full well. +And when the Lord sends trouble to you, shall it harden your hearts +or soften them? It depends on you, altogether on you, whether +the Lord hardens your hearts by sending those sorrows, or whether He +softens and turns them and brings them back to the only right place +for them—home to Him. But your trouble may only harden your +heart all the more. The sorrows and sore judgments which the Lord +sent Pharaoh only hardened his heart. It all depends upon the +way in which you take these troubles, my friends. And that not +so much when they come as after they come. Almost all, let their +hearts be right with God or not, seem to take sorrow as they ought, +while the sorrow is on them. Pharaoh did so too. He said +to Moses and Aaron: “I have sinned this time. The Lord is +righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord that +there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go.” +What could be more right or better spoken? Was not Pharaoh in +a proper state of mind then? Was not his heart humbled, and his +will resigned to God? Moses thought not. For while he promised +Pharaoh to pray that the storm might pass over, yet he warned him: “But +as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the Lord +your God.” And so it happened; for, “when Pharaoh +saw that the rain, and hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned yet more, +and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Neither would he +let the children of Israel go.” . . . And so, alas! it happens +to many a man and woman nowadays. They find themselves on a sick-bed. +They are in fear of death, in fear of poverty, in fear of shame and +punishment for their misdeeds. And then they say: “It is +God’s judgment. I have been very wicked. I know God +is punishing me. Oh, if God will but raise me up off this sick-bed; +if He will but help me out of this trouble, I will give up all my wicked +ways. I will repent and amend.” So said Pharaoh; and +yet, as soon as he was safe out of his distress, he hardened his heart. +And so does many a man and woman, who, when they get safe through their +troubles, never give up one of their sins, any more than Pharaoh did. +They really believe that God has punished them. They really intend +to amend, while they are in the trouble: but as soon as they are out +of it, they try to persuade themselves that it was not God who sent +the sorrow, that it came “by accident,” or that “people +must have trouble in this life,” or that “if they had taken +better care, they might have prevented it.”—All of them +excuses to themselves for forgetting God in the matter, and, therefore, +for forgetting what they promised to God in trouble; and so, after all, +they go on just as they went on before. And yet not as they went +on before. For every such sin hardens their hearts; every such +sin makes them less able to see God’s hand in what happens to +them; every such sin makes them more bold and confident in disobeying +God, and saying to themselves: “After all, why should I be so +frightened when I am in trouble, and make such promises to amend my +life? For the trouble goes away, whether I mend my life or not; +and nothing happens to me; God does not punish me for not keeping my +promises to Him. I may as well go on in my own way, for I seem +not the worse off in body or in purse for so doing.” Thus +do people harden their hearts after each trouble, as Pharaoh did; so +that you will see people, by one affliction after another, one loss +after another, all their lives through, warned by God that sin will +not prosper them; and confessing that their sins have brought God’s +punishment on them: and yet going on steadily in the very sins which +have brought on their troubles, and gaining besides, as time runs on, +a heart more and more hardened. And why?</p> +<p>Because they, like Pharaoh, love to have their own way. They +will not submit to God, and do what He bids them, and believe that what +He bids them must be right—good for them, and for all around them.</p> +<p>They promised to mend. But they promised as Pharaoh did. +“If God will take away this trouble, then I will mend”—meaning, +though they do not dare to say it: “And if God will not take away +this trouble, of course He cannot expect me to mend.” In +plain English—If God will not act toward them as they like, then +they will not act toward Him as He likes. My friends, God does +not need us to bargain with Him. We must obey Him whether we like +it or not; whether it seems to pay us or not; whether He takes our trouble +off us or not; we must obey, for He is the Lord; and if we will not +obey, He will prove His power on us, as He did on Pharaoh, by showing +plainly what is the end of those who resist His will.</p> +<p>What, then, are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly +will some day bring us, into trouble?</p> +<p>What we ought to have done at first, my friends. What we ought +to have done in the wild days of youth, and so have saved ourselves +many a dark day, many a sleepless night, many a bitter shame and heartache. +To open our eyes, and see that the only thing for men and women, whom +God has made, is to obey the God who has made them. He is the +Lord. He has made us. He will have us do one thing. +How can we hope to prosper by doing anything else? It is ill fighting +against God. Which is the stronger, my friends, you or God? +Make up your minds on that. It surely will not take you long.</p> +<p>But someone may say: “I do wish and long to obey God; but I +am so weak, and my sins have so entangled me with bad company, or debts, +or—, or—.” We all know, alas! into what a net +everyone who gives way to sin gets his feet: “And therefore I +cannot obey God. I long to do so. I feel, I know, when I +look back, that all my sin, and shame, and unhappiness, come from being +proud and self-willed, and determined to have my own way, and do what +I choose. But I cannot mend.” Do not despair, poor +soul! I had a thousand times sooner hear you say you cannot mend, +than that you can. For those who say they can mend, are apt to +say: “I can mend; and therefore I shall mend when I choose, and +no sooner.” But those who really feel they cannot mend—those +who are really weary and worn out with the burden of their sins—those +who are really tired out with their own wilfulness, and feel ready to +lie down and die, like a spent horse, and say: “God, take me away, +no matter to what place; I am not fit to live here on earth, a shame +and a torment to myself day and night”—those who are in +that state of mind, are very near—very near finding out glorious +news.</p> +<p>Those who cannot mend themselves and know it, God will mend. +God will mend your lives for you. He knows as well as you what +you have to struggle against; ay, a thousand times better. He +knows—what does He not know? Pray to Him, and try what He +does not know. Cry to Him to rid you of your bad companions; He +will find a way of doing it. Cry to Him to bring you out of the +temptations you feel too strong for you; He will find a way for doing +it. Cry to Him to teach you what you ought to do, and He will +send someone, and that the right person, doubt it not, to teach you +in His own good time. Above all, cry and pray to Him to conquer +the pride, and self-conceit, and wilfulness in your heart; to take the +hard proud heart of stone out of you, and give you instead a heart of +flesh, loving, and tender, and kindly to every human creature; and He +will do it. Cry to Him to make your will like His own will, that +you may love what He loves, and hate what He hates, and do what He wishes +you to do. And then you will surely find my words come true: “Those +who long to mend, and yet know that they cannot mend themselves, let +them but pray, and God will mend them.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXIII—THE RED SEA TRIUMPH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p><i>Preached Easter-day Morning</i>, 1852.</p> +<p>This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, for bringing the +children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.—EXODUS xii. 42.</p> +<p>You all, my friends, know what is the meaning of Easter-day—that +it is the Day on which The Lord rose again from the dead. You +must have seen that most of the special services for this day, the Collect, +Epistle, and Gospel, and the second lessons, both morning and evening, +reminded you of Christ’s rising again; and so did the proper Psalms +for this day, though it may seem at first sight more difficult to see +what they have to do with the Lord’s rising again.</p> +<p>Now the first lessons, both for the morning and evening services, +were also meant to remind us of the very same thing, though it may seem +even more difficult still, at first sight, to understand how they do +so.</p> +<p>Let us see what these two first lessons are about. The morning +one was from the twelfth chapter of Exodus, and told us what the Passover +was, and what it meant. The first lesson for this afternoon was +the fourteenth chapter of Exodus. Surely you must remember it. +Surely the most careless of you must have listened to that glorious +story, how the Jews went through the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, +while Pharaoh and the Egyptian army, trying to follow them, were overwhelmed +in the water. Surely you cannot have heard how the poor Jews looked +back from the farther shore, and hardly believed their own eyes for +joy and wonder, when they saw their proud masters swept away for ever, +and themselves safe and free out of the hateful land where they had +been slaves for hundreds of years. You cannot surely, my friends, +have heard that glorious story, and forgotten it again already. +I hope not; for God knows, that tale of the Jews coming safe through +the Red Sea has a deep and blessed meaning enough for you, if you could +but see it.</p> +<p>But some of you may be saying to yourselves: “No doubt it is +a very noble story; and a man cannot help rejoicing at the poor Jews’ +escape, and at the downfall of those cruel Egyptians. It is a +pleasant thought, no doubt, that if it were but for that once, God interfered +to help poor suffering creatures, and rid them of their tyrants. +But what has that to do with Easter Day and Christ’s rising again?”</p> +<p>I will try to show you, my friends. The Jews’ Passover +is the same as our Easter-day, as you know already. But they are +not merely alike in being kept on the same day. They are alike +because they are both of them remembrances and tokens of the Lord Jesus +Christ’s delivering men out of misery and slavery. For never +forget—though, indeed, in these strange times, I ought rather +to say, I beseech you to read your Bibles and see—that it was +Jesus Christ Himself who brought the Jews out of Egypt. St. Paul +tells us so positively, again and again. In 1 Cor. x. 4 he tells +us that it was Christ who followed them through the wilderness. +In verse 9 of the same chapter, he says that it was Christ Himself whom +they tempted in the wilderness. He was the Angel of the Covenant +who went with them. He was the God of Israel whom the elders of +the Jews saw, a few weeks afterwards, on Mount Sinai, and under His +feet a pavement like a sapphire stone. True, the Lord did not +take flesh upon Him till nearly two thousand years after. But +from the very beginning of all things, while He was in the bosom of +the Father, He was the King of men. Man was made in His image, +and therefore in the image of the Father, whose perfect likeness He +is—“the brightness of His glory, and the express image of +His person.” It was He who took care of men, guided and +taught them, and delivered them out of misery, from the very beginning +of the world. St. Paul says the same thing, in many different +ways, all through the epistle to the Hebrews. He says, for instance, +that Moses, when he fled from Pharaoh’s court in Egypt, esteemed +the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for +he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. The Lord said the same +thing of Himself. He said openly that He was the person who is +called, all through the Old Testament, “The Lord.” +He asked the Pharisees: “What think ye of Christ? whose son is +He? They say unto Him, David’s son. Christ answered, +How then does David in spirit call him Lord, saying, the Lord said unto +my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool?” +So did Christ declare, that He Himself, who was standing there before +them, was the Lord of David, who had died hundreds of years before. +He told them again that their father Abraham rejoiced to see His day, +and saw it and was glad; and when they answered, in anger and astonishment, +“Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” +Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” +I am. The Jews had no doubt whom He meant; and we ought to have +none either. For that was the very name by which God had told +Moses to call Him, when he was sent to the Jews: “Thou shalt say +unto them, I AM hath sent me to you.” The Jews, I say, had +no doubt who Jesus said that He was; that He meant them to understand, +once and for all, that He whom they called the carpenter’s son +of Nazareth, was the Lord God who brought their forefathers up out of +the land of Egypt, on the night of the first Passover. So they, +to show how reverent and orthodox they were, and how they honoured the +name of God, took up stones to stone Him—as many a man, who fancies +himself orthodox and reverent, would now, if he dared, stone the preachers +who declare that the Lord Jesus Christ is not changed since then; that +He is as able and as willing as ever to deliver the poor from those +who grind them down, and that He will deliver them, whenever they cry +to Him, with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm, and that Easter-day +is as much a sign of that to us as the Passover was for the Jews of +old.</p> +<p>But, my friends, if Christ the Lord showed His love and power in +behalf of poor oppressed wretches on that first Passover, surely He +showed it a thousand times more on that first Easter-day. His +great love helped the Jews out of slavery; and that same great love +of His at this Easter-tide, moved Him to die and rise again for the +sins of the whole world. In that first Passover He delivered only +one people. On the first Easter He delivered all mankind. +The Jews were under cruel tyrants in the land of Egypt. So were +all mankind over the world, when Jesus came. The Jews in Egypt +were slaves to worse things than the whip of their task-masters; they +had slaves’ hearts, as well as slaves’ bodies. They +were kept down not only by the Egyptians, but by their own ignorance, +and idolatry, and selfish division, and foul sins. They were spiritually +dead—without a noble, pure, manful feeling left in them. +Their history makes no secret of that. The Bible seems to take +every care to let us see into what a miserable and brutal state they +had fallen. Christ sent Moses to raise them out of that death; +to take them through the Red Sea, as a sign that all that was washed +away, to be forgiven of God and forgotten by them, and that from the +moment they landed, a free people, on the farther shore, they were to +consider all their old life past and a new one begun. So they +were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, as St. Paul says. +And now all was to be new. They had been fancying that they belonged +to the Egyptians. Now they had found out, and had it proved to +them by signs and wonders which they could not mistake, that they belonged +to the Lord. They had been brutal sinners. The Lord began +to teach them that they were to rise above their own appetites and passions. +They had been worshipping only what they could see and handle. +The Lord began to teach them to worship Him—a person whom they +could not see, though He was always near them, and watching over them. +They had been living without independence, fellow-feeling, the sense +of duty, or love of order. The Lord began to teach them to care +for each other, to help each other, to know that they had a duty to +perform towards each other, for which they were accountable to Him. +They had owned no master except the Egyptians, whom they feared and +obeyed unwillingly. The Lord began to teach them to obey Him loyally, +from trust, and gratitude, and love. They had been willing to +remain sinners, and brutes, and slaves, provided they could get enough +to eat and drink. The Lord began to teach them that His favour, +His protection, were better than the flesh-pots of Egypt, and that He +was able to feed them where it seemed impossible to men; to teach them +that “man does not live by bread alone—cheap or dear, my +friends—not by bread alone, but by <i>every</i> word that proceeds +out of the mouth of God, does man live.” That was the meaning +of their being baptized in the cloud and in the sea. That was +the meaning, and only a very small part of the meaning, of their Passover. +Would you not think, my friends, that I had been speaking rather of +our own Baptism, and of our own Supper of the Lord, to which you have +been all called to-day, and that I had been telling you the meaning +of them?</p> +<p>For when Jesus, the Lord, and King, and Head of mankind, died and +rose again, He took away the sin of the world. He was the true +Passover, the Lamb without spot, slain, as the scripture tells us, for +the sins of the whole world. In the Jews’ Passover, when +the angel saw the lamb’s blood on the door of the house, he passed +by, and spared everyone in it. So now. The blood of Jesus, +the Lamb of God, is upon us; and for His sake, God is faithful and just +to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.</p> +<p>But the Lord rose again this day. And when He, the Lord, the +King, and Head of all men, rose, all men rose in Him. “As +in Adam all die,” says St. Paul, “even so in Christ shall +all be made alive.”</p> +<p>Baptism is a sign of that to us, as the going through the Red Sea, +and being baptized to Moses in it, was to the Jews. The passing +of the Red Sea said to the Jews: “You have passed now out of your +old miserable state of slavery into freedom. The sins which you +committed there are blotted out. You are taken into covenant with +God. You are now God’s people, and nothing can lose you +this love and care, except your own sins, your own unfaithfulness to +Him, your own wilful falling back into the slavish and brutal state +from which He has delivered you.”</p> +<p>And just so, baptism says to us: “Your sins are forgiven you. +You are taken into covenant with God. You are God’s people, +God’s family. You must forget and cast away the old Adam, +the old slavish and savage pattern of man, which your Lord died to abolish, +the guilt of which He bore for you on His cross; and you must rise to +the new Adam, the new pattern of man, which is created after God in +righteousness and true holiness, which the Lord showed forth in His +life, and death, and rising again. For now God looks on you not +as a guilty and condemned race of beings, but as a redeemed race, His +children, for the sake of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away +the sins of the world. You have a right to believe that, as human +beings, you are dead with Christ to the old Adam, the old sinful, brutal +pattern of man. Baptism is the sign of it to you. Every +child, let it or its parents be who they may, is freely baptized as +a sign that all that old pattern of man is washed away, that they can +and must have nothing to do with it hence-forward, that it is dead and +buried, and they must flee from it and forget it, as they would a corpse.</p> +<p>And the Lord’s Supper also is a sign to us that, as human beings, +we are risen with Christ, to a new life. A new life is our birthright. +We have a right to live a new life. We have a duty to live a new +life. We have a power, if we will, to live a new life; such a +life as we never could live if we were left to ourselves; a noble, just, +godly, manful, Christlike, Godlike life, bred and nourished in us by +the Spirit of Christ. That is our right; for we belong to Him +who lived that life Himself, and bought us our share in it with His +own death and resurrection. That is our duty; for if we share +the Lord’s blessings, it can only be in order that we may become +like the Lord. Do you fancy that He died to leave us all no better +than we are? His death would have had very little effect if that +was all. No, says St. Paul; if you have a share in Christ, prove +that you believe in your own share by becoming like Christ. You +belong to His kingdom, and you must live as His subjects. He has +bought for you a new and eternal life, and you must use that life. +“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above.” +. . . And what are they? Love, peace, gentleness, mercy, +pity, truth, faithfulness, justice, patience, courage, order, industry, +duty, obedience. . . . All, in short, which is like Jesus Christ. +For these are heavenly things. These are above, where Christ sits +at God’s right hand. These are the likeness of God. +That is God’s character. Let it be your character likewise.</p> +<p>But again; if it is our right and our duty to be like that, it is +also in our power. God would not have commanded us to be, what +He had not given us the power to be. He would not have told us +to seek those things which are above, if He had not intended us to find +them. Wherefore it is written: “Ask, and ye shall receive; +seek, and ye shall find; for if ye, being evil, know how to give good +gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give +His Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”</p> +<p>This is the meaning of that text; namely, that God will give us the +power of living this new and risen life, which we are bound to live. +This is one of the gifts for men, which the scripture tells us that +Christ received when He rose from the dead, and ascended up on high. +This is one of the powers of which He spoke, when after His resurrection +He said, “That all power was given to Him in heaven and earth.” +The Lord’s Supper is at once a sign of who will give us that gift, +and a sign that He will indeed give it us. The Lord’s Supper +is the pledge and token to us that we all have a share in the likeness +of Christ, the true pattern of man; and that if we come and claim our +share, He will surely bestow it on us. He will renew, and change, +and purify our hearts and characters in us, day by day, into the likeness +of Himself. He who is the eternal life of men will nourish us, +body, soul, and spirit, with that everlasting life of His, even as our +bodies are nourished by that bread and wine. And if you ask me +how? When you can tell me why a wheat grain cannot produce an +oak, or an acorn a wheat plant; when you can tell me why our bodies +are, each of them, the very same bodies which they were ten years ago, +though every atom of flesh, and blood, and bone in them has been changed; +when, in short, you, or any other living man, can tell me the meaning +of those three words, body, life, and growth, then it will be time to +ask that question. In the meantime let us believe that He who +does such wonders in the life and growth of every blade of grass, can +and will do far greater wonders for the life and growth of us, immortal +beings, made in His own likeness, redeemed by His blood, and so believe, +and thank, and obey, and wait till another and a nobler life to understand. +And if we never understand at all—what matter, provided the thing +be true?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<h2>XXXIV—CHRISTMAS-DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government +shall be on His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, +The Mighty God, The Father of an Everlasting age, The Prince of Peace. +Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon +the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish +it with judgment and with justice henceforth even forever.—ISAIAH +ix. 6, 7.</p> +<p>In the time when the prophet Isaiah wrote this prophecy, everything +round him was exactly opposite to his words. The king of Judæa, +the prophet’s country, was not reigning in righteousness. +He was an unrighteous and wicked governor. The princes and great +men were not ruling in judgment. They were unjust and covetous; +they took bribes, and sold justice for money. They were oppressors, +grinding down the poor, and defrauding those below them. So that +the weak, and poor, and needy had no one to right them, no one to take +their part. There was no man to feel for them, and defend them, +and be a hiding-place and a covert for them from their cruel tyrants; +no man to comfort and refresh them as rivers of water refresh a dry +place, or the shadow of a great rock comforts the sunburnt traveller +in the weary deserts.</p> +<p>Neither were these very poor oppressed people of the Jews in a right +state of mind. They were ignorant and stupid, given to worship +false gods. They had eyes, and yet could not use them to see that, +as the psalm told us this morning, the heavens declared the glory of +God, and the firmament showed His handiwork. They were worshipping +the sun, and moon, and stars, in stead of the Lord God who made them. +They were brutish too, and would not listen to teaching. They +had ears, and yet would not hearken with them to God’s prophets. +They were rash, too, living from hand to mouth, discontented, and violent, +as ignorant poor people will be in evil times. And they were stammerers—not +with their tongue, but with their minds and thoughts. They were +miserable; but they could not tell why. They were full of discontent +and longings; but they could not put them into words. They did +not know how to pray, how to open their hearts to God or to man. +They knew of no one who could understand them and their sorrows; they +could not understand them themselves, much less put them into words. +They were altogether confused and stupefied; just in the same state, +in a word, as the poor negro slaves in America, and the heathens ay, +and the Christians too, are in, in all the countries of the world which +do not know the good news of Christmas-day or have forgotten it and +disobeyed it.</p> +<p>But Isaiah had God’s Spirit with him; the Holy Spirit, the +Spirit of holiness, righteousness, justice. And that Holy Spirit +convinced him of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment, as He convinces +every man who gives himself up humbly to God’s teaching.</p> +<p>First, the Spirit convinced Isaiah of sin. He made him feel +that the state of his country was wrong. And He made him feel +why it was wrong; namely, because the men in it were wrong; because +they were thinking wrong notions, feeling wrong feelings, doing wrong +things; and that wrong was sin; and that sin was falling short of being +what a man was made, and what every man ought to be, namely, the likeness +and glory of God; and that so his countrymen the Jews, one and all, +had sinned and come short of the glory of God.</p> +<p>Next, He convinced Isaiah of righteousness. He made Isaiah +feel and be sure that God was righteous; that God was no unjust Lord, +like the wicked king of the Jews; that such evil doings as are going +on were hateful to Him; that all that covetousness, oppression, taking +of bribes, drunkenness, deceit, ignorance, stupid rashness and folly, +of which the land was full, were hateful to God. He must hate +them, for He was a righteous and a good God. They ought not to +be there. For man, every man from the king on his throne to the +poor labourer in the field, was meant to be righteous and good as God +is. “But how will it be altered?” thought Isaiah to +himself. “What hope for this poor miserable sinful world? +People are meant to be righteous and good: but who will make them so? +The king and his princes are meant to be righteous and good, but who +will set them a pattern? When will there be a really good king, +who will be an example to all in authority; who will teach men to do +right, and compel and force them not to do wrong?”</p> +<p>And then the Holy Spirit of God answered that anxious question of +Isaiah’s, and convinced him of judgment.</p> +<p>Yes, he felt sure; he did not know why he felt so sure: but he did +feel sure; God’s Spirit in his heart made him feel sure, that +in some way or other, some day or other, the Lord God would come to +judgment, to judge the wicked princes and rulers of this world, and +cast them out. It must be so. God was a righteous God. +He would not endure these unrighteous doings for ever. He was +not careless about this poor sinful world, and about all the sinful +down-trodden ignorant men, and women, and children in it. He would +take the matter into His own hands. He would show that He was +Lord and Master. If kings would not reign in righteousness, He +would come and reign in righteousness Himself. He would appoint +princes under Him, who would rule in judgment. And He would show +men what true righteousness was; what the pattern of a true ruler was; +namely, to be able to feel for the poor, and the afflicted, and the +needy, to understand the wants, and sorrows, and doubts, and fears of +the lowest and the meanest; in short, to be a man, a true, perfect man, +with a man’s heart, a man’s pity, a man’s fellow-feeling +in Him. Yes. The Lord God would show Himself. He would +set His righteous King to govern. And yet Isaiah did not know +how, but he saw plainly that it must be so, that same righteous King, +who was to set the world right, would be a <i>man</i>. It would +be a man who was to be a hiding-place from the storm and a covert from +the tempest. A man who would understand man, and teach men their +duty.</p> +<p>Then the eyes of the blind would see, and the ears of those who heard +should hearken; for they would hear a loving human voice, the voice +of One who knew what was in man, who could tell them just what they +wanted to know, and put His teaching into the shape in which it would +sink most easily and deeply into their hearts. And then the hearts +of the rash would understand knowledge; and the tongue of the stammerers +would speak plainly. There will be no more confused cries from +poor ignorant brutish oppressed people, like the cries of dumb beasts +in pain; for He who was coming would give them words to utter their +sorrows in. He would teach them how to speak to man and God. +He would teach them how to pray, and when they prayed to say, “Our +Father which art in heaven.”</p> +<p>Then the vile person would be no more called bountiful, or the churl +called liberal: flattery and cringing to the evil great would be at +an end. The people would have sense to see the truth about right +and wrong, and courage to speak it. Men would then be held for +what they really were, and honoured and despised according to their +true merits. Yes, said Isaiah, we shall be delivered from our +wicked king and princes, from the heathen Assyrian armies, who fancy +that they are going to sweep us out of our own land with fire and sword; +from our own sins, and ignorance, and infidelity, and rashness. +We shall be delivered from them all, for The righteous King is coming. +Nay, He is here already, if we could but see. His goings-forth +have been from everlasting. He is ruling us now—this wondrous +Child, this Son of God. Unto us a Child is born already, unto +us a Son is given already. But one day or other He will be revealed, +and made manifest, and shown to men as a man; and then all the people +shall know who He is; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, +the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, Isaiah saw all this but dimly and afar off. +He saw as through a glass darkly. He perhaps thought at times—indeed +we can have little doubt that he thought—that the good young Prince +Hezekiah, “The might of God,” as his name means, who was +growing up in his day to be a deliverer and a righteous king over the +Jews, was to set the world right. No doubt he had Hezekiah in +his mind when he said that a Child was born to the Jews, and a Son given +to them; just as, of course, he meant his own son, who was born to him +by the virgin prophetess, when he called his name Emmanuel, that is +to say, God with us. But he felt that there was more in both things +than that. He felt that his young wife’s conceiving and +bearing a son, was a sign to him that some day or other a more blessed +virgin would conceive and bear a mightier Son. And so he felt +that whether or not Hezekiah delivered the Jews from their sin, and +misery, and ignorance, God Himself would deliver them. He knew, +by the Spirit of God, that his prophecy would come true, and remain +true for ever. And so he died in faith, not having received the +promises, God having prepared some better King for us, and having fulfilled +the words of His prophet in a way of which, as far as we can see, he +never dreamed.</p> +<p>Yes. Hezekiah failed to save the nation of the Jews. +Instead of being the “father of an everlasting age,” and +having “no end of his family on the throne of David,” his +great-grandchildren and the whole nation of the Jews were swept away +into captivity by the Babylonians, and no man of his house, as Jeremiah +prophesied, has ever since prospered or sat on the throne of David. +But still Isaiah’s prophecy was true. True for us who are +assembled here this day.</p> +<p>For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; even the Babe +of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ the Lord. The government shall indeed +be upon His shoulder; for it has been there always. For the Father +has committed all things to the Son, that he may be King of kings and +Lord of lords for ever. His name is indeed Wonderful; for what +more wondrous thing was ever seen in heaven or in earth, than that great +love with which He loved us? He is not merely called “The +might of God,” as Hezekiah was,—for a sign and a prophecy; +for He is the mighty God Himself. He is indeed the Counsellor; +for He is the light who lighteth every man who comes into the world. +He is “the Father of an everlasting age.” There were +hopes that Hezekiah would be so; that he would raise the nation of the +Jews again to a reform from which it would never fall away: but these +hopes were disappointed; and the only one who fulfilled the prophecy +is He who has founded His Church for ever on the rock of everlasting +ages, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Hezekiah +was to be the prince of peace for a few short years only. But +the Child who is born to us, the Son who is given to us, is He who gave +eternal peace to all who will accept it; peace which this world can +neither give nor take away; and who will make that peace grow and spread +over the whole earth, till men shall beat their swords into plough-shares, +and their spears into pruning-hooks, and the nations shall not learn +war any more. Of the increase of His government and of His peace +there shall be no end, till the earth be full of the knowledge of the +Lord, as the waters cover the sea, and the spirit of God be poured out +on all flesh, to teach kings to reign in righteousness, after the pattern +of the King of kings, the Babe of Bethlehem; to make the rich and powerful +do justice, to teach the ignorant, to give the rich wisdom, to free +the oppressed, to comfort the afflicted, to proclaim to all mankind +the good news of Christmas Day, the good news that there was a man born +into the world on this day who will be a hiding-place from the storm, +a covert from the tempest, like rivers of water in a dry place, like +the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; even the man Christ Jesus, +who is able and willing to save to the uttermost those who come to God +through Him, seeing that he has been tempted in all things like as we +are, yet without sin.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, on that holy table stands the everlasting sign that +Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled to the uttermost. That +bread and that wine declare to us, that to us a Child is born, to us +a Son is given. They declare to us, in a word, that on this blessed +day God was made man, and dwelt among men, and we beheld His glory, +the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.</p> +<p>Oh, come to that table this day, and there claim your share in the +most precious body and blood of the Divine Child of Bethlehem. +Come and ask Him to pour out on you His Spirit, the Spirit which He +poured on Hezekiah of old, “that he might fulfil his own name +and live in the might of God.” So will you live in the might +of God. So you will be able to govern yourselves, and your own +appetites, in righteousness and freedom, and rule your own households, +or whatsoever God has set you to do, in judgment. So you will +see things in their true light, as God sees them, and be ready and willing +to hear good advice, and understand your way in this life, and be able +to speak your hearts out in prayer to God, as to a loving and merciful +Father. And in all your afflictions, let them be what they will, +you will have a comfort, and a sure hope, and a wellspring of peace, +and a hiding-place from the tempest, even The Man Christ Jesus, who +said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; let not +your heart be troubled, neither be ye afraid.” The Man Christ +Jesus, at whose birth the angels sang: “Glory to God in the Highest, +and on earth peace, good-will toward men.”</p> +<p>Now to Him who on this day was born of the blessed virgin, man of +the substance of His mother, yet God the Son of God, be ascribed, with +the Father and the Spirit, all power, glory, majesty, and dominion, +both now and for ever. Amen.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXV—NEW YEAR’S DAY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(1853.)</p> +<p>But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that +formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called +thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the +waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not +overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be +burnt; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the +Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for +thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast precious +in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore +will I give men for thee, and peoples for thy life.—ISAIAH xliii. +1-4.</p> +<p>The New Year has now begun; and I am bound to wish you all a happy +New Year. But I am sent here to do more than that; to teach you +how you may make your own New Year a happy one; or, if not altogether +a happy one—for sorrows may and must come in their turn—yet +still something better than a happy year, namely, a blessed year; a +year on which you will be able to look back this day twelvemonths, and +thank God for it; thank God for the tears which you have shed in it, +as well as for the joy which you have felt; thank God for the dark days +as well as for the light; thank God for what you have lost, as well +as what you have found; and be able to say, “Well, this last year, +if it has not been a happy year for me, at least it has been a blessed +one for me. It has left me a stronger, soberer, wiser, godlier, +better man than it found me.”</p> +<p>How, then, can you make the New Year a blessed one for yourselves? +I know but one way, my friends. The ancient way. The Bible +way. The way by which Abraham, and Jacob, and David, and all the +holy men of old, and all the saints, and martyrs, and righteous and +godly among men, made their lives blessed among themselves, in spite +of sorrow, and misfortune, and distress, and persecution, and torture, +and death itself; the one only old way of being blessed, which was from +the beginning, and will last for ever and ever, through all worlds and +eternities; the way of the old saints, which St. Paul sets forth in +the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews; and that is, <i>faith</i>. +Faith, which is the substance of what we hope for, the evidence of things +not seen. Faith, of which it is written, that the just shall live +by his faith.</p> +<p>But how can faith give you a blessed New Year? In the same +way in which it gave the old saints blessed years all their lives through, +and is giving them a blessed eternity now and for ever before the face +of the Lord Jesus Christ, to which may God in His mercy bring us all +likewise.</p> +<p>They trusted in God. They had faith, not in themselves, like +too many; not in their own good works, like too many; not in their own +faith, in their own frames, and feelings, and assurances, like too many; +but they had faith in God. It was faith in God which made one +of them, the great prophet Isaiah, write the glorious words which I +have chosen for my text this day, to show his countrymen the Jews, even +while they were in the very lowest depths of shame, and poverty, and +misfortune, that God had not forgotten them; that for those who trusted +in Him, a blessed time was surely coming.</p> +<p>And it was faith in God, too, which put it into the minds of the +good men who choose these Sunday lessons out of the Bible, to appoint +such chapters as these to be read year by year, at the coming in of +the new year, for ever. Faith in God, I say, put that into their +minds. For those good men trusted in God, that He would not change; +that hundreds and thousands of years would make no difference in His +love; that the promises made by His Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet +would stand true for ever and ever. And they trusted in God, too, +that what He had spoken by the mouth of His holy apostles was true; +that after the blessed Lord came down on earth, there was to be no difference +between Jews and Gentiles; that the great and precious promises made +by God to the Jews were made also to all the nations of the earth; that +all things written in the Old Testament, from the first chapter of Genesis +to the last of Malachi, were written not for the Jews only, but for +English, French, Italians, Germans, Russians—for all the nations +of the world; that we English were God’s people now, just as much, +ay, far more, than the old Jews were, and that, therefore, the Old Testament +promises, as well as the New Testament ones, were part of our inheritance +as members of Christ’s Church. And therefore they appointed +Old Testament lessons to be read in church, to show us English what +our privileges were, what God’s covenant and promise to us were. +We, as much as the Jews, are called by the name of the Lord who created +us. Were we not baptised into His name at that font? Has +He not loved us? Has He not heaped us English, for hundreds of +years past, with blessings such as He never bestowed on any nation? +Has He not given men for us, and nations for our life? While all +the nations of the world have been at war, slaying and being slain, +has He not kept this fair land of England free and safe from foreign +invaders for more than eight hundred years? Since the world was +made, perhaps, such a thing was never heard of, such a mercy shown to +any nation; that a great and rich country like this should be preserved +for eight hundred years from invasion of foreign armies, and all the +horrors and miseries of war, which have swept, from time to time, every +other nation in the world with the besom of desolation.</p> +<p>Ay, and but sixty years ago, in the time of the French war, when +almost every other nation in Europe was made desolate with fire, and +sword, and war, did not God preserve this land of England, as He never +preserved country before, from all the miseries which were sweeping +over other nations? Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, that +at the very time that the gospel was dying out all over Europe, it was +being lighted again in England; and that while the knowledge of God +was failing elsewhere, it was increasing here! Oh, strange and +wonderful mercy of God, who has given to us English, now for one hundred +and sixty years and more, those very equal laws, and freedom, and rights +of conscience, for which so many other nations of Europe are still crying +and struggling in vain, amid slavery, and oppression, and injustice, +and heavy burdens, such as we here in England should not endure a week! +Oh, strange and wonderful mercy of God, who but three years ago, when +all the other nations of Europe were shaken with wars, and riots, and +seditions, every man’s hand against his neighbour, kept this land +of England in perfect peace and quiet by those just laws and government, +proving to us the truth of His own promises, that those who seek peace +by righteous dealings, shall find it, and that, as Isaiah says, the +fruit of justice is quietness and assurance for ever! And last, +but not least, my friends, is it not a sign, a sign not to be mistaken, +of God’s good-will and mercy to us, that now, at this very time +of all others, when almost every country in Europe is going to wrack +and ruin through the folly and wickedness of their kings and rulers, +He should have given us here in England a Queen who is a pattern of +goodness and purity, in ruling not only the nation, but her own household, +to every wife and mother, from the highest to the lowest; and a Prince +whose whole heart seems set on doing good, and on helping the poor, +and improving the condition of the labourers? My friends, I say +that we are unthankful and unfaithful. We do not thank God a hundredth +part enough for the blessings which He has given us. We do not +trust Him a hundredth part enough for the blessings which He has in +store for us. If some of us here could but see and feel for a +single month how people are off abroad; if they could change places +with a French, an Italian, a Russian labourer, it would teach them a +lesson about God’s goodness to England which they would not soon +forget. May God grant that we may never have to learn that lesson +in that way! God grant that we may never, to cure us of our unthankfulness +and want of faith, and godless and unmanly grumbling and complaining, +be brought, for a single week, into the same state as some hundred millions +of our fellow-creatures are in foreign parts! Oh, my friends, +let us thank God for the mercies of the past year! Most truly +He has fulfilled to England his promise given by the mouth of the prophet +Isaiah: “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with +thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. For +I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One, thy Saviour. Thou hast been +precious in my sight, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men +for thee, and peoples for thy life.”</p> +<p>Away, then, with discontent and anxiety for the coming year. +Or rather, let us be only discontented with ourselves. Let us +only be anxious about our own conduct. God cannot change. +If anything goes wrong, it will be not because He has left us, but because +we have left Him. Is it not written that all things work together +for good to those who love God? Then if things do not work together +for good in this coming year, it will be because we do not love God. +Do not let us say, “I am righteous, but my neighbours are wicked, +and therefore I must be miserable;” neither let us lay the blame +of our misfortunes on our rulers; let us lay it on ourselves.</p> +<p>What was the word of the Lord to the Jews in a like case: “What +means this proverb which you take up, saying, The fathers have eaten +sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? It +is not so, O house of Israel. The son shall not die for the iniquity +of his father, nor the father for the iniquity of the son. The +soul that sinneth, it shall die, saith the Lord.”</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, take this to heart solemnly, in the year to come. +Our troubles, more of them at least than we fancy, are our own fault, +and not our neighbours’, or the government’s, or anyone’s +else. And those which are not our own fault directly are so in +this way, that they are sent as sharp and wholesome lessons to us; and +if we were what we ought to be, we should not want those lessons. +Do not fancy that that is a sad and doleful thought to begin the new +year with. God forbid! It would be doleful and sad indeed +if any one of us, in spite of all his right-doing, might be plunged +into any hopeless misery, through the fault of other people, over whom +he has no control. But thanks be to the Lord, it is not so. +We are His children, and He cares for each and every one of us separately. +Each and every one of us has to answer for himself alone, face to face +with his God, day by day; every man must bear his own burden; and to +every one of us who love God, all things will work together for good. +It is, and was, and always will be, as Abraham well knew, far from God +to punish the righteous with the wicked. The Judge of all the +earth will do right. None of us who repents and turns from the +sins he sees round him and in him; none of us who prays for the light +and guiding of God’s Spirit; none of us who struggles day by day +to keep himself unspotted from this evil world, and live as God’s +son, without scandal or ill-name in the midst of a sinful and perverse +generation; none of us who does that, but God’s blessing will +rest on him. What ruins others will only teach and strengthen +him; what brings others to shame, will only bring him to honour, and +make his righteousness plain to be seen by all, that God may be glorified +in His people. Let the coming year be what it may; to the holy, +the humble, the upright, the godly, it will be a blessed year, fulfilling +the blessed promises of the Lord, that those who trust in Him shall +never be confounded.</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, consider but this one thing, that the Almighty God, +who made all heaven and earth, has bid us trust in Him. And when +He bids us, is it not a sin, an insult to Him, not to trust Him—not +to believe His words to us? “Put thou thy trust in the Lord, +and be doing good; dwell in the land,” working where He has set +thee, “and verily thou shalt be fed.” “Thou +shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that +flieth by day. A thousand shall fall by thy side, and ten thousand +at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with +thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. +Because thou hast made the Lord thy refuge, no plague shall come nigh +thy dwelling. Thou shalt call upon me, I will answer thee. +Because thou hast set thy love on me, I will deliver thee; with long +life will I satisfy thee, and show thee my salvation.”</p> +<p>My friends, these words are in the book of Psalms. Either they +are the most cruel words that ever were spoken on earth to tempt poor +wretches into vain security and fearful disappointment, or they are—what +are they?—the sure and everlasting promise of our Father in heaven +to us His children. We have only to ask for them, and we shall +receive them; to claim them, and they will be fulfilled to us. +“For He who spared not His own Son, but freely gave Him for us, +will He not with Him likewise freely give us all things,” and +make, by His fatherly care, and providence, and education, all our new +years blessed new years, whether or not they are happy ones?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXVI—THE DELUGE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>My spirit shall not always strive with man.—GENESIS vi. 3.</p> +<p>Last Sunday we read in the first lesson of the fall. This Sunday +we read of the flood, the first-fruits of the fall.</p> +<p>It is an awful and a fearful story. And yet, if we will look +at it by faith in God, it is a most cheerful and hopeful story—a +gospel—a good news of salvation—like every other word in +the Bible, from beginning to end. Ay, and to my mind, the most +hopeful words of all in it, are the very ones which at first sight look +most terrible, the words with which my text begins: “And the Lord +said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man.”</p> +<p>For is it not good news—the good news of all news—the +news which every poor soul who is hungering and thirsting after righteousness, +longs to hear; and when they hear it, feel it to be the good news—the +only news which can give comfort to fallen and sorrowful men, tied and +bound with the chain of their sins, that God’s Spirit does strive +at all with man? That God is looking after men? That God +is yearning over sinners, as the heart of a father yearns over his rebellious +child, as the heart of a faithful and loving husband yearns after an +unfaithful wife? That God does not take a disgust at us for all +our unworthiness, but wills that none should perish, but that all should +come to repentance? Oh joyful news! Man may be, as the text +says that he was in the time of Noah, so low fallen that he is but flesh +like the brutes that perish; the imaginations of his heart may be only +evil continually; his spirit may be dead within him, given up to all +low and fleshly appetites and passions, anger, and greediness, and filth; +and yet the pure and holy Spirit of God condescends to strive and struggle +with him, to convince him of sin, and make him discontented and ashamed +at his own brutishness, and shake and terrify his soul with the wholesome +thought: “I am a sinner—I am wrong—I am living such +a life as God never meant me to live—I am not what I ought to +be—I have fallen short of what God intended me to be. Surely +some evil will come to me from this.” Then the Holy Spirit +convinces man of righteousness. He shows man that what he has +fallen short of is the glory of God; that man was meant to be, as St. +Paul says, the likeness and glory of God; to show forth God’s +glory, and beauty, and righteousness, and love in his own daily life; +as a looking-glass, though it is not the sun, still gives an image and +likeness of the sun, when the sun shines on it, and shows forth the +glory of the sunbeams which are reflected on it.</p> +<p>And then, the Holy Spirit convinces man of judgment. He shows +man that God cannot suffer men, or angels, or any other rational spirits +and immortal souls, to be unlike Himself; that because He is the only +and perfect good, whatsoever is unlike Him must be bad; because He is +the only and perfect love, who wills blessings and good to all, whatsoever +is unlike Him must be unloving, hating, and hateful—a curse and +evil to all around it; because He is the only perfect Maker and Preserver, +whatsoever is unlike Him must be in its very nature hurtful, destroying, +deadly—a disease which injures this good world, and which He will +therefore cut out, burn up, destroy in some way or other, if it will +not submit to be cured. For this, my friends, is the meaning of +God’s judgments on sinners; this is why He sent a flood to drown +the world of the ungodly; this is why He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; +this is why He swept away the nations of Canaan; this is why He destroyed +Jerusalem, His own beloved city, and scattered the Jews over the face +of the whole earth unto this day; this is why He destroyed heathen Rome +of old, and why He has destroyed, from time to time, in every age and +country, great nations and mighty cities by earthquake, and famine, +and pestilence, and the sword; because He knows that sin is ruin and +misery to all; that it is a disease which spreads by infection among +fallen men; and that He must cut off the corrupt nation for the sake +of preserving mankind, as the surgeon cuts off a diseased limb, that +his patient’s whole body may not die. But the surgeon will +not cut off the limb as long as there is a chance of saving it: he will +not cut it off till it is mortified and dead, and certain to infect +the whole body with the same death, or till it is so inflamed that it +will inflame the whole body also, and burn up the patient’s life +with fever. Till then he tends it in hope; tries by all means +to cure it. And so does the Lord, the Lord Jesus, the great Physician, +whom His Father has appointed to heal and cure this poor fallen world. +As long as there is hope of curing any man, any nation, any generation +of men, so long will his Spirit strive lovingly and hopefully with man. +For see the blessed words of the text: “My Spirit shall not always +strive with man. This must end. This must end at some time +or other. This battle between my Spirit and the wicked and perverse +wills of these sinners; this battle between the love and the justice +and the purity which I am trying to teach them, and the corruption and +the violence with which they are filling the earth.” But +there is no passion in the Lord, no spite, no sudden rage, like the +brute passionate anger of weak man. Our anger, if we are not under +the guiding of God’s Spirit, conquers our wills, carries us away, +makes us say and do on the moment—God forgive us for it—whatsoever +our passion prompts us. The Lord’s anger does not conquer +Him. It does not conquer His patience, His love, His steadfast +will for the good of all. Even when it shows itself in the flood +and the earthquake; even though it break up the fountains of the great +deep, and destroy from off the earth both man and beast, yet it is, +and was, and ever will be, the anger of The Lamb—a patient, a +merciful, and a loving anger.</p> +<p>Therefore the Lord says: “Yet his days shall be one hundred +and twenty years.” One hundred and twenty years more he +would endure those corrupt and violent sinners, in the hope of correcting +them. One hundred and twenty years more would God’s Spirit +strive with men. One hundred and twenty years more the long-suffering +of God, as St. Peter says, would wait, if by any means they would turn +and repent. Oh, wonderful love and condescension of God! +God waits for man! The Holy One waits for the unholy! The +Creator waits for the work of His own hands! The wrathful God, +who repents that He has made man upon the earth, waits one hundred and +twenty years for the very creatures whom He repents having made! +Does this seem strange to us—unlike our notions of God? +If it is strange to us, my friends, its being strange is only a proof +of how far we have fallen from the likeness of God, wherein man was +originally created. If we were more like God, then the accounts +of God’s long-suffering, and mercy, and repentance, which we read +in the Bible, would not be so strange to us. We should understand +what God declares of Himself, by seeing the same feelings working in +ourselves, which He declares to be working in Himself. And if +we were more righteous and more loving, we should understand more how +God’s will was a loving and a righteous will; how His justice +was His mercy, and His mercy His justice, instead of dividing His substance, +who is one God, by fancying that His mercy and His justice are two different +attributes, which are at times contrary the one to the other.</p> +<p>We read nothing here about God’s absolute purposes, and fixed +decrees, whereof men talk so often, making a god in their own fallen +image, after their own fallen likeness. The Lord, the Word of +God, of whom the Bible tells us, does not think it beneath his dignity +to say: “It repenteth me that I have made man.” Different, +truly, from that false god which man makes in his own image. Man +is proud, and he fancies that God is proud; man is self-willed and selfish, +and he fancies that God is self-willed and selfish; man is arbitrary +and obstinate, and determined to have his own way just because it is +his own way; and then he fancies that God is arbitrary and obstinate, +and determines to have His own way and will, just because it is His +own way and will. But wilt thou know, oh vain man, why God will +have His own way and will? Because His way is a good way, and +His will a loving will; because the Lord knows that His way is the only +path of life, and joy, and blessing to man and beast, yes, and to the +very hairs of our head, which are all numbered, and to the sparrows, +whereof not one falls to the ground without our Father’s knowledge; +because His will is a loving will, which wills that none should perish, +but that all should come and be saved in body, soul, and spirit. +He will have His own will done, not because it is His own will, but +because it is good, good for men. And if men will change and repent, +then will He change and repent also. If man will resist the striving +of God’s Spirit with him, then will the Lord say: “It repenteth +me that I have made that man.” But if a man will repent +him of the evil, then God will repent Him of the evil also. If +a man will let God’s Spirit convince him, and will open his ears +and hear, and open his eyes and see, and open his heart to take in the +loving thoughts and the right thoughts, and the penitent and humble +thoughts, which do come to him—you know they do come to you all +at times—then the Lord will repent also, as he repents, and repent +concerning the evil which He has declared concerning that man. +So said the Lord, who cannot change, the same yesterday, to-day, and +for ever, the same now that He was in the days of the flood, to Jeremiah +the prophet, when He moved him to go down to the potter’s house, +and watch him there at his work.</p> +<p>And the potter made a vessel—something which would be useful +and good for a certain purpose—but the clay was marred in the +hand of the potter. He was good and skilful; but there was a fault +in the clay. What did he do? Throw the clay away as useless? +No. He made it again another vessel. He was determined to +make, not anything, but something useful and good. And if the +clay, being faulty, failed him once, he would try again. He would +change his purpose and plan, but not his right will to make good and +useful vessels; them he <i>would</i> make, if not by one way, then by +another. And Jeremiah watched him; and as he watched, the Spirit +of the Lord came on him, and taught him that that poor potter’s +way of working with his clay, was a pattern and likeness of the Lord’s +work on earth. Oh shame, that this great parable should have been +twisted by men to make out that God is an arbitrary tyrant, who works +by a brute necessity! It taught Jeremiah the very opposite. +It taught him what it ought to teach us, that God does change, because +man changes, that God’s steadfast will is the good of men, and +therefore because men change their weak self-willed course, and fall, +and seek out many inventions, therefore God changes to follow them, +like a good shepherd, tracking and following the lost and wandering +sheep up and down, right and left, over hill and dale, if by any means +He may find him, and bring him home on His shoulders to the fold, calling +upon the angels of God: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my +sheep which I had lost.”</p> +<p>This is the likeness of God. The good and loving will of a +Father following his wandering children. The likeness of a loving +Father repenting that He hath brought into the world sinful children, +to be a misery to themselves and all around them, and yet for the same +reason loving those children, striving with their wicked wills to the +very last, giving them one last chance and time for repentance; as the +Lord did to those evil men of the old world, sending to them Noah, a +preacher of righteousness, if by any means they would turn from their +sins and be saved. Ay, not only preaching to their ears by Noah, +but to their hearts by His Spirit; as St. Peter tells us, He Himself, +Christ the Lord, went Himself by His Spirit to those very sinners before +the flood, and strove to bring them to their reason again. By +His Spirit; by the very same one and only Holy Spirit of God, St. Peter +says, by which Christ Himself was raised from the dead, did He try to +raise the souls of those sinners before the flood, from the death of +sin to the life of righteousness: but they would not. They were +disobedient. Their wills resisted His will to the last; and then +the flood came, and swept them all away.</p> +<p>And so the first work of the heavenly Workman was marred in the making +by no fault of His, but by the fault of what He made. He made +men persons, rational beings with wills, that they might be willingly +like Him: but they used those wills to be unlike Him, to rebel against +Him, and to fill the earth with violence and corruption. And so, +for the good of all mankind to come, He had to sweep them all away. +But of that same sinful clay He made another vessel, as it seemed good +to Him; even Noah and his Sons, whom He saved that He might carry on +the race of the Sons of God unto this day.</p> +<p>And after that again, my friends, in a day more dark and evil still, +when the earth was again corrupt before God, and filled with violence; +when all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth, so that, as St. +Paul said of them, there was none that did good, no not one: then the +same Lord, when He saw that all the world lay in wickedness, and that +the clay of human-kind was marred in the hands of the potter, then did +He cast away that clay as reprobate and useless, and destroy mankind +off the face of the earth? Not so. Then, when there was +none to help, His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness +sustained Him; He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there +was none with Him. His own righteousness sustained Him. +His perfectly good and righteous will never failed Him for a moment; +man He would save, and man He saved. If none else could do it, +He would do it Himself. He would bring salvation with His own +arm. He would fulfil His Father’s will, which is that none +should perish; He would be made flesh, and dwell among men, that man +might behold the likeness of God the Father, full of grace and truth, +and see what they were meant to be. Then, in Him, in Jesus who +wept over Jerusalem, was fully revealed and shown the likeness and glory +of the Lord; the Lord in whose image man was made; who walked and spoke +with Adam in the garden; who was not ashamed to say that it repented +Him that He had made man; whom Ezekiel saw upon His throne, and as it +were upon the throne the appearance of the likeness of a man; whom Daniel +saw, and knew him to be the Son of Man. Not a man, then, of flesh +and blood; but the Eternal Word of God, in whose image man was made, +who could be loving and merciful, long-suffering and repenting Him of +the evil, but never of the good. He came, and He swept away, as +He had told the Apostles that He would do, by such afflictions as man +had never seen since the beginning of the world until then, that Roman +world with all its devilish systems and maxims, whereby the nations +were kept down in slavery and sin; and He founded a new heaven and a +new earth, wherein dwell righteousness, even this Holy Catholic Church, +to which we all belong this day.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, this is our gospel, our good news, that there is +a God whose Spirit strives with sinners to change them into His own +likeness. A God who is no dark, obstinate, inexorable Fate, whose +arbitrary decrees must come to pass; but a loving and merciful God, +long-suffering, and who repenteth Him of the evil; who repents Him of +the evil which is in man, and hates it, and has sworn to Himself to +fight against it, till He has put all enemies under His foot, and cast +out of His kingdom all things which offend. Who repents Him of +the evil in man: but who will never again repent Him of having made +man, for then He would repent of having become man; He would repent +of having been conceived of the Holy Ghost; He would repent of having +been born of the Virgin Mary; He would repent of having been crucified, +dead, and buried; He would repent of having risen from the dead, and +ascended up into heaven in His man’s body, and soul, and spirit; +He would repent of sitting on the right hand of God; He would repent +of coming to judge the quick and the dead; He would repent of having +done His Father’s will on earth, even as He did it from all eternity +in the bosom of the Father. For He is a man; and even as the reasonable +soul and body are one man, so God and man are one Christ. As man, +He did His Father’s will in Judæa of old; as man, He will +judge the world; as man He rules it now; as man, St. John saw Him fifty +years after He ascended to heaven, and His eyes were like a flame of +fire, and His hair like fine wool, and He was girt under the bosom with +a golden girdle, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; as +man, He said: “Fear not: I am the first and the last; I am He +that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; +and have the keys of death and hell.” Yes. This is +the gospel, the good news for fallen man, that there is a Man in the +midst of the throne of God, to whom all power is given in heaven and +earth; that the fate of the world, and all that is therein—the +fate of suns and stars—the fate of kings and nations—the +fate of every publican and harlot, and heathen and outcast—the +fate of all who are in death and hell, depends alike upon the sacred +heart of Jesus; the heart which groaned at the tomb of Lazarus His friend; +the heart which wept over Jerusalem; the heart which said to the blessed +Magdalene, the woman who was a sinner: “Go in peace; thy sins +are forgiven thee;” the heart which now yearns after every sinful +and wandering soul in His church, and all over the earth of God, crying +to you all: “Why will ye die? Have I any pleasure in the +death of him that dieth, saith the Lord, and not rather that he should +turn from his wickedness and live? Come unto me, all ye that are +weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Oh, my +friends, wonderful as my words are—as wonderful to me who speak +them as they can be to you who hear them—yet they are true. +True; for on that table stand the bread and wine whereof He Himself +said, standing upon this very earth which He Himself had made: “This +is my body which is given for you; this cup is the new covenant in my +blood, which I will give for the life of the world.”</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXVII—THE KINGDOM OF GOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>The kingdom of God is within you.—LUKE xvii. 21.</p> +<p>These words are in the second lesson for this morning’s service. +Let us think a little about them.</p> +<p>What they mean must depend on what the kingdom of God means; for +that is the one thing about which they speak.</p> +<p>Now, the kingdom of God is very often spoken of in the New Testament. +Indeed, it is the thing it speaks of above all others. It was +the thing which our Lord went about preaching. It was the thing +of which He spoke in His parables, likening the kingdom of God first +to one thing, then to another, that He might make men understand what +it was like.</p> +<p>Now, it is worth remarking that we—I mean even religious people—speak +very little about the kingdom of God nowadays. One hears less +about it than about any other words, almost, which stand in the New +Testament. Both in sermons and in religious books, and in the +talk of godly people, one hears the kingdom of God spoken of very seldom. +One hears words about the Church, which are very good and true; but +very little, if anything, about the kingdom of God, though both St. +Paul, and St. John, and the blessed Lord Himself, speak of the two together, +as if they could not be parted; as if one could not think of the one +without thinking of the other. And we hear words about the gospel, +too, some of them very good and true, and others, I am sorry to say, +very bad and false: but, true or false, they are not often joined now +in men’s minds, or mouths, or books, with the kingdom of God. +But the New Testament joins them almost always. It says that gospel +must be good news. Therefore the gospel must be good news about +something. But about what? We hear all manner of answers +nowadays; but we hear the right one very seldom. People talk of +the gospel as if it only meant the good news that one man can be saved +here, and another man can be saved there. And that is good news, +certainly. It is good and blessed news to hear that any one poor +sinner can be saved from sin, and from the wages of sin. But the +holy scriptures, when they talk of the gospel, call it the gospel of +the kingdom of God. And I think it best and wisest to call it +oftenest, what the holy scripture calls it oftenest, and to try and +understand, first of all, what that means, what the good news of the +kingdom of God is: and to understand that, we must first understand +what the kingdom of God is.</p> +<p>But some may answer, holy scripture speaks of the gospel of salvation. +True, it does, once or twice. But what does that show? Is +that a different gospel from the gospel of the kingdom of God? +Are there two gospels? Surely not. Else why would holy scripture +speak so often of “the gospel”—“the good news,” +by itself, without any word after to show what it was about? It +says often simply “the gospel;” because there is but one +gospel; and, as St. Paul says, if any man or angel preach any other +than that one, “Let him be anathema.”</p> +<p>Therefore the gospel of salvation must be the same as the gospel +of the kingdom of God; and, therefore, it seems to me, that salvation +and the kingdom of God must be one and the same thing.</p> +<p>Now, do you think so? When I say “The kingdom of God +is salvation,” do you think it is? Have you even any clear +notion of what I mean when I say it? Some of you have not, I am +afraid; you cannot see at first sight what salvation and the kingdom +of God have to do with each other. And why? You think salvation +means being saved from hell, and going to heaven, when you die. +And so it does: but I trust in God and in God’s holy scripture, +that it means a great deal more; for I think it means being unfit for +hell, and fit for heaven, before we die. At least, so says the +Church Catechism, which teaches every little child to thank his Heavenly +Father for having brought him into such a state of salvation in this +life, even while he is young. Thanks be to The Spirit of God which +taught our fore-fathers to put these precious words into the Church +Catechism, to guard us against falling into the very same mistake as +the Pharisees of old fell into, when they asked our Lord when the kingdom +of God was to come. And, believe me, it is easy enough and common +enough to fall into the same mistake.</p> +<p>For what was their mistake? They fancied that the kingdom of +God was not yet come. And do not most of you think the same? +They did not deny, of course, that God was almighty, and could rule +and govern all mankind if He chose so to do. But they did not +believe that He was ruling and governing all mankind then, because they +did not know what His rule and government were like. Now, St. +Paul tells us what God’s kingdom is like. The kingdom of +God, he says, is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. +So wherever there is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, +there the kingdom of God is. But His kingdom over what? +Over dumb animals, or over men? Over men, certainly; for dumb +animals cannot have righteousness, or joy in the Holy Spirit. +But over what part of a man? Over his body or over his spirit, +as we call it nowadays? Over his spirit, certainly; for it is +only our spirits which can be righteous, or peaceful, or joyful in God’s +Spirit. Therefore God’s kingdom, of which St. Paul speaks, +is a kingdom, a government over the souls, the spirits of men. +Now, are our spirits the inward part of us, or our bodies? Our +spirits, certainly. We all say, and say rightly, that our bodies +are the outward part of us, and that our spirits are within us. +Now, do you not see how that agrees exactly with the blessed Lord’s +saying in the text, “Behold, the kingdom of God is within you”—that +is, in your spirits, because it is righteousness, and peace, and joy +in the Holy Spirit; and these are things which only our souls, not our +bodies at all, can have.</p> +<p>But these Pharisees were not righteous; they were wicked and hypocritical +men. Was the kingdom of God within them? The blessed Lord +said plainly that it was. He said not, “The kingdom of God +is within some people’s hearts;” or, “The kingdom +of God is within the hearts of believers;” or, “The kingdom +of God might be within you if you liked.” But He said that +the kingdom of God was then and there within the hearts of those wicked +and unbelieving Pharisees.</p> +<p>Now, how could that be? In the same way that some time before +that, as St. Luke tells us, the power of the Lord was present to heal +those same Pharisees; and they were for the time amazed, and glorified +God, and were filled with fear at His mighty works; but not healed. +Their souls were not cured of their sin and folly by any means; for +we find in the very next chapter, that because Jesus cured a palsied +man on the Sabbath-day they were filled with madness, and consulted +together how to kill Him.</p> +<p>For, my friends, as it was with them, so it is with us. God’s +kingdom is within every one of us; but it may make us worse, as well +as make us better. It may fill us with righteousness, and peace, +and joy in the Holy Spirit; or it may fill us, as it filled the Pharisees, +with madness, and hatred of religion and of goodness; as it is written, +that the gospel may be a savour of death unto death to us, as well as +a savour of life unto life. And it depends on us which it shall +be.</p> +<p>This is what I mean: God’s kingdom is within each of us. +God is the King of our hearts and souls; our baptism tells us so; and +it tells us truly. And because God is the King of each of our +hearts, He comes everlastingly to take possession of our hearts, and +continues claiming our souls for His own. He speaks in our hearts +day and night; whenever we have a good thought, He speaks in our hearts, +and says to us: “I am the King of your spirit. It must obey +me. I put this good thought into your hearts, and you are bound +to follow that good thought, because it is a law of my kingdom.” +Or again, God speaks in our hearts, and says to us: “You have +done this wrong thing. You know that it is wrong. You know +that it is an offence against my law. Why have you rebelled against +me?” Or again, when we see anyone do a good, a loving, or +a noble action; or when we read of the lives of good and noble men and +women; above all, when we read or hear of the character and doings of +the blessed Lord Jesus, then and there God speaks in our hearts, and +stirs us up to love and admire these noble and blessed examples, and +says to us: “That is right. That is beautiful. That +is what men should do. That is what you should do. Why are +you not like that man? Why are you not like my saints? Why +are you not like me, the Lord Jesus Christ?”</p> +<p>You all surely know what I mean. You know that I do not mean +that you hear a voice speaking to your ears, but that thoughts and feelings +come into your heart, without you putting them there: ay, often enough, +in spite of your trying to drive them away. Now, those right thoughts +are the kingdom of God within you. They are the voice of the Lord +Jesus Christ speaking by His Holy Spirit to your spirit, and telling +you that He is your King, and that you ought to obey Him; and that obeying +Him means being righteous and good, as He is righteous and good; and +calling on you to give up your own wills and fancies, and to do His +will, and let Him make you holy, even as He is holy. That, I say, +is the kingdom of God showing itself within you, telling you that God +is your King, and telling you how to obey Him.</p> +<p>But what if a man will not hear that voice? What if a man rebels +proudly against the good thoughts that rise in his mind, and tries to +forget them, and grows angry with them, angry with the preacher, the +Church Service, the Bible itself, because they <i>will</i> go on reminding +him of what he knows in his heart to be right? What if those good +thoughts only make him the more stubborn and determined to do his own +pleasure, and follow his own interests, and do his own will?</p> +<p>Do you not see that to that man God’s kingdom over his heart +is a savour of death unto death—that his finding out that God +is his Lord only makes him more rebellious—that God’s Spirit +striving with his heart to bring it right, only stirs up his stubbornness +and self-will, and makes him go the more obstinately wrong?</p> +<p>Oh, my friends, this is a fearful thought! That man can become +worse by God’s loving desire to make him better! But so +it is. So it was with Pharaoh of old. All God’s pleading +with him by the message of Moses and Aaron, by the mighty plagues which +God sent on Egypt, only hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The Lord +God spoke to him, and his message only lashed Pharaoh’s proud +and wicked will into greater fury and rebellion, as a vicious horse +becomes the more unmanageable the more you punish it. Therefore, +it is said plainly in scripture, that <i>The Lord</i> hardened Pharaoh’s +heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord’s will was to make Pharaoh +hard-hearted and wicked. God forbid. The Lord is the fountain +of good only, and not He, but we and the devil, make evil. But +the more the Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to bend his will, +the more self-willed he became. The more the Lord showed Pharaoh +that the Lord was King, the more he hated the kingdom and will of God, +the more he determined to be king himself, and to obey no law but his +own wicked fancies and pleasures, and asked: “Who is the Lord, +that I should obey Him?”</p> +<p>And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that +the kingdom of God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts +and minds, and was trying to change their feelings and alter their opinions, +it only maddened them. They were determined not to change. +They were determined not to confess that they had been wrong, and had +mistaken the meaning of holy scripture. They were too proud to +confess what Jesus told them, that they were no better than the poor +ignorant common people whom they despised. And yet they knew in +their hearts that He was right. When the Lord told them the parable +of the vineyard, they answered, “God forbid!” they felt +at once that the parable had to do with them—that they were the +wicked husbandmen on whom He said their master would take vengeance: +but that only maddened them the more, till they ended by crucifying +the Lord of Glory, upon a pretence which they knew was a false and lying +one; and when Judas Iscariot said, “I have betrayed the innocent +blood,” they did not deny that the Lord Jesus was innocent; all +they answered was, “What is that to us?” They were +determined to have their own way whether He was innocent or not. +They had seen God’s likeness. They had seen what God was +like, by seeing the conduct of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. +And when they saw God’s likeness they hated it, because it was +not like themselves. And the more God strove with their hearts, +and tried to make them obey Him, the more, in short, they felt His kingdom +within them, the more they hated that kingdom of God within them, because +it reproved them, and convinced them of sin. Oh, my friends, young +people especially, beware; beware lest you fall into the same miserable +state of mind. The kingdom of God is within you. The Holy +Spirit, by which you were regenerate in holy baptism, is stirring and +pleading with your hearts, making you happy when you do right, unhappy +when you do wrong. Oh, listen to those good thoughts and feelings +within you! Never fancy that they are your own thoughts and feelings: +else you will fancy that you can put them away and take them back again +when you choose to change and become religious. Do not let the +devil deceive you into that notion. These good thoughts and feelings +are the Spirit of God. They are the signs that the kingdom of +God is within you; that God is King and Master of your hearts and minds; +and that you cannot keep Him out of them: but that He can enter into +them when He likes, and put right thoughts into them. But though +you cannot prevent God and His kingdom entering into you, you can refuse +to enter into it. Alas! alas! how many of you shut your ears to +God’s voice: try to drive God’s Spirit out of your own hearts; +try to forget what is right, because it is unpleasant to remember it, +and say to yourselves, “I will have my own way. I will try +and forget what the clergyman said in his sermon, or what I learnt at +school. I am grown up now, and I will do what I like.” +Oh, my friends, is it a wise or a hopeful battle to fight against the +living God? Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are +sealed to the day of redemption, lest He go away from you and leave +you to yourselves, spiritually dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, +whose end is to be burned. Grieve Him not, lest He depart, and +with Him both the Father and the Son. And then you will not know +right from wrong, because God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of right, +has left you. You will not know what a man ought to be or do, +because the Son of Man, the perfect likeness of God, and therefore the +pattern of man, has left you. You will not know that God the Father +is your Father, but only fancy him a stern taskmaster, reaping where +He has not sown, and requiring of you more than you are bound to pay, +because God the Father has left you.</p> +<p>You may, indeed, keep out ugly thoughts for a time. You may +go on wantonly in sin, and worldliness, and self-will. And then, +by way of falling deeper still, you may take up with some false sort +of religion, which makes people fancy that they know God, and are one +of His elect, while in works they deny Him, and their sinful heart is +unchanged. Then your mouth indeed may be full of second-hand talk +about the gospel. But what gospel? I call that a devil’s +gospel, and not God’s gospel, which makes men fancy that they +may continue in sin that grace may abound. I call any grace which +leaves men in their sins the devil’s grace, and not God’s +grace. Certainly it is not the gospel of the kingdom of God; for +if it was, it would produce in men the fruits of that kingdom, righteousness, +and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, instead of the fruits which we +see too often, bigotry and self-conceit, bitterness, evil-speaking, +and hard judgments, and joy in a most unholy and damnable spirit, not +to mention covetousness and deceitfulness, or even in some cases wantonness +and lust. And yet such men will often fancy that they belong especially +to God, and doubt whether He will have mercy on any who do not exactly +agree with them; while in reality God and His kingdom have utterly left +their hearts, and they are as blind and dark as the beasts which perish. +May God preserve us from that second death which comes on sinners, when, +after a sinful youth, their terrified souls begin to cry out in fear +at the sight of their sins; and they, instead of casting away their +sins, keep their sins, or change old sins for more respectable and safe +new ones, and drug their souls with false doctrines, as foolish nurses +quiet children’s crying by giving them poisonous medicines. +I know men who have fallen, I really fear at times, into that state +of mind, and are like those Pharisees of whom our Lord said: “Ye +serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of +hell?” Even for them it is not too late: but, let them recollect, +if the kingdom of God is within them, if they have any feelings of right +and wrong left in them, that their covetousness, and lying, and slandering, +and conceit, is fighting against God; that these are just what God desires +to cast out of them; and that unless they give up their hearts to God, +and let Him cast out their sins, and be converted, and become like little +children, gentle, humble, teachable, friendly, and kind-hearted, obedient +to their heavenly Father, God will cast them out of His kingdom among +the things which offend, and bring a bad name on religion; among those +very profligate and open sinners whom they are so ready to despise and +curse.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXVIII—THE LIGHT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: +for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore He saith, +Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall +give thee light.—EPHESIANS v. 13, 14.</p> +<p>St. Paul has been telling the Ephesians who they are; that they are +God’s dear children. To whom they belong; to Christ who +has given Himself for them. What they ought to do; to follow God’s +likeness, and live in love. That they are light in the Lord; and +are to walk as children of the light; and have no fellowship with the +unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. As much +as to say: Do not believe those who tell you that there is no harm in +young people going wrong together before marriage, provided they intend +to marry after all. Do not believe those who tell you that there +is no harm in filthy words, provided you do not do filthy things; and +no harm in swearing, provided you do not mean the curses which you speak. +Do not believe those who tell you there is no harm in poaching another +man’s game, provided you do not steal his poultry, or anything +except his game. Do not believe those who tell you that there +is no harm in being covetous, provided you do not actually cheat your +neighbours; and that the sin lies, not in being covetous at all, but +in being more covetous than the law will let you be.</p> +<p>Do not believe those who say to you that you may keep dark thoughts, +spite, suspicion, envy, cunning, covetousness in your hearts day after +day, year after year, provided you do not openly act on them so as to +do your neighbours any great and notorious injury.</p> +<p>Plenty of people will tell you so, and try to deceive you with vain +words, and give you arguments, and texts of scripture perhaps, to prove +that sin is not sin, and that the children of light may do the works +of darkness. But do not believe them, says St. Paul. They +are deceivers, and their words are vain. These are the very things +which bring down God’s wrath on His disobedient children. +These are the bad ways which make young people, when they are married, +despise, and distrust, and quarrel with each other, and live miserable +lives together, as children of wrath, peevish, and wrathful, and discontented +with each other, because they feel that God is angry with them, just +as Adam in the garden, when he felt that he had sinned, and that God +was wroth with him, laid the blame on his wife, and accused her, whom +he ought to have loved, and protected, and excused.</p> +<p>These are the bad ways which make people ashamed when they meet a +good and a respectable person, make them afraid of being overheard, +afraid of being found out, fond of haunting low and out-of-the-way places +where they will not be seen; fond of prowling and lurching out at night +after their own sinful pleasures, because the darkness hides them from +their neighbours, and seems to hide them from themselves, though it +cannot hide them from God. These are the sins which make men silent, +cunning, dark, sour, double-tongued, afraid to look anyone full in the +face, unwilling to make friends, afraid of opening their minds to anyone, +because they have something on their minds which they dare not tell +their neighbours, which they dare not even tell themselves, but think +about as little as they can help. Do you not know what I mean? +Do you not often see it in others? Have you never felt it in yourselves +when you have done wrong, that dark feeling within which shows itself +in dark looks? You talk of a “dark-looking man,” or +a “dark sort of person;” and you mean, do you not, a man +whom you cannot make out, who does not wish you to make him out; who +keeps his thoughts and his feelings to himself, and is never frank or +free, except with bad companions, when the world cannot see him; who +goes about hanging down his head, and looking out of the corners of +his eyes, as if he were afraid of the very sunshine—afraid of +the light. We know that such a man has something dark on his mind. +We call him a “dark sort of man.” And we are right. +We say of him what St. Paul says of him in this very epistle, when he +says, that sin is darkness, and sinful works the deeds of darkness; +and that goodness, and righteousness, and truth, are light, the very +light of God and the Spirit of God. Our reason, our common sense, +which is given us by God’s Spirit, the Spirit of light, makes +us use the right words, the same words as St. Paul does, and call sin +darkness.</p> +<p>But rather reprove these dark works, says St Paul; that is, look +at them, and see that they are utterly worthless and damnable. +And how? “All things that are reproved,” he says, +“are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever makes manifest +is light.” Whatsoever makes manifest, that is, makes plain +and clear. Whatsoever makes you see anything or person in heaven +or earth as it really is; whatsoever makes you understand more about +anything; whatsoever shows you more what you are, where you are, what +you ought to do; whatsoever teaches you any single hint about your duty +to God, or man, or the dumb beasts which you tend, or the soil which +you till, or the business and line of life which you ought to follow; +whatsoever shows you the right and the wrong in any matter, the truth +and the falsehood in any matter, the prudent course and the imprudent +course in any matter; in a word, whatsoever makes your mind more clear +about any single thing in heaven or earth, is light. For, mind, +St. Paul does not say, whatsoever is light makes things plain; but whatsoever +makes things plain is light. That is saying a great deal more, +thank God; for if he had said, whatsoever is light makes things clear, +we should have been puzzled to know what was light; we should have been +tempted to settle for ourselves what was light. And, God knows, +people in all ages, and people of all religions, Christians as well +as heathens, have been tempted to say so, and to misread this text, +till they said: “Whatsoever agrees with our doctrine is light, +of course, but all other teaching is darkness, and comes from the devil;” +and so they oftentimes blasphemed against God’s Holy Spirit by +calling good actions bad ones, just because they were done by people +who did not agree with them, and fell into the same sin as the Pharisees +of old, who said that the Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince +of the devils.</p> +<p>But St. Paul says, whatsoever makes anything clearer to you, is light. +There is the gospel, and there is the good news of salvation again, +coming out, as it does all through St. Paul’s epistles, at every +turn, just where poor, sinful, dark man least expects it. For, +what does St. Paul say in the very next verse? “Wherefore,” +he says, “arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” +“Christ shall give thee light!” Oh blessed news! +<i>Christ</i> gives us the light, and therefore we need not be afraid +of it, but trust it, and welcome it. And Christ <i>gives</i> us +the light, therefore we have not to hunt and search after it; for He +will give it us. Let us think over these two matters, and see +whether there is not a gospel and good news in them for all wretched, +ignorant, sinful, dark souls, just as much as for those who are learned +and wise, or bright and full of peace.</p> +<p>Christ gives us the light. This agrees with what St. John says, +that “He is the light who lights every man who comes into the +world.” And it agrees also with what St. James says: “Be +not deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect +gift is from above, and cometh down from God, the Father of lights, +with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.” And +it agrees also with what the prophet says, that it is the Spirit of +God which gives man understanding. And it agrees also with what +the Lord Himself promised us when He was on earth, that He would send +down on us the Spirit of God—the Spirit which proceeds alike from +Him and from His Father, to guide us into all truth. Ay, my friends, +if we really believe this, what a solemn and important thing education +would seem to us! If we really believed that all light, all true +understanding of any matter, came from the Lord Jesus Christ: and if +we remember what the Lord Jesus’ character was; how He came to +do good to all; to teach not merely the rich and powerful, but the poor, +the ignorant, the outcast, the sinful: should we not say to ourselves, +then: “If knowledge comes from Christ, who never kept anything +to Himself, how dare we keep knowledge to ourselves? If it comes +from Him who gave Himself freely for all, surely He means that knowledge +should be given freely to all. If He and His Father, and our Father, +will that all should come to the knowledge of the truth, how dare we +keep the truth from anyone?” So we should feel it the will +of our heavenly Father, the solemn command of our blessed Saviour, that +our children, and not only they, but every soul around us, young and +old, should be educated in the best possible way, and in any way whatsoever, +rather than in none at all. The education of the poor would be, +in our eyes, the most sacred duty. A school would be, in our eyes, +as necessary and almost as sacred a thing as a church. And to +neglect sending our children to school, or to leave our servants or +work-people in ignorance, would seem to us an awful sin against the +Father of lights; a rebellion against the Lord Jesus, who lights every +man who comes into the world, and against our Father in heaven, who +willeth not that one of these little ones should perish.</p> +<p>And this is made still more plain and certain by the next word in +the text: “Christ shall <i>give</i> thee light:” not sell +thee light, or allow thee to find light after great struggles, and weary +years of study: but, <i>give</i> thee light. Give it thee of His +free grace and generosity. We might have expected that, merely +from remembering to whom the light belongs. The mere fact that +light belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the express likeness +of His Father, might have made us sure that He would give His light +freely to the unthankful and to the evil, just as His Father makes His +sun to shine alike on the evil and on the good. Therefore this +text does not leave us to find out the good news for ourselves. +It declares to us plainly that He will give it us, as freely as He gives +us all things richly to enjoy.</p> +<p>But, someone will say: You surely cannot mean that we shall have +understanding without study?</p> +<p>You cannot mean that we are to become wise without careful thought, +or that we are to understand books without learning to read? Of +course not, my friends. The text does not say: “Christ will +give thee eyes; Christ will give thee sense:” but, “Christ +will give thee light.” . . . Do you not see the difference? +Of what use would your eyes be without light? And of what use +would light be if your eyes were shut, and you asleep? In darkness +you cannot see. Your eyes are there, as good as ever; the world +is there, as fair as ever: but you cannot see it, because there is no +light. You can only feel it, by groping about with your hands, +and laying hold of whatsoever happens to be nearest you. And do +you think that though your bodily eyes cannot see, unless God puts His +light in the sky, to shine on everything, and show it you, yet your +minds and souls can see without any light from God? Not so, my +friends. What the sun is to this earth, that the Lord Jesus Christ, +the Word of God, is to the spirit—that is, the reason and conscience—of +every man who comes into the world. Now, the good news of holy +baptism is, that the light is here; that God’s Spirit is with +us, to teach us the truth about everything, that we may see it in its +true light, as it is, as God sees it; that the day-spring from on high +has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the +shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace; and that we +are children of the light and of the day. But what if those who +sit in darkness like the darkness; and wilfully shut their eyes tight +that they may not see the day-spring from on high, and the light which +God has sent into the world? Then the light will not profit them, +but they will walk on still in darkness, not knowing whither they are +going.</p> +<p>But some may say, wicked men are very wise; although they rebel against +God’s Spirit, and do not even believe in God’s Spirit, but +say that man’s mind can find out everything for itself, without +God’s help, yet they are very wise. Are they? The +Bible tells us again and again that the wisdom of such men is folly; +that God takes such wise men in their own craftiness. And the +Bible speaks truth. If there is one thing of which I am more certain +than another, my friends, it is that, just in proportion as a man is +bad, just in proportion as he does not believe in a good Spirit of God +who wills to teach him, and gives him light, he is a fool. If +there is one thing more than another which such men’s books have +taught me, it is that they are in darkness, when they fancy they are +in the brightest light; that they make the greatest mistakes when they +intend to say the cleverest things; and when they least fancy it, fall +into nonsense and absurdities, not merely on matters of religion, but +on points which they profess to have studied, and in cases where, by +their own showing, they ought to have known better. But our business +is rather with ourselves. Our business, in this time of Lent, +is to see whether we have been shutting our eyes; whether we have been +walking in darkness, while God’s light is all around us. +And how shall we know that? Let St. John tell us: “He that +saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness until +now, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness has blinded +his eyes.” Hating our brother. Covetousness, which +is indeed hating our brother, for it teaches us to prefer our good to +our neighbour’s good, to fatten ourselves at our neighbour’s +expense, to get his work, his custom, his money, away from him to ourselves; +bigotry, which makes men hate and despise those who differ from them +in religion; spite and malice against those who have injured us; suspicions +and dark distrust of our neighbours, and of mankind in general; selfishness, +which sets us always standing on our own rights, makes us always ready +to take offence, always ready to think that people mean to insult us +or injure us, and makes us moody, dark, peevish, always thinking about +ourselves, and our plans, or our own pleasures, shut up as it were within +ourselves—all these sins, in proportion as anyone gives way to +them, darken the eyes of a man’s soul. They really and actually +make him more stupid, less able to understand his neighbours’ +hearts and minds, less able to take a reasonable view of any matter +or question whatsoever. You may not believe me. But so it +is. I know it by experience to be true. I warn you that +you will find it true one day; that all spite, passion, prejudice, suspicion, +hard judgments, contempt, self-conceit, blind a man’s reason, +and heart, and soul, and make him stumble and fall into mistakes, even +in worldly matters, just as surely as shutting our eyes makes us stumble +in broad daylight. He who gives way to such passions is asleep, +while he fancies himself broad awake. His life is a dream; and +like a dreamer, he sees nothing really, only appearances, fancies, pictures +of things in his own selfish brain. Therefore it is written: “Awake +thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee +life.” You may say: Can I awaken myself? Perhaps not, +unless someone calls you. And therefore Christ calls on you to +awake. He says by my mouth: Awake, thou sleeper, and I will give +thee light; awake, thou dreamer, who fanciest that the sinful works +of darkness can give thee any real profit, any real pleasure; awake, +thou sleep-walker, who art going about the world in a dream, groping +thy way on from day to day and year to year, only kept from fall and +ruin by God’s guiding and preserving mercy. Open thine eyes, +and let in the great eternal loving light, wherein God beholds everything +which He has made, and behold it is very good. Open thine eyes, +for it is day. The light is here if thou wilt but use it. +“I will guide thee,” saith the Lord, “and inform thee +with mine eye, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go.” +Only believe in the light. Believe that all knowledge comes from +God. Expect and trust that He will give thee knowledge. +Pray to Him boldly to give thee knowledge, because thou art sure that +He wishes thee to have knowledge. He wishes thee to know thy duty. +He wishes thee to see everything as He sees it. “If any +man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and +upbraideth not, and he shall receive it.” And when thou +hast prayed for knowledge, expect it to come; as it is written: When +thou prayest for anything, believe that thou wilt receive it, and thou +wilt receive it. If thou dost not believe that thou wilt have +it, of course thou wilt not have it. And why? Because thou +wilt pass by it without seeing it. It will be there ready for +thee in thy daily walks; Wisdom will cry to thee at the head of every +street; God will not deny Himself or break His promise: but thou wilt +go past the place where wisdom is, and miss the lessons which God is +strewing in thy path, because thou art not looking for them. Wisdom +is here, my friends, and understanding is here, and the Spirit of God +is here, if our eyes were but open to see them. Oh my friends, +of all the sins of which we have to repent in this time of Lent, none +ought to give us more solemn and bitter thoughts of shame than the way +in which we overlook the teaching of God’s Spirit, and shut our +eyes to His light, times without number, every day of our lives. +My friends, if our hearts were what they ought to be, if we had humble, +loving, trustful hearts, full of faith and hope in God’s promise +to lead us into all truth, I believe that every joy and every sorrow +which befell us, every book which we opened, every walk which we took +upon the face of God’s earth, ay, every human face into which +we looked, would teach us some lesson, whereby we should be wiser, better, +more aware of where we are and what God requires of us as human beings, +neighbours, citizens, subjects, members of His church. All things +would be clear to us; for we should see them in the light of God’s +Spirit. All things would look bright to us, for we should see +them in the light of God’s love. All things would work together +for good to us, for we should understand each thing as it came before +us, and know what it was, and what God meant it for, and how we were +to use it. And knowing and seeing what was right, we should see +how beautiful it was, and love it, and take delight in doing it, and +so we should walk in the light. Dark thoughts would pass away +from our minds, dark feelings from our hearts, dark looks from our faces. +We should look our neighbours cheerfully and boldly in the face; for +our consciences would be clear of any ill-will or meanness toward them. +We should look cheerfully and boldly up to God our Father; for we should +know that He was with us, guiding and teaching us, well-pleased with +all our endeavours to see things as He sees them, and to live and work +on earth after His image, and in His likeness. We should look +out cheerfully and boldly on the world around us, trying to get knowledge +from everything we see, expecting the light, and welcoming it, and trusting +it, because we know that it comes from Him who is true and cannot lie, +Him who is love and cannot injure, Him who is righteous and cannot lead +us into temptation: Jesus Christ, the Light who lighteth every man that +cometh into the world.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XXXIX—THE UNPARDONABLE SIN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Wherefore I say unto you: All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be +forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not +be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the +Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh a word +against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this +world, or in the world to come.—MATTHEW xii. 31, 32.</p> +<p>These awful words were the Lord’s answer to the Pharisees, +when they said of Him: “He casts out devils by Beelzebub, the +prince of the devils.”</p> +<p>What was it now which made this speech of the Pharisees so terrible +a sin, past all forgiveness?</p> +<p>Of course we all feel that they were very sinful; we shrink with +horror from their words as we read them. But why ought they to +have done the same? We know, thank God, who Jesus Christ was. +But they did not; at that time, when He was first beginning to preach, +they hardly could have known. And mind, we must not say: “They +ought to have known that He was the Son of God by His having the <i>power</i> +of casting out devils;” for the Lord Himself says that the sons +of these Pharisees used to cast them out also, or that the Pharisees +believed that they did; and only asks them: “Why do you say of +my casting out devils, what you will not say of your sons’ casting +them out?” Pray bear this in mind; for if you do not—if +you keep in your mind the vulgar and unscriptural notion that the Pharisees’ +sin was not being convinced by the great power of Christ’s miracles, +you will never understand this story, and you will be very likely to +get rid of it altogether as speaking of a sin which does not concern +you, and a sin which you cannot commit. Now, if the Pharisees +did not know that Jesus was the Son of God, the Maker and King of the +world, as we do, why were they so awfully wicked in saying that He cast +out devils by the prince of the devils? Was it anything more than +a mistake of theirs? Was it as wicked as crucifying the Lord? +Could it be a worse sin to make that one mistake, than to murder the +Lord Himself? And yet it must have been a worse sin. For +the Lord prayed for his murderers: “Father, forgive them, for +they know not what they do.” And these Pharisees, they knew +not what they did: and yet the Lord, far from praying for them, told +them that even He did not see how such serpents, such a generation of +vipers, could escape the damnation of hell.</p> +<p>It is worth our while to think over this question, and try and find +out what made the Pharisees’ sin so great. And to do that, +it will be wiser for us, first, to find out what the Pharisees’ +sin was; lest we should sit here this morning, and think them the most +wicked wretches who ever trod the earth; and then go away, and before +a week is over, commit ourselves the very same sin, or one so fearfully +like it, that if other people can see a difference between them, I confess +I cannot. And to commit such a sin, my good friends, is a far +easier thing to do than some people fancy, especially here in England +now.</p> +<p>Now, the worst part of the Pharisees’ sin was not, as we are +too apt to fancy, their insulting the Lord: but their insulting the +Holy Spirit. For what does the Lord Himself say? That all +manner of blasphemy as well as sin should be forgiven; that whosever +spoke a word against Him, the Son of Man, should be forgiven: but that +the unpardonable part of their offence was, that they had blasphemed +the Holy Spirit.</p> +<p>And who is the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of holiness. And +what is holiness? What are the fruits of holiness? For, +as the Lord told the Pharisees on this very occasion, the tree is known +by its fruit. What says St. Paul? The fruit of the Spirit +is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, +temperance. Those who do not show these fruits have not God’s +Spirit in them. Those who are hard, unloving, proud, quarrelsome, +peevish, suspicious, ready to impute bad motives to their neighbours, +have not God’s Spirit in them. Those who do show these fruits; +who are gentle, forgiving, kind-hearted, ready to do good to others, +and believe good of others, have God’s Spirit in them. For +these are good fruits, which, as our Lord tells us, can only spring +from a good root. Those who have the fruit must have the root, +let their doctrines be what they may. Those who have not the fruit +cannot have the root, let their doctrines be what they may.</p> +<p>That is the plain truth; and it is high time for preachers to proclaim +it boldly, and take the consequences from the Scribes and Pharisees +of this generation. That is the plain truth. Let doctrines +be what they will, the tree is known by its fruit. The man who +does wrong things is bad, and the man who does right things is good. +It is a simple thing to have to say, but very few believe it in these +days. Most fancy that the men who can talk most neatly and correctly +about certain religious doctrines are good, and that those who cannot +are bad. That is no new notion. Some people thought so in +St. John’s time; and what did he say of them? “Little +children, let no man deceive you; it is he that doeth righteousness +who is righteous, even as God is righteous.” And again: +“He who says, I know God, and keeps not His commandments, is a +liar, and the truth is not in him.” St. John was the apostle +of love. He was always preaching the love of God to men, and entreating +men to love one another. His own heart was overflowing with love. +Yet when it came to such a question as that; when it came to people’s +pretending to be religious and orthodox, and yet neither obeying God +nor loving their neighbours, he could speak sternly and plainly enough. +He does not say: “My dear friends, I am sorry to have to differ +from you, but I am afraid you are mistaken;” he says: “You +are liars, and there is no truth in you.”</p> +<p>Now this was just what the Pharisees had forgotten. They had +got to think, as too many have nowadays, that the sign of a man’s +having God’s Spirit in him, was his agreeing with them in doctrine. +But if he did not agree with them; if he would not say the words which +they said, and did not belong to their party, and side with them in +despising every one who differed from them, it was no matter to them, +as they proved by their opinion of Jesus Himself, how good he might +be, or how much good he might do; how loving, gentle, patient, benevolent, +helping, and caring for poor people; in short, how like God he was; +all that went for nothing if he was not of their party. For they +had forgotten what God was like. They forgot that God was love +and mercy itself, and that all love and mercy must come from God; and, +that, therefore, no one, let his creed or his doctrine be what it might, +could possibly do a loving or merciful thing, but by the grace and inspiration +of God, the Father of mercies. And yet their own prophets of the +Old Testament had told them so, when they ascribed the good deeds of +heathens to the inspiration of God, just as much as the good deeds of +Jews, and agreed, as they do in many a text, with what St. James, himself +a Jew, said afterwards: “Be not deceived; every good gift, and +every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of +lights.” But the Pharisees, like too many nowadays, did +not think so. They thought that good and perfect gifts might some +of them very well come from below, from the father of darkness and cruelty. +They saw the Lord Jesus Christ doing good things; driving out evil, +and delivering men from the power of it; healing the sick, cleansing +the leper, curing the mad, preaching the gospel to the poor: and yet +they saw in that no proof that God’s Spirit was working in Him. +Of course, if He had been one of their own party, and had held the same +doctrines as they held, they would have praised Him loudly enough, and +held Him up as a great saint of their school, and boasted of all His +good deeds as proofs of how good their party was, and how its doctrines +came from God. But as long as He was not one of them, His good +works went for nothing. They could not see God’s likeness +in that loving and merciful character. All His charity and benevolence +made them only hate Him the more, because it made them the more afraid +that He would draw the people away from them. “And of course,” +they said to themselves, “whosoever draws people away from us, +must be on the devil’s side. We know all God’s law +and will. No one on earth has anything to teach us. And +therefore, as for any one who differs from us, if he cast out devils, +it must be because the devil is helping him, for his own purposes, to +do it.”</p> +<p>In one word, then, the sin of these Pharisees, the unpardonable sin, +which ruins all who give themselves up to it, was bigotry; calling right +wrong, because it did not suit their party prejudices to call it right. +They were fancying themselves very religious and pious, and all the +while they did not know right when they saw it; and when the Lord came +doing right, they called it wrong, because He did not agree with their +doctrines. They fancied they were the only people on earth who +knew how to worship God perfectly; and yet while they pretended to worship +Him, they did not know what He was like. The Lord Jesus came down, +the perfect likeness of God’s glory, and the express pattern of +His character, helping, and healing, and delivering the souls and bodies +of all poor wretches whom He met; and these Pharisees could not see +God’s Spirit in that; and because it was certainly not their own +spirit, called it the spirit of a devil, and blasphemed against the +Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Right and Love.</p> +<p>This was bigotry, the flower and crown of all sins into which man +can fall; the worst of all sins, because a man may keep from every other +sin with all his might and main, as the Pharisees did, and yet be led +by bigotry into almost every one of them without knowing it; into harsh +and uncharitable judgment; into anger, clamour, and railing; into misrepresentation +and slander; and fancying that the God of truth needs the help of their +lying; perhaps, as has often happened, alas! already, into devilish +cruelty to the souls and bodies of men. The worst of all sins; +because a man who has given up his heart to bigotry can have no forgiveness. +He cannot; for how can a man be forgiven unless he repent? and how can +a bigot repent? how can he confess himself in the wrong, while he fancies +himself infallibly in the right? As the Lord said to these very +Pharisees: “If ye had been blind, ye had had no sin: but now ye +say We see; therefore your sin remaineth.”</p> +<p>How can the bigot repent? for repenting is turning to God; and how +can a man turn to God who does not know where to look for God, who does +not know who God is, who mistakes the devil for God, and fancies the +all-loving Father to be a taskmaster, and a tyrant, and an accuser, +and a respecter of persons, without mercy or care for ninety-nine hundredths +of the souls which He has made? How can he find God? He +does not know whom to look for.</p> +<p>How can the bigot repent? for to repent means to turn from wrong +to right; and he has lost the very notion of right and wrong, in the +midst of all his religion and his fine doctrines. He fancies that +right does not mean love, mercy, goodness, patience, but notions like +his own; and that wrong does not mean hatred, and evil-speaking, and +suspicion, and uncharitableness, and slander, and lying, but notions +unlike his own. What he agrees with he thinks is heavenly, and +what he disagrees with is of hell. He has made his own god for +himself out of himself. His own prejudices are his god, and he +worships them right worthily; and if the Lord were to come down on earth +again, and would not say the words which he is accustomed to say, it +would go hard but he would crucify the Lord again, as the Pharisees +did of old.</p> +<p>My friends, there is too much of this bigotry, this blasphemy against +God’s Spirit, abroad in England now. May God keep us all +from it! Pray to Him night and day, to give you His Spirit, that +you may not only be loving, charitable, full of good works yourselves, +but may be ready to praise and enjoy a good, and loving, and merciful +action, whosoever does it, whether he be of your religion or not; for +nothing good is done by any living man without the grace of Christ, +and the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the Father of lights, from +whom comes down every good and perfect gift. And whosoever tries +to escape from that great truth, when he sees a man whose doctrines +are wrong doing a right act, by imputing bad motives to him, or saying: +“His actions must be evil, however good they may look, because +his doctrines are wrong,”—that man is running the risk of +committing the very same sin as the Pharisees, and blaspheming against +the Holy Spirit, by calling good evil. And be sure, my friends, +that whosoever indulges, even in little matters, in hard judgments, +and suspicions, and hasty sneers, and loud railing, against men who +differ from him in religion, or politics, or in anything else, is deadening +his own sense of right and wrong, and sowing the seeds of that same +state of mind, which, as the Lord told the Pharisees, is utterly the +worst into which any human being can fall.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XL—THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but +ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.—ROMANS +viii. 15.</p> +<p>Some of you here may not understand this text at all. Some +of you, perhaps, may misunderstand it; for it is not an easy one. +Let us, then, begin, by finding out the meaning of each word in it; +and, let us first see what is the meaning of the spirit of bondage unto +fear. Bondage means slavery; and the spirit of bondage means the +spirit which makes men look up to God as slaves do to their taskmaster. +Now, a slave obeys his master from fear only; not from love or gratitude. +He knows that his master is stronger than he is, and he dreads being +beaten and punished by him; and therefore, he obeys him only by compulsion, +not of his own good will. This is the spirit of bondage; the slavish, +superstitious spirit in religion, into which all men fall, in proportion +as they are mean, and sinful, and carnal, fond of indulging themselves, +and bearing no love to God or right things. They know that God +is stronger than they; they are afraid that God will take away comforts +from them if they offend Him; they have been taught that He will cast +them into endless torment if they offend Him; and, therefore, they are +afraid to do wrong. They love what is wrong, and would like to +do it; but they dare not, for fear of God’s punishment. +They do not really fear God; they only fear punishment, misfortune, +death, and hell. That is better, perhaps, than no religion at +all. But it is not the faith which <i>we</i> ought to have.</p> +<p>In this way the old heathens lived: loving sin and not holiness, +and yet continually tormented with the fear of being punished for the +very sins which they loved; looking up to God as a stern taskmaster; +fancying Him as proud, and selfish, and revengeful as themselves; trying +one day to quiet that wrath of His which they knew they deserved, by +all sorts of flatteries and sacrifices to Him; and the next day trying +to fancy that He was as sinful as themselves, and was well-pleased to +see them sinful too. And yet they could not keep that lie in their +hearts; God’s light, which lights every man who comes into the +world, was too bright for them, and shone into their consciences, and +showed them that the wages of sin was death. The law of God, St. +Paul tells us, was written in their hearts; and how much soever, poor +creatures, they might try to blot it out and forget it, yet it would +rise up in judgment against them, day by day, night by night, convincing +them of sin. So they in their terror sold themselves to false +priests, who pretended to know of plans for helping them to escape from +this angry God, and gave themselves up to superstitions, till they even +sacrificed their sons and their daughters to devils, in some sort of +confused hope of buying themselves off from misery and ruin.</p> +<p>And in the same way the Jews lived, for the most part, before the +Lord Jesus came in the flesh of man. Not so viciously and wickedly, +of course, because the law of Moses was holy, and just, and good; the +law which the Lord Himself had given them, because it was the best for +them then; because they were too sinful, and slavish, and stupid, for +anything better. But, as St. Paul says, Moses’s law could +not give them life, any more than any other law can. That is, +it could not make them righteous and good; it could not change their +hearts and lives; it could only keep them from outward wrong-doing by +threats and promises, saying: “Thou shalt not.” It +could, at best, only show them how sinful their own hearts were; how +little they loved what God commanded; how little they desired what He +promised; and so it made them feel more and more that they were guilty, +unworthy to look up to a holy God, deserving His anger and punishment, +worthy to die for their sins; and thus by the law came the knowledge +of sin, a deeper feeling of guilt, and shame, and slavish dread of God, +as St. Paul sets forth, with wonderful wisdom, in the seventh chapter +of Romans.</p> +<p>Now, let us consider the latter half of the text. “But +ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.”</p> +<p>What is this adoption? St. Paul tells us in the beginning of +the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Galatians. He says: As +long as a man’s heir is a child, and under age, there is no difference +in law between him and a slave. He is his father’s property. +He must obey his father, whether he chooses or not; and he is under +tutors and governors, until the time appointed by his father; that is, +until he comes of age, as we call it. Then he becomes his own +master. He can inherit and possess property of his own after that. +And from that time forth the law does not bind him to obey his father; +if he obeys him it is of his own free will, because he loves, and trusts, +and reverences his father.</p> +<p>Now, St. Paul says, this is the case with us. When we were +infants, we were in bondage under the elements of the world; kept straight, +as children are, by rules which they cannot understand, by the fear +of punishment which they cannot escape, with no more power to resist +their father than slaves have to resist their master. But when +the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, +born under a law, that He might redeem those who were under a law, that +we might receive the adoption of sons.</p> +<p>As much as to say: You were God’s <i>children</i> all along: +but now you are more; you are God’s sons. You have arrived +at man’s estate; you are men in body and in mind; you are to be +men in spirit, men in life. You are to look up to the great God +who made heaven and earth, and know, glorious thought! that He is as +truly your Father as the men whose earthly sons you call yourselves. +And if you do this, He will give you the Spirit of adoption, and you +shall be able to call Him Father with your hearts, as well as with your +lips; you shall know and feel that He is your Father; that He has been +loving, watching, educating, leading you home to Him all the while that +you were wandering in ignorance of Him, in childish self-will, and greediness +after pleasure and amusement. He will give you His Spirit to make +you behave like His sons, to obey Him of your own free will, from love, +and gratitude, and honour, and filial reverence. He will make +you love what He loves, and hate what He hates. He will give you +clear consciences and free hearts, to fear nothing on earth or in heaven, +but the shame and ingratitude of disobeying your Father.</p> +<p>The Spirit of adoption, by which you look up to God as your Father, +is your right. He has given it to you, and nothing but your own +want of faith, and wilful turning back to cowardly superstition, and +to the wilful sins which go before superstition, and come after it, +can take it from you. So said St. Paul to the Romans and the Galatians, +and so I have a right, ay, and a bounden duty, to say to every man and +woman in this church this day.</p> +<p>For, my dear friends, if you ask me, what has this to do with us? +Has it not everything to do with us? Whether we are leading good +lives, or middling lives, or utterly bad worthless lives, has it not +everything to do with us? Who is there here who has not at times +said to himself: “God so holy, and pure, and glorious; while I +am so unjust, and unclean, and mean! And God so great and powerful; +while I am so small and weak! What shall I do? Does not +God hate and despise me? Will He not take from me all which I +love best? Will He not hurl me into endless torment when I die? +How can I escape from Him? Wretched man that I am, I cannot escape +from Him! How, then, can I turn away His hate? How can I +make Him change His mind? How can I soothe Him and appease Him? +What shall I do to escape hell-fire?”</p> +<p>Did you ever have such thoughts? But, did you find those thoughts, +that slavish terror of God’s wrath, that dread of hell, made you +any <i>better</i> men? I never did. I never saw them make +any human being better. Unless you go beyond them—as far +beyond them as heaven is beyond hell, as far above them as a free son +is above a miserable crouching slave, they will do you more harm than +good. For this is all that I have seen come of them: That all +this spirit of bondage, this slavish terror, instead of bringing a man +nearer to God, only drove him further from God. It did not make +him hate what was wrong; it only made him dread the punishment of it. +And then, when the first burst of fear cooled down, he began to say +to himself: “I can never atone for my sins. I can never +win back God to love me. What is done, is done. If I cannot +escape punishment, let me be at least as happy as I can while it lasts. +If it does not come to-day, it will come to-morrow. Let me alone, +thou tormenting conscience. Let me eat and drink, for to-morrow +I die!” And so back rushed the poor creature into all his +wrong-doing again, and fell most probably deeper than ever into the +mire, because a certain feeling of desperation and defiance rose up +in him, till he began to fancy that his terror was all a dream—a +foolish accidental rising up of old superstitious words which he learnt +from his mother or his nurse; and he tried to forget it all, and did +forget it—God help him!—and his latter end was worse than +his first.</p> +<p>How then shall a man escape shame and misery, and an evil conscience, +and rise out of these sins of his? For do it he must. The +wages of sin is death—death to body and soul; and from sin he +must escape.</p> +<p>There is but one way, my friends. There never was but one way. +Believe the text, and therefore believe the warrant of your Baptism. +Believe the message of your Confirmation.</p> +<p>Your baptism says to you, God does <i>not</i> hate you, be you the +greatest sinner on earth. He does not hate you. He loves +you; for you are His child. He hateth nothing that He hath made. +He willeth not the death of a sinner, but that <i>all</i> should come +to be saved. And your baptism is the sign of that to you. +But God hates everything that He has not made; for everything which +He has not made is bad; and He has made all things but sin; and therefore +He hates sin, and, loving you, wishes to raise you out of sin; and baptism +is the sign of that also. Man was made originally in the image +and likeness of God, and of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the express +image of God the Father; and therefore everything which is sinful is +unmanly, and everything which is truly manful, and worthy of a man, +is like Jesus Christ; and God’s will is, that you should rise +out of all these unmanly sins, to a truly manful life—a life like +the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man. And baptism is God’s +sign of this also. That is the meaning of the words in the Baptism +Service which tell you that you were baptised into Jesus Christ, that +you might put off the old man—the sinful, slavish, selfish, unmanly +pattern of life, which we all lead by nature; and put on the new man—the +holy and noble, righteous and loving pattern of life, which is the likeness +of the Lord Jesus. That is the message of your baptism to you; +that you are God’s children, and that God’s will and wish +is that you should grow up to become His <i>sons</i>, to serve Him lovingly, +trustingly, manfully; and that He can and will give you power to do +so—ay, that He has given you that power already, if you will but +claim it and use it. But you must claim it and use it, because +you are meant not merely to be God’s wilful, ignorant, selfish +children, obeying Him from mere fear of the rod; but to be His willing, +loving, loyal sons. And that is the message which Confirmation +brings you. Baptism says: You are God’s child, whether you +know it or not. Confirmation says: Yes; but now you are to know +it, and to claim your rights as His sons, of full age, reasonable and +self-governing.</p> +<p>Baptism says: You are regenerated and born from above, by water and +the Holy Spirit. Confirmation answers: True, most true; but there +is no use in a child’s being born, if it never comes to man’s +estate, but remains a stunted idiot.</p> +<p>Baptism says: You may and ought to become more or less such a man +as the Lord Jesus was. Confirmation says: You can become such; +for you are no longer children; you are grown to man’s estate +in body, you can grow to man’s estate in soul if you will. +God’s Spirit is with you, to show you all things in their true +light; to teach you to value them or despise them as you ought; to teach +you to love what He loves, and hate what He hates. God wishes +you no longer to be merely His children, obeying Him you know not why; +still less His slaves, obeying Him from mere brute coward fear, and +then breaking loose the moment that you forget Him, and fancy that His +eye is not on you: but He wishes you to be His sons; to claim the right +and the power which He has given you to trample your sins under foot; +to rise up by the strength which God your Father will surely give to +those who ask Him; and so to be new men, free men, true men, who do +look boldly up to God, knowing that, however wicked they may have been, +and however weak they are still, God’s love belongs to them, God’s +help belongs to them, and that those who trust in Him shall never be +confounded, but shall go on from strength to strength to the measure +of the stature of a perfect man, to the noble likeness of the Lord Jesus +Christ Himself.</p> +<p>For this is the message of the blessed sacrament of the body and +blood of Christ, to which you have been all called this day. That +sacrament tells you that in spite of all your daily sins and failings, +you can still look up to God as your Father; to the Lord Jesus Christ +as your life; to the Holy Spirit as your guide and your inspirer; that +though you be prodigal sons, your Father’s house is still open +to you, your Father’s eternal love ready to meet you afar off, +the moment that you cry from your heart: “Father, I have sinned;” +and that you must be converted and turn back to God your Father, not +merely once for all at Confirmation, or at any other time, but weekly, +daily, hourly, as often as you forget and disobey Him; and that he will +receive you. This is the message of the blessed sacrament, that +though you cannot come there trusting in your own righteousness, you +can come trusting in His manifold and great mercies; that though you +are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under His table, yet +He is the same Lord whose property is ever to have mercy; that He will, +as surely as He has appointed that sign of the bread and wine, grant +you so to eat and drink that spiritual flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus +Christ, which is the life of the world, that your sinful bodies may +be made clean by His body, and your souls washed in His most precious +blood, and that you may dwell in Him, and He in you, for ever.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLI—THE FALL</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so +death passed on all men, for that all have sinned.—ROMANS v. 12.</p> +<p>We have been reading the history of Adam’s fall. With +that fall we have all to do; for we all feel the fruits of it in the +sinful corruptions which we bring into the world with us. And +more, every fall which we have is like Adam’s fall: every time +we fall into wilful sin, we do what Adam did, and act over again, each +of us many times in our lives, that which he first acted in the garden +of Paradise. At least, all mankind suffer for something. +Look at the sickness, death, bloodshed, oppression, spite, and cruelty, +with which the world is so full now, of which it has been full, as we +know but too well from history, ever since Adam’s time. +The world is full of misery, there is no denying that. How did +that come? It must have come somehow. There must be some +reason for all this sorrow. The Bible tells us a reason for it. +If anyone does not like the Bible reason, he is bound to find a better +reason. But what if the Bible reason, the story of Adam’s +fall, be the only rational and sensible explanation which ever has been, +or ever will be given, of the way in which death and misery came among +men?</p> +<p>Some people will say: What puzzle is there in it? All animals +die, why should not man? All animals fight and devour each other, +why should not man do so too? But why need we suppose that man +is fallen? Why should he not have been meant by nature to be just +what he is? Some scholars who fancy themselves wise, and think +that they know better than the Bible, will say that now, and pride themselves +on having said a very fine thing; ignorant men, too, often are led into +the same mistake, and are willing enough to say: “What if we are +brutish, and savage, and ignorant, and spiteful, indulging ourselves, +hating and quarrelling with each other? God made us what we are, +and we cannot help it.” But there is a voice in the heart +of every man, and just in proportion as a man is a man, and not a beast +and a savage, that voice cries in his heart more loudly: No; God did +not make you what you are. You are not meant to be what you are, +but something better. You are not meant to fight and devour each +other as the animals do; for you are meant to be better than they. +You are not meant to die as the animals do; for you feel something in +you which cannot die, which hates death. You may try to be a mere +savage and a beast, but you cannot be content to be so. And yet +you feel ready to fall lower, and get more and more brutish. What +can be the reason? There must be something wrong about men, something +diseased and corrupt in them, or they would not have this continual +discontent with themselves for being no better than they are; this continual +hankering and longing after some happiness, some knowledge, some good +and noble state which they do not see round them, and never have felt +in themselves. Man must have fallen, fallen from some good and +right state into which he was put at first, and for which he is hankering +and craving now. There must be an original sin in him; that is, +a sin belonging to his origin, his race, his breed, as we say, which +has been handed down from father to son; an original sin as the church +calls it. And I believe firmly that the heart of man, even among +savages, bears witness to the truth of that doctrine, and confesses +that we are fallen beings, let false philosophers try as they will to +persuade us that we are not.</p> +<p>Then, again, there are another set of people, principally easy, well-to-do, +respectable people, who run into another mistake, the same into which +the Pelagians did in old time. They think: “Man is not fallen. +Every man is born into the world quite good enough, if he chose to remain +good. Every man can keep God’s laws if he likes, or at all +events keep them well enough.” As for his having a sinful +nature which he got from Adam, they do not believe that really, though +often they might not like to say so openly. They think: “Adam +fell, and he was punished; and if I fall I shall be punished; but Adam’s +sin is nothing to me, and has not hurt me. I can be just as good +and right as Adam was, if I like.” That is a comfortable +doctrine enough for easy-going well-to-do folks, who have but few trials, +and few temptations, and who love little because little has been forgiven +them. But what comfort is there in that for poor sinners, who +feel sinful and base passions dragging them down, and making them brutish +and miserable, and yet feel that they cannot conquer their sins of themselves, +cannot help doing wrong, all the while they know that it is wrong? +They feel that they have something more in them than a will and power +to do what they choose. They feel that they have a sinful nature +which keeps their will and reason in slavery, and makes sin a hard bondage, +a miserable prison-house, from which they cannot escape. In short, +they feel and know that they are fallen. Small comfort, too, to +every thinking man, who looks upon the great nations of savages, which +have lived, and live still, upon God’s earth, and sees how, so +far from being able to do right if they choose, they go on from father +to son, generation after generation, doing wrong, more and more, whether +they like or not; how they become more and more children of wrath, given +up to fierce wars, and cruel revenge, and violent passions, all their +thought, and talk, and study, being to kill and to fight; how they become +more and more children of darkness, forgetting more and more the laws +of right and wrong, becoming stupid and ignorant, until they lose the +very knowledge of how to provide themselves with houses, clothes, fire, +or even to till the ground, and end in feeding on roots and garbage, +like the beasts which perish. And how, too, long before they fall +into that state, death works in them. How, the lower they fall, +and the more they yield to their original sin and their corrupt nature, +they die out. By wars with each other; by murdering their own +children, to avoid the trouble of rearing them; by diseases which they +know not how to cure, and which they too often bring on themselves by +their own brutishness; by bad food, and exposure to the weather, they +die out, and perish off the face of the earth, fulfilling the Lord’s +words to Adam: “Thou shalt surely die.” I do not say +that their souls go to hell. The Bible tells us nothing of where +they go to. God’s mercy is boundless. And the Bible +tells us that sin is not imputed where there is no law, as there is +none among them. So we may have hope for them, and leave them +in God’s hand. But what can we hope for them who are utterly +dead in trespasses and sins? Well for them, if, having fallen +to the likeness of the brutes, they perish with the brutes. I +fancy if you, as some may, ever go to Australia, and there see the wretched +black people, who are dying out there, faster and faster, year by year, +after having fallen lower than the brutes, then you will understand +what original sin may bring a man to, what it would have brought us +to, had not God in His mercy raised us and our forefathers up from that +fearful down-hill course, when we were on it fifteen hundred years ago.</p> +<p>And another thing which shows that these poor savages are not as +God intended them to be, but are falling, generation after generation, +by the working of original sin, is, that they, almost all of them, show +signs of having been better off long ago. Many, like the South +Sea Islanders, have curious arts remaining among them in spite of their +brutish ignorance, which they could only have learned when they were +far more clever and civilised than they are now. And almost all +of them have some sad remembrance, handed down from father to son, kept +up in songs and foolish tales, of having been richer, and more prosperous, +and more numerous, a long while ago. They will confess to you, +if you ask them, that they are worse than their fathers—that they +are going down, dying out—that the gods are angry with them, as +they say. The Lord have mercy upon them! But what is, to +my mind, the most awful part of the matter remains yet to be told—and +it is this: That man may actually fall by original sin too low to receive +the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be recovered again by it. For +the negroes of Africa and the West Indies, though they have fallen very +low, have not fallen too low for the gospel. They have still understanding +left to take it in, and conscience, and sense of right and wrong enough +left to embrace it; thousands of them do embrace it, and are received +unto righteousness, and lead such lives as would shame many a white +Englishman, born and bred under the gospel.</p> +<p>But the black people in Australia, who are exactly of the same race +as the African negroes, cannot take in the gospel. They seem to +have become too stupid to understand it; they seem to have lost the +sense of sin and of righteousness too completely to care about it. +All attempts to bring them to a knowledge of the true God have as yet +failed utterly. God’s grace is all-powerful; He is no respecter +of persons; and He may yet, by some great act of His wisdom, quicken +the dead souls of these poor brutes in human shape. But, as far +as we can see, there is no hope for them: but, like the Canaanites of +old, they must perish off the face of the earth, as brute beasts.</p> +<p>I have said so much to show you that man is fallen; that there is +original sin, an inclination to sin and fall, sink down lower and lower, +in man. Now comes the question: What is this fall of man? +I said that the Bible tells us rationally enough. And I have also +made use several times of words, which may have hinted to some of you +already what Adam’s fall was. I have spoken of the likeness +of the beasts, and of men becoming like beasts by original sin. +And this is why I said it.</p> +<p>If you want to understand what Adam’s fall was, you must understand +what he fell from, and what he fell to. That is plain.</p> +<p>Now, the Bible tells us, that he fell from God’s grace to nature.</p> +<p>What is nature? Nature means what is born, and lives, and dies, +and is parted and broken up, that the parts of it may go into some new +shape, and be born and live, and die again. So the plants, trees, +beasts, are a part of nature. They are born, live, die; and then +that which was them goes into the earth, or into the stomachs of other +animals, and becomes in time part of that animal, or part of the tree +or flower, which grows in the soil into which it has fallen. So +the flesh of a dead animal may become a grain of wheat, and that grain +of wheat again may become part of the body of an animal. You all +see this every time you manure a field, or grow a crop. Nature +is, then, that which lives to die, and dies to live again in some fresh +shape. And, in the first chapter of Genesis, you read of God creating +nature—earth, and water, and light, and the heavens, and the plants +and animals each after their kind, born to die and change, made of dust, +and returning to the dust again. But after that we read very different +words; we read that when God created man, He said:</p> +<p>“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let +them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the +air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping +thing that creepeth upon the earth.” He was made in God’s +likeness; therefore he could only be right in as far as he was like +God. And he could not be like God if he did not will what God +willed, and wish what God wished. He was to live by faith in God; +he was justified by faith in God, and by that only.</p> +<p>Never fancy that Adam had any righteousness of his own, any goodness +of which he could say: “This is mine, part of me; I may pride +myself on it.” God forbid. His righteousness consisted, +as ours must, in looking up to God, trusting Him utterly, believing +that he was to do God’s will, and not his own. His spirit, +his soul, as we call it, was given to him for that purpose, and for +none other, that it might trust in God and obey God, as a child does +his father. He had a free will; but he was to use that will as +we must use our wills, by giving up our will to God’s will, by +clinging with our whole hearts and souls to God.</p> +<p>Adam fell. He let himself be tempted by a beast, by the serpent. +How, we cannot tell: but so we read. He took the counsel of a +brute animal, and not of God. He chose between God and the serpent, +and he chose wrong. He wanted to be something in himself; to have +a knowledge and power of his own, to use it as he chose. He was +not content to be in God’s likeness; he wanted to be as a god +himself. And so he threw away his faith in God, and disobeyed +Him. And instead of becoming a god, as he expected, he became +an animal; he put on the likeness of the brutes, who cannot look up +to God in trust and love, who do not know God, do not obey Him, but +follow their own lusts and fancies, as they may happen to take them. +Whether the change came on him all at once, the Bible does not say: +but it did come on him; for from him it has been handed down to all +his children even to this day. Then was fulfilled against him +the sentence, In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. +Not that he died that moment; but death began to work in him. +He became like the branch of a tree cut off from the stem, which may +not wither at the instant it is cut off, but it is yet dead, as we find +out by its soon decaying. He had come down from being a son of +God, and he had taken his place in nature, among the things which grow +only to die; and death began to work in him, and in his children after +him. He handed down his nature to his children as the animals +do; his children inherited his faults, his weaknesses, his diseases, +the seed of death which was in him, just as the animals pass down to +their breed, their defects, and diseases, and certainty of dying after +their appointed life is past.</p> +<p>For this, my friends, is the lesson which Adam’s fall teaches +us, that in God alone is the life of immortal souls, whether of men, +or of angels, or of archangels; and in God alone is righteousness; in +God alone is every good thing, and all good in men or angels comes from +Him, and is only His pattern, His likeness; and that the moment either +man or angel sets up his will against God’s, he falls into sin, +a lie, and death. That He has given us reasonable souls for that +one purpose, that with our souls we may look up to Him, with our souls +we may cling to Him, with our souls we may trust in Him, with our souls +we may understand His will, and see that it is a good, and a right, +and a loving will, and delight in it, and obey it, and find all our +delight and glory, even as the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, the New Adam, +did, in doing not our own will, but the will of our Father.</p> +<p>For, as St. Augustine says, man may live in two ways, either according +to himself, or according to God; by self-will or by faith. He +may determine to do his own will or to do God’s will, to be his +own master or to let God be his master, to seek his own glory, and try +to be something fine and grand in himself: or he may seek God’s +glory and obey Him, believing that what God commands is the only good +for him, what makes God to be honoured in the eyes of his neighbours +is the only real honour for him.</p> +<p>But, says St. Augustine, if he tries to live according to himself, +he falls into misery, because he was meant to live according to God. +So he puts himself into a lie, into a false and wrong state; and because +he has cut himself off from God he falls below what a man should be; +and puts on more and more of the likeness of the beast, and is more +and more the slave of his own lusts, and passions, and fancies, as the +dumb animals are. And, as St. Paul says, the animal man, the carnal +man, understands not the things of God. And we need no one to +tell us that this is the state of nature which we bring into the world +with us. We feel it; from our very childhood, from the earliest +time we can recollect, have we not had the longing to do what we liked? +to please ourselves, to pride ourselves on ourselves, to set up our +own wills against our parents, against what we learnt out of the Bible? +Ay, has not this wilful will of ours been so strong, that often we would +long after a thing, we would determine to have it, only because we were +forbidden to have it; we might not care about the thing when we had +it, but we would have our own way just because it was our own way. +In short, like Adam, we would be as gods, knowing good and evil, and +choosing for ourselves what we should call good and what we shall call +evil. And, my dear friends, consider: did not every wrong that +we ever did come from this one root of all sin—determining to +have our own way? That root-sin of self-will first brought death +and misery among mankind; that sin of self-will keeps it up still: that +sin of self-will it is which hinders sinners from giving themselves +up to God; and that sin must be broken through, or religion is a mockery +and a dream.</p> +<p>Oh my friends, say to yourselves once for all, I was made in God’s +likeness; and therefore His will, and not my own, I must do. I +have no wisdom of my own, no strength of mind of my own, no goodness +of my own, no lovingness of my own. God has them all; God, who +is wisdom, strength, goodness, love; and I have none. And then, +when the fearful thought comes over you: “I have no goodness, +and I cannot have any. I cannot do right. There is no use +struggling and trying to be better. My passions, my lusts, my +fancies are too strong for me. If I am brutish and low, brutish +and low I must remain. If I have fallen in Adam, I must lie in +the mire till I die—”</p> +<p>Then, then, my friends, answer yourselves: “No! Not so. +Man fell in the first Adam: but man rose again in the second Adam, the +Lord Jesus Christ. I belong no more to the old Adam, who fell +in Paradise. I belong to the New Adam, who was conceived without +sin, and born of a pure virgin, who lived by perfect faith, in perfect +obedience, doing His Father’s will only, even to the death upon +the cross, wherein He took away the sins of the whole world. And +now for His sake my original sin, my fallen, brutish nature, is forgiven +me. God does not hate me for it. He loves me, because I +belong to His Son. My baptism is a witness and a warrant, a sign +and a covenant between me and God, that I belong not to old Adam of +Paradise, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at God’s right +hand. The cross which was signed on my forehead when I was baptised +is God’s sign to me that I am to sacrifice myself and give up +my own will to do God’s will, even as the Lord Jesus did when +He gave Himself to die, because it was His Father’s will. +And because I belong to Jesus Christ, because God has called me to be +His child, therefore He will help me. He will help me to conquer +this low, brutish nature of mine. He will put His Spirit into +me, the Spirit of His Son Jesus Christ, that I may trust Him, cry to +Him, My Father! that I may love Him; understand His will, and see how +good, and noble, and beautiful, and full of peace and comfort it is; +delight in obeying Him; glory in sacrificing my own fancies and pleasures +for His sake; and find my only honour, my only happiness, in doing His +will on earth as saints and angels do it in heaven.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLII—GOD’S COVENANTS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant +between me and the earth.—GENESIS ix. 13.</p> +<p>The text says that God made a covenant with Noah, and with his seed +after him—that is, with all mankind; with us who sit here, and +our children after us, and with all human beings who will ever live +upon the face of the earth. God made a covenant with them. +Now, what is a covenant? We say that two men make a covenant with +each other when they make a bargain, an agreement; in this way: If you +will do this thing, then I will do that; but if you will not do this +thing, I will not do that. If you do not keep to our agreement, +I am free of it. If I do not do my part of the agreement, you +are free. Is not that what we call a covenant—a bargain +between two parties, which, if either party breaks it, becomes null +and void, and binds neither? Let us see whether God’s covenants +with man are of this kind.</p> +<p>Does God say to Noah: “If you and your children are righteous, +I will look upon the rainbow, and remember my covenant: but if you and +your children are unrighteous, I will not look on the rainbow, and I +will break my covenant because you have broken it?” We read +no such words; God made no conditions with Noah and his sons. +Whether they forgot the covenant or not, God would remember it. +It was a covenant of free grace, even as all God’s covenants are. +Not a bargain, but a promise. “By Myself have I sworn, saith +the Lord, that I will not fail David.” By Himself He sware +to Abraham: “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying +I will multiply thee.” That is the form of God’s covenants. +God swears by Himself—by God who cannot change. If God can +change, then His covenant can change. If God can fail Himself, +then can He fail His covenant to which He has sworn by Himself. +If it had been a mere bargain, like men’s bargains, and not a +promise out of His absolute love, His free grace, His boundless mercy, +would He have sworn by Himself? Nay, rather, He would have sworn +by Abraham: “By thy obedience or disobedience I swear to bless +thee or curse thee.” But He swore by Himself, the absolute, +the unchangeable, the Giver whose name is Love.</p> +<p>Consider now the token of the covenant which God gave to Noah. +It was the rainbow. What is the rainbow? Sunlight turned +back to our eye, through drops of falling rain. What sign could +be more simple? And yet what sign could be more perfect? +Noah’s sons would fear that another flood was coming, perhaps +flood after flood. The token of the rainbow said to them, No. +Floods and rain are not to be the custom of this earth. Sunshine +is to be the custom of it. Do not fear the clouds and storm and +rain; look at the bow in the cloud, in the very rain itself. That +is a sign that the sun, though you cannot see it, is shining still. +That up above, beyond the cloud, is still sunlight, and warmth, and +cloudless blue sky. Believe in God’s covenant. Believe +that the sun will conquer the clouds, warmth will conquer cold, calm +will conquer storm, fair will conquer foul, light will conquer darkness, +joy will conquer sorrow, life conquer death, love conquer destruction +and the devouring floods; because God is light, God is love, God is +life, God is peace and joy eternal and without change, and labours to +give life, and joy, and peace, to man and beast and all created things. +This was the meaning of the rainbow. Not a sudden or strange token, +a miracle, as men call it, like as some voice out of the sky, or fiery +comet, might have been; but a regular, orderly, and natural sign, to +witness that God is a God of order. Whenever there was a rainy +day there might be a rainbow. It came by the same laws by which +everything else comes in the world. It was a witness that God +who made the world is the friend and preserver of man; that His promises +are like the everlasting sunshine which is above the clouds, without +spot or fading, without variableness or shadow of turning.</p> +<p>And do you fancy, my friends, that the new covenant, the covenant +which God made with all mankind in the blood of His only-begotten Son, +is narrower or weaker than the covenant which He made with Noah, Abraham, +and David? He asked no conditions from them. Do you think +He asks them from us? He called them by free grace. Do you +think He calls us by anything less? He swore by Himself to them. +How much more has He sworn by Himself to us? He who was born, +and died, and rose again for us, who now sits at the right hand of the +Father, very Man of the substance of a human mother, yet very God of +very God begotten.</p> +<p>His covenants of old stood true and faithful, however disobedient +and unfaithful men might be; as it is written: “I have sworn once +for all by my holiness, that I will not fail David.” And +those words, the New Testament declares to us, again and again, are +true of the new covenant, and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, into +whose name we are baptized. Yes; into whose name we are baptized. +There is the sign of the new covenant; of a covenant of free grace. +Therefore we can bring our children to be baptized as we were baptized +ourselves, before they have done either good or evil, for a sign that +God’s love is over them, God’s kingdom is their inheritance, +God’s love their everlasting portion.</p> +<p>But we may fall from grace; and then what good will our baptism be +to us? We shall be lost, just as if we had never been baptized.</p> +<p>My friends, if, though the sun was shining in the sky, you shut your +eyes close, and kept out the light, what use would the sunlight be to +you? You would stumble, and fall, and come to harm, as certainly +as in the darkest night. But would the sun go out of the sky, +my friends, because you were unwise enough to shut your eyes to it? +The sun would still be there, shining as bright as ever. You would +have only to be reasonable and to open your eyes, and you would see +your way again as well as ever.</p> +<p>So it is with holy baptism. In it we were made members of Christ, +children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. God’s +love is above us and around us, like a warm, bright, life-giving sun. +We may shut our eyes to it, but it is there still. We may disbelieve +our baptism covenant, but it is true still. We are children of +God; and nothing that we can do, no sin, no unfaithfulness of ours, +can make us anything else. We can no more become not God’s +children, than a child can become not his own father’s son. +But this we can do by sinning, by disbelieving that we are God’s +children, by behaving as the devil’s children when we are God’s; +we can believe ourselves not God’s children when we are; we can +try to be what we are not; we can enter into a lie, and into the misery +to which all lies lead; we can walk in darkness, and stumble, and fall, +when all the while we are children of the light, and have only to open +our eyes to walk in the light. Ay, we can shut our eyes to the +light so long, that at last we forget that there is any light at all; +and that is the gate of hell. We may wrap ourselves up in our +selfishness, in selfish pleasures, selfish cunning, selfish covetousness, +and selfish pride, till we forget that there is anything better for +us than selfishness, till we forget that God is love, and that we His +children are meant to be loving even as He is loving; and that also +is the gate of hell. And worst and darkest of all, when in that +stupid, sinful, loveless state of mind, God’s loving Spirit still +strives and pleads with us, and tries to awaken us, and terrify us with +the sight of the everlasting misery and ruin into which we have thrown +ourselves, we may turn those pleadings of God’s Spirit, by our +own evil wills, into a darker curse than all which have gone before. +We may refuse to believe that God is love, and fancy Him as hard, and +cruel, and proud, and spiteful, and unloving as we ourselves are. +We may refuse, though Scripture, Prayer-book, sacraments, preachers, +assure us of it, that God is our Father still; and deny His covenant +of baptism, and blaspheme His holy name, by fancying Him our tyrant +and taskmaster, who hates us, and willeth the death of a sinner, and +has pleasure in the death of him that dieth. And then we may behave +according to the lie which we ourselves have invented, and all sorts +of inventions of our own to escape God’s wrath, when, in reality, +it is He who is wishing to turn His wrath away from us; and to win back +His favour, when, in reality, it is not we who are out of favour with +Him, but He who is out of favour with us, who dread Him and shrink from +Him; we may try to deliver ourselves from Him, when all the while it +is He, the very God whom we are dreading and flying from, who alone +is able and willing to deliver us; and with all our fears, and self-tormentings, +and faithless terrors, and blasphemings of God by fancying Him the very +opposite to what He has declared Himself, we shall get no peace of conscience, +no deliverance from sins, or from the fear of punishment, but only a +fearful and fiery looking forward to judgment, which is hell. +That is superstition; hell on earth; when men have so utterly forgotten +the likeness of God, which He manifested in His Son Jesus Christ, that +they look on Him as a stern and dreadful taskmaster, a tyrant, and not +a deliverer. Hell on earth, which may and must lead to hell hereafter; +a hell of fear, and doubt, and hatred of Him who is all lovely; the +hell whereof it is written, that its worst torment is being cast out +from the sight of God: unless the hapless sinner opens his eye and believes +the covenant of his baptism, and sees that God cannot lie, God cannot +change, cannot break His covenant, cannot alter His love; that though +he have left his Father’s house, and wandered into far countries, +and wasted his Father’s substance in riotous living, he is still +his Father’s son, his Father’s house is still where it was +from the beginning, his Father’s heart still what it was from +the beginning; and so arises and goes back to his Father’s house, +confessing that he is no more worthy to be called His son, willing to +be only as one of His hired servants; and then—sees not the stern +countenance, the cruel punishments which he dreaded: but—“While +he was yet afar off, his Father saw him, and ran, and fell on his neck, +and kissed him!”</p> +<p>And if, in our sins, our only hope of comfort, and peace, and strength, +lies in remembering our baptismal covenant, and being sure and certain +that though we have changed, God has not; that though we are dark, God’s +love shines bright and clear for ever, how much more when the dark day +of affliction comes? Why should I speak of this and that affliction? +Each heart knows its own bitterness; each soul has its own sorrow; each +man’s life has its dark days of storm and tempest, when all his +joys seem flown away by some sudden blast of ill-fortune, and the desire +of his eyes is taken from him, and all his hopes and plans, all which +he intended to do or to enjoy, are hid with blinding mist, so that he +cannot see his way before him, and knows not whither to go, and whither +to flee for help; when faith in God seems broken up for the moment, +when he feels no strength, no will, no purpose, and knows not what to +determine, what to do, what to believe, what to care for; when the very +earth seems reeling under his feet, and the fountains of the abyss are +broken up: then let him think of God’s covenant, and take heart; +let him think of his baptism, and be at peace. Is the sun’s +warmth perished out of the sky, because the storm is cold with hail +and bitter winds? Is God’s love changed, because we cannot +feel it in our trouble? Is the sun’s light perished out +of the sky, because the world is black with cloud and mist? Has +God forgotten to give light to suffering souls, because we cannot see +our way for a few short days of perplexity?</p> +<p>For this is the gospel, this is the message which we have received +from God, to preach to every sad and desolate heart on earth, that God +is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. That God is love, +and in Him there is no cruelty at all. That God is one, and in +Him there is no change at all. And therefore, we all, the most +ignorant of us as well as the wisest, the most sinful of us as well +as the holiest, the saddest and most wretched of us as well as the happiest, +have a right to join in that Litany which is offered up here thrice +every week during the time of Lent, and to call upon God to deliver +us and all mankind, not merely because we wish to be delivered from +evil, but because God wishes to deliver us from evil. If we pray +that Litany in any dark dread of God, in doubt of His love and goodwill +towards us, like terrified slaves crying out to a hard taskmaster, and +entreating him not to torment them, we do not pray that Litany aright; +we do not pray it at all. For it asks God not to leave us alone, +but to come to us; not to stop punishing us, but actually Himself to +deliver us, to defend us, to set us free. Therefore it begins +by calling on God the Father, because He is our Father; on God the Son, +because He has already redeemed and bought us for His own; on God the +Holy Spirit, because He has been striving with our wilful hearts from +our youth up till now, lovingly desiring to teach us, to change us, +to sanctify us. Therefore it calls on the holy, blessed, and glorious +Trinity, three Persons and one God, because the Son does not love us +better than the Father does, or than the Holy Spirit does, but in the +life and death of the Man Christ Jesus, whom we call on to deliver us +by His birth, His baptism, His death, His resurrection, by all that +His manhood did and suffered here on earth, in His life and death, I +say, were shown forth bodily the glory, and condescension, and love, +and goodwill of the fulness of the Godhead, of all three Persons of +the one and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Therefore +we may pray boldly to Him to spare us, because we know that we are already +His people, already redeemed with his most precious blood, already declared +by holy baptism to be bound to Him in an everlasting covenant. +Therefore we may pray boldly to Him not to be angry with us for ever, +because we know that He desires to bless us for ever, if we will only +let Him; if we will only let His love have free course, and not shut +our hearts to it, and turn our backs upon it. Therefore we can +ask Him to deliver us in all time of our tribulation and misery; in +all time of the still more dangerous temptations which wealth and prosperity +bring with them; in the hour of death, whether of our own death or the +death of those we love; in the day of judgment, whereof it is written: +“It is God who justifieth us, who is he that condemneth? +It is Christ who died, yea rather who is risen again, who even now maketh +intercession for us.” To that boundless love of God which +He showed forth in the life of Christ Jesus; to that utter and perfect +will to deliver us, which God showed forth in the death of Christ Jesus, +when the Father spared not His only-begotten Son, but freely gave Him +for us; to that boundless love we may trust ourselves, our fortunes, +our families, our bodies, our souls, the souls of those we love. +Trusting in that great love, we may pray in that Litany for deliverance; +to be delivered from distress and accidents, from all sins which drag +us down, and make us miserable, ashamed, confused, terrified, selfish, +hateful, and hating each other. We may pray to be delivered from +evil, because God is righteousness, and hates evil. We may pray +to be delivered from our sins, because God is righteousness, and hates +our sins. We may pray for the Queen, her ministers, her parliament, +because God’s love and care is over them; for all orders and ranks +of men, whether laymen or clergymen, high or low, in God’s holy +church; for all who are afflicted and desolate; for all who are wandering +in ignorance, and mistakes, and sin; ay, for all mankind, for God loves +them all, the Son of God has bought them all with His most precious +blood. And however dark, and sad, and sinful the world may seem +around us; however dark, and sad, and sinful our own hearts may be within +us, we may find comfort in that Litany, and pour out in it our sorrows +and our fears, if we begin only as it begins, with the thought of God +who is righteousness, God who is love, God who is the Deliverer. +And then, as the rainbow reflects the sunbeams for a sign and token +that the sun is shining, though we see it not; so will that blessed +Litany, with its sacred name of God, its calls to Him who was born of +the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate; its entreaties +to God to deliver us, because He is a deliverer; to hear us, and send +us good, because He is a good Lord Himself; its remembrances of the +noble works which God did in our fathers’ days, and in the old +time before them; its noble declaration that God does not despise the +sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of a humble spirit, and +that it is the very glory of His name to turn from us those evils which +we most justly have deserved—that Litany, I say, will be like +a rainbow declaring to our dark and stormy hearts that the sun is shining +still above the clouds; that over and above us, and all mankind, and +all the changes and chances of this mortal life, is the still bright +sunshine, the life-giving warmth of the Sun of Righteousness, the absolute +eternal love of our Father who is in heaven, who, as he has declared +by the mouth of His only-begotten Son, is perfect in this, that He does +not deal with us after our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities, +but is good to the unthankful and the evil, sending His rain alike upon +the just and on the unjust, and making His sun to shine alike upon the +evil and the good.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLIII—THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, +justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed +on in the world, received up into glory.—1 TIMOTHY iii. 16.</p> +<p>St. Paul here sums up in one verse the whole of Christian truth. +He gives us in a few words what he says is the great mystery of godliness.</p> +<p>Now, men had been inventing for themselves all kinds of mysteries +of godliness; all sorts of mysterious and wonderful notions about God; +all sorts of mysterious and strange ceremonies, and ways of pleasing +God, or turning away His anger.</p> +<p>And Christian men are apt to do so also, as well as those old heathens. +They feel that they are very mysterious and wonderful beings themselves, +simply because they are men. They say to themselves: “How +strange that I should have a body of flesh and blood, and appetites +and passions, like the animals, and yet that I should have an immortal +spirit in me. How strange this notion of duty which I have, and +which the other animals have not; this notion of its being right to +do some things, and wrong to do others! From whence did that notion +come? And again, this strange notion which I have, and cannot +help having, that I ought to be like God: and yet I do not know what +God is like. From whence did that notion come?”</p> +<p>Again: “I fancy that God ought to be good. But how do +I know that He really is good? I see the world full of injustice, +and misery, and death. How do I know that this is not God’s +doing, God’s fault in some way?”</p> +<p>Again, says a man to himself: “I have a fair right to believe +that mankind are not the only persons in the universe—that there +are other beings beside God whom I cannot see. I call them angels. +I hardly know what I mean by that. The really important question +about them to me is: Will they do me harm? Can they do me good? +Are they stronger than I?—Ought I not to fear them, to try to +please them, to keep them favourable to me?”</p> +<p>Again, he asks: “Does God care whether I know what is right? +Does God care to teach me about Himself? Is God desirous that +I should do my duty? For if He does not care about my being good, +why should I care about it?”</p> +<p>Again, he asks: “But if I knew my duty, might I not find it +something too far-fetched, too difficult, for poor simple folk to do: +so that I should be forced to leave a right life to great scholars, +and to rich people, or to people of a very devout delicate temper of +mind, who have a natural turn that way?”</p> +<p>And last of all: “Even if I did struggle to do right; even +if I gave up everything for the sake of doing right; how do I know that +it will profit me to do so? I shall die as every man dies, and +then what will become of me? Shall I be a man still, or only—horrible +thought!—some sort of empty ghost, a spirit without body, of which +I dream, and shudder while I dream of it?”</p> +<p>Men in all ages, heathens and Christians, have been puzzled by such +thoughts as these, as soon as they began to feel that there was a world +which they could not see, as well as a world which they could see; a +spiritual world, wherein God the Spirit, and their own spirits, and +spiritual things, such as right, wrong, duty, reason, love, dwell for +ever; and a strange hidden duty on all men to obey that unseen God, +and the laws of that spiritual world; in short a mystery of godliness.</p> +<p>Then they have tried to answer these questions for themselves; and +have run thereby into all manner of follies and superstitions, and often, +too, into devilish cruelties, in the hope of pleasing God according +to some mystery of godliness of their own invention.</p> +<p>But to each of these puzzles St. Paul gives an answer in the text. +Let us take them each in its order, and you will see what I mean.</p> +<p>The first puzzle was: How is it that while I am like the animals +in some things, and yet feel as if I ought to be, and can be, like God +in other things? How is it that I feel two powers in me; one dragging +me downward to make me lower than the beasts, the other lifting me upwards—I +dare not think whither? It seems to me to be my body, my bodily +appetites and tempers which drag me down. Is my body me, part +of me, or a thing I should be ashamed of, and long to be rid of? +I fancy that I can be like God. But can my body be like God? +Must I not crush it, neglect it, get rid of it before I can follow the +good instinct which draws me upward?</p> +<p>To which St. Paul told Timothy to answer: God was manifest in the +flesh. God sent down His only-begotten Son, co-equal and co-eternal +with Himself, very God of very God, the very same person who had been +putting into men’s minds those two notions of which we spoke, +that there is a right and a wrong, and that men ought to be like God; +Him the Father sent into the world that He might be born, and live, +and die, and rise again, as a man; that so men might see from His example, +manifestly and plainly, what God was like, and what man ought to be +like. And so Jesus Christ was God, manifested in the flesh.</p> +<p>Now we do know what God is like. We know that He is so like +man, that He can take upon Him man’s flesh and blood without changing, +or lowering, or defiling Himself. That proves that man must have +been originally made in God’s likeness; that man’s being +fallen, means man’s falling from the likeness of God, and taking +up instead with the likeness of the brutes which perish; that the fault +cannot be in our bodies, but in our spirits which have yielded to our +bodies, and become their slaves instead of their masters, as Christ’s +Spirit was master of His body. But the Son of God, by being born +and living as a man, showed us that we are not fallen past hope, not +fallen so low that we cannot rise again. He showed that though +mankind are sinful, yet they need not be sinful; for He was a man as +exactly, and perfectly, and entirely as we are, and yet in Him was no +sin. So He showed that brutishness and sinfulness is not our proper +state, but our disease and our fall; and a disease of which we can be +cured, a fall out of which we can rise and be renewed into the true +and real pattern of mankind, the new Adam, Jesus the sinless Son of +Man and Son of God.</p> +<p>The next question, I said, that rose in men’s mind was: “How +do I know that God is good, as I fancy sometimes that He must be? +I see the world full of sin, and injustice, and misery, and death. +Perhaps that is God’s doing, God’s fault.” That +is a common puzzle enough, and a sad and fearful one. The sin +and the misery and the death are here. If God did not bring it +here, yet why did He let it come here? He could have stopped if +He would, and kept out all this wretchedness: why did He not? +Was He just or loving in letting sin into the world?</p> +<p>To all which St. Paul answers: “God was justified in the Spirit.”</p> +<p>You do not see what that has to do with it? Then let me show +you.</p> +<p>To be justified means to be shown and proved to be just, righteous. +Now what justified God to man was the Spirit of God, as He showed Himself +in the Lord Jesus Christ. For when God became man and dwelt among +men, what sort of works were His? What was His conduct, His character; +of what sort of spirit did He show Himself to be? He went, we +read, doing good, for God was with Him. Not of His own will, but +to do His Father’s will, and because He was filled without measure +by the Spirit of God, He did good, He healed the sick, He rebuked the +proud and self-conceited hypocrite, He proclaimed pardon and mercy to +the broken-hearted sinner, wearied and worn out by the burden of his +sins. Thus, in every action of His life, He was fighting against +evil and misery, and conquering it; and so showing that God hates evil +and misery, and that the evil and the misery in the world are here against +God’s will. Strange as it may seem to have to say it, so +it is. Jesus Christ showed that howsoever sin and sorrow came +into the world, it is God’s will and purpose to root them out +of the world, and that He is righteous, He is loving, He is merciful, +He does and will fight against evil, for those who are crushed by it; +and help poor sufferers always when they call upon Him, and often, often, +of His most undeserved condescension and free grace, when they are forgetting +and disobeying Him. And so by the good, and loving, and just spirit +which Jesus showed, God was justified before men, and showed to be a +God of goodness and justice.</p> +<p>The next puzzle, I said, was about angels and spirits, whether we +need to pray to them to help us, and not to hurt us. St. Paul +answers: God, when He was manifested in the flesh of a man, was seen +by these angels. And that is enough for us. They saw the +Lord God condescend to be born in a stable, to live as a poor man, to +die on the cross. They saw that His will to man was love. +And they do His will. And therefore they love men, they help men, +they minister to men, because they follow the Lord’s example, +and do the will of their Father in Heaven, even as we ought to do it +on earth. Therefore we have no need to fear them, for they love +us already. And, on the other hand, we have no need to pray to +them to help us, for they know already that it is their duty to help +us. They know that the Son of God has put on us a higher honour +than He ever put on them; for He took not on Him the nature of angels, +He took on Him the nature of man; and thus, though man was made a little +lower than the angels, yet by Christ’s taking man’s nature, +man is crowned with a glory and honour higher than the angels. +Know ye not, says St. Paul, that we shall judge angels? And the +angels, as they told St. John, are our fellow-servants, not our masters; +and they know that; for they saw the Son of God doing utterly His Father’s +will, and therefore they know that their duty is to do their Father’s +will also; not to do their own wills, and set themselves up as our masters, +to be pleaded with by us. They saw the Son of God take our nature +on Him, when they sang to the shepherds on the first Christmas night: +“Peace on earth, and good-will toward men;” and therefore +they look on us with love and honour, because we wear the human nature +which Christ their Master wore, and are partakers of the Holy Spirit +of God, even as they are. For no angel or archangel could do a +right thing, any more than we, except by the Holy Spirit of God. +And that Holy Spirit is bestowed on the poorest man who asks for it, +as freely as upon the highest of the heavenly host.</p> +<p>And this leads us on to the next puzzle of which I spoke: Men were +apt, and are apt now, to say to themselves: Does God care whether I +know what is right? Does God care to teach me about Himself? +Is God desirous that I should do my duty? For if He does not care +about my being good, why should I care about it?</p> +<p>To this St. Paul answers: “God, who was manifest in the flesh, +was preached to the Gentiles.”</p> +<p>God does care that men should know about God; for He loves them. +He yearns after them as a father after his children, and He knows that +to know God, to know the truth about God, is the beginning of all wisdom, +the root of all safety and honour and happiness. He willeth not +that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of +the truth. And, therefore, when the Son of God died for our sins, +He did not stop at that great deed of love; but He ordained Apostles, +and put upon them especially and above all men, His Holy Spirit, that +they might go and preach to all nations the good news that God had become +flesh, and dwelt among men, and borne their sorrows and infirmities, +and to baptize them into the very name of God itself, into the name +of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; that so, instead +of fancying now that God did not care for them, they might be sure that +God so longed to teach them, that He called every child, even from its +cradle, to come into His kingdom, and be taught the whole mystery of +godliness.</p> +<p>The next puzzle I mentioned was: “But this right life, this +mystery of godliness, is it not something very strange and difficult, +and past the understanding of simple men who are not extraordinarily +clever and learned scholars or deep philosophers?” To that +St. Paul answers: No. It is not past any man. It is not +too deep or too difficult for the simplest, the most unlearned countryman. +For, says St. Paul in the text, we Apostles have had proof of that; +we have tried it; we Apostles preached the mystery of godliness, and +it was believed on in the world. People of the world, plain working +men and women going about their worldly business, who had no time to +be great readers, or great thinkers, or to shut themselves up in monasteries +to meditate on heavenly things, but had to live and work in the commonplace, +busy, workday world—they believed our message. We Apostles +told them that the Son of God had showed Himself in the likeness of +man, and called on every man to repent, and to be such a man as He was. +And worldly people believed us, and tried, and found that without giving +up their worldly work, or deserting the station in which God had put +them, they could live godlike lives, and become the sons of God without +rebuke. They saw that scholarship was not wanted, leisure was +not wanted, but only the humble heart which hungers and thirsts after +righteousness. About their daily work, by their cottage firesides, +among their poor neighbours, the Spirit of Almighty God gave them strength +to live as Jesus their pattern lived; He filled them with all holy, +pure, noble, brave, loving thoughts and feelings, fit for angels and +archangels. He enabled them to rise out of their sins, to trample +their temptations under foot, to leave their old low brutish sinful +way of life behind them, and become new men, and persevere in every +word, and thought, and action, in virtues such as the greatest heathen +sages could not copy; ay, even to shed their life-blood freely and boldly +in martyrdom, for the sake of God and the truth of God. They, +these plain simple people, living in the world, could still live the +life of God, and die like heroes for the sake of God.</p> +<p>And this again brings us to the last puzzle of which I spoke: “But +what became of those holy and godlike people when they died? What +reward did they receive for all they had done, and given up, and suffered? +What will become of us after we die? What will the next world +be like? What is heaven like? Shall I be able to enjoy it? +Shall I be a man there, or only a ghost, a spirit without a body?”</p> +<p>To this St. Paul answers: That Christ, the Son of God, after He was +manifested in the flesh, was received up into glory. He does not +tell us what heaven is like; for though he had been caught up into the +third heaven, yet what he saw there, he says, was unspeakable. +He neither ought to tell, or could tell, what he saw. Neither +does St. Paul tell us what the next life will be like; for as far as +we can find, God had not told him. All he says is: The man Christ +Jesus, who walked this earth like other men, was received up into glory; +and He did not leave His man’s mind, His man’s heart, even +His man’s body, behind Him. He carried up into heaven with +Him His whole manhood, spirit, soul, and body, even to the print of +the nails in His hands and in His most holy feet, and the wound of the +spear in His most holy side. And that is enough for us. +Because the man Christ Jesus is in heaven, we as men may ascend to heaven. +Where He is we shall be. And what He is, in as far as He is man, +we shall be. What we shall be we know not; but this we know, that +we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And He is +a man still; for it is written: “There is one Mediator between +God and man, the man Christ Jesus.” And He will be a man +at the day of judgment; for it is written that: “God hath ordained +a day in which He will judge the world by a man whom He hath chosen.” +And He will be a man for ever; for it is written: “This man abideth +for ever.” And He Himself said to His disciples: “I +will not drink of this fruit of the vine, till I drink it new with you +in the kingdom of my Father.” And again He declared, even +when he was on earth, that He was the Son of Man who is in heaven. +And in heaven nothing can grow less. But if Christ were not man +for ever as well as God, He would become less; for He is now God and +man also at once; but if He laid down His manhood, and so became not +man any more, but God only, He would become less, which is not to be +believed of Him of whom it is written: That Jesus Christ is the same +yesterday, to-day, and for ever. For, as the Athanasian creed +teaches us, He is not God alone, nor man alone, but God and man is one +Christ; and therefore, when St. John declares that Christ shall reign +for ever and ever, he declares that He shall reign not only as God, +but as man also. Therefore whatever we do not know about the next +life, we know this, that we shall be men there; not sinful, weak, and +mortal, as we are here, but holy, strong, immortal, after the likeness +of our Lord, the firstborn from the dead, who has ascended up on high +and raised our human nature to the heaven of heavens, and is gone to +prepare a place for us, into which we too shall enter in that day when +He shall change these mortal and fallen bodies which we now wear, the +bodies of our humiliation, the bodies by wearing which we are now a +little lower than the angels; them the Lord will change, that they may +be made like unto His glorious body, according to the mighty working +whereby He subdueth all things unto Himself, that we may see Him face +to face, and dwell with Him in the glory of God the Father for ever.</p> +<p>Oh my friends, who is sufficient for these things? What shall +we say of man? Is he not indeed fearfully and wonderfully made? +Here we are, weak creatures, more liable to disease and death than the +dumb beasts round us; full of poverty, and adversity, and longings which +are never satisfied; our minds full of mistakes, our hearts full of +false conceit, full of spite and folly, struggles, murmurings, quarrellings; +our consciences full of the remembrance of sins without number. +The greatest of all heathen poets said, that there was not a more miserable +and pitiable animal upon the earth than man. He knew no better. +He could not know better. How could he, when God had not yet been +manifest in the flesh? How could he dream that the Lord God would +condescend to be made flesh, and dwell among us, and show man His glory, +the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth—how +could he dream that? And more than all, how could he dream that +God, instead of throwing away our human nature when He rose again, as +if it was too great a degradation for Him to be a man one moment more, +should condescend to take up His human nature, His man’s body, +soul, and spirit, with Him into everlasting glory, that He might feed +with it for ever the bodies and souls of those who trust in Him, so +as to make them fit for us at the last day, to share in His everlasting +life? The old heathen poet knew as well as you or I that there +was an everlasting life beyond the grave; that men’s souls were +immortal, and could not die: but the thought of it was all dark, and +dreary, and uncertain to him and to all mankind, till the Son of God +brought life and immortality to light, when He was manifest in the flesh.</p> +<p>Wonderful mystery of godliness! Wonderful love of God to man! +Wonderful condescension of God to man! Still more wonderful patience +of God to man!</p> +<p>Oh you who live still in sin, when the Son of God died and rose again +to make you righteous; you who defile your bodies with sins worse than +the brutes, when the Son of God offers to raise those bodies of yours +to be equal with the angels; how shall you escape if you neglect so +great salvation; if you despise this unspeakable love; if you trample +under foot, like swine, the everlasting glory and happiness which God +offers you freely, without fee or price, for the sake of His only-begotten +Son, Jesus Christ, who died to buy them for you?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLIV—THE WORK OF GOD’S SPIRIT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>If I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I +depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He is come, He will +reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of +sin, because they believe not on me: of righteousness, because I go +to my Father, and ye see me no more: of judgment, because the prince +of this world is judged.—JOHN xvi. 7-11.</p> +<p>I no not pretend to be able to explain to you the whole meaning of +this text, or even more than a very small part of it. For it speaks +of God; of God the Holy Spirit. And God is boundless; and, therefore, +every text which speaks of God is boundless too, as God is. No +man can ever see the whole meaning of it, or do more than understand +dimly a little of its truth. But what we can see, we must think +over and make use of. What can we see, now, from this text? +First, we may see that the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, +is a person. Not a mere thing, or a state of our own hearts, or +a feeling in us, or a power, like the powers and laws by which the trees +and plants grow, and the sun and moon move in their courses; but a person, +just as each of us is a person. He, the Holy Spirit, gives life +to trees and plants, sun and moon: but He is not their life. He +gives them their life; and, therefore, that life of theirs is not He, +or He could not give it; for you can only give something which is not +you.</p> +<p>The Scripture speaks of the Holy Spirit, not as it, but as He; as +a person, and not as a thing; as a person who can speak to men’s +souls, guide and teach them.</p> +<p>“When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into +all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself.”</p> +<p>But we may see also that the Holy Spirit is neither God the Father, +nor the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Lord speaks of Him, the Holy +Spirit, as a different person either from Him or from the Father. +“The Spirit,” He says, “shall glorify me; for He shall +receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.”</p> +<p>But we may see also that there is no difference in will, or opinion, +or love, between the Holy Spirit and the Father and the Son. For +the Spirit does not speak of Himself; there is no self-will in Him. +There is not one will of the Father, and another of the Son, and another +of the Holy Ghost; or, one love of the Father, another love of the Son, +and another of the Holy Ghost; or, one righteousness of the Father, +another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost: or, one mercy and grace +of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost. +For then there would be three Gods and three Lords; and the substance +of God would be divided. But they have all one will, and one love, +and one righteousness, and one mercy. And such as the Father is, +such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.</p> +<p>And remember always, that the Holy Spirit is very and indeed God. +For He is the Spirit of holiness itself, of righteousness itself, of +goodness itself, of love itself, of truth itself; and, therefore, He +is the Spirit of God, who is the perfect holiness, and righteousness, +and truth, and love. All other holiness, and righteousness, and +truth, and love, are only pictures and patterns of God, just as the +sun’s reflection in water, or in a glass, is a picture and pattern +of the sun. As the Epistle for to-day tells us: “Every good +gift and every perfect is from above, and cometh down from the Father +of lights.”</p> +<p>But the Spirit of God must be God. For else what do the words +mean? Is not the spirit of a man, a man? Is not your spirit, +what you call your soul, you? Is not your soul you, just as much +as your body is you; ay, a hundred times more? Just so, the Spirit +of God is God, God Himself; and the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, +of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.</p> +<p>This, then, is the glorious promise made to you, and to me, and to +all who believe and are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, +and the Holy Spirit; that that Spirit will come to us, and take charge +of our spirits, and work in them, and teach them. We cannot see +Him with our eyes, or hear Him with our ears; we cannot even feel Him +at work in our hearts and thoughts. For He is a Spirit; and His +likeness, the thing in this world which is a pattern of Him, is the +wind; as indeed the name Spirit means. You cannot see the wind, +you cannot even really feel the wind or hear it: you only know it by +its effects, by what it does: by the noise among the branches, the force +against your faces, the bending boughs, and flying dust. The Spirit +bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst +not tell whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; even so is every one +who is born of the Spirit. On him the Spirit of God will work +unseen, and unfelt, only to be discovered by the change which He makes +in the man’s heart and thoughts; and first by the way in which +He convinces him of sin, because men believe not on Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>The Holy Spirit shows men that the sins of the world, the sin of +all sins, the sin which is the root of all other sins, is not believing +on the Lord Jesus Christ; that it was because they would not believe +on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they had been falling into every other +sort of sin.</p> +<p>But you may say: “How could they believe on Him before He came, +and was born in Judæa of the Virgin Mary? How could they +believe on Him when He was not there?” Ah! my friends, who +told you that the Lord Jesus Christ was not there in the world all along? +Not the Bible, certainly. For the Bible tells us that He is the +Light who lights every man who cometh into the world; that from Him +came, and have come, all the right thoughts and feelings which ever +arose in the heart of every human being. The Bible tells us that +when God created the world, He was daily rejoicing in the habitable +parts of the earth, and His delights were with the sons of men. +The Bible tells us that He was in the world, and the world knew Him +not; that all along, through the dark times of heathendom, the Lord +Jesus Christ was a light shining in darkness, which the darkness could +not close round, and hide and quench.</p> +<p>Not merely to the Jews, but to all heathens who hungered and thirsted +after righteousness, did the Lord Jesus show something of His truth; +as it is written, God is no acceptor of persons; that is, no shower +of partiality, or unjust favour: but in every nation, he that feareth +God and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.</p> +<p>But at the time that the Lord Jesus sent down His Holy Spirit, men +were not working righteousness. There was not one who did good, +no not one. For men had forgotten what righteousness was like, +what a righteous man ought to do and be. Men are ready to forget +it every day. You and I are ready to forget it, and invent some +false righteousness of our own, not like Jesus Christ, but like what +we in our private fancies think is most graceful, or most agreeable, +or most easy; or most grand, and far-fetched, and difficult. But +the Holy Spirit came to convince men of righteousness; to show them +what true righteousness was like.</p> +<p>And how? In the same way that He must convince us of righteousness, +if we are ever to know what righteousness is, or are ever to be righteous +ourselves. He must show us goodness; or we shall never see it, +or receive it, or copy it.</p> +<p>And where is this righteousness, this perfect goodness of which the +Holy Spirit will convince us? Where, but in the Lord Jesus Christ? +In the Lord Jesus’s character, the Lord Jesus’s good works; +His love, His patience, His perfect obedience, His life, His death. +The Holy Spirit, if we give up our hearts to be taught by Him, will +make us believe, and be sure, and feel in our very inmost hearts, how +noble, how beautiful, how holy, how perfectly Godlike, was He who was +born of a poor virgin, who walked this earth for thirty-three years +in toil and sorrow, who gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks +to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not His face from shame and +spitting, who died upon a cross between two thieves. And the Holy +Spirit will convince us of righteousness, by making us feel what the +Lord Jesus’s righteousness consisted in; what was the root of +all His goodness and holiness, namely His perfect obedience to His Father +and our Father in heaven. That is the righteousness, which is +not our own, but God’s; the righteousness which comes by faith; +not to trust in ourselves, but in God; not to please ourselves, but +God; not to do our own will, but God’s will. That is the +righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God set His seal on and approved, +when He exalted Him far above all principality and powers, and set Him +at His own right hand for a sign to all men, and angels, and archangels; +that righteousness means to trust and to obey God even to the death.</p> +<p>3. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.</p> +<p>This may seem a puzzling speech at first. We shall understand +it best, I think, by considering who the prince of this world was in +our Lord’s time, and what he was like. A little before our +Lord’s time the Roman emperor had conquered almost the whole world +which was then known, and kept all nations in slavery, careless about +their doing right, provided they obeyed him and paid him tribute; nay, +forcing them and tempting them into all brutal and foul sin and ignorance, +that he might keep up his own power over man.</p> +<p>But now the Lord of all the earth, and the Prince of men’s +hearts and thoughts, was come to visit that poor enslaved and sinful +world. He came; the princes of this world knew Him not, and crucified +the Lord of Glory. They crucified the righteous and the just One; +and so they were judged. They judged themselves; they condemned +themselves. For they showed that what they admired and what they +wanted was not righteousness and love, but wealth and power. They +showed that no doing of good, no healing of the sick, or giving of sight +to the blind, or preaching the gospel to the poor, no holiness, no love, +not the perfect likeness of God’s own goodness, which shone forth +in the spotless Jesus, was anything to them; was any reason why they +should not put Him to death with the most cruel torments, because they +were afraid of His taking away their power. He said He was a King; +and therefore they crucified Him, lest His kingdom should interfere +with theirs; and for the same reason these same Roman emperors and their +magistrates, for hundreds of years afterwards, persecuted the Christians, +and hunted them down like wild beasts, and put them to death by all +horrible tortures, for the same reason that Cain slew Abel; became his +brother’s deeds were righteous, and his own wicked.</p> +<p>So these Roman emperors, and their magistrates and generals were +judged. They had shown what was in their evil hearts. They +had been tried in God’s balances, and found wanting. The +sentence of the Lord God had gone forth against them. The man +Christ Jesus, whom they rejected, God accepted, and raised to His own +right hand. They crucified Him; but God gave Him all power in +heaven and earth: and the Lord Jesus used His power; yea, and uses it +still. He gave His saints and martyrs strength to defy those Roman +tyrants, and to witness to all the earth that the righteous Son of God +was the King of heaven and earth, and that the princes of this world, +who wished to break His yoke off their necks, and crush all nations +to powder for their own pleasure, and fatten themselves upon the plunder +of all the earth, would surely come to naught, as it is written in the +second Psalm: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the +rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and His Anointed. +Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Thou shalt break +them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s +vessel.”</p> +<p>And they did come to naught. That great Roman empire rotted +away miserably after years of such distress as had never been seen on +the earth before; and the emperors came, one after another, to shameful +or dreadful deaths. And all the while the gospel spread, and the +Church grew, till all the kingdoms of the Roman empire had become the +kingdoms of God and of His Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working +in men’s hearts, and showing them, as our Lord said He would, +that Jesus of Nazareth was both Lord and King. And so was fulfilled +the Lord’s words in the gospel for to-day: “The Holy Spirit +shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto +you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said +I that He should take of mine, and show it unto you.”</p> +<p>Oh my friends, pray for yourselves, and join me while I pray for +you, that the holy and righteous Spirit of God may convince you, and +me, and all mankind, more and more, day by day, of sin, of righteousness, +and of judgment.</p> +<p>Pray to that Holy Spirit to convince you of sin day by day, whensoever +you do the least wrong thing. Pray to Him to keep your consciences +tender and quick, that you may feel instantly, and lament deeply, every +wrong thing you do.</p> +<p>Pray to Him to give you, every time you do wrong, that godly sorrow +which brings peace and health, that heart-repentance never to be repented +of. Pray to Him to convince you more and more, as you grow older, +that all sin comes from not believing in Jesus Christ, not believing +that He is near you, with you, in you, putting into your hearts all +right thoughts and good desires, and willing, if you will, to help you +to put those thoughts and desires into good practice.</p> +<p>Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of righteousness; +to make you see what righteousness is; that it is the very character +and likeness of God the Father, because it is the character and likeness +of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the brightness of the Father’s +glory, and the express image of His person. Pray to Him to make +you see the beauty of holiness: how fair, and noble, and glorious a +thing goodness is; how truly Solomon says: “that all the things +that may be desired are not to be compared to it.”</p> +<p>Pray to the Holy Spirit to convince you more and more of judgment, +and to make you sure that the Lord is King, a righteous Judge, of purer +eyes than to behold iniquity, whose fan is in His hand, who thoroughly +purges His floor, who comes quickly, and His reward is with Him, and +who surely casts out of His kingdom, sooner or later, all things that +offend, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Pray to Him to +make you sure by faith, though you cannot see it, that the prince of +this world is judged; that evil doing, oppression, tyranny, injustice, +cheating, neglect of man by man, cannot and will not prosper upon the +face of God’s earth; for the everlasting sentence and wrath of +God is revealed forth every moment against all unrighteousness of men, +which He will surely punish, yea, and does hourly punish by Him by whom +He judges the world, Jesus Christ, the Lord, who is exalted high above +all principalities and powers, and has all power given to Him in heaven +and earth, which He uses, as He used it in Judæa of old, utterly +and always for the good of all mankind, whom He hath redeemed with His +most precious blood.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLV—THE GOSPEL</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached +unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which +also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless +ye have believed in vain: for I delivered unto you first of all that +which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to +the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third +day according to the scriptures.—1 CORINTHIANS xv. 1-4.</p> +<p>This is St. Paul’s account of the gospel; the good news which +he preached to the sinful and profligate Corinthians, when they were +sunk lower than the beasts which perish. And because they believed +this good news, he said, they were saved then and there, and would be +safe only as long as they believed that good news, and kept it in their +memories. Now, from what did this good news save them? From +their sins. There was something in St. Paul’s good news +which made them hate their sins, and repent of them, and throw them +away, and rise up to be new men and women, living new lives in godliness +and purity and justice, such as they had never lived before. Now +mind, it was not bad news which made the Corinthians repent of their +sins; it was good news. It was not that St. Paul told them that +God was going to cast them into endless torment for their sins, and +that therefore they were terrified and afraid, and so repented. +Doubtless St. Paul told them, as he told other heathens, that the wrath +of God was revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness; that tribulation +and anguish was laid up in store for every soul of man who worketh evil. +But still, St. Paul says plainly here, that what saved the Corinthians +was not that or any other fearful and terrifying news, but a gospel—good +news. And he says that this good news did not merely, as some +would wish it to do, make them comfortable in their minds while they +went on in their old wicked ways. No. He says that it made +them stand. That is, made them upright, strong-minded, righteous, +self-restraining people; and that they were saved by it from those sins +which had been dragging them down, and keeping them diseased in soul, +weak, miserable, the slaves of their own passions and foul pleasures.</p> +<p>What wonderful good news was this, then, which could work so strange +a change in these poor heathens, and how could it change them?</p> +<p>Let us see, first, what it was.</p> +<p>“That Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, +and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according +to the scriptures; and that He was seen of Peter, then of the twelve; +after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom +the greater part remained unto this day, but some are fallen asleep. +After that He was seen of James, then of all the Apostles. And +last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”</p> +<p>You see here, that St. Paul, for some good reason, says much more +about the Lord’s rising again than even about His most precious +death and passion on the cross, while about His ascending into heaven +he says nothing. And you will find in the New Testament that the +Apostles often did the same. They spoke of the Lord rising again +as if that was the great wonder, the great glory, the great good news; +and as if His most precious death was not perfect without that. +They said that the especial office for which the Lord had ordained them, +was to be witnesses of His resurrection. They said that the Lord +rose again for our justification. They said: “If thou shalt +confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart +that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” +Here again, just as in the text, believing in the Lord’s resurrection +is made the great article of faith. Why is this? Because +that last verse which I quoted may tell us, if we consider it carefully.</p> +<p>What does confessing the Lord Jesus with our mouth mean? It +means what we ought to mean when we say, in the Apostles’ Creed, +I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. Not merely, +I believe that there is an only Son of God: but I believe in a certain +man, with a certain character, who is that only Son of God.</p> +<p>And what, you will ask, does that mean?</p> +<p>To know that, I fear, we must go back many many hundred years, to +the times when the old martyrs confessed the Lord Jesus Christ before +the heathen. Those were times in which it was not enough to say +the Apostles’ Creed in church. Men, ay, and tender women, +and little children, had to stand by it through terror and shame, and +to die in torments unspeakable, because they chose to say: “I +believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Now, what was it which +made the heathen hate and persecute and torture, and murder them for +saying that? What was there in those plain words of the Apostles’ +Creed which made the great heathen emperors of Rome, and their officers +and judges hunt the Christians down like wild beasts for 300 years, +and declare that they were not fit to live? I will tell you. +When the Christians were brought before the emperor’s judges for +being Christians, they did not merely say: “I believe that Jesus +Christ’s blood will save my soul after death.” They +said that: but they said a great deal more than that. If that +had been all that the Christians said, the judge would have answered: +“What care I for your souls, or for your notions about what will +happen to them when you are dead? Go your way. You may be +of what religion you like, and talk and think about your own souls as +much as you like, provided you do not trouble the Roman emperor’s +power.” But the heathen judge did not make that answer; +because he knew well enough that what the Christians believed was not +a mere religion about what would happen to their souls after death; +but something which, if it gained ground, would utterly destroy the +Roman emperor’s power. He used generally to say to the Christians +only this: “Will you burn those few grains of incense in honour +of the emperor of Rome?” And he knew, and the Christians +knew well enough, that those words meant: “Will you confess with +your mouth the emperor of Rome? Will you confess that he is the +only lord and king of this whole earth, and of your bodies and souls, +and that there is no power or authority but of him, for the gods have +delivered all things into his hands?” And then came out +what confessing the Lord Jesus really means. For the Christians +used to answer: “No. The emperor of Rome is the lord and +master of our bodies, and we will obey his laws so far as we can without +doing wrong: but we cannot obey them when they are contrary to the laws +of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. For the Lord Jesus Christ, +who was crucified and rose again the third day, He, and not the emperor +of Rome at all, is the Lord and King of the whole earth, and of our +bodies and souls; and we must obey Him before we obey anyone else. +Power and authority come not from the emperor of Rome, but from the +Lord Jesus Christ; and the emperor is only His servant and steward, +and must obey Him just as much as we, or the Lord will punish him as +surely and easily as He will the meanest slave. For God has delivered +all things, and the emperor of Rome among the rest, into the hand of +His Son Jesus Christ, who sits a King over all, God blessed for ever.” +That was confessing Christ.</p> +<p>And to that the heathen judges used to make but one answer—for +there was but one to make. Those heathen judges’ guilty +consciences, as well as their worldly cunning, told them plainly enough +exactly what St. Paul told the Christians; that those Christians, by +confessing Christ, were not fighting against flesh and blood, and setting +up their selfish interests against other people’s selfish interests: +but that the battle they were fighting was a much deeper and more terrible +one; that by saying that One who had walked the earth as a poor man, +and yet a perfectly righteous and loving man, doing nothing but good, +and sacrificing Himself utterly for poor fallen creatures, they were +fighting against the whole state of things all over the world; against +the government, and principles, and religion of that whole unjust and +tyrannical Roman empire, and all its rulers, and generals, and judges; +against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of +the darkness of those times; against spiritual wickedness in heavenly +things. For if Jesus Christ’s life was the right life, those +rulers must be utterly wrong; for it was exactly opposite to His.</p> +<p>If Jesus Christ was really the Governor of the earth, there was no +hope for them; for their way of governing was exactly opposite to His. +So as I say, they made but one answer; because there was but one to +make: “You say that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of +lords. I say the emperor of Rome is. You say you must obey +Christ first, and the emperor of Rome afterwards. I say that you +must obey the emperor first, and Christ afterwards. At all events, +if you do not, you have no right on this earth of the emperor’s; +either the emperor’s power must fall, or your notion about Jesus +Christ’s power must. And we will see whether your heavenly +King of whom you talk can deliver you out of the emperor’s hand.” +And then came the scourge, and the red-hot iron, and the wild beasts, +and the cross, and all devilish tortures which man’s evil will +could invent, brought to bear without shame or mercy upon aged men, +and tender girls, and even little children, just to make them say that +the earth belonged to the emperor, and not to Jesus Christ. Those +who died bravely under those tortures without denying Christ were called +martyrs, which means witnesses—people who bore witness before +God and man that Jesus Christ was King and Lord. Those who did +not die under the tortures, but escaped after all, were called confessors—people +who had confessed with their mouths that Jesus Christ was King and Lord, +in spite of their terror and agony. . . . That was what confessing +Jesus Christ meant in the old times. And that was what it ought +to mean now, even though there is no persecution or torture for Christians +in these happier times.</p> +<p>And now, we may see perhaps why St. Paul spoke so much of our Lord’s +rising again as the most important part of the gospel.</p> +<p>Because he wanted Christians to believe, not merely in a Christ who +once died, but in Him who died and is alive for evermore; in a Christ +who rose again, body, soul, and spirit, and sat at God’s right +hand, praying for poor creatures when they were tempted, and persecuted, +and tormented for righteousness’ sake. St. Paul knew well +that such fearful times as those of which I have been speaking were +coming on the people to whom he wrote. And he knew equally well +that the only thought which could save them, when the heathen judges +commanded them to deny the Lord Jesus, was the thought that He was really +risen. The only thought which could make them bold enough to face +all the horrors of death, was the thought that the Lord Jesus had not +merely tasted death, but conquered it, and risen again from it. +And therefore it is that St. Paul speaks so often of Christ’s +resurrection, and that in the text he takes so much pains to prove that +Christ had really risen, by telling them how many persons, well known +to him who wrote to them, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ after He rose, +and talked with Him, and were sure that He was the very same person +still, with the same countenance, and body, and soul, and spirit, as +He had when He was nailed to the cross, and laid in the sepulchre.</p> +<p>What a thought for a poor creature in the last agony of fear and +shame, expecting presently to be torn in pieces, or burnt alive: “Death, +this horrible death, cannot conquer me, weak and fearful as I am; for +my Lord and Master, for whom I am going to suffer, has conquered death, +and He will not let it conquer me. He is stronger than death and +hell, and He will not suffer me at my last hour for any pains of death +to fall from Him. He is King of heaven and earth, and He will +take care of His own!” What a comfortable thought to be +able to say: “Ay, I am torn from wife and child, and all which +I love on earth. But not for ever, not for ever. For Christ +rose from the dead. And I who belong to Christ, shall rise as +He did. This poor flesh of mine may be burnt in flames, devoured +by ravenous beasts. What matter? Christ the King of men, +has risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. +That same Spirit of His, which brought back His body from the grave +and hell, will bring our bodies also from the grave and hell, to a nobler, +happier life with Him in glory unspeakable. Christ is risen, and +I shall rise with Him at the last day. Christ sits at God’s +right hand, watching me, pitying me, and blessing me, holding out to +me a crown of glory which shall never fade away!” That was +the thought which gave Stephen courage to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, +amid to die in peace and the murderous blows of the Jews. For +by faith he saw, as he said, the heavens opened, and Jesus sitting at +the right hand of God. He knew that his Lord was risen, and that +He would hear his dying cry: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”</p> +<p>And so with us, my friends; we have no martyrdom to go through, thank +God; but it is just as true of us as it was of the blessed martyrs and +confessors, that there is no other name under heaven by which we can +be saved but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saved; not only +from hell, but from sin, from giving way to temptation, from denying +Christ. Oh, pray for faith. Pray for faith. Pray to +be able really to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Pray +to believe with your hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. +Then when you are tempted to do wrong, you, like Stephen, will see, +not with your bodily eyes, but by faith, the Lord Jesus sitting at God’s +right hand, and be able to say to Him: “Lord Jesus, who hast conquered +all temptation, help me to conquer this. Thine eye is on me; how +can I do this great wickedness and sin against Thee?” When +you are in terror, and trouble, and affliction, and know not where to +turn, that same blessed thought—“Christ is risen from the +dead”—will be a shield and a strength to you which no other +thought can give. “My Lord is risen; He is here still—a +man, with His man’s body, and His man’s spirit—His +man’s love and tenderness; He has taken them all up to heaven +with Him. He is a man still, though He is very God of very God. +He rose from the dead as a man, and therefore He can understand me, +and feel for me still, now, here in England in this very year, 1852, +just as much as He could when He was walking upon earth in Judæa +of old.”</p> +<p>Ay, and in the black jaws of death, when this world is vanishing +from our eyes, and we are going we know not whither, leaving behind +us all we know, and love, and understand; then that thought of all thoughts—“Christ +is risen from the dead”—is the only one which will save +us from dark sad thoughts, from fear and despair, or from stupid carelessness, +and the death of a brute beast, such as too many die. “Christ +is risen and I shall rise. Christ has conquered death for Himself, +and He will conquer it for me. Christ took His man’s body +and soul with Him from the tomb to God’s right hand, and He will +raise my man’s body and soul at the last day, that I may be with +Him for ever, and see Him where He is.” In life and in death +this is the only thing which shall save us from sin, from terror, and +from the dread of death; the same good news which St. Paul preached +to the Corinthians; the same good news which made St. Stephen, and the +martyrs and confessors of old brave to endure all misery for the sake +of the good and blessed news, that God had raised His Son Jesus from +the dead.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLVI—GOD’S WAY WITH MAN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you +for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according +to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.—EZEKIEL +xx. 44.</p> +<p>In this chapter the prophet Ezekiel argues with his sinful and rebellious +countrymen, and puts them in mind of all that God has done for them +and with them, from the time when He brought them out of Egypt to that +day.</p> +<p>And now comes the old question, What has this to do with us! +St. Paul tells us that all things which happened to the old Jews happened +for our example. What example can we learn from this chapter?</p> +<p>This, I think, we may learn: Is not the way in which God taught these +Jews the same way in which He teaches many a man—perhaps every +man? Which of us, when we were young, has not had his teaching +from God? The old Catechism which our mothers taught us, was not +that a word from God Himself to us? The voice of conscience, which +made us happy when we had done right, and uneasy and ashamed when we +had gone wrong; was not that a word from God to us? Yes, my friends, +those child’s feelings of ours about right and wrong, were none +other than the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the +Light which lightens every man who comes into the world. I tell +you, every right thought and wish, every longing to be better than you +were, which ever came into any one of your hearts, came from Him, the +Lord Jesus. It was His word, His voice, His Spirit, speaking to +your spirit, just as really as He spoke to His prophet Ezekiel, of whom +we have been reading. Think of that. Recollect, never, never +forget, that all your good thoughts and feelings are not your own, not +your own at all, but the Lord’s; that without His light your hearts +are nothing but darkness, blind ignorance, and blind selfishness, and +blind passions and lusts; that it is He, he Himself, who has been fighting +against the darkness in you all your life long. Oh think, then, +what your sin has been in putting aside those good thoughts and longings! +You were turning your back, you were shutting your doors to the Lord +God Himself, very God of very God begotten, by whom all things were +made. The Creator came to visit His creature, and His creature +shut Him out. The Almighty God pleaded with mortal man, and mortal +man bade God go, and come back at a more convenient season! A +voice in your heart seemed to say: “Oh, if I could but be a better +man! How I wish that I could but give up these bad habits, and +mend! I hate and despise myself for being so bad.” +And then you fancied that that voice was your own voice, that those +good thoughts were your own thoughts. If you had really known +whose they were; if you had really known, as the Bible tells you, that +they were the Word of the Lord, the only-begotten Son of the Father, +speaking to your heart, I hardly think that you would have been so ready +to say yourself: “Well, then, I will mend; but not just now: some +day or other; somehow or other, I hope, I shall be a better man. +It will be time enough to make my peace with God when I am growing old.” +You would not have dared to thrust away the good thoughts, and keep +them waiting, while you took your pleasure in a few more years’ +sin; if you had guessed <i>whom</i> you were thrusting away; if you +had guessed whom you were keeping waiting.</p> +<p>And, my good friends, has not God been saying to us many a time from +our youth up, as He did to the Jews of old: “Do not walk in the +statutes of your fathers, nor defile yourselves with their idols?” +Do you ask me how? Why, thus. Have you never said to yourself: +“How ill my father prospered, because he would do wrong!” +Or, again: “See how evil doing brings its own punishment. +There is so and so growing rich, by his cheating and his covetousness, +and yet, for all his money, I would not change places with him. +God forbid that I should have on my mind what he has on his mind!” +Why should I make a long story of so simple a matter? Which of +us has not felt at times that thought? How much misery has come +in this very parish from the ill-doing of the generation who are gone +to their account, and from the ill-training which they gave their children?</p> +<p>And what was that but the Word of the Lord Himself speaking to our +hearts, and saying to us: “Do not defile yourselves with their +idols; do not hurt your souls by hunting after the things which they +loved better than they loved Me: money, pleasure, drink, fighting, smuggling, +poaching, wantonness, and lust; I am the Lord your God?”</p> +<p>And yet, young people will not listen to that warning voice of God. +They see other people, even their own fathers and mothers, punished +for their sins; perhaps made poor by their sins, perhaps made unhealthy +by their sins, perhaps made miserable and ill-tempered by their sins: +and yet they go and fall into, or rather walk open-eyed into, the very +same sins which made their parents wretched. Oh, how many a young +person sees their home made a complete hell on earth by ungodliness, +and the ill-temper and selfishness which come from ungodliness; and, +then, as soon as they have a home of their own, set to work to make +their own family as miserable as their father’s was before them.</p> +<p>But people say often: “How could we help it? We had no +chance; we were brought up in bad ways; we had a bad example set us; +how can you expect us to be better than our fathers and mothers, and +our elder brothers and sisters? If we had had a fair chance, we +might have been different: but we had none; and we could not help going +the bad way, for we were set in it the day we were born.”</p> +<p>Well, my dear friends, God shall judge you, not I. If little +is given to a man little is required of him. But not nothing at +all; because more than nothing was given him. A little is given +to every man; and, therefore, a little is required of every man. +And so, he who knew not his Master’s will shall be beaten with +few stripes. But he will be beaten with some stripes, because +he ought to have known something, at least of his Master’s will. +If you were dumb animals, which can only follow their own lusts and +passions, and must be what nature has made them, then your excuse would +be good enough; but your excuse is not good now, just because you are +men and women, and not dumb beasts, and, therefore, can rise above your +natures, and conquer your lusts and passions, as they cannot, and can +do what you do not like, because, though you dislike it, you know that +it is right. And, therefore, God does not take that excuse which +sinners make, that they have had no teaching. But what does he +do to them?</p> +<p>Suppose, now, that you had a dog which would not be taught, or broken +in, or cured of biting, or made useful, or bearable in any way, what +would you do to that dog? I suppose that you would kill it; you +would say: “It is an ill-conditioned animal, and there is no making +it any better; so the only thing is to put it out of the way, and not +let it eat food which might be better spent.” Now, does +God deal so with sinners? When young people rush headlong into +sin, and become a nuisance to themselves and their neighbours, does +God kill them at once, that better men may step into their place? +No. And why? Just because they are not dumb animals, which +cannot be made better, but God’s children, who can be made better. +If there were really no hope of a sinner repenting and amending, I think +God would not leave him long alive to cumber the ground. But there +is hope for every one; because God the Father loves all; the loving +heart of the Lord Jesus Christ yearns after all; the Holy Spirit, which +proceeds from the Father and the Son, strives with the hearts of all; +therefore God, in His patience and tender mercy, tries to bring his +foolish children to their senses. And how? Often in the +very same way, in which Ezekiel says He tried to bring the Jews to their +senses, by letting them go on in the road of sin, till they see what +an ugly pit that same road ends in. If your child would not believe +you when you warned and assured him that the fire would burn him, would +it not be the very best way of bringing him to his senses, to tell him: +“Very well; go your own way; put your hand into the fire, and +see what comes of it; you will not believe me; you will believe your +own feelings, when your hand is burnt.” So did the Lord +to those rebellious Jews when they would go after their fathers’ +sins. He gave them statutes which were not good, and judgments +by which they could not live, to the end that they might know that He +was the Lord. God did not make them commit any sins. God +forbid! He only took away His Spirit, His light and teaching, +from them, and let them go on in the light of their own foolish and +bewildered hearts, till their sin bred misery and shame to them, and +they were filled with the fruit of their own devices. Then, after +all their wealth was gone, and their land was wasted by cruel enemies, +and they themselves were carried away captive into Babylon, they began +to awake, and say to themselves: “We were wrong after all, and +the Lord was right. He knew what was really good for us better +than we did. We thought that we could do without Him, disobey +Him. But He is the Lord after all. He has been too strong +for us; He has punished us. If we had listened to His warnings +years ago, we might have been saved all this misery.”</p> +<p>Ah, how many a poor foolish creature, in misery and shame, with a +guilty conscience and a sad heart, sits down, like the prodigal son, +among the swinish bad company into which his sins have brought him, +longing to fill his belly with the husks which the swine eat! but he +cannot. He tries to forget his sorrow by drinking, by bad company, +by gambling, by gossiping, like the fools around him: but he cannot. +He finds no more pleasure in sin. He is sick and tired of it. +He has had enough of it and too much. He is miserable, and he +hardly knows why. But miserable he is. There is a longing, +and craving, and hunger at his heart after something better; at least +after something different. Then he begins to remember his heavenly +Father’s house. Old words which he learnt at his mother’s +knee, good old words out of his Catechism and his Bible, start up strangely +in his mind. He had forgotten them, laughed at them, perhaps, +in his wild days. But now they come up, he does not know where +from, like beautiful ghosts gliding in. And he is ashamed of them; +they reproach him, the dear old lessons; and yet they seem pleasant +to him, though they make him blush. And at last he says to himself: +“Would God that I were a little child again; once more an innocent +little child at my mother’s knee! I thought myself clever +and cunning. I thought I could go my own way and enjoy myself. +But I cannot. Perhaps I have been a fool; and the old Sunday books +were right after all. At least I am miserable. I thought +I was my own master. But perhaps He about whom I used to read +in the Sunday books is my Master after all. At least I am not +my own master; I am a slave. Perhaps I have been fighting against +Him, against the Lord God, all this time, and now He has shown me that +He is the stronger of the two. . . . And so the poor man learns +in trouble and shame to know, like the Jews of old, who is the Lord.</p> +<p>And when the Lord has drawn a man thus far, does He stop? Not +so. He does not leave His work half done. If the work is +half done, it is that we stop, not that He stops. Whosoever comes +to Him, howsoever confusedly, or clumsily, or even lazily they may come, +He will in no wise cast out. He may afflict them still more to +cure that confusion and laziness; but He is a physician who never sends +a willing patient away, or keeps him waiting for a single hour.</p> +<p>How then does the Lord deal with such a man? Does He drive +him further? Not if he will go without being driven. You +would call it cruel to drive a beast on with blows, when it was willing +to be led peaceably. And be sure God is not more cruel than man. +As soon as we are willing to be led, He will take His rod off from us, +and lead us tenderly enough. For I have known God do this to a +man, and a sinful man as ever trod this earth. I have known such +a man brought into utter misery and shame of heart, and heavy affliction +in outward matters, till his spirit was utterly broken, and he was ready +to say: “I am a beast and a fool. I am not worth the bread +I eat. Let me lie down and die.” And then, when the +Lord had driven that man so far, I have seen, I who speak to you now, +how the Lord turned and looked on that man as he turned and looked on +Peter, and brought his poor soul to life again, as He brought Peter’s, +by a loving smile, and not an angry frown. I have seen the Lord +heap that man with all manner of unexpected blessings, and pay him back +sevenfold for all his affliction, and raise him up, body and soul, and +satisfy him with good things, so that his youth was renewed like the +eagle’s. And so the man’s conversion to God, though +it was begun by God’s chastisements and afflictions, was brought +to perfection by God’s mercy and bounty; and it happened to that +man, as Ezekiel prophesied that it would happen to the Jews, that not +fear and dread, but honour, gratitude, and that noble shame of which +no man need be ashamed, brought him home to God at last. “And +you shall remember your ways, and all your doings wherein ye have been +defiled: and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the +evils which you have committed. And you shall know that I am the +Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according +to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of +Israel, saith the Lord God.”</p> +<p>You see that God’s mercy to them would not make them conceited +or careless. It would increase their shame and confusion when +they found out what sort of a Lord He was against whom they had been +rebellious; long-suffering and of tender mercy, returning good for evil +to His disobedient children. That feeling would awake in them +more shame and more confusion than ever: but it would be a noble shame, +a happy confusion, and tears of joy and gratitude, not of bitterness. +Such a shame, such a confusion, such tears, as the blessed Magdalene’s +when she knelt at the Lord’s feet, and found that, instead of +bating her and thrusting her away for all her sins, He told her to go +in peace, pardoned and happy. Then she knew the Lord; she found +out His character—His name; for she found out that His name was +love. Oh, my friends, this is the great secret; the only knowledge +worth living for, because it is the only knowledge which will enable +you to live worthily—to know the Lord. That knowledge will +enable you to live a life which will last, and grow, and prosper for +ever, beyond the grave, and death, and judgment, and eternities of eternities. +As the Lord Himself said, when He was upon earth, “This is eternal +life, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast +sent.” Therefore there is no use my warning you against +sin, and telling you, do not do this, and do not do that, unless I tell +you at the same time who is the Lord. For till you know that The +Good God is the Lord, you will have no real, sound, heartfelt reason +for giving up your sins; and what is more, you will not be able to give +them up. You may alter your sort of sins from fear of this and +that; but the root of sin will be there still; and if it cannot bear +one sort of fruit it will bear another. If you dare not drink +or riot, you may become covetous and griping; if you dare not give way +to young men’s sins, you will take to old men’s sins instead; +if you dare not commit open sins you will commit secret ones in your +thoughts. Sin is much too stout a plant to be kept from bearing +some sort of fruit. As long as it is not rooted up the root will +breed death in you of some sort or other; and the only feeling which +can root up sin is to know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is your +Lord, and that your Lord condescended to die upon the cross for you; +that you must be the Lord’s, and are not your own, but bought +with the price of His most precious blood, that you may glorify God +with your body and your soul, which are His.</p> +<p>Just so, the blessed St. Augustine found that he could never conquer +his own sins by arguing with himself, or by any other means, till he +got to know God, and to see that God was the Lord. And when his +spirit was utterly broken; when he saw himself, in spite of all his +wonderful cleverness and learning, to have been a fool and blind all +along, though people round him were flattering him, and running after +him to hear his learning; then the old words which he learnt at his +mother’s knee came up in his mind, and he knew that God was the +Lord after all, and that God had been watching him, guiding him, letting +him go wrong only to show him the folly of going wrong, caring for him +even when He left him to himself and his sins, and the sad ways of his +sins; bearing with him, pleading with his conscience, alluring him back +to the only true happiness, as a loving father with a rebellious and +self-willed child. And then, when St. Augustine had found out +at last that God was his Lord, who had been taking the charge of him +all through his heathen youth, he became a changed man. He was +able to conquer his sins; for God conquered them for him. He was +able to give up the profligate life which he had been leading; not from +fear of punishment, but from the Spirit of God—the spirit of gratitude, +honour, trust, and love toward God, which made him abide in God, and +God abide in him. To that blessed state may God of His great mercy +bring us all. To it He will bring us all unless we rebel and set +up our foolish and selfish will against His loving and wise will. +And if He does bring us to it, it is little matter whether He brings +us to it through joy or through sorrow, through honour or through shame, +through the garden of Eden, or through the valley of the shadow of death. +For, my dear friends, what matter how bitter the medicine is, if it +does but save our lives?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLVII—THE MARRIAGE AT CANA</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus +was there. And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the +marriage.—JOHN ii. 1, 2.</p> +<p>It is, I think, in the first place, an important, as well as a pleasant +thing, to know that the Lord’s glory, as St. Paul says, was first +shown forth at a wedding, at a feast. Not at a time of sorrow, +but of joy. Not about some strange affliction or disease, such +as is the lot of very few, but about a marriage, that which happens +in the ordinary lot of all mankind. Not in any fearful judgment +or destruction of sinners, but in blessing wedlock, by which, whether +among saints or sinners, mankind is increased. Not by helping +some great philosopher to think more deeply, or some great saint to +perform more wonderful acts of holiness, but in giving the simple pleasure +of wine to simple commonplace people, of whom we neither read that they +were rich or righteous. We do not even read whether the master +of the feast ever found out that Jesus had worked a miracle, or whether +any of the company ever believed in Him, on the strength of that miracle, +except His mother and the disciples, and the servants, who were probably +the poor slaves of people in a low or middling class of life. +But that is the way of the Lord. He is no respecter of persons. +Rich and poor are alike in His sight; and the poor need Him most, and +therefore He began his work with the poor in Cana, as He did in St. +James’s time, when the poor of this world were rich in faith, +and the rich of this world were oppressors and taskmasters. So +He does in every age. Though no one else cares for the poor, He +cares for them. With their hearts He begins His work, even as +He did in England sixty years ago, by the preaching of Whitfield and +Wesley. Do you wish to know if anything is the Lord’s work? +See if it is a work among the poor. Do you wish to know whether +any preaching is the true gospel of the Lord? See whether it is +a gospel, a good news to the poor. I know no other test than that. +By doing that, by preaching the gospel to the poor, by working miracles +for the poor, He has showed forth His glory, and proved Himself the +true, and just, and loving Lord of all.</p> +<p>But again, the Lord is a giver, and not a taskmaster. He does +not demand from us: He gives to us. He had been giving from the +foundation of the world. Corn and wine, rain and sunshine, and +fruitful seasons had been his sending. And now He was come to +show it. He was come to show men who it was who had been filling +their heart with joy and gladness; who had been bringing out of the +earth and air, by His unseen chemistry, the wine which maketh glad the +heart of man. In every grape that hangs upon the vine, water is +changed into wine, as the sap ripens into rich juice. He had been +doing that all along in every vineyard and orchard; and that was His +glory. Now He was come to prove that; to draw back the veil of +custom and carnal sense, and manifest Himself. Men had seen the +grapes ripen on the tree; and they were tempted to say, as every one +of us is tempted now: “It is the sun and the air, the nature of +the vine, and the nature of the climate, which makes the wine.” +Jesus comes and answers: “Not so. I make the wine; I have +been making it all along. The vines, the sun, the weather, are +only my tools wherewith I worked, turning rain and sap into wine; and +I am greater than they; I made them; I do not depend on them; I can +make wine from water without vines or sunshine. Behold, and drink, +and see my glory <i>without</i> the vineyard, since you had forgotten +how to see it <i>in</i> the vineyard! For I am now, even as I +was in Paradise, The Word of the Lord God; and now, even as in Paradise, +I walk among the trees of the garden, and they know me and obey me, +though the world knows me not. I have been all along in the world, +and the world knows me not. Know me now, lest you lose the knowledge +of me for ever!”</p> +<p>Those of the Jews who received that message, as the disciples did, +found out their ancient Lord, and clung to Him, and know now, in the +world of spirits, that His message was indeed a true one. Those +who did not, lost sight of Him; to this day their eyes are blinded; +to this day they have utterly forgotten that they have a Lord and Ruler, +who is the Word and Son of God. Their faith is no more like the +faith of David than their understanding of the Scriptures is like his. +The Bible is a dead letter to them. The kingdom and government +of God is forgotten by them. Of all God-worshipping people in +the world, the Jews are the least godly, the most given up to the worship +of this world, and the things which they can see, and taste, and handle, +and, therefore, to covetousness, cheating, lying, tyranny, and all the +sins which spring from forgetting that this world belongs to the Lord +and that He rules and guides it, that its blessings are His gifts, and +we His stewards, to use them for the good of all. May God help, +and forgive, and convert them! Doubt not that He will do so in +His good time. But let us beware, my friends, lest we fall into +the same sin. Do not fancy that we are not in just the same danger. +It would be a cowardly thing of a preacher to call Jews, or heathens, +or any other absent persons hard names, unless their mistakes and their +sins were such as his own people wanted warnings against, ay, perhaps, +had the very root of them in their hearts already. And we have +the root of the Jews’ sin in our own hearts. Why is this +one miracle read in our churches to this day, if we do not stand just +as much in need of the lesson as those for whom it was first worked? +We, as well as they, are in danger of forgetting who it is that sends +us corn and wine, and fruitful seasons, love and marriage, and all the +blessings of this life. We, as well as the Jews, are continually +fancying that these outward earthly things, as we call them in our shallow +carnal conceits, have nothing to do with Jesus or His kingdom, but that +we may compete, and scrape, even cheat and lie to get them, and when +we have them, misuse them selfishly, as if they belonged to no one but +ourselves, as if we had no duty to perform about them, as if we owed +God no service for them.</p> +<p>And again, we are, just as much as the Jews were, in danger of spiritual +pride; in danger of fancying that because we are religious, and have, +or fancy we have, deep experiences and beautiful thoughts about God +and Christ and our own souls, therefore we can afford to despise those +who do not know as much as ourselves; to despise the common pleasures +and petty sorrows of poor creatures, whose souls and bodies are grovelling +in the dust, busied with the cares of this world, at their wits’ +end to get their daily bread; to despise the merriment of young people, +the play of children, and all those everyday happinesses which, though +we may turn from them with a sneer, are precious in the sight of Him +who made heaven and earth. All such proud thoughts, all such contempt +of those who do not seem as spiritual as we fancy ourselves, is evil. +It is from the devil, and not from God. It is the same vile spirit +which made the Pharisees of old say: “This people—these +poor worldly drudging wretches—who know not the law, are accursed.” +And mind, this is not a sin of rich, and learned, and highborn men only. +They may be more tempted to it than others; but poor men, when they +become, by the grace of God, wiser, more spiritual, more holy than others, +are tempted, just as much as the rich, to despise their poor neighbours +to whom God has not given the same light as themselves; and surely in +them it shows ugliest of all. A learned and high-born man may +be excused for looking down upon the sinful poor, because he does not +understand their temptations, because he never has been ignorant and +struggling as they are. But a poor man who despises the poor—he +has no excuse. He ought above all men to feel for them, for he +has been tempted even as they are. He knows their sorrows; he +has been through their dark valley of bad food, bad lodging, want of +work, want of teaching, low cares which drag the soul to earth. +Surely a poor man who has tasted God’s love and Christ’s +light, ought, above all others, instead of turning his back on his class, +to pity them, to make common cause with them, to teach them, guide them, +comfort them, in a way no rich man can. Yes; after all, it is +the poor must help the poor; the poor must comfort the poor; the poor +must teach and convert the poor.</p> +<p>See, in the epistle for this day, St. Paul makes no distinction between +rich and poor. This epistle is joined with the gospel for the +day, to show us what ought to be the conduct of Christians, who believe +in the miracle of Cana; what men should do who believe that they have +a Lord in heaven, by whose command suns shine, fruits ripen, men enjoy +the blessings of harvest, of marriage, of the comforts which the heathen +and the savage, as well as the Christian man, partake; what men should +do who believe that they have a Lord in heaven who entered into the +common joys and sorrows of lowly men, who was once Himself a poor villager, +who ate with publicans and sinners, who condescended to join in a wedding +feast, and increase the mere animal enjoyment of the guests. And +what is St. Paul’s command to poor as well as rich? Read +the epistle for this day and see.</p> +<p>You see at once that this epistle is written in the same spirit as +our Lord’s words: by God’s Spirit, in short; the Spirit +which brought the Lord Jesus so condescendingly to the wedding feast; +the Spirit which made Him care so heartily for the common pleasures +of those around Him. My friends, these are not commands to one +class, but to all. Poor as well as rich may show mercy with cheerfulness, +and love without dissimulation. Poor as well as rich may minister +to others with earnestness, and condescend to those of low estate. +Not a word in this whole epistle which does not apply equally to every +rank, and sex, and age.</p> +<p>Neither are these commands to each of us by ourselves, but to all +of us together, as members of a family. If you will look through +them they are not things to be done to ourselves, but to our neighbours; +not experiences to be felt about our own souls: but rules of conduct +to our fellow-men. They are all different branches and flowers +from that one root: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”</p> +<p>Do we live thus, rich or poor? Can we look each other in the +face this afternoon and say, each man to his neighbour: “I have +behaved like a brother to you. I have rejoiced at your good fortune, +and grieved at your sorrow. I have preferred you to myself. +I have loved you without dissimulation. I have been earnest in +my place and duty in the parish for the sake of the common good of all. +I have condescended to those of lower rank than myself. I have—” +Ah, my dear friends, I had better not go on with the list. God +forgive us all! The less we try to justify ourselves on this score +the better. Some of us do indeed try to behave like brothers and +sisters to their neighbours; but how few of us; and those few how little! +And yet we are brothers. We are members of one family, sons of +one Father, joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who sat eating and +drinking at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and mixed freely in +the joys and the sorrows of the poorest and meanest. Joint-heirs +with Christ; yet how unlike Him! My friends, we need to repent +and amend our ways; we need to confess, every one of us, rich and poor, +the pride, the selfishness, the carelessness about each other, which +keeps us so much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so +little for each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of +you. Those who have behaved most like brothers, will be most ready +to confess how little they have behaved like brothers. Confess: +“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am +no more worthy to be called thy son, for I have not loved, cared for, +helped my brothers and sisters round, who are just as much thy children +as I am.” Pray for the spirit of Jesus, the spirit of condescension, +love, fellow-feeling; that spirit which rejoices simply and heartily +with those who are happy, and feels for another’s sorrows as if +they were its own. Pray for it; for till it comes, there will +be no peace on earth. Pray for it; for when it comes and takes +possession of your hearts, and you all really love and live like brothers, +children of one Father, the kingdom of God will be come indeed, and +His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>XLVIII—PARABLE OF THE LOWEST PLACE</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>And He put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked +how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, when thou art +bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room, lest +a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee +and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with +shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and +sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he +may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship +in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever +exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall +be exalted.—LUKE xiv. 7-11.</p> +<p>We heard in the gospel for to-day how the Lord Jesus put forth a +parable to those who were invited to a dinner with Him at the Pharisee’s +house. A parable means an example of any rules or laws; a story +about some rule, by hearing which people may see how the rule works +in practice, and understand it. Now, our Lord’s parables +were about the kingdom of God. They were examples of the rules +and laws by which the kingdom of God is governed and carried on. +Therefore He begins many of His parables by saying, The kingdom of God +is like something—something which people see daily, and understand +more or less. “The kingdom of God is like a field;” +“The kingdom of God is like a net;” “The kingdom of +God is like a grain of mustard seed;” and so forth. And +even where He did not begin one of His parables by speaking of the kingdom +of God, we may be still certain that it has to do with the kingdom of +God. For the one great reason why the Lord was made flesh and +dwelt among us, was to preach the kingdom of God, His Father and our +Father, and to prove to men that God was their King, even at the price +of his most precious blood. And, therefore, everything which He +ever did, and everything which He ever spoke, had to do with this one +great work of His. This parable, therefore, which you heard read +in the gospel for to-day, has to do with the kingdom of God, and is +an example of the laws of it.</p> +<p>Now, what is the kingdom of God? It is worth our while to consider. +For at baptism we were declared members of the kingdom of God; we were +to renounce the world, and to live according to the kingdom of God. +The kingdom of God is simply the way in which God governs men; and the +world is the way in which men try to manage without God’s help +or leave. That is the difference between them; and a most awful +difference it is. Men fancy that they can get on well enough without +God; that the ways of the world are very reasonable, and useful, and +profitable, and quite good enough to live by, if not to die by. +But all the while God is King, let them fancy what they like; and this +earth, and everything on it, from the king on his throne to the gnat +in the sunbeam, is under His government, and must obey His laws or die. +We are in God’s kingdom, my good friends, every one of us, whether +we like it or not, and we shall be there for ever and ever. And +our business is, therefore, simply to find out what are the laws of +that kingdom, and obey those laws as speedily as possible, and live +for ever thereby, lest, if we break them, and get in their way, they +should grind us to powder.</p> +<p>Now, here is one of the laws of God’s kingdom: “Whosoever +exalteth himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall +be exalted.” That is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, +sets himself up, will be pulled down again: while he who is contented +to keep low, and think little of himself, will be raised up and set +on high. Now the world’s rule is the exact opposite of this. +The world says, Every man for himself. The way of the world is +to struggle and strive for the highest place; to be a pushing man, and +a rising man, and a man who will stand stiffly by his rights, and give +his enemy as good as he brings, and beat his neighbour out of the market, +and show off himself to the best advantage, and try to make the most +of whatever wit or money he has to look well in the world, that people +may look up to him and flatter him and obey him; and so the world has +no objection to people’s pretending to be better than they are. +Every man must do the best he can for himself, the world says, and never +mind his neighbours: they must take care of themselves; and if they +are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the worse for them. +So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when he has anything +to sell, making it out better than it really is, and hiding the fault +in it as far as he can. When a tradesman or manufacturer sends +about “puffs” of his goods, and pretends that they are better +and cheaper than other people’s, just to get custom by it, the +world does not call that what it is—boasting and lying. +It says: “Of course a man must do the best he can for himself. +If a man does not praise himself, nobody else will praise him; he cannot +expect his neighbours to take him for better than his own words.” +So again, if a man wants a place or situation, the world thinks it no +harm if he gives the most showy character of himself, and gets his friends +to say all the good of him they can, and a great deal more, and to say +none of the harm—in short, to make himself out a much better, +or shrewder, or worthier man than he really is. The world does +not call that either what it is—boasting, and lying, and thrusting +oneself into callings to which God has not called us. The world +says: “Of course a man must turn his best side outwards. +You cannot expect a man to tell tales on himself.”</p> +<p>And, my friends, the world would be quite right, and reasonable, +and prudent, in telling us to push, and boast, and lie, and puff ourselves +and our goods, if it were not for one thing which the foolish blind +world is always forgetting, and that is, that there is a God who judges +the earth. If God were not our King; if He took no care of us +men and our doings; if mankind had it all their own way on earth, and +were forced to shift for themselves without any laws of God to guide +them, then the best thing every man could do would be to fight for himself; +to get all he could for himself, and leave as little as he could for +his neighbours; to make himself out as great, and wise, and strong, +as he could, and try to make his neighbours buy him at his own price. +That would be the best plan for every man, if God was not King; and +therefore the world says that that is the best plan for every man, because +the world does not believe that God is King, and hates the notion that +God is King, and laughs at and persecutes, as Jesus Christ said it would, +those who preach the kingdom of God, and tell men, as I tell you in +God’s name: “You were not made to be selfish; you were not +meant to rise in the world by boasting and pushing down and deceiving +your neighbours. For you are subjects of God’s kingdom; +and to do so is to break his laws, and to put yourselves under His curse; +and however worldly-wise all this selfishness and boasting may seem, +it is sin, whose wages are death and ruin.”</p> +<p>For, my friends, let the world try to forget God as it will, He does +not forget the world. Let men try to make rules and laws for themselves, +rules about religion, rules about government, rules about trade, rules +about morals and what they fancy is just and fair; let them make as +many rules as they like, they are only wasting their time; for God has +made His rules already, and revealed them to us in the Bible, and told +us that the earth and mankind are governed in His way, and not in ours, +and that He will not alter His everlasting rules to suit our new ones. +As David says: “Let the people be never so unquiet, still the +Lord is King.”</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, it is very easy to say all this, but it is not so +easy to believe it. Every one, every respectable person at least, +is ready enough to talk about God, and God’s will, and so forth. +But when it comes to practice; when it comes to doing God’s will, +and not our own; when it comes to obeying His direct and plain commands, +and not the fashions and maxims which men have invented for themselves; +when it comes to giving up what we long for, because He has said that +if we try after it in our own way, and not in His, we shall never have +it at all, then comes the trial; then comes the time to see whether +we believe that God is the King of the earth or not; then comes the +time to see whether we have renounced the world, and determined to live +as God’s sons in God’s kingdom, or whether our religion +is some form of words, or way of thinking and feeling which we hope +may save our souls from hell, but which has nothing to do with our daily +life and conduct, and leaves us just as worldly as any heathen, in all +our dealings with our fellow-men, from Monday morning to Saturday night. +Then comes the time to try our faith in God.</p> +<p>And then, alas! it comes out, in these evil, and godless, and hypocritical +times in which we live, that many a man who fancies himself religious, +and respectable, and blameless, and what not, no more really believes +that he is living in God’s kingdom than the heathen do. +And if you ask him, you will find out most probably that he fancies +that God’s kingdom is not on earth now, but that it will be on +earth some day. A cunning delusion of the devil, that, my friends! +To make us go his way while we fancy that we are going our own way. +To make us say to ourselves: “Ah! it is very unfortunate that +God is not King of the earth now. Of course He will be after the +resurrection, in the new heaven and the new earth, where there will +be no sin. But He is not King now; this world is given over to +sin and the devil, so fallen and ruined and corrupt that—that—that, +in short, we cannot be expected to behave like God’s children +in it, but must just follow the ways of the world, and live by ambition, +and selfishness, and cunning, and boasting, and competing in this life; +a life of love, and justice, and humbleness, and fellow-help, and mercy, +and self-sacrifice is impossible in such a world as this; we cannot +live like angels, till we get to heaven!” So say nine people +out of ten; the devil deceiving them, and their own hearts, alas! being +but too glad to catch at the excuse for sin which the devil gives them, +when he tells them that this present earth is not God’s kingdom; +and so they go and act accordingly, selfish, grudging, pushing, boastful, +every man’s hand against his neighbour and for himself, till they +succeed too often in making this earth as fearfully like the devil’s +kingdom as it is possible for God’s kingdom to be made.</p> +<p>But what, some may ask, has all this to do with the text that he +who sets himself up shall be brought low, he who keeps himself low shall +be set up? What has it to do with the text? It has everything +to do with the text. If people really believed that they were +God’s subjects and children in God’s kingdom, they would +not need to ask that question long.</p> +<p>If God is really the King of the earth, there can be no use in anyone +setting up himself. If God is really the King of the earth, those +who set up themselves must be certain to be brought down from their +high thoughts and high assumptions sooner or later. For if God +is really the King of the earth, He must be the one to set people up, +and not they themselves. Look again at the parable. The +man who asks the guests to dine with him has surely a right to place +each of them where he likes. The house is his, the dinner is his. +He has a right to invite whom he likes; and he has a right to settle +where they shall sit. If they choose their own places—if +any guest takes upon himself to seat himself at the head of the table, +because he thinks it his right, he offends against all rules of right +feeling and propriety toward the man who has invited him. All +he has a right to expect is, that his host will not put him in the wrong +place, that he will settle all places at his table according to people’s +real rank and deserts, and as our Testaments say, put “the worthiest +man in the highest room.” And if people really believed +in God, which very few do, they would surely expect no less of God. +What gentleman, farmer, or labourer is there, with common sense and +good feeling, who would not show most respect to the most respectable +persons who came into his house, and send his best and trustiest workmen +about his most important errands? True, he might make mistakes, +and worse. Being a weak man, he might be tempted to put the rich +sinner in a higher place than the poor saint: or he might, from private +fancy, be blinded about his workmen’s characters, and so send +a worse man, because he was his favourite, to do what another man whom +he did not fancy as well might do a great deal better. But you +cannot suspect God of that. He is no respecter of persons—whether +a man be rich or poor, no matter to God: all which He inquires into +is—Is he righteous or unrighteous, wise or foolish, able to do +his work or unable? And God can make no mistakes about people’s +characters. As St. Paul says of the Lord Jesus: “The Word +of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing through to the dividing +of the very joints and marrow, so that all things are naked and open +in the sight of Him with whom we have to do.” There is no +blinding God, no hiding from God, no cheating God, just as there is +no flattering God. He knows what each and every one of us is fit +for. He knows what each and every one of us is worth; and what +is more, He knows what we ought to know, that each and every one of +us is worth nothing without Him. Therefore there is no use pretending +to be better than we are. God knows just how good we are, and +will reward us, even in this life only according as we deserve, in spite +of all our boasting. There is no use pretending to be wiser than +we are. For all the wisdom we have comes from God; and if we pretend +to have more than we have, and by that greatest act of folly, show that +we have no wisdom at all, He will take from us even what we have, and +make all our cunning plans come to nothing, and prove us fools, just +when we fancy ourselves most clever. There is no use being ambitious +and pushing, and trying to scramble up on our neighbours’ shoulders. +For we were not sent into this world to do what we like, but what God +likes; not to work for ourselves, but to work for God; and God knows +exactly how much good each of us can do, and what is the best place +for us to do it in, and how to teach and enable us to do it; and if +we choose to be taught, He will teach us; and if we choose to go His +way, and do His work, He will help us to it. But if we will not +have his way, He will not let us have our own way—not at first, +at least. He will bring our plans to nothing, and let us make +fools of ourselves, and bring in sudden accidents of which we never +dreamed, just to show us that we are not our own masters, and cannot +cut out our own roads through life. And if we take His lesson, +and go to Him to teach and strengthen us—well: and if not—then +perhaps—which is the most awful misery which can happen to any +man in earth—God may give up teaching us during this life, and +let us have our own way, and be filled with the fruit of our own devices; +from which worst of punishments may He in His mercy, save you, and me, +and all belonging to us, in this life and in the life to come.</p> +<p>But some of you may say: “We understand the first half of the +text very well, and like it very well; we all think it just that those +who set themselves up should have a fall, and we are very glad to see +them have a fall: but we do not see why he who abases himself should +have any right to be exalted.” Ah, my friends, it is much +easier, and needs much less knowledge of God, and much less of the likeness +of Christ, to see what is wrong, than to see what is right. Every +man knows when a bone is broken, but it is not every one who can set +it again. Nevertheless, there is a sort of left-handed reason +in that argument. For a man has no more right to make himself +out worse than he is, than he has to make himself out better than he +is. A man should confess to being just what he is, neither more +nor less. Nevertheless, he who humbles himself shall be exalted.</p> +<p>Of course I do not mean those who, like some I know, make a fawning +humble way of talking a cloak for their own self-conceit; who call themselves +miserable sinners all the time that they are fancying that they are +almost the only people in the world who are sure of being saved, whatever +they do; who, as some do, actually pride themselves on their own convictions +of sin, and glory in their own shame, and despise those who will not +slander themselves as they do.</p> +<p>They are equally hateful to God and to God’s enemies. +If you and I are disgusted at such hypocritical self-conceit, be sure +the Lord Jesus is far more pained at it than we are; for as a wise man +says: “The devil’s darling sin is the pride that apes humility.”</p> +<p>But let a man really be convinced of sin; let a man really believe +in the Lord Jesus Christ’s atonement; let a man really believe +in the Holy Spirit; and that man will have little need to ask why he +should humble himself more than he deserves, and little wish to boast +of himself, and push himself forward, and get praise, or riches, or +power in the world. For that man would say to himself: “I, +sinner as I am; I, who know that I do so many wrong things daily; things +so wrong that it required the blood of the Son of God to wash out the +guilt of them—who am I to set myself up? I cannot be faithful +in a little—why should I try to be ruler over much? I cannot +use properly the blessings and the power which God does give me—must +I not take for granted that, if I had more riches, more power, I should +use them still worse? I know well enough of a thousand sins, and +weaknesses and ignorances in myself which my neighbours never see. +I believe, therefore, my neighbours have much too good an opinion of +me, and not too bad a one; and therefore I am not going to boast or +puff myself to them. I can only thank God they do not see the +inside of this foolish heart of mine as well as He does! In short, +I am not going to set myself up, and try to get a higher place among +men than I have already, because I am certain that I have already a +ten times better one than I deserve.”</p> +<p>Or again, if a man really believed in the Holy Ghost, which is much +the same as really believing in the kingdom of God; if he really believed +that God was the King and Master of his heart and soul; if he really +believed that everything good, and right, and wise in him came from +God’s Holy Spirit, and that everything wrong and foolish in him +came from himself and the devil; then he would surely say to himself: +“Who am I to try to set myself up above my neighbours, and get +power over them; what have I that I did not receive? Whatever +money, or station, or cleverness, or power of mind I have, God has given +me, and without Him I should be nothing. Therefore, He only gave +me these talents to use for Him, and if I use them for my own ends, +I shall be misusing them, and trying to rob God of His own. I +am His child, His subject, His steward; He has put me just in that place +in His earth which is most fit for me, and my business is, not to try +to desert my post, and to wander out of the place here He has put me, +but to see that I do the duty which lies nearest me, so that I shall +be able to give an account to Him. It is only if I am faithful +in a few things, that I can expect God to make me ruler over many things.” +Ah, my friends, if we could but see ourselves, not as we fancy we are, +nor as others fancy we are, but just as we really are, then, instead +of pushing, and boasting, and standing stiffly by our rights, and fancying +that God and man are unjust to us, we should be crying out all day long +with the prodigal son: “Father, I have sinned against heaven, +and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” +We should say with St. Paul—who, after all, remember, was the +wisest, and most learned, and noblest-hearted of all the Apostles—that +we are at best the chief of sinners. We should feel like the dear +and blessed Magdalene of old, the pattern for ever of all true penitents, +that it was quite honour enough to be allowed to wash Christ’s +feet with our tears, while every one round us sneered at us and looked +down upon us—as, after all, we deserve. And so, believe +me, we should be exalted. It would pay us, if payment is what +we want. For so we should be in a more right, more true, more +healthy, more wise, more powerful state of mind; more like Jesus Christ, +and therefore more likely to be sent to do Christ’s work, and +share Christ’s reward. For this is the great law of the +kingdom of God in which we live, that man is nothing, and God is everything; +and that we are strong and wise, and something, only when we find out +that we are weak and foolish, and nothing, and go to our Father in heaven +for strength, and wisdom, and spiritual eternal life. And then +we find out how true it is that he who humbles himself, as he deserves, +will be raised up; how he who loses his life will save it; how blessed +are the poor in spirit, those who feel that they have nothing but what +God chooses to give them; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! +How blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness; who +feel that they are not doing right, and yet cannot rest till they do +right; for they shall be filled! How blessed are the meek, who +do not set up themselves, or try to fight their own battles, and compete +with their neighbours in the great scramble and struggle of this world; +for they—just the last persons whom the world would expect to +do it—shall inherit the earth! Choose, my friends, choose! +The world says: “Push upwards, praise yourself, help yourself, +put your best side outwards.” The great God who made heaven +and earth says: “Know that you are weak, and foolish, and sinful +in yourself. Know that whatever wisdom you have, I the Lord lent +you; and I the Lord expect the interest of my loan. Know that +you are my child in my Kingdom. Stay where I have put you, and +when I want you for something better, I will call you; and if you try +to rise without my calling you, I will only drive you back again. +So the only way to be ruler over much, is first to be faithful in a +little. My friends, which of the two do you think is likely to +know best, man or God?</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<p><a name="footnote217"></a><a href="#citation217">{217}</a> +In 1848-49.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, SERMONS ON NATIONAL SUBJECTS ***</p> +<pre> + +******This file should be named snsb10h.htm or snsb10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, snsb11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, snsb10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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